Individual and relational contributions to parallel and joint attention in infancy

Objective

This study examined the contributions of maternal bids for joint attention, relationship quality, and infant characteristics, to individual differences in infants’ parallel and joint attention.

Method

Fifty-two 10-month-olds and their mothers were assessed in order to investigate concurrent predictors of infant parallel attention, responding to joint attention, and initiating joint attention.

Results

Parallel attention was predicted by infants’ higher mental development, low expression of negative emotionality, and maternal entertaining behaviors. Responding to joint attention was marginally predicted by total maternal bids for joint attention. Initiating joint attention was predicted by the infants’ low expression of negative emotionality, as well as marginally predicted by fewer maternal teaching behaviors.

Conclusion

These results further the understanding of the factors influencing infant parallel as well as joint attention.     

Fluctuations and phase symmetry in coordinated rhythmic movements

Pendular, clocking movements typify mammalian terrestrial locomotion. They can be investigated with a procedure in which people swing hand-held pendulums at the wrists, comfortably and rhythmically. Pendular, clocking behavior was examined for in-phase and out-of-phase coordinations. The periodic timing and powering of rhythmic movements in the comfort state follow from different laws (Kugler & Turvey, 1986). One law guides the assembling of the reference frame for "clocking." Another law guides the assembling of the muscular, escapement processes determining the cycle energy. Wing and Kristofferson's (1973) method for parsing periodic-timing variance into independent "clock" and "motor" sources was applied. Mean periodicity was unaffected by phase. "Clock" fluctuations, however, were larger out of phase than in phase. "Motor" fluctuations were indifferent to phase but reflected the departures of individual wrist-pendulum systems from their preferred periods. It appears that an intended phase relation is realized as a constraint on "clock" states. These states are more stable under the in-phase constraint than under the out-of-phase constraint.     

Sex of leader,leader behavior,and subordinate satisfaction

A 2×2×2 factorial design was employed to examine the influence of instructed leadership style, sex of leader, and sex of followers on leader behavior, subordinate satisfaction, and productivity in a simple task. In general, male and female leaders were equally able and equally willing to display autocratic and democratic leadership styles if so instructed. Similarly, leader sex did not have a significant influence on subordinate satisfaction or productivity either by itself or in interaction with leadership style or follower sex.     

Empathy or Intersubjectivity? Understanding the Origins of Morality in Young Children’

This article is about young children’s morality and their concern for others’ wellbeing. Questions of what the value of others’ wellbeing can signify, how this value becomes visible to children and how it is expressed in their interaction will be posed. In this analysis, children’s commitment to others’ wellbeing is discussed in terms of two theories, namely the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s (1962, 1964) theory of intersubjectivity and the psychologist Martin Hoffman’s (1984, 1987, 2000) theory of empathy. The interaction between children and adults in pre-school, drawn from different studies of morality (Johansson, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003), constitutes the empirical basis. In the discussion, it is claimed that children’s care for others’ wellbeing can be understood in a fruitful way as experiences of, approaches to and ways of being involved in the other’s life-world rather than as expressions of empathy.

The locus of intersensory facilitation of reaction time

When an imperative visual stimulus is paired with an auditory (accessory) stimulus, RT is generally faster than with the imperative stimulus alone. Three experiments using additive-factors logic tested an energy-summation view of the accessory, where effects are due to increased rate of information build-up in sensory stages, and a preparation-enhancement view which holds that the accessory serves an alerting function. Experiment 1 found no interaction between the accessory presence and (visual) stimulus brightness, suggesting no role of the accessory in stimulus identification. Experiment 2 found no interaction between accessory presence and spatial S-R compatibility, arguing that the accessory operated in stage(s) other than response selection. Experiment 3 produced an interaction between the accessory and movement complexity, arguing for accessory effects in a response-programming stage. The data generally favored preparation-enhancement, and offered no support for an energy-summation view.     

Does 'mental kinesiophobia' exist?

In this study the relevance of the concept of mental kinesiophobia (respectively cogniphobia or fear of mental exertion) for clients with chronic stress problems was explored. It was hypothesized that cognitive, chronic stress complaints, such as concentration problems or decreased problem solving abilities, could be catastrophized as signs of heightened personal vulnerability, with a chance of becoming permanent. As a consequence, mental exertion is avoided. This line of reasoning comes from the existing concept of kinesiophobia. This concept describes the avoidance behavior in chronic benign pain patients and refers to their fear of inflicting irreversible bodily damage due to physical exertion.An illustrative case of cogniphobia is presented. In an explorative pilot-study it was demonstrated that chronically stressed clients scored significantly higher on an experimental questionnaire measuring avoidance tendencies for mental exertion, compared with actively working employees. Consequences for treatment and suggestions for further study are discussed.     

Evaluation of the Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RIPP) Seventh Grade Violence Prevention Curriculum

We evaluated the impact of RIPP-7, a seventh grade violence prevention curriculum designed to strengthen and extend the effects of the sixth grade RIPP-6 curriculum. Classes of seventh graders at two urban middle schools serving predominantly African-American youth where RIPP-6 had been implemented the preceding school year were randomized to intervention (N = 239) and control groups (N = 237). Compared to students in the control group, students who participated in RIPP-7 had fewer disciplinary code violations for violent offenses during the following school year. A limited number of main effects were found on self-report outcome measures and measures of attitudes. Although significant main effects were not found on self-report measures of physical aggression, drug use, or anxiety, analyses of interactions with pretest scores indicated that intervention effects were significantly moderated by pretest scores for several outcome measures. Students most likely to benefit from the intervention were those who reported higher pretest rates of problem behaviors including violent behavior, nonphysical aggression, and delinquent behavior.     

Faktorenanalytische Untersuchungen zur Differenzierungshypothese der Intelligenz: Die Leistungsdifferenzierungshypothese

Ohne ZusammenfassungIn gekürzter Form anläßlich der 5. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen am 10. 4. 1963 in Tübingen vorgetragen.     

Personality development and growth in women across 30 years: three perspectives

This article addressesthree questions about personality development in a 30‐year longitudinal study of women (N = 78): (1) To what extent did the women maintain the same position inrelation to each other on personality characteristics over the 30 years, and what broad factorswere related to the amount of change in their rank order? (2) Did the sample as a whole increaseor decrease over time on indices of personality growth, and did they change in ways distinctive towomen? (3) Were experiential factors associated with individual differences in the amount ofchange? Results showed that personality was quite consistent while also showing that timeinterval was positively related to rank‐order change and age was negatively related to rank‐orderchange. Over the period from age 21 to age 52, the women increased on measures ofnorm‐orientation and complexity and showed changes on measures of Dominance andFemininity/Masculinity consistent with the hypothesis that changing sex roles would lead toincreases in Dominance and increases, then decreases, in Femininity/Masculinity. A third set ofresults showed that changes in Dominance and Femininity/Masculinity were associated with lifecircumstances such as marital tension, divorce, and participation in the paid labor force. Theimplications of the findings for personality development and growth are discussed.     

Ego development and the ethics of care and justice: the relations among them revisited

This study examined the links among ego development and the ethics of care and justice in 144 Norwegian men and women, 15 to 48 years old, taking into consideration age, sex, education, and verbal intelligence. As expected, the relationship between Loevinger's model of ego development and care-based moral reasoning as measured with Skoe's Ethic of Care Interview (ECI) was significantly stronger than the one between ego development and justice as measured with Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT). Both ethics correlated significantly with verbal ability. Analyses showed that beyond its overlap with verbal intelligence, the variance shared between the ECI and ego development was substantial. By contrast, when verbal intelligence was controlled, the DIT was not significantly related to ego development or to the care ethic.