Psychological well-being: its relation to work personality, vocational identity, and career thoughts

The authors examined the impact of the 6 dimensions of psychological well-being on participants' career thoughts, vocational identity, and developmental work personality. Undergraduates (N = 91) completed 4 measures: (a) C. D. Ryff's (1989, 1995) Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB), (b) J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, and D. E. Saunders's (1996) Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI), (c) the Vocational Identity (VI) subscale of J. L. Holland, D. C. Daiger, and G. Power's (1980) My Vocational Situation, and (d) D. R. Strauser and J. M. Keim's (2002) Developmental Work Personality Scale (DWPS). The authors then conducted multiple regression analyses to examine the relations between psychological well-being and the 3 career variables. Results indicated the following: (a) Psychological well-being accounted for a significant portion of the variance in all 3 career variables; (b) scores on the Purpose in Life subscale of the SPWB made a unique contribution to scores on the Commitment Anxiety subscale of the CTI (CTI-CA) and to VI; (c) scores on the Personal Growth subscale of the SPWB made a unique contribution to CTI-CA scores; and (d) scores on the Self-Acceptance and Environmental Mastery subscales of the SPWB each made a unique contribution to DWPS scores.     

A sensory integration therapy program on sensory problems for children with autism

The study was planned to investigate the effect of a sensory integration therapy program on sensory problems of children with autism. This study was conducted at the Trakya University Training and Research Center for Mentally and Physically Handicapped Children in Turkey. The children were separated into two groups, each comprising 15 children between 7 and 11 years of age with autism, according to DSM-IV criteria. The children in each group were assessed initially on a checklist, Sensory Evaluation Form for Children with Autism, developed to evaluate sensory characteristics of children with autism, and at the end of the study, participants were assessed again on the checklist. Statistically significant differences between groups indicated that the sensory integration therapy program positively affected treated children.     

The production of Turkish relative clauses in agrammatism: Verb inflection and constituent order

This study presents results from a sentence completion test that examines the production of finite main clauses and non-finite relative clauses in Turkish agrammatic speech. In main clauses, the verb is finite and all its constituents are in their base positions. In relative clauses, the verb is a participle and the NP undergoes overt movement to an A-bar position. The results show that non-finite relative clauses with overt movement as such are more difficult to produce than finite main clauses with a base order. The findings are discussed with respect to several hypotheses on finite verbs and syntactic complexity. The conclusion is that Turkish agrammatic speakers have more problems in producing structurally derived clauses and the production of verbs is influenced by linguistic factors such as the overt movement of the NP.     

Numerical averaging in mice

Animal Cognition - Rodents can be trained to associate different durations with different stimuli (e.g., light/sound). When the associated stimuli are presented together, maximal responding is...     

Team Creativity in Web Site Design: An Empirical Test of a Systemic Model

A cross sectional study of 60 student teams examined the impact of team diversity, team interaction processes (planning/organizing) and intrateam conflict on team creativity in a Web site design task. An input–process–output model was used as a theoretical background and it was predicted that team diversity has an indirect impact on team creativity, mediated by planning/organizing and intrateam conflict, as well as a direct impact, with team variety being beneficial for team creativity, and team disparity being detrimental for team creativity. The results support the overall path model and show that the impact of team diversity on team creativity in Web site design is mediated by the team processes and intrateam conflict.     

Differences in How Trait Emotional Intelligence Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Affect Balance Versus Social Support in India and Germany

In this study, we assessed cross-cultural differences in the extent to which general emotional intelligence is linked to life satisfaction and analyzed mediators of this relationship. We used data from an individualistic culture (Germany) and a collectivistic culture (India) and had university students respond to self-report measures of life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, emotional intelligence, perceived social support, and independent and interdependent self-construals. In line with our hypotheses, we found that Indian students reported less subjective well-being and emotional intelligence than German students. Emotional intelligence was associated with life satisfaction to a higher degree in Germany than in India. In Germany, independent but not interdependent self-construal was related to emotional intelligence; in India, both independent and interdependent self-construals were significantly associated with emotional intelligence. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses regarding mediational models in that the effect of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction was fully mediated by affect balance in Germany and by perceived social support in India.     

Emotions induced by operatic music: psychophysiological effects of music, plot, and acting: a scientist's tribute to Maria Callas

Operatic music involves both singing and acting (as well as rich audiovisual background arising from the orchestra and elaborate scenery and costumes) that multiply the mechanisms by which emotions are induced in listeners. The present study investigated the effects of music, plot, and acting performance on emotions induced by opera. There were three experimental conditions: (1) participants listened to a musically complex and dramatically coherent excerpt from Tosca; (2) they read a summary of the plot and listened to the same musical excerpt again; and (3) they re-listened to music while they watched the subtitled film of this acting performance. In addition, a control condition was included, in which an independent sample of participants succesively listened three times to the same musical excerpt. We measured subjective changes using both dimensional, and specific music-induced emotion questionnaires. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory responses were also recorded, and the participants kept track of their musical chills. Music listening alone elicited positive emotion and autonomic arousal, seen in faster heart rate, but slower respiration rate and reduced skin conductance. Knowing the (sad) plot while listening to the music a second time reduced positive emotions (peacefulness, joyful activation), and increased negative ones (sadness), while high autonomic arousal was maintained. Watching the acting performance increased emotional arousal and changed its valence again (from less positive/sad to transcendent), in the context of continued high autonomic arousal. The repeated exposure to music did not by itself induce this pattern of modifications. These results indicate that the multiple musical and dramatic means involved in operatic performance specifically contribute to the genesis of music-induced emotions and their physiological correlates.     

A comparison of paper-and-pencil and computerized forms of Line Orientation and Enhanced Cued Recall Tests

The purpose of this study was to assess whether a computerized battery of neuropsychological tests could produce similar results as the conventional forms. Comparisons on 77 volunteer undergraduates were carried out with two neuropsychological tests: Line Orientation Test and Enhanced Cued Recall Test. Firstly, students were assigned randomly across the test medium (paper-and-pencil versus computerized). Secondly, the groups were given the same test in the other medium after a 30-day interval between tests. Results showed that the Enhanced Cued Recall Test-Computer-based did not correlate with the Enhanced Cued Recall Test-Paper-and-pencil results. Line Orientation Test-Computer-based scores, on the other hand, did correlate significantly with the Line Orientation Test-Paper-and-pencil version. In both tests, scores were higher on paper-and-pencil tests compared to computer-based tests. Total score difference between modalities was statistically significant for both Enhanced Cued Recall Tests and for the Line Orientation Test. In both computer-based tests, it took less time for participants to complete the tests.