Attaching meaning to the number words: contributions of the object tracking and approximate number systems

Children's understanding of the quantities represented by number words (i.e., cardinality) is a surprisingly protracted but foundational step in their learning of formal mathematics. The development of cardinal knowledge is related to one or two core, inherent systems – the approximate number system (ANS) and the object tracking system (OTS) – but whether these systems act alone, in concert, or antagonistically is debated. Longitudinal assessments of 198 preschool children on OTS, ANS, and cardinality tasks enabled testing of two single‐mechanism (ANS‐only and OTS‐only) and two dual‐mechanism models, controlling for intelligence, executive functions, preliteracy skills, and demographic factors. Measures of both OTS and ANS predicted cardinal knowledge in concert early in the school year, inconsistent with single‐mechanism models. The ANS but not the OTS predicted cardinal knowledge later in the school year as well the acquisition of the cardinal principle, a critical shift in cardinal understanding. The results support a Merge model, whereby both systems initially contribute to children's early mapping of number words to cardinal value, but the role of the OTS diminishes over time while that of the ANS continues to support cardinal knowledge as children come to understand the counting principles.     

Multiple and Counterstereotypic Categorization of Immigrants: The Moderating Role of Political Orientation on Interventions to Reduce Prejudice

Multiple and counterstereotypic categorization of outgroup members reduces prejudice towards them. The present research addresses, for the first time, the role of political orientation in moderating the impact of these strategies on prejudice reduction. Given that right‐wingers have very likely a higher need for cognitive closure compared to left‐wingers and thus may be less tolerant to social diversity, for them, increasing the complexity of outgroup members through counterstereotypic versus stereotypic or multiple versus simple categorizations should be a less effective strategy of prejudice reduction than it is for left‐wingers and moderate individuals. Results using Romanians and immigrants as outgroup targets for Italian participants supported our prediction. Further, we found that the effect of prejudice reduction was explained by the sequential mediation of increased individuation of immigrants and reduced sense of threat from them. Implications of the interplay between multiple categorization and political orientation are discussed.     

How Does the Economic Crisis Influence Adolescents’ Happiness? Population-Based Surveys in Iceland in 2000–2010

Macroeconomic downturns have been associated with a decrease in happiness among adults. The aim of this study was to explore the secular trend in happiness among Icelandic adolescents during a period of drastic change in the national economy as well as to identify which groups were most vulnerable and most resilient during the economic crisis. The data used in this study comes from series of population-based surveys of Icelandic adolescents in 2000, 2006, 2009, and 2010. Altogether, a total of 28.484 adolescents participated in the four surveys, representing 84 % of all 14–15 year old adolescents in Iceland. Results indicated that happiness increased by 5 % in the adolescent population from 2000 to 2010 despite the economic crisis. Nevertheless, adolescents who seldom spent time with their parents or perceived difficulties in getting emotional support from parents demonstrated a decrease in happiness. Those who found it easy to get emotional support from parents were happiest at every time point (91–93 %) while those who found it difficult were unhappiest (36–50 %). The association between socio- demographic factors and happiness was explored using multiple linear regression analyses where the year of survey, gender, age, family structure, parent’s education, time spent with parents and emotional support from parents altogether explained 13 % of the happiness variance. Emotional support from parents together with time spent with parents had the largest influence on adolescent’s happiness. An overall increase in time spent with parents was detected which might explain the increase in adolescents´ happiness over time. These results indicate that good relations with parents may protect adolescents from possible negative effect of a national economic crisis.     

Convergent validity of Rorschach and TAT scales of object relations.

The Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOA) and the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS) have been shown to be reliable and valid measures of interpersonal functioning. Utilizing a sample of 57 outpatients with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Axis II diagnosis, this study extends the findings of previous research demonstrating the reliability and convergent validity of each measure. Analyses focused on the convergent validity between the Rorschach MOA Scale and 8 SCORS variables (complexity, affect, emotional investment in relationships, emotional investment in values and morals, understanding of social causality, management of impulses/aggression, self-esteem, identity/coherence of self) ratings of Thematic Apperception Test narratives. The conceptual nature and clinical utility of these findings are discussed in relation to psychological assessment.     

Social dominance orientation,anti‐egalitarianism and the political psychology of gender: an extension and cross‐cultural replication

This study explored differences in levels of anti‐egalitarianism and social dominance orientation among groups with different social status, and examined the degree to which these differences in anti‐egalitarianism varied across a number of situational and contextual factors. Consistent with both the cultural deterministic (CD) and social dominance (SD) paradigms, when defining social status as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or ‘race’, differences in anti‐egalitarianism between members of high‐ and low‐status groups were found to be contingent upon a range of contextual and situational factors, such as the degree to which the two groups varied in social status. However, consistent with the SD perspective and the invariance hypothesis, the data also showed that males were more anti‐egalitarian than females, and that this male/female difference in social and group dominance orientation tended to be largely invariant across cultural, situational, and contextual boundaries. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

You Wear Me Out: The Vicarious Depletion of Self-Control

ABSTRACT— Acts of self-control may deplete an individual's self-regulatory resources. But what are the consequences of perceiving other people's use of self-control? Mentally simulating the actions of others has been found to elicit psychological effects consistent with the actual performance of those actions. Here, we consider how simulating versus merely perceiving the use of willpower can affect self-control abilities. In Study 1 , participants who simulated the perspective of a person exercising self-control exhibited less restraint over spending on consumer products than did other participants. In Study 2 , participants who took the perspective of a person using self-control exerted less willpower on an unrelated lexical generation task than did participants who took the perspective of a person who did not use self-control. Conversely, participants who merely read about another person's self-control exerted more willpower than did those who read about actions not requiring self-control. These findings suggest that the actions of other people may either deplete or boost one's own self-control, depending on whether one mentally simulates those actions or merely perceives them.     

A New Approach to Reducing Disorder and Improving Well-Being

ABSTRACT— Psychological science has usually approached the treatment of disorder through research on individual combinations of risk and protective factors (including life experiences, thinking styles, behaviors, social relationships and genes) and the application of interventions that focus on improvements in the individual. However, we can do better than this. Not only should we be aiming to enhance well-being rather than merely reducing disorder, but we should also be doing so for the majority of people rather than the few who have a disorder. In this article, I focus on the mental health spectrum and make the case for a broad population-based approach. I argue that a very small shift in the population mean of the underlying symptoms or risk factors can do more to enhance well-being and reduce disorder than would any amount of intervention with individuals who need help. Examples from research on alcohol abuse and psychological distress are presented to illustrate the value of a population-based approach.     

The Stages of Igbo Conversion to Islam: An Empirical Study

Review of Religious Research - In recent years a very rare phenomenon was observed in Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria—the conversion of the Igbo to Islam. There exists a significant scholarly...     

Measuring Multicultural Training Reactance: Initial Instrument Psychometrics

Resistant behaviors in multicultural courses are a common dilemma within counselor education. On the basis of psychological reactance theory (J. W. Brehm, 1966), the authors created a multicultural training reactance scale to measure the construct. Exploratory factor analysis and initial reliability and validity data are presented, followed by suggestions that address course reactions. Los comportamientos resistentes en los cursos multiculturales son un dilema frecuente en la educación de consejeros. Basándose en la teoría de reactancia psicológica (J. W. Brehm, 1966), los autores crearon una escala de reactancia en la capacitación multicultural para medir el constructo. Se presenta un análisis factorial exploratorio, así como datos iniciales de fiabilidad y validez, seguidos por sugerencias que abordan las reacciones al curso.     

Individual Differences in Work Motivation: Further Explorations of a Trait Framework

Empirical evidence on the conceptual and construct validity of the motivational trait taxonomy proposed by Kanfer and Heggestad is presented. 228 adults completed a shortened form of the Motivational Trait Questionnaire (MTQ), along with a battery of personality and ability measures. Relationships of the MTQ with personality measures show evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for trait constructs of Personal Mastery, Competitive Excellence, and Motivation Related to Anxiety. In addition, MTQ scale scores were generally unrelated to composite measures of fluid and crystallised intelligence. Examination of age differences showed a pattern of developmental decline in the achievement trait complex, but not the anxiety complex.