Latent Structure of the Sources of Mathematics Self-Efficacy

General social cognitive theory and its career-specific elaborations posit four primary sources through which self-efficacy beliefs are acquired and modified: personal performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, social persuasion, and physiological states and reactions. We present two studies exploring the dimensionality of these sources within the context of career-relevant mathematics activities. In Study 1, 295 college students completed measures of the source variables. Testing two- through five-factor models, we found strongest support for a four-factor latent structure of the efficacy sources. In Study 2, involving 481 high school students, a five-factor model fit the data well. We also found evidence of a higher order factor structure in both samples. Several directions for further research on the sources of efficacy information are considered, along with implications for career and academic interventions.     

Fourier analysis of movement patterns in pigeons

Fourier analysis describes the amount of variation in a time series by partitioning it into sinusoids of different amplitudes and wavelengths and quantifying the extent to which these waves are synchronized. The importance of a given wave is represented by its contribution to the explained variance of the time series. To illustrate its potential application to the study of movement, Fourier analysis was used to quantify the movement patterns of 2 pigeons on a variable-interval (VI) and a variable-time (VT) schedule of reinforcement. For comparison, the movements of 2 pigeons that did not receive reinforcement were similarly analyzed. Characteristic frequencies were higher during VI than during VT, and relatively low during nonreinforcement. We concluded that Fourier analysis can be used to represent movement patterns compactly, study their periodicity, stereotypy, and resonance, and assist in computer simulations and models of movement.     

Hopelessness in community-residing aged persons: a viable construct?

Previous work with the Geriatric Hopelessness Scale (GHS; Fry, 1984, 1986) suggests that it may be a useful measure of pessimism for a variety of domains among elderly persons. One hundred seven community-residing aged persons were individually administered the GHS and a variety of personality and cognitive functioning measures in an effort to further refine and validate the GHS. Results suggest very modest internal consistency and a poorly defined factor structure for the GHS, in contrast to earlier findings. Although the GHS failed to differentiate elderly persons by age, it was nonetheless related to self-esteem, depression, self-rated health, internality, morale, and life satisfaction. Taken together, these data indicate that the research and clinical utility of the GHS with community-residing aged persons may be more limited than previously believed.     

Examining the psychometric properties of the burnout clinical subtype questionnaire (BCSQ-12) in secondary school teachers

Current Psychology - Based on Farber’s burnout proposal, the first aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the short version of the Burnout Clinical Subtype...     

Measuring structural model invariance across internet-recruited and hospital-recruited IBD patients: Experiential avoidance’s effect on psychopathological symptoms

Current Psychology - Research has questioned whether it is feasible to assess psychosocial variables through web-based recruitment methods. Previous literature on IBD focused exclusively on testing...     

Causal illusion as a cognitive basis of pseudoscientific beliefs

Causal illusion has been proposed as a cognitive mediator of pseudoscientific beliefs. However, previous studies have only tested the association between this cognitive bias and a closely related but different type of unwarranted beliefs, those related to superstition and paranormal phenomena. Participants (n = 225) responded to a novel questionnaire of pseudoscientific beliefs designed for this study. They also completed a contingency learning task in which a possible cause, infusion intake, and a desired effect, headache remission, were actually non-contingent. Volunteers with higher scores on the questionnaire also presented stronger causal illusion effects. These results support the hypothesis that causal illusions might play a fundamental role in the endorsement of pseudoscientific beliefs.     

Intercessory Prayer on Spiritual Distress,Spiritual Coping,Anxiety, Depression and Salivary Amylase in Breast Cancer Patients During Radiotherapy: Randomized Clinical Trial

The goal of this study was to assess the effect of intercessory prayer in the psychological, spiritual and biological scores of breast cancer patients who are undergoing radiotherapy. Double-blind RCT comprising a sample of 31 participants (15 in the Control Group and 16 in the Intervention Group). Data collection was performed in three time points (T₀, T₁ and T₂). Significant changes have been identified in the intra-group analysis, concerning the decrease in spiritual distress score; negative religious/spiritual coping prevailed, while the total religious/spiritual coping increased between the posttest T₂ to T₀. Intercessory prayer was effective in religious and spiritual scores.

     

Compassionate Love among Catholic Priests: its Antecedents and its Influence on Affect toward Pastoral Ministry in Indonesia

Pastoral Psychology - What drives Catholic priests to continue to serve people? That is the main question behind this psychological study. Based on a working model of compassionate love (Underwood...     

Flexible moral theories: Complexity,domination, and indeterminacy

In this article we identify three previously unnoticed problems with flexible moral theories, i.e., theories according to which different moral rules apply when there is full compliance and when there is partial compliance. The first problem is that flexible theories are necessarily very complex, which undermines their ability to motivate and guide action. The second problem is that flexible theories allow for a troubling kind of (moral) domination: the duties an agent has depend on other agents' willingness to comply. Finally, flexible theories introduce indeterminacy: it is sometimes impossible to determine which moral rules apply. When agents stand at the threshold—i.e., when a different rule would apply if a single additional act of noncompliance took place—it is impossible to determine which rule should apply.