Social comparison and perceived breach of psychological contract: their effects on burnout in a multigroup analysis

This study focuses on the mediator role of social comparison in the relationship between perceived breach of psychological contract and burnout. A previous model showing the hypothesized effects of perceived breach on burnout, both direct and mediated, is proposed. The final model reached an optimal fit to the data and was confirmed through multigroup analysis using a sample of Spanish teachers (N = 401) belonging to preprimary, primary, and secondary schools. Multigroup analyses showed that the model fit all groups adequately.     

Disorders in planning and strategy application in frontal lobe lesion patients

The aim of this study was to investigate deficits in planning ability using an adapted version of the Modified Six Elements Test, from the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome—BADS [Wilson, B. A., Alderman, N., Burgess, P. W., Emslie, H., & Evans, J. J. (1996). Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). Bury St Edmunds, U.K.: Thames Valley Test Company. Trans. Ricardo O Souza, Sergio L Schmidt. Rio de Janeiro: Cognição]. Subjects were left- and right-frontal lobe lesion patients. Other measures of executive dysfunctions used were verbal fluency, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and the Trail Making Test. These other instruments were sensitive to detect executive deficits in the left frontal lobe lesion group, except the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, which showed impairment only for the frontal lobe lesion group as a whole. The Modified Six Elements Test detected planning disorders in left frontal lobe lesion patients. The deficit of these patients was due to a greater likelihood to break the rules of the task, that is, in plan-following processes, rather than in planning the strategic approach to solve it.     

Does the type of judgement required modulate cue competition?

According to the comparator process hypothesis (Matute, Arcediano, & Miller, 1996), cue competition in the learning of between-events relationships arises if the judgement required involves a comparison between the probability of the outcome given the target cue and the probability of the outcome given the competing cue. Alternatively, other associative accounts (the Rescorla-Wagner model: Rescorla &Wagner, 1972) conceive cue competition as a learning deficit affecting the target cue-outcome association. Consequently, the comparator process hypothesis predicts that cue competition occurs in inference judgements but not in contiguity ones, for only the first type of judgement implicitly involves such a comparison. On the other hand, the Rescorla-Wagner model predicts cue competition in both inference and contiguity judgements, because it establishes no relevant role for the type of judgement in producing cue competition. In Experiments 1 and 2 we manipulated the relative validity of cues and the type of question (inference vs. contiguity) in a predictive learning task. In both experiments we found a cue competition effect, but no interaction between the relative validity of cues and the type of question, suggesting that the Rescorla-Wagner theory suffices to explain cue competition.     

Promoting Well-Being in School-Based Mentoring Through Basic Psychological Needs Support: Does It Really Count?

The main goal of this research was to assess whether satisfying basic psychological needs (BPN) in a Portuguese school-based mentoring (SBM) program improved the mentored students’ well-being. One uncommon feature of this program was that the mentors were also teachers of the mentees. A two-wave experimental study design was implemented to compare the mentored (n = 157) and non-mentored students (n = 160). Surveys were completed twice, with a 6-month interval between time points 1 and 2. The results indicate that SBM that was associated with increased support for BPN was the most effective condition for promoting academic well-being, particularly in terms of improving the mentored students’ perceptions of their school environment. However, no significant differences between the mentored and non-mentored students were detected regarding personal well-being (e.g., psychological well-being) and social well-being (e.g., peer support). These findings suggest that the balanced support of BPN was important in this particular SBM program. This support and enduring mentoring relationships can facilitate the general improvement of the mentored students’ well-being.     

William J. Morgan’s ‘conventionalist internalism’ approach. Furthering internalism? A critical hermeneutical response

Several authors, such as William J. Morgan, John S. Russell and R. Scott Kretchmar, have claimed that the limits between the diverse normative theories of sport need to be revisited. Most of these works are philosophically grounded in Anglo-American philosophical approaches. For instance, William J. Morgan’s proposal is mainly based on Richard Rorty’s philosophy. But he also discusses with some European philosophers like Jürgen Habermas. However, Habermas’ central ideas are rejected by Morgan. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Morgan’s rejection of Habermas’ thought and show that a more appropriate normative of sport that explains better our current sporting world can be achieved by drawing on the German philosopher’s ideas. The plan of this paper is the following. It shall analyse the limits of the distinction between broad internalism and externalism by taking Morgan’s work as its starting point. To do so, firstly, the conventionalist way in which Morgan criticises the limits of interpretivism shall be explained (§2). Secondly, the relationship between Morgan’s proposals and the hermeneutical theories which are at the roots of his proposal shall be brought to light. Thirdly, since Morgan takes Habermas’ hermeneutical ethics to be an example of externalism, the relationship between his theory and Habermas’ ethical account shall be clearly defined. Moreover, Morgan’s proposal shall be criticised in the light of Habermas’ discourse ethics (§3). To conclude, a Habermasian approach in sport ethics shall be described (§4).     

Attachment style impacts behavior and early oculomotor response to positive,but not negative,pictures

The present study investigated whether oculomotor behavior is influenced by attachment styles. The Relationship Scales Questionnaire was used to assess attachment styles of forty‐eight voluntary university students and to classify them into attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing). Eye‐tracking was recorded while participants engaged in a 3‐seconds free visual exploration of stimuli presenting either a positive or a negative picture together with a neutral picture, all depicting social interactions. The task consisted in identifying whether the two pictures depicted the same emotion. Results showed that the processing of negative pictures was impermeable to attachment style, while the processing of positive pictures was significantly influenced by individual differences in insecure attachment. The groups highly avoidant regarding to attachment (dismissing and fearful) showed reduced accuracy, suggesting a higher threshold for recognizing positive emotions compared to the secure group. The groups with higher attachment anxiety (preoccupied and fearful) showed differences in automatic capture of attention, in particular an increased delay preceding the first fixation to a picture of positive emotional valence. Despite lenient statistical thresholds induced by the limited sample size of some groups (p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons), the current findings suggest that the processing of positive emotions is affected by attachment styles. These results are discussed within a broader evolutionary framework.     

Analysis of the Impact of Creative Technique on the Motivation of Physical Education Students in Dance Content: Gender Differences

The aim of this study was to learn about the effectiveness of two dance teaching techniques, the creative examination technique and the direct instruction technique, on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, the level of self‐determination, the perception of usefulness, enjoyment and effort of physical education students. Likewise, it purports to analyze the gender difference in the psychological variables addressed in agreement with the teaching technique used, to guide and personalize the treatment of these contents in physical education. A quasi‐experimental design was carried out with four natural groups from two school centers. The direct instruction technique was applied with two groups and the creative examination technique with the other two, in a total of 12 sessions. An initial and final measurement was taken in both groups, and the results revealed the complexity to motivate students after 12 sessions. However, the gender‐dependent analyses offer methodological guidelines, as the creative technique causes adaptative consequences on the male gender and disadaptative consequences on the female gender. By way of conclusion, we can highlight the need to devote more sessions to dance teaching and to apply different treatments depending on the gender.