Violent computer games and their effects on state hostility and Physiological arousal

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of violent computer games on state hostility, state anxiety and arousal. Participants were undergraduate students, aged from 18 to 25 years old. Before the experimental sessions, participants filled in self‐report measures concerning their video game habits and were also pre‐tested for aggressiveness and trait anxiety. Physiological responses (heart rate and skin conductance) were measured during the experiment. After playing, information about state hostility and state anxiety was collected. The results showed that participants who played the violent game reported significantly higher state hostility and support the assumption that an aggressive personality moderates the effect of playing a violent game on state hostility. Aggr. Behav. 32:358–371. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The commitment of young soccer players

The main purpose of this study was to test the Sport Commitment Model in young soccer players. Participants' ( N = 437) age ranged from 14 to 16 years. Based on the sport commitment model proposed by Scanlan and colleagues, 6 scales and 28-items constitute the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ). Results of this study provide some support for the reliability and validity of the SCQ, using a sample of young soccer players. Reliability analysis provided acceptable internal consistency for four scales: Sport Commitment, Sport Enjoyment, Involvement Alternatives and Social Constraints. Sport Enjoyment (Beta= .56, p <.001) and Involvement Alternatives (Beta= -.40, p <.001) were the strongest sport commitment predictors. Further studies with a broader age range, different genders, and other sports or competitive levels are required to continue analyzing the sport commitment model.     

Contextual control in teaching numbers to a child with intellectual disability

The aim of this work was to teach the discrimination of "equal" and "different" in numbers. The experiment was carried out a seven-year-old child with intellectual disability. The problem was analysed from the contextual control perspective. The learning procedure consisted of explicitly teaching a second-order conditional discrimination, and transfer to a novel second-order conditional discrimination was tested. In this study, the boy learned that, in presence of X1 (equal), he had to select the comparison B1 (the number one), given the sample A1 (the word one) and B2 (the number two), given A2 (the word two). He also he learned that, in the presence of X2 (different), he had to select the comparison B2 (the number two), given the sample A1 (the word one) and B1 (the number one), given A2 (the word two). We subsequently presented the contextual stimuli with two new numbers: three and four. The results showed the occurrence of learning transfer without explicit training in the new numbers.     

CSR"品牌":以企业社会责任提升国家形象

消费者对别国的国家形象是通过食品、艺术、旅游等多种接触渠道形成的,其中一种体验会引发并上升为整个国家形象,即“光环效应”。申言之,消费者对其他国家的形象是通过消费者对该国产品的体验间接培育的,而消费者对其他国家某种产品的正、负面体验,将直接影响对该国其它产品的相应看法,即“连带效应”。据此,本文推论,民众可以通过企业社会责任的“光环效应”认知一个国家,进而依据“连带效应”形成对一国企业产品社会责任的总体印象。韩国在华中小型企业社会责任的不良纪录,很可能导致对韩国国家形象的负面看法。特有的集体行动逻辑阻碍了韩国在华中小型企业及时采取反应,其结果又反过来伤害其自身。     

Accuracy of Self-Reported Personal History of Cancer in an Outpatient Breast Center

The self-reporting of cancer history is becoming increasingly important, as it frequently guides medical decision-making. We studied the accuracy of personal cancer history using a self-administered questionnaire, comparing the results with the Tumor Registry at our institution. Among 39,662 records, we identified 3614 women with a single cancer in the Tumor Registry who reported none or one cancer on their questionnaire. The sensitivity in self-reporting cancers was 85.7%, ranging from 92.1% for breast cancer to 42.9% for leukemia. The accuracy for breast cancer and Hodgkin's Lymphoma was significantly better than other cancers (p=0.00027, CI: 1.4–3.88). Analysis of patient's characteristics showed that Caucasians reported breast cancer more accurately than Asian/Pacific Islanders (p=0.008), and those with Jewish ancestry more accurately than non-Jewish (p=0.0435). These results will help us to improve data collection and thus improve medical decision-making.     

Research on cognitive, social and cultural processes of written communication

This article compiles the investigations carried out by a Research Group of the University of Granada, Spain. Its different projects on writing’s cognitive social and cultural processes have been supported by the Spanish Government. This line of research joined together linguistic, psychological, social and cultural contributions to the development of writing from the 1970s. Currently, this line of research develops in collaboration with other European Universities: (a) Interuniversity Centre for Research On Cognitive Processing in Natural and Artificial Systems (ECONA), “La Sapienza” University of Rome (Italy); (b) Anadolu University, (Eskisehir, Turkey); (c) Coimbra University (Portugal); (d) University of Zaragoza (Spain); (e) the Institute of Education of the University of London (United Kingdom). The aforementioned collaboration is materializing into projects like the International Master on Multilingual Writing: Cognitive, Intercultural and Technological Processes of Written Communication () and the International Congress: Writing in the twenty-first Century: Cognition, Multilinguisim and Technologies, held in Granada (). This research line is focussed on the development of strategies in writing development, basic to train twenty-first century societies’ citizens. In these societies, participation in production media, social exchange and the development of multilingual written communication skills through new computer technologies spread multicultural values. In order to fulfil the social exigencies, it is needed to have the collaboration of research groups for designing and applying international research projects. International Master. Multilingual Writing Web: , .     

Am I the typical student? Perceived similarity to student prototypes predicts success

Two studies assessed the relationships between perceived similarity to the college student prototype and academic outcomes. In Study 1, students' similarity to the prototypical good student and their levels of depressed mood were assessed. A year later, students high in depressed mood who did not see themselves as similar to the good student prototype did worse academically. In Study 2, students' perceived favorability and similarity to the prototypical student at their university were assessed along with their levels of neuroticism. Enrollment at their university was then tracked for 5 semesters. Students high in neuroticism who perceived the typical student as both favorable and dissimilar to themselves were less likely to stay enrolled. These findings highlight the importance of perceived dissimilarity in prototype perception, particularly among those high in negative affect.     

Walk the Talk: Financial Fairness in European Club Football

UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations represent the most restrictive regulatory intervention European club football has ever seen. Put simply, it demands from clubs to operate on the basis of their own football-related incomes. While the policy has attracted considerable attention from the economic and social sciences, very few contributions systematically investigate it from a philosophical-ethical perspective. The present paper fills this research gap by posing questions on FFP in relation to fair play as a normative concept. We draw on sport economic assessments concerning potential outcomes of FFP and argue that the policy should go beyond the mere pragmatic goal of promoting financial sustainability and truly aim for creating a level playing field, otherwise it should not be labeled ‘fair play’.     

Conspiracy theories on the basis of the evidence

Synthese - Conspiracy theories are often portrayed as unwarranted beliefs, typically supported by suspicious kinds of evidence. Yet contemporary work in Philosophy argues provisional belief in...