Perceptual span,visual span,and visual attention span: Three potential ways to quantify limits on visual processing during reading

Many lines of evidence have revealed limitations of the human visual system, most notably that only a portion of available information is processed in a single glance. A degree of conceptual confusion has emerged, however, regarding the underlying concepts or mechanisms explaining limited visual processing in reading; perceptual span, visual span, or visual attention span. While the original definitions of these three concepts are clear and well-differentiated, they are routinely used inconsistently in the literature. The primary goal of the present review is to re-specify these three concepts in terms of what they correspond to and how they are determined. Further, we investigate whether these three spans refer to vision-related measurements and/or are based on general cognitive abilities. This review should lead to a better understanding of the involvement of visual functions in reading performance.     

Why mood affects help giving,but not moral courage: Comparing two types of prosocial behaviour

A long tradition in the help giving literature assumes that mood states determine the level of prosocial behaviour shown by individuals. Most research in this area has been conducted in the context of low cost prosocial behaviour, whereas research has been neglected in which participants were confronted with situations involving potential severe and dangerous negative consequences (i.e., high cost situations) with the help‐giver risking his moral integrity and social disapproval (i.e., moral courage). To address this gap in the literature, the present studies investigate differential effects of positive and negative compared with neutral mood states on help giving versus moral courage. Study 1 shows that in situations requiring low cost helping, participants were more likely to help in positive and negative moods than those in a neutral mood, whereas in situations requiring moral courage (high cost), participants were comparably likely to help in each of the three mood conditions. In Study 2, we find that salience of moral norms mediates the interaction between type of prosocial behaviour and mood. Finally, Study 3 investigates whether the apparent discrepancy between help giving and moral courage as established by the differential impact of mood states can be determined still differently. It reveals that justice sensibility, civil disobedience, resistance to group pressure, moral mandates, and anger lead to moral courage, but not to help giving. Differences between these two types of prosocial behaviour are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Student Learning Communities as Builders of Collective Efficacy

Abstract

Using the evidence from teacher professional learning communities, we explore the ways in which students can collaborate and build their collective efficacy.     

Investigating moral intensity with the world-wide web: A look at participant reactions and a comparison of methods

This paper reports the results of a vignette- and questionnaire-based research project over the World-Wide Web investigating the influence of moral intensity (MI) on decision making in a business context. A qualitative analysis of the feedback in terms of e-mail communications was used to provide insights into the reactions and responses of participants to both the research method and the topic of research. Implications are discussed, and some methodological recommendations are derived. Second, analysis of the quantitative results of the Web-based questionnaire administration indicated that three of the six MI components were particularly important determinants of several outcome variables. This pattern of results essentially replicated findings yielded by a previous mail administration of the survey, even though a smaller amount of variation in the outcome variables was accounted for. Neither occupational background nor the region of origin of participants measurably influenced the results.