Motivation gains of inferior group members: a meta-analytical review

In recent years, a growing number of studies have demonstrated that individuals can exert higher motivation when working in a group compared to working individually. This is particularly true for less capable, inferior group members. To aggregate these findings and to examine preconditions as well as moderating influences on motivation gains of inferior group members, the authors conducted a meta-analysis (17 studies, N=2,240). Results indicated that the overall motivation gain effect of inferior group members observed is moderate and significant (g=.60). Moderator analyses revealed substantial influences of task structure, performance information, physical presence, gender, and task type.     

Mere exposure and the endowment effect on consumer decision making

Previous researchers (e.g., J. A. Bargh, 1992, 2002) demonstrated the importance of nonconscious processes on consumer choice behavior. Using an advertisement, the authors determined the effect of two nonconscious processes--the mere exposure effect, which increases object preference by increasing consumer exposure to an object, and the endowment effect, which increases object valuation by providing consumer possession of an object--on consumer behavior. Although the mere exposure effect and endowment effect did not produce an interaction, they produced independent effects. The endowment effect increased object valuation but not object preference. The mere exposure effect increased object preference but not object valuation. Thus, at the unconscious level, an increase in object preference does not lead to an increase in object valuation, nor does an increase in object valuation lead to an increase in object preference. The authors discuss the importance of developing measures of unconscious process in advertising effectiveness.     

Temperamental dimension and anxiety problems in a clinical sample of three- to six-year old children: a study of variables

In the last few years, many researchers have studied the presence of common dimensions of temperament in subjects with symptoms of anxiety. The aim of this study is to examine the association between temperamental dimensions (high negative affect and activity level) and anxiety problems in clinical preschool children. A total of 38 children, ages 3 to 6 years, from the Infant and Adolescent Mental Health Center of Girona and the Center of Diagnosis and Early Attention of Sabadell and Olot were evaluated by parents and psychologists. Their parents completed several screening scales and, subsequently, clinical child psychopathology professionals carried out diagnostic interviews with children from the sample who presented signs of anxiety. Findings showed that children with high levels of negative affect and low activity level have pronounced symptoms of anxiety. However, children with anxiety disorders do not present different temperament styles from their peers without these pathologies.     

Assessing workplace bullying: Spanish validation of a reduced version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire

The aim of the present study was to validate a reduced Spanish version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ; Einarsen & Raknes, 1997). This instrument, which has been widely used in various studies, was developed to measure workplace bullying. Two samples, the first comprising 352 employees from 11 organizations, and the second comprising victims of bullying who were recruited from 15 Spanish associations against bullying, participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis conducted with the data from the first sample revealed a two-factor solution that accounted for 63.3% of the total variance. The data from the second sample were used for confirmatory factor analyses to compare three structure models of the NAQ (one factor, two independent factors, and two correlated factors). The results indicate that the correlated two-factor model provided the best fit to the data (chi2/df = 2.1, CFI = .93, GFI = .95, RMR = .04, RMSEA = .06, AIC = 215.4). Reliability analysis showed that this 14-item Spanish version had high internal consistency. Significant correlations between the NAQ and its dimensions and diverse health and perceived stress scales were found, which provided evidence of construct validity. Taken conjointly, the results of this study support the use of the Spanish version of the reduced NAQ in future research.     

Computer speech-based remediation for reading disabilities: the size of spelling-to-sound unit in a transparent orthography

This study was designed to assess the effects of four reading-training procedures for children with reading disabilities (RD) in a transparent orthography, with the aim of examining the effects of different spelling-to-sound units in computer speech-based reading. We selected a sample of 83 Spanish children aged between 7 years 1 month and 10 years 6 months (M = 105.2, SD = 7.8) whose pseudoword reading performance was below the 25th percentile and IQ > 90. The participants were randomly assigned to five groups: (a) the whole-word training group (WW) (n = 17), (b) the syllable training group (S)(n = 16), (c) the onset-rime training group (OR) (n = 17), (d) the phoneme training group (P) (n = 15), and (e) the untrained control group (n = 18). Children were pre- and post-tested in word recognition, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, and orthographic and phonological tasks. The results indicate that experimental groups who participated in the phoneme and syllable conditions improved their word recognition in comparison with the control group. In addition, dyslexics who participated in the phoneme, syllable, and onset-rime conditions made a greater number of requests during computer-based word reading under conditions that required extensive phonological computation (low frequency words and long words). Reading time, however, was greater for long words in the phoneme group during computer-based reading. These results suggest the importance of training phonological processes in improving word decoding in children with dyslexia who learn in a consistent orthography.     

Evidence of a shift from featural to configural face processing in infancy

Two experiments examined whether 4-, 6-, and 10-month-old infants process natural looking faces by feature, i.e. processing internal facial features independently of the facial context or holistically by processing the features in conjunction with the facial context. Infants were habituated to two faces and looking time was measured. After habituation they were tested with a habituation face, a switch-face, or a novel face. In the switch-faces, the eyes and mouth of the habituation faces were switched. The results showed that the 4-month-olds processed eyes and mouth by feature, whereas the 10-month-olds processed both features holistically. The 6-month-olds were in a transitional stage where they processed the mouth holistically but the eyes still as a feature. Thus, the results demonstrated a shift from featural to holistic processing in the age range of 4 to 10 months.     

On pedagogy

Humans are adapted to spontaneously transfer relevant cultural knowledge to conspecifics and to fast-learn the contents of such teaching through a human-specific social learning system called 'pedagogy' (Csibra & Gergely, 2006). Pedagogical knowledge transfer is triggered by specific communicative cues (such as eye-contact, contingent reactivity, the prosodic pattern of 'motherese', and being addressed by one's own name). Infants show special sensitivity to such 'ostensive' cues that signal the teacher's communicative intention to manifest new and relevant knowledge about a referent object. Pedagogy offers a novel functional perspective to interpret a variety of early emerging triadic communicative interactions between adults and infants about novel objects they are jointly attending to. The currently dominant interpretation of such triadic communications (mindreading) holds that infants interpret others' object-directed manifestations in terms of subjective mental states (such as emotions, dispositions, or intentions) that they attribute to the other person's mind. We contrast the pedagogical versus the mindreading account in a new study testing 14-month-olds' interpretation of others' object-directed emotion expressions observed in a communicative cueing context. We end by discussing the far-reaching implications of the pedagogical perspective for a wide range of early social-cognitive competences, and for providing new directions for future research on child development.