A Test and Extension of the Demand/Control/Social Support Model: Prediction of Wellness/Health Outcomes in Greek Teachers

The present study investigated the relationship between job characteristics, coping strategies and job satisfaction, burnout and somatic complaints in 215 Greek secondary school teachers in the urban area of Thessaloniki, as part of the EUROTEACH project (11 countries, 2164 teachers). The study aimed at testing the hypotheses of the Demand-Control-Social support model (Karasek, <citeref rid="bib20">1979</citeref>); and examining whether additional job characteristics (working hours, environmental risks, meaningfulness and physical exertion) as well as the inclusion of coping strategies could improve the model. Instruments included the Leiden Quality of Work Questionnaire for Teachers; the SCL-90 somatisation scale; the Maslach Burnout Inventory; and the CISS. Results indicated that all three components of the original model are associated with the outcomes with some associations being nonlinear. However, the moderating effects of control and social support are not supported by the data. Regarding coping, results indicated that coping variables can explain variance in most of the outcomes of the study, in addition to all job characteristics. Regarding the additional job characteristics, meaningfulness of work is the most important predictor. In order to understand these findings better, the Greek data were compared to that of the EUROTEACH group. This comparison revealed that the Greek teachers differ from their European counterparts in most study variables. The direction is mainly to the positive side, with the exception of the experience of less control on the job. The implications of these findings concerning model-based studies on teachers are discussed.     

Emotional dimensions as determinants of self-focused attention

Negative emotions, and particularly sadness, have been found to induce self-focused attention among both depressed and normal individuals. However, positive emotion, such as happiness, is sometimes found to have a similar effect. The present study examines the effect of emotion on self-focus induction by looking separately at the emotional dimensions of valence and arousal. It postulates that arousal would be even more potent than valence in increasing self-focus, since it increases the salience of the self. Results of Experiment 1 showed that emotions that are both intense and negative, such as fear, induce the most self-focus, but pleasant relaxation also resulted in increased self-focusing. Experiment 2, using a similar design, replicated the arousal effect, and showed that fear and joy, the two most arousing emotions resulted in the most self-focus.     

Facial reactions to violent and comedy films: Association with callous–unemotional traits and impulsive aggression

The current study adds to prior research by investigating specific (happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, anger and fear) and general (corrugator and zygomatic muscle activity) facial reactions to violent and comedy films among individuals with varying levels of callous–unemotional (CU) traits and impulsive aggression (IA). Participants at differential risk of CU traits and IA were selected from a sample of 1225 young adults. In Experiment 1, participants (N?=?82) facial expressions were recorded while they watched violent and comedy films. Video footage of participants' facial expressions was analysed using FaceReader, a facial coding software that classifies facial reactions. Findings suggested that individuals with elevated CU traits showed reduced facial reactions of sadness and disgust to violent films, indicating low empathic concern in response to victims' distress. In contrast, impulsive aggressors produced specifically more angry facial expressions when viewing violent and comedy films. In Experiment 2 (N?=?86), facial reactions were measured by monitoring facial electromyography activity. FaceReader findings were verified by the reduced facial electromyography at the corrugator, but not the zygomatic, muscle in response to violent films shown by individuals high in CU traits. Additional analysis suggested that sympathy to victims explained the association between CU traits and reduced facial reactions to violent films.     

The Role of Self-Focus,Task Difficulty,Task Self-Relevance,and Evaluation Anxiety in Reaction Time Performance

Self-focused attention has been found to facilitate task performance in some instances and inhibit it in others. Among chronically anxious individuals it appears to consistently hinder performance. Less is known about the impact of self-focus on the performance of normal individuals. The present study examines the role of task difficulty, task self-relevance, and presence of evaluation anxiety in the performance effects of self-focus among normal individuals. Participants performed a simple reaction time (RT) and a lexical decision task, in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, with or without self-focus. Self-focus and evaluation anxiety resulted in faster responding in simple RT, but there was no significant effect of self-focus on performance in the more difficult lexical decision task. Participants' heart rate (HR) was monitored and indicated that orienting was associated with slower RT in both experiments, and less orienting was found during self-focus and evaluation conditions. Results are interpreted in light of several self-focus theories.     

The influence of negligence, intention, and outcome on children’s moral judgments

Piaget (1932) and subsequent researchers have reported that young children’s moral judgments are based more on the outcomes of actions than on the agents’ intentions. The current study investigated whether negligence might also influence these judgments and explain children’s apparent focus on outcome. Children (3–8 years of age) and adults (N = 139) rated accidental actions in which the valences of intention, negligence, and outcome were varied systematically. Participants of all ages were influenced primarily by intention, and well-intentioned actions were also evaluated according to negligence and outcome. Only two young children based their judgments solely on outcome. It is suggested that previous studies have underestimated children’s use of intention because outcome and negligence have been confounded. Negative consequences are considered to be important because children assume that they are caused by negligence. The findings indicate that young children can show sophisticated understanding of the roles of intention and negligence in moral judgments.     

A desire to be taught: Instructional consequences of intrinsic motivation

This paper summarizes the results from a series of studies designed to test the hypothesis that making learning more fun will produce corresponding increases both in learning and retention and in subsequent interest in the subject matter itself. Each study examined the effects of two or more versions of an educational activity, each designed to involve identical instructional content, but to differ in motivational appeal. The data from the studies presented provide good general support for the hypothesized cognitive and motivational benefits of appropriately designed motivational embellishments of educational activities. Exceptions to this rule, however, and a more general theoretical analysis of the conditions under which such positive effects are (and are not) expected to occur, are also discussed.This research was supported, in part, by research grant HD-17371 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Mark R. Lepper.     

Counseling Juvenile Offenders: A Program Evaluation

This article reviews the results of the effectiveness of counseling services provided by the Juvenile Counseling and Assessment Program (JCAP) of the Juvenile Court of Clarke County, Georgia. Individual and group counseling services were provided for 55 male and female adjudicated delinquent youths, ages 9 to 17, over a period of 4 to 6 months. The recidivism rates of the youths who had received counseling services were compared to the recidivism rates of a control group that had not received counseling services.     

Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm.

Two experiments demonstrated that self-perceptions and social perceptions may persevere after the initial basis for such perceptions has been completely discredited. In both studies subjects first received false feedback, indicating that they had either succeeded or failed on a novel discrimination task and then were thoroughly debriefed concerning the predetermined and random nature of this outcome manipulation. In experiment 2, both the initial outcome manipulation and subsequent debriefing were watched and overheard by observers. Both actors and observers showed substantial perseverance of initial impressions concerning the actors' performance and abilities following a standard "outcome" debriefing. "Process" debriefing, in which explicit discussion of the perseverance process was provided, generally proved sufficient to eliminate erroneous self-perceptions. Biased attribution processes that might underlie perserverance phenomena and the implications of the present data for the ethical conduct of deception research are discussed.