Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures

Close relationship partners often share successes and triumphs with one another, but this experience is rarely the focus of empirical study. In this study, 79 dating couples completed measures of relationship well-being and then participated in videotaped interactions in which they took turns discussing recent positive and negative events. Disclosers rated how understood, validated, and cared for they felt in each discussion, and outside observers coded responders' behavior. Both self-report data and observational codes showed that 2 months later, responses to positive event discussions were more closely related to relationship well-being and break-up than were responses to negative event discussions. The results are discussed in terms of the recurrent, but often overlooked, role that positive emotional exchanges play in building relationship resources.     

Preschoolers' attention and emotion in an achievement and an effect game: A longitudinal study

Understanding positive emotions' shared and differentiating features can yield valuable insight into the structure of positive emotion space and identify emotion states, or aspects of emotion states, that are most relevant for particular psychological processes and outcomes. We report two studies that examined core relational themes (Study 1) and expressive displays (Study 2) for eight positive emotion constructs—amusement, awe, contentment, gratitude, interest, joy, love, and pride. Across studies, all eight emotions shared one quality: high positive valence. Distinctive core relational theme and expressive display patterns were found for four emotions—amusement, awe, interest, and pride. Gratitude was associated with a distinct core relational theme but not an expressive display. Joy and love were each associated with a distinct expressive display but their core relational themes also characterised pride and gratitude, respectively. Contentment was associated with a distinct expressive display but not a core relational theme. The implications of this work for the study of positive emotion are discussed.     

A Unified Latent Curve,Latent State-Trait Analysis of the Developmental Trajectories and Correlates of Positive Orientation

The subgrouping strategy has been employed in a number of studies (Fredriksen &; Gilbert, 1960; Fredriksen &; Melville, 1964; Ghiselli, 1956; Klein, Rock &; Evans, 1968; Rock, Evans &; Klein, 1969; Malnig, 1969). In each of these studies it was shown that after partitioning a sample into g subgroups and performing a separate regression analysis within each group, one could identify one or more subgroups having a larger multiple correlation than the total sample regression. An important question is whether this type of result will be maintained under cross validation.     

Predictors of reading fluency in Italian orthography: Evidence from a cross-sectional study of primary school students

This study investigates the role of linguistic and visuospatial attentional processes in predicting reading fluency in typical Italian readers attending primary school. Tasks were administered to 651 children with reading fluency z scores > ?1.5 standard deviation to evaluate their phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, visual search skills, verbal-visual recall, and visual-spatial attention. Hybrid models combining confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to evaluate the data obtained from younger (first and second grade) and older (third–fifth grade) children, respectively. The results showed that phonological awareness and RAN played a significant role among younger children, while also vocabulary, verbal short-term memory, and visuospatial attention were significant factors among older children.     

A response to commentaries on positivity

In our response, we aim to further contribute to the ongoing discussion of the construct of positivity and of the related research. We believe that each of the three commentaries has something unique to offer to the literature. By this response we take the opportunity to discuss the ideas that they present, and to illustrate some additional thoughts about positivity and its relationships with germane psychological constructs.     

The contribution of personality traits and self‐efficacy beliefs to academic achievement: A longitudinal study

Background. The personal determinants of academic achievement and success have captured the attention of many scholars for the last decades. Among other factors, personality traits and self‐efficacy beliefs have proved to be important predictors of academic achievement. Aims. The present study examines the unique contribution and the pathways through which traits (i.e., openness and conscientiousness) and academic self‐efficacy beliefs are conducive to academic achievement at the end of junior and senior high school. Sample. Participants were 412 Italian students, 196 boys and 216 girls, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years. Methods. The hypothesized relations among the variables were tested within the framework of structural equation model. Results and conclusions. Openness and academic self‐efficacy at the age of 13 contributed to junior high‐school grades, after controlling for socio‐economic status (SES). Junior high‐school grades contribute to academic self‐efficacy beliefs at the age of 16, which in turn contributed to high‐school grades, over and above the effects of SES and prior academic achievement. In accordance with the posited hypothesis, academic self‐efficacy beliefs partially mediated the contribution of traits to later academic achievement. In particular, conscientiousness at the age of 13 affected high‐school grades indirectly, through its effect on academic self‐efficacy beliefs at the age of 16. These findings have broad implications for interventions aimed to enhance children's academic pursuits. Whereas personality traits represent stable individual characteristics that mostly derive from individual genetic endowment, social cognitive theory provides guidelines for enhancing students’ efficacy to regulate their learning activities.     

A visit paid to Jung by Alwine von Keller

In the winter of 1943-1944, Jung had suffered a coronary thrombosis which almost cost him his life. During his illness, Jung experienced a series of visions, described in his Memories, Dreams, Reflections, which were also to influence significantly the development of his theoretical thinking. On 27(th) September 1944, Alwine von Keller (1878-1965) paid a visit to Jung, while he was still convalescing, in Zurich and documented her meeting with him in a series of notes, recently discovered, which testify to the fact that, at the time of their meeting, Jung was engaged in writing the 'Salt' chapter of Mysterium coniunctionis and investigating the alchemistic symbolism of the 'sea'. This theme seems to testify to a continuity of interests on Jung's part with the seminar he held at Eranos the previous year on the cartographic art of Opicinus de Canistris (1296-c.1352). With its addition of many unpublished details, Alwine von Keller's notes supplement the report which Jung made of his visions experienced during his sickness in MDR. In particular, these attest to the fact that Jung had attributed the terrible experience which he had endured to the problem of the conjunctio, which was confronting him from the theoretical point of view in his writing of Mysterium coniunctionis.     

Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs as determinants of job satisfaction and students' academic achievement: A study at the school level

Teachers' self-efficacy beliefs were examined as determinants of their job satisfaction and students' academic achievement. Over 2000 teachers in 75 Italian junior high schools were administered self-report questionnaires to assess self-efficacy beliefs and their job satisfaction Students' average final grades at the end of junior high school were collected in two subsequent scholastic years. Structural equation modeling analyses corroborated a conceptual model in which teachers' personal efficacy beliefs affected their job satisfaction and students' academic achievement, controlling for previous levels of achievement.