Cultural Variations in Reasons for Advice Seeking

Five studies examined cultural differences in reasons for advice‐seeking behaviors. Content analyses in Study 1A and self‐ratings in Study 1B consistently revealed that Euro‐Canadians were more likely than East Asians (mainly Chinese) to seek advice for informational reasons, whereas East Asians were more likely than Euro‐Canadians to seek advice for relational reasons. Study 2A showed that Chinese displayed a higher level of relationship concern than Euro‐Canadians in deciding from whom to seek advice in a decision dilemma. Study 2B found that, although Chinese and Euro‐Canadians did not differ from each other on willingness to pay for informational advice, Chinese were willing to pay more for building a relationship with the advisor through advice seeking than Euro‐Canadians were. Study 3 explored how the advice giver might perceive an advice seeker in terms of their competence and the closeness of their relationship after advice was sought for various reasons. We found that relationally oriented advice seeking increased the perceived competence of the advice seeker among Chinese more than among Euro‐Canadians. Information‐oriented advice seeking increased the perceived closeness between the advice seeker and advice giver among Chinese more than among Euro‐Canadians. Implications for other aspects of advice exchange are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Subjective cognitive effort: a model of states, traits, and time

Self-regulation theories were used to develop a dynamic model of the determinants of subjective cognitive effort. The authors assessed the roles of malleable states and stable individual differences. Subjective cognitive effort and perceived difficulty were measured while individuals performed an air traffic control task. As expected, Conscientiousness moderated the effort trajectory. Individuals with high Conscientiousness maintained subjective cognitive effort at high levels for longer than their counterparts. There were also individual differences in reactions to perceptions of task difficulty. The intra-individual relationship between perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort was stronger for individuals with low ability or low Conscientiousness than for their counterparts. A follow-up study showed that the measures of perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort were sensitive to a task difficulty manipulation as well as that the relationship between perceived difficulty and subjective cognitive effort held after controlling for self-set goal level. These findings contribute to the self-regulation literature by identifying factors that influence changes in subjective cognitive effort during skill acquisition.     

Supportive adult relationships and the academic engagement of Latin American immigrant youth

The central aim of this study was to explore the academic engagement trajectories of a sample of recently arrived immigrant students from Latin America. Using an analytic framework that can dynamically model time-sensitive fluctuations (HLM; [Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchicical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods (2nd Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications]), we explored how initial engagement, gender, and support from caring adults at school shaped youths' engagement over time. Students reported a range of engagement trajectories, with gender and support emerging as important predictors of youths' engagement trajectories. Additionally, perceptions of support fluctuated from year to year, and these fluctuations were linked to youths' academic engagement. The findings point to associations between support perceptions and engagement, including links between students' current academic motivation and effort and their current connections with adults. Taken together, the findings present a nuanced portrait of academic engagement and suggest how relationships at school might facilitate positive academic adjustment among Latin American immigrant students over time. Implications for future research, public policy, and practice are discussed.     

What can Examining the Psychology of Nationalism Tell Us About Our Prospects for Aiming at the Cosmopolitan Vision?

Opponents of cosmopolitanism often dismiss the position on the grounds that cosmopolitan proposals are completely unrealistic and that they fly in the face of our human nature. We have deep psychological needs that are satisfied by national identification and so all cosmopolitan projects are doomed, or so it is argued. In this essay we examine the psychological grounds claimed to support the importance of nationalism to our wellbeing. We argue that the alleged human needs that nationalism is said to satisfy are: (i) either more complex than initially one might think or (ii) do not necessarily provide very strong grounds for the theses advocated by nationalists or (iii) can be well met in alternate ways than through national identification. Moreover, commitment to cosmopolitanism is not antithetical to meeting these needs: rather, more cosmopolitan worldviews can do quite well in meeting the needs of interest. Moreover, we argue that since nationalism is a fluid and socially constructed phenomenon, quite open to the influence of other factors, the current evidence suggests that central aspects of cosmopolitanism are quite feasible and realistic.

External support for collaborative problem solving in a simulated provider/patient medication scheduling task

Taking medication requires developing plans to accomplish the activity. This planning challenges older adults because of age-related cognitive limits and inadequate collaboration with health providers. The authors investigated whether an external aid (medtable) supports collaborative planning in the context of a simulated patient/provider task in which pairs of older adults worked together to create medication schedules. Experiment 1 compared pairs who used the medtable, blank paper (unstructured aid), or no aid to create schedules varying in complexity of medication constraints (number of medications and medication co-occurrence restrictions) and patient constraints (available times during the day to take medication). Both aids increased problem-solving accuracy and efficiency (time per unit accuracy) compared to the no-aid condition, primarily for more complex schedules. However, benefits were similar for the two aids. In Experiment 2, a redesigned medtable increased problem-solving accuracy and efficiency compared to blank paper. Both aids presumably supported problem solving by providing a jointly visible workspace for developing schedules. The medtable may be more effective because it externalizes constraints (relationships between medication and patient information), so that participants can more easily organize information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Psychotropic placebos reduce the misinformation effect by increasing monitoring at test

A psychotropic placebo can help people resist the misinformation effect, an effect thought to be caused by a shift to more stringent source monitoring. When this shift occurs has been unclear. To address this issue we gave some people - but not others - a phoney cognitive-enhancing drug we called R273. Shortly afterwards, everyone took part in a misinformation effect experiment. To gather evidence about source monitoring we surreptitiously recorded time to read the misleading postevent narrative, and response time at test. Our findings suggest that people shifted to more stringent source monitoring at test. Moreover, people with higher working memory capacity (WMC) performed better than people with lower WMC - but only when they were told they had received R273, a finding that fits with research showing that WMC can confer advantages in situations demanding effortful control, but not when automatic heuristics suffice.     

Racial identity beliefs and academic achievement: does being black hold students back?

The examination of a student’s racial identity beliefs along with the extent to which being Black is a central part of his or her self-concept provides a novel, insightful approach to understanding the relationship between racial identity and academic achievement (Chavous et al., 2003,). Using Sellers et al. (1998a) Multi-dimensional Model of Black Identity (MMBI) as a framework, this study investigated racial centrality, public regard and private regard beliefs in relation to the grade point average of African–American high-school students. A total of 289 African–American students from a large urban district participated in this study. Cluster analyses conducted on the three subscales of the MMBI on separate samples of 9th and 12th grade students replicated three of four racial identity profile groups previously identified by Chavous et al. (2003). Additionally, among both 9th and 12th grade students, Alienated students achieved significantly higher grade point averages than did Idealized students.