Implicit Theories of Well-Being Predict Well-Being and the Endorsement of Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes

The current studies investigated whether beliefs concerning the malleability or immutability of well-being (i.e., incremental and entity implicit theories of well-being, respectively) are predictive of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and of the endorsement of activities conducive to well-being. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that, relative to entity theory endorsement, the endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicted greater hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, regression analyses showed that these associations remained when including scores on measures of socially desirable responding, implicit theories of ability, and related variables of striving for personal growth, hope, and character strengths usage. Study 3 showed that greater endorsement of an incremental theory of well-being predicted greater perceived utility of well-being activities. Study 4 showed that an experimentally-induced incremental theory of well-being caused greater endorsement of well-being activities than an experimentally-induced entity theory of well-being. These findings suggest that amenability toward, and responsiveness to, existing well-being interventions may be fostered by an incremental theory of well-being. Furthermore, they suggest that cultivating an incremental mindset regarding well-being may facilitate adaptive functioning and, thereby, serve as a well-being intervention.     

Strength of German accent under altered auditory feedback

Borden’s (1979, 1980) hypothesis that speakers with vulnerable speech systems rely more heavily on feedback monitoring than do speakers with less vulnerable systems was investigated. The second language (L2) of a speaker is vulnerable, in comparison with the native language, so alteration to feedback should have a detrimental effect on it, according to this hypothesis. Here, we specifically examined whether altered auditory feedback has an effect on accent strength when speakers speak L2. There were three stages in the experiment. First, 6 German speakers who were fluent in English (their L2) were recorded under six conditions—normal listening, amplified voice level, voice shifted in frequency, delayed auditory feedback, and slowed and accelerated speech rate conditions. Second, judges were trained to rate accent strength. Training was assessed by whether it was successful in separating German speakers speaking English from native English speakers, also speaking English. In the final stage, the judges ranked recordings of each speaker from the first stage as to increasing strength of German accent. The results show that accents were more pronounced under frequency-shifted and delayed auditory feedback conditions than under normal or amplified feedback conditions. Control tests were done to ensure that listeners were judging accent, rather than fluency changes caused by altered auditory feedback. The findings are discussed in terms of Borden’s hypothesis and other accounts about why altered auditory feedback disrupts speech control.     

Spirituality and Women's Midlife Development

This qualitative study describes midlife spiritual practices of 2 groups of minority women, 1 lesbian/bisexual group and 1 Black group. Each group attended 3 focus group meetings in New York City. Grounded theory was used for data analysis. Implications for counselors working with middle‐aged women were discussed.     

Paired associate learning in reading-disabled children: evidence for a rule-learning deficiency

Two experiments examined whether normal and disabled readers differed in the utilization of rules in a paired associate learning task. Experiment 1 required children to learn symbol-word associates. Children were assigned to one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule was based on semantic opposites. Subjects benefited from having the rule, but disabled readers showed less improvement across four test blocks than both chronological age (CA) controls and reading age (RA) controls, particularly in the inconsistent condition. Experiment 2 required subjects to learn symbol-symbol associations in one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule specified the locations of a subsidiary figure in each symbol according to the pattern top-right, bottom-left. Disabled and normal readers did not differ in the nonrule condition where reliance on visual memory would be an effective strategy. Normal readers were superior to disabled readers in both rule conditions. In addition, disabled readers in the inconsistent rule condition were less able than normal readers to apply the rule in a generalization task where memory demands were reduced. Results supported the hypothesis that disabled readers have greater difficulty than normal readers inducing and/or using rules, particularly when they are inconsistent. It is suggested that difficulties in acquiring or using complex and inconsistent rules may be one important source of problems learning spelling-sound correspondence rules, which in English are complex and inconsistent.     

The measurement of perceived opportunity for occupational attainment

Many writers implicate perceptions of the opportunity structure in the labor market as essential components of the formation, stability, and enactment of socioeconomic achievement attitudes. These perceptions of opportunity are thought to be observed structural constraints and reflective of more than just pure motivation. Previous attempts at measuring “perceived opportunity” have no consistent approach or conceptualization. This study evaluates a 10-item scale of perceived occupational opportunity in an attempt to overcome many of these problems. Using panel data covering the period of career decision making and labor force entry (adolescence to young adulthood), the internal reliability and construct validity of the linear composite are assessed. The scale's external validity is then further explored within the context of a structural equation model linking perceived opportunity to social origins, adolescent career plans, and early socioeconomic attainments.     

Theories of language acquisition

Prior to the advent of generative grammar, theoretical approaches to language development relied heavily upon the concepts ofdifferential reinforcement andimitation. Current studies of linguistic acquisition are largely dominated by the hypothesis that the child constructs his language on the basis of a primitive grammar which gradually evolves into a more complex grammar. This approach presupposes that the investigator does not impose his own grammatical rules on the utterances of the child; that the sound system of the child and the rules he employs to form sentences are to be described in their own terms, independently of the model provided by the adult linguistic community; and that there is a series of steps or stages through which the child passes on his way toward mastery of the adult grammar in his linguistic environment. This paper attempts to trace the development of human vocalization through prelinguistic stages to the development of what can be clearly recognized as language behavior, and then progresses to transitional phases in which the language of the child begins to approximate that of the adult model. In the view of the authors, the most challenging problems which confront theories of linguistic acquisition arise in seeking to account for structure of sound sequences, in the rules that enable the speaker to go from meaning to sound and which enable the listener to go from sound to meaning. The principal area of concern for the investigator, according to the authors, is the discovery of those rules at various stages of the learning process. The paper concludes with a return to the question of what constitutes an adequate theory of language ontogenesis. It is suggested that such a theory will have to be keyed to theories of cognitive development and will have to include and go beyond a theory which accounts for adult language competence and performance, since these represent only the terminal stage of linguistic ontogenesis.