Pressure to cooperate: Is positive reward interdependence really needed in cooperative learning?

Background. Despite extensive research on cooperative learning, the debate regarding whether or not its effectiveness depends on positive reward interdependence has not yet found clear evidence. Aims. We tested the hypothesis that positive reward interdependence, as compared to reward independence, enhances cooperative learning only if learners work on a ‘routine task’; if the learners work on a ‘true group task’, positive reward interdependence induces the same level of learning as reward independence. Sample. The study involved 62 psychology students during regular workshops. Method. Students worked on two psychology texts in cooperative dyads for three sessions. The type of task was manipulated through resource interdependence: students worked on either identical (routine task) or complementary (true group task) information. Students expected to be assessed with a Multiple Choice Test (MCT) on the two texts. The MCT assessment type was introduced according to two reward interdependence conditions, either individual (reward independence) or common (positive reward interdependence). A follow‐up individual test took place 4 weeks after the third session of dyadic work to examine individual learning. Results. The predicted interaction between the two types of interdependence was significant, indicating that students learned more with positive reward interdependence than with reward independence when they worked on identical information (routine task), whereas students who worked on complementary information (group task) learned the same with or without reward interdependence. Conclusions. This experiment sheds light on the conditions under which positive reward interdependence enhances cooperative learning, and suggests that creating a real group task allows to avoid the need for positive reward interdependence.     

Inattentive behaviour is associated with poor working memory and slow processing speed in very pre‐term children in middle childhood

Background. Problem behaviour is common following pre‐term birth, but the underlying nature of these difficulties is not well known. Aims. We sought to establish the mechanisms underpinning behavioural difficulties in very pre‐term (VPT) children in middle childhood by comparing their performance to that of term born peers on tasks of working memory, inhibition, and processing speed, and relating these to parent and teacher assessments of their behaviour. Particular focus was given to inattention and overactive/impulsive behaviour, as these behaviours have been associated with different neuropsychological problems in term children. Samples. A group of VPT children (gestational age < 31 weeks, N= 56) aged 9–10 years and term controls (N= 22) participated in the study. Method. Children were assessed with measures of working memory, inhibition, and processing speed. Parents and teachers reported behavioural problems using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and two additional scales measuring overactive/impulsive behaviour and inattention. Results. Results revealed increased rates of problem behaviour in VPT compared to term children for parent‐rated total difficulties, hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems, prosocial behaviour, overactive/impulsive behaviour, and parent‐ and teacher‐rated inattention. Processing speed and working memory, but not inhibition, were significantly related to inattentive and overactive/impulsive behaviour. Conclusions. The increased rates of inattention and overactive/impulsive behaviour in VPT children may be explained by impairment in processing speed and working memory. Expected links between overactive/impulsive behaviour and inhibitory control were not identified, suggesting the nature of such difficulties may be different in VPT compared to term children.     

Effects of music on vocal stereotypy in children with autism

We examined the effects of manipulating the intensity (i.e., volume) of music on engagement in vocal stereotypy in 2 children with autism. Noncontingent access to music decreased immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy for each participant, but it produced only marginal effects on subsequent engagement in the behavior (i.e., after withdrawal). Manipulating the intensity of music did not produce differential effects on immediate engagement in vocal stereotypy. The implications of the results and applications for future research are discussed.     

Repression versus sensitization in response to media violence as predictors of cognitive avoidance and vigilance

Repression and sensitization as situational modes of coping with anxiety were examined as predictors of trait measures of cognitive avoidance and vigilance. In this study, 303 undergraduates saw a violent film clip to elicit anxiety. Increases in skin conductance level (SCL) and state anxiety (STA) from baseline were measured to identify repressors (high SCL, low STA) and contrast them with sensitizers (low SCL, high STA) and genuinely low anxious individuals (low SCL, low STA). State anger was also recorded. Trait measures of vigilance and cognitive avoidance were collected 2 weeks earlier. Significant SCL × STA interactions indicated that repressors scored higher on cognitive avoidance and lower on vigilance compared to sensitizers and low anxious participants. Repressors were less likely than sensitizers to report gaze avoidance during the clip. The anger by SCL interaction was nonsignificant, suggesting that repressors and sensitizers differ specifically in the processing of anxiety rather than negative affect in general.     

Youth and the Great Recession: Are values,achievement orientation and outlook to the future affected?

This special section brings together leading experts in psychology and sociology to examine the consequences of the Great Recession for young people's values, achievement orientation, and outlook to the future. Evidence from Europe and the United States suggests that the impact of the recession varies for distinct outcomes and by age, the latter pointing to potential sensitive periods for interventions. Although the direct effects of the recession are not strong, they accelerate pre‐existing trends towards more prolonged and precarious transitions to independence, and are likely to bring with them long‐term scarring with respect to health and well‐being. While feelings of self‐confidence and self‐worth have eroded, young people continue to subscribe to the “American Dream,” the belief that in principle it is possible to make it – even if limitations to one's own capabilities are recognised. Trust in institutions has declined, but support and concern for others have increased, suggesting that in times of economic hardship and uncertainty social relationships become more salient. Young people's response to the recession appears to be less of a “me‐first” reaction than “let's help each other”: a form of “collective agency” to counter the inadequacy of social safety nets.     

Children’s suggestion-induced omission errors are not caused by memory erasure

We explored whether children’s suggestion-induced omission errors are caused by memory erasure. Seventy-five children were instructed to remove three pieces of clothing from a puppet. Next, they were confronted with evidence falsely suggesting that one of the items had not been removed. During two subsequent interviews separated by one week, children had to report which pieces of clothing they had removed. Children who during both interviews failed to report that they had removed the pertinent item (i.e., omission error; n = 24) completed a choice reaction time task. In this task, they were presented with different clothing items. For each item, children had to indicate whether or not they had removed it. Significantly more errors were made for those removed items that children failed to report than for those they had not removed. This indicates that children’s suggestion-based omission errors are not due to erasure of memories.     

Implantation des messageries électroniques en Gendarmerie Nationale : quelles incidences sur la communication et l’information ?

This research is conduced a full year after the implementation of numerous instant messaging services within National Gendarmerie. The objective is to study their use and impact on communication and information management, considering the specificities of this military institution. Our methodology confronts semi-directive interviews with gendarmes and commanders, with observations of real-life, work situations. Results show a rapid integration of messaging systems by those agents. They facilitate a quick circulation of information that can sometimes be seen as too dense, easier communication with colleagues and civilians, a more accessible and much relied-upon command, and eventually transparency that is sometimes perceived as a feeling of control.     

THE FAUST CHALLENGE: SCIENCE AS DIABOLIC OR DIVINE

Abstract. The Faust motif provides an opportunity to explore the spectrum of attitudes among Christians toward science and technology by placing them into a historic context. Depending on one's understanding of the relationship of God and the world, the accomplishments of a Leonardo, a Paracelsus, a Faust, an Oppenheimer, or some future scientist credited with the “production” of the first successfully cloned human being can be interpreted as divine or diabolic in origin. I use the example of Faust to demonstrate that the Christian assessment of the scientific enterprise is closely correlated to the level of doctrinaire dualism informing the particular version of Christianity that inspires the assessment. I show that, contrary to what seems obvious, Faust's damnation originated not in medieval times but in early modern northern Europe, reflecting a dualistic obsession with human sinfulness more characteristic of Reformation Germany than of Renaissance Italy. Encouraged by hellfire‐and‐brimstone preachers, the common folk saw demons, devils, and witches in every dark corner, while humanist scholars sought to recapture the brilliant past of the Greeks and the Romans. Goethe's interpretation represents a return to earlier versions of the story, while some continue to accuse contemporary Faustians of Satanic connections for seeking forbidden knowledge and daring to play God by manipulating the stuff of life.     

Facilitating children's accurate responses: conversational rules and interview style

This study examined the effectiveness of teaching young children a set of social conversational rules as a method of reducing errors in children's memory reports. Forty children (aged 3 to 6 years) interacted with a confederate ‘teaching assistant.’ Three conversational rules were examined as possible means of decreasing inaccuracies. For comparison purposes, three placebo rules were also developed. To test the limitations of teaching young children a set of conversational rules, three interview styles (neutral, repetitive, accusatory) were used. Results indicated that children who received all three target rules provided a smaller proportion of incorrect responses than did children who received fewer target rules or than children in a placebo control group, regardless of interview style. Theoretical and applied issues are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Of course I remember seeing that film’—how ambiguous questions generate crashing memories

Although previous research has shown that people are willing to report having seen non‐existent footages of high publicity events, no study has looked at the potential boundaries of what has been dubbed the crashing memory paradigm. We examined whether the ambiguity of interview questions may lead some people to affirm without much conviction having seen non‐existent footages. Using ambiguous, specific high‐suggestive, specific low‐suggestive, or neutral questions, the current study asked 120 individuals whether they had seen non‐existent footage of the assassination of the famous Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. Replicating previous research, 63% of our participants in the ambiguous group falsely reported having seen the footage. This percentage dropped to 30% for the specific high‐suggestive as well as the specific low‐suggestive group, while still 27% of the neutral group were willing to make false reports. Our results demonstrate that crashing memories do depend on the way in which people are interviewed, but that question type does not fully account for these false reports. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.