Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS): Psychometric Properties with a Sample of Polish Adolescents

Applied Research in Quality of Life - The Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) is one of the most frequently used measures of children’s and adolescents’ overall satisfaction...     

Context reinstatement and memory for intrinsic versus extrinsic context: The role of item generation at encoding or retrieval

According to many theoretical accounts, reinstating study context at the time of test creates optimal circumstances for item retrieval. The role of context reinstatement was tested in reference to context memory in several experiments. On the encoding phase, participants were presented with words printed in two different font colors (intrinsic context) or two different sides of the computer screen (extrinsic context). At test, the context was reinstated or changed and participants were asked to recognize words and recollect their study context. Moreover, a read‐generate manipulation was introduced at encoding and retrieval, which was intended to influence the relative salience of item and context information. The results showed that context reinstatement had no effect on memory for extrinsic context but affected memory for intrinsic context when the item was generated at encoding and read at test. These results supported the hypothesis that context information is reconstructed at retrieval only when context was poorly encoded at study.     

Reversed better-than-average effect in direct comparisons of nonsocial stimuli depends on the set size

Studies on direct comparative judgments typically show that, for items that are positively evaluated, a single item randomly drawn from a larger set of similar items tends to be judged as better than average (the BTA effect). However, Windschitl, Conybeare, and Krizan (2008) demonstrated that, under timing conditions that do not favor focusing attention on the single item, the reversal of the BTA effect occurs. We report two experiments showing that the magnitude of the reversed BTA effect increases as a function of the size of a multiitem referent with which a single item target is compared. Specifically, in direct comparative judgments of the attractiveness of positively evaluated objects (nice-looking cloth buttons, attractive buildings, or cupcakes), underestimation of the attractiveness of singletons, as compared with a multiitem set (reversed BTA effect), increased with the increased set size. Analysis of absolute judgments obtained for singletons and for small and large multiitem sets suggests that, for attractive stimuli, both the reversed BTA effect in comparative judgments and its sensitivity to set size occur as a result of a positive relationship between set size and perceived attractiveness in absolute judgments.     

THE ABSENT JEWISH CHILD: PHOTOGRAPHY AND HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION IN POLAND

This article considers the representations of Holocaust in Poland by discussing the ways in which photographs of Jewish children are used in literature, film and public commemoration. It shows how a “postmemorial reading” of these images by, predominantly gentile, writers, directors and social actors might be viewed as an attempt to rhetorically fill the void left after the destruction of Poland's Jewish community and to project an image of a tolerant civic society. The article examines famous images, like the photo of the Warsaw Ghetto boy, with which this discussion begins, and lesser known pictures, such as the family photographs of Henio ?ytomirski from Lublin, which are examined towards the end of this article. While looking at these images, I reflect on the interaction between the visual representations of Jewish children, the memory of the Shoah in Poland and the fashioning of Polish national identity in the wake of the accession to European Union.     

Escaping the World: Linguistic Indicators of Suicide Attempts in Poets

The purpose of this study was to determine features of language use in the texts of poets who committed suicide and to identify psychological factors contributing to depression and suicide. Texts of suicidal and non-suicidal poets were analyzed via the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program. ANOVA and logistic regression analysis revealed predictors of suicide: higher percentage of words self-oriented, expressed negative emotions, ambiguity, exclusion attitude toward reality, and lower percentages of words related to others, world entitativity, and experiencing the world. The data support hypotheses that suicide is facilitated by weak social bonds, egocentrism, helplessness, and visions of an unordered, uncertain, and unsafe world.     

Physical and cognitive effort discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards

Effort discounting refers to the decrease in the subjective value of a reward as the effort required to obtain the reward increases. The main aims of this study were to ascertain whether the amount of the reward affects the steepness of the effort discounting process for hypothetical monetary rewards, to identify whether this steepness depends on the type of effort that is required, and to determine whether the steepness of different types of effort covary at the individual level. Two types of effort were studied under hypothetical choice situations: physical effort and cognitive effort. Both physical and cognitive effort discounting were well described by the hyperbolic model. Large rewards were discounted less steeply than small rewards for both types of effort. This finding agrees with the results of prior studies which have found that larger rewards have greater motivational power. In addition, the steepness of physical effort discounting was positively correlated with the steepness of cognitive effort discounting, which suggests that the effort discounting process is a trait‐like characteristic within an individual.     

Prevalence and Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Following Traumatic Brain Injuries in Children

The prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms following childhood traumatic brain injuries (TBI) were examined using data drawn from a prospective longitudinal study. Participants included 38 children with severe TBI, 51 with moderate TBI, and 55 with orthopedic injuries (OI). Assessments occurred shortly after injury (baseline) and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Children completed the Child Depression Inventory (CDI). Parents rated depressive symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), with baseline ratings reflecting premorbid status. Assessments also included measures of children's neurocognitive functioning and the family environment. The three groups did not differ overall in self-reported symptoms on the CDI, but did display different trends over time. The three groups did not differ on parent ratings of premorbid depressive symptoms on the CBC, but parents reported more depressive symptoms in the TBI groups than in the OI group at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Child and parent reports were correlated for children in the TBI groups, but not for those in the OI group. Depressive symptoms were related to socioeconomic status in all groups. Socioeconomic status also was a significant moderator of group differences, such that the effects of TBI were exacerbated in children from more disadvantaged homes. Although self-reports of depressive symptoms were related inconsistently to children's verbal memory, parent reports of depressive symptoms were unrelated to IQ or verbal memory. The findings suggest that TBI increases the risk of depressive symptoms, especially among more socially disadvantaged children, and that depressive symptoms are not strongly related to post-injury neurocognitive deficits.     

Motor Performance in the Third,Not the Second Month,Predicts Further Motor Development

ABSTRACT. The aim was to verify if motor performance at second or third month of life better predicts further development. The global motor development was assessed by a neurologist and by a physiotherapist in 111 children at 2, 3, 6, and 9 months. At 2 and 3 months a physiotherapist also performed the assessment of qualitative elements. The physiotherapeutic assessment in the third month showed higher compatibility with the neurological assessment. Proper motor performance at third month could ensure the level of at least 7 months in the ninth month of life. Qualitative score above 7 of 15 points in the third month ensured proper development in ninth month. Third month of life is a better predictor of further motor development.     

Gödelizing the Yablo Sequence

We investigate what happens when ‘truth’ is replaced with ‘provability’ in Yablo’s paradox. By diagonalization, appropriate sequences of sentences can be constructed. Such sequences contain no sentence decided by the background consistent and sufficiently strong arithmetical theory. If the provability predicate satisfies the derivability conditions, each such sentence is provably equivalent to the consistency statement and to the Gödel sentence. Thus each two such sentences are provably equivalent to each other. The same holds for the arithmetization of the existential Yablo paradox. We also look at a formulation which employs Rosser’s provability predicate.