Revisión del constructo lugar de control a partir de sus instrumentos de evaluación sobre poblaciones infantiles

Resumen

Se realiza una revisión de las principales escalas de evaluación de las Expectativas de Lugar de Control existentes para niños y adolescentes, tanto en lo concerniente a sus características formales como a su fiabilidad y validez de constructo. El objetivo doble que se persigue reside, en primer lugar, en ofrecer una información que permita al lector escoger la escala más apropiada en función de los intereses que persiga. En segundo lugar, analizar el constructo a partir del cumplimiento de las predicciones realizadas por los autores de las mismas. Se discuten, al final, los hallazgos revisados en el contexto de la teoría del Aprendizaje Social y de la naturaleza y capacidad predictiva del constructo.     

Subclinical social anxiety and academic performance in adolescence: analysis of theoretical and practical implications / Ansiedad social subclínica y rendimiento académico en la adolescencia: análisis de sus implicaciones teórico-prácticas

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between self-reported social anxiety and academic performance in a sample of 1,616 Spanish students (52.1% males) in compulsory secondary education, aged 12 to 16 years old. Social anxiety was assessed by the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) and academic performance was measured with school grades and failing grades. Results reveal that adolescents with social anxiety show a similar academic performance to adolescents without social anxiety. Although t tests found some significant differences in academic grades and number of failing grades, the effect size analysis showed that these differences had no empirical relevance. These findings are discussed considering the gender and grade levels and their theoretical and practical implication.     

Social practices,culture and children’s ideas. Convergence between anthropology and critical genetic psychology / Prácticas sociales,cultura e ideas infantiles. Una convergencia entre la antropología y la psicología genética crítica

Abstract

This article explores recent studies in anthropology and critical genetic psychology, both of which analyse the relationships between children’s constructions of social knowledge and sociocultural conditions. For this, we have used research studies that have initiated the dialogue between these disciplinary fields as well as to our own empirical approaches. In order to establish shared problems, recent conceptual developments are explored and their methodological implications are analysed. Finally, the compatibility between the two approaches is analysed.     

Aplicación de la psicología al estudio de los procedimientos policiales de recuerdo de personas

RESUMEN

En este artículo los autores aportan una visión de lo que se entiende por psicología del testimonio. Condensan los estudios sobre los procedimientos policiales de recuerdo de personas que se desarrollaron simulando las condiciones reales lo más exactamente posible, resaltando la capacidad de la ciencia psicológica en un campo “relativamente” nuevo y, a todas luces, aplicado. Comienzan por delimitar el área y describir los procedimientos policiales más difundidos en los diferentes países, comentando a continuación los resultados de las investigaciones psicológicas sobre los instrumentos genéricamente llamados “retratos-robot” y que, principalmente, han sido realizados en las universidades de Aberdeen (Escocia) y Houston (USA). En el último apartado sintetizan los datos más relevantes y finalizan subrayando la utilidad de la Psicología en este ámbito y la importancia de diseños experimentales cercanos a la realidad.     

New Spirituality and Social Engagement

New spirituality has often been accused of being egocentric and thus lacking incentives for social engagement. The discussion on this subject is tangled because authors differ in specifying who they are writing about and what the criticism is. After seeking an adequate demarcation of the target group (people involved in new spirituality), we established a concept of social engagement that distinguishes between behavior that is and that is not driven by egocentric motivation. Using measures based on this conceptual model, we surveyed a representative sample of the Dutch population. We found that on most measures people involved in new spirituality are less socially engaged than affiliated or traditionally religious people but more engaged than “secular” people. However, they are more committed to organizations for environmental protection, peace, or animal rights than others. Overall, demographic factors—especially education, age, and gender—are stronger predictors for social engagement than religious and spiritual beliefs, experiences, or practices. The most important spirituality variable that predicts some social engagement measures is connectedness with self, others, and nature.     

Virtual Reality Based Treatments in Eating Disorders and Obesity: A Review

Since the late 1990s the use of virtual reality (VR) has expanded in the field of mental disorders. During this time, several VR-based applications have been developed for the treatment of eating disorders (ED) and obesity. Both these pathologies involve disturbances related to eating behavior, weight, and body image. Although effective and well-established protocols are now available for the treatment of ED and obesity, relapses are frequent and a proportion of patients do not improve after intervention. In this context, VR has been shown to be a useful technology for enhancing traditional cognitive-oriented therapies. The main objective of this review was therefore to examine the evidence regarding the efficacy of VR-based treatments as a component of therapeutic interventions for ED and obesity. To this end, three databases (PsycInfo, Medline, and PsycArticles) were searched for the period 1986–2012. Only research articles and case studies were selected. Although several methodological deficiencies were detected in the reviewed studies, there is fair evidence for the effectiveness of VR-based treatments in ED and obesity. VR-based interventions usually combine exposure to VR environments with cognitive therapies. The VR component seems to be especially suitable for reducing body image disturbances, such as body image dissatisfaction, and for increasing self-esteem and self-efficacy. The rationale for the use of VR in these areas is also presented and discussed.     

The Effects of Objectives and Constraints on Motor Control Strategy in Reciprocal Aiming Movements

The goal of this study was to examine how the kinematics of reciprocal aiming movements were affected by both the objective of the movement and the constraints operating on that movement. In Experiment 1, the objective of the movement was indirectly manipulated by capitalizing on the fact that subjects determine their own accuracy and speed limits, despite uniform task instructions to move as quickly and accurately as possible. A Fitts' type reciprocal aiming paradigm was employed, in which 69 subjects were asked to move a stylus repetitively between two spatially separated targets. Four target widths were orthogonally combined with four movement amplitudes, resulting in 16 conditions. Movements were made on an X-Y digitizing tablet. Based on the mean variable error produced on both targets, subjects were differentiated post hoc into three movement objective groups: speed, accuracy, and speed-plus-accuracy. Kinematic analyses revealed that the programming and execution of movements were systematically influenced by both the movement objective and the movement constraints. That is, movement time, peak velocity, dwell time, acceleration and deceleration time, normalized acceleration and normalized deceleration varied systematically as a function of both the speed-accuracy movement objective and the movement constraints of target size and movement distance. Moreover, the consequences of changing the constraints of the movement were affected by an interaction with the objective of the movement. In Experiment 2, the objective of the movement was directly manipulated by varying speed and/or accuracy instructions to subjects. The basic results of Experiment 1 were substantiated. Overall, the results were consistent with the view that motor control is dependent upon sensory consequences.     

Predictors of College Students' Alcohol Consumption: Implications for Student Education

Understanding why young adults consume alcohol the way they do can lead to more effective educational programming for promotion of students' personal health and safety. The authors examined the predictive role of expectations about alcohol, perceived peer norms of consumption, awareness of rules, and individual self-efficacy in conjunction with demographic variables for male and female college students' weekly alcohol consumption. The sample of 4,960 students analyzed here is 10 to 20 times larger and more nationally representative than the samples used in similar studies. The authors used a general linear model; 41% of the men's variance and 33% of the women's variance in self-reported weekly alcohol consumption were explained by the set of predictors. In descending order of variance accounted for in male and female students' self-reported weekly alcohol consumption, perceived gender-specific norms of consumption, expectations about the effects of alcohol, and the importance of drinking in high school were significant predictors for both men and women. The salience of psychological variables for young adults' consumption of alcohol underscores the importance of recognizing individual predictors of behavior in the broader ecological context in which those behaviors are performed.     

Kinesthetic Aftereffects and Individual Differences in Carryover effects

There is disagreement among researchers about the distinction between dynamic and static spatial performance. Given that dynamic spatial performance is supposed to be important for some occupations, such as air traffic control (ATC), it is germane to have evidence about the likelihood of that distinction. In the present study, a battery of printed static spatial and reasoning tests were applied to 480 applicants for an ATC training course. Two dynamic spatial tests were also applied. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed for testing three models. In Model A, static and dynamic spatial tests were grouped, whereas in Model B, spatial tests were separated according to their static or dynamic character, and in Model C, spatial tests were segregated according to the construct they tapped (visualization or spatial relations). The authors found that Model B, which distinguished static and dynamic spatial tests, showed the best fit. They also discuss some implications of the findings.     

A Story of Losses and the Creation of an Alternate World

The author presents a clinical case to illustrate the consequences of a history of loss, beginning with the early death of the mother. The creation of a complex defensive system based on internal division and manifested through the existence of an alternate world is analyzed. The author stresses the importance for the patient of re-experiencing the sense of emptiness within an analytical setting and learning to tolerate it thanks to dependence on the auxiliary self of the analyst. D. W. Winnicott?s suggestion of a relationship between the experience of emptiness and the fear of breakdown are also discussed.