Ritualized Interaction for the Advancement of Children's National Identification in Hong Kong

Both ongoing practice and the theory of interaction ritual chains imply the significance of the contribution that ritual makes to group solidarity, such as national identification. This contribution is in need of empirical examination as in this study, which surveyed 1,788 schoolchildren in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. The results show that, controlling for earlier national identification behavior (within the previous year) and other predictors, ritualized interaction in an activity for national cause (within the previous 6 months) manifested both linear and quadratic positive effects on current national identification sentiment. The effect was stronger for children who previously displayed lower national identification behavior. These results favor the use of ritual to promote national identification.     

Performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance classroom goals and the adoption of personal achievement goals

Background. Students’ perceptions of classroom goals influence their adoption of personal goals. To assess different forms of classroom goals, recent studies have favoured an overall measure of performance classroom goals, compared to a two‐dimensional assessment of performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance classroom goals (PAVCG). Aims. This paper considered the relationship between students’ perceptions of classroom goals and their endorsement of personal achievement goals. We proposed that three (instead of only two) classroom goals need to be distinguished. We aimed to provide evidence for this hypothesis by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and also by divergent associations between the respective classroom goal and students’ personal goal endorsement. Sample. A total of 871 (474 female) 10th grade students from several German high schools participated in this study. Method. Students responded to items assessing their perception of mastery, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals in the classroom. Additionally, the students reported how much they personally pursue mastery, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance goals. All items referred to German as a specific school subject. Results. A CFA yielded empirical support for the proposed distinction of three (instead of only two) different kinds of classroom goals. Moreover, in hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses all three classroom goals showed unique associations with students’ personal goal adoption. Conclusions. The findings emphasized the need to distinguish performance‐approach and PAVCG. Furthermore, our results suggest that multiple classroom goals have interactive effects on students’ personal achievement strivings.     

A probabilistic model of cross-categorization

Most natural domains can be represented in multiple ways: we can categorize foods in terms of their nutritional content or social role, animals in terms of their taxonomic groupings or their ecological niches, and musical instruments in terms of their taxonomic categories or social uses. Previous approaches to modeling human categorization have largely ignored the problem of cross-categorization, focusing on learning just a single system of categories that explains all of the features. Cross-categorization presents a difficult problem: how can we infer categories without first knowing which features the categories are meant to explain? We present a novel model that suggests that human cross-categorization is a result of joint inference about multiple systems of categories and the features that they explain. We also formalize two commonly proposed alternative explanations for cross-categorization behavior: a features-first and an objects-first approach. The features-first approach suggests that cross-categorization is a consequence of attentional processes, where features are selected by an attentional mechanism first and categories are derived second. The objects-first approach suggests that cross-categorization is a consequence of repeated, sequential attempts to explain features, where categories are derived first, then features that are poorly explained are recategorized. We present two sets of simulations and experiments testing the models’ predictions about human categorization. We find that an approach based on joint inference provides the best fit to human categorization behavior, and we suggest that a full account of human category learning will need to incorporate something akin to these capabilities.     

Psychopathic traits from the perspective of self and informant reports: is there evidence for a lack of insight?

It has been suggested that psychopathic individuals are incapable of providing valid reports on their own personality functioning because they are either unwilling (i.e., pathologically lie) or unable (i.e. lack insight) to do so. Despite the long-standing nature of this suggestion, almost no empirical research exists on this topic. In the current study, the authors examined the issue of psychopathy and insight by testing self and informant convergence and mean level differences across 3 indices of psychopathy in a community sample (N=64). Self- and informant-report psychopathy scores were also examined in relation to self and informant reports on traits from the Five-Factor Model (FFM). Convergence was strong across the 3 psychopathy indices and their respective factors (i.e., median r=.64), and there was only modest evidence that individuals rated themselves as less psychopathic than did informants. In addition, the same FFM domains-low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness-characterized individuals with psychopathic traits regardless of reporter. Psychopathic individuals appear capable of reporting accurately on psychopathic traits when there are no direct consequences to accurate reporting (i.e., sentencing). It may be that the lack of concern for the consequences of these traits has been mistaken for a lack of insight into them.     

examining holland's person—environment fit,workplace aggression,interpersonal conflict,and job satisfaction

The researchers examined the impact of person–environment (P‐E) fit, as defined by Holland's (1997) theory, on interpersonal conflict at work (ICAW) and workplace aggression. In addition, previous relationships found in the job satisfaction literature were examined in the present sample of 244 United States employees. Internet‐based surveys were completed by 244 participants in the current research. Results of hierarchical multiple regression and correlational analyses demonstrated a negative relationship between P‐E fit and ICAW. Replication of previous relationships was found between job satisfaction, P‐E fit, and workplace aggression. Implications for P‐E fit and workplace aggression research are discussed.     

Parenting of 7‐month‐old infants at familial risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Patterns of interaction between parents and 7‐month‐old boys at familial risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a comparison group were studied during a warm‐up and two play episodes. The sample included 78 (47 at‐risk, 31 comparison) mother–child and 45 (27 at‐risk, 18 comparison) father–child dyads. A coding system developed by G. Kochanska (1997, 1998) was used. Infants in the risk group did not differ from the comparison group in the rate of emission of infant‐related events. However, they received less adequate responsivity from both their fathers and their mothers to these events, and specifically to negative emotions or distress, than did the comparison group. Maternal psychopathology did not account for these findings. Mothers were more adequately responsive than were fathers, especially for physiological needs. The association between nonoptimal interaction in infancy and the development of ADHD is discussed.     

Sleep patterns of 7‐week‐old infants at familial risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Sleep patterns of 26 seven‐week‐old boys at familial risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 18 control infants were compared by objective (actigraph) and subjective (maternal sleep diary) measures, over five consecutive 24‐hr periods. Actigraph findings indicated that the groups differed on stability (SD) of quiet sleep only during the day. Reports in maternal sleep diaries indicated that they also differed on stability of waking and stability of sleep duration, again only during the day. No group differences were found in terms of average scores, whether calculated for the entire 24‐hr periods, for nights, or for days. Mothers in the risk group reported that fathers were less involved in infant care than did those in the control group. These findings suggest that as early as 7 weeks of age, infants at risk for ADHD differ from controls only on stability of their sleep patterns during the day, when environmental regulatory factors are more intensive.     

Inpatient tube weaning in children with long‐term feeding tube dependency: A retrospective analysis

This study investigates the outcome of an intervention program to establish oral feeding after prolonged tube feeding in children. The intervention is based on supervised reduction of enteral formula within a few days supported by a 3‐week program of speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychoanalytically based eating therapy, physical therapy, psychodynamic coaching, and nutritional counseling of the infant and his or her parents. Two hundred twenty‐one cases were included in this study. All patients had been severely ill or were handicapped and had been exclusively fed by tube for most of their lives. The major outcome variable was complete discontinuation of tube feeding with sufficient oral feeding after treatment, defined as the child's ability to sustain stable body weight by self‐motivated oral feeding. Two hundred three patients (92%) were completely fed orally after treatment. Tube feeding was discontinued completely within 8 days in mean, and mean in‐patient treatment time was 21.6 days. The current method can be used by a trained and experienced team to wean tube‐dependent children from prolonged tube feeding. Tube weaning should be addressed from the beginning of tube feeding in all children who are expected to restore oral feeding after the phase of nutritional stabilization. Since successful programs are rare, we were motivated to present our results of this elaborate program in this article.     

Is there a place for individual subjectivity within a social constructionist epistemology?

The epistemological turn towards social constructionism has become well established within the field of family systemic therapy. Social constructionism has provided therapists with a theoretical rationale for the concentration upon the social context within which individuals and families live their lives. This is a philosophical position that pushes to the margins the positivist premise that individuals have fixed and measurable personalities in favour of a discourse which proposes that the person is encountered differently within different social contexts. Prompted by the growing interest in systemic practice with individuals and by the rediscovery of the psychoanalytic canon within family therapy literature, the adequacy of this position is examined and an attempt is made to open up a space within social constructionist discourse for a theory of individual subjectivity. Findings from a research project are the starting point for this venture. These findings are understood through the lens of psychoanalytic theory, with particular reference to the work of Jacques Lacan.     

Learning to learn causal models

Learning to understand a single causal system can be an achievement, but humans must learn about multiple causal systems over the course of a lifetime. We present a hierarchical Bayesian framework that helps to explain how learning about several causal systems can accelerate learning about systems that are subsequently encountered. Given experience with a set of objects, our framework learns a causal model for each object and a causal schema that captures commonalities among these causal models. The schema organizes the objects into categories and specifies the causal powers and characteristic features of these categories and the characteristic causal interactions between categories. A schema of this kind allows causal models for subsequent objects to be rapidly learned, and we explore this accelerated learning in four experiments. Our results confirm that humans learn rapidly about the causal powers of novel objects, and we show that our framework accounts better for our data than alternative models of causal learning.