Visuospatial skills and their association with math performance in girls with fragile X or Turner syndrome.

The present study was designed to assess object identification ("what") and location ("where") skills among girls with fragile X or Turner syndrome and girls with neither disorder. Participants completed standardized subtests of visual perception and tasks of visuospatial "what" and "where" memory. Girls with fragile X had average performance on most object identification tasks, yet 53% failed to accurately recreate the gestalt of a design during the "where" memory task. Fewer than 7% of girls in the Turner or comparison group made this error. Girls with Turner syndrome had lower scores and longer response times on object perception tasks and had poorer recall of location for internal features of the design on the "where" memory task, relative to girls in the comparison or fragile X group. When limiting analyses to IQ-matched samples, correlations between math and visual perception tasks emerged, but only for girls with fragile X. These results reflect important differences between two cognitive phenotypes and have implications for the role of visuospatial processing in early math performance.     

Inhibitory deficits and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: How are they related to effortful control?

Separate studies with clinical and community-based samples have identified an association between symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and inhibitory control deficits and ADHD and weak effortful control. We tested whether differences in effortful control explained the associations between ADHD symptoms and inhibitory control deficits, controlling for conduct problems. In a community sample, parents rated ADHD symptoms, conduct problems, effortful control, surgency and negative affect in 77 4-7-year-olds (47 girls), who performed an inhibitory control task. ADHD symptoms, deficient inhibitory control and low effortful control were correlated. Controlling for conduct problems, path analysis showed the ADHD symptoms – inhibitory control link was mediated statistically by effortful control. This focuses attention on cognitive-energetic factors associated with ADHD-related executive deficits.     

Idealization in unitarian metaphysics

The aim of the paper is to propose an understanding of idealization in terms of Nowak’s unitarian metaphysics. Two natural interpretations of the procedure are critically discussed and rejected as inadequate. The first account of idealization is unable to explain why idealized factors cease to exert influence on the investigated magnitude. The second account of idealization solves this problem but does so at the cost of blurring the distinction between idealization and abstruction. Moreover, it faces the consequence that the process of idealization instead of leading to a sharper understanding of phenomena will normally result in making the picture more and more probabilistic. I propose a third account of idealization in unitarian terms that solves all three problems.     

Cheating among children: Temptation,loss framing,and previous cheating

Although early economic approaches to misbehavior merely compare the monetary utility of accessible options, self-concept maintenance models introduce moral considerations to the equation. These assume that people trade off possible gains to be made from moral transgressions with associated decreases in self-esteem. On the basis of the assumption that the development of moral values among children is weaker than in adults, we expected children's behavior to be close to that of the hypothetical homo economicus, with their decisions as to whether to cheat therefore being influenced by decision theory elements: normative elements such as temptation magnitude, and behavioral elements such as framing. As children should pay no heed to moral considerations in dynamic multiple task settings, behavior opposite to “moral cleansing” was expected, with a first lie predicting later lies. In addition to testing the above ideas, the present study adopted a novel methodology. Our hypotheses were tested in a lab-in-the-field study using a modified “roll a die” method in a naturalistic setting for children of ages 7 to 10. We modified the method to identify both true and declared values of die rolls (a novel DICE+ electronic die was used). As expected, children were sensitive to temptation and cheated more willingly for more attractive prizes. Girls (but not boys) lied more (in terms of both frequency and magnitude) to avoid losses (with loss framing) than to make gains (with gain framing). Previous lying correlated positively with lying on subsequent tasks.     

German philosophy in Vilnius in the years 1803–1832 and the origins of Polish Romanticism

Studies in East European Thought - This paper focuses on the origins of Polish Romanticism as born partially out of German idealist philosophy. I examine the influence exerted by the ideas of...     

unemployment,social support,individual resources,and job search behavior

The authors investigated the relation between the social support received by unemployed individuals (N = 104) and their job search behavior. A moderated mediation model demonstrated that the effect of social support on job search behaviors was mediated by self‐esteem but only if adequacy of social support was perceived as low. In addition, the effect of social support on job search behavior was partially mediated by optimistic expectations and resilience. In sum, social support seems to be a resource with complex and partially surprising effects on job search behavior.     

Let's Dialogue About Penny: Effectiveness of Dialogue Involvement and Legitimizing Paltry Contribution Techniques1

Earlier research has shown (Cialdini & Schroeder, 1976) that the statement “Even a penny will help” added to a standard request for charity donation considerably increases the probability of carrying it out. The present study tested the effectiveness of this technique in various contexts in a set of 3 field experiments conducted on the streets of 2 Polish cities. The results proved, first, that success can be strengthened when combined with a dialogue in which a requester is involved prior to being asked for a donation. Second, it was shown that the dialogue itself produced more compliance than did a monologue. Third, it was demonstrated that dialogue related to the content of the requested issue may or may not result in an increase in compliance, presumably depending on the in‐group/out‐group focus of the dialogue's content. Practical implications for charity donation are offered.