Bigger knows better: Young children selectively learn rule games from adults rather than from peers

Preschoolers' selective learning from adult versus peer models was investigated. Extending previous research, children from age 3 were shown to selectively learn simple rule games from adult rather than peer models. Furthermore, this selective learning was not confined to preferentially performing certain acts oneself, but more specifically had a normative dimension to it: children understood the way the adult demonstrated an act not only as the better one, but as the normatively appropriate/correct one. This was indicated in their spontaneous normative interventions (protest, critique, etc.) in response to third party acts deviating from the one demonstrated by the adult model. Various interpretations of these findings are discussed in the broader context of the development of children's social cognition and cultural learning.     

Extrinsic rewards undermine altruistic tendencies in 20-month-olds

The current study investigated the influence of rewards on very young children's helping behavior. After 20-month-old infants received a material reward during a treatment phase, they subsequently were less likely to engage in further helping during a test phase as compared with infants who had previously received social praise or no reward at all. This so-called overjustification effect suggests that even the earliest helping behaviors of young children are intrinsically motivated and that socialization practices involving extrinsic rewards can undermine this tendency.     

Speaking after the Phenomenon: the Promise of Things and the Future of Phenomenology

Phenomenology speaks not directly of phenomena but rather of the appearing of phenomena. In so speaking it moves from the level of things with generic or proper names to the level of universal terms. In speaking and thinking the phenomenon Phenomenology comes “after” in the twofold sense of being too late and desiring for that which is to come. This paper explores this place of phenomenology with respect to the relation of faith and reason, the manner of speaking phenomenologically and the affective and temporal situation of experience. Drawing on the pre-modern concept of the transcendentals and on an account of emphatic consciousness of things, this article argues that the future of phenomenology is as a form of metaphysics which remains focused on experience and the “promise” of things that guides and structures perception.     

A randomized-control trial for the teachers’ diploma programme on psychosocial care,support and protection in Zambian government primary schools

Orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) experience poverty, stigma, and abuse resulting in poor physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes. The Teachers’ Diploma Programme on Psychosocial Care, Support, and Protection is a child-centered 15-month long-distance learning program focused on providing teachers with the knowledge and skills to enhance their school environments, foster psychosocial support, and facilitate school-community relationships. A randomized controlled trial was implemented in 2013–2014. Both teachers (n=325) and students (n=1378) were assessed at baseline and 15-months post-intervention from randomly assigned primary schools in Lusaka and Eastern Provinces, Zambia. Multilevel linear mixed models (MLM) indicate positive significant changes for intervention teachers on outcomes related to self-care, teaching resources, safety, social support, and gender equity. Positive outcomes for intervention students related to future orientation, respect, support, safety, sexual abuse, and bullying. Outcomes support the hypothesis that teachers and students benefit from a program designed to enhance teachers’ psychosocial skills and knowledge.     

Inter-organizational collaboration,knowledge intensity,and the sources of innovation in the bioscience-technology industries

What makes some firms more innovative than others and what determines the source of these innovations are questions that are still not adequately answered due to the complex, often esoteric, nature of the innovation process. This paper considers the effect of one externally oriented strategy (extent of formal inter-organizational linkages) and one internally oriented strategy (degree of knowledge intensity) on overall levels of innovativeness and the source of these innovations. Using data collected from firms operating in the bioscience-technology industries in both New York and Utah, our results suggest that both of these strategies have a significant effect upon innovation levels and the source of innovation (internally versus externally stimulated). Interestingly, there were few firms that undertook both of these strategies simultaneously and thus the proposed interaction effect where increased absorptive capacity (on the basis of knowledge intensity) would make external linkages even more valuable could not be discerned. His interests lay in strategic technology management, intellectual property management, technology-based entrepreneurship, technology-based industry development, and regional economic development planning. Much of his work has focused on life-science related industries. He holds doctoral degrees in both technology studies and strategic management. He also works in the area of technology commercialization education for the U.S. Government’s Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. He received his PhD from the University of Western Australia in 1998. His present research interests focus upon the nexus of strategy and innovation, and have included studies in the bicycle, financial services, airline and biotechnology industries.     

Social Support and Neighborhood Stressors Among African American Youth: Networks and Relations to Self-Worth

Although neighborhood stressors have a negative impact on youth, and social support can play a protective role, it is unclear what types and sources of social support may contribute to positive outcomes among at-risk youth. We examined the influences of neighborhood disadvantage and social support on global self-worth among low-income, urban African American youth, both concurrently and longitudinally. We examined social support from both a structural and functional perspective, and tested the main-effects and the stress-buffering models of social support. Participants included 82–130 youth, in 6th–8th grade, who completed self-report measures. Network support results suggest participants received emotional, tangible, and informational support most often from mothers and other female relatives, with friends, fathers, and teachers also playing important roles. Model testing accounted for neighborhood stressors and support from various sources, revealing support from close friends was associated with concurrent self-worth; whereas, parent support predicted self-worth longitudinally, above and beyond initial levels of self-worth. The findings provide evidence for the main-effects model of social support and not the stress-buffering model. Our findings illustrate the importance of extended family networks and the types of support that youth rely upon in African American impoverished communities, as well as how support contributes to global self-worth. Implications and suggestions for future research and intervention are discussed.