The Relationship Between Phonological Memory,Phonological Sensitivity,and Incidental Word Learning

This study investigated the cognitive abilities needed to succeed at incidental word learning, specifically by examining the role of phonological memory and phonological sensitivity in novel word learning by 4-year-olds who were typically developing. Forty 4-year-olds were administered a test of nonword repetition (to investigate phonological memory), rhyming and phoneme alliteration tasks (to investigate phonological sensitivity), and an incidental word learning task (via a computer-based presentation of a cartoon story). A multiple regression analysis revealed that nonword repetition scores did not contribute significantly to incidental word learning. Phonological sensitivity scores were significant predictors of incidental word learning. These findings provide support for a model of lexical acquisition in which phonological knowledge plays an important role.     

Interpretation and Expectation in Childhood Anxiety Disorders: Age Effects and Social Specificity

Theory and treatment for childhood anxiety disorders typically implicates children’s negative cognitions, yet little is known about the characteristics of thinking styles of clinically anxious children. In particular, it is unclear whether differences in thinking styles between children with anxiety disorders and non-anxious children vary as a function of child age, whether particular cognitive distortions are associated with childhood anxiety disorders at different child ages, and whether cognitive content is disorder-specific. The current study addressed these questions among 120 7–12 year old children (53% female) who met diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder, other anxiety disorder, or who were not currently anxious. Contrary to expectations, threat interpretation was not inflated amongst anxious compared to non-anxious children at any age, although older (10–12 year old) anxious children did differ from non-anxious children on measures of perceived coping. The notion of cognitive-content specificity was not supported across the age-range. The findings challenge current treatment models of childhood anxiety, and suggest that a focus on changing anxious children’s cognitions is not warranted in mid-childhood, and in late childhood cognitive approaches may be better focussed on promoting children’s perceptions of control rather than challenging threat interpretations.     

Observing a client's grieving process: bringing logical positivism into qualitative grief counselling research

This positional paper originates from our need as researcher/practitioners to establish a meaningful epistemological framework for research into bereaved people's journey through loss and grief over time. We describe how the field of grief research has a long and established biological basis, in keeping with a positivist epistemology. However, there has been a diminution of the influence of logical positivism in twenty-first-century counselling research. We argue that in grief counselling research, naturalistic observation of the grieving process within a logical positivist paradigm, remains a valid and valuable construct. We posit an observational protocol for the grief counselling process which minimises the intrusion of research method into the therapeutic process. We offer this as a means of conducting qualitative research within a bereavement counselling service. Further, we suggest that the development of an observational protocol for a client's grieving process has potential implications for developing good practice in grief work.     

Girls’ Perspectives of Barriers to Outdoor Physical Activity Through Photovoice: A Call for Counselor Advocacy

Physical inactivity and limited time spent in nature are major societal concerns that affect the mental and emotional health of youth in the United States. As such, this study explored girls’ perspectives of barriers to outdoor physical activity using a qualitative participatory action research method called photovoice. Six themes emerged from data representing the girls’ perspectives of barriers to outdoor physical activity through photovoice: Very Busy Schedule, Social Media, Health Concerns, Indoor Activity Instead of Outdoor Activity, Electronic Devices, and Way of Life. Researchers address how counselors can use these findings to advocate on this issue, given that counselors are called to advocate at multiple levels to address barriers that inhibit the growth and development of clients.     

The Dynamics of Internalised and Extrinsic Motivation in the Ethical Decision-Making of Small Business Owners

We investigate the ethical behaviour of small business owners by focusing on individuals' motivations to comply with tax obligations. In a study of 330 small business owners, we assess the role of internalised motivation to pay taxes versus extrinsic motivation in driving tax compliance. First, we find that internalised and extrinsic motivation have distinct predictors. Internalised motivation is related to strong personal moral norms to comply and a sense that the fiscal system is fair. Extrinsic motivation is related to perceptions that penalties are severe, that checks are likely, and is associated with a perceived lack of tax knowledge. Second, we find that, when considered together, internalised motivation but not extrinsic motivation predicts self-reported tax compliance. Third, we test the undermining hypothesis by which the presence of extrinsic motivation may crowd out the positive effect of internalised motivation. We find evidence of a motivation crowding effect only at very high levels of extrinsic motivation. We discuss avenues for further integration of motivation theory in research on tax compliance behaviour, and more generally the study of regulatory compliance and ethical behaviour in business settings.     

Ist Mathematik eine Sprache?

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Models of recognition: A review of arguments in favor of a dual-process account

The majority of computationally specified models of recognition memory have been based on a single-process interpretation, claiming that familiarity is the only influence on recognition. There is increasing evidence that recognition is, in fact, based on two processes: recollection and familiarity. This article reviews the current state of the evidence for dual-process models, including the usefulness of the remember/know paradigm, and interprets the relevant results in terms of the source of activation confusion (SAC) model of memory. We argue that the evidence from each of the areas we discuss, when combined, presents a strong case that inclusion of a recollection process is necessary. Given this conclusion, we also argue that the dual-process claim that the recollection process is always available is, in fact, more parsimonious than the single-process claim that the recollection process is used only in certain paradigms. The value of a well-specified process model such as the SAC model is discussed with regard to other types of dual-process models.     

Hidden covariation detection produces faster, not slower, social judgments

In P. Lewicki's (1986b) demonstration of hidden covariation detection (HCD), responses of participants were slower to faces that corresponded with a covariation encountered previously than to faces with novel covariations. This slowing contrasts with the typical finding that priming leads to faster responding and suggests that HCD is a unique type of implicit process. The authors extended Lewicki's methodology and showed that participants exposed to nonsalient covariations between hair length and personality were subsequently faster to respond to faces with those covariations than to faces without, despite lack of awareness of the critical covariations. This result confirms that people can detect subtle relationships between features of stimuli and that, as with other types of implicit cognition, this detection facilitates responding.