The backlash of token mobility: the impact of past group experiences on individual ambition and effort

Two studies investigated the impact of past ingroup experiences on individual aspirations and effort. Participants were told that in the past, members of their group had either been offered no opportunities (closed), few opportunities (token), or equal opportunities (open) to achieve a desired outcome. The results show that past group experiences determine responses to current opportunities and affect the perceived feasibility of individual success as well as individual performance. Exposure to a token system has different effects, depending on whether the group is historically advantaged or disadvantaged. Whereas those with a collective history of success see token mobility as a challenge and show superior performance, the same situation constitutes a threat to members of a historically disadvantaged group, who fail to take advantage of the opportunities offered to them and perform suboptimally.     

Early mother-infant interaction during breast- and bottle-feeding

Thirty-two primiparous mothers with their neonates, 20 breast-fed and 12 bottle-fed, were videotaped during feeding longitudinally (at 3, 10 days, 1 and 3 months) in order to investigate whether patterns of mother-infant interaction observed during breast- and bottle-feeding differ also for behavior not directly related to sucking. Infant state, sucking behavior, mother behavior and mother-infant interaction were analyzed by both sequential and non sequential analysis. Results suggest that the method of feedings affects mother-infant interaction observed during and just after feeding also for some behavior not directly related to sucking. The percentage of mutual touch, tactile stimulation and mother's gaze to infant was significantly more elevated during breast-feeding. Independently of the feeding mode, significant sequential dependencies between infant state of alertness and auditory stimulation, and auditory stimulation and mutual gaze were found.     

Differences in practices of body stimulation during the first 3 months: Ethnotheories and behaviors of Italian mothers and West African immigrant mothers

This study investigated cultural differences, continuity and change of practices concerning body stimulation in a context of immigration. Parenting behaviors during the interaction with infants at 4, 8 and 12 weeks, and parenting ethnotheories at 12 weeks of first-generation West African immigrant mothers in Italy and autochthonous Italian mothers were compared. A qualitative inspection of ethnotheories using a thematic approach was included. As expected, results showed that immigrant mothers placed more emphasis on motor stimulation and showed longer durations of rhythmic motor and rhythmic tactile behaviors than Italian mothers; the latter placed more emphasis on tactile stimulation than immigrant mothers. The practice of motor stimulation in immigrant mothers was also adapted to values of the new context of life, becoming a positive interaction game with a mutual exchange of positive emotions. Findings express the complexity of a multidimensional process of acculturation.     

Behavioral and physiological responses of young horses to different weaning protocols: a pilot study

In this study, effects of weaning on behavioral and physiological stress parameters in young horses (foals) were determined. Foals were weaned either simultaneously without the presence of adult horses (group A, n?=?6), or in the presence of two adult females familiar but unrelated to the foals (group B, n?=?5), or weaned consecutively by removing two mother horses per day (group C, n?=?6). Behavior, locomotion, salivary cortisol concentration, beat-to-beat (RR) interval, heart rate variability (HRV) and weight were determined. Group A foals lost weight for 2 days (mean?±?SEM) -?8.3?±?1.6?kg, p?相似文献   

Crossmodal transfer of arousal, but not pleasantness, from the musical to the visual domain

Arousal and valence (pleasantness) are considered primary dimensions of emotion. However, the degree to which these dimensions interact in emotional processing across sensory modalities is poorly understood. We addressed this issue by applying a crossmodal priming paradigm in which auditory primes (Romantic piano solo music) varying in arousal and/or pleasantness were sequentially paired with visual targets (IAPS pictures). In Experiment 1, the emotion spaces of 120 primes and 120 targets were explored separately in addition to the effects of musical training and gender. Thirty-two participants rated their felt pleasantness and arousal in response to primes and targets on equivalent rating scales as well as their familiarity with the stimuli. Musical training was associated with elevated familiarity ratings for high-arousing music and a trend for elevated arousal ratings, especially in response to unpleasant musical stimuli. Males reported higher arousal than females for pleasant visual stimuli. In Experiment 2, 40 nonmusicians rated their felt arousal and pleasantness in response to 20 visual targets after listening to 80 musical primes. Arousal associated with the musical primes modulated felt arousal in response to visual targets, yet no such transfer of pleasantness was observed between the two modalities. Experiment 3 sought to rule out the possibility of any order effect of the subjective ratings, and responses of 14 nonmusicians replicated results of Experiment 2. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the crossmodal priming paradigm in basic research on musical emotions.     

Treinta y cinco años del pensamiento divergente: teoría de la creatividad de Guilford

Resumen

Se analiza cómo ha evolucionado el concepto de pensamiento divergente en la teoría de Guilford. Las primeras definiciones en el año 50 dentro del marco del «Proyecto de Investigación de Aptitudes» postulan una serie de rasgos distintivos para el pensamiento divergente que luego serían objeto de confirmación o refutación a partir de los estudios factoriales.

Dentro del modelo de la «Estructura del Intelecto» de Guilford, se ha ido delimitando la importancia de tales rasgos modificando la definición inicial de algunos, como la sensibilidad a los problemas que, aunque fue concebida como un factor de evaluación, finalmente su definición factorial es de una aptitud de conocimiento; rechazando la importancia de otros para la creatividad, como los factores de análisis y síntesis o, finalmente potenciando otros que inicialmente tuvieron menor consideración, como las aptitudes para las transformaciones que, son consideradas por Guilford como una contribución tan importante para la creatividad como la producción divergente.     

Morality and behavioural regulation in groups: A social identity approach

In recent years social psychologists have displayed a growing interest in examining morality—what people consider right and wrong. The majority of work in this area has addressed this either in terms of individual-level processes (relating to moral decision making or interpersonal impression formation) or as a way to explain intergroup relations (perceived fairness of status differences, responses to group-level moral transgressions). We complement this work by examining how moral standards and moral judgements play a role in the regulation of individual behaviour within groups and social systems. In doing this we take into account processes of social identification and self-categorisation, as these help us to understand how adherence to moral standards may be functional as a way to improve group-level conceptions of self. We review a recent research programme in which we have investigated the importance of morality for group-based identities and intra-group behavioural regulation. This reveals convergent evidence of the centrality of moral judgements for people’s conceptions of the groups they belong to, and demonstrates the importance of group-specific moral norms in identifying behaviours that contribute to their identity as group members.     

A WAR OF MEMORIES

This article discusses Renzo De Felice’s Intervista sul Fascismo, published in 1975, as representative of a particular memory in the Italy of that time and considers its influence and impact on the subsequent historiographical and political discourse in Italy about fascism, the War of Liberation, and the Shoah. The starting point is the existence of many competing memories that battle with one another for supremacy. The very diversity of these memories – silent, always contemporary but different – sends one back to the agent par excellence of memory formation: politics. Because the memories of fascism, the war, the Resistance, and the Shoah represent essentially political structures, they are fated to vary in response to the definitions of the diverse identity groups that are dominant in a society in the struggle for the emergence of one memory at the expense of the others.     

Meditation,Health and Scientific Investigations: Review of the Literature

A growing number of people are seeking health recovery treatments with a holistic approach to the human being. Meditation is a mental training capable of producing connection between the mind, body and spirit. Its practice helps people to achieve balance, relaxation and self-control, in addition to the development of consciousness. At present, meditation is classified as a complementary and integrative technique in the area of health. The purpose of this review of the literature was to describe what meditation is, its practices and effects on health, demonstrated by consistent scientific investigations. Recently, the advances in researches with meditation, the discovery of its potential as an instrument of self-regulation of the human body and its benefits to health have shown that it is a consistent alternative therapy when associated with conventional medical treatments.