Meaning Coconstruction in Group Counseling: The Development of Innovative Moments

This study discusses a model of group counseling, the narrative mediation path (NMP), which is a unique narrative, multimodal approach that combines four narrative modes (metaphoric, iconographic, writing, and bodily) and the narrative group. The purpose of the NMP is to foster reflexive processes with underachieving university students and to improve their academic performance. The study analyzes a single case of group counseling for seven underachieving economics students at an Italian university and the process of meaning construction among NMP narrative modes and the follow-up session. It applies the innovative moments coding system, a reliable method for studying change by tracking narrative innovations in sessions. More specifically, we focus on how innovative moments (IMs: action, reflection, protest, and reconceptualization) evolve during the four different narrative modes and the follow-up session. The findings suggest that the NMP fosters narrative innovations, mainly of a reflexive nature (reflection and reconceptualization). Moreover, during counseling and the follow-up session, the pattern of change is primarily characterized by reconceptualization IMs, the most complex form of narrative innovation.     

Specific relationships between job demands, job resources and psychological outcomes and the mediating role of negative work-home interference

This study among 115 US and 260 Dutch nurses and nurse assistants tested a theoretically derived model of specific relationships between work characteristics and two theoretically distinct outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction). Furthermore, the mediating role of negative work-home interference (NWI) in this context was examined. It was hypothesized that emotional exhaustion is related to job demands (i.e., psychological and emotional demands), and that job satisfaction is primarily associated with job resources (i.e., job control). Workplace social support was proposed to relate to both outcomes. In addition, we expected NWI to partially mediate the hypothesized relationships. Finally, we expected this pattern to be similar across the two samples. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) indicated (1) that our postulated model largely fitted to the data in both samples (same pattern), and (2) that NWI partially mediated the relationship between psychological job demands and emotional exhaustion in the Dutch sample. It can be concluded that the results supported our proposed pattern of specific relationships and, to a lesser extent, the partial mediating role of NWI. Practical implications and methodological limitations were discussed.     

Power of the desired self: Influence of induced perceptions of the self on reasoning

This research shows that the motivation to posses a desired characteristic (or to avoid an undesired one) results in self-perceptions that guide people’s use of base rate in the Lawyer–Engineer problem (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973). In four studies, participants induced to believe (or recall, Exp. 2) that a rational cognitive style is success-conducive (or an intuitive cognitive style failure-conducive) subsequently viewed themselves as more rational and relied more on base rate in their probability estimates than those induced to believe that a rational cognitive style is failure-conducive (or an intuitive cognitive style success-conducive). These findings show that the desired self had an influence on reasoning in the self-unrelated lawyer–engineer task, since the use of base rates was mediated by changes in participants’ perceptions of their own rationality. These findings therefore show that the desired self, through the working self-concept that it entails, constitutes another factor influencing people’s use of distinct modes of reasoning.     

The good, the strong, and the accurate: preschoolers' evaluations of informant attributes

Much recent evidence shows that preschoolers are sensitive to the accuracy of an informant. Faced with two informants, one of whom names familiar objects accurately and the other inaccurately, preschoolers subsequently prefer to learn the names and functions of unfamiliar objects from the more accurate informant. This study examined the inference process underlying this preference. We asked whether preschoolers make narrow inferences about informants, broader trait-based inferences, or more global evaluative inferences. We further asked what inferences preschoolers make about a potential informant based on distinctions in the unrelated domain of physical strength. The results indicate that preschoolers make relatively narrow inferences when observing individual differences in accuracy even though they are prone to global evaluative inferences when observing individual differences in strength. Preschoolers’ burgeoning understanding of others as expert language users may underlie their selective endorsement of a more accurate informant.     

Leibniz-linked Pairs of Deductive Systems

A pair of deductive systems (S,S??) is Leibniz-linked when S?? is an extension of S and on every algebra there is a map sending each filter of S to a filter of S?? with the same Leibniz congruence. We study this generalization to arbitrary deductive systems of the notion of the strong version of a protoalgebraic deductive system, studied in earlier papers, and of some results recently found for particular non-protoalgebraic deductive systems. The necessary examples and counterexamples found in the literature are described.     

Comparison of pausing behavior in children who stutter and children who have Asperger syndrome

Purpose

The objective of this research was to compare the number and types of grammatical and non-grammatical silent pauses presented by stutterers and subjects with Asperger syndrome in their narratives.

Method

Ten children who stutter and four participants with Asperger syndrome (mean ages of both groups 10 years) were assessed at the Speech and Language Disorders Department of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo/Brasil. They narrated a story based on a pre-selected sequence of pictures. They were filmed and their productions were analyzed using version 5.0.47 of Praat (http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/download_win.html). Silent intervals in the speech that ranged from 0.25 to 4 s were considered pauses. The pauses were classified as grammatical and non-grammatical, depending on the words that preceded and followed them.

Results

Both groups presented grammatical and non-grammatical pauses and the former predominated. The children with Asperger syndrome produced a greater number of pauses than the stutterers.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) characterize the use of pauses in the oral narrative; (2) distinguish a grammatical pause from a non-grammatical pause regarding the use and function; (3) recognize the pattern of pause found in the two populations.     

Attachment patterns and emotion regulation strategies in the second year

With the aim of studying the relationship between methods of emotion regulation and quality of attachment we examined 39 infants with different patterns of attachment, of whom 20 were classified as secure (B), 12 as avoidant (A) and 7 as resistant (C), assessing the regulatory strategies adopted by them during the Strange Situation at 13 months. Secure infants used strategies of positive social engagement more than insecure avoidant infants, while resistant infants displayed greater negative social engagement and less object orientation than the other two groups. Avoidant infants adopted positive and negative hetero-regulatory strategies less than the other groups, also differing from resistant infants in their greater use of object regulatory strategies. There were no significant differences as regards self-comforting regulation. Thus, the findings showed how the most significant differences to emerge between the groups concerned hetero-regulatory strategies, developed by the infant in interaction with attachment figures, and regulatory strategies oriented towards objects. Further analysis showed how the use by part of each attachment group of the emotion regulation strategies varies, differentiating the episodes of the SSP according to their level of stress.     

Auditory and visual information do not affect self-paced bilateral finger tapping in children with DCD

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are more variable in timing their fingers to an external cue. In this study, we investigated the intrinsic coordination properties of self-selected anti-phase finger tapping with and without vision and audition in children with and without DCD and compared their performance to that of adults. Ten children with DCD (Mean age = 7.12 ± 0.3 years), 10 age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) children, and 10 adults participated in this study. Participants tapped their fingers in anti-phase at a self-selected speed under four different sensory conditions: (1) with vision and audition, (2) with vision but no audition, (3) with audition but no vision, and (4) without vision and audition. We assessed intertap interval (ITI), variability of ITI, mean relative phasing (RP) between the fingers and the variability in RP. Children with DCD adopted a similar mean frequency, but were less accurate and more variable than the other groups. The different sensory conditions did not affect performance in any of the groups. We conclude that visual and auditory feedback of tapping are not salient information sources for bilateral self-selected tapping and that children with DCD are intrinsically less accurate and more variable in their tapping frequency and coordination.     

Increased intraindividual variability is a marker of ADHD but also of dyslexia: a study on handwriting

It has been suggested that intraindividual variability (IIV) in neuropsychological tasks may be a specific characteristic of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but previous research has not thoroughly examined whether IIV also concerns academic performance or other types of developmental disabilities. The present study investigates the role of IIV in 15 children with ADHD without reading difficulties, 15 children with dyslexia without associated symptoms of ADHD, and 15 typically developing children (TDC) in a simple response time (SRT) task and in a skill more directly related with school learning—handwriting. Results show that children with ADHD and those with dyslexia have a greater IIV than the TDC in both tasks. However, the pattern of the relationship between IIV in SRT and handwriting was different in children with ADHD and dyslexia: the IIV in the handwriting task was found to depend on IIV in the SRT task only in children with dyslexia. These findings support the crucial role of IIV not only in ADHD but also in other developmental disabilities, but suggest that in children with ADHD it may present specific aspects related with motor control.     

ERP correlates of performance monitoring in elderly

Previous studies on performance monitoring repeatedly found attenuated error-related negativities (Ne/ERN) in elderly, while findings for the correct-related negativity (Nc/CRN) are inconsistent. The present study aimed at clarifying inconsistent Nc/CRN results in elderly. Therefore, a refined design was employed to control for potential influences on the Nc/CRN, namely decision uncertainty and partial error processing. Further, we intended to study Nc/CRN variations with trial compatibility that were found in previous studies for younger but not for older adults. Results revealed increased Nc/CRN and decreased Ne/ERN amplitudes in older compared to younger adults. While the Ne/ERN was larger than the Nc/CRN in younger adults, both components were similar-sized in older adults. Further, a modulation of Nc/CRN amplitudes between compatible and incompatible trials was observed in younger adults, but was absent in older adults. Reduced differentiation of response-related negativities with response accuracy or stimulus compatibility in elderly suggests a reduced adaptation of associated processes to changing demands. Further, this might also point to different processes reflected by Nc/CRN and Ne/ERN and to reduced error-specific monitoring but increased general or strategic monitoring in elderly.