L'accession à l'opérativité formelle chez les enfants intellectuellement précoces

This study is an attempt to contribute data concerning the cognitive functioning and development of intellectually gifted children, at the threshold of formal operational stage. It ascribes to the theory of the operational development of intelligence according to Piaget. “Gifted”, children and “average” children of an equivalent mental age (12 years and 6 months) were compared. A second group of gifted children of the same chronological age as the average children completed this study. Longeot's “Échelle de Développement de la Pensée Logique” was used for all the subjects. The results reveal dissynchronical aspects within the genesis of gifted children. They are discussed taking into account the task characteristics (type of reasoning they require) and functional specificities of compared subjects.     

Evaluation of a conflict-resolution and problem-solving programme to enhance adolescents' self-concept

The effectiveness of an intervention programme, initially designed to enhance the self-concept and motivation of gifted underachieving girls, was evaluated for students identified as having a low self-concept and social relationship difficulties. Twenty male and female secondary-school students were randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group. The programme, called ABLE (Attribution, Behaviour, Life skills Education), incorporates problem-solving, conflict resolution, and a multidimensional framework to investigate adolescents' self-concept formation. The adolescents in the study made significant improvements in the areas of general self-concept, physical appearance self-concept, and total self-concept. Teaching conflict-resolution and problem-solving skills had a beneficial influence on self-concept. The results are discussed in terms of the relevance of the programme and its application to school and counselling interventions.     

Communicating Negative Hire Decisions to Applicants: Fulfilling Psychological Contracts

This study demonstrates that characteristics of rejection letters combine in a complex manner to affect impressions of the organization, and likelihood of re-applying to and of patronizing the organization. Specifically, the most negative reactions to rejection letters were found when a contact person existed, along with a long time interval before receiving a letter that failed to include an explicit statement of rejection. Some support was found for the failure to receive a rejection letter as a psychological contract violation.     

Aggression and conventional rule violation among adolescents: Social-reasoning predictors of social behavior

The goal of the current study was to determine whether aggressive and conventional rule-violating behaviors could be predicted by social-cognitive beliefs and values regarding aggression and conventional rule violations. The extent to which adolescents (N = 398; grades 9 through 12) engaged in both aggressive behavior and conventional school rule violations was assessed using self-ratings and peer nominations. Results indicated that aggressive and conventional rule-violating behaviors were predicted by (1) beliefs about the legitimacy of aggressive and convention-violating behavior; (2) values placed on the expected outcomes of these acts, such as negative self-evaluations, peer disapproval, and tangible rewards; and (3) beliefs about the effects of these acts on others. Furthermore, the results indicated that aggressive and conventional transgressions were predicted better by beliefs and values within the same social-cognitive domain than across domains. In contrast to females, male students committed more aggressive acts and conventional rule violations and reported beliefs and values that were more supportive of aggressive behavior and conventional rule-violating behavior. However, gender differences in beliefs and values were greater for aggressive acts than for conventional acts. The results support the need to distinguish between behavioral domains when attempting to predict social behavior. Aggr. Behav. 24:347–365, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Effect of body size on aggression in the ant,Cataglyphis niger (Hymenoptera; Formicidae)

In polymorphic ants, such as Cataglyphis niger, sterile individual workers from the same nest show some degree of variation in size and/or morphology. We studied whether worker size and size difference between opponents had an effect on aggression during conspecific encounters. Although the capacity to recognize nestmates was shared by all individuals, some patterns of agonistic behaviors were size related. Escape was mostly displayed by the small workers, and threat, associated with ritualized fights, by the large workers. As game theory predicted, ants of C. niger adjusted their level of aggression as a function of the size of the opponent. However, only large individuals used such assessment strategies, responding with escalation of aggression towards small workers and reduction of aggression towards large ones. On the contrary, small individuals behaved in the same manner whatever the opponent's size. Differences between both morphological castes were discussed with reference to the resource holding assessment models. Aggr. Behav. 25:369–379, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Children's reasoning about responses to peer aggression: Victim's and witness's expected and prescribed behaviors

This research examined children's reasoning about expected (i.e., what a peer would do) and prescribed (i.e., what a peer should do) responses to unprovoked, intentional aggressive actions in two contexts: as a victim of such a transgression and as a witness to the incident. Physical harm and property damage items were used in a structured interview format. There were 90 subjects drawn from three elementary school grades (2nd, 4th, and 6th). Children differentiated between the expected and prescribed responses of peers and significant developmental differences in children's evaluations were found. Although the majority of the subjects in all grades denounced retaliation on the basis of concerns about others' welfare, older children stated that peers were likely to retaliate against the perpetrator nonetheless. Across different contexts, older children's responses appeared to reveal a greater independence from authority in negotiating peer interactions. In evaluating the witness's responses to aggressive acts, younger children's expected and prescribed responses were less disparate than that of the older children. The utility of including different vantage points of the child in examining children's social reasoning about aggression and the application of the present findings to social information-processing models are discussed. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Reducing a Male Bias in Language? Establishing the Efficiency of Three Different Gender-Fair Language Strategies

Sex Roles - Different strategies of gender-fair language have been applied to reduce a male bias, which means the implicit belief that a word describing an undefined person describes a man. This...     

Intending to Leave But No Place to Go: An Examination of the Behaviors of Reluctant Stayers

We extend recent conceptual work on withdrawal states and develop a framework to examine behavioral tendencies of reluctant stayers (i.e., employees who desire to leave but cannot). Although principles of self-interest suggest that these employees ought to behave appropriately to maintain employment, reactance theory suggests that the combination of high turnover intentions and low job alternatives may result in lower performance and greater deviance. Contrary to conventional wisdom but consistent with reactance theory, low perceived job alternatives strengthened the positive relationship between turnover intentions and deviance, as well as the negative relation between intentions to quit and task performance. Moderated-mediation analyses revealed that the indirect effect of work frustration (via turnover intentions) was stronger on task performance and deviance when perceived job alternatives were low rather than high.     

The association of positive orientation with health and psychosocial adaption

In this commentary, major contributions of the conceptualization of positive orientation as a measure of a personal disposition to optimistically evaluate oneself, one's past, and one's future experiences, promoting growth and commitment to life (Caprara, Alessandri, & Caprara, 2019), were presented. The evidence includes psychometric properties demonstrating a unidimensional trait, as well as reliability and validity of the measure that is substantiated across developmental ages and at least 15 different cultures. The evidence also implies that positive orientation may influence outcomes of not only individuals but also groups. Furthermore, the significance of positivity in research across vast domains of research attests to the validity of the measure, including social relationships, health issues, coping strategies, job satisfaction, and job performance, to name a few.