General self-concept and life satisfaction for boys with differing levels of physical coordination: the role of goal orientations and leisure participation

Participation in leisure-time activities, self-concept perceptions and individual dispositional goal orientations were examined as mediators of relationships between physical coordination and self-evaluations of life satisfaction and general self-concept for 173 boys aged 10-13 years. Participants completed seven-day activity diaries and 12-month retrospective recall questionnaires recording participation in leisure-time activities. Self-report measures of self-concept, global life satisfaction and dispositional goal orientations were also completed. Results showed that boys with moderate to severe physical coordination difficulties had significantly lower self-concept perceptions of physical ability and appearance, peer and parent relations and general self-concept, as well as lower life satisfaction than boys with medium to high levels of physical coordination. The relationships between boys' physical coordination and their self-perceptions of life satisfaction and general self-concept were significantly influenced by individual self-concept appraisals of physical ability and appearance, peer and parent relations. Adopting task-oriented goals was found to positively change the relationship between physical coordination and both general self-concept and life satisfaction. Team sport participation positively mediated the relationship between physical coordination and life satisfaction. The potential for team sport participation and adoption of task-oriented goals to influence life satisfaction for boys with differing levels of physical coordination was discussed.     

rTMS for PTSD: induced merciful oblivion or elimination of abnormal hypermnesia?

Neuroimaging studies and experimental data suggest that symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with dysfunctions of neural circuits linking prefrontal cortex and the limbic system that have a role in autobiographic episodic memory. High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been suggested to be beneficial to patients with PTSD, transiently alleviating re-experiencing as well as avoidance reactions and associated anxiety symptoms. In healthy humans, converging evidence suggests that rTMS of the right DLPFC interferes with episodic memory retrieval. Hence, we hypothesize that daily applications of rTMS in PTSD patients may reduce access to the set of autobiographical stored events, that, if re-experienced, may cause the overt PTSD symptoms.     

Teaching cognates in isolation and context: a practical note on Montelongo, et al. (2009)

The use of cognates in teaching word identification and vocabulary meaning is an underused resource in the teaching of English-language learners, especially for learners whose language is similar to English, e.g., Spanish. A recent study by Montelongo, Hernandez, Herter, and Hernandez reported that the effect of initial consonants was strong for recognizing words in isolation. In addition, they pointed out that cognates containing suffixes identical between English and Spanish were more quickly recognized than cognates containing similar but not identical suffixes. Further, they stated teachers would do well to take these differences into account when employing a cognate strategy with their Latino English-language learners. The purpose of this response is to discuss how different types of cognates and their various meanings may be examined by educators and students when employing cognates as a strategy in learning English.     

Self,social identity and psychological well-being

Self and social identity are key elements in the understanding of a person’s strivings for health and well-being. This review (i) examines the concepts of self, social identity, and psychological well-being; (ii) integrates empirical evidence that relates various self-aspects or social identities to psychological well-being; (iii) analyzes within a stress and coping framework the well-being consequences of socially devalued self or threatened identities, perceived discriminations, challenges of acculturation and identity management; and (iv) delineates the role of self, social identity and related psycho-social variables as moderators and mediators in pathways leading to psychological well-being. Besides listing some methodological issues and empirical deficits, major concerns for future research are also identified. An explicit self and social identity perspective of this research synthesis brings personal and social aspects together, and this interface offers exciting opportunities for research advancement.     

Physical discipline,escalation, and child abuse potential: psychometric evidence for the Analog Parenting Task

Data from three studies provide new evidence to support the validity of the Analog Parenting Task (APT) as an instrument to assess risk for harsh, physically aggressive parenting. In this series of studies, there was a strong association between APT scores of expected use and escalation of discipline strategies and self‐reported disciplinary attitudes. APT scores were also associated with physical abuse potential as assessed by both a well‐established measure of child abuse potential (Child Abuse Potential Inventory) and another instrument designed specifically for use in pre‐parent populations (e.g., Adult–Adolescent Parenting Inventory‐2). This study provides new psychometric evidence to support the use of the APT to assess harsh parenting. Additionally, these data highlight the connection between acceptance and use of physical disciplinary strategies, propensity for disciplinary escalation, and risk for abuse perpetration. The findings are discussed in the context of Milner's Social Information Processing model [Milner, 2003] of abuse, which suggests that parental selection of disciplinary responding and the monitoring of disciplinary responding are key events in the disciplinary process. The APT may prove a useful adjunct to more commonly used self‐report measures to allow for multimethod assessment of risk for punitive parenting. Aggr. Behav. 36:251–260, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Dimensions of “uniquely” and “non‐uniquely” human emotions

Emotion scientists often distinguish those emotions that are encountered universally, even among animals ( “primary emotions”), from those experienced by human beings ( “secondary emotions”). No attempt, however, has ever been made to capture the lay conception about this distinction and to find the criteria on which the distinction is based. The first study presented in this paper was conducted in three countries involving four languages, so as to allow for cross‐cultural comparisons. Results showed a remarkable convergence. People from all samples not only differentiated between “uniquely human” and “non‐uniquely human” emotions on a continuum, but they did so on the same basis as the one used by emotion scientists to distinguish between “primary” and “secondary” emotions. Study 2 focused on the implicit use of such a distinction. When confronted with a human (animal) context, participants reacted faster to secondary (vs primary) emotions. The implications of the human uniqueness of some emotions within the social and interpersonal contexts are discussed.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Situationally Induced Achievement Goals on Task Performance

The purpose of this research was to meta-analyze studies which experimentally induced an achievement goal state to examine its causal effect on the individual’s performance at the task at hand, and to investigate the moderator effects of feedback anticipation and time pressure. The data set comprised 19 papers, 79 individual effect sizes, and 3,482 participants. Performance measures represented task performance across a variety of tasks. The findings indicate that relative to avoidance goals (either performance-avoidance goals or mastery-avoidance goals), approach goals (either mastery-approach goals or performance-approach goals) enhance task performance. Furthermore, relative to performance-approach goals, mastery-approach goals lead to better performance, particularly when individuals do not anticipate feedback and when there is no time pressure. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.     

Effects of Unimodal and Multimodal Cues About Threat Locations on Target Acquisition and Workload

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of unimodal and multimodal cueing techniques for indicating the location of threats on target acquisition, the recall of information from concurrent communications, and perceived workload. One visual, two auditory (i.e., nonspatial speech and spatial tones [3-D]), and one tactile cue were assessed in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 examined the effects of combinations of the cues assessed in the first investigation: visual + nonspatial speech, visual + spatial tones, visual + tactile, and nonspatial speech + tactile. A unimodal, “visual only” condition was included as a baseline to determine the extent to which a supplementary cue might influence changes in performance and workload. The results of the studies indicated that time to first shot and the percentage of hits can be improved and workload reduced by providing cues about target location. The multimodal cues did not yield significant improvements in performance or workload beyond that achieved by the unimodal visual cue.     

Short‐term cognitive‐behavioral treatment in multicultural primary care of patients with longstanding backache

The efficacy of cognitive‐behavioral therapy in multi‐cultural primary care patients with longstanding backache is not evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the outcome of a four weekly‐treatment given by primary care physicians regarding pain‐related worry, depression and severe pain and to determine which social, clinical or gender factors were associated with outcome.The study group consisted of 245 patients in consecutive order from 19 countries, 18 to 45 years, entering rehabilitation program because of longstanding backache. Prevalences of pain‐related worry and depression and severe pain was counted and compared before and after. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds (OR; 95% CI) for persistent pain‐related worry and/or persistent depression and severe pain (VAS ≥ 50). The prevalences of pain‐related worry and depression were both significantly lower after treatment (pain‐related worry 83% before vs. 38% after; depression 43% before vs. 31% after). Also the number of patients scoring ≥ 50 VAS was a little, but significantly, fewer (68% vs. 61%). Use of interpreter doubled the risk of having persistent pain‐related worry (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.1–4.1) but the risk was not significant regarding persistent depression (OR 1.8; 0.6‐5.4). The rating of VAS rating ≥ 50 after treatment was twice as high, OR 2.3 (95% CI 1.1–4.6) in the 38–45 year old age group. To conclude, a focus on pain ideas reduced pain‐related worry and depression in these patients with various sociocultural backgrounds and longstanding backache.