Effects of guided notes versus completed notes during lectures on college students' quiz performance

We compared the effects of guided lecture notes versus completed lecture notes on pre- to postlecture improvements in quiz performance across two sections of a college course. The results of a counterbalanced multielement design did not reveal consistent differences between the two note formats on students' mean quiz scores. However, fewer errors occurred on complex (analysis-level) quiz questions in the guided notes condition than in the completed notes condition.     

The impact of emotional labor on work-family outcomes

Theory and research on emotional labor at work is applied to the study of the work-family interface to explore how emotional experiences in both the work and the family domain relate to the experience of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment, and ultimately attitudinal and health outcomes. Emotional intelligence is also examined as a moderator of the relationship between emotional labor and affective responses to work and family life. A model focusing on emotional experiences in the both the work and family domains is proposed and tested using path analysis. Results indicate that emotional labor in both the work and family domains relate to affective responses to each respective domain, which in turn relates to work-family conflict and work-family enrichment. In turn, consistent with previous research work-family conflict relates to domain-specific satisfaction (job, life) and health outcomes (burnout, depression). Partial support was found for the proposed moderating effect of emotional intelligence.     

Ambulatory emotional reactivity to negative daily life events predicts remission from major depressive disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often associated with altered emotional reactivity. However, the functional significance of altered emotional reactivity in MDD is uncertain. This study was the first to examine the predictive relationship between intensely sampled ambulatory emotional reactivity and the clinical course of MDD. Forty-six outpatients who met criteria for MDD underwent six days of experience sampling of their ambulatory reactivity to everyday negative and positive life events. After experience sampling, all outpatients received pharmacotherapy with supportive psychotherapy and were followed clinically for 18 months. At one month, less emotional reactivity to negative and positive daily events predicted higher depressive symptom severity. Importantly, patients who exhibited less negative emotional reactivity to daily negative life events were less likely to recover from MDD over the 18 month follow-up. Relationships between ambulatory emotional reactivity and MDD course were not accounted for by the duration or the severity of initial MDD symptoms. Diminished ambulatory emotional reactivity appears to be functionally significant in depression. Intensive sampling of ambulatory emotions may have utility for predicting the clinical course of MDD.     

Mentoring Global Dual-Career Couples: A Social Learning Perspective

This paper explores the dimensions and means to implement a global dual-career expatriate couple mentoring program. The rationale is that learning from an experienced mentor mitigates the complexity of global assignments, leading to more successful completion of overseas assignments. We explored the impact of such mentoring programs on "nontraditional" global managers, along with their trailing spouses. Social learning theory was used as the foundation for the development of such a mentoring program. To add to the contextual understanding of global assignments imposed on global dual-career couples, we explored the effectiveness of mentoring by investigating temporal (before, during, after expatriation) and gender-related dimensions. Further, we analyzed the level of mentor involvement (personal, organizational, and professional) regarding psychosocial and career development.     

Spirituality,Anger, and Stress in Early Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of spiritual beliefs and involvement with anger and stress in early adolescents. Early adolescents (n = 53) completed the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (Hatch et al. 1998), the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (Spielberger 1999), and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen and Williamson 1988). Contrary to expectations, spirituality was significantly and positively related to anger and stress. Implications and possible explanations for the unanticipated findings in this study are discussed.     

What are randomised controlled trials good for?

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are widely taken as the gold standard for establishing causal conclusions. Ideally conducted they ensure that the treatment ‘causes’ the outcome—in the experiment. But where else? This is the venerable question of external validity. I point out that the question comes in two importantly different forms: Is the specific causal conclusion warranted by the experiment true in a target situation? What will be the result of implementing the treatment there? This paper explains how the probabilistic theory of causality implies that RCTs can establish causal conclusions and thereby provides an account of what exactly that causal conclusion is. Clarifying the exact form of the conclusion shows just what is necessary for it to hold in a new setting and also how much more is needed to see what the actual outcome would be there were the treatment implemented.     

Does Roush show that evidence should be probable?

This paper critically analyzes Sherrilyn Roush’s (Tracking truth: knowledge, evidence and science, 2005) definition of evidence and especially her powerful defence that in the ideal, a claim should be probable to be evidence for anything. We suggest that Roush treats not one sense of ‘evidence’ but three: relevance, leveraging and grounds for knowledge; and that different parts of her argument fare differently with respect to different senses. For relevance, we argue that probable evidence is sufficient but not necessary for Roush’s own two criteria of evidence to be met. With respect to grounds for knowledge, we agree that high probability evidence is indeed ideal for the central reason Roush gives: When believing a hypothesis on the basis of e it is desirable that e be probable. But we maintain that her further argument that Bayesians need probable evidence to warrant the method they recommend for belief revision rests on a mistaken interpretation of Bayesian conditionalization. Moreover, we argue that attempts to reconcile Roush’s arguments with Bayesianism fail. For leveraging, which we agree is a matter of great importance, the requirement that evidence be probable suffices for leveraging to the probability of the hypothesis if either one of Roush’s two criteria for evidence are met. Insisting on both then seems excessive. To finish, we show how evidence, as Roush defines it, can fail to track the hypothesis. This can remedied by adding a requirement that evidence be probable, suggesting another rationale for taking probable evidence as ideal—but only for a grounds-for-knowledge sense of evidence.