The Idea of an Exact Number: Children's Understanding of Cardinality and Equinumerosity

Understanding what numbers are means knowing several things. It means knowing how counting relates to numbers (called the cardinal principle or cardinality); it means knowing that each number is generated by adding one to the previous number (called the successor function or succession), and it means knowing that all and only sets whose members can be placed in one‐to‐one correspondence have the same number of items (called exact equality or equinumerosity). A previous study (Sarnecka & Carey, 2008) linked children's understanding of cardinality to their understanding of succession for the numbers five and six. This study investigates the link between cardinality and equinumerosity for these numbers, finding that children either understand both cardinality and equinumerosity or they understand neither. This suggests that cardinality and equinumerosity (along with succession) are interrelated facets of the concepts five and six, the acquisition of which is an important conceptual achievement of early childhood.     

Henze on logic,creativity and art

Book Information The Indispensability of Mathematics. By Mark Colyvan. Oxford University Press. New York. 2001. Pp. 172. Hardback, £30.00.     

The good,the bad and the uncertainty: Trainees' perceptions of the personal development group

Background: Views about the purpose and role of personal development groups (PD group) in the counsellor training process are varied. Some argue they enhance self‐awareness, self‐exploration, the ability to be congruent and, ultimately, that they make for better practitioners. Others argue there is no clear evidence for such benefits and that they can actually be damaging to trainees. Aims: This study aimed to explore the beliefs of 25 trainees enrolled on counselling diploma or counselling psychology doctoral courses. It looked in particular at their perceptions of the purpose of PD groups and their expectations regarding support, difficulties and the scope of their participation. Method: Data was collected using open‐ended questions in an anonymous survey and was subjected to a thematic analysis. Results: Trainees appeared to hold mixed – and sometimes conflicting – views about the PD group. For some it was a positive endeavour that facilitated learning about self and clients, and helped in the processes of developing counselling skills and keeping the training group healthy. For others it was a feared space, which could elicit negative emotional experiences, and impact negatively on both learning outside of the PD group and the health of the group itself. Still others were unclear about its purpose. Hope/idealisation (of the process, the facilitator and course tutors) were also evident in the trainees' responses. Implications: Implications of these findings for counselling training are discussed.     

Recording therapy sessions: What do clients and therapists really think?

Aims: Recording therapy sessions has become part of routine practice amongst trainee psychotherapists. To date most research has focused on the benefits of recording sessions to support clinical supervision. There are few data about the benefits or risks for clients. This study aimed to explore the views of clients who had had their therapy sessions recorded and therapists who had recorded sessions. Design: Five clients and 25 therapists completed a qualitative survey, the results of which were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: All clients and several therapists reported that the recording devices are soon forgotten. Both therapists and clients reported the benefits of recording as being purely for the therapist with none identified for clients. Conclusions: It was observed that clients perhaps did not always understand how recordings were used, suggesting the need for clearer practice guidance.     

LOSS STORY

Loss has many layers and complexities.The experience itself is known socially while it registers emotionally, in the body. Both the social and the embodied experience comprise the subject matter that we seek to understand, perhaps even "know," as it plays its part in our lives. This knowledge arises in personal reflection and in the stories that are told after the event. In this respect stories are an integral part of the loss experience. The present article was written 5 years after the death of my father (and was itself triggered by another loss experience). Like the loss experience, stories of loss can be enriching, perhaps even transformative, when they communicate intellectually, emotionally, and viscerally.     

The Relation of Parent and Child Gender to Parental Tolerance of Child Disruptive Behaviors

Parental tolerance has been defined as the degree to which a parent tends to be annoyed by his or her child’s disruptive behavior. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relation of both parent and child gender to parental tolerance of child disruptive behaviors. Participants were 150 parents with 3–6 year-old at-risk children (47.5 % girls) who sought help with parenting of their child’s oppositional defiant behaviors. Tolerance was measured by the difference between parent ratings of intensity on 36 disruptive behaviors and whether each behavior was identified as a problem (resulting in a score of either high, expected, or low tolerance). A 2 (child gender) by 2 (parent gender) analysis of variance was conducted on the tolerance score. A significant interaction between child and parent gender emerged: Mothers were equally tolerant of boys’ and girls’ oppositional defiant behavior but fathers were more tolerant of boys’ than girls’ oppositional behavior. Exploratory analyses suggested that this interaction may be qualified by clinical status of the child. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Father–Daughter Communication About Sex Moderates the Association Between Exposure to MTV’s 16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom and Female Students’ Pregnancy-Risk Behavior

MTV’s hit programs 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have been the subject of national debate since their inception. Supporters contend that the shows inhibit pregnancy-risk behavior. Critics contend that the shows glamorize adolescent motherhood and encourage pregnancy-risk behavior. The present study explored the possibility that the association between viewing 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom and student females’ pregnancy-risk behavior depends on the extent to which females’ parents communicated with them about sex while they were growing up. Survey data were gathered from 313 female students. A disordinal interaction was found between father–daughter sexual communication, viewing frequency, and recent intercourse behavior. Frequent viewing was associated with an increased probability of having engaged in recent intercourse for females whose fathers did not communicate with them about sex while growing up. Conversely, frequent viewing was associated with a decreased probability of having engaged in recent intercourse for females whose fathers often communicated about sex with them while growing up. No interaction was found between mother–daughter sexual communication, viewing frequency, and recent intercourse behavior. These results suggest that fathers may play an especially important role in determining how sexual media socialize their daughters.     

Why rejection hurts: a common neural alarm system for physical and social pain

Numerous languages characterize 'social pain', the feelings resulting from social estrangement, with words typically reserved for describing physical pain ('broken heart', 'broken bones') and perhaps for good reason. It has been suggested that, in mammalian species, the social-attachment system borrowed the computations of the pain system to prevent the potentially harmful consequences of social separation. Mounting evidence from the animal lesion and human neuroimaging literatures suggests that physical and social pain overlap in their underlying neural circuitry and computational processes. We review evidence suggesting that the anterior cingulate cortex plays a key role in the physical-social pain overlap. We also suggest that the physical-social pain circuitry might share components of a broader neural alarm system.     

A job-seeking self-efficacy scale for people with physical disabilities: preliminary development and psychometric testing

People with disabilities are at an increased risk of unemployment. The role of interventions aiming to enhance the employment prospects of people with disabilities is receiving increased attention. However, evaluation is hampered by the paucity of measures specific to the needs of the target population. The purpose of the present study was to develop and conduct preliminary testing of the psychometric properties of a job-seeking self-efficacy (JSS) scale that reflected the experiences of people with physical disabilities. Job-seeking self-efficacy was defined as perceived ability to perform the skills involved in seeking employment that are salient to people with disabilities. Scale development and testing involved four studies and resulted in the 12-item JSS scale and six-item managing disability at interview (MDI) component, both of which were unidimensional and had high internal consistency. In addition, there was evidence of construct and concurrent validity. Greater jobseeking self-efficacy and perceived ability to manage disability at interview were associated with more positive psychological well-being. Only the MDI component was associated with physical functioning: lower perceived ability to manage disability at interview was associated with greater impairment of physical functioning. The pattern of associations supported the rationale for a separate component reflecting the need to resolve practical issues linked to access and availability of facilities before participation in the interview procedure per se .