The impact of ignoring multiple membership data structures in multilevel models

This study compared the use of the conventional multilevel model (MM) with that of the multiple membership multilevel model (MMMM) for handling multiple membership data structures. Multiple membership data structures are commonly encountered in longitudinal educational data sets in which, for example, mobile students are members of more than one higher-level unit (e.g., school). While the conventional MM requires the user either to delete mobile students' data or to ignore prior schools attended, MMMM permits inclusion of mobile students' data and models the effect of all schools attended on student outcomes. The simulation study identified underestimation of the school-level predictor coefficient, as well as underestimation of the level-two variance component with corresponding overestimation of the level-one variance when multiple membership data structures were ignored. Results are discussed along with limitations and ideas for future MMMM methodological research as well as implications for applied researchers.     

The importance of "what": Infants use featural information to index events

Dynamic spatial indexing is the ability to encode, remember, and track the location of complex events. For example, in a previous study, 6-month-old infants were familiarized to a toy making a particular sound in a particular location, and later they fixated that empty location when they heard the sound presented alone (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2004, Vol. 133, pp. 46-62). The basis and developmental trajectory of this ability are currently unclear. We investigated dynamic spatial indexing across the first year after birth and tested the hypothesis that the structure of visual cues supports infants' learning of sound and location associations. In our study, 3-, 6-, and 10-month-olds were tested in a dynamic spatial indexing eye movement paradigm that paired two sounds with two locations. In one condition, these were reliably paired with two sets of visual features (two toys condition), replicating the original studies. We also presented a single set of visual cues in both locations (one toy condition) and multiple sets of visual features in both locations (six toys condition). Infants from 3months of age onward showed evidence of dynamic spatial indexing in the two toys condition, but only the 10-month-olds succeeded in the one toy and six toys conditions. We argue that this may reflect a broader developmental trajectory, whereby infants first make use of multiple cue integration but with age are able to learn from a narrow set of cues.     

Sound support: intermodal information facilitates infants' perception of an occluded trajectory

In a visual occlusion task, 4-month-olds were given a dynamic sound cue (following the trajectory of an object), or a static cue (sound remained stationary). Infants' oculomotor anticipations were greater in the Dynamic condition, suggesting that representations of visual occlusion were supported by auditory information.     

Juggling Through Hoops: Implementing Ethics Policies in Applied Language Studies

This article reports on a collective effort to position ethics policies within the context of a specific discipline – Applied Language Studies (ALS). Through a discussion of challenges to ALS-specific pedagogical and research practices, this article highlights (1) the need for consistency across institutional Research Ethics Boards in the application of general principles of ethics review, and (2) the recognition of local considerations that are informed by disciplinary approaches not envisioned in current ethics policies. Ethics policies that are driven by substantive ethical intent will recognize pedagogical practices, research methodologies, and epistemological values and traditions that mark a discipline.     

Construct validity of the Sivik Psychosomaticism Test and test of operational style: correlations with four Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) subscales.

To evaluate the construct validity (convergent and divergent) of the Sivik Psycho Somaticism test (SPS) and test of Operationality (OPER), Pearson correlation coefficients between SPS scales and subscales, OPER and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) subscales Hypochondria (Hs), Depression (D), Hysteria (Hy) and Alexithymia (Al) were calculated. Eighty-eight healthy individuals and 285 psychosomatic patients completed the SPS and OPER tests and MMPI; Hs, D, Hy and Al. The results show that most of the SPS subscales and OPER are significantly correlated to several MMPI subscales in both a normal and a psychosomatic population. The results are in concordance with the theoretical hypotheses and confirm the validity of the SPS and OPER constructs.     

The Impact of Performance-Contingent Rewards on Perceived Autonomy and Competence

Two studies examined the impact of performance-contingent rewards on perceived autonomy, competence, and intrinsic motivation. Autonomy was measured in terms of both decisional and affective reports. The first study revealed an undermining effect of performance-contingent rewards on affective reports of autonomy among university students, and an increase in reports of competence. Decisional autonomy judgements were unaffected by rewards. The second study replicated this pattern of findings among elementary school children. These results help resolve Cognitive Evaluation Theory's (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985; R. M. Ryan, V. Mims, & R. Koestner, 1983) and Eisenberger, Rhoades, et al.'s (R. Eisenberger, L. Rhoades, & J. Cameron, 1999) divergent positions on the impact of performance-contingent rewards on autonomy. The studies also included measures of intrinsic motivation.     

Resisting anorexia/bulimia: Foucauldian perspectives in narrative therapy

Foucault's analysis of unseen power as it operates in discourses that construct 'practices of discipline' and 'technologies of the self' has been a central conceptual resource in the development of narrative therapy. Narrative therapists take the view that 'unseen' aspects of power work to construct both how a person understands their situation, and how their relation to 'the situation' they find themselves in has been constructed through the discursive resources available to them. If the consequences of the operation of these discursive resources can be brought into view, then new resources may be mobilised to resist the problems that have been created by the 'power' of the discursive resources that are available in the status quo of people's cultural milieu. Narrative therapists work to disentangle the person from the problem, against the grain of the common constructions available in the resources of Occidental cultures that work to identify the person as 'the problem'. This is demonstrated in the assistance they offer to people in finding ways to resist anorexia, by identifying anorexia as the problem, and not the person as anorexic. In this perspective, other apparent tactics of resistance—such as the tactic termed 'pro-ana'—are revealed as counterfeit, and ultimately supportive of the problem situation.     

Overcoming Negative Aspects of Perfectionism through Group Treatment

The tendency to hold and pursue excessively high standards for oneself and for others can interfere with academic achievement. Counsellors who work in university settings are often presented with students whose capabilities do not reflect their levels of achievement. This study reports on the evaluation of an eight-week group intervention designed to help university students shift from negative and often debilitating perfectionism to positive and enhancing perfectionism. The group treatment focused on changing attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and interpersonal interactions affected by perfectionism using combined cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal approaches. Standardized measures, including the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., BDI-II manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, 1996), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck and Steer, Beck Anxiety Inventory: Manual. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation, 1993), and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Hewitt and Flett, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 60, 456–470, 1991a), provided data for pre- and post analysis of a treatment group (n = 30), and comparison groups of students attending group programs on career planning (n = 30) and attending psychology classes (n = 30). Results show that students participating in the treatment group significantly reduced their levels of depression, anxiety, and perfectionism in comparison to students who did not attend the treatment program. Implications of the findings suggest the importance of considering perfectionism on a continuum of negative and positive influences while helping students to address the intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of perfectionism.     

Comparing Individual Behavior Plans from Schools With and Without Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support: A Preliminary Study

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has been proposed as a proactive and preventive method to reduce problematic behavior in schools. Under this approach, educators and administrators seek to create a school environment that fosters prosocial behavior and attempts to systematically deter problem behaviors before they happen. To date, the relationship between SWPBS and individualized positive behavior support (PBS) plans has not been examined. Specifically, it is unclear whether an atmosphere of SWPBS facilitates the functional behavioral assessment process and the design of PBS plans for students exhibiting severe behavior problems. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether behavior support plans created in schools employing SWPBS systems were more technically adequate than support plans created in schools utilizing traditional approaches to behavior problems. Results indicated that support plans created at schools with SWPBS systems were more technically adequate than support plans produced at non-SWPBS schools as measured by the Behavior Support Plan-Quality Evaluation (BSP-QE). However, support plans from schools with SWPBS systems were still considered underdeveloped. Limitations and future research are discussed.