Influence of achievement goals and self‐efficacy on students' self‐regulation and performance

It is widely admitted that low self‐efficacy has a detrimental impact on the functioning and performance of a person mainly concerned with performance goals but has no impact when a person is mainly concerned with learning goals (Dweck, 1986 ). However, results from both correlational and experimental studies are divergent. Since these studies examined very few indicators of participants' cognitive functioning, they may have failed to detect those aspects that could be more vulnerable to a negative impact of the combination of performance goals and low self‐efficacy. Another concern is the lack of most studies to clearly distinguish the type of performance goal examined, particularly the performance‐avoidance versus the performance‐approach goal. In the current study, we decided to focus on performance‐approach and learning goals in order to examine how self‐efficacy intervenes in their effects on participants' self‐regulation and performance on a cognitive task. One hundred and forty participants (85 females and 55 males) were examined. They were randomly assigned either to the learning or the performance‐approach goals condition. In each condition, half of the participants received feedback aimed at inducing either high or low self‐efficacy beliefs with regard to the task prior to executing it aloud. Examination of participants' verbal reports, direct observation of some of their behaviours while solving the task, and responses to a retrospective questionnaire allowed the assessment of several indicators of their self‐regulation and performance. As already reported by many studies, self‐efficacy influenced various aspects of participants' self‐regulation and performance. However, contrary to Dweck's hypothesis ( 1986 ), when interaction effects between self‐efficacy and goals were observed, they always involved learning instead of performance‐approach goals. Findings of this study suggest that the nature of the goal might not matter as much as its personal significance or value.     

The role of passion for work and need satisfaction in psychological adjustment to retirement

Two studies tested a model in which passion for work predicts psychological adjustment to retirement through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. With a sample of 103 French-Canadian retirees from a variety of occupations, the first study used a retrospective cross-sectional design. The second study followed 73 French-Canadian teachers over a 6-year period and examined the relationship between passion for work, assessed when participants were still working, and psychological adjustment to retirement, measured when participants were retired. All participants completed questionnaires on demographics, passion for work, basic psychological needs and psychological adjustment to retirement. Results from structural equation modeling confirmed the hypothesized model, such that both studies confirmed the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction in the passion–psychological adjustment to retirement relationship. Need satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between harmonious passion for work and psychological adjustment to retirement in Studies 1 and 2. The mediation was also confirmed between obsessive passion and psychological adjustment to retirement in Study 1, but not in Study 2. These findings suggest that passion for work matters in psychological adjustment to retirement. Being passionate about work can thus lead to positive or negative outcomes in retirement, depending on whether the passion is harmonious or obsessive, respectively.     

Western Anti‐Muslim Prejudice: Value Conflict or Discrimination of Persons Too?

Do Western anti‐Muslim attitudes reflect Islamophobia as a general, ethnoreligious prejudice that does not distinguish between persons and ideas, values, or behavior, or are they limited to issues perceived to be in conflict with Western liberal values? In two experiments, we measured discrimination as decreased willingness to help a Muslim versus non‐Muslim to undertake an action that was either neutral or possibly in conflict with Western liberal values. As opposed to general discrimination, the participants displayed conditional, anti‐Muslim discrimination: The two targets were treated equally when the cause was neutral, but there was less willingness to help the Muslim when the cause was conflicting (protesting against the headscarf ban and against gay rights). However, participants did demonstrate subtle discrimination by showing less willingness to help the protesting Muslim compared to the protesting non‐Muslim target. Individual differences moderated these effects with multiculturalism predicting conditional outgroup prosociality, ethnocentrism predicting global outgroup discrimination, and proatheism attitudes predicting both conditional outgroup prosociality and unprejudiced rejection of value‐conflicting behavior.     

Managing the work-home interface by making sacrifices: Costs of sacrificing psychological needs

Motivation and Emotion - Research has suggested that sacrifices are made to manage the work-home interface. They have been however, related to various deleterious effects. Drawing from...     

The Attention Training Technique as an Attempt to Decrease Intrusive Thoughts in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD): From Cognitive Theory to Practice and Back

The attention training technique (ATT) is a cognitive treatment method that is aimed at ameliorating intrusive thoughts in anxiety disorders. To the best of our knowledge, no randomized controlled study has yet been conducted on individuals with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). For the present study, we recruited 80 participants with OCD over the internet and allocated them to an experimental (ATT implemented as bibliotherapy) or a wait-list condition. Assessments were made at baseline and four weeks later. Groups performed similar at both time points on the self-report version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-revised (OCI-R). The present study speaks against the effectiveness of ATT as a stand-alone bibliotherapeutical approach for OCD. From our data and increasing evidence that OCD patients do not suffer from severe attention or executive deficits we consider an approach targeting attentional biases for certain OCD-related events more useful than a generic (i.e., OCD-unspecific) cognitive remediation approach.     

Rates and correlates of undetermined deaths among African Americans: results from the National Violent Death Reporting System

Little is known about the factors associated with undetermined death classifications among African Americans. In this study, the rates of undetermined deaths were assessed, the prevalence of missing information was estimated, and whether the circumstances preceding death differ by race were examined. Data were derived from the 2005-2008 National Violent Death Reporting System. African Americans had higher prevalence of missing information than Whites. African Americans classified as undetermined deaths were more likely to be older, women, never married/single, to have had a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit, and to have had a substance abuse problem. The results suggest that racial differences in the preponderance and the type of evidence surrounding the death may affect death classification.     

Sport participation and stress among women and men

ObjectivesIn-depth analysis of the relationship between sports participation and stress among adult women and men.Design644 women and 783 men, 20–65 years, from the SPAH Flemish-Policy-Research-Centre, reported data on participation in favourite sports and mental health.MethodGender-specific multiple MANOVAs with stress appraisal and the stress response of emotional distress as dependent variables, and participation in 15 different types of sports as independent variables, including effect sizes (Cohen’s d) per sport-type.ResultsVery little difference in perceived-stress and emotional-distress existed in women and men who participated in different sport-types, suggesting that “one-activity-fits-all recommendations” are likely inappropriate. Different sports are suitable for different individuals, and it is important that one finds the sport that suits one best. Conversely, significant associations between participation in walking and in meditation sports manifested with both stress appraisal and emotional distress among women, and significant associations between participation in ball games and in water sports manifested with emotional distress among men.ConclusionsThe paper gathered substantial comprehensive insight and connected its quantitative data to existing qualitative data, presenting stimulating theoretical arguments. Sport-type related variations in the physical activity – mental health relationship were analyzed, based on the theory of mindful movement and the complexity paradigm identifying 3 coordinates on which the physical activity – mental health complexity unravels, based on: activity domains, mental health dimensions, and individual characteristics. The mindful movement theory proposes an underlying mechanism that could explain the positive physical activity – mental health relationship, and the complexity paradigm provides basis for creating a workable definition for ther concept of mindful physical activity.