Elements Influencing Peer Evaluation: An Examination of Individual Characteristics,Academic Performance,and Collaborative Processes

Collaborative learning has existed for some time, and instructional methods have been developed, such as cooperative learning, team learning, and problem‐based learning. The purpose of this study is to observe students in learning teams and how their observations of their team and team members are reflected in peer evaluations. We examine pre‐ and post‐team history elements, such as basic demographics, personality factors, exam scores, and observations of team process and team goal attainment. Pre‐ and post‐team history factors correlate with peer evaluations and are discussed. In our analyses, we take into account intraclass correlations and individual and group effects. Suggestions are given for future research.     

Is prospective memory related to depression and anxiety? A hierarchical MPT modelling approach

Prospective memory (PM) refers to remembering to perform an action in the future. One hundred and twenty-nine students completed a laboratory event–based PM task as well as depression and anxiety questionnaires. The data were analysed with the beta-MPT version of the multinomial processing tree model of event-based PM. Thereby, the prospective and retrospective components of PM were estimated for each participant and were then correlated with depression and anxiety. State anxiety was negatively correlated with the prospective component of PM. Neither depression nor trait anxiety were related to either component of PM.     

Investigating the mediating role of self-construal on the relationship between cultural group (Malay and Australian) and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory

ABSTRACT

Cultural differences in autobiographical memory characteristics and function have often been presumed to be associated with different cultural beliefs related to the self. The current research aimed to investigate whether self-construal mediated the relationship between cultural group and the characteristics and functional use of autobiographical memory. Caucasian Australians (n?=?71) and Malay Malaysians (n?=?50) completed an online questionnaire that included the Self-Defining Memory task, the Thinking About Life Experiences Revised Questionnaire and the Self Construal Scale. As expected, the Australian group provided longer, more autonomously oriented, specific memories than the Malay group. However, contrary to our predictions, self-construal did not mediate the relationships between cultural group and memory characteristics. The Malay group reported more frequently using autobiographical memories for self-continuity than the Australian group. Finally, there was support for an indirect pathway between cultural group and use of autobiographical memories for self-continuity and social-bonding through self-construal (i.e. independent self relative to interdependent self). The findings highlight the importance of explicitly examining values assumed to be associated with autobiographical remembering, and relating these values to memory characteristics and function.     

Sport-Type Differences in Alcohol Use Among Intercollegiate Athletes

Prior research has found that (a) intercollegiate athletes are especially “at-risk” for excessive alcohol consumption (e.g., Nelson & Wechsler, 2001 Nelson, T. F. and Wechsler, H. 2001. Alcohol and college athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33: 43–47. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA][CROSSREF][Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and (b) sport-type differences exist among college athletes in terms of yearly drinking prevalence rates (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2001 National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2001. NCAA study of substance use habits of college student-athletes, Indianapolis, IN: Author.  [Google Scholar]). No studies, however, have examined sport-type differences on more specific measures of alcohol consumption (e.g., drinks per week), or examined potential mediators of the relationship between sport type and alcohol consumption. In the present study, data were analyzed on 298 intercollegiate athletes from two different universities. Resuls indicated significant sport type differences on alcohol consumption variables, with athletes from the sports of swimming and diving reporting the highest levels of alcohol consumption. Results provided partial support for the role of positively reinforcing drinking motives in mediating the sport type–alcohol consumption relationship. Findings are discussed in light of prior research in the area of college student–athlete alcohol consumption.     

Are Past Normative Behaviors Predictive of Future Behavioral Intentions?

We acknowledge the limitations in measures of moral reasoning and pursue an alternative technique by investigating past behaviors as they relate to present behavioral intentions. Our purpose is to evaluate the merits of patterned normative behavior for predicting present and future, morally relevant outcomes. Participants (N = 177) completed a policy capturing experimental design responding to questions that orthogonally varied the situational nature of the decision context. Results indicate that past normative behaviors are significantly and directly related to ethical behavioral intentions. Moreover, they moderate the relationships between situational factors and intended outcomes as well as moral reasoning and intended outcomes.     

Assessing Measurement and Predictive Invariance of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale–20 in U.S. Anglo and U.S. Hispanic Student Samples

We collected data from a predominately Anglo American student sample in the Southeastern United States and a predominately Hispanic student sample in the Southwestern United States. Along with an assessment of internal consistency reliability, we examined measurement invariance of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale–20 (TAS–20) using confirmatory factor analysis. We also assessed the predictive invariance of the TAS–20. Results indicate that 2 of the 3 TAS–20 subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency reliability across samples. Items from the TAS–20 subscales demonstrated measurement invariance of the latent means. The relationship between 2 measures of emotional dysfunction and the TAS–20 also demonstrated slope and intercept invariance, indicating equivalent validity.     

It takes one to know one: Relationship between lie detection and psychopathy

We investigated primary and secondary psychopathy and the ability to detect high-stakes, real-life emotional lies in an on-line experiment (N = 150). Using signal detection analysis, we found that lie detection ability was overall above chance level, there was a tendency towards responding liberally to the test stimuli, and women were more accurate than men. Further, sex moderated the relationship between psychopathy and lie detection ability; in men, primary psychopathy had a significant positive correlation with the ability to detect lies, whereas in women there was a significant negative correlation with deception detection. The results are discussed with reference to evolutionary theory and sex differences in processing socio-emotional information.     

Is There Still Time?

In this article we intend to discuss the psychoanalysis of elderly patients and, also, to review certain prejudices that are based upon the psychoanalytic technique and theory.     

Executive functions and social skills in survivors of pediatric brain tumor

Medical advances have resulted in increased survival rates for children with brain tumors. Consequently, issues related to survivorship have become more critical. The use of multimodal treatment, in particular cranial radiation therapy, has been associated with subsequent cognitive decline. Specifically, deficits in executive functions have been reported in survivors of various types of pediatric brain tumor. Survivors are left with difficulties, particularly in self-monitoring, initiation, inhibition, and planning, to name a few. Another domain in which survivors of pediatric brain tumor have been reported to show difficulty is that of social skills. Parents, teachers, and survivors themselves have reported decreased social functioning following treatment. Deficits in executive functions and social skills are likely interrelated in this population, as executive skills are needed to navigate various aspects of social interaction; however, this has yet to be studied empirically. Twenty-four survivors of pediatric brain tumor were assessed using a computerized task of executive functions, as well as paper-and-pencil measures of social skills and real-world executive skills. Social functioning was related to a specific aspect of executive functions, that is, the survivors' variability in response time, such that inconsistent responding was associated with better parent-reported and survivor-reported social skills, independent of intellectual abilities. Additionally, parent-reported real-world global executive abilities predicted parent-reported social skills. The implications of these findings for social skills interventions and future research are discussed.     

On his brother's blindness

This commentary is slightly different from previous ones in that the clinical work presented took place some 20 years ago. This gave an opportunity, for those commentators who wished to, to take up how they think the work of a child psychotherapist might have changed in the intervening years.