Beyond need satisfaction: Empowering and accepting messages from third parties ineffectively restore trust and consequent reconciliation

According to the Needs‐Based Model, reconciliation requires the restoration of victims' sense of power and perpetrators' moral image, which can be achieved through the exchange of empowering and accepting messages. In two role‐playing experiments, we extended the model by examining the role of message source, the other conflict party versus a neutral third party, in facilitating reconciliation. Focusing on transgressions between apartment roommates, Study 1 found that regardless of message source, empowering messages restored victims' sense of power, and accepting messages restored perpetrators' moral image. Yet, messages from the other conflict party restored victims' and perpetrators' trust in each other more effectively than messages from third parties. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that both need satisfaction (restoring victims' sense of power and perpetrators' moral image) and trust building were critical for reconciliation. Replicating these findings in a context of transgressions between workplace colleagues, Study 2 further revealed that messages from third parties restored perpetrators' moral image only in the eyes of the third party (but not in the eyes of the victim), leading to a negative indirect effect on perpetrators' reconciliation tendencies. Theoretical implications for the modification of the Needs‐Based Model and practical implications for the limits of third parties' interventions to promote interpersonal reconciliation are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Winning the victim status can open conflicting groups to reconciliation: Evidence from the Israeli‐Palestinian Conflict

Members of conflicting groups often engage in ‘competitive victimhood’, that is, they are motivated to gain acknowledgment that their ingroup is the conflict's ‘true’ victim. The present study found that compared with a control group, Israeli Jews and Palestinians reassured that their ingroup had won the victim status showed increased willingness to reconcile with the outgroup and held less pessimistic, fatalistic views of the conflict. Moreover, for members of the stronger party—Israeli Jews—winning the victim status also led to increased group efficacy and consequent readiness to take action toward resolution. These findings extend previous theorizing about the positive effects of addressing group members' need for acknowledgement of their victimization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of exposure to thin models and digital modification disclaimers on women's body satisfaction

This study tests the effectiveness of public health initiatives aimed at reducing the adverse effects of exposure to thin images in advertising on women's body satisfaction. Using an online experiment with 195 Israeli adult women, we test the effects of message factors that are expected to influence body satisfaction—the model's body size, and the presence and size of disclaimers. Compared with advertisements featuring a thin model, exposure to an average sized model was indirectly and positively associated with body size satisfaction, through the perception of the model's body size. However, exposure to disclaimers regarding digital modification of the model did not influence body satisfaction. Moreover, irrespective of whether they were exposed to a disclaimer or not, most participants who viewed ads featuring thin models thought that the image had been digitally modified. The results call for further research on the effectiveness of disclaimer labels for promoting body satisfaction.     

Enhancing mothers' interactions with toddlers who have sensory‐processing disorders

The objective of the current study was to examine the effects of a brief Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (the MISC‐SP) designed to enhance the quality of mothers' interaction with their toddlers who have sensory processing disorders (SPD). The basic assumption was that quality parent–child interactions can serve as a protective factor moderating the potential negative effects of toddlers' sensory processing and regulation difficulties on their development. The effects of the intervention were compared to those of another intervention designed to enhance children's sensory functioning (the SI group) and to a control group receiving no intervention. Participants were 86 toddlers (12–18 months old) with SPD and their mothers, who were randomly assigned to the aforementioned three research groups. Following the intervention period, mothers in the MISC‐SP group showed more sensitive behavior, supported their toddlers' communication behavior better, and used teaching behaviors more appropriately than did mothers in the two other groups.     

Evaluating the evaluator: The effects of the valence,sequence and target of evaluations on the perception of the evaluator

People commonly want to be perceived as intelligent, as well as be liked by others. Previous research has demonstrated that people who wish to appear intelligent tend to criticise others, and that criticising others indeed leads to the perception of high intelligence. In the current research we hypothesised and found that this is not the case when (a) the criticism is targeted towards the people who form the impression, and (b) the criticism is targeted towards those with whom the people who form the impression have just interacted. In both cases, participants in our study liked evaluators less when they used criticism than when they used praise. Moreover, they perceived the evaluators as less intelligent. We also demonstrated that in cases of mixing praise with criticism, the sequence of the evaluation interacted with the target of the evaluation in influencing liking. We found a greater liking for evaluators whose evaluation changed from negative to positive rather than vice versa, but only when the perceiver was the target of the evaluation. The discussion centres on the potential underlying mechanisms for these results, as well as on the practical applications of the results and directions for future research.     

Memory abilities in generally gifted and excelling-in-mathematics adolescents

This paper presents part of a multidimensional examination of mathematical giftedness. The present study examined the memory mechanisms associated with general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (E) in four groups of 10th–12th grade students (16–18 years old) varying in levels of G and E. The participants first underwent the Raven test for general ability evaluation and SAT-M — the mathematical excellence tests in order to design the study groups. Afterwards, the students were tested on a battery of three memory tests including tests for short-term (STM) and working memory (WM). The results reveal that the G factor is related to high STM for both phonological loop and phonological central executive mechanisms. It was also found that the E factor is associated with high visual–spatial memory (VSM), in particular with the visual central executive mechanism. An interaction effect was found between G and E factors regarding WM. The central executive mechanism appeared to be related to both G and E factors. In addition, gender differences were shown within the groups. Male participants performed better than their female counterparts on a phonological storage task and a phonological central executive mechanism task. The results can contribute to the theoretical knowledge regarding similarities and differences in memory mechanisms in G and E groups.     

PERCEPTION OF SOCIALIZATION ROLES: A STUDY OF ISRAELI MOTHERS IN TOWN AND KIBBUTZ*

Variations in mothers' role perceptions were studied as a function of (a) the amount of time mothers spend with their children, and (b) the cultural ideology of childrearing that assigns to the mother either sole or shared responsibility for socialization. Four groups of Israeli mothers of toddlers were studied. Among nuclear family mothers 21 had children in nursery school, and 22 had children in fulltime daycare. Among kibbutz mothers 23 lived on Familial kibbutzim where children slept at home, and 22 lived on Communal kibbutzim where children slept apart from their parents. Questionnaires assessed mothers' perceptions of mother and caregiver influence and their use of disciplinary and nurturant techniques. Whereas amount of time did not contribute to variations in role perceptions, childrearing ideology (sole vs shared socialization responsibility) showed strong effects. In accord with nuclear family ideology, daycare mothers perceived mothers as more influential and as using more of all socializing techniques than caregivers. In accord with their ideology of shared responsibilities, kibbutz mothers perceived caregivers to be as influential as mothers. Further, as specified by kibbutz ideology, kibbutz mothers reported that they used nurturance more and disciplinary techniques less than caregivers. The importance of cultural ideology on parents' role perceptions is discussed.     

Oral interaction in cooperative learning groups: speaking, listening, and the nature of statements made by high-, medium-, and low-achieving students

Oral interaction within cooperative learning groups was observed for high-, medium-, and low-achieving students. Initially, cooperative and individualistic learning situations were compared on achievement and attitudes. Forty-eight 4th-grade American students were assigned to learning situations on a stratified random basis controlling for ability and sex. They participated in the study for 55 min a day for 15 instructional days. Two observation schemes were used. The results for the cooperative situation were factor analyzed to determine the basic dimensions of oral interaction within cooperative learning groups. Five orthogonal factors were identified: Exchanging Task-Related Information, Elaborating on the Information, Encouraging Each Other to Learn, Disagreeing With Each Other's Conclusions, and Making Nontask Comments and Sharing Personal Feelings. The oral participation of students from different achievement levels was differentially related to achievement. Vocalizing was found to be more strongly related to achievement than was listening to other group members vocalize. Medium and low achievers especially benefited from cooperative learning experiences.     

Behind the (Virtual) Mirror: Online Live Supervision in Couple and Family Therapy

Online therapy and supervision, a rapidly rising practice in couple and family therapy, has been the subject of a growing body of literature. From its early days, family therapy training has included live supervision, which has typically been conducted by a supervisor and a team of trainees situated on the other side of a one-way mirror. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we—the staff of supervisors at the Barcai Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel—were compelled to find solutions to continue meeting with clients and to provide supervision for family therapy trainees. To this end, we have shifted our live supervision courses (“practicums”) to the virtual arena, adapting the popular application “Zoom” into what we call “PractiZoom.” Based on over 100 PractiZoom sessions conducted between March and May 2020, involving 14 supervisors and 28 therapists-in-training and their clients, the article reflects on this pioneering online practicum for the online live supervision of therapists with geographically distributed participants. In this article, we outline our operational methods and adaptations for conducting live behind-the-mirror supervision online. Following a short theoretical background, we outline the process of online live supervision, discuss our reflections and those of our trainees on the challenges and possibilities it poses, and offer a number of preliminary conclusions and recommendations.