Purdue pegboard performance of disabled and normal readers: Unimanual versus bimanual differences

Differences between dyslexics and controls in the unimanual and bimanual conditions of the peg placement section of the Purdue Pegboard Test were examined. Twenty-three disabled and twenty-three normal readers were studied. The groups were carefully screened on a neuropsychological battery. The disabled readers were comprised of a relatively homogeneous language-disordered subgroup exhibiting deficits in naming. Significant Group X Condition interactions were obtained for both raw and percentile scores and indicated that disabled readers performed worse than controls in the unimanual compared to bimanual conditions. The dyslexics performed particularly poorly compared with controls on the left hand condition. The implications of these data for hypotheses which argue for left hemisphere dysfunction, as well as those which posit interhemispheric transfer deficits in reading disabled children, are discussed.     

Retroactive pessimism: a different kind of hindsight bias

In an attempt to regulate disappointments people may sometimes change their perceptions of the events leading to an undesirable outcome so that in retrospect this outcome seems almost inevitable. This retroactive pessimism effect was demonstrated in three studies. In the first, sports fans rated the likelihood of success for their team and its opponent before and after an important soccer match. Evidence for significant pre‐ and post‐game probability shifts was found for the fans of the defeated team but not for the supporters of the winning opponent. In the second and the third experiments participants responded to a scenario depicting a loss of stipend that was either large or small in value. Participants were expected to show more evidence of retroactive pessimism with greater disappointment. Indeed, estimates of the probability of a more favorable counterfactual outcome were sensitive to the magnitude of the loss with lower estimates of the probability that things could have turned out better in the large stipend condition. The effect was attenuated, however, when the loss was not personal but rather that of a friend (Experiment 2), or when the disappointment was mitigated (Experiment 3). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing Explanations and Developing Understanding: Students Explain the Phases of the Moon Using Visual Representations

This article presents a theoretical model of the process by which students construct and elaborate explanations of scientific phenomena using visual representations. The model describes progress in the underlying conceptual processes in students’ explanations as a reorganization of fine-grained knowledge elements based on the Knowledge in Pieces perspective. The core case study involved a pair of fifth-grade students who generated visual representations to explain the phases of the moon and collaboratively elaborated and improved their representations and explanations. The model describes the process of developing explanations as iterations of temporarily stable stages of coherence. The progression from one temporary coherent structure to the next is described as the increase of Resolution and/or Range of the explanation. Resolution and Range are newly defined theoretical constructs. The model accounts for the continuity in the students’ developing understanding and highlights the productive nature of their intuitive knowledge resources.     

THE AUSTERITY POLICY AND THE RULE OF LAW: RELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC IN FLEDGLING ISRAEL 1

This article examines the concept of the rule of law as perceived by the Israeli public and decision‐makers during Israel’s early years. The purpose of the article is to examine the relationship between policy‐makers and the general public in the early stages of Israeli statehood. The “rule of law” is employed to facilitate greater understanding of the weaknesses or even failures of the austerity policy and to unveil some of the mechanisms leading to public disobedience, during times of nation‐building fervour. The roles of the public, policy‐makers, law enforcement apparatus and adjudicators in shaping the social order and economic reality is addressed.     

Fear,Functioning, and Coping During Exposure to a Continuous Security Threat

This study focused on the contribution of fear to mediating stress, as manifested in general stress reactions and impaired functioning resulting from exposure to a continuous security threat among 451 students from a college located in a confrontation zone. The findings indicated that the contribution of fear reactions was more significant than actual exposure. Married participants felt higher levels of fear than did single participants, and women were able to function despite their fear. In addition, coping patterns were both directly and indirectly related to all stress measures. The results are discussed in light of the literature on stress reactions, and practical recommendations for working in continuous threat situations are proposed.     

Do Occupational Performance and Social Support Predict Health and Well-Being Among Mothers of Preterm Infants?

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Giving birth to a preterm infant has significant implications on the mother’s life. The purpose of this study was to compare occupational performance...     

A multidimensional approach to explore cross-cultural differences in coping behavior: comparing Druze and Jews in Israel

Assuming that culture is a multidimensional variable, the current study explored the possibility that the interactions between ethnicity and other culture-related variables--rather than ethnicity alone--will better describe differences in coping behavior. In the study, cross-cultural differences among Israeli Jews and Israeli Druze in the use of various ways of coping were examined while also taking into account respondents' gender, age, self-esteem, sense of coherence, national identification, and religiosity. Comparing Israeli Jews and Israeli Druze, results indicate significant differences in levels of religiosity and coherence. Referring to coping behavior, findings show that differences in ways of coping could be attributed mainly to gender differences rather than ethnic differences Thus, at least in the case of comparing Israeli Jews vs. Israeli Druze, religiosity and gender are powerful determinants of coping behavior, while ethnicity has only a limited contribution in explaining variance in a preferred way of coping. It is suggested that ethnicity has a moderating role in shaping coping behavior, as it might influence person's self-perception and level of emotionality, which in turn shape the person's ways of coping. Future explorations among various age and ethnic groups are needed to enable generalization of the current study findings.     

Jewish women in intercommunal political movements in colonial Morocco

ABSTRACT

The goal of this paper is to study Jewish participation in intercommunal – Muslim, Jewish, Christian – Moroccan women’s organizations that promoted national Moroccan socio-political aims, and to analyze their origins, effects, demise and memory. The paper focuses on a unique organization - Union des Femmes marocaines (Union of Moroccan Women) – which, for almost ten years during the colonial period, had carried out intercommunal work for shared Moroccan causes. The study reveals that during the period that intercommunal women’s associations operated (1943–1952), they were first French-oriented and dealt with issues considered, from a gendered perspective, to be within women’s domain (i.e. helping the poor and needy, doing charity, fighting for women’s education), but from 1947, they “Moroccanized” and worked towards general political Moroccan aims. The paper refers to a relatively unknown chapter in Moroccan history, and opens a new perspective of the Moroccan identity of Jews before their massive emigration from the country.