The Relationship Between Group Identification and Satisfaction with Life in a Cross-Cultural Community Sample

A variety of studies have shown that group identification (a sense of belonging to one’s social group, coupled with a sense of commonality with the group’s members) is linked to high levels of satisfaction with life (SWL). The aim of the present study was to support and extend this literature by: (1) investigating the link between group identification and SWL with a large cross-cultural community sample; (2) examining whether the relationship is moderated by nationality; and (3) considering whether SWL is enhanced by possessing multiple group identifications simultaneously. Utilizing data from Wave 1 of the Health in Groups project, 3829 participants from both Scotland and Italy completed a questionnaire assessing their identification with their family, their local community, and a group of their choice, as well as their level of SWL. Higher identification with each group predicted higher SWL. Nationality was a marginal moderator of the relationship between family identification and SWL, with the relationship being stronger for Italian participants than for Scottish participants. There was also an additive effect of group identification, with a positive relationship between the number of groups with which participants identified and their SWL. These effects were obtained even after controlling for gender, age, employment status, nationality, and extent of contact with each group. The implications for healthcare professionals and their patients are discussed.     

The Role of Executive Function in Arithmetic Problem-Solving Processes: A Study of Third Graders

This study investigated the roles of different executive function (EF) components (inhibition, shifting, and working memory) in 2-step arithmetic word problem solving. A sample of 139 children aged 8 years old and regularly attending the 3rd grade of primary school were tested on 6 EF tasks measuring different EF components, a reading task and a reading comprehension task, an arithmetic facts task evaluating basic knowledge of calculation, and three 2-step arithmetic word problems. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the roles of the different EF components in the various phases of the problem-solving process. The results showed that EF affects the various phases of problem solving differently over and above calculation knowledge and reading abilities. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to further understanding the role of cognitive skills in mathematical problem solving and in relation to instructional approaches that may increase children’s performance on 2-step arithmetic word problems.     

Psychometric characteristics of the Transgender Identity Survey in an Italian sample: A measure to assess positive and negative feelings towards transgender identity

Transgender people experience systematic oppression due to societal endorsement of binary notions of gender. As a result, they are at risk for self-stigmatization via the internalization of negative attitudes about being transgender. Thus, researchers need instruments to assess the multilayered nature of transgender identity and its role in the experience of mental health and well-being. This study evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Transgender Identity Survey (TIS) in an Italian sample of 149 transgender people. The TIS assesses levels of pride, shame, alienation, and passing in transgender populations, providing researchers and clinicians with an instrument that can evaluate both positive aspects of transgender identity and internalized transphobia. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the original four-factor model had adequate fit to the data obtained from the Italian sample, with the exception of one item. Both convergent and predictive validity were assessed and partially confirmed, indicating that the TIS is significantly correlated with some of the enacted stigma and mental health outcome measures (perceived stress, depression, and anxiety). This study provides both clinicians and researchers with a tool to assess positive and negative aspects of identity in transgender populations.     

Processing of negative stimuli facilitates event-based prospective memory only under low memory load

Event-based prospective memory (PM) is related to the ability to execute a previously planned action at the appropriate situation. Previous literature showed enhanced performance when emotional stimuli are used as PM targets. However, it was entirely unexplored whether this effect is susceptible to prospective memory load (PML), related to the number of target events that are relevant for the pending PM task. Here we presented participants with angry or neutral faces for an identity judgment (ongoing task). A different number of faces, depending on low vs. high levels of PML, served as PM targets. The results showed better PM performance following negative than neutral targets, but only under low levels of PML. This indicates that the bottom-up facilitation driven by negative stimuli serving as PM targets dramatically depends on the available attention resources allocated for monitoring the incoming information.     

The evolution of alexia in two cases of posterior cortical atrophy

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is an uncommon presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD), characterised by prevalent anatomo-functional involvement of posterior cortical areas. Accordingly, the main clinical features at onset are disorders of high-order visual processing, such as alexia and impairments of visuo-spatial and visuo-constructional abilities. The clinical features in the early stages of disease are variable, and they have been suggested to stem from prevalent ventral or dorsal brain pathology, and/or asymmetric hemispheric involvement. With disease progression, these differences tend to blur with the increasing severity of neuropsychological dysfunction. We report two PCA patients showing different patterns of reading impairment (respectively, letter-by-letter reading and neglect dyslexia). A follow-up study suggested that the qualitative features of alexia remain distinctive with disease evolution. In addition, single photon emission tomography (SPECT) studies revealed different patterns of hypoperfusion, consistent with the alexia types. A careful reading assessment can provide important insights to the pattern of progression of the disease in patients with PCA up to the late stages of the pathology.     

Consequences of Politicians’ Disrespectful Communication Depend on Social Judgment Dimensions and Voters’ Moral Identity

The present study investigates the consequences of respectful versus disrespectful communication in political debates on voters’ social judgments and voting decisions. Reconciling previously mixed results, we argue that the consequences of disrespect vary with the judgment dimension (communion vs. agency) and voters’ moral identity. An initial study (N = 197) finds that a political candidate's disrespect towards his or her opponent affects voting decision through voting intention. A second study (N = 327) shows that disrespect influences voting intention through communion but not through agency ratings. Qualifying the previous finding, a third study (N = 329) shows that both communion and agency judgments act as mediators, but in different ways depending on the level of moral identity. Overall, communion judgments played a more prominent part in explaining the consequences of disrespectful communication. Our findings thus present a nuanced picture of respect and disrespect in political communication and shed light on their ramifications.     

First- and Second-Grade Urban Students' Path to Comprehension Strategy Use: A Practitioner's Framework

This study seeks to explain what first- and second-grade African American, urban students who participated in an explicit comprehension strategy instruction (ECSI) program learned about comprehension strategies and how this knowledge supports self-regulated strategy use. The study was also designed to compare these students' knowledge with those who were exposed to less systematic comprehension strategy instruction. Students who participated in ECSI had more awareness and knowledge of strategies and applied them more frequently than students not in ECSI. A practitioner's framework is proposed to support teachers in developing their own ECSI.     

Aristotle’s prohibition rule on kind-crossing and the definition of mathematics as a science of quantities

The article evaluates the Domain Postulate of the Classical Model of Science and the related Aristotelian prohibition rule on kind-crossing as interpretative tools in the history of the development of mathematics into a general science of quantities. Special reference is made to Proclus’ commentary to Euclid’s first book of Elements, to the sixteenth century translations of Euclid’s work into Latin and to the works of Stevin, Wallis, Viète and Descartes. The prohibition rule on kind-crossing formulated by Aristotle in Posterior analytics is used to distinguish between conceptions that share the same name but are substantively different: for example the search for a broader genus including all mathematical objects; the search for a common character of different species of mathematical objects; and the effort to treat magnitudes as numbers.     

Directional learning,but no spatial mapping by rats performing a navigational task in an inverted orientation

Previous studies have identified neurons throughout the rat limbic system that fire as a function of the animal’s head direction (HD). This HD signal is particularly robust when rats locomote in the horizontal and vertical planes, but is severely attenuated when locomoting upside-down (Calton & Taube, 2005). Given the hypothesis that the HD signal represents an animal’s sense of directional heading, we evaluated whether rats could accurately navigate in an inverted (upside-down) orientation. The task required the animals to find an escape hole while locomoting inverted on a circular platform suspended from the ceiling. In Experiment 1, Long-Evans rats were trained to navigate to the escape hole by locomoting from either one or four start points. Interestingly, no animals from the 4-start point group reached criterion, even after 29 days of training. Animals in the 1-start point group reached criterion after about six training sessions. In Experiment 2, probe tests revealed that animals navigating from either 1- or 2-start points utilized distal visual landmarks for accurate orientation. However, subsequent probe tests revealed that their performance was markedly attenuated when navigating to the escape hole from a novel start point. This absence of flexibility while navigating upside-down was confirmed in Experiment 3 where we show that the rats do not learn to reach a place, but instead learn separate trajectories to the target hole(s). Based on these results we argue that inverted navigation primarily involves a simple directional strategy based on visual landmarks.     

Risk and Distributive Justice: The Case of Regulating New Technologies

There are certain kinds of risk for which governments, rather than individual actors, are increasingly held responsible. This article discusses how regulatory institutions can ensure an equitable distribution of risk between various groups such as rich and poor, and present and future generations. It focuses on cases of risk associated with technological and biotechnological innovation. After discussing various possibilities and difficulties of distribution, this article proposes a non-welfarist understanding of risk as a burden of cooperation.