Complex learning: the role of knowledge, intelligence, motivation and learning strategies

This work presents the main theories and models formulated with the purpose of offering a global overview on the acquisition of knowledge and skills involved in the initial development of expert competence. Setting from this background, we developed an empirical work whose main purpose is to define those factors in a complex learning situation such as chapter-sized in a knowledge-rich domain. The results obtained in a sample of Master students reveal that the several variables intervening, such as the qualitative organization of knowledge, intellectual ability, motivation, the deliberate use of strategies, and a rich learning environment, contribute in an independent way to provide an explanation for the acquired knowledge.     

Preschool children's mathematical knowledge: The effect of teacher "math talk."

This study examined the relation between the amount of mathematical input in the speech of preschool or day-care teachers and the growth of children's conventional mathematical knowledge over the school year. Three main findings emerged. First, there were marked individual differences in children's conventional mathematical knowledge by 4 years of age that were associated with socioeconomic status. Second, there were dramatic differences in the amount of math-related talk teachers provided. Third, and most important, the amount of teachers' math-related talk was significantly related to the growth of preschoolers' conventional mathematical knowledge over the school year but was unrelated to their math knowledge at the start of the school year.     

The Personalities of Presidents as Independent Variables

The debate about the relative importance of the personality traits of presidents has a long history. Until the mid-1970s, scholars of the presidency extensively focused on the uniqueness of the individuals that held office. However, the difficulty in capturing presidential personalities and measuring their impact on executive politics led to a significant quantitative shift that focused more on the institutions within which presidents operate. This change produced a long-lasting divide between researchers interested in the “institutional” presidency and those focused on the “personal” presidency. I propose to integrate both approaches by incorporating insights from differential psychology to treat the personality traits of presidents as independent variables. In support of the argument, I use data from an expert survey that captured psychometric traits of presidents who governed the Western Hemisphere in 1945–2012 to reassess an influential study about Latin American presidents. The results show that adding openness to experience leads to a deeper understanding of presidential approval. I conclude by arguing that measuring the personality traits of all sorts of leaders is necessary to modernize the study of elites.     

A study of physicians' intention to quit: the role of burnout, commitment and difficult doctor-patient interactions

Research on burnout and turnover intentions offers some inconsistent findings about the effects of commitment. In addition, a factor which is insufficiently studied in the turnover field is the relationship with the recipient of physicians' work, that is, the patient. This study contributes to the research literature by examining how the moderating effect of commitment depends on difficult doctor-patient relations. A total of 480 physicians, representative of Madrid, completed the survey. According to the interaction effects and the three-way interaction analyses, the results support the argument that differences in commitment lead to differences in the way physicians perceive job, interpersonal, and chronic stress. These results add a new approach to the general assumption that commitment has a unilateral negative effect, and difficult patients have a positive effect on turnover intentions, suggesting an integrated perspective, rather than a diametrical one, that allows us comprehend the complexity of physicians' turnover intentions.     

Hardy personality and psychological capital: the positive personal variables and the processes of exhaustion and vigor

The research examined the effects of personal variables, psychological capital and Hardy Personality (HP), using exhaustion and vigor as criterion variables, reviewing two studies, one of 427 nurses (Spain) and another of 253 teachers (Perú). The results showed significant direct and moderating effects of personal variables on exhaustion and vigor, with a greater effect on vigor. The commitment variable (HP) is the only one that had significant effects on both samples. The discussion emphasizes the importance of positive personal variables to explain exhaustion and vigor, particularly the latter.     

Psychological and Social Factors that Promote Positive Adaptation to Stress and Adversity in the Adult Life Cycle

The phenomenon of resilience reflects positive adaptation despite contexts of risk, significant adversity, or trauma (Masten and Powell 2003; Luthar 2006). The purpose of this investigation was to propose a mediation model to explain the relation between stress and some psychological and social resources that enhance positive adaptation throughout the entire adult life cycle, and to explore the moderator role of age and country of origin. The indicator of positive adaptation was life satisfaction (LS). The sample comprised 171 Mexicans and 154 Spaniards (N?=?325), aged between 18 and 87?years. Mediation was tested by means of various hierarchical regression analyses, which revealed that the positive adaptation process is enhanced by a group of psychological and social resources that mediate the effects of stress on LS. Self-esteem, optimism, internal control, coping aimed at acceptance, and coping aimed at seeking emotional support, as well as social contacts can mediate the negative effects of stress. Finally, it was found that age moderates the internal control but none of the remaining variables whereas the country does not moderate the relation of the variables.     

Coping with Stress, Coping with Violence: Links to Mental Health Outcomes Among At-risk Youth

Coping reactions to stressful events are important links between difficult experiences and the emergence of psychopathology. In this study we compared youths?? negative coping with stress in general to their negative coping with violence in particular, and utilized a person-centered analytic approach to examine how patterns of coping relate to various mental health outcomes. We utilized survey interview measures to collect data from a sample of 131 youth (ages 11?C14, 100?% ethnic minority) residing in an economically distressed metropolitan area of the northeast. We observed significant relations between youths?? tendencies to cope with stress and violence via externalized-internalized strategies (e.g., yelling to let off steam, crying) and their mental health symptoms. However, we generally did not observe relations between engagement in distancing coping strategies (e.g., making believe nothing happened) and any problematic outcomes. Negative coping does not appear be a monolithic construct uniformly associated with negative outcomes for youth. Distancing coping might represent an especially useful short-term coping response for youth living in socioeconomically distressed conditions from the standpoint of inhibiting symptom development.     

Semantic and phonemic verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease: Influence of clinical and demographic variables

Changes of cognitive function in PD have been extensively documented and defined as a 'frontal' type executive dysfunction. One of the main components of this executive dysfunction is the impairment of verbal fluency. The aim of the present study was to assess semantic and phonemic fluency in a large sample of PD patients and to investigate the effect of clinical and sociodemographic variables on verbal fluency in this patient group. Three hundred patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who were consecutive referrals to our clinic and 50 age and education matched healthy controls completed the phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks. Both phonemic and semantic verbal fluency were significantly impaired in PD patients relative to matched controls. Stage of illness, presence of depression, education and age influenced verbal fluency measures. Regression analyses established that global measures of cognitive ability (MMSE) and executive function (FAB) and side of onset of motor symptoms predicted 36-37% of variance of phonemic or semantic verbal fluency measures. Thus, future studies aimed at assessing cognitive functioning in PD patients treated by deep brain stimulation (DBS) should adequately take into account several factors (stage of illness, depression, executive functioning) which may potentially influence performance on verbal fluency tasks.