Do adolescents want death to be included in their education?

Social Psychology of Education - This study sets out to ascertain adolescents’ attitudes and opinions towards death education. To this end two instruments were designed and validated: the...     

Who benefits from independent careers? Employees,organizations, or both?

The traditional organizational career has been depicted as the classic example of how employers and employees can develop a mutually beneficial relationship; but changes in the competitive landscape and in individual work values have challenged its viability. Commentators have argued that a ‘new career’ deal, encapsulated by the notions of the protean and the boundaryless career, has emerged suggesting a shift in control of careers from organizations to individuals. Research has explored the implications for individuals' careers while largely neglecting consequences for organizations. Our paper seeks to remedy this by exploring both the individual and the organizational outcomes of independent career orientations and the extent to which organizations can manage these through high commitment human resource management (HRM) practices. Our study, conducted with 655 employee–supervisor dyads, indicates that a protean career orientation results in gains for both employees and organizations, whereas a boundaryless career orientation is associated with mutual losses. In addition, our findings suggest that high commitment HR practices play an important role in managing the outcomes of employees seeking traditional careers but have only a limited impact on those with a boundaryless career orientation.     

Stimulus Fading and Response Elaboration in Differential Reinforcement for Alternative Behavior

A hallmark of applied behavior analysis is the development of function‐based interventions for problem behavior. A widely recommended function‐based intervention is differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), in which reinforcement is contingent upon socially acceptable alternatives to problem behavior (e.g., teaching communication skills). Typically, DRA is introduced under rich schedules of reinforcement. Although effective for initiating behavior change, rich schedules are often impractical in the natural setting. In this study, we evaluated the extent to which a stimulus fading program could be employed to elaborate alternative behavior (mands) in two individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. For both participants, problem behavior was reduced substantially upon implementation of the DRA procedure. Further, problem behavior rates remained low and mand rates decreased to more practical levels as the DRA behavioral requirements increased during the fading program. The fading approach demonstrated in this paper may be a useful component of intervention packages for clinicians. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behind the scene: cognitive benefits of playing a musical instrument. Executive functions,processing speed,fluid intelligence and divided attention / Detrás de la escena: beneficios cognitivos de tocar un instrumento musical. Funciones ejecutivas,velocidad de procesamiento,inteligencia fluida y atención dividida

Abstract

The relationship between music training and cognitive performance has been much explored over the last decades. A variety of evidence shows a different neurological and cognitive processing in the population who have undergone instrumental music training compared to people who have not. A review of the literature shows the many advantages in cognitive skills musicians have gained from musical training, such as benefits to their executive functions and other aspects of cognition, in children as well as adults and the elderly. This study investigates in greater depth certain cognitive aspects associated with musical training in the adult population. Specifically, it explores its relationship with inhibition, working memory (verbal and visual-spatial), flexibility, processing speed, fluid intelligence and divided attention. Our results suggest that there is indeed a relationship between musical training and improvements in cognitive performance, both in executive functions and in other areas of cognition.     

Procesamiento de la información en la esquizofrenia: Amplitud de aprehensión

Resumen

Esta investigación ha tenido como objetivo comparar la amplitud de aprehensión de dos grupos de pacientes esquizofrénicos (paranoide y no-paranoide) y la de un grupo de sujetos normales. Las variables independientes han sido la duración de la exposición y el número de items. Los resultados sugieren que los esquizofrénicos procesan la información visual menos eficientemente que los normales.