A Program to Select Sentences with a Strong Psychological Impact

This article presents a program based on the Elementary Pragmatic Model and on the administration of a test consisting of 90 sentences with a strong psychological impact interactively presented to participants. Data emerging from this procedure are calculated according to four coordinates and 16 relational functions processed on a grid defined by a table of 256 possible interactions. From these interactions three final states were found to constitute essentially the bottom line of the human mind. The program indicates how certain sentences could be selected systematically to lead initially deviant participants toward more statistically average patterns, in terms of coordinates, functions, interactions, and final states.     

Spontaneous imagined contact and intergroup relations: Quality matters

While research on experimental interventions that aim to improve outgroup attitudes via contact imagery grows, it is important to examine if contact imagery that occurs in spontaneous, non-experimentally controlled conditions drives attitudes, and in what direction. To answer this, we constructed and validated a spontaneous imagined intergroup contact scale (SIICS) that differentiates between frequency, quality and elaboration of the spontaneous imagery of outgroups. In three correlational studies (N_Portugal = 305, N_{United Kingdom} = 185, N_Italy = 276), we tested the role of spontaneous imagined contact frequency, quality and elaboration in predicting attitudes and social distance (Studies 1–3) and intended behaviour (Study 3) toward immigrant groups. Results demonstrated that spontaneous imagined contact quality consistently predicted key outcome variables above and beyond the other two dimensions. Importantly, the effects were significant while controlling for other potent forms of direct and indirect contact. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Reflecting on Maltese school‐based counselling practices: An autoethnographic collaborative writing project

Maltese counsellors working in schools are, at times, just making ends meet due to lack of human resources and work schedules. ‘Why do our students/children have to repeat the same story to so many professionals?’ teachers/parents angrily query. This autoethnographic study voices our professional experiences as authors and participants. This empowers us to be advocates for our young clients. Collaborative autoethnography (CAE) methodology best fits our research question as we ‘seek to discover and systemically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto)…understand cultural experience (ethno)’ (Ellis, Adams, & Brochner, 2011, p. 273). Our writing and reflections conclude that best practices include counsellors who work, at least, in pairs within transdisciplinary teams at one school for cycles of five years, with clarity of roles across professionals.     

Perceiving children's behavior and reaching limits in a risk environment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy of parents' perception of children's reaching limits in a risk scenario. A sample of 68 parents of 1- to 4-year-olds were asked to make a prior estimate of their children's behavior and action limits in a task that involved retrieving a toy out of the water. The action modes used for reaching, accuracy of estimates, and error tendency were investigated. Several morphological variables, walking experience, and swimming program experience were analyzed as predictors of maximum and estimated maximum reachability. Most children sat to retrieve the toy out of the water and fell in while attempting to grasp beyond their reaching limit. Nearly 80% of the parents correctly predicted their children's behavior when the toy was unreachable. Parents were cautious in predicting their children's maximum reachability (>50% underestimates). Mothers were more accurate than fathers in estimating their children's reaching limit. The prediction of children's capabilities was based partially on body dimensions and proportions.     

Modified test administration using assistive technology: preliminary psychometric findings

This study examined the psychometric properties of test presentation and response formats that were modified to be accessible with the use of assistive technology (AT). First, the stability of psychometric properties was examined in 60 children, ages 6 to 12, with no significant physical or communicative impairments. Population-specific differences were then examined with samples that included 24 children with cerebral palsy and matched control peers. Children were administered standard and modified versions of tests. The type of AT access did not have a statistically significant effect on modified test scores. Measurement stability between the standard and modified versions of quadrant forced-choice format tests was sufficient. The findings support the potential use of AT and accessible procedures for some test instruments in the assessment of children with cerebral palsy.     

Aesthetic sports as high-risk contexts for eating disorders--young elite dancers and gymnasts perspectives

This is the first study developed in Portugal which investigates specific characteristics of dance and gymnastics environments that make them high-risk contexts for the development of eating disorders. Four focus groups were conducted with thirteen ballet students from a professional dance school and nine gymnasts from a gymnastics club (aged 12 to 17 years old), which were subjected to an inductive-deductive analysis procedure. Specific risk and protective factors were identified. Among their respective sources of influence, teachers and coaches are those who exert a stronger influence upon young athletes. We also explored some themes related to the influence of peers, parents, and environmental characteristics, which could have an important role on the development or prevention of disordered eating.     

Psychometric properties of the Spanish Human System Audit Short-Scale of transformational leadership

The aim of this research is to examine the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Human System Audit transformational leadership short-scale (HSA-TFL-ES). It is based on the concept of Bass developed in 1985. The HSA-TFL is a part of the wider Human System Audit frame. We analyzed the HSA-TFL-ES in five different samples with a total number of 1,718 workers at five sectors. Exploratory Factor Analysis corroborated a single factor in all samples that accounted for 66% to 73% of variance. The internal consistency in all samples was good (alpha = .92 - .95). Evidence was found for the convergent validity of the HSA-TFL-ES and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. These results suggested that the HSA-TFL short-scale is a psychometrically sound measure of this construct and can be used for a combined and first overall measurement.     

Passionate hockey fans: Appraisals of,coping with,and attention paid to the 2012–2013 National Hockey League lockout

ObjectivesWe examined if harmonious and obsessive passion for watching hockey were differentially related to stress experiences during the 2012–2013 National Hockey League (NHL) lockout.DesignCross-sectional data were collected from 256 undergraduate hockey fans.MethodParticipants completed questionnaires that measured passion types, stress appraisals, coping, and how they attended to lockout-related information.ResultsObsessive passion was positively associated with stress appraisals, most types of coping, and with avoiding information about the lockout. Harmonious passion was unrelated to stress appraisals, showed few relationships with coping, and was positively related with monitoring lockout-related information. Structural equation modelling supported a model whereby threat appraisal mediated the relationship between obsessive passion and disengagement-oriented coping.ConclusionsAppraising, coping with, and paying attention to the NHL lockout among hockey fans varied to the extent that their passion for hockey was more harmonious or obsessive.     

The chance project: Complex interventions with adolescent school drop-outs in Naples

Abstract

In this paper the authors describe their long experience, as psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists, with an experimental school project with adolescent school drop-outs, a project that has been running in three deprived contexts of Naples. In the paper the structure of the psychological project supporting workers involved with these disruptive adolescents is analysed in detail along with the theoretical framework that lies behind it. The authors also give some illustrations that show the intense dynamics present in this field of work and some meaningful developments observed in the relationships and communications between adolescents and adults and in the group of peers.