Emotional well-being: The role of social achievement goals and self-esteem

The current study examined how self-esteem and social achievement goals affect individuals’ emotions independently and jointly using the data collected from 367 college students. Social development goals were related to positive emotions (i.e., love and joy). Social demonstration-avoid goals were related to maladaptive patterns (low levels of joy but high levels of fear, shame and sadness). Social demonstration-approach goals were positively associated with joy but had null relations with all other emotions. The results indicated that social development goals buffered students with low self-esteem against negative emotions and amplified the positive emotional experiences. In contrast, social demonstration-avoid goals were especially harmful for students with low self-esteem.     

Visual search for dimensionally redundant pop-out targets: Redundancy gains in compound tasks

Two visual search experiments investigated the detection of odd-one-out feature targets redundantly defined on multiple dimensions. Targets differed from the distractors in either orientation or colour or both (redundant targets). In Experiment 1, the three types of target were presented either in separate trial blocks or randomized within blocks, and the task involved either a simple target detection response or a “compound” response based on the position of dials inside the target. Mean reaction times (RTs) were faster to redundant targets than to singly defined targets, with greater gains in simple detection than in compound tasks. Further, simple detection RTs to redundant targets were faster than the fastest RTs to singly defined targets, violating Miller's (1982) “race model inequality” (RMI). Experiment 2 showed that, with compound tasks, mean RT redundancy gains (and violations of the RMI) depend on practice. The results suggest that separate colour and orientation feature contrast signals coactivate perceptual mechanisms involved in target detection.     

What various kinds of errors tell us about lateral masking effects

Error analyses were conducted to study processes underlying lateral masking effects. Location errors (i.e., confusions with a flanking letter) occurred at a rate higher than chance, and they increased with increasing eccentricity and with decreasing spacing. In longer strings, confusions with a flanker directly adjacent to the target (which is itself laterally masked) were more frequent than with a far flanker, and these confusions also increased with increasing eccentricity and with decreasing spacing indicating that identification of the letter's form is not necessarily disturbed by adjacent characters. This was confirmed in a whole report task, where there was better recognition performance for the central letter than in partial report. Whereas in partial report, the left flanker was more often confused with the target than the right one, in whole report, the left-most letter was recognized best. The data provide evidence that positional uncertainty contributes to lateral masking effects, and that a substantial portion of positional uncertainty occurs after having identified the letter's forms.     

Employee well-being: A multilevel model linking work and nonwork domains

In this article, we review recent methodological developments that have enabled conceptual advances addressing intraindividual processes leading to psychological well-being. We contend that the introduction of dynamic assessment methodologies for sampling experiences, feelings, and behaviours on and off the job, together with the implementation of multilevel modelling strategies in organizational research on well-being, should lead to the development of richer models of employee well-being (compared to existing theoretical models). Accordingly, we develop a model of employee well-being that considers both personal and situational predictors, and both work and nonwork well-being indicators, as well as the real-time relationships between well-being antecedents and indicators across these two life spheres.     

Direct evaluative conditioning in brand placement: The impact of scene valence and prominence on brand placement repetition effects

Whereas previous studies investigated the affect transfer from one specific affective stimulus of the brand placement context (such as an artist or the genre) to the brand, this research study investigates the effect of the valence of various scenes in which the brand is repeatedly placed on brand attitude. Direct evaluative conditioning theory suggests that pairing a brand repeatedly with various positive (negative) stimuli positively (negatively) affects brand attitude. The results of 2 experimental studies indicate that when a brand is repeatedly and prominently placed in different affective scenes of the same valence (a series of either positive or negative scenes), the affect aroused by those scenes influences explicit and implicit brand attitudes. In addition, whereas previous research found negative effects of brand prominence on brand evaluations, this study found that prominence positively moderates the affect transfer from the valence of various scenes on brand attitude. This implies that by placing the brand in various positive scenes, prominent brand placements can have a positive effect on recall and recognition and on brand attitude, which transcends the previously declared paradox of prominent placement.     

Morality Predicts Enjoyment But Not Appreciation of Morally Ambiguous Characters

Understanding the role of morally ambiguous characters such as anti-heroes in entertainment experiences has become a central concern for media researchers. Some have argued that different character schemas or tropes may vary along specific moral domains, whereas others promote a linear progression of moral violation from hero to villain. This study presents the results of survey data (N = 294) examining the perceptions of established character tropes in terms of character morality, enjoyment, and appreciation responses. Popular perceptions of character tropes drawn from the website TV Tropes did not significantly differ in terms of which moral domains they upheld or violated, but demonstrated a linear progression of moral violation across five domains of morality. Perceptions of character tropes also did not differ significantly in associations with enjoyment, appreciation, or variables drawn from character identification literature such as self-expansion, wishful identification, or homophily. When examining media responses, however, self-expansion, wishful identification, and moral violation were all strongly related to enjoyment. Unlike enjoyment, appreciation was not related to moral violation. These results are discussed in terms of hedonic and eudaimonic responses to characters.     

The role of mother–child and teacher–child relationship on academic achievement

Robust findings have highlighted the importance of early cognitive abilities for academic performance. However, little is known about the role played by relational variables. In this longitudinal study, we examined children’s relationship with their mothers and teachers as predictors of later academic achievement. We addressed this issue following a group of 45 Italian children (29 boys) from the last year of preschool (mean age: five years and six months) until Year 4 of primary school (mean age: nine years and six months). Results showed that mother–child relationship at age 5 and teacher–child relationship at age 7 correlate with children’s academic achievement at age 9, controlling for early background and verbal abilities. Further analyses showed that teacher–child conflict partially mediates the relationship between early mother–child conflict and children’s later academic achievement. Mechanisms by which relational variables influence learning outcomes are discussed.     

Does sensitivity to criticism mediate the relationship between theory of mind and academic achievement?

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers’ theory of mind skills by considering whether “costs” of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children’s academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year of preschool (Time 1, mean age = 5 years 6 months) and in their first year (Time 2, mean age = 6 years 5 months) and second year (Time 3, mean age = 7 years 5 months) of primary school. Children’s theory of mind, verbal ability, and social skills were evaluated at each time point. In addition, children’s sensitivity to teacher criticism was assessed at Time 2 and teachers’ ratings of children’s academic achievement were gathered at Time 3. Mediation analyses showed that, independent of verbal ability and social skills, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 mediated the association between theory of mind at Time 1 and academic achievement at Time 3. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the educational consequences of individual differences in preschoolers’ theory of mind.     

The factor structure of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA): A survey of Italian adolescents

Despite the intensive use of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), a measure of attachment which centres on individual differences in adolescents and their ability to evaluate their relationships with parents and peers, the factor structure of the inventory requires further investigation. This study of 1059 Italian adolescents compared the three models which are discussed in the literature: the one-factor model (attachment security), the two-factor model (trust-communication and alienation) and the three-factor model (trust, communication and alienation), and examined the influences of age and gender on the IPPA’s scores. Our findings provide support for the reliability of the latest and longer version of the IPPA (75-item). Factor analysis showed that the three-factor model had the best fit, although the three dimensions are strongly interrelated. Sixteen year olds had lower attachment security to their fathers than the results of the other adolescent age groups. Males reported lower alienation scores than females in the paternal form, while females had higher attachment security, trust and communication scores than males in the peers form.