The child's conceptions about means of production and their owners

Investigated the child's social ideas, namely notions about production means (factory, public transportation, farmland) and family influence on notion acquisition. 120 children of jive age groups (4 to 13 years) were clinically interviewed (sensu Piaget). Children's parents, workers and housewives of an Italian industrial centre, answered to questionnaires inquiring background information on parents and child and appraisal of child's level of understanding. Interview answers were classified on ten level sequences concerning father's job, home ownership, function and ownership of production means and produce. Correlational analyses and separate ANOVAs [5(age) × 2(sex) × 3(production mean)] in three subject areas (owner of production mean, of produce, and produce use) of interview answers reveal that children's ideas about different production means develop with differing rhythms through the same level sequences, which are clearly related to the general characterstics of intelligence described by Piaget. Questionnaires show that parents tend to furnish their children with the degree of information concerning jobs appropriate to the level of development at which the parents believe their children to be.     

The effects of stimulus sequence on event related potentials: A comparison of visual and auditory sequences

The effect of stimulus sequence on the waveform of the scalp-recorded event-related potential (ERP) was studied in the auditory and visual modalities. The results indicate that the sequential effects are qualitatively similar in the two modalities; however, an interaction appeared between the modalities and the stimulus effects. The degree of sequential effect was a function of whether or not the stimulus eliciting the ERP was the counted (target) event. This finding is discussed in terms of an expectancy model, and the interaction is attributed to variations in short-term memory for past events as a function of the level of processing required for each.     

Partners' internal stress and well-being: The role of dyadic coping and problem resolution

Couples' experiences of daily stress can be detrimental for partners' individual and relational well-being, specifically their identity as a couple, their relational satisfaction, and their life satisfaction. Grounded in the Systemic Transactional Model, this study aimed at analyzing factors that may safeguard partners and their relationship from detrimental effects of internal stress (i.e., stress that originates inside the relationship). We examined the buffering effect of partners' positive dyadic coping and internal problem resolution. Daily diary data were collected across 7 days from 82 heterosexual couples. Multilevel dyadic analyses showed that internal stress was negatively associated with partners' individual and relational well-being. Positive dyadic coping moderated the association between partners' internal stress and couple satisfaction for both partners, but not life satisfaction and couple identity. Moreover, for partners who reported a resolution to the internal problem, the negative associations of internal stress with life satisfaction, couple satisfaction, and couple identity were significantly lower than for those who did not resolve the internal problem. This study confirms the negative role of internal stress on well-being, shows the associations between internal stress and couple identity, and highlights the protective role of dyadic coping and internal problem resolution in couples' daily lives.     

A self-novelty manipulation of self-focused attention for internet and laboratory experiments.

Conventional manipulations of self-focused attention are poorly suited for Internet experiments and for group-based administration. The authors present a self-novelty manipulation that effectively induces self-awareness for such contexts. In the high self-focus condition, people write about how they differ from their family and friends and from people in general. In the control conditions, people write about neutral topics or do no writing. Three experiments using different measures of self-focus (the situational self-awareness scale, a pronoun selection task, and the private self-consciousness scale) showed that the self-novelty manipulation significantly increased self-focused attention. This effect appeared in Internet-based experiments (Experiment 1) and in laboratory experiments with groups (Experiments 2 and 3). The self-novelty manipulation appears promising for self-awareness research conducted outside of conventional laboratory contexts.     

Gender and Age Differences in Brazilian Children's Friendship Nominations and Peer Sociometric Ratings

This article reports on an investigation into the relation between young adults' retrospective reports of their mothers' and fathers' division of household labor (egalitarian or traditional) and parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, or disengaged). Participants' own gender attitudes were also tested in relation to parents' division of labor and parenting. The sample included 294 women and men (M =19-years old) who were raised in 2-parent households and came from a range of ethnic backgrounds. When mothers' parenting was evaluated, permissive parenting was more likely among those from egalitarian households whereas authoritarian parenting was more likely among those from traditional households. When fathers' parenting was evaluated, authoritative parenting was more likely among participants from egalitarian households and disengaged parenting was more likely among those from traditional households. The association between fathers' parenting style and division of labor was specific to the division of childcare (rather than housework). Participants' gender attitudes were not related to parents' division of labor or parenting style.     

“Dark Side” Personality Styles as Predictors of Task,Contextual, and Job Performance

Many meta‐analyses and hundreds of primary studies have been carried out on the criterion‐oriented validity of personality measures for predicting job performance. The Five‐Factor Model of personality has been used as a frame for analyzing the empirical evidence. However, the research in industrial, work and organizational psychology has not examined the relationship between the dysfunctional tendencies of personality and the personality disorders as described in DSM‐IV (Axis II) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and job performance. The present paper examines the relationship between job performance and the dysfunctional personality styles included in a non‐clinical personality inventory developed to assess personality tendencies related to the dysfunctional (normal) personality styles and the personality disorders in work settings. This inventory assesses 14 dysfunctional personality styles and was given to a sample of 85 applicants. The job performance was rated by the direct supervisor 8 months later, and three measures were obtained: task performance, contextual performance, and overall job performance. The results showed that the seven dysfunctional personality styles (suspicious, shy, sad, pessimistic, sufferer, eccentric, and risky) predicted the three measures of job performance. The egocentric personality style negatively predicted contextual performance. Finally, the submitted style predicted task performance. With the exception of the risky personality style, the rest of the styles mainly consisted of Neuroticism. Implications for the research and practice of personnel selection are discussed.     

Stereotypes and beliefs about different ethnic groups in Spain. A study with Spanish and Latin American children living in Madrid

96 Spanish and Latin American children from 3 grades in Madrid reported their knowledge of positive and negative stereotypes regarding Spaniards, Gypsies, Latin American and Chinese people. Their personal beliefs about these four ethnic groups were also assessed. Stereotypes about Spaniards were perceived as overwhelmingly positive and least negatively while stereotypes about Gypsies were rarely positive and often negative. Spanish children attributed more positive and fewer negative stereotypes to Chinese immigrants than Latin American children did. Older children reported more positive stereotypes about Gypsies than younger children and older Spanish children reported fewer positive stereotypes for their own group than their younger counterparts. Older children's personal beliefs about Gypsies were less consistent with negative stereotypes than younger children's. Older children also showed greater discrepancy of their personal beliefs with positive stereotypes of Spaniards than younger children did. Findings are discussed within the context of socio-cognitive approaches.     

Abstract Conceptual Feature Ratings Predict Gaze Within Written Word Arrays: Evidence From a Visual Wor(l)d Paradigm

The Abstract Conceptual Feature (ACF) framework predicts that word meaning is represented within a high‐dimensional semantic space bounded by weighted contributions of perceptual, affective, and encyclopedic information. The ACF, like latent semantic analysis, is amenable to distance metrics between any two words. We applied predictions of the ACF framework to abstract words using eyetracking via an adaptation of the classical “visual word paradigm” (VWP). Healthy adults (n = 20) selected the lexical item most related to a probe word in a 4‐item written word array comprising the target and three distractors. The relation between the probe and each of the four words was determined using the semantic distance metrics derived from ACF ratings. Eye movement data indicated that the word that was most semantically related to the probe received more and longer fixations relative to distractors. Importantly, in sets where participants did not provide an overt behavioral response, the fixation rates were nonetheless significantly higher for targets than distractors, closely resembling trials where an expected response was given. Furthermore, ACF ratings which are based on individual words predicted eye fixation metrics of probe‐target similarity at least as well as latent semantic analysis ratings which are based on word co‐occurrence. The results provide further validation of Euclidean distance metrics derived from ACF ratings as a measure of one facet of the semantic relatedness of abstract words and suggest that they represent a reasonable approximation of the organization of abstract conceptual space. The data are also compatible with the broad notion that multiple sources of information (not restricted to sensorimotor and emotion information) shape the organization of abstract concepts. While the adapted “VWP” is potentially a more metacognitive task than the classical visual world paradigm, we argue that it offers potential utility for studying abstract word comprehension.     

Female Adolescents with Eating Disorders,Parental Psychopathological Risk and Family Functioning

Epidemiological studies on adolescents with eating disorders demonstrate a high prevalence of disordered eating behaviors, with a higher prevalence of eating disorders among girls. Several studies have recently demonstrated an association between female adolescents’ eating disorders, parental psychopathological risk, and an impaired family functioning with poor quality of the relationships among family members. On the basis of these premises, we conducted a cross-sectional study initially recruiting 243 families of female adolescents affected by anorexia nervosa (Group A), bulimia nervosa (Group B), and binge eating disorder (Group C) (average age 14–17) to assess their psychological profile (SCL90-R), specific representations of their family functioning (FACES-IV), and the possible effect of adolescents’ psychological profiles and parents’ psychopathological risk on family functioning. Our results indicate that adolescents and parents in Groups A, B, and C show an unequivocal psychopathological profile; in particular, adolescents with anorexia present the most severe psychopathological risk. Further, our results show that adolescents and their parents differ in their perception of their family functioning. More specifically, adolescents with anorexia perceive their family as highly disengaged, poorly interwoven, and rigid, in addition cohesion and communication qualities are perceived as low. Interestingly, parental psychopathological risk predicts adolescents’ specific perception of their family functioning. These findings may guide clinical interventions as they suggest that distinct maternal psychopathological symptoms can be associated with a variety of clinical configurations in their offspring, whereas paternal psychopathological risk may be present in adolescents suffering from all forms of eating disorders.     

Interesting Things and Curious People: Exploration and Engagement as Transient States and Enduring Strengths

Curiosity, interest, and intrinsic motivation are critical to the development of competence, knowledge, and expertise. Without a mechanism of intrinsic motivation, people would rarely explore new things, learn for its own sake, or engage with uncertain tasks despite feelings of confusion and anxiety. This article explores two sides of interest: momentary feelings (the emotion of interest) and enduring traits (the character strength of curiosity). Recent theories in emotion psychology can explain why and when people experience feelings of interest; recent research has illuminated the role of curiosity in cultivating knowledge, meaning in life, close relationships, and physical and mental resilience. The problem for future research – and for social and personality psychology more generally – is how to bridge the dynamics of everyday experience with stable, lifespan aspects of personality.