The Moderating Role of Gender and Gender Role Attitudes on the Link Between Spousal Support and Marital Quality

Researchers who examine the relation of gender role attitudes to division of household labor and marital quality often overlook its relation to emotional spousal support. Moreover, research on gender and marriage often ignores how gender role attitudes may explain the link between spousal support and marital quality. Secondary data analyses on a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults examined the interaction of gender and gender role attitudes on spousal support and marital quality. Emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction and less conflict for traditional women and egalitarian men, whereas both instrumental and emotional spousal support predicted better marital satisfaction for egalitarian women and traditional men. These results suggest that within, as well as between, gender differences are important for understanding the contribution of spousal support to perceived marital quality.     

Differential Daily Writing Conditions and Performance on Major Multiple-Choice Exams

Students (N=153) in three equivalent sections of an undergraduate human development course compared pairs of related concepts via either written or oral discussion at the beginning of most class sessions. A writing-for-random-credit section achieved significantly higher ratings on the writing activities than did a writing-for-no-credit section. The writing-for-random-credit section also obtained significantly higher correlations between the writing ratings and scores on multiple-choice exam items related to the conceptual pairs (r=.74) and on total exam scores (r=.78) than did the writing-for-no-credit section (rs=.45 and .43, respectively). Finally, the writing-for-random-credit condition produced significantly higher scores on exam items related to the conceptual pairs than did the oral-discussion-only condition. Plus, effect-size comparisons showed weak to medium differences between exam scores under the writing-for-random-credit and the writing-for-no-credit condition.     

Providing Practicing Teachers Classroom Management Professional Development in a Brief Self-Study Format

This study examined the impact of a time efficient self-study method for providing practicing teachers with job-embedded professional development targeting specific classroom management skills. The training method employed print packets and videotapes that provided models of effective classroom management strategies for instruction-giving, praise, and time out. Participants were three master’s level speech therapists certified to teach speech and language delayed preschool children. The training materials were evaluated through observations of the teachers’ implementation of targeted practices in a multiple baseline across participants. Results indicated increases in all participants use of the management skills after training. The results suggest that this type of training method may help teachers increase their use of effective classroom management procedures. It is potentially noteworthy that the training program examined herein was largely teacher managed and was quite brief. Future directions and limitations of the study are discussed.Natalie J. Slider is now at Brownsburg Community School Corporation.     

From intersubjectivity to subjectivity: the transformative roles of emotional intimacy and imitation

How is the transition between intersubjectivity and subjectivity accomplished? While many developmental theorists have argued that social interaction gives rise to individualistic capacities (e.g. representation, language, consciousness), relatively few theorists have attempted to identify the precise mechanisms that might be responsible for this transformation. The present paper addresses this gap by drawing attention to the central role played by emotional intimacy. It is argued that subjectivity arises out of intimate engagement with others, and particular attention is given to the role of imitation in fostering such intimacy. While the primary focus is on infant development, links are made to work with atypical populations because they offer valuable insights into the developmental processes under consideration here. The ultimate aim of the paper is to demonstrate that by recognizing the emotional intimacy inherent within adult–infant interactions, new solutions are offered to theoretical problems that developmental psychology continues to face in accounting for the origins of subjectivity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making Sense of Suffering: A Preliminary Study of Changes in Religious Women Adjusting to Severe Adversity

This qualitative study examined interviews from 25 women who held theistic beliefs from Christian, Islamic, or Jewish traditions. All had recently experienced severe adversity but reported they were coping well. Analysis illustrated changes in religious beliefs and attitudes they made as a result of learning to cope. Differences were found among the 3 religious groups. Findings of this preliminary study suggest that religious meaning and experience may change because of the process of learning to cope with severe adversity. Recommendations are made for counseling theistically oriented women.     

Self-regulation and STEM persistence in minority and non-minority students across the first year of college

Social Psychology of Education - Psychological factors have been implicated in STEM persistence but remain poorly understood. In particular, the role of self-regulation—the cognitive,...     

Recognising the role of emotion in the classroom; an examination of how the psychoanalytic theory of containment influences learning capacity

This paper begins with personal reflections about my work in school which began over forty years ago, outlining how the different roles of teacher and therapeutic practitioner have contributed to my interest in the role of emotion for children’s capacity for learning in the classroom. I suggest that focusing too heavily on achievement risks losing sight of the experience of the individual child and argue that a psychoanalytic framework informs us of the significance of relational aspects of teaching and learning. My aim is to alert educationalists to the complexities of the classroom context, particularly the conscious and unconscious elements at work there. I have chosen to examine containment, as one aspect of the psychoanalytic, developmental framework, as a way of thinking about relational influences in the classroom and the importance of the relational context of learning. These case studies relate to my workplace, an Infant and Nursery school with a high British multi-ethnic population, where I am employed as a teacher/therapeutic practitioner. Two brief child studies are included to illustrate this examination. The first, Hamzah, concerns a young child entering formal learning without the expected relational skills and therefore unable to connect with staff and children in any meaningful way. The second, Isa, demonstrated well developed relational skills but at times found it difficult to manage his feelings when his needs took second place to the requirements of the curriculum.     

A comparison of Nuk presentation and Nuk redistribution to treat packing

Children with feeding disorders may pack food when they lack the oral‐motor skills, the motivation, or both to swallow. Presenting bites on the tongue with a Nuk brush, or redistribution, replacing packed food on the tongue, are two treatments whose relative efficacy is untested. In the current study, we compared the effects of (a) presenting on an upright spoon, (b) presenting on a Nuk, and (c) redistributing with a Nuk on two product measures of swallowing, which we refer to as 15‐s and 30‐s mouth clean, for three children with feeding disorders. Nuk presentation produced the highest levels of 15‐s mouth clean relative to Nuk redistribution and upright‐spoon presentation across participants. Levels of 30‐s mouth clean were higher during Nuk presentation and Nuk redistribution relative to upright‐spoon presentation for two participants. We discuss the oral‐motor skills and motivational deficits that might account for the findings.     

Is inclusion a valid control for ostracism?

Considerable knowledge about ostracism’s impact comes from research using Cyberball, an online ball-tossing game. In Cyberball, the inclusion condition is the control condition, to which ostracism is compared. The assumption is that Cyberball-inclusion is not affirming and represents an expected level of inclusion. However, without a no-inclusion control condition, it is unclear whether inclusion elevates need satisfaction, whether ostracism depresses need satisfaction, or both. We introduce Cybertree—a control condition designed to provide a similar experience to Cyberball without inclusion. Individuals playing Cybertree did not differ from included individuals in terms of feeling ostracized, level of need satisfaction, and mood. Both Cyberball inclusion and Cybertree differed significantly from ostracized individuals. We conclude that Cyberball inclusion is a reasonable control group for Cyberball ostracism but discuss research questions that may benefit from the use of Cybertree.