A loss of status and a sense of defeat: an evolutionary perspective on professional burnout

This longitudinal study among Spanish teachers (N = 558) examined burnout from an evolutionary social rank perspective. The types of stress differed among various school levels, and a sense of defeat was highest among teachers in primary schools. A low status, a loss of status and a sense of defeat were independent cross‐sectional predictors of burnout. Longitudinally a sense of defeat predicted an increase in burnout over time, especially among males and teachers in high schools. The status related variables were in general more important predictors of burnout than stressors that are usually associated with burnout. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relevance of Intention in Argument Evaluation

The paper discusses intention as a rhetorical key term and argues that a consideration of rhetor’s intent should be maintained as relevant to both the production and critique of rhetorical discourse. It is argued that the fact that the critic usually has little or no access to the rhetor’s mind does not render intention an irrelevant factor. Rather than allowing methodological difficulties to constrain critical inquiry, I suggest some ways in which the critic can incorporate the rhetor’s intention in evaluating argumentation. To this end, a standard of fairness is presented. The paper was presented at the 6th International Conference on Argumentation in Amsterdam, June 27–30, 2006.     

Neuropsychological profile and neuroimaging in patients with 22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: a review.

22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome is associated with cognitive, behavioural, and psychiatric problems and is known to affect brain structure. Recently, 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome has been proposed as a disease model for a genetic subtype of schizophrenia. In this paper we discuss the currently available literature on neurocognitive functioning and brain anatomy in patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, and how this contributes to our understanding of the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Research on cognitive functioning in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome patients suggests a specific cognitive profile with impairments on arithmetical, visuo-spatial, and executive tasks and relatively preserved language skills. Prominent findings of neuroimaging studies in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome patients are: reduction of overall brain volume, midline defects, structural alterations of cerebellum and frontal lobe, white matter abnormalities, and decreased grey matter volumes in parietal and temporal areas. We describe how brain abnormalities in patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome may contribute to the understanding of the clinical syndrome including cognitive impairments, psychotic symptoms, and social and communication problems.     

The effects of source and type of feedback on child witnesses' metamemory accuracy

This study investigated the effect of feedback on the accuracy (realism) of 12‐year‐old children's metacognitive judgments of their answers to questions about a film clip. Two types of judgments were investigated: confidence judgments (on each question) and frequency judgments (i.e. estimates of overall accuracy). The source of feedback, whether it was presented as provided by a teacher or a peer child, did not influence metacognitive accuracy. Four types of feedback were given depending on whether the participant's answer was correct and depending on whether the feedback confirmed or disconfirmed the child's answer. The children showed large overconfidence when they received confirmatory feedback but much less so when they received disconfirmatory feedback. The children gave frequency judgments implying that they had more correct answers than they actually had. No main gender differences were found for any of the measures. The results indicate a high degree of malleability in children's metacognitive judgments. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's recall and the cognitive interview: do the positive effects hold over time?

Most studies investigating how the Cognitive Interview affects children's recall have employed short retention intervals (a week or less). In our study children (10–11 years old) saw a film picturing an extraordinary performance by a professional fakir. Half of the children were interviewed after seven days (n = 24) and the other half after six months (n = 25). At each test session, half were interviewed according to the Cognitive Interview (CI), and half according to the Structured Interview (SI). We found that: (a) the children in the CI condition recalled significantly more correct information than the children in the SI condition (both after seven days and after six months), and (b) the children interviewed after seven days recalled significantly more correct information, and less confabulations, compared to the children interviewed after six months. The results suggest that the CI can be used as an investigative tool both after short and long retention intervals. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing children's statements: the impact of a repeated experience on CBCA and RM ratings

This study examined the extent to which the Criteria‐based Content Analysis (CBCA) technique and the Reality Monitoring (RM) technique were affected by the number of times children had experienced or imagined an event. Children (age 10–13, N =87 ) participated in an experiment where half the sample experienced a health examination (either one or four times), and the other half imagined (either one or four times) that they took part in a health examination. One week after the final occasion, the children were interviewed. The results showed that RM was sensitive to both the authenticity of the statements (increased presence of the criteria for real events) and whether the event had been repeatedly experienced/imagined (increased presence of the criteria for the repeated actions). The CBCA did not successfully distinguish the real from the imagined. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introspection and subliminal perception

Subliminal perception (SP) is today considered a well-supported theory stating that perception can occur without conscious awareness and have a significant impact on later behaviour and thought. In this article, we first present and discuss different approaches to the study of SP. In doing this, we claim that most approaches are based on a dichotomic measure of awareness. Drawing upon recent advances and discussions in the study of introspection and phenomenological psychology, we argue for both the possibility and necessity of using an elaborated measure of subjective states. In the second part of the article, we present findings where these considerations are implemented in an empirical study. The results and implications are discussed in detail, both with reference to SP, and in relation to the more general problem of using elaborate introspective reports as data in relation to studies of cognition.