Understanding the motivational consequences of extreme school violence through the lens of mortality salience: the case of academic self-stereotyping in math

We conducted an investigation into a determinant of academic motivation that has implications for how we respond to school violence and tragedy. We conducted two studies to examine whether exposure to messages related to the salience of one’s own mortality cause people to align their own academic beliefs more closely with stereotypical beliefs about their social groups. When exposed to graffiti images that contained messages such as R.I.P. (i.e., rest in peace), males and females in Study 1 expressed math attitudes that resembled the American stereotype of male superiority and female inferiority in this domain. In Study 2, writing about death caused participants to express ethnic stereotype-consistent math attitudes. As one example, our studies highlight a potential psychological barrier associated with student advancement in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). These findings indicate that death reminders, even when they do not follow from direct exposure to school trauma, may impact the academic motivation of stereotypically disadvantaged groups. With the larger goal of reducing psychological barriers associated with inequality in the pursuit of STEM career pathways, these studies are intended to spur further examination of how cases of extreme violence in schools potentially can affect patterns of academic motivation. Even in its early stages, this research should provide new considerations for educational policy-makers aiming to design damage control protocols in response to extreme school violence.     

When, what, and how much to reward in reinforcement learning-based models of cognition

Reinforcement learning approaches to cognitive modeling represent task acquisition as learning to choose the sequence of steps that accomplishes the task while maximizing a reward. However, an apparently unrecognized problem for modelers is choosing when, what, and how much to reward; that is, when (the moment: end of trial, subtask, or some other interval of task performance), what (the objective function: e.g., performance time or performance accuracy), and how much (the magnitude: with binary, categorical, or continuous values). In this article, we explore the problem space of these three parameters in the context of a task whose completion entails some combination of 36 state-action pairs, where all intermediate states (i.e., after the initial state and prior to the end state) represent progressive but partial completion of the task. Different choices produce profoundly different learning paths and outcomes, with the strongest effect for moment. Unfortunately, there is little discussion in the literature of the effect of such choices. This absence is disappointing, as the choice of when, what, and how much needs to be made by a modeler for every learning model.     

Mind Perception Is the Essence of Morality

Mind perception entails ascribing mental capacities to other entities, whereas moral judgment entails labeling entities as good or bad or actions as right or wrong. We suggest that mind perception is the essence of moral judgment. In particular, we suggest that moral judgment is rooted in a cognitive template of two perceived minds-a moral dyad of an intentional agent and a suffering moral patient. Diverse lines of research support dyadic morality. First, perceptions of mind are linked to moral judgments: dimensions of mind perception (agency and experience) map onto moral types (agents and patients), and deficits of mind perception correspond to difficulties with moral judgment. Second, not only are moral judgments sensitive to perceived agency and experience, but all moral transgressions are fundamentally understood as agency plus experienced suffering-that is, interpersonal harm-even ostensibly harmless acts such as purity violations. Third, dyadic morality uniquely accounts for the phenomena of dyadic completion (seeing agents in response to patients, and vice versa), and moral typecasting (characterizing others as either moral agents or moral patients). Discussion also explores how mind perception can unify morality across explanatory levels, how a dyadic template of morality may be developmentally acquired, and future directions.     

Antecedents and consequences of coping in the anticipatory stage of an exam: A longitudinal study emphasizing the role of affect

Abstract

A longitudinal study with three periods of data collection has been designed to test a model concerning the antecedents and consequences of coping in the anticipatory stage of an examination stress process. The model tested focuses on the role of positive and negative affect at an early stage as the main antecedents for coping. Primary and secondary appraisal, and dispositional variables (perceived personal competence and optimism) have been related to early affect. Moreover, the consequences of coping, considered as the affect measured after the deployment of coping strategies, and the grade obtained in the exam, are also tested. Results show that early affect is the main antecedent of displayed coping strategies. Dispositional variables and appraisal are related to affect, and differential effects of coping in later affect have been noticed. No relationship between coping and grade has been found. Implications for research on coping with examination stress are discussed.     

Video Intervention for Child and Caregiver Distress Related to the Child Sexual Abuse Medical Examination: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Children who disclose child sexual abuse are often referred for a comprehensive medical exam to ensure physical well-being and gather evidence. This study examined a brief, developmentally appropriate, psychoeducational video designed to instruct children and caregivers about the exam procedures and coping strategies to be used during the exam. Sixty-nine children ages 4–15 and their caregivers were randomly assigned to view the psychoeducational video (n = 35) or to receive standard practice (n = 34). Distress before, during, and after the exam was assessed in both children and caregiver, as were measures of satisfaction and knowledge about the investigation process and coping strategies. Consistent with hypotheses, results indicated that the video intervention was well-received by families, increased caregiver knowledge, and decreased stress during the examination. Caregiver and child distress decreased from pre to post examination across both conditions, and, unexpectedly, there were no significant differences in these decreases between groups. Overall results from this pilot study are promising in supporting a cost-effective and brief early intervention approach at the time of the medical examination for child sexual abuse for children and their caregivers.     

Enterprise trainees' self-construals as entrepreneurs

Although the past decade has seen a resurgence of interest in the economic and political aspects of the entrepreneur, most psychological studies have tended to concentrate on the identification of the “entrepreneurial personality” or the repertoire of traits that identify successful entrepreneurs. Even in career theory, the entrepreneur has received only passing attention, usually as an aberration from a neat stage development model or in the context of a psychodynamic explanation for individual work behavior. This article starts from the premise that the social representation of the entrepreneur, reflecting the past 10 years of public promotion, does not vary significantly among various groups but that aspiring entrepreneurs with realistic levels of aspiration reveal distinct construals of themselves as self and as entrepreneur. Using a range of subjects from a variety of enterprise training courses, all of whom aspired to be entrepreneurs, I used locus-of-control and attitude scales and business performance questionnaires to determine likely business success and strength of self-concept. The first-stage repertory grids, on which this article is based, attempted to reveal each subject's construal of self and ideal self in relation to parents and business roles. The second- and third-stage grids, not reported here, will explore the construal of business problems and business motivation.     

The insistence of vision: Why do people look at a salient stimulus when it signals target absence?

Researchers and practitioners across many fields would benefit from the ability to predict human search time in complex visual displays. However, a missing element in our ability to predict search time is our ability to quantify the exogenous attraction of visual objects in terms of their impact on search time. The current work represents an initial step in this direction. We present two experiments using a quadrant search task to investigate how exogenous and endogenous factors influence human visual search. In Experiment 1, we measure the oculomotor capture—or the tendency of a stimulus to elicit a saccade—of a salient quadrant under conditions in which the salient quadrant does not predict target location. Despite the irrelevance of quadrant salience, we find that subjects persist in making saccades towards the salient quadrant at above-chance levels. We then present a Bayesian-based ideal performer model that predicts search time and oculomotor capture when the salient quadrant never contains the search target. Experiment 2 tested the predictions of the ideal performer model and revealed human performance to be in close correspondence with the model. We conclude that, in our speeded search task, the influence of an exogenous attractor on saccades can be quantified in terms of search time costs and, when these costs are considered, both search time and search behaviour reflect a boundedly optimal adaptation to the cost structure of the environment.     

Jung's Psychological Types,Including the Four Functions

(Dunlap, K. Personal Adjustment. New York: McGraw Hill, 1946. Pp. 446.). Reviewed by George K. Morlan.

(Eysenck, H. J., et al. Dimensions of Personality. London: Kegan Paul, 1947. Pp.308.). Reviewed by Raymond Cattell.     

Normal and Exceptional Children's Attitudes Toward Themselves and one Another

In this study 65 junior high school boys and girls (54 normal and 11 exceptional children) evaluated themselves most favorably, normal children as a group less favorably, and exceptional children as a group least favorably of all on the Personal Attribute Inventory for Children. This was so regardless of whether the respondents were normal or exceptional children. Since data were collected from mainstreamed classrooms, it appears that mainstreaming may not be directly deleterious to exceptional children's self-concepts, but has associated with it a negative stigma for exceptional children as a group for both exceptional and normal children. These findings, plus others reported previously, fail to demonstrate that mainstreaming in its present form may be an elixir for exceptional children's social-emotional difficulties.