Model of Social Competence in an Early Childhood Environment

Maintaining relationships and interacting socially are essential aspects of children's occupational performance. A Model of Social Competence in an Early Childhood environment has been formulated to guide the assessment of and intervention for young children with issues in social skills. This article aims to (1) present the constructs that contribute to social competence for young children, (2) describe the interrelated contextual, foundation and environmental influences on social competence using the Model of Social Competence in an Early Childhood environment as a means of systematically examining these factors, and (3) discuss future directions for early intervention for children with social competence concerns. Cultural considerations will be discussed in relation to the Singaporean early childhood context.     

Exploring own-age biases in deception detection

The present study explored own-age biases in deception detection, investigating whether individuals were more likely to trust those in their own-age group. Younger and older participants were asked to detect deceit from videos of younger and older speakers, rating their confidence in each decision. Older participants showed an own-age bias: they were more likely to think that deceptive speakers of their own age, relative to younger speakers, were telling the truth. Older participants were also more confident in their judgements of own-age, relative to other-age, speakers. There were no own-age biases for younger participants. In a subsequent (apparently unrelated) task, participants were asked to rate the trustworthiness of the speakers. Both age groups of participants trusted younger speakers who had previously told the truth more compared to those who had lied. This effect was not found for older speakers. These findings are considered in relation to the in-group/out-group model of social cognition and common stereotypical beliefs held about younger and older adults.     

Inhibition and working memory in young preschool children with symptoms of ADHD and/or oppositional-defiant disorder

Background: Early symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) are associated with deficits in cognitive self-regulatory processes or executive functions (EF)s. However, the hypothesis that neurocognitive deficits underlying the two disorders are already evident during early preschool years still has limited empirical support. The present study investigated associations between symptoms of ADHD and/or ODD and two core EFs, inhibition and working memory, in a large nonclinical sample of 3-year old children. Method: Participants were 1045 children (554 boys, age 37–47 months), recruited from the population based Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Relations between behavioral symptoms and measures of inhibition and working memory were studied both categorically and dimensionally. Results: Children with co-occurring symptoms of ADHD and ODD performed at a significantly lower level than typically developing children in 4 out of 5 EF measures. Symptoms of ADHD, both alone and in combination with ODD, were associated with reduced performance on tests of inhibition in the group comparisons. Dimensional analyses showed that performance within both EF domains contributed to variance primarily in ADHD symptom load. The associations between test results and behavioral symptoms remained significant after gender and verbal skills had been controlled. Conclusion: Young preschoolers show the same pattern of relations between EF and behavioral symptoms of ADHD and/or ODD as previously described in older children diagnosed with ADHD and/or ODD. Effect sizes were generally small, indicating that measures of EF have limited clinical utility at this stage in development.     

Elevated self‐esteem 12 months following a 10‐day developmental voyage

The following article examined elevated self‐esteem as a function of a 10‐day developmental voyage. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 demonstrated that participants who completed the voyage experienced elevated self‐esteem. Study 2 replicated and extended these results insofar as it revealed that (a) elevated self‐esteem was maintained 12 months following the voyage; and (b) increasing levels of perceived self‐efficacy and belonging (as assessed on the last day of the voyage), but not social support, each made a unique contribution to these effects. Together, these findings provide converging evidence to suggest that a 10‐day developmental voyage upon the Spirit of New Zealand promotes elevated self‐esteem that is maintained over time, and that perceived self‐efficacy and belonging contribute to this outcome.     

Applying the Creating Lasting Family Connections Marriage Enhancement Program to Marriages Affected by Prison Reentry

Divorce proportions are currently high in the US and they are even higher among those who are incarcerated with substance abuse problems. Although much research has examined marital interventions, only two studies have examined marital interventions with prison populations. There is some empirical evidence that incarcerated couples benefit from traditional marital therapy (O'Farrell and Fals‐Stewart, 1999, Addictions: A comprehensive guidebook, New York, Oxford University Press). An adaptation of the evidence‐based Creating Lasting Family Connections program was implemented with 144 married couples, where one spouse was incarcerated, in a southern state with particularly high divorce and incarceration proportions. Results suggested that married men exposed to the program had larger improvements in some relationship skills relative to a convenience sample of men not so exposed. Both husbands and wives exposed to the program exhibited similar and significant increases in relationship skills. The results were comparable to a Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program adaptation for inmates. The implications of the findings for prevention practitioners are discussed.     

Know How to Transmit Knowledge?

Intellectualism about knowledge‐how is the view that practical knowledge is a species of propositional knowledge. I argue that this view is undermined by a difference in properties between knowledge‐how and both knowledge‐that and knowledge‐wh. More specifically, I argue that both knowledge‐that and knowledge‐wh are easily transmitted via testimony while knowledge‐how is not easily transmitted by testimony. This points to a crucial difference in states of knowledge. I also consider Jason Stanley's attempt to subsume knowledge‐how under an account of de se knowledge. I argue that there are crucial differences between de se knowledge and knowledge‐how. Thus, this paper advances both the discussion of intellectualism and the literature on the nature of de se knowledge.     

“新时代”：需要神话的科学时代

“新时代”运动是社会主要裂痕的一种征兆,这种裂痕则存在于那些强调主观,内在体验观点的人和那些强调客观．理性观点的人之间。这种裂痕可通过综合这两种观点而得以弥合。     

Age differences in temporal discounting: the role of dispositional affect and anticipated emotions

We examined age differences in temporal discounting, the tendency to devalue delayed outcomes relative to immediate ones, with particular emphasis on the role of affective responses. A life-span sample completed an incentive-compatible temporal discounting task involving both monetary gains and losses. Covariates included demographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, personality traits, affective responses, and subjective health. Advanced age was associated with a lower tendency to discount the future, but this effect reached statistical significance only for the discounting of delayed gains. An examination of covariates suggested that age effects were associated with age differences in mental health and affective responses rather than demographic or cognitive variables.     

The Mark of Cain: Sovereign Negation and the Politics of God

Hannah Arendt calls for the “abolition of sovereignty from the body politic.” In this article I affirm some key elements of Arendt’s critique, arguing against versions of Christian ethics that try to deploy divine authorization for particular policies, institutions, goals, or virtues. But I also argue that the attempt to abolish sovereignty allows the political process itself to become a sovereign good and erodes the forms of life that can sustain the kind of vision and politics that Arendt desires. The better alternative to the usual politics of sovereignty is not the absence of sovereignty, but a changed – and negative – conception of the relationship of sovereign power to the political order. In developing this argument I contend with Arendt’s reading of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd and, behind that, her reading of the biblical story of Cain and Abel. I argue that the city of Cain is made possible not by Cain’s murder of his brother, but by the mark with which God negates the legitimacy of both the murder and the violence to avenge the murder. Sovereign negation makes the polis possible.