Grit Happens: Moderating Effects on Motivational Feedback and Sport Performance

Research on motivational climates within athletics has focused on mastery and ego achievement approaches, yielding different psychological consequences (Smith, Smoll, &; Cumming, 2007 Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., &; Cumming, S. P. (2007). Effects of a motivational climate intervention for coaches on young athletes' sport performance anxiety. Journal of Sport &; Exercise Psychology, 29, 39–59.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Further, the motivational climate may interact with athletes' trait characteristics, such as grit, resulting in different outcomes. Grit may alter athletes' experience of the motivational climate by helping them remain oriented to their long-term quest in sport (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, &; Kelly, 2007 Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., &; Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1087–1101. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, to date, the impact of these motivational climates and potential moderating factors on athlete performance remains in question, as the research utilizing objective measures of athletic performance is limited (Harwood, Keegan, Smith, &; Raine, 2015 Harwood, C. G., Keegan, R. J., Smith, J. M., &; Raine, A. S. (2015). A systematic review of the intrapersonal correlates of motivational climate perceptions in sport and physical activity. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 18, 9–25. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2014.11.005[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We used a motivational research paradigm (e.g., Mueller &; Dweck, 1998 Mueller, C. M., &; Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 33–52. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.75.1.33[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to examine the effects of mastery- or ego-involving feedback on 71 high school adolescent soccer players' (M_age = 15.81) performance on a kicking task. Then we explored the potential moderating effects of grit on the relationship between motivational feedback and the athletes' performance, desire to persist, and choice of task difficulty on a soccer task. Athletes performed significantly better receiving mastery- as opposed to ego-involving feedback. Further, grit was a significant moderator of the feedback-shooting performance relationship, accounting for 3.9% of variance. Simple slopes analysis revealed a significant effect for low (B = 13.32, SE_b = 4.44, p =.004, t = 2.99), but not high (B = 2.11, SE_b = 4.31, p =.63, t = 0.49), grit on task performance. These results suggest that the feedback athletes receive matters, especially for those low in grit.     

Inhibitory interaction: the effects of multiple non-predictive visual cues

When the interval between a non-predictive cue and a target appearing at the same spatial location is longer than about 200 ms, target performance is typically poorer than when the cue and target appear at different locations. Recent studies have shown that this effect, known as inhibition of return (IOR), can occur at multiple cued locations, and is enhanced when multiple cues are presented at the same spatial location. However, little is known about how the magnitude of IOR at one spatial location is influenced by a subsequent or preceding cue presented at a different spatial location. We investigated this issue by presenting single or multiple cues at varying inter-cue intervals prior to target onset. Results suggest that the magnitude of IOR at a given location is influenced by the presentation of a preceding cue, but that once IOR occurs, it is unaffected by the presentation of a subsequent cue.     

Personality,Intelligence and Assessment Centre Expert Ratings

Just under 3000 middle managers were rated on seven dimensions/competencies by consultants after a 1‐day assessment centre and structured interview. They also completed two cognitive ability tests and two well‐established personality tests (NEO PI‐R; MBTI). Correlational analysis showed that the rated dimensions of ‘drive to achieve’, ‘internal locus of control’ and ‘resilience’ all modestly negatively correlated with Neuroticism. All seven ratings were significantly correlated with Extraversion and three each with Openness and Agreeableness. There were few significant correlations with the MBTI but the Thinking–Feeling dimension correlated significantly with combined ratings. Correlations with the intelligence test scores were mostly non‐significant. The seven ratings factored into three identifiable factors: labelled personal assertiveness, toughness and determination and curiosity. Regressions using both a total, overall computed rating of general aptitude, as well as the three scores as criterion variables and ability, personality, participant‐gender and management level as predictor variables demonstrated that they accounted for between a quarter and a third of the variance. Predictors varied considerably as a function of the different criteria measures but ability and gender accounted for little of the variance.     

Religiosity and Spirituality: Influence on Quality of Life and Perceived Patient Self-Efficacy among Cardiac Patients and Their Spouses

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of spirituality, religiosity, and religious coping on quality of life and self-efficacy among couples following a first time cardiac event. There was no significant association between measures for spirituality and religiosity and couples’ ratings for quality of life and self-efficacy. Negative forms of religious coping were associated with lower levels of quality of life and decreased confidence in the patient’s ability to perform physical tasks. Spouses’ measures for quality of life, self-efficacy, spirituality, religiosity, and religious coping were associated with patients’ measures for the same study variables. Joan F. Miller, RN, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Nursing, Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania 17815 and Director of the Bloomsburg University Nursing Wellness Center. The author gives special thanks to Timothy R. McConnell, Ph.D., and Troy A. Klinger, M.S., for their research support and helpful feedback.     

Effects of differing response-force requirements on food-maintained responding in CD-1 mice

The effect of force requirements on response effort was examined using outbred (CD-1) mice trained to press a disk with their snout. Lateral peak forces greater than 2 g were defined as threshold responses (i.e., all measured responses). Different force requirements were used to define criterion responses (a subclass of threshold responses) that exceeded the requirement. The reinforcer was sweetened, condensed milk, and it was delivered upon response termination. All mice were exposed to two ascending series of criterion force requirements (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 g). Increasing the force requirement decreased criterion response rates, but increased threshold response rates. The time-integral of force (area under the force-time curve for individual responses, which is proportional to energy expenditure for each response) increased with the increase in the force requirement. These results conflict with the hypothesis that higher force requirements have aversive qualities and suggest that increased force requirements are more analogous to intermittent schedules of reinforcement. These data suggest that estimations of effort or energy expenditure should be measured independently of the force requirement. Individual differences in responding were found for the CD-1 outbred stock.     

Terrorism,War, and The Killing of the Innocent

Commonsense moral thought holds that what makes terrorism particularly abhorrent is the fact that it tends to be directed toward innocent victims. Yet contemporary philosophers tend to doubt that the concept of innocence plays any significant role here, and to deny that prohibitions against targeting noncombatants can be justified through appeal to their moral innocence. I argue, however, that the arguments used to support these doubts are ultimately unsuccessful. Indeed, the philosophical positions in question tend to misunderstand the justification of both the prohibition against targeting noncombatants, and that of the permission to attack combatants, for which the paper offers a new account. Such misunderstandings make it all too easy to justify both terrorist actions and morally objectionable actions on the part of nations at war. Taking proper account of the role of innocence in the context of armed conflict will alter our ordinary ways of thinking about the ethics of war, with respect to both jus in bello and jus ad bellum.

Digital measurement of operant disk press force maintained in CD-1, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice

Force of disk press responses by inbred (C57BL/6 and BALB/c) and outbred (CD-1) mice were measured with a PC/DOS-based system, which allowed for continuous measurement of pressing, as well as for control of reinforcer presentation on the basis of response-force dimensions. Photobeam-based measurement of mouse entry into a hopper where reinforcers were presented provided additional information about anticipatory and consumatory behavior in relation to environmental stimuli leading up to reinforcer delivery Disk pressing was generated and measured with the use of an analog-to-digital interface with all three mouse strains. The strains differed in the physical and temporal characteristics of the disk press, as well as in the behavioral chain leading to reinforcer presentation. These measurement methods appear well suited for quantitating functional behavioral differences occasioned by genetic variations in mice.     

Control Appraisals as Moderators of the Relationship Between Intrusive Thoughts and Coping1

This study examined the relationship between intrusive thinking, control appraisals, and coping strategies within the context of stressful negative events using a short-term longitudinal design. Although intrusive thoughts were not related to problem-focused coping at Time 1, these cognitions were positively associated with problem-focused coping at subsequent reporting periods. Intrusive thoughts were positively associated with behavioral engagement. Perceived control was positively associated with problem-focused coping across all reporting periods, whereas perceptions of other's culpability were positively related to behavioral disengagement for all time periods except Time 1. There was limited support for the hypothesis that appraisals of control would moderate the relationship between intrusive thinking and coping behaviors.     

Well-being and Substance Use in Emerging Adulthood: The Role of Individual and Family Factors in Childhood and Adolescence

The present study examined the long-term impact of individual and family factors during childhood and adolescence on outcomes associated with the transition to adulthood, specifically well-being and substance use. Data for this study were drawn from the Child Development Supplement (CDS) and Transition to Adulthood (TA) surveys (n?=?1362), both a part of The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We first examined the influence of individual and family factors from childhood and adolescence on well-being and substance use during the transition to adulthood using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). We then applied a mixture modeling approach to evaluate whether there were subgroups (latent classes) in these transitions to adulthood outcomes, and how these subgroups linked with the individual and family factors from younger years. We found that, in general, parental acceptance and psychological control in childhood and adolescence predicted all aspects of well-being during the transition to adulthood. Substance use during this transition was linked with being male, White, and heightened parental psychological control. Overall, observable differential associations between individual and family factors during childhood and adolescence and outcomes in later life highlighted a need to evaluate transitional aspects independently, rather than grouping young adults all together.     

Decentered online Bible instruction: How active learning enhances the study of Scripture

The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced learner initiative. This essay describes the significance of each in turn, along with naming some best practices. I argue that this approach not only shifts focus toward learners and the learning environment, it works particularly well for teaching Bible courses online and in hybrid formats where interpretation of primary sources is the fundamental goal.