Use of derivational morphology during reading

This study examines contrasting predictions made by models of the lexicon in which stem morphemes play a central accessing role versus models in which stem morphemes play no particular role. Models which assign an independent role to morphemes predict that derivationally suffixed words have both inhibitive and facilitative effects on the reading process. A reading comprehension task was administered to good and poor high-school-age readers to assess their use of both the lexical-semantic and syntactic information provided by morphemes in derivationally suffixed target words. The subjects appeared to use the stem morpheme of a derivationally suffixed word to establish overall sentence meaning but often did not use the syntactic information contained in the derivational suffix. The failure to use syntactic information in the suffix was significantly greater for lower-ability readers than for those reading at or above grade level. The results offer support for morphologically organized models of the lexicon.     

Mastery pleasure versus mere ownership: A quasi-experimental cross-cultural and cross-alphabetical test of the name letter effect

Four studies test both the alternative explanation advanced by Hoorens and Todorova (1988) for Nuttin's (1984, 1985, 1987) name letter effect (NLE), and two interpretations for an unexplained finding of the former authors. Flemish, Hungarian and Thai children show an increasing rather than a decreasing NLE over primary school grades (studies 1, 2 and 4). Thai university students and school children prefer own name letters in their ‘mother’ alphabet (Thai) but also in their second (Roman) alphabet (studies 3 and 4). All these results contradict the primacy of own name writing or mastery pleasure hypothesis. Independently of the time interval between the acquisition of both alphabets, a stronger NLE is found in the subjects ‘mother’ alphabet than in their second alphabet, contradicting a mitigated mastery pleasure explanation for the stronger NLE in one's ‘mother’ alphabet (Hoorens and Todorova, 1988). All the data are consistent with Nuttin's interpretation of the NLE in terms of the affective consequences of ‘mere ownership’. Finally, the striking generality of the NLE over languages, alphabets, and cultures is again demonstrated.     

Mood state changes of women as a function of regular aerobic exercise

The present study examined mood states of aerobic exercisers before and after completing a 15-wk. program. The subjects (ages 18 to 36 yr.) were 86 women enrolled in activity classes at a large state school in the southeast. Subjects were initially classified according to previous exercise habits. Analysis indicated both groups of frequent and infrequent exercisers were similar in mood states. Participation in regular exercise did not significantly change or enhance the mood states from pretreatment measures. Pretest measures of mood states provided poor prediction of posttest measures, indicating extreme variability in subjects' scores.     

Comprehension and production of body part labels in 2‐ to 3‐year‐old children

This study examined which body part labels children could (i) produce when the experimenter touched different locations on her own body, asking each time ‘What's this?’ and (ii) comprehend by touching the correct locations on their own bodies in response to the experimenter asking ‘Where's the [body‐part label]?’. Seventeen children aged between 26 and 41 months, tested in a repeated measures procedure, were presented with 50 different body part stimuli in 200 test trials per child. Overall, the children produced fewer body part labels than they could comprehend. The accuracy of children's responses depended on (i) the location or extent of each body part (facial and broad body features were better known; joints and features in or attached to broad body parts the least well known); (ii) the amount of sensory (but not motor) representation each body part has in the human cortex; and (iii) whether a body part was commonly named by caregivers. These results present a precise mapping of the body parts that young children are able to name and locate on their own bodies in response to body part names; they suggest several possible determinants of lexical‐semantic body knowledge and add to the understanding of how it develops in childhood.     

Would Mozambican Women Really “Tolerate” Their Husbands’ Extramarital Sexual Relationships as Socially Recommended?

In the Mozambican socio-cultural context, men’s extramarital sexual relationships are generally deemed acceptable, and women are “recommended” to forgive their husbands’ sexual infidelity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess to what extent Mozambican women would forgive their husbands in case of an extramarital sexual relationship. The material consisted of 24 vignettes—each of which contained the story of a husband who was having an extramarital sexual relationship—a question, and an 11-point response scale. Overall, 225 women indicated their willingness to forgive their husbands in case of sexual infidelity, as a function of three factors: the emotional intensity involved in the extramarital sexual relationship, the regret expressed by the husband, and the commitment involved in the relationship/marriage between the husband and his wife. ANOVA results showed that the willingness to forgive depends on the nature of the extramarital relationship and the attitude of the “cheater”: (a) in the case where the extramarital relationship was of a purely sexual type, without involving deep emotions, and when the husband expressed profound regret, the willingness to forgive was high; (b) in the opposite situation, i.e., when the extramarital relationship involved a high level of emotions, and the husband expressed no regret, the forgiveness was low. Older participants had relatively high rates of forgiveness compared to younger ones. These findings corroborate earlier studies showing that, for females, emotional infidelity was much more distressful than purely sexual infidelity, and corroborate studies showing that Mozambicans tend to forgive offenders when they express regret.     

Pragmatism and Developmentalism in Brazilian Educational Thought in the 1950s/1960

This article proposes to analyse some aspects of the appropriation of New School thinking in Brazil, particularly Deweyan pragmatism, in the 1950s and 1960s. The analysis is based on the assumption that the developmentalist ideology that punctuated the debate on the economic, political and social restructuring of the country in these two decades constituted fertile ground for the return and expansion of pragmatist thinking amongst Brazilian educators, articulating itself, sometimes in contradictory ways, with this ideology. The focus of the analysis will be on the writings of the group of educators which circulated around the figure of Anísio Teixeira, at the time director of the National Institute for Pedagogic Studies (INEP), an organ linked to the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), which set itself the task of producing research that would support public policy in the field of education, as well as constituting itself as a center for teacher education and the stimulus and development of innovative experiences in the public school system. The appropriation of Deweyan pragmatism, in this context, had a triple perspective: pragmatism as scientific method, implying a specific conception of science, particularly the social sciences, with emphasis on the application of scientific knowledge in the solution of practical problems; as a way of democratic life; and as a synonym for experimentalism, in the sphere of schooling.