Practice with anxiety improves performance,but only when anxious: evidence for the specificity of practice hypothesis

We investigated for the first time whether the principles of specificity could be extended to the psychological construct of anxiety and whether any benefits of practicing with anxiety are dependent on the amount of exposure and timing of that exposure in relation to where in learning the exposure occurs. In Experiment 1, novices practiced a discrete golf-putting task in one of four groups: all practice trials under anxiety (anxiety), non-anxiety (control), or a combination of these two (i.e., the first half of practice under anxiety before changing to non-anxiety conditions, anxiety-control, or the reverse of this, control-anxiety). Following acquisition, all groups were transferred to an anxiety condition. Results revealed a significant acquisition-to-transfer decrement in performance between acquisition and transfer for the control group only. In Experiment 2, novices practiced a complex rock climbing task in one of the four groups detailed above, before being transferred to both a high-anxiety condition and a low-anxiety condition (the ordering of these was counterbalanced across participants). Performance in anxiety transfer was greater following practice with anxiety compared to practice without anxiety. However, these benefits were influenced by the timing of anxiety exposure since performance was greatest when exposure to anxiety occurred in the latter half of acquisition. In the low-anxiety transfer test, performance was lowest for those who had practiced with anxiety only, thus providing support for the specificity of practice hypothesis. Results demonstrate that the specificity of learning principle can be extended to include the psychological construct of anxiety. Furthermore, the specificity advantage appears dependent on its timing in the learning process.     

The Five‐factor Model of Personality and Knowledge Transfer in the United Arab Emirates

Knowledge transfer has emerged as an important criterion in organizations for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. While research has examined contextual determinants of knowledge transfer, very little research has considered the role of individual differences. In the present study, we addressed this issue by testing the relationship between the five‐factor model of personality and supervisory ratings of knowledge transfer in a sample of employees from the United Arab Emirates (N = 294). Our findings indicated that the extraversion (r = .22), conscientiousness (r = .18), and openness (r = .14) were significant predictors of knowledge transfer. Implications for knowledge management practices are discussed.     

Parental Support and Adolescent Motivation for Dieting: The Self-Determination Theory Perspective

This article focuses on parents’ role in overweight adolescents’ motivation to diet and successful weight loss. The study employed Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as the theoretical framework (Deci & Ryan, 2000, 2011). Ninety-nine participants (ages 20–30) who had been overweight during adolescence according to their Body Mass Index (BMI mean = 25, SD = 1.6), completed retrospective questionnaires about their motivation to diet and their parents’ behavior in the context of dieting. Findings from a structural equation modeling analysis suggested that participants who viewed their parents’ as more need-supportive demonstrated more autonomous motivation to diet, which, in turn, contributed to their successful weight loss. The findings highlight the importance of parental support of adolescents’ psychological needs in the quality of their motivation to diet. This is an important insight for parents and professionals who aim to encourage more constructive parent involvement in adolescents’ dieting and well-being.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DIFFERENCE DEFICIT HYPOTHESIS USING THE CLOZE PROCEDURE

Abstract

This study considers the hypothesized differences of difference and deficitreaders using the cloze procedure in narrative passages at the fourth grade level. The authors reject the hypothesis that deficit readers are better able to use surrounding context than difference readers. While the study's experimental design to test the difference/deficit hypothesis may not be the most powerful, it is a modified replication of a previous study from which the difference/deficit hypothesis was drawn (Cromer & Weiner, 1966). As such it does not seem to support difference/deficit notions of reading disability.     

The relationship between religiosity/spirituality and well-being in gay and heterosexual Orthodox Jews

Numerous studies have demonstrated positive relationships between religiosity/spirituality and emotional well-being. Little research exists, though, on these relationships in Orthodox Jewish and gay populations. Therefore, data from two studies focusing on heterosexual Orthodox Jews (Study 1, 52 females, 18 males) and gay Orthodox Jews (Study 2, 191 males) are presented. The studies assessed religiosity, spirituality, and well-being using validated self-report measures. In Study 1, religiosity and spirituality were generally positively correlated with well-being. In Study 2, spirituality was positively correlated with well-being, while religiosity entered into a complex pattern of relationships. For gay Orthodox Jews, religiosity may not have the same associations with well-being that it does for heterosexual Orthodox Jews, although spirituality may provide an alternative pathway for emotional benefits.     

Defense mechanisms and coping strategies in conjugal relationships: An integration

Coping strategies and defence mechanisms are used to describe people's responses to stressful situations. The concept of coping strategies comes from the social psychological tradition, whereas the concept of defence mechanisms comes from the psychoanalytic tradition. According to the traditional view, the two concepts are very different. However, recently, a growing number of researchers suggested that coping strategies and defence mechanisms are more interrelated than what was assumed previously. This study was aimed at documenting the relationship between both concepts in the context of predicting adjustment in a specific situation, marital relationships, one of the most well‐suited situations to investigate people's responses to stressful situations. The sample consisted of 157 couples. Each partner completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, the Defense Style Questionnaire, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Two theoretical models, the independence model and the effectiveness model, accounting for the relationship between coping strategies and defence mechanisms were first tested, using confirmatory factor analyses. According to the independence hypothesis, one latent dimension should measure defence mechanisms and the other latent dimension should measure coping strategies. According to the effectiveness hypothesis, coping strategies and defence mechanisms could vary along two dimensions: adaptive and maladaptive ways of dealing with marital difficulties. Results revealed that the effectiveness hypothesis was a better representation of the relationship between the two concepts than the independence hypothesis. The unique contribution of defence mechanisms and coping strategies to the prediction of marital adjustment was next examined using multiple regression analyses. Again, results were generally congruent with the effectiveness hypothesis. Positive and negative relationships with marital adjustment were observed for both concepts. In addition, coping strategies did not result in more positive outcomes on marital adjustment than defence mechanisms. It seems that coping strategies and defence mechanisms have both their specificity and their shared characteristics.     

Gender Differences in Positive and Negative Feelings Between Adolescents and Their Fathers and Mothers

Given the connections between feelings and well-being within the family, we addressed gender differences and similarities of feelings within the family. We explored adolescents’, mothers’, and fathers’ positive and negative affect within a community sample of 224 families from the southeast of the United States. Adolescents ranged in age from 12 to 19 years. Findings suggest more gender differences in positive and negative affect for parental gender (i.e., mothers versus fathers) than for adolescent gender (i.e., boys versus girls). There were more consistent associations within the family for positive affect as opposed to negative affect. We discussed the results in the context of gender differences within the family within the family systems theoretical perspective.