Teachers’ implicit view of intelligence predict pupils’ self-perception as learners

Teachers regularly make judgements about their pupils’ intelligence while interacting with them in the classroom. The main aims of this paper are to analyse the structure of teachers’ judgements of their pupils’ intelligence, and to evaluate the influence that teachers have on pupils’ judgements of their own and their peers’ intelligence. Cross-cultural comparisons between English and Portuguese pupils are considered. In total 58 children 10- to 11-year-old and two teachers from London, UK and 47 children 5- to 6-year-old and two teachers from Lisbon, Portugal participated. The children completed aptitude tests and self-perception measures for general ability, reading and mathematical ability. The teachers ranked their pupils’ academic abilities from ‘best in the class’ to ‘weakest in the class’. Results show that teachers’ implicit conceptions of intelligence reflect a view of intelligence that is similar to what IQ tests measure. In addition the results support the notion that children’s verbal ability is more highly valued than mathematical ability. Moreover, the results also suggest that teachers have a considerable impact on their pupils’ self-perception as learners. Cultural differences are also discussed.     

The Diffusion of Youth-Led Participatory Research in Urban Schools: The Role of the Prevention Support System in Implementation and Sustainability

This article discusses the dissemination of a process of youth-led participatory research in urban secondary schools within the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) developed in collaboration with the CDC and its university partners (Wandersman et al. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41(3-4) 2008). The focus here is on the development of the Prevention Support System with respect to general and innovation-specific capacity building. The specific process under study involves youth-led needs assessment and research to inform the planning of prevention programs and policies to address students' health and developmental needs. The article first briefly describes the youth-led research process, its potential benefits, and a case example in two urban secondary schools. It then describes challenges and responses in providing support for the diffusion of this model in 6 secondary schools. The settings are urban public schools with a majority of students of color from diverse ethnic groups: Asian-American, Latino, and African-American. This project constitutes a collaborative partnership with a university school of public health and community-based organizations (CBOs) to build capacity for long-term, sustainable implementation of this innovative process within the local school system. The perspectives of the university-based researcher and the CBO partners on the development and effectiveness of the Prevention Support System are presented.     

Rats take correct novel routes and shortcuts in an enclosed maze

In 3 experiments, rats were allowed to travel selected routes along the internal alleys of a cross-maze that led from one distinctive end box to another. The maze and procedures used were designed to control the rats' ability to use intrinsic and extrinsic cues to their location in the maze; thus, only the internal geometry of the maze could be learned and used to travel between one end box and another. After an initial exploration phase, rats were given novel routes and shortcut tests that involved peripheral alleys not before traveled. Rats chose the correct novel path or shortcut significantly above chance on some tests in Experiments 1 and 2 and significantly better than a control group in Experiment 3. The findings suggest that rats were able to compute novel routes and shortcuts within the maze on the basis of limited experience with the internal geometry of the maze.     

Social motivation and the use of distal,but not local,featural cues are related to ranging behavior in free-range chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)

Animal Cognition - Animals can navigate an environment relying on different sources of information, such as geometrical or featural cues. The favoring of one type of information over another...     

Identifying young people's guidance needs through telephone counseling.

This study examined the needs that young people in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, expressed in phone calls to a research unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred forty-five calls, from individuals 11 to 24 years old who phoned from June 1995 to November 1998, were analyzed. Two hundred ninety-four of the callers were female and 51 were male. Greater percentages of females than males called to ask about sexuality and family problems. Males more than females asked about reproductive health (particularly pregnancy) and mental health. There were significant differences by gender and age, differences that were not detected in health service statistics. The findings have implications for decision makers and health and education service providers. They point to the need for programs that will reinforce young people's good health practices and help them avoid risky behaviors.     

Idols and Demons: On Discerning the Spirits

This article elaborates on the distinction between two spiritual ailments, which can be properly identified as idolatry and demonry. They represent opposite but complementary age–long phenomena still relevant to the analysis of the contemporary spiritual situation in explaining disorders of the soul as well as cultural derangement. The text suggests that the church as the spiritual community is the locus for the discernment of the spirit and that in its two distinguishing foundational and functional features (the proclamatory function and the communion function) it is molded precisely to confront both idols and demons.     

Maternal aggression during the mouthbrooding cycle in the Cichlid fish,Oreochromis mossambicus

Maternal aggression was studied in Oreochromis mossambicus during the mouthbrooding cycle. Brooding females were observed in heterosexual captive groups, and their agonistic interactions and behavioural activities were registered. Brooding females were classified into three classes according to the developmental stage of the brood they were incubating: phase 1, brooding eggs; phase 2, brooding fry with yolk-sac; phase 3, brooding fry with exogeneous feeding. The behaviour of the brooding females was compared with the behaviour of control non-incubating females. During the brooding cycle females become increasingly more aggressive toward other individuals, with their aggressiveness reaching a peak in phase 3. During the brooding cycle the females also suppress their feeding activities. The outcome of the agonistic interactions (victories–defeats) of the brooding females was positively correlated with the brooding phase but not with clutch size. The main function of maternal aggression in O. mossambicus seems to be the defence of the vulnerable brood against predators, including conspecifics, at a developmental stage when the fry start to forage outside the mother's mouth. Aggr. Behav. 24:187–196, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

On the (in)stability of dominance hierarchies in the cichlid fish Oreochromis mossambicus

Dominance hierarchies were studied during 8 weeks in eight heterosexual captive groups of Oreochromis mossambicus at the onset of sexual maturity. Linearity was assessed for each group on a weekly basis based on the Landau's index (h) and on the procedure described by Appleby [Appleby MC (1983): Animal Behaviour 31:600–608]. Week-to-week stability of the hierarchical structures was measured using the Burk's stability index (b) and Spearman rank correlation coefficients for the ranks of fishes in consecutive weeks. The two measures of stability showed a high level of concordance but the Spearman rank correlations were more conservative in detecting cases of stability. Although most dominance structures were linear they were unstable from week to week. Dominant individuals were less likely to experience rank reversals than subordinates. Rank reversals were especially likely among hierarchical neighbors. Dominance hierarchies did not stabilize in the time span of this study. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Empirically Defining Treatment Response and Remission in Body Dysmorphic Disorder Using a Short Self-Report Instrument

Determining response or remission status in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) usually requires a lengthy interview with a trained clinician. This study sought to establish empirically derived cutoffs to define treatment response and remission in BDD using a brief self-report instrument, the Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI). Results from three clinical trials of BDD were pooled to create a sample of 123 individuals who had received cognitive-behavioral therapy for BDD, delivered via the Internet. The AAI was compared to gold-standard criteria for response and remission in BDD, based on the clinician-administered Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, modified for BDD (BDD-YBOCS), and evaluated using signal detection analysis. The results showed that a ≥ 40% reduction on the AAI best corresponded to treatment response, with a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.84. A score ≤ 13 at posttreatment was the optimal cutoff in determining full or partial remission from BDD, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and a specificity of 0.88. These findings provide benchmarks for using the AAI in BDD treatment evaluation when resource-intensive measures administered by clinicians are not feasible.     

TRANSHUMANISM AND THE FATE OF NATALITY: AN INTRODUCTION

Transhumanist thought on overpopulation usually invokes the welfare of present human beings and the control over future generation, thus minimizing the need and meaning of new births. Here we devise a framework for a more thorough screening of the relevant literature, to have a better appreciation of the issue of natality. We follow the lead of Hannah Arendt and Brent Waters in this respect. With three overlapping categories of words, headed by “natality,” “birth,” and “intergenerations,” a large sample of books on transhumanism is scrutinized, showing the lack of sustained reflection on the issue. After this preliminary scrutiny, a possible defense of natality in face of modern and transhumanist thought is marshaled, evoking a number of desirable human traits. One specific issue, the impact of modern values on natality, is further explored, reiterating that concerns about overpopulation and enhanced humans should keep in sight the natural cycle of birth and death.