Assessing the Effect of Language Demand in Bundles of Math Word Problems

Differential bundle functioning (DBF) analyses were conducted to determine whether seventh and eighth grade second language learners (SLLs) had lower probabilities of answering bundles of math word problems correctly that had heavy language demands, when compared to non-SLLs of equal math proficiency. Math word problems on each of four test forms (two at Grade 7 and two at Grade 8) were bundled together if they used the passive voice, conditional clause, relative clause, or a combination of any two. The results showed that the average total scores for SLLs was significantly lower than that for non-SLLs on each test form. However, only two bundles (passive voice and conditional clause at Grade 7 on Form 2) indicated statistically significant DBF against SLLs in favor of matched non-SLLs. An additional step was taken to determine whether the two bundles that showed statistically significant DBF against SLLs had biased the mean total scores for this group.The Walker, Zhang, Banks, and Cappaert (2012) procedure established for this purpose showed that this was not the case. Implications of the results are provided as well as suggestions for future research.     

The Virtual Universe, the Open Large Group, and Maturational Processes in the Future

The technology of the future will bring a new, world-wide, interactive but virtual social experience to our parlors and desktops in place of face-to-face relationships. Governments will stand or fall on the basis of electronically mediated communication with masses of people. Adventures in this new open large group context in the outer world, and the maturation of our inner selves may mirror as well as contribute to each other. Small group experience and group therapy, in particular, may play a vital role.     

The Relationships Between Spiritual Well-Being,Quality of Life,and Psychological Factors Before Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer

Journal of Religion and Health - Given shifting trends of religious identities in the USA, better understanding the impact of patients’ religious identities on health-related quality of life...     

NAMING THE HUMAN ANIMAL: GENESIS 1–3 AND OTHER ANIMALS IN HUMAN BECOMING

Recently the paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman has proposed what she calls the animal connection as the human trait that connects all other traits. Theologians and biblical scholars have proposed many relational, functional, and ontological interpretations of the image of God in humans and human nature, but have generally not included a connection with animals. Genesis 1–3, however, weaves human and animal creation in a variety of ways, and Adam's naming of other species implies they are understood as family or kin. Thus Genesis 1–3 understands a relationship with other animals as integral to human becoming and uses family or kinship as a root metaphor for human–animal relations.     

Differential Effects of Task Performance,Organizational Citizenship Behavior,and Job Complexity on Voluntary Turnover

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance–turnover relationship by considering the effects of task performance and OCBs simultaneously while also examining the moderating effect job complexity has on the relationship between voluntary turnover and each type of performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained as part of a larger study to validate an employment test, in which actual turnover data and supervisory ratings of job performance were collected for employees in two hospitals (n = 782).

Findings

Task performance exhibited a curvilinear relationship with turnover, while OCB exhibited a negative linear relationship with turnover. Job complexity moderated both of these relationships. For task performance, turnover in high-complexity jobs was greater for low performers but lower for high performers relative to that of employees in low-complexity jobs. For OCB, the negative relationship with turnover was more pronounced in high-complexity jobs.

Implications

Both low- and high-task performers are more likely to turnover, while employees exhibiting high OCBs are less likely to turnover. These results imply that retention strategies are critical for top performers, but especially in high-complexity jobs. Organizations may be able to discourage voluntary turnover by creating conditions that stimulate OCB, particularly in highly complex jobs.

Originality/Value

Most prior performance–turnover relationship research used unidimensional measures of performance, whereas this study included two dimensions of performance and examined this relationship while controlling for one-performance dimension when predicting the other. Furthermore, this study is one of the first studies to suggest that job complexity moderates the performance–turnover relationship.

     

Deciding to give to charity: a focus group study in the context of the household economy

Research on charitable giving has tended to examine either the individual characteristics of donors, or those of households. However, both approaches overlook the interactive processes that take place within households which may influence charitable donation in a variety of ways. For example, the system of financial organisation adopted by a couple can set limits on the degree of individual financial autonomy, and this in turn can influence the financial decision‐making of each partner. This paper presents the results of a study that examined charitable decision‐making within the context of household financial behaviour. It investigated whether such decisions tend to be individual or joint, and the extent to which they are regarded as an integral part of household financial management. Six focus groups were carried out with people who were currently married or living with a partner. The results suggest that charitable giving is dealt with in accordance with the style of money management of the household, although it occupies a more marginal position than other items of expenditure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memories of positive and negative emotional events

Women's memories of emotional events differing by both valence and intensity were examined for differences in narrative content and structure, as well as subjective memory ratings. Emotional valence was related to the content of the women's narratives, and emotional intensity was related to the subjective ratings of the memories. Negative narratives contained more negative emotion, cognitive processing words, and passive sentences than positive narratives, and positive narratives contained more positive emotion words and were more complex than negative narratives. Intensely negative narratives were the longest and the least complex, and intensely positive narratives were the most coherent. Women rated both intensely negative and intensely positive events, in general, as more frequently talked/thought about, significant, unique, emotional, and vivid than moderately emotional events, and negative events were rated as more emotional than positive narratives. There was little relation between the objective content of the narratives and the women's subjective ratings of their memory experiences. Finally, researcher‐defined traumatic events did not differ from other intensely negative events. The results of this study have important implications for narrative research in general, methodological issues such as the validity of text analysis programs and subjective memory ratings, and the quality of traumatic memories. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

So what do you think of the organization? A contextual priming explanation for recruitment Web site characteristics as antecedents of job seekers’ organizational image perceptions

Although job seekers’ organizational image perceptions can influence attraction to recruiting organizations, little is known about how these perceptions are formed or modified. To address this research gap, the authors drew from research in social cognition theory and demonstrated that recruitment Web site characteristics influenced the development and modification of organizational image perceptions via a priming mechanism. Results of two studies showed that having technologically advanced Web site features and depicting racially diverse organizational members served as contextual primers and influenced participants’ organizational image perceptions. Results also revealed that participants’ familiarity with recruiting organizations moderated the effects of these Web site characteristics on several dimensions of organizational image such that effects were weaker for more familiar organizations. These findings suggest that organizations can manage job seekers’ organizational image perceptions through strategic recruitment Web site design; however, such attempts may be tempered by job seekers’ familiarity with the organization.     

Object naming induces reliance on orientation-independent representations during longer-term, but not short-term, visual remembering

Naming novel objects with novel count nouns changes how the objects are drawn from memory, revealing that object categorisation induces reliance on orientation-independent visual representations during longer-term remembering, but not during short-term remembering. Serial position effects integrate this finding with a more established conceptualisation of short-term and longer-term visual remembering in which the former is identified as keeping an item in mind. Adults were shown a series of four novel objects in orientations in which they would not normally be drawn from memory. When not named ("Look at this object"), the objects were drawn in the orientations in which they had been seen. When named with a novel count noun (e.g., "Look at this dax"), the final object continued to be depicted in the orientation in which it had been seen, but all other objects were depicted in an unseen but preferred (canonical) orientation, even though participants could still remember the orientations in which they had been seen. Although orientation-dependent exemplar representations appear to be more accessible than orientation-independent generic representations during short-term remembering, the reverse is the case during longer-term remembering. How the theoretical framework emerging from these observations accommodates a broader body of evidence is discussed.