Emotion regulation choice: the role of environmental affordances

Which emotion regulation strategy one uses in a given context can have profound affective, cognitive, and social consequences. It is therefore important to understand the determinants of emotion regulation choice. Many prior studies have examined person-specific, internal determinants of emotion regulation choice. Recently, it has become clear that external variables that are properties of the stimulus can also influence emotion regulation choice. In the present research, we consider whether reappraisal affordances, defined as the opportunities for re-interpretation of a stimulus that are inherent in that stimulus, can shape individuals’ emotion regulation choices. We show that reappraisal affordances have stability across people and across time (Study 1), and are confounded with emotional intensity for a standardised set of picture stimuli (Study 2). Since emotional intensity has been shown to drive emotion regulation choice, we construct a context in which emotional intensity is separable from reappraisal affordances (Study 3) and use this context to show that reappraisal affordances powerfully influence emotion regulation choice even when emotional intensity and discrete emotions are taken into account (Study 4).     

The Effects of a PETTLEP Imagery Intervention on Learners' Coincident Anticipation Timing Performance

Little research has examined how imagery effects learners' acquisition of motor tasks requiring coincident anticipation timing (CAT). CAT is a fundamental component of hitting, passing, and receiving required in several sports. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a PETTLEP imagery intervention on learners' CAT performance using a Bassin Anticipation Timer. Fifty-six participants (M = 20.61 years, SD = 2.48) were randomly assigned into one of four training groups: physical practice (PP), imagery practice (IP), imagery practice + physical practice (IP +PP), or a control (CON) group. The study consisted of three phases: pretest, intervention, and a posttest. Results revealed that the PP and IP+PP groups had significantly lower absolute timing error compared to the CON group on the posttest. The IP+PP group was the only group to have lower variable error compared to the CON group on the posttest. Results extend prior research by demonstrating that imagery combined with physical practice can benefit the learning of a CAT task and that imagery alone may not assist learners in acquiring tasks requiring CAT. Results are congruent with prior research demonstrating that imagery is most effective when combined with physical practice.     

Aprendiendo de La Vida (Learning from Life): Development of a Radionovela to Promote Preventive Health Care Utilization among Indigenous Farmworkers from Mexico Living in California

Journal of Medical Humanities - Mixtecs and Zapotecs, originating from the Oaxaca area in Mexico, are among the largest indigenous groups of workers in California. Many adults in this community...     

The construction of career through goal-directed action

The thesis of this article is that occupational career is constructed through a system of intentional, goal-directed processes in the form of actions and projects as well as other careers, such as the family career and relationship careers. A contextual action theory of career is proposed as an approach that reflects a constructionist stance and at the same time addresses fundamental issues raised by social constructionism, such as issues of meaning, interpretation, and agency. The discussion is illustrated by reference to a research program on the family career-development project that examines the joint action of parents and adolescents relative to the adolescent’s future. It is further suggested that this approach leads constructionism beyond its epistemological critique to a positive formulation of professional and everyday activity.     

Families and Schools Together: an experimental analysis of a parent-mediated multi-family group program for American Indian children

The goals of this randomized intervention study were to: (a) increase academic performance among American Indian children ages 4-9 years and (b) reduce classroom problem behaviors. To achieve these goals, the multi-family group program called Families and Schools Together (FAST) was adapted with three American Indian Nations in Wisconsin. Over 3 years, seven multi-family group cycles of FAST were implemented, each lasting 8 weeks. In collaboration with the College of Menominee Nation, this parent intervention approach was adapted to express tribal values while maintaining its core components. Fifty pairs of universally recruited American Indian students at three schools who were assessed, matched on five variables, and then randomly assigned to either the FAST or non-FAST control condition. Pretest, posttest, and 9- to 12-month follow-up data were collected by American Indian staff and university students on multiple indicators of academic and behavioral performance. Of the 50 families that attended FAST meetings at least once, 40 graduated (80%) from the 7 FAST cycles. On the immediate posttest, statistically significant differences in improvement, favoring FAST participants were found on the Aggressive Behavior scale of the teacher-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and on the parent-rated Withdrawn scale of the same instrument. On the 1-year follow-up assessment, parent CBCL ratings indicated that FAST students had maintained their less withdrawn status and teacher ratings on the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS) revealed that FAST participants had exhibited relatively greater improvement in their academic competence. Parent surveys of the graduated students generally showed satisfaction with the program. Implications of the present results and future research directions are discussed.     

职业生涯背景行动理论及其方法的述评

背景行动理论是职业生涯研究中的新理论。此理论以人类职业行动为基本研究单位,认为:(1)人类的职业行动在本质上都是意向性和目标指向的;(2)应在日常生活中了解人们的职业观念、解释和选择;(3)职业是社会建构的。行动-项目质性方法基于此理论产生,从外显行为、内在过程和社会意义三方面收集职业行动的完整信息。背景行动理论对职业行动、发展过程及社会意义的认识为职业生涯研究提供了新的理论视角。     

On the inferential epistemics of trait centrality in impression formation

We provide a novel, inferential, account of the trait centrality phenomenon. We suggest that a trait possesses the property of “centrality” to the extent that it is subjectively deemed to imply other traits. Five studies explore four central elements of this view. First, trait relations can be stored as unidirectional rules (“if X then Y” but not necessarily “if Y then X”). Second, the strength of individuals' lay inference rules determines the effect of traits on impressions. Third, situationally manipulating the strength of lay inference rules influences the impact of traits on impressions. Fourth, the impact of an inference rule is reduced when it is difficult to discern the inference rule and when processing resources are limited. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GOD AS A COMMUNICATIVE SYSTEM SUI GENERIS: BEYOND THE PSYCHIC, SOCIAL, PROCESS MODELS OF THE TRINITY

With an aim to develop a public theology for an age of information media (or media theology), this article proposes a new God-concept: God is a communicative system sui generis that autopoietically processes meaning/information in the supratemporal realm via perfect divine media ad intra (Word/Spirit). For this task, Niklas Luhmann's systems theory is critically appropriated in dialogue with theology. First, my working postmetaphysical/epistemological stance is articulated as realistic operational constructivism and functionalism. Second, a series of arguments are advanced to substantiate the thesis: (1) God is an observing system sui generis ; (2) self-referential communication is divine operation; (3) unsurpassable complexity is divine mystery; (4) supratemporal autopoiesis of meaning is divine processing; (5) agape is the symbolic medium of divine communication. Third, this communicative model of God is developed into a trinitarian theology, with a claim that this model offers a viable alternative beyond the standard (psychic, social, process) models. Finally, some implications of this model are explored for constructive theology (conceiving creation as divine mediatization) and for science-and-religion in terms of derivative models: (1) God as a living system sui generis and (2) God as a meaning system sui generis .