Learning strategy differentially impacts memory connections in children and adults

Even once children can accurately remember their experiences, they nevertheless struggle to use those memories in flexible new ways—as in when drawing inferences. However, it remains an open question as to whether the developmental differences observed during both memory formation and inference itself represent a fundamental limitation on children's learning mechanisms, or rather their deployment of suboptimal strategy. Here, 7–9-year-old children (N = 154) and young adults (N = 130) first formed strong memories for initial (AB) associations and then engaged in one of three learning strategies as they viewed overlapping (BC) pairs. We found that being told to integrate—combine ABC during learning—both significantly improved children's ability to explicitly relate the indirectly associated A and C items during inference and protected the underlying pair memories from forgetting. However, this finding contrasted with implicit evidence for memory-to-memory connections: Adults and children both formed A-C links prior to any knowledge of an inference test—yet for children, such links were most apparent when they were told to simply encode BC, not integrate. Moreover, the accessibility of such implicit links differed between children and adults, with adults using them to make explicit inferences but children only doing so for well-established direct AB pairs. These results suggest that while a lack of integration strategy may explain a large share of the developmental differences in explicit inference, children and adults nevertheless differ in both the circumstances under which they connect interrelated memories and their ability to later leverage those links to inform flexible behaviours.

Research Highlights

• Children and adults view AB and BC pairs related through a shared item, B. This provides an opportunity for learners to connect A–C in memory.
• Being encouraged to integrate ABC during learning boosted performance on an explicit test of A–C connections (children and adults) and protected from forgetting (children).
• Children and adults differed in when implicit A–C connections were formed—occurring primarily when told to separately encode BC (children) versus integrate (adults), respectively.
• Adults used implicit A–C connections to facilitate explicit judgments, while children did not. Our results suggest developmental differences in the learning conditions promoting memory-to-memory connections.

     

Spiritual Health and Resilience Among University Students: the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

Pastoral Psychology - Due to the positive effects of resilience on different dimensions of health, the aim of this study was to propose and examine a model for a deeper understanding of the...     

Sexual Self-Esteem and Perfectionism in Women With and Without Overweight

The purpose of this study was to examine sexual self-esteem and perfectionism among Iranian women with and without overweight based on the role of age and education; and to investigate the relationships of sexual self-esteem, perfectionism, and body mass index in a sample of adult women. Participants were 200 women with and without overweight who were selected following a purposive sampling method from Shiraz City, Iran. A demographic questionnaire, Sexual Self-Esteem Inventory for Women (SSEI-W), and Perfectionism Inventory (PI) were used. Resulting data showed that women without overweight had higher total scores of sexual self-esteem and on the WWEI-W subscale of attractiveness compared with women who are overweight. Also, women who are overweight had higher total scores of perfectionism, as well as higher scores on subscales of interpersonal sensitivity and high standards for others compared to women without overweight. There was no significant effect for age and educational level on sexual self-esteem and perfectionism. The results demonstrated significantly negative relationships between overall sexual self-esteem, attractiveness subscale of sexual self-esteem, and body mass index. Also, the overall perfectionism and interpersonal sensitivity, striving for excellence, organization, and standards for others subscales of perfectionism had a significant positive relationship to the body mass index.     

The security to lead: a systematic review of leader and follower attachment styles and leader–member exchange

ABSTRACT

Attachment styles can predict the quality of organizational relationships, particularly in reference to leader–member exchange (LMX). However, there is much work to be done in articulating and summarizing these findings and in detecting gaps in the literature. This systematic review fills a critical niche by providing a review of the attachment/LMX relationship. Using the PRISMA framework, this review integrates research on attachment styles and LMX by evaluating associations between secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles with LMX for leaders and followers. Across 10 studies, we review the evidence for associations between leader and follower attachment and LMX. We seek to investigate if secure attachment is associated with high-quality LMX and if insecure attachment is associated with lower quality LMX. Our review in general provides mixed support for these propositions, although the association of avoidant attachment for followers with LMX received consistent support. Furthermore, our results highlight the need to consider potential moderating and mediating factors within the attachment/LMX relationship. Based on the patterns of these relationships and the methodological gaps in the literature, we discuss the managerial implications for attachment styles in work and organizational psychology and suggest several directions for future research on the attachment–LMX relationship.     

The development and validation of a Fear of Death Scale based on the cognitive approach of Avicenna

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to develop a culturally sensitive approach assessment instrument that measures cognitive beliefs related to Iranian Muslim salient fear of death. This paper discusses the development and validation of Avicenna Fear of Death Scale (AFDS). The results of confirmatory factor analysis resulted in an instrument (AFDS) consisting of five cognitive concerns related to the fear of death including complete annihilation, severe pain of death, consequences of sins, interpersonal attachment, and attachment to estate. Twenty-two statements overall were offered using a Likert scale to measure related cognitive beliefs. Results from a convenience sample of 291 college students, showed the AFDS to have favourable psychometric properties (e.g., adequate reliability and validity). The total alpha coefficient was .85, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency and the item-total correlation between .28 and .63 (p<.001) indicates that the items are discriminating well. Overall, results suggest that cross-cultural differences render a culturally sensitive approach to assessment and diagnosis essential, and therefore a culture-based scale like Avicenna AFDS might be fruitful extensions of the current death anxiety scales like Templer Death Anxiety Scale within the context of Iranian-Islamic culture. This diagnostic tool can help in the cognitive treatment of fear of death.