Individual differences in neonatal “imitation” fail to predict early social cognitive behaviour

The influential hypothesis that humans imitate from birth – and that this capacity is foundational to social cognition – is currently being challenged from several angles. Most prominently, the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal study of neonatal imitation to date failed to find evidence that neonates copied any of nine actions at any of four time points (Oostenbroek et al., [2016] Current Biology, 26, 1334–1338). The authors of an alternative and statistically liberal post‐hoc analysis of these same data (Meltzoff et al., [2017] Developmental Science, 21, e12609), however, concluded that the infants actually did imitate one of the nine actions: tongue protrusion. In line with the original intentions of this longitudinal study, we here report on whether individual differences in neonatal “imitation” predict later‐developing social cognitive behaviours. We measured a variety of social cognitive behaviours in a subset of the original sample of infants (N = 71) during the first 18 months: object‐directed imitation, joint attention, synchronous imitation and mirror self‐recognition. Results show that, even using the liberal operationalization, individual scores for neonatal “imitation” of tongue protrusion failed to predict any of the later‐developing social cognitive behaviours. The average Spearman correlation was close to zero, mean r_s = 0.027, 95% CI [?0.020, 0.075], with all Bonferroni adjusted p values > .999. These results run counter to Meltzoff et al.'s rebuttal, and to the existence of a “like me” mechanism in neonates that is foundational to human social cognition.     

La cross-évaluation : une approche d’évaluation et de développement des processus de travail inter-équipes

Organizational agility has become an increasing focus for companies and has led to the emergence of new developmental methods. This article presents the cross-evaluation as an approach to evaluating and developing inter-team interface efficacity. Though 360 degrees feedback collective processes are being evaluated, and during reflexive workshops they decide what improvements to make in their team functioning. Based on a literature review and more specifically on the theories of social identity and groupthink this article describes the scientific bases of the cross-evaluation method and the biases that can be involved and how to reduce them. It suggests new avenues of research and practical suggestions for practitioners about an inter-team development method.     

Measuring psychological need states in sport: Theoretical considerations and a new measure

ObjectivesResearch guided by Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2017) has repeatedly demonstrated the importance of focusing on both the bright (satisfaction) and dark (frustration) sides of the three basic psychological needs. Recently, researchers have also argued for the utility of assessing a third need state, that of “unfulfillment”. In this paper, we outline an effort to develop and provide initial validity evidence for scores of a new multidimensional and sport-specific measure, the Psychological Need States in Sport-Scale (PNSS-S), to assess the satisfaction, frustration, and unfulfillment of all three needs.MethodIn Study 1, we developed 46 candidate items, and tested evidence for the factorial structure of the responses to the newly developed items, internal consistency and discriminant validity of the subscale scores. Following refinement, the replication of the favored model was tested using an independent sample of athletes in Study 2. Evidence for the nomological network of the subscales of the new measure was also demonstrated in Study 2.ResultsFactor models incorporating all three need states showed poor fit with the data. However, following post-hoc modifications, a six-factor model assessing the need states of satisfaction and frustration, separately for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, was found to have good fit to the data. After refinement, the 29-item six-factor model was found to demonstrate good fit, good standardized factor loadings, factor correlations in the expected directions, and acceptable estimates of internal consistency in Study 2. Tests of nomological networks showed that the six need states were significantly predicted by contextual autonomy, competence, and relatedness support/thwarts as expected. Autonomy and competence need satisfaction were significantly associated with engagement; and competence and relatedness need satisfaction were significantly associated with positive affect. In addition, autonomy and competence need frustration were significantly associated with exhaustion and all three need frustration states significantly predicted negative affect.ConclusionsA tripartite conceptualization of the need states was not empirically supported. Nevertheless, the PNSS-S makes a unique contribution to the sport literature, as it represents the first sport-specific measure of six distinct, yet, correlated states of the satisfaction and frustration of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs.