Stability in Bullying and Victimization and its Association with Social Adjustment in Childhood and Adolescence

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between stability in bullying and victimization, and social adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 189 girls and 328 boys who were studied in primary school and in secondary school. The mean age of the participants was 11.1 years in primary school and 14.1 years in secondary school. The measures consisted of peer reported social and personal characteristics. Children who bullied in childhood and adolescence were less liked and more disliked in childhood, and more aggressive and disruptive both in childhood and adolescence, than children who bullied only in childhood or adolescence. Children who bullied or who were victimized only in childhood did not differ largely in adolescence from the children that were never bullies or victims. Children who were victimized in adolescence closely resembled those who were victimized in childhood and adolescence in terms of being liked or disliked, being nominated as a friend, and shyness. The study stresses the need to distinguish between stable and transient bullies and victims.     

Achievement Goals in Social Interactions: Learning with Mastery vs. Performance Goals

Little work has studied achievement goals in social interaction situations. The present experiment aimed at contributing to this matter by showing the potential of social interaction (in particular disagreement) to moderate the effects of achievement goals on learning. Participants were led to think they interacted with a partner, sharing opinions about a text that they were studying. Mastery and performance goals were manipulated. During the “interaction,” they received either disagreement or agreement from this bogus partner. Results showed that a condition in which mastery goals were induced led to better learning than a performance goal condition only when the partner disagreed. No differences between goal conditions were observed when the partner agreed. Implications for achievement goal research are discussed. Part of this work was conducted during Céline Darnon’s doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Fabrizio Butera, and was written during Céline Darnon’s post-doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, thanks to a Fulbright fellowship.     

Effects of Dangerous and Competitive Worldviews on Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation over a Five-Month Period

The cross-lagged effects of dangerous and competitive social worldviews on Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) were examined over a five-month period ( N   =  165). Analyses indicated that the motivational goal for group-based dominance and superiority indexed by SDO changed as a function of the degree to which the social world was perceived as a competitive place characterized by inequality and resource scarcity. The motivational goal for ingroup conformity and collective security indexed by RWA, in contrast, changed as a function of the degree to which the social world was perceived as a dangerous and threatening place prone to high levels of crime and immoral behavior. These findings are consistent with the causal pathways between social worldviews and ideological attitudes predicted by Duckitt's (2001 ) model of the dual motivational and cognitive processes underlying prejudice. An unexpected reciprocal effect in which RWA predicted longitudinal change in dangerous worldview was also identified, suggesting that the relationship between these two constructs may be more complex than previously hypothesized.     

Learning from Spiritual Models and Meditation: A Randomized Evaluation of a College Course

Effects of two meditation and mindfulness-based spiritual interventions were examined in college undergraduates (N=44). Compared to a control group, both interventions decreased negative religious coping (d=−0.80, p<.01) and images of God as mainly controlling (d=−.73, p<.01). One intervention provided more training in tools for learning from community and tradition-based spiritual exemplars. It produced gains in famous or traditional spiritual exemplars’ perceived influence (d=+.81, p<.05) and availability (d=+.66, p<.10), in self-efficacy for learning from spiritual exemplars (d=+.92, p<.05), and in nonmaterialistic aspirations (d=+0.65, p<.05).     

Cognitive imitation in typically-developing 3- and 4-year olds and individuals with autism

Individuals diagnosed with autism suffer from numerous social, affective and linguistic impairments. It has also been suggested that they have a global imitation deficit. That hypothesis, however, is compromised by the fact that individuals with autism suffer from various motor impairments. Here we describe an experiment on cognitive imitation, a type of imitation that doesn’t require motor learning. Nine male autistic subjects and 20 typically-developing 3- and 4-year olds were trained to respond, in a prescribed order, to different lists of photographs that were displayed simultaneously on a touch-sensitive monitor. Because the position of the photographs varied randomly from trial to trial, sequences could not be learned by motor imitation. In three different imitation treatments, including a ghost control, autistic subjects learned new sequences more rapidly after observing a model execute those sequences than when they had to learn new sequences entirely by trial and error. Moreover, the performance of autistic subjects did not significantly differ from the performance of typically-developing controls. The result of this and other studies suggests that individuals with autism suffer from a specific novel motor imitation deficit.     

欧洲社会心理学的成长历程

论文以学科制度化过程和学科理智演化为分析视角 ,概要研究欧洲社会心理学的成长历程。论文结论是 :经过近 40年的不懈努力 ,欧洲社会心理学 ,已经成功地解构美国社会心理学的主宰地位 ,并和美国社会心理学一起 ,建构国际社会心理学新的研究范式。     

Social Support as Predictor of Psychopathology in the Adolescent Offspring of Psychiatric Patients

The potential role of social support for the adolescent offspring of psychiatric patients has hitherto not been examined. We examined whether the adolescent's level of psychiatric symptoms is dependent on the content and the function of social support (whether direct or moderating), controlling for perceived stress. In a cross-sectional design, 40 adolescents (11–18 yrs) with a parent exhibiting an affective or personality disorder were given several questionnaires, including the Youth Self Report (Achenbach), a Social Support Inventory, and the MUSIC, an inventory assessing perceived emotional and physiological stress reactions. The social support inventory consisted of three subscales to assess the positive and negative perception of social support, and the discrepancy between demand and supply of social support. The mentally-ill parents were given the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Data were then analyzed using multiple linear regression analyses. Analyses showed that perceived stress and negative social support predicted the adolescent's level of psychiatric symptoms, and that social support served as a direct effect, and was independent of parental GHQ score. Results are discussed and the presently under-utilized potential of social support for this population at risk is highlighted as something warranting increased attention both in terms of research and practical preventative steps.     

Effectiveness of a Parent Training Program for Improving Children’s Social Behavior

We tested the efficacy of a social skills training program for the parents of school-aged children experiencing socio-emotional problems. Participating families (N = 42) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: parent social skills training; parent plus parallel child social skills training; or no-treatment control. The two treatment groups did not differ on any of the outcome measures. Treatment was associated with improvements in parent and child social skills knowledge, parent social problem solving, and child emotional functioning. In follow-up analyses examining mechanisms of change, parental attendance and change in child social skills knowledge predicted response to treatment. Overall, our results highlight the utility of engaging parents as primary participants in the treatment of children’s socio-emotional problems and suggest methods for maximizing the impact of such an intervention.     

Cognitive-behavioral Strategies for Parkinson’s Disease: A Report of Three Cases

Three patients diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) were treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): a 43-year-old woman suffering from depression and social anxiety, a 45-year-old man with sexual problems and maladaptive coping strategies, and a 78-year-old man with freezing of gait. On the basis of functional analyses, interventions were selected, including cognitive methods, social skills training, paradoxical instructions and strategies to improve management of freezing. The interventions were related to improved adaptation to motor impairments and better ability to cope with the disease. These case presentations suggest that CBT can improve quality of life in PD by modifying maladaptive cognitive, emotional and behavioral reactions to the disease and its symptoms.     

School social climate and teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems: a 10 year longitudinal and multilevel study

Using longitudinal and cross-sectional data, the present research sought to identify school social climate predictors of teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems. The social climate and classroom behavior in 107 public and private French speaking Canadian high schools was evaluated by 1399 teachers. The present analysis is unique in its ability to control for school differences in the enrollment of students with a history of problem behavior. As hypothesized, between-school variation in the proportion of students with histories of disruptive problems predicted high school classroom behavior problems. Moreover, when controlling for these between-school differences, concurrently measured school-level variables (type of school, location of school, and academic emphasis) are found to be significant predictors of classroom behavior problems. The theoretical and practical implications of the present findings are examined and recommendations are made for future research.