Adolescent coping with everyday stressors: A seven-nation study of youth from central,eastern, southern,and northern Europe

The present study compares problem-specific coping strategies and coping styles of European adolescents from seven nations. The sample consisted of 3031 adolescent participants, aged 11 to 20, from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland. The adolescents completed the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ) by indicating which coping strategies (from 20 alternatives) they usually employed in dealing with age-specific problems (covering 8 different domains). The strategies can be collapsed to three coping styles: active coping, internal coping, and withdrawal. Results show that adolescents from all seven nations predominantly employed functional forms of coping, i.e., active coping and internal coping. In addition, the pattern of frequently and rarely applied coping strategies was similar across cultures. Differences in coping style were revealed for some, but not all problem domains, suggesting that cross-cultural similarity in coping exists for specific stressors. Problem-specific analyses helped to clarify where cultural influence is most distinct. Whereas cultural diversity was highest for coping with job-related problems, coping with self- and future-related problems was highly similar among adolescents from all the nations. Despite the considerable traditional, educational, and economic differences among the cultures investigated, the similarities in coping behaviour were impressive. Explanations for cultural universals and differences in adolescent coping are discussed.     

Le rôle modérateur des orientations vers les objectifs dans la relation entre l’envergure de poste et l’engagement organisationnel

This paper examines the moderating role of goal orientations (learning, performance and avoidance orientation) in the relationship between job scope (i.e., a composite measure capturing task variety, autonomy, feedback and significance) and organizational commitment. Based on a sample of 314 participants, the analyses indicate that job scope is positively related to commitment and that performance orientation and avoidance orientation act as negative moderators of job scope. Specifically, job scope was more strongly related to commitment at low levels of these traits. We discuss the importance of considering the role of employee personality in the study of the effect of work context on commitment.     

中国人人际情感的差序格局关系:来自EAST的证据

本研究采用外部情感西蒙任务(EAST),以36名大学生为被试对自我词及亲人、熟人、陌生人三种人际关系词与积极情感和消极情感的关系进行探究,从而检验个体对自我和不同人际关系对象的情感是否存在差序格局的表现形式。结果显示,在EAST中,对自我词和亲人词作积极反应比作消极反应时间更短;对陌生人词作消极反应比作积极反应时间更短;对熟人词作积极反应和消极反应的时间差异不明显。并且,自我词的EAST效应值最大,接着依次是亲人词和熟人词;陌生人词的EAST效应值为负值。表明了在个体的认知图式中,对自我、亲人持有积极的情感,而对陌生人持有消极的情感,对熟人情感偏向不明显;且不同人际关系在情感的联结强度上表现出差序格局的形式。     

Prior task experience and comparable stimulus exposure nullify focal and nonfocal prospective memory retrieval differences

We explored the nature of focal versus nonfocal event-based prospective memory retrieval. In the context of a lexical decision task, people received an intention to respond to a single word (focal) in one condition and to a category label (nonfocal) for the other condition. Participants experienced both conditions, and their order was manipulated. The focal instruction condition was a single word presented multiple times. In Experiment 1, the stimuli in the nonfocal condition were different exemplars from a category, each presented once. In the nonfocal condition retrieval was poorer and reaction times were slower during the ongoing task as compared to the focal condition, replicating prior findings. In Experiment 2, the stimulus in the nonfocal condition was a single category exemplar repeated multiple times. When this single-exemplar nonfocal condition followed in time the single-item focal condition, focal versus nonfocal performance was virtually indistinguishable. These results demonstrate that people can modify their stimulus processing and expectations in event-based prospective memory tasks based on experience with the nature of prospective cues and with the ongoing task.     

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation

Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cortical metabolic energy, thereby improving frontal cortex‐based memory function in rats. Barrett and Gonzalez‐Lima (2013, Neuroscience, 230, 13) discovered that transcranial laser stimulation can enhance sustained attention and short‐term memory in humans. We extend this line of work to executive function. Specifically, we ask whether transcranial laser stimulation enhances performance in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task that is considered the gold standard of executive function and is compromised in normal ageing and a number of neuropsychological disorders. We used a laser of a specific wavelength (1,064 nm) that photostimulates cytochrome oxidase – the enzyme catalysing oxygen consumption for metabolic energy production. Increased cytochrome oxidase activity is considered the primary mechanism of action of this intervention. Participants who received laser treatment made fewer errors and showed improved set‐shifting ability relative to placebo controls. These results suggest that transcranial laser stimulation improves executive function and may have exciting potential for treating or preventing deficits resulting from neuropsychological disorders or normal ageing.     

An investigation of the role of some person and situation variables in multiple cue probability learning

Making decisions using judgements of multiple non-deterministic indicators is an important task, both in everyday and professional life. Learning of such decision making has often been studied as the mapping of stimuli (cues) to an environmental variable (criterion); however, little attention has been paid to the effects of situation-by-person interactions on this learning. Accordingly, we manipulated cue and feedback presentation mode (graphic or numeric) and task difficulty, and measured individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC). We predicted that graphic presentation, fewer cues, and elevated WMC would facilitate learning, and that person and task characteristics would interact such that presentation mode compatible with the decision maker's cognitive capability (enhanced visual or verbal WMC) would assist learning, particularly for more difficult tasks. We found our predicted main effects, but no significant interactions, except that those with greater WMC benefited to a larger extent with graphic than with numeric presentation, regardless of which type of working memory was enhanced or number of cues. Our findings suggest that the conclusions of past research based predominantly on tasks using numeric presentation need to be reevaluated and cast light on how working memory helps us learn multiple cue–criterion relationships, with implications for dual-process theories of cognition.     

Inhibition in task switching: The reliability of the n − 2 repetition cost

The n???2 repetition cost seen in task switching is the effect of slower response times performing a recently completed task (e.g. an ABA sequence) compared to performing a task that was not recently completed (e.g. a CBA sequence). This cost is thought to reflect cognitive inhibition of task representations and as such, the n???2 repetition cost has begun to be used as an assessment of individual differences in inhibitory control; however, the reliability of this measure has not been investigated in a systematic manner. The current study addressed this important issue. Seventy-two participants performed three task switching paradigms; participants were also assessed on rumination traits and processing speed—measures of individual differences potentially modulating the n???2 repetition cost. We found significant n???2 repetition costs for each paradigm. However, split-half reliability tests revealed that this cost was not reliable at the individual-difference level. Neither rumination tendencies nor processing speed predicted this cost. We conclude that the n???2 repetition cost is not reliable as a measure of individual differences in inhibitory control.     

Task-switch costs subsequent to cue-only trials

There is abundant evidence that there is a performance cost associated with switching between tasks. This “switch cost” has been postulated to be driven by task performance on the preceding trial, but recent research challenges any necessary role of previous task performance in driving the cost. Across three experiments, we investigated whether it is difficult to switch from a task that was prepared but never performed. We replicated the finding of a switch cost following cue-only trials (involving no task performance) whilst controlling for a potential cue-switching confound. This cost was larger than that following completed trials when preparation interval was short (300?ms), and it reduced significantly with a longer preparation interval (1000?ms) on the current trial. We also found that preparing only to attend to a particular visual dimension (colour or shape) was sufficient to drive a significant subsequent switch cost, which appeared to be residual in nature; we speculate that this cost may reflect the persistence of unfulfilled task intentions and/or a strategic slowing when consecutive intentions conflict.     

内隐自尊的特性：来自EAST的证据

采用外部情绪性Simon任务（EAST）对109名大学生对代表自我和他人的刺激词的态度差异进行测量,从而探讨内隐自尊的特性。结果显示：在个体的认知图式中,对自我持有一种内隐的积极的评价或态度,对他人持有一种内隐的相对消极的评价或态度。具体表现在：（1）内隐自尊的特性是将自己与积极的评价和情感相联系,将他人与消极的评价和情感相联系;（2）自我姓名激活的积极的内隐自我态度比一般性自我词更为强烈,而他人姓名激活的消极的内隐态度比一般性非我词更弱。本研究表明,EAST能有效检测出内隐自尊效应,并可以同时获得个体对自我和他人的内隐态度的强度和方向,为内隐自尊研究提供了一种新的有效的方法,但其应用仍需谨慎。     

Beyond objectivity: The performance impact of the perceived ability to learn and solve problems

The purpose of this research was to develop and provide initial validation evidence for the performance impact of a measure of an individual's perceived ability to learn and solve problems (PALS). Building on the self-efficacy literature and the importance of learning and problem solving, the fundamental premise of this research was that PALS would significantly explain employee performance. In addition to demonstrating that PALS represented a distinct construct, PALS was a significant predictor of performance for managerial and entry-level employees in two different organizational contexts. Moreover, PALS explained additional variance in performance beyond general mental ability, personality, and similar constructs related to learning and problem solving.