The Link Between Cerebellar Dominance and Skilled Hand Performance in 8–10-Year-Old Right-Handed Children

A focus of attention on the step-by-step control of a skill has been shown to be detrimental to experts' performance but to have no significant effect on novices' performance (e.g., S. L. Beilock, T. H. Carr, C. MacMahon, &; J. L. Starkes, 2002), contrary to the results of manipulations of the direction of attentional focus (e.g., G. Wulf, M. Hös, &; W. Prinz, 1998). In previous studies, researchers have not separated the focus of attention from the nature of the instruction provided or the skill level of the participants. In the present experiment, 10 skilled and 10 less skilled soccer players dribbled a ball after receiving instructions directing attention to an internal, skill-relevant feature (foot); an internal, skill-irrelevant feature (arm); or a skill-irrelevant task (word-monitoring). Performance was evaluated in relation to a no-attentional-focus control condition. For skilled performers, an internal focus on the arms and feet interfered with performance. For less skilled performers, an internal, yet skill-relevant, focus of attention (foot) did not degrade performance, whereas attention to the arms and word monitoring had a detrimental effect. No significant differences were observed across the three attentional manipulations when the skilled performers used the nondominant foot. The results generally supported the deautomization of skills hypothesis.     

Goal Orientation and Work Role Performance: Predicting Adaptive and Proactive Work Role Performance Through Self-Leadership Strategies

This article explores the relationship between goal orientation, self-leadership dimensions, and adaptive and proactive work role performances. The authors hypothesize that learning orientation, in contrast to performance orientation, positively predicts proactive and adaptive work role performances and that this relationship is mediated by self-leadership behavior-focused strategies. It is posited that self-leadership natural reward strategies and thought pattern strategies are expected to moderate this relationship. Workers (N = 108) from a software company participated in this study. As expected, learning orientation did predict adaptive and proactive work role performance. Moreover, in the relationship between learning orientation and proactive work role performance through self-leadership behavior-focused strategies, a moderated mediation effect was found for self-leadership natural reward and thought pattern strategies. In the end, the authors discuss the results and implications are discussed and future research directions are proposed.     

Cognitive Performance in Adolescence: Links With Early Maternal Stimulation and Children’s Anxious Behaviors

Abstract

This study tested a developmental model of cognitive performance in adolescence and explored potential mechanisms explaining the relations of early maternal stimulation and children’s anxious behaviors with adolescents’ cognitive performance. We utilized the NICHD SECCYD dataset (n?=?1,112). Measures included questionnaires, coded observations, and self-report measures from infancy to adolescence. Results revealed that children who experienced greater early maternal stimulation and less anxious behaviors had better cognitive performance at age 15. Children’s English self-efficacy, the quality of child–teacher relationships, and children’s behavioral classroom engagement in middle childhood mediated the relation between early maternal stimulation and adolescent cognitive performance. Identifying pathways from earlier maternal and children’s characteristics to children’s later cognitive performance is an important step toward further understanding why early precursors have a long lasting impact on cognitive performance, and has implications for educational settings.     

Stability of Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Aging and Death

A representative sample from a nonclinical population was drawn to compare bingers and nonbingers across weight categories. Subjects were 112 women drawn from a cross-section of undergraduate classes at a large state university. Four groups were formed: obese bingers, obese nonbingers, normal-weight bingers (bulimics), and normal-weight nonbingers. Bingers, regardless of weight category, suffered higher levels of depression and anxiety and lower levels of self-esteem than nonbingers, regardless of weight category. Obese nonbingers were indistinguishable on these variables from normal-weight nonbingers, with both groups of nonbingers experiencing less emotional distress. Results support the position that the obese population should be conceptualized and treated as a diverse group with different psychological characteristics and needs.     

Do Mindsets Shape Students’ Well-Being and Performance?

“Mindsets (or implicit theories) are people’s lay beliefs about the nature of human attributes, such as intelligence or personality”. Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is an unchangeable trait, whereas those with a growth mindset think of it as a malleable quality that can be increased and developed. This study explored the relationships among growth mindset, wellbeing, and performance in a sample of 1,240 students from a multi-campus private university located in 18 states across Mexico. Our results indicated that individuals who scored high in growth (vs. fixed) mindset showed increased levels of wellbeing and also performed better in school. Furthermore, we found that wellbeing mediated the relationship between growth mindset and performance and that the effect of growth mindset on grades was higher among younger students. These findings have interesting implications for psychology and education.     

Rethinking Secularism,edited by Craig Calhoun,Mark Juergensmeyer and Jonathan VanAntwerpen,Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2011, vii + 311 pp. ISBN 978 019979667-0, US$99.00 (hbk); ISBN 978 019979668 7, US$24.95 (pbk)

Neo-monasticism, including the desire to live in Christian intentional community, is increasingly popular in the United States. Communities are structured around a rule or shared covenant that outlines the parameters of living in community. Daily prayer is often a central feature to neo-monastic life as is an emphasis on socio-ecological justice. Drawing on recent Christian theology about gardens, a popular neo-monastic book of common prayer, interviews with practitioners of neo-monasticism, and fieldwork conducted with a nascent neo-monastic community in the southeastern United States, this article argues that prayer acts as a religious technology of the self for socio-ecological change. Through prayer, participants of intentional communities change, and this in turn leads to acts that alter the socio-ecological worlds around them.     

Effects of anxiety on the execution of police arrest and self-defense skills

We investigated the effects of anxiety on the execution of police officers' arrest and self-defense skills. Police officers (n=13) performed three tasks in which they kicked, blocked, or restrained an opponent who attacked them with a rubber knife (low anxiety, LA) or a shock knife (high anxiety, HA) in a within-subject design. We analyzed performance (on a 5-point Likert scale), movement times, posture, and movement velocity and acceleration. Results revealed that performance was worse in the HA compared to the LA condition. Furthermore, analysis of full-body movement showed that under increased anxiety, police officers' performance contained characteristics of avoidance behavior, such as faster reactions (to reduce the time being exposed to the threat), leaning further backward (kick), and ducking down (block). In line with recent theoretical developments, it appears that under increased anxiety, police officers were less able to inhibit stimulus-driven processing (fear of getting hit) and enforce goal-directed processing (perform the skill as well as possible) leading to avoidance behavior and a decrease in performance.     

“You throw like a girl:” The effect of stereotype threat on women's athletic performance and gender stereotypes

Objectives“Stereotype threat” occurs when people perform worse at a task due to the pressure of a negative stereotype of their group's performance. We examined whether female athletes may underperform at an athletic task if prompted to think about gender stereotypes of athleticism. We also explored whether gender stereotypes regarding general athletic ability would be affected by a standard stereotype threat induction.DesignWe used a 2 (participant gender) × 2 (stereotype threat manipulation) factorial design with task performance and gender stereotypes of athleticism as dependent measures.MethodFemale and male tennis and basketball college student athletes performed two athletic tasks relevant to their sport: a difficult concentration task and an easier speed task. Participants were told beforehand that (1) there was a gender difference on the tasks (to induce stereotype threat) or (2) there was no gender difference (to remove any preexisting stereotype threat).ResultsOn the difficult task, women performed worse than men only when stereotype threat was induced. Performance on the easier speed task was unaffected by the stereotype information. Interestingly, women's beliefs regarding women's and men's general athleticism were also affected by the manipulation.ConclusionsWe concluded that one minor comment regarding a very specific athletic task may sometimes impair task performance and alter gender stereotypes of athleticism among women. Some implications for preventing negative stereotype threat effects are discussed.     

On the Dissemination of Clinical Experiences in Using Empirically Supported Treatments

This article addresses the long-standing gap that has existed between psychotherapy research and practice and the efforts that have been made to bridge it. It also introduces one such effort, which has consisted of 3 clinical surveys on the experiences of practitioners in using empirically supported treatments for panic disorder, social anxiety, and OCD. In contrast to attempts to close the gap by disseminating research findings to the clinician, the clinical surveys are intended to allow for practitioners to disseminate their clinical experiences to the researcher—and also to other clinicians. What we view as a “two-way bridge” initiative is a collaboration between the Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of the APA, and the Psychotherapy Division of the APA—Division 29. The mechanism that has been established provides a way for clinicians to be a part of the research process, which we hope will provide evidence that can help to enhance our clinical effectiveness.