Accounting for the shared environment in cognitive abilities and academic achievement with measured socioecological contexts

Behavioral and molecular genetic research has established that child cognitive ability and academic performance are substantially heritable, but genetic variation does not account for all of the stratification of cognitive and academic outcomes across families. Which specific contexts and experiences contribute to these shared environmental influences on cognitive ability and academic achievement? Using an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of N = 1728 twins ages 7–20 from the Texas Twin Project, we identified specific measured family, school, and neighborhood socioecological contexts that statistically accounted for latent shared environmental variance in cognitive abilities and academic skills. Composite measures of parent socioeconomic status (SES), school demographic composition, and neighborhood SES accounted for moderate proportions of variation in IQ and achievement. Total variance explained by the multilevel contexts ranged from 15% to 22%. The influence of family SES on IQ and achievement overlapped substantially with the influence of school and neighborhood predictors. Together with race, the measured socioecological contexts explained 100% of shared environmental influences on IQ and approximately 79% of shared environmental influences on both verbal comprehension and reading ability. In contrast, nontrivial proportions of shared environmental variation in math performance were left unexplained. We highlight the potential utility of constructing “polyenvironmental risk scores” in an effort to better predict developmental outcomes and to quantify children's and adolescents’ interrelated networks of experiences. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/77E_DctFsr0     

Factors that enhance academic learning and study behaviours: A qualitative study

This exploratory study examined students’ conceptions of factors that enhance the use and application of academic learning and study strategies (LSS). A qualitative approach was used to explore the conceptions of 23 first-year university students (female = 14; age range = 18–24 years). Data were collected using unstructured interviews and narrative sketches. Thematic analysis revealed three themes; namely clarity, emotional intelligence, and life circumstances. LSS clarity showed that knowledge of the self as a learner and well-defined educational goals can enhance engagement in the academic study process. Emotional intelligence as LSS referred to the importance of self-management and emotional regulation; while life circumstances in LSS emphasised the impact of real world challenges that affect the learning process. Student development counselling for LSS should consider the extent to which students have a sense of clarity, emotional intelligence, and life orientation important for their education success.     

考试制度信任对大学生学业投入意向的影响

对制度公平性的感知会影响人们对制度的信任,如果人们相信考试制度是公平的,每个人在这样的制度安排下拥有平等的机会,是否会愿意将更多的时间和精力投入到学习中呢?研究1通过启动119名和112名本科三年级学生对考研制度的信任与不信任,考察其对学业投入意向的影响,结果发现相比在考研制度不信任条件下,信任条件下个体的学业投入意向更高.研究2通过启动被试对一般考试制度的信任与不信任,考察其对学业投入意向的影响,结果表明即使不是和个体直接相关的某项具体考试制度,仅仅是对一般考试制度的信任也能有效影响个体学业投入意向.     

同伴拒绝与早期青少年学业成绩的关系：同伴接纳、友谊支持的调节作用

采用同伴提名法获得215名早期青少年(5年级、7年级)的同伴地位(同伴拒绝、同伴接纳)分数,采用关系网络问卷(NRI)获得友谊支持分数,以学生期中考试的语文、数学、英语成绩的班内标准分的三科平均分作为个体学业成绩的指标,分析同伴拒绝与学业成绩的关系,以及同伴接纳和友谊支持对二者关系的调节作用及其年级和性别差异。结果发现:(1)女生的学业成绩高于男生,同伴拒绝、同伴接纳、友谊支持水平均不存在性别差异;(2)同伴拒绝均显著负向预测5、7年级学生的学业成绩,且这种预测作用不存在显著的性别差异;(3)在7年级,学生的同伴接纳可以调节同伴拒绝与学业成绩的关系,尽管高同伴接纳并不能补偿高同伴拒绝给学业成绩带来的消极影响,但它也是个体获得良好学业成绩的必要条件;在5年级和7年级,友谊支持都不能调节同伴拒绝与学业成绩的关系。     

中小学生学业自我概念与学业成绩的交叉滞后分析:符合交互影响模型,还是发展观?

以小学五年级、初二年级和高二年级共357名学生为研究对象,采用10个月的追踪设计,运用交叉滞后回归分析,旨在揭示中小学生学业自我概念与学业成绩的相互影响,检验交互影响模型和发展观。结果发现,在前、后测中,小五学生学业自我概念得分呈现发展性差异,且均显著高于初二和高二学生;中小学生样本总体T1时间学业自我概念能显著正向预测T2时间学业成绩,T1时间学业成绩能显著正向预测T2时间学业自我概念,符合交互影响模型;小学五年级T1时间学业自我概念能显著正向预测T2时间学业成绩,符合自我增强模型;初二和高二学生T1时间学业成绩能显著正向预测T2时间学业自我概念,符合技能发展模型。结果表明随着年龄的变化,中小学生学业自我概念与学业成绩的因果关系顺序也在发生变化,支持发展观。     

青少年学业成绩不良、学业压力与意志控制的关系:一项交叉滞后研究

采用交叉滞后设计,使用学业成绩自我评定量表、青少年生活事件量表的学业分量表以及青少年早期气质量表的意志控制分量表对1263名青少年进行间隔两年的两次测查,考察青少年学业成绩不良、学业压力与意志控制的关系。潜变量交叉滞后分析发现,青少年的意志控制显著负向预测两年后的自我感知学业成绩不良,自我感知的学业成绩不良无法显著预测日后的意志控制;学业压力显著负向预测日后的意志控制,意志控制无法显著预测日后的学业压力。这些结果表明,青少年学业领域发展与自我调控能力发展间存在动态联系。     

红色的心理功能及作用机制

红色作为独特的知觉刺激,它不仅是视觉符号更是社会互动符号。红色心理功能的探索在近年来取得了巨大的进展。本文具体阐述了红色在成就、体育竞技以及两性关系情境中的心理功能,总结了红色心理功能的相关理论和解释。作者在回顾西方已有研究的同时,也总结了自身在红色心理功能中国化研究方面的探索。最后,本文提出在未来红色心理功能研究中,研究者应该关注对红色心理功能机制的探索和文化特异性的分析。     

Working memory moderates the effect of the integrative process of implicit and explicit autonomous motivation on academic achievement

In previous research, autonomous motivation (AM) has been found to be associated with school achievement, but the relation has been largely heterogeneous across studies. AM has typically been assessed with explicit measures such as self‐report questionnaires. Recent self‐determination theory (SDT) research has suggested that converging implicit and explicit measures can be taken to characterize the integrative process in SDT. Drawing from dual‐process theories, we contended that explicit AM is likely to promote school achievement when it is part of an integrated cognitive system that combines easily accessible mental representations (i.e., implicit AM) and efficient executive functioning. A sample of 272 university students completed a questionnaire and a lexical decision task to assess their explicit and implicit AM, respectively, and they also completed working memory capacity measures. Grades were obtained at the end of the semester to examine the short‐term prospective effect of implicit and explicit AM, working memory, and their interaction. Results of moderation analyses have provided support for a synergistic interaction in which the association between explicit AM and academic achievement was positive and significant only for individuals with high level of implicit AM. Moreover, working memory was moderating the synergistic effect of explicit and implicit AM. Explicit AM was positively associated with academic achievement for students with average‐to‐high levels of working memory capacity, but only if their motivation operated synergistically with high implicit AM. The integrative process thus seems to hold better proprieties for achievement than the sole effect of explicit AM. Implications for SDT are outlined.     

Do Traditional Admissions Criteria Reflect Applicant Creativity?

College admissions decisions have traditionally focused on high school academic performance and standardized test scores. An ongoing debate is the validity of these measures for predicting success in college; part of this debate includes how success is defined. One potential way of defining college success is a student's creative accomplishments. We tested the hypothesis that traditional admissions criteria fail to capture adequately the creativity of applicants by asking 610 college applicants to complete several creativity tasks. These included divergent thinking, caption‐writing, an essay, and self‐report measures of creativity in numerous domains. Creativity scores were compared to data from the college application, including high school rank, standardized test scores, and admissions interview scores. Results showed that traditional admissions criteria were only weakly related to creativity. Indeed, students who report the highest creative self‐efficacy can be perceived as weaker applicants according to traditional criteria. Findings are discussed in light of the goals of higher education to increase diversity of the student body and the abilities of its students.