The Dumbledore Hypothesis of Cognitive Aging

ABSTRACT— Cognitive aging is often characterized as a process in which two competing forces determine individual development: a genetically driven senescence process that engenders declines in mental mechanics; and an accumulation of life experience that augments cultural, pragmatic, and knowledge-based competence. The considerable variability in the level and rate of change in complex intellectual activities (e.g., language understanding) is often accounted for in terms of individual differences in abilities associated with these forces. I argue that choice in how effort is allocated may be an essential determinant of cognitive change over the life span—both directly, in the form of attentional engagement, and indirectly, as it sculpts neural substrates that give rise to component abilities.     

工作倦怠和工作投入的整合

工作投入是近期组织心理学家引入的一个新概念,这是一种重视员工职业发展的积极心理学视角的工作追求,它与传统职业健康心理学工作倦怠的整合研究,越来越引起人们的关注。积极心理学研究取向推动了整合研究的实施;能量和认同量表为整合研究提供了测量工具;员工健康的积极和消极双过程模型是整合研究的主要模型;整合研究具有重要的理论和实践价值,更有利于提高员工的身心健康。今后的整合研究应当在研究方法上增加访谈研究、个案研究和追踪研究;在研究内容上多研究积极心理因素;在研究范围上加强跨文化的比较研究;在整合途径上进一步对现有的整合模型进行改进和创新。     

复杂陈述性知识学习过程中学习活动对学习成绩影响研究

研究以16名学习者为被试,采用言语数据分析的方法,研究了复杂陈述性知识的学习过程,得出(1)学生的学习成绩受学习过程中深层次建构活动的影响:深层次建构活动越多,学生的学习成绩越好.浅层次建构活动对学生的学习成绩影响不大;(2)学生的学习成绩受学习过程中自我监控活动的影响:自我监控活动越多,学生产生的深层次建构活动就越多.     

Career-specific parental behaviors in adolescents’ development

Parents are major partners in helping adolescents prepare for a career choice. Although several studies have examined links between general aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents’ career development, little research has addressed the mechanisms involved. This study aimed to validate a three-dimensional instrument for the assessment of parental career-related behaviors and to examine their associations with career exploration and decision-making difficulties. After testing the dimensional structure of the instrument, we examined the relationship between parents’ behaviors and adolescents’ career development by using data from 359 German adolescents who reported the amount of perceived parental career-related behaviors and their career exploration and decision-making difficulties. The results of structural equation modeling confirmed the hypothesized dimensional structure (support, interference, lack of engagement). While parental support associated positively with career exploration, interference and lack of engagement associated with decision-making difficulties. Furthermore, interference and lack of engagement moderated the relationship between support and exploration. Support moderated the association between interference and decision-making difficulties.     

Achievement strategies during university studies predict early career burnout and engagement

To examine whether individuals’ achievement strategies measured during university studies would have an impact on work burnout and work engagement measured 10, 14 and 17 years later, 292 university students completed the SAQ strategy questionnaire three times while at university, and the work burnout inventory three times and work engagement inventory twice during their early career. The results showed that optimism increased during university, while task-avoidance did not change. Moreover, high and increasing optimism during university predicted a high level of work engagement and low level of burnout 10, 14 and 17 years later. By contrast, a high level of task-avoidance during university predicted a low level of work engagement and high level of burnout during the early career.     

Young managers’ drive to thrive: A personal work goal approach to burnout and work engagement

This study approaches young managers’ occupational well-being through their work-related goal pursuit. The main aim was to identify content categories of personal work goals and investigate their associations with background factors, goal appraisals, burnout, and work engagement. The questionnaire data consisted of 747 young Finnish managers (23-35 years; M = 31 years) who were mostly men (85.5%). Seven work-related content categories were found on the basis of qualitative data analysis: (1) competence goals (30.5%), (2) progression goals (23.7%), (3) well-being goals (15.2%), (4) job change goals (13.7%), (5) job security goals (7.4%), (6) organizational goals (5.6%), and (7) financial goals (3.9%). ANCOVA analyses, where goal appraisals and significant background factors were controlled for, indicated that organizational goals were related to low burnout and the highest level of work engagement, whereas well-being and job change goals were related to higher burnout and lower work engagement. The study shows that the contents of young managers’ work-related goals can contribute to the understanding of individual differences in occupational well-being.     

工作投入研究的现状

工作投入指的是一种与工作相关的积极、完满的情绪与认知状态,具有持久性和弥散性的特点。工作投入对个体的工作绩效和某些工作态度及行为变量,以及顾客满意度、生产力、利润率和单位总体绩效等组织结果变量均具有一定的影响。工作投入的影响因素包括个体特征因素、与工作相关的因素以及与家庭相关的因素等3个方面。文章在对工作投入的相关研究进行全面述评的基础上,指出未来的研究有必要进一步加强对工作投入的干预机制等五方面问题的探讨     

体验活动对冲动性购买行为的影响:情感反应视角

冲动性购买在商场和超市的零售中占有相当的比例,本研究以旅游者和旅游购物为实证研究对象,在323份调查问卷的基础上,采用方差分析和回归分析的方法探讨了体验活动对冲动性购买行为的影响及其情感反应机制。结果表明：在激发消费者冲动性购买行为方面,顾客参与的效果最好,其次是顾客学习,再次是顾客娱乐;顾客参与会导致更多的快乐的情感反应,而快乐的情感反应对冲动性购买意愿的影响最为显著;顾客学习会导致更多的支配的情感反应,而支配的情感反应对冲动性购买意愿的影响较为显著。     

Type A behavior and work situation: associations with burnout and work engagement

The aim of the present study was to investigate Type A behavior as well as perceived work situation, and associations with burnout and work engagement. The associations in focus were investigated through hierarchical regressions in a sample (N= 329) of Swedish Information Communication Technology consultants. The findings indicated that both work situation and Type A behavior was correlated with work engagement and burnout; however, no interactions between Type A behavior and work situation were elicited. The main conclusion was that the achievement striving aspect of Type A behavior appears as "non-toxic" and is related only to work engagement. However, the irritability/impatience aspect appears to be responsible for burnout complaints among Type A individuals, possibly through negative effects of the mood itself than through perceived stress at work.     

Prospective Relations Between Organized Activity Participation and Psychopathology During Adolescence

This longitudinal study examined psychopathology as a predictor and outcome of organized activity involvement during high school among 198 adolescents who varied in risk for psychopathology as a function of their mother's depression history. Higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in eighth grade significantly predicted lower levels of involvement in academic clubs during high school, over and above risk and SES. Tobacco use prior to high school predicted lower levels of involvement overall and in academic clubs and performance arts. Controlling for psychopathology prior to high school, higher levels of activity involvement were associated with lower levels of externalizing symptoms, less tobacco use, and fewer diagnoses of behavior disorders and substance abuse in 12th grade. The positive association between risk and adolescent psychopathology was not buffered by adolescent activity involvement. Overall, these findings suggest that involvement in organized activities may contribute to lower levels of externalizing psychopathology during high school even when controlling for prior psychopathology.