Factors influencing drivers’ reading and comprehension of on-board traffic messages

IntroductionWhen variable message signs (VMS) or on-board traffic information systems are used, it is essential that while driving, motorists read and understand the information as soon as possible in order to make appropriate decisions to increase road safety and/or facilitate traffic flow. Thus, it is important to investigate the factors that may increase fast reading and comprehension of on-board traffic information.ObjectivesWe examined the influence of the type of message (warnings vs. recommendations), location of the pictogram (top or bottom of the text), type of display device (IPhone, Blackberry, or Tablet) and its position (horizontal or vertical) on drivers’ fast reading and comprehension of on-board messages provided via in-vehicle system. Moreover, we were interested in drivers’ acceptability of in-vehicle system.MethodForty-nine drivers (M_Men = 32, 19–65 years) participated to a reading and comprehension task while travelling on a desktop driving simulator. Participants were exposed to two series of 11 traffic messages displayed on one of the three devices. Reading and comprehension times were measured (= milliseconds) for each message. At the end, they had to fill in a questionnaire on their beliefs about on-board traffic messages and in-vehicle system.ResultsDrivers expressed a positive attitude toward on-board traffic messages and in-vehicle system. Reading and comprehension times were of approximately 4 seconds and were longer for warnings as compared to recommendations. The pictogram placed at the top of the text, the tablet and the vertical display device facilitated fast reading and comprehension.     

Therapeutic Assessment with couples

Therapeutic Assessment can be helpful to many types of couples, including (1) those who are considering marriage and wish to know each other more deeply, (2) long-term couples who are in distress and considering separating, and (3) couples who have decided to separate but wish to better understand why they were unable to stay together. This article comprises the first complete case study of Therapeutic Assessment (TA) with couples. I describe how those steps common to all forms of TA (initial sessions, extended inquiries, assessment intervention sessions, and summary/discussion sessions) differ when applied to couples. I also discuss the use of the Consensus Rorschach as an assessment intervention with long-term distressed couples engaged in problematic projective identification. The case example involves a young heterosexual couple married for 12 years who were at an impasse in couples therapy. The assessment helped the partners explore mutual conflicts around the expression of anger and dependency needs, and to resolve a power imbalance within the couple. Long-term follow-up showed that the Therapeutic Assessment helped the couple have more compassion for each other and move beyond the destructive role-lock they had fallen into. Also, the referring therapist reported that the TA helped resolve the impasse in the couples’ therapy.     

The influence of motivational and emotional factors in mathematical learning in secondary education

IntroductionWhile motivation has, for decades, been investigated as a key component of academic learning and performance, academic emotions have often been left out of the scope of investigation. According to several researchers, mathematics learning seems to be particularly affected by students’ emotions.ObjectiveThis paper is aimed at characterizing the emotions and motivation of eighth grade students in a mathematical setting and highlighting the cluster of emotions–activity emotions vs outcome emotions–which best predict math value, math self-concept, behavioral engagement and math performance.MethodData were collected through questionnaires from 115 students and analyzed through means comparisons and linear regressions.ResultsResults indicated that eighth grade students give a relatively high value to mathematics have a positive mathematics self-concept and are moderately engaged in mathematical tasks. Regression analysis showed that mathematics value and behavioral engagement are better explained by activity emotions while mathematics self-concept and performance are better predicted by outcome emotions.ConclusionThe implications of these findings in terms of educational practices are discussed at the end of this study.     

Parentification,Stress, and Problem Behavior of Adolescents who have a Parent with Mental Health Problems

When adolescents live with a parent with mental illness, they often partly take over the parental role. Little is known about the consequences of this so‐called parentification on the adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems. This survey study examined this effect cross‐sectionally and longitudinally in a sample of 118 adolescents living with a parent suffering from mental health problems. In addition, the study examined a possible indirect effect via perceived stress. Path analyses were used to examine the direct associations between parentification and problem behavior as well as the indirect relations via perceived stress. The results showed that parentification was associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems cross‐sectionally, but it predicted only internalizing problems 1 year later. An indirect effect of parentification on adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems via perceived stress was found, albeit only cross‐sectionally. These findings imply that parentification can be stressful for adolescents who live with a parent with mental health problems, and that a greater awareness of parentification is needed to prevent adolescents from developing internalizing problems.     

The psychological construal of health behaviors

IntroductionIn order to optimize the effectiveness of behavior change interventions, we need to understand how the construal level – how we mentally represent or construe events or behaviors – influences health-related choices.ObjectiveTo examine the impact of mental construal on health decisions. Based on the Construal Level Theory, we predicted that people would give more weight to “cognitive considerations” when making a choice after being primed with the high-level perspective, whereas they would give higher weights to “sensory considerations” after being primed with the low-level perspective.MethodIn the first experiment, ninety-nine participants were primed with either high-level or low-level perspective across decision scenarios about vaccination and physical safety. The second experiment investigated nutrition decisions, which asked seventy participants to taste food that either had no label or was labelled “organic”. Organic label should prime high-level construal as it implies outcomes (e.g., product quality and healthiness) that are more distant in time and uncertain, in contrast with sensory dimensions (e.g. taste and appearance), which are immediately present. Participants rated cognitive and sensory considerations as well as action intentions.ResultsThe first study revealed that after the priming with the high-level construal, cognitive considerations became more important than sensory considerations in predicting protective action intentions, whereas after priming with the low-level construal, sensory considerations became more important. The second study revealed that only sensory considerations predicted decisions to consume the non-labelled product and only the cognitive score predicted decisions to consume the organic-labelled product.ConclusionWe demonstrated a moderating effect of construal-level mindset in health-protective decisions. We also discuss the implications for health promotion and policy, such as optimizing the effectiveness of behavior change interventions.     

Interacción persona x situación en la predicción de la personalidad: algunas especificaciones del factor personal

RESUMEN

Este trabajo intenta determinar si la multidimensionalidad de la Ansiedad-rasgo (A-trait), medida por el S-R GTA (Inventario E-R del Rasgo General de Ansiedad) está referida a diferentes perfiles de personalidad. Los resultados del análisis de regresión lineal múltiple usando la escala de “Locus of Control” interno-externo, el Inventario Psicológico de California, la Escala de Confianza interpersonal, como medidas predictivas, confirmaron la existencia de diversos perfiles de personalidad para una de las cuatro facetas de la Ansiedad-rasgo. Estos hallazgos atestiguan la multidimensionalidad del Inventario E-R del Rasgo General Ansiedad y la importancia de especificar la situación en la medida de la Ansiedad.     

Interacción social y nivel de conflicto sociocognoscitivo en la construcción del esquema de probabilidad

Resumen

En este estudio se analiza la influencia que la interacción social y el conflicto sociocognitivo tienen en la construcción del esquema de probabilidad por medio de un diseño pretest-intervención-postest.

Se muestra cómo las situaciones experimentales de interacción social con conflicto sociocognitivo producen mayores logros durante la fase de intervención, así como mayores avances cognitivos en el postest en el esquema de probabilidad que las condiciones de trabajo individual y las de interacción sin conflicto. Los progresos alcanzados en el postest para el esquema de probabilidad se generalizaron al esquema de proporciones.     

El cierre gramatical: Una prueba para la medida de la habilidad morfosintáctica

Resumen

Este estudio fue diseñado para elaborar una prueba psicológica que midiera la habilidad gramatical del niño catalán expuesto a un ambiente castellano-catalán. La hipótesis de trabajo y procedimiento empleados se basaron en el «Grammatic Closure», una de las pruebas del Illinois Test of Psicolinguistic Abilities (ITPA). La muestra experimental constó de 400 niños tomados de la población escolar catalana de edades comprendidas entre 3 y 10 años. El coeficiente de fiabilidad global fue.95 y el coeficiente de fiabilidad para cada edad comprendió valores entre.97 y.48. La validez de la prueba quedó determinada para cada edad mediante la relación entre los resultados específicos y el coeficiente de inteligencia. Los resultados obntenidos indicaron que. el niño adquiría los automatismos básicos de su lengua materna alrededor de los 7 años. Entre los 7 y 10 años, la adquisición de nuevas estructuras gramaticales dependía, aparentemente, del aprendizaje. La lengua utilizada en la escuela resultó también un factor importante. La prueba presentada aquí puede servir de modelo para la elaboración de instrumentos semejantes aplicables a otras comunidades lingüísticas.     

La professionnalité des psychologues : acquisition de compétences et processus de professionnalisation

The aim of this work is to study professions from a psychosocial perspective. As such, a semi-structured questionnaire was used to detect the “specific” and “transversal” competences of two professional groups: psychologists and educators. The results show the job seniority and the intervention area are the two elements, linked to the professional context, more involved into the development of the perception of oneself competence and consequently into professionalisation process. The psychologic dimensions, we supposed implied into the development of competence process - for example Self efficacy and Professional commitment - were competence premonitory elements, implied in the professionalisation process, too.