Seeing love, or seeing lust: How people interpret ambiguous romantic situations

Interpreting ambiguous situations is a task individuals face on a daily basis. In romantic contexts the accurate interpretation of these situations is of particular importance. In the present set of studies we investigated how level of construal guides individual perception in these cases. When a high level of construal was induced participants likely interpreted a given interpersonal situation as the start or the continuation of a long lasting relationship. When a low level of construal was induced the same situations were more likely interpreted as leading to a one-night stand (in a dating situation) or involving little chance of a common future for both actors (in a break-up situation). In sum, the present studies demonstrate construal level to be a crucial determinant of the interpretation of ambiguous romantic situations. We discuss these findings in relation to the functional independence of love and sex, level of construal, and social perception.     

Context-outcome associations mediate context-switch effects in a human predictive learning task

Four experiments explored the role of contexts in information retrieval after different levels of acquisition training in human predictive learning. Participants were trained where cue (X) was followed by an outcome in context A while a different cue (Y) was followed by the absence of the outcome in context B. When 4 training trials with each cue were conducted, testing the stimuli in the alternative contexts decreased predictive judgments to X and increased predictive judgments to Y. These effects disappeared both when training was increased up to 18 trials (Experiments 1a and 1b), and when the outcome was presented in both contexts A and B (Experiments 2 and 4). When the outcome was presented in both contexts, the nonreinforced cue Y, trained in the presumably excitatory context B, became a conditioned inhibitor (Experiment 3). Additional experience with one of the contexts, but not with both, made the context-switch effect reappear (Experiment 4). These results suggest that irrelevant contexts may enter into direct associations with the outcome before prolonged training leads participants to discard them as predictors.     

Functional analysis and treatment of arranging and ordering by individuals with an autism spectrum disorder

Of the diagnostic features of autism, relatively little research has been devoted to restricted and repetitive behavior, particularly topographically complex forms of restricted and repetitive behavior such as rigidity in routines or compulsive-like behavior (e.g., arranging objects in patterns or rows). Like vocal or motor stereotypy, topographically complex forms of restricted and repetitive behavior may be associated with negative outcomes such as interference with skill acquisition, negative social consequences, and severe problem behavior associated with interruption of restricted and repetitive behavior. In the present study, we extended functional analysis methodology to the assessment and treatment of arranging and ordering for 3 individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. For all 3 participants, arranging and ordering was found to be maintained by automatic reinforcement, and treatments based on function reduced arranging and ordering.     

Inclusion practices with Special Educational Needs students in a Hong Kong secondary school: teachers’ narratives from a school guidance perspective

Schools in Hong Kong are concerned about the growing enrolments of students with special educational needs (SEN) and how these students could be included in school guidance. This study examines teachers’ narratives of the inclusivity of school guidance. The study was qualitative, being a case study of a Hong Kong secondary school. School documents were collected for textual analysis and semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers were conducted, including nine guidance teachers and four other teachers who worked closely with these guidance teachers. Four dimensions for the inclusivity of school guidance were identified: the development of inclusive practices of guidance, the adoption of a proactive approach, the promotion of inclusive discipline, and the clear definition of the partnership between school guidance and professional organization offering specialised services for students with SEN. The study provides insights into contextual influences of Hong Kong education on school guidance and the development of an inclusive approach to guidance.     

College‐Level Choice of Latino High School Students: A Social‐Cognitive Approach

Latino students attend 2‐year colleges more often than 4‐year colleges. This has an impact on the rate of bachelor's degree attainment, because the transfer rate between the 2 levels is low. The author uses national data to identify predictors associated with college‐level choice and then uses social‐cognitive career theory ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) to frame counseling implications. Los estudiantes Latinos se matriculan con más frecuencia en estudios universitarios de 2 años que en estudios de 4 años. Esto produce un impacto en el porcentaje de obtención de licenciaturas, porque la tasa de transferencia entre ambos niveles es baja. El autor emplea datos a nivel nacional para identificar predictores asociados con la elección del nivel de estudios universitarios, y después emplea la teoría social cognitiva de las carreras ( Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) para formular las implicaciones para la consejería.     

Within-individual relations of emotional,social, and work self-efficacy beliefs to organizational citizenship behaviors

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) represent a specific class of prosocial behaviors observable in the organizational environment. This study examined the longitudinal relations among regulatory emotional, social and work self-efficacy beliefs, and their relations to Organizational Citizenship Behaviors directed at specific individuals (OCBIs) at work, using a Latent State-Trait Model with Autoregressive effects (LST-A). The LST-A decomposes variance into trait, autoregressive, and occasion-related components, and allowed for testing of all hypotheses at the within-worker level. The model was tested using longitudinal data from N = 562 italian workers. Results supported the hypotheses that both social and work self-efficacy fully mediated the longitudinal relations between regulatory emotional self-efficacy in managing negative emotions at work and OCBIs. Theoretical and practical contributions of the findings are discussed.     

The impact of construal level on happiness,hope, optimism,life satisfaction,and love of life: A longitudinal and experimental study

This study sought to identify the impact of the construal level of people's perception on selected positive psychology factors: happiness, hope, optimism, satisfaction with life, and love of life. The experimental design of the study was based on pre–post measures for four groups, including three experimental groups and one control group. The sample consisted of students from the University of Kuwait studying in several colleges (276 participants: 65 males and 211 females). The study posited that using two construal levels of people's perception concurrently (low/high) would result in a greater impact on the selected positive psychology factors compared with using one construal level and that the smallest impact would occur in a control group. The greatest impact was observed on happiness when applying both construal levels (high/low group), while the smallest impact was found in the control group. The results showed no significant differences for the positive factors regarding the demographic variables except for gender in the case of happiness, in which men felt happier than women. It could be concluded that using high-level and low-level construals increase the opportunity for positive psychology factors like happiness, hope, and optimism.