Motivating innovation in schools: School principals’ work engagement as a motivator for schools’ innovation

This multisource, multilevel study examines the role of school principals’ work engagement as a motivational catalyst for schools’ innovation. We hypothesize that principals’ work engagement motivates teachers’ creativity which in turn should foster the amount of innovations made in schools. In order to operationalize innovation, we used four measures: teachers’ self-ratings and three school-specific objective indicators of schools’ innovation (school projects, external communication, and internal communication). Eighty-seven principals and 902 teachers from 83 German schools participated in our study. Results of multilevel structural equation modelling showed that principals’ work engagement increases teachers’ idea generation which in turn fosters all of our four aspects of innovation. Idea generation mediated the relationship between principals’ work engagement and self-rated innovation. It can be concluded from our study that both principals’ work engagement and teachers’ creativity can be powerful forces concerning schools’ innovation.     

Category assignment and relatedness in the group ideation process

When groups gather to generate creative ideas on a particular topic, they can consider many aspects or components of the problem. Because such a multitude of alternatives can be overwhelming, groups may find it helpful to focus on specific aspects or categories of the problem. However, it is not clear whether it is best for group members to focus on the same components of the problem at the same time or whether it is better for group members to focus on different components of the problem. Furthermore, the impact of this type of focus may depend on the extent to which the different components of the problem are closely related semantically. It may be easier to generate ideas in semantically related areas but semantically unrelated areas may stimulate generation of more creative ideas. The present study provided a comprehensive test of the effects of task components or category assignment and the degree of relatedness of the assigned categories on the creativity of groups. Groups that were jointly assigned a small set of categories to focus on at the beginning of their session generated more ideas, explored more categories and exhibited higher clustering of similar ideas than the groups whose members were assigned their own unique category. The groups assigned with low related categories surveyed more categories than those assigned with categories of high relatedness. This study suggests that interdisciplinary or diverse groups or teams should have some common focus in the initial phase of their creative sessions and focus on unrelated aspects of the problem in this phase.     

不同认知成分在图形推理测验项目难度预测中的作用

理解项目难度变异的来源是实现计算机自动化项目生成的第一步。通过文献综述, 总结出影响图形推理测验项目难度的四个方面的因素, 再通过操控构图元素熟悉性、属性的抽象性、知觉组织的和谐性以及规则类型与数目这些因素, 编制8套图形推理测验, 共包含112个与高级瑞文推理类似的项目。采用铆测验等值设计, 在每套测验中嵌入10个高级瑞文推理测验项目为铆题, 通过网络施测于6323名被试。使用BILOG MG估算项目参数, 并使用IRTEQ进行测验等值, 将后七套测验上所有项目的项目参数都转换到第一套测验的单位系统上。以项目难度为因变量, 项目题干特征变量为预测变量进行回归分析, 结果发现这四个因素均对项目难度有显著预测作用。优势分析的结果显示记忆负荷(即规则类型与数目的组合)是项目难度的最重要的预测变量, 其他依次为属性的抽象性、知觉组织的和谐性和构图元素熟悉性。     

Manipulating attentional load in sequence learning through random number generation

Implicit learning is often assumed to be an effortless process. However, some artificial grammar learning and sequence learning studies using dual tasks seem to suggest that attention is essential for implicit learning to occur. This discrepancy probably results from the specific type of secondary task that is used. Different secondary tasks may engage attentional resources differently and therefore may bias performance on the primary task in different ways. Here, we used a random number generation (RNG) task, which may allow for a closer monitoring of a participant's engagement in a secondary task than the popular secondary task in sequence learning studies: tone counting (TC). In the first two experiments, we investigated the interference associated with performing RNG concurrently with a serial reaction time (SRT) task. In a third experiment, we compared the effects of RNG and TC. In all three experiments, we directly evaluated participants' knowledge of the sequence with a subsequent sequence generation task. Sequence learning was consistently observed in all experiments, but was impaired under dual-task conditions. Most importantly, our data suggest that RNG is more demanding and impairs learning to a greater extent than TC. Nevertheless, we failed to observe effects of the secondary task in subsequent sequence generation. Our studies indicate that RNG is a promising task to explore the involvement of attention in the SRT task.     

新一代测验理论-认知诊断理论的源起与特征

认知诊断理论被视为新一代测验理论的核心,是认知心理学与现代测量学相结合的产物。对认知诊断的研究已成为当前国外心理学研究的一个重要热点,并引起国内学者的广泛关注。本文从认知诊断的源起、概念、特征,及研究的基础、框架、意义和难点等七个方面对认知诊断的理论与技术作了一个简要述评,以期推进我国心理学界认知诊断的研究工作。     

ENERGY AND THE GENERATION OF THE WORLD

Abstract. Energy concepts in theology and natural science are studied to see how they may aid the science-theology dialogue. Relationships between divine and human energies in classical Christology and energy ideas in process theology are significant. In physics, energy has related roles as something conserved and as the generator of temporal development. We explore ways in which God and the world may interact to produce evolution of the universe. Possible connections between the double role of physical energy and the bipolar character of God in process theology are noted. Energy helps to describe God's relationship with the world in both theological viewpoints and, thus, may bridge them.     

Generation Identity and the Reminiscence Bump: Memory for Public and Private Events

Participants ranging in age from 30 to 70 years free-recalled when they had learned public and private items of news. When responses were plotted in terms of age of participant at time of encoding, it was found that peak recall for public items of news was in the period when participants were aged 10 to 19 years whereas peak recall of private items of news occurred in the period when participants were aged 20 to 29 years. A second study confirmed this pattern of an early reminiscence bump for public news. It is proposed that these two components of the reminiscence bump reflect, respectively, a period of formation of generation identity in the second decade of life and a period of formation of intimate relationships in the third decade.     

精加工推理中的文章结构清晰度效应

本研究旨在探讨文章结构清晰度对读者在阅读时所构建的精加工推理的水平和阶段的影响。研究采用让被试阅读后做推理测试题的方法 ,通过分析其答题成绩得出的结果表明 :文章的结构越清晰 ,越有利于读者在阅读的过程中进行精加工推理。     

编码与提取方式对生成效应的影响

实验采用两种编码方式和测验类型考查了编码与提取方式的一致性对生成效应的影响。结果显示：(1)在进行字形加工的知觉辨认测验中,生成过程主要依据字形编码的形近字出现了生成效应;主要依据字义编码的反义字没有出现此效应。(2)在依赖字义提取的自由回忆中,形近字和反义字都出现了生成效应。因而编码与提取方式的一致性可能对生成效应有影响。     

Before Reproduction: The Distortion of Generation

Jean Baudrillard has posited a theory of ‘the precession of simulacra’, arguing that it is no longer possible to tell the difference between an image and the meaning it purports to represent because technology allows the image to precede its meaning. Christa Wolf, while researching Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays (1984), traveled to Greece and discovered the ways in which language in the rational, Western model of civilization has been distorted. Both Baudrillard and Wolf are disturbed by the ways in which sign systems can be manipulated and generated, and both demonstrate the effect this has in the political and cultural arenas. This analysis intends to show how Baudrillard’s theories play out in Wolf’s narrative, and how Wolf resolves the problems thus posed through the shock of the aesthetic experience, which forces communication while it defies representation.