An investigation of the theoretical content of physical activity brochures

New evidence-based physical activity (PA) guidelines and recommendations for constructing messages supplementing the guidelines have been put forth. As well, recent reviews have identified theoretical constructs that hold promise as targets for intervention: self-regulation, outcome expectancies and self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine the integration of messages targeting self-regulation, self-efficacy and outcome expectancies in existing physical activity brochures. Twenty-two PA brochures from Canadian and American National Health Organizations were assessed for their use self-efficacy, self-regulatory processes and outcome expectancies. Brochures were analyzed line-by-line using a modified version of the validated Content Analysis Approach to Theory-Specified Persuasive Educational Communication (CAATSPEC; Abraham, Southby, Quandte, Krahé, & van der Sluijs, 2007). Two independent raters coded a third of the brochures (n = 7). Inter-rater reliability was acceptable for 17 of the 20 categories (rs > .79). Discrepancies in all categories were discussed and agreement was reached. The remaining brochures were coded by one of the two raters. Usage of the three key theoretical constructs accounted for only 36.43% of brochure content (20.23% self-efficacy, 10.40% outcome expectancies, 5.80% self-regulation). Brochures lacked the use of a variety of theoretical strategies, specifically goal-setting, planning and verbal persuasion and rarely highlighted the affective benefits of physical activity. In the future brochures should aim to place increased emphasis on self-regulation, self-efficacy, and affective outcome expectancies.     

The effects of funny and serious task content and expectations of fun versus importance on children's cognitive performance

This study investigated how children's performance on a cognitive task was influenced by funny and serious task content, and by fun or important instructions. Eighty‐four children in Grades 1 and 5 performed two versions of a paired‐associates word‐learning task, which paired nonsense words with novel definitions and illustrations. All children completed a version in which the definitions and illustrations were funny, and a version in which they were not, with either fun or important instructions. Results revealed significantly better performance on the funny than on the serious version, but only when the funny version was presented first. There were no significant effects of task instructions. The findings confirm that making children's cognitive tasks funnier can enhance task performance. Although there were no effects of expectations as created by task instructions, the enhancing effect of funny content was influenced by children's expectations as created by their prior experience with the task.     

抑郁症患者识别情绪词时执行功能实验研究

为了研究抑郁症患者识别汉语情绪词时的执行功能特征,采用神经扫描仪STIM刺激反应系统记录16名抑郁症患者和18名正常对照组执行四类Go／No go汉语情绪词识别作业时的反应时和正确率,抑郁自评量表(SDS)评价抑郁严重程度,自动思维问卷(ATQ)评价负性认知偏差程度。结果发现,识别正／负性词时抑郁症组反应时均明显延长,正确率明显降低。组内方差分析显示,随着情绪词识别作业难度增加,正常对照组正／负性词反应时缩短,正确率逐渐提高,且不受双重作业任务的影响。抑郁症组则表现为反应时延长,正确率变化不明显。重复测量多因素方差分析显示。词性、作业、组别间因素对反应时的主效应均有显著性意义;组别间因素对正确率的主效应均有显著性意义。抑郁症患者SDS、ATQ分与反应时、正确率相关无显著性。提示抑郁症患者区分正负性汉语情绪词时存在执行功能障碍。     

古代中国人人格结构的因素探析

以古代典籍《史记》为材料,按词汇法构建了具有相当信度和效度的古代中国人人格描述词单,施测于118名专家及研究生,令他们对《史记》中记载的102名古代中国人作评定,经由因素分析获取了以仁为核心,由仁、智、勇、隐4个因素组成的古代中国人人格维度。进而用内容分析的方法验证了该维度的稳定性,并结合中国传统哲学思想,对仁、智、勇、隐4个因素的内涵作了深入的剖析和阐释。     

Perception and its objects

Early modern empiricists thought that the nature of perceptual experience is given by citing the object presented to the mind in that experience. Hallucination and illusion suggest that this requires untenable mind-dependent objects. Current orthodoxy replaces the appeal to direct objects with the claim that perceptual experience is characterized instead by its representational content. This paper argues that the move to content is problematic, and reclaims the early modern empiricist insight as perfectly consistent, even in cases of illusion, with the realist contention that these direct objects of perception are the persisting mind-independent physical objects we all know and love.

Secrets to Creating Effective and Interesting Educational Experiences: Tips and Suggestions for Clinical Educators

Genetic Counselors (GCs) spend years learning about genetics and practicing counseling techniques in classroom environments. From the learner perspective, teaching may seem straightforward: provide appropriate information, develop tests or assignments and submit grades. When asked to teach for the first time, however, clinicians suddenly realize that there is a lot more to education than standing in front of a class and talking. This article introduces clinical educators to strategies and learning principles that help make the teaching/learning process more interesting and successful for faculty and students alike. The instructional concepts presented here are useful across the entire spectrum of learning situations; a 1 hour discussion with a lay audience, a 3 hour workshop at a professional meeting, a 15 week graduate course, or a series of courses culminating in an advanced degree. The article offers suggestions for writing course competencies, selecting instructional approaches, embedding learning engagement options, leveling course content and choosing evaluation strategies.     

The Body as the Ground of Religion, Science, and Self

The human body is both religious subject and scientific object, the manifest locus of both religious gnosis and secular cognition. Embodiment provides the basis for a rich cross–fertilization between cognitive science and comparative religion, but cognitive studies must return to their empiricist scientific roots by reembodying subjectivity, thus spanning the natural bridge between the two fields. Referencing the ritual centrality and cognitive content of the body, I suggest a materialist but nonreductionist construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment that embraces not just perception and cognition, mind and spirit, but the forceful physicality of the moving body. Proprioception of the body's moving mass constitutes a mode of knowing that resonates strongly with the experience of self, not only across religious traditions but also within the physical sciences. By way of illustration, two directions are suggested in which a construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment might lead us: first, a body–based interpretation of the Islamic myth of Adam and Iblis that reveals an internal substantiality as constitutive of the divinely imaged Self, and second, a new, religious direction for human evolutionary theory based on the implications of an embodied intentionality.     

暴力游戏中射杀动作和血腥成分对玩家和观看者攻击倾向的影响

通过实验考察游戏中的射杀动作成分和血腥成分对玩家和观看者攻击性行为和攻击性认知的影响。被试为72名男性大学生, 选用第三人称45度角的射击类游戏, 将游戏中的射杀动作成分和血腥成分进行分离, 采用竞争反应时任务范式考察攻击性行为, 采用EAST内隐认知范式考察内隐攻击性认知, 结果表明: (1) 玩家比观看者表现出更强的攻击性, 玩家表现出的攻击性行为和攻击性认知均显著强于观看者; (2) 视频游戏中的射杀动作成分导致观看者有更高的游戏卷入, 血腥成分对被试的攻击性影响强于射杀动作成分, 并使被试倾向于将攻击性进行他人归因。