The longitudinal association between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement among immigrant and non‐immigrant children in Norway

The aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal relation between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement, as two processes of children and youth development, among children in Norway, and whether having an immigrant background moderated this association. Data collected from 4,458 students in Norway in four waves over three years were analyzed with multi‐group latent growth curve modeling (LGM ). Results showed that internalizing symptoms level remained unchanged over time both for immigrant and non‐immigrant children, while levels of academic achievement increased only for children of immigrants with both parents born outside of Norway. Further analyses supported a reciprocal relation between internalizing symptoms and academic achievement and revealed that the initial level of academic achievement predicted the rate of change in internalizing symptoms over time, but not vice versa. Moreover, immigrant background did not moderate the associations in the model, however, children of immigrants with both parents born abroad initially had lower levels of academic achievement, but showed an increase in academic achievement, compared to their non‐immigrant peers as well as to peers with one native‐born parent after controlling for gender and their grade at the first observation. The implications for policy and practice were discussed.     

Latent class analysis of indicators of intolerance of uncertainty

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU ) is a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor involved in depression and anxiety symptoms and disorders. IU encompasses Prospective IU (“Unforeseen events upset me greatly”) and Inhibitory IU (“The smallest doubt can stop me from acting”). Research has yet to explore whether subgroups or classes of people exist characterized by different profiles of IU . This study used latent class analysis to identify such subgroups and examined if different classes of IU were distinct in terms of several cognitive vulnerabilities and psychological symptoms. Data were obtained from 519 students completing a 12‐item measure of IU . Four subgroups were identified, characterized by low IU , predominantly Prospective IU , predominantly Inhibitory IU , and high IU , respectively. People in the high IU class reported cognitive vulnerabilities and depression and anxiety more than people in the low IU class. Inhibitory IU was more strongly associated with poor outcomes than was Prospective IU .     

3～6岁儿童人格发展的群组序列追踪研究

目的:运用自编幼儿人格发展教师评定问卷对幼儿人格进行追踪测量,探讨其年龄及性别发展特点。方法:用整群抽样法选取3~3.5岁、3.5~4岁、4~4.5岁3个年龄群组幼儿为被试,采用群组序列的追踪设计,进行为期1年半的追踪测量,结合潜变量增长曲线模型和多层线性模型处理数据,探讨幼儿在3~6岁间人格的发展特点。结果:(1)幼儿的智能特征、认真自控、外倾性、亲社会性、情绪稳定性5个人格维度在3~4岁发展最快,4~5岁持续增长但发展速度放缓,到5~6岁时趋于平稳;(2)女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在3岁时显著高于男孩,但在3~6岁间的增长率不存在差异,即女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在幼儿阶段发展水平始终高于男孩。结论:从家庭进入幼儿园的环境变迁促使了幼儿人格的进一步发展,5岁左右幼儿人格开始初步形成;女孩的认真自控和亲社会性水平在幼儿阶段始终高于男孩。     

Doubling‐down on deprivation: Using latent profile analysis to evaluate an age‐old assumption in relative deprivation theory

Theorists have long argued that two forms of relative deprivation exist: individual‐based relative deprivation (IRD) whereby a person feels deprived relative to other individuals and group‐based relative deprivation (GRD) whereby a person feels his/her ingroup is deprived relative to other groups. Combinations of IRD and GRD are therefore assumed to produce four response profiles: (i) high on IRD and GRD (i.e. ‘doubly deprived’); (ii) high on IRD, low on GRD; (iii) low on IRD, high on GRD; or (iv) low on IRD and GRD. The existence of these profiles, however, has never been assessed. We address this oversight by using latent profile analysis to identify distinct response patterns to measures of IRD and GRD. Across two studies, we found no support for this typology, nor the oft‐assumed doubly deprived profile. Rather, response patterns showed moderate levels of IRD across discrete profiles accompanied by considerable variability in GRD.     

Developmental effects of economic and educational change: Cognitive representation in three generations across 43 years in a Maya community

We studied the implications of social change for cognitive development in a Maya community in Chiapas, Mexico, over 43 years. The same procedures were used to collect data in 1969–1970, 1991, and 2012—once in each generation. The goal was to understand the implications of weaving, schooling and participation in a commercial economy for the development of visual pattern representation. In 2012, our participants consisted of 133 boys and girls descended from participants in the prior two generations. Procedures consisted of placing colored sticks in a wooden frame to make striped patterns, some familiar (Zinacantec woven patterns) and some novel (created by the investigators). Following Greenfield (2009), we hypothesised that the development of commerce and the expansion of formal schooling would influence children's representations. Her theory postulates that these factors move human development towards cognitive abstraction and skill in dealing with novelty. Furthermore, the theory posits that whatever sociodemographic variable is changing most rapidly functions as the primary motor for developmental change. From 1969 to 1991, the rapid development of a commercial economy drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions. From 1991 to 2012, the rapid expansion of schooling drove visual representation in the hypothesised directions.     

Retrieval practice benefits memory precision

ABSTRACT

Although previous research on retrieval practice (RP) has predominantly featured stimuli with discrete right-or-wrong answers, continuous measures offer potentially greater sensitivity in assessing the effects of RP on memory precision. The present study used a colour gradient (125 points ranging from magenta to yellow) as a continuous response variable. The colours of different images were learned through either RP or restudy and either one or three cycles of practice after initial study. On a delayed final test, participants’ memory was assessed for each item’s colour. Participants also created per-item intervals representing the region where they believed the correct colour most likely to have been. We found that repeated rounds of RP enhanced the correspondence between responses and the correct colour. In addition, RP led to participants creating more accurate (correct answers were more likely to be within the participant-specified intervals) and more precise (narrower) intervals relative to restudy, suggesting that RP enhances the precision of memories.     

The Influence of Attitude on Learning

Automaticity theory and the effect of coloring a single element were tested with all or only 1 element colored in Stroop tasks. The 312 participants in 5 experiments indicated stimulus presentation color by key press. Experiments 1 and 2 replicated those of D. Besner, J. A. Stoltz, and C. Boutilier (1997) with some changes, and revealed similar results: less Stroop interference with only 1 letter colored. Besner et al. (1997) interpreted the results as indicating that coloring a single letter eliminates automatic reading processes. The cause of that reduction in Stroop interference was investigated in Experiments 3, 4, and 5 using color words, bars, and rectangles. The effect of coloring 1 element was to increase color-naming time by the same amount for congruent and neutral, nonverbal stimuli, but not for incongruent stimuli. The results are interpreted in terms of automaticity theory, and a continuous flow approach to the Stroop effect is presented.     

Problemas epistemológicos del concepto y definición de la psicología

RESUMEN

Todavía es reciente, en Psicología, el predominio de una actitud “epistemolófoba”, que rechazaba como acientífico cualquier intento de reflexión metacientífico sobre el objeto de la psicología y las formulaciones explicativas que define. En los últimos años, esta actitud ha cambiado y los psicólogos vuelven a considerar pertinente y necesaria la reflexión. En este trabajo se analizan los diversos modos de explicación de la conducta, sin exclusiones y a partir de la premisa de la “sobredeterminación” de la propia conducta. Se define la psicología científica como la ciencia de los principios, estructuras y funciones de la formalización conductual de la interrelación respectiva del hombre y su medio natural y social.     

Narraciones orales y escritas en niños. Un estudio sobre sus diferencias

Resumen

El objetivo de este trabajo fue comprobar las diferencias existentes entre las modalidades oral y escrita de expresión. El tipo discursivo elegido para la comparación fue la narración espontánea, fundamentalmente por la literatura psicológica y psicolingüística que la apoya. Se analizaron 64 narraciones, 32 orales y 32 escritas de otros tantos sujetos todos ellos alumnos del último trimestre de primer curso de E.G.B. Las variables analizadas fueron nivel narrativo, cohesión y presencia de marcadores, M. L. E., cantidad de palabras, cantidad y tipo de nexos, cantidad y tipo de formas verbales.

Los resultados parecen demostrar que es más lo que une que lo que separa a ambas modalidades si no existe a la vez de la comparación intermodal la comparación inter discursiva. Así no resultan diferentes significativamente más que los marcadores narrativos (las medidas más altas son dé la modalidad escrita) y la productividad del texto, (las medidas más altas cuantitativamente son de la modalidad oral); el resto de variables no son significativamente diferentes.