Towards an Understanding of Nurturing and Restraining Relational Patterns in School Communities

This study aimed to understand the nature of nurturing and restraining relationships in a school communiy. The inquiry entailed a single instrumental case study of a selected school community in a semi-urban context in South Africa. Participants were learners (n=720), teachers (n=33) and administrative and terrain staff members (N=8) as well as two parents. Data on participants' perceptions of relationships in the school community were collected using work sessions/nominal group techniques, visual representations, and focus group interviews. Thematic analysis of the data revealed connectedness, respect, care and transparent communication as aspects that nurture relationships. Limited connectedness between people, the abuse of power, shifting of responsibility and disrespect for one another were revealed as aspects that restrain relationships.     

Authenticity,employee silence,prohibitive voice,and the moderating effect of organizational identification

Authenticity is an important concept in positive psychology and has been shown to be related to well-being, health, and leadership effectiveness. The present paper introduces employee authenticity as a predictor of relevant workplace behaviors, namely employee silence and prohibitive voice. Converging evidence across two studies using cross-sectional and longitudinal designs demonstrates that when responding to hypothetical problematic workplace events (Study 1) or actual workplace experiences (Study 2), individual differences in employees’ authenticity predicted more self-reported voice behaviors and less silence that emanated from various motivations. Furthermore, authenticity scores consistently yielded predictive utility over and above the contribution of a broad set of individual and organization-based characteristics. Finally, organizational identification moderated the relation between authenticity and silence, such that for employees with high levels of identification, the relation between authenticity and silence was stronger.     

Distinct effects of positive and negative music on older adults' auditory target identification performances

Older adults, compared to younger adults, are more likely to attend to pleasant situations and avoid unpleasant ones. Yet, it is unclear whether such a phenomenon may be generalized to musical emotions. In this study, we investigated whether there is an age-related difference in how musical emotions are experienced and how positive and negative music influences attention performances in a target identification task. Thirty-one young and twenty-eight older adults were presented with 40 musical excerpts conveying happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and threat. While listening to music, participants were asked to rate their feelings and monitor each excerpt for the occurrence of an auditory target. Compared to younger adults, older adults reported experiencing weaker emotional activation when listening to threatening music and showed higher level of liking for happy music. Correct reaction times (RTs) for target identification were longer for threatening than for happy music in older adults but not in younger adults. This suggests that older adults benefit from a positive musical context and can regulate emotion elicited by negative music by decreasing attention towards it (and therefore towards the auditory target).     

Individual differences in personality and face identification

Unfamiliar face identification is characterised by substantial variation between individual observers, but the cause of this variation is largely unknown. This study investigated whether individual differences in face identification are linked to an observer's personality, by combining performance on an established face-matching test with two in-depth personality assessments (the 16PF5 and the NEO-PI-R). The face test revealed a broad distribution in identification ability, but associations between face perception and personality were found only in female observers. In this group, correct face identifications related to low anxiety, low tension, and high emotional stability. These results suggest that associations between personality and face perception are limited, and are confined to anxiety and facets of neuroticism.     

REPORTING A DREAM ACCOMPANYING AN ENACTMENT IN THE TRANSFERENCE SITUATION

Patients with pathological organisations of the personality present the analyst with considerable technical difficulties. One of these problems arises from the fact that, in such patients, dreams frequently are not being used for communication of unconscious meaning, but instead for purposes of manipulation of the transference situation. They then represent attempts to identify the analyst with a part of the patient's self or with a particular internal object in order to draw him/her into collusive enactments. Following the work of Bion and Segal the paper presents a two-dimensional model in order to clarify the structure and use of dreams in this situation. The model may serve as a background orientation for the analyst in the clinical situation, as is subsequently illustrated in a detailed clinical sequence with a borderline patient. To conclude, the author suggests that whenever tendencies towards acting in are predominant, the interpretation of the enactment should generally be given preference over the interpretation of the dream content. The possible advantages and disadvantages of both strategies of interpretation are discussed. Finally, the author highlights consequences that arise when dealing with countertransference.     

Perceptions of Self and Relationship with Parents in Aggressive and Nonaggressive Rejected Children

This study examined the perceptions of self and the attachment relationship to parents in aggressive and nonaggressive rejected children, as compared to children with an average or popular sociometric status. Participants were 216 children from grades 3 and 4. They completed peer nomination measures, the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC), and the Security Scale (mother and father form). Results generally confirmed the assumption that only the nonaggressive rejected children perceive themselves as less competent and worthy as a person than the more popular children. Aggressive rejected children did not report lower feelings of global self-worth or competence, although they did report lower levels of social acceptance. Furthermore, rejected-nonaggressive children perceived the relationship with their father (but not with their mother) as less secure than did the more popular children. Logistic regression analyses suggested that the linkage between felt security with father and rejected-nonaggressive status was mediated by children's self-worth. Implications for attachment theory and for the hypothesized heterogeneity among rejected children are discussed.     

The Prevention of Reading Difficulties

The purpose of this article is to provide practical advice about methods to prevent reading failure that is grounded in the new knowledge we have acquired about reading and learning to read over the past 2 decades. Recent research on reading is used to establish a set of facts about reading and reading growth that is relevant to establishing instructional objectives and methods for the prevention of reading difficulties. Within the context of our current understanding of the reasons many children find it difficult to learn to read, the article also identifies the instructional conditions that need to be in place to prevent the development of reading difficulties in all but a very small proportion of children. The article concludes with a discussion of issues and procedures for the early identification of children who are likely to experience difficulties learning to read.     

School shooting fatalities and school corporal punishment: A look at the states

Student deaths from school shootings were examined across all 50 states according to the state’s policy on the use of corporal punishment in schools after controlling for associated differences in poverty rates and the prevalence of conservative Christian religions. There were significantly more school shooting deaths found in states allowing school corporal punishment compared with those that do not. The odds of fatal involvement in a school shooting were greatest in states permitting school corporal punishment compared with those prohibiting it (odds ratio, 2.04) or restricting it to districts serving less than half the student population (odds ratio, 1.77). Moreover, the rate of school corporal punishment was moderately correlated with the rate of fatal school shootings both across all states and within the South, the region in which endorsement of school corporal punishment is most prevalent.Aggr. Behav. 28:173–183, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Party Identification, and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Student Evaluations of the Clinton-Lewinsky Story

This study explored the relationship among undergraduates' right-wing authoritarianism (as measured by the RWA scale), attitudes toward feminism, party identification, gender, and attitudes about the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship. Factor analysis yielded three subscales, reflecting participants' evaluations of Clinton's morality, the affair, and Kenneth Starr (the independent counsel). Republican identification was related to each subscale and also mediated the relationship between RWA and two subscales, which illustrates how party identification channels the expression of personality variables in partisan contexts. In addition, RWA—especially those items tapping aggression—was directly related to negative evaluations of Clinton, which suggests a punitiveness going beyond the mere channeling of opinions by party identification. Attitudes toward feminism were unrelated to the subscales, possibly because feminism supporters viewed Clinton's policies positively but his behavior negatively. However, females did give significantly lower evaluations of Clinton and the affair.     

中学教师处理学生心理健康问题策略特点探析

采用问卷法考察了268名中学教师在厌学、退缩行为、自我中心、攻击性行为和考试焦虑五种问题情境下教师对处理学生心理健康问题的策略有效性和使用可能性的评定以及性别、教龄因素对教师评定策略有效性的影响。结果表明:(1)中学教师处理学生心理健康问题策略具有情境性,教师对处理学生心理健康问题的策略的有效性的认可和真正在具体情境中采取的策略不尽相同。在厌学和退缩行为情境中,教师倾向于认为情感关爱型策略更有效;自我中心情境中,行为疏导型策略更有效;攻击行为情境中,惩罚约束型策略更有效;在焦虑情境中,言语疏导型策略更有效。在采用可能性的评定中,对学生的厌学、退缩行为、自我中心和焦虑问题,教师都更倾向于采用言语疏导型策略;在攻击行为情境中,教师更倾向于采用行为疏导型策略。(2)与性别相比,教龄是影响教师评定处理学生心理健康问题策略有效性的较为敏感的变量。在厌学情境中,20年以上教龄的教师认为责任转移型策略和情感关爱型策略更有效;在自我中心情境中,20年以上教龄的教师认为责任转移型策略更有效。