The effects of classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development

The personal development of students is an essential component of school guidance and counselling programmes, but no published research on guidance and counselling has investigated the effects of regular classroom teaching on students' self-efficacy for personal development. In this study, questionnaire items were constructed to measure classroom teaching, student self-efficacy for personal development and student use of deep learning strategies. Data were collected from 16,208 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Using structural equation modelling, regular classroom teaching was found to have a direct effect on personal development self-efficacy as well as an indirect effect through student use of deep learning strategies. Implications of these findings for implementing a whole-school approach to guidance and counselling are discussed.     

Normative Influences on Secondary Disturbance: The Role of Social Expectancies

A “new wave” within psychotherapy has introduced the concept of acceptance into people's emotional repertoires. Accepting unpleasant emotional states has been demonstrated as an important pathway towards reducing secondary disturbances and improving emotional and psychological functioning. What is often overlooked, however, is whether this move towards acceptance is reinforced within the social and cultural contexts in which people experience their emotional states. Our research has begun to explore the contribution that normative influences make to secondary disturbance, specifically the perception that feeling happy is a desired state, and that experiencing and expressing negative emotions is undesirable and unacceptable to others. We review evidence here that these perceived “social expectancies” are associated with increased negative emotionality and depression, and reduce well‐being. Furthermore, we highlight that the effects of social expectancies are more apparent in Australia than Japan, consistent with the view that a higher premium is placed on happiness within Australia. We also review experimental evidence that social messages that reinforce these social expectancies serve to increase secondary disturbances. The implications of taking a social perspective on emotion regulation and dysfunction, and specifically implications for promoting happiness and acceptance in the field, are discussed.     

Separating value from selection frequency in rapid reaching biases to visual targets

Stimuli associated with positive rewards in one task often receive preferential processing in a subsequent task, even when those associations are no longer relevant. Here we use a rapid reaching task to investigate these biases. In Experiment 1 we first replicated the learning procedure of Raymond and O'Brien (2009), for a set of arbitrary shapes that varied in value (positive, negative) and probability (20%, 80%). In a subsequent task, participants rapidly reached toward one of two shapes, except now the previously learned associations were irrelevant. As in the previous studies, we found significant reach biases toward shapes previously associated with a high probable, positive outcome. Unexpectedly, we also found a bias toward shapes previously associated with a low probable, negative outcome. Closer inspection of the learning task revealed a potential second factor that might account for these results; since a low probable negative shape was always paired with a high probable negative shape, it was selected with disproportionate frequency. To assess how selection frequency and reward value might both contribute to reaching biases we performed a second experiment. The results of this experiment at a group level replicated the reach-bias toward positively rewarding stimuli, but also revealed a separate bias toward stimuli that had been more frequently selected. At the level of individual participants, we observed a variety of preference profiles, with some participants biased primarily by reward value, others by frequency, and a few actually biased away from both highly rewarding and high frequency targets. These findings highlight that: (1) rapid reaching provides a sensitive readout of preferential processing; (2) target reward value and target selection frequency are separate sources of bias; and (3) group-level analyses in complex decision-making tasks can obscure important and varied individual differences in preference profiles.     

Evaluation of the London (Ontario) Community Group Treatment Programme for Children Who Have Witnessed Woman Abuse

Summary

Group intervention for children exposed to woman abuse is increasingly used to respond to the psychological needs of children exposed to woman abuse. This article describes a community group model of intervention for children exposed to woman abuse, and an evaluation approach used to assess the impact of such groups. The collaborative development of questionnaire/interview evaluation instruments for this purpose is described, and the set of instruments is presented in its entirety. The main instrument, entitled Child/Teen Witness to Woman Abuse Questionnaire, was tailored to the content of the groups and covers topics such as definitions and understanding of abuse, safety skills, beliefs and attitudes about abuse, perceived responsibility for abuse, alternatives to violence, non-violent conflict resolution strategies, and help seeking skills. Both closed-ended and open-ended questions are employed. Separate questionnaires assess consumer (mother/caregiver and child) satisfaction and feedback. The results of a study evaluating the groups are described, which showed good changes from pre to post intervention, as well as a high degree of satisfaction among children and mothers with regard to the groups. Feedback from children and mothers as to suggested improvements in the group is also described.     

Advocates Speak Out on Adult Sexual Assault: A Unique Crime Demands a Unique Response

Research documents the challenges presented to victims of sexual assault whose cases move through the criminal justice system. One key vantage point from which to understand how survivors experience the criminal justice system is from the perspective of the crisis center advocates who work with them. Graduate student research teams conducted semistructured interviews with rape crisis advocates across one Northeastern state. The voices of crisis center advocates raise key points that might help in the development of new procedures and processes for how adult sexual assault cases are handled in the justice system.     

A Microanalytic Case Study of the Utilization of ‘Solution-Focused Problem Talk’ in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Abstract

Solution-focused therapy (SFBT) is a popular therapeutic approach among family therapists. However, disputes about SFBT still arise, especially on problems. This study examines the function of problem talk in SFBT by using a microanalytic case study method. As a result, three categories were found: Eliciting, clarifying, and acknowledging problems. The problem talks initiated by the SF therapist showed a pattern associated with the solution talk and served as preliminary steps to be connected to the following solution talks. The results indicate that solution building is constructed not only through solution talk, but also through ‘solution-focused problem talk.’     

Continuous representability of semiorders

In the framework of the analysis of orderings whose associated indifference relation is not transitive, we study the structure of a semiorder, paying attention to the problem of its continuous representability through a real-valued function and a positive threshold. For the case of connected topological spaces, we obtain a full characterization of the continuous representability of semiorders without extremal elements.     

中小学生情绪调节策略的发展特点

情绪调节策略近年已成为发展与教育心理学的研究热点.本研究采用问卷法考察了中小学生情绪调节策略的年级、性别、学业水平发展特点.结果表明在认知重评策略上无性别差异,有年级差异,有学业水平差异,高年级较低年级、高学业水平较低学业水平更倾向采用认知重评策略;在表达抑制策略上无年级差异,无学业水平差异,有性别差异,男生较女生更倾向采用表达抑制策略.     

中小学教师的职业压力源研究

以北京市5255名中小学教师为被试,研究考察了中小学教师职业压力源的表现特点。结果发现:(1)中小学教师职业压力源的五个因素,即工作负荷、学生学业、社会及学校评价、专业发展及学生问题所带来的压力,能够较好地解释教师职业压力源问卷的结构效度。(2)随着教龄的增加,教师面临的各种压力表现出增加的趋势,11～15年教龄段的教师感知到最大的压力,之后逐渐减少。(3)小学教师感受到的各项压力明显高于中学教师。学生问题如安全、行为问题是小学教师主要的压力源,而中学教师的压力更多来源于学生学业,特别是考试压力。