Predicting academic success with the Big 5 rated from different points of view: Self‐rated,other rated and faked

Self‐ratings of personality predict academic success above general intelligence. The present study replicated these findings and investigated the increment of other‐ratings or intentionally distorted self‐ratings. Participants (N = 145) had to compile a personality questionnaire twice. First they were given neutral instructions. The second time they were asked to imagine a specific applicant setting. Furthermore, two peers rated each participant. Additionally, verbal, numerical and figural reasoning scores were obtained. Grades on a statistics exam obtained 2 months later served as the criterion. Results replicated prior findings and showed incremental validity for self‐ and other‐rated personality, which was stable after controlling for intelligence. Faking had no impact on the domain‐score level, but results on the facet‐score level were less encouraging. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of the executive functions in school achievement at the end of Grade 1

The aim of this study was to determine the role of executive functions (EFs) in early school achievement when a variety of potential confounding factors were controlled. Measures of EF (inhibition, flexibility, and working memory) and school readiness were administered to a sample of 85 kindergartners (39 boys and 46 girls, 5-6 years old). School achievement was then assessed at the end of Grade 1. Results show math and reading/writing skills at the end of Grade 1 to be associated with kindergarten EFs. Only working memory contributed uniquely to the variance in school achievement after all covariates (preacademic abilities, affective variables, and family variables) were controlled and, even then, only with respect to math skills. On the other hand, working memory and inhibition had an indirect effect on reading/writing skills via anger-aggression. EF implication in school achievement is discussed in terms of task demands and child age.     

Implicit theories moderate the relation of positive future fantasies to academic outcomes

We hypothesized and observed that the degree to which students endorsed entity theories - the view that intelligence is fixed rather than malleable - attenuated the affective benefits and exacerbated the achievement drawbacks of positive fantasies in the academic domain. Positive fantasies only predicted low anger and anxiety for schoolchildren who did not strongly endorse entity theories (Study 1), and positive fantasies only predicted poor final school grades for vocational students who did strongly endorse entity theories (Study 2). An experiment indicated that for university students with stronger entity theories, positive fantasies demanded relatively little attention (Study 3), suggesting that positive fantasies obscure the opportunity for the preemptive self-regulation which promotes successful performance.     

成就目标、学业情绪及学业成绩的关系研究述评

成就目标(Achievement Goal)是个体对从事成就活动的目的或意义的知觉,学业情绪(Academic Emotion)是指与学业学习、班级指导和学业成就直接相关的各种情绪。成就目标与学业情绪相互作用,即成就目标会影响学生的学业情绪,学业情绪反过来也会影响成就目标。同时,成就目标和学业情绪对学生的学业成绩具有综合预测作用,学业情绪在成就目标和学业成绩间起中介作用。未来研究的方向主要在于深入探讨成就目标与更细分的学业情绪的关系,以及成就目标、学业情绪和成绩之间的相互作用。     

心理资本、学习策略与大学生学业成绩的关系

该研究采用《大学生学习策略问卷》和《积极心理资本问卷》对大学生4种学习策略和12种次级策略以及大学生的心理资本情况进行了调查,并在此基础上考察了大学生学习策略、心理资本与其学业成绩的关系。结果显示：大学生对认知、元认知、动机情感以及资源管理等4种学习策略总体掌握较好;在12种次级策略中,大学生对情绪调节、环境选择、过程监控等策略的掌握较好,而对意志努力、准备复述、学业求助等策略的掌握相对薄弱。大学生的心理资本总体情况是正面的,但也有约17%的大学生的心理资本水平偏低。大学生的心理资本和学习策略对其学业成绩有显著的预测作用,其中心理资本对其学业成绩的影响以学习策略为中介。     

Mentoring in academia: An examination of the experiences of protégés of color

This study examines the mentoring experiences of African, Hispanic, and Native-American protégés in an academic setting. In doing so we consider whether surface-level and deep-level similarity are related to relationship satisfaction and perceived levels of support. Specifically, we consider whether for protégés of color, having a mentor who is also of color and/or who is perceived as having similar values is positively associated with satisfaction and support. Additionally, we examine from the perspective of those who mentor protégés of color, whether their relationship satisfaction is associated with having a protégé who is similar or different with regards to race/ethnicity and perceived value similarity. Finally, we consider the mediating roles of interpersonal comfort and commitment. Our results indicate that graduate students of color receive more psychosocial and instrumental support from, and are more satisfied with mentors of color. Further, interpersonal comfort and commitment mediate the relationships between surface and deep-level similarity and mentoring outcomes.     

How emotional pictures influence visuospatial binding in short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease?

The present study examines the prediction that emotion can facilitate short-term memory. Nevertheless, emotion also recruits attention to process information, thereby disrupting short-term memory when tasks involve high attentional resources. In this way, we aimed to determine whether there is a differential influence of emotional information on short-term memory in ageing and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Fourteen patients with mild AD, 14 healthy older participants (NC), and 14 younger adults (YA) performed two tasks. In the first task, involving visual short-term memory, participants were asked to remember a picture among four different pictures (negative or neutral) following a brief delay. The second task, a binding memory task, required the recognition by participants of a picture according to its spatial location. The attentional cost involved was higher than for the first task. The pattern of results showed that visual memory performance was better for negative stimuli than for neutral ones, irrespective of the group. In contrast, binding memory performance was essentially poorer for the location of negative pictures in the NC group, and for the location of both negative and neutral stimuli in the AD group, in comparison to the YA group. Taken together, these results show that emotion has beneficial effects on visual short-term memory in ageing and AD. In contrast, emotion does not improve their performances in the binding condition.     

成就目标定向与学习策略、学业成绩的关系研究综述

成就目标理论整合了曾经分离的动机研究和认知研究,是社会认知取向在动机领域中的代表性课题。文章对近十年国内外成就目标定向与学习策略、学业成绩的关系研究进行了综述,认为研究所取得的成果加深了我们对学习内在机制的理解。同时,作者也提出了这一领域应改进测量工具、进行重复验证、跨文化研究以及干预研究的主张。     

成就目标定向、自我效能与反馈寻求行为的关系

本研究共调查来自企业的员工539人,探讨了成就目标定向、自我效能感与反馈寻求行为的关系。研究表明：成就目标定向是通过影响个体的自我效能感来对个体反馈寻求数量、反馈寻求努力起作用的,成就目标定向的各个维度对结果变量均有不同程度的影响。最后,本文提出了一些今后研究的展望。