A retrospective longitudinal study of cognitive and language skills in poor reading comprehension

Fifty‐six specific poor reading comprehenders (SPRC) were selected in Grade 4 and retrospectively compared to good comprehenders at preschool (age 5) and at the end of kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. The results revealed deficits in vocabulary, grammar, verbal memory and early deficits in phonological awareness in most of the SPRC sample, beginning in preschool. The reading comprehension deficits in children with SPRC were not as marked in earlier assessments in Grade 1 and 2, probably because of the greater dependence on word decoding in reading comprehension in the early grades.     

Understanding and Incorporating God Representations Within Counseling

The religious and spiritual identity of a client may be relevant to the counseling process, and thus counselors should be prepared to integrate these components within treatment. The authors consider the assessment and exploration of God representations (i.e., God images and concepts) to understand and integrate religious and spiritual meanings within the context of a client's presenting concerns. The authors provide examples, strategies, and considerations for how to apply God representations within counseling.     

Boredom at work: towards a dynamic spillover model of need satisfaction,work motivation,and work-related boredom

Boredom occurs regularly at work and can have negative consequences. This study aimed to increase insight in the antecedents and processes underlying the development of work-related boredom by (a) examining whether work-related need satisfaction and the quality-of-work motivation mediate the associations between the work characteristics defined in the Job Characteristics Model and work-related boredom, (b) investigating if this motivational process operates both on an “enduring,” between-person level and a daily within-person level, and (c) examining if and how daily experiences of work-related boredom spill over to the next day. Data among employees were collected in a cross-sectional study (N = 115) and a 5-day daily diary study (N = 90). Study 1 results showed that need satisfaction and quality-of-work motivation mediated the association between work characteristics and work-related boredom. This motivational process was also found on a day-to-day basis in Study 2. This study further revealed that work-related boredom spills over to the next day through its associations with increased negative work attitudes and decreased intrinsic motivation. These findings provide insight in the process by which momentary experiences of boredom at work may develop into a more enduring experience of work-related boredom.     

PTSD与PTG的关系：来自教师群体的追踪研究证据

采用追踪研究的方式,在汶川地震后一年和一年半两个时间点,对极重灾区的116名中小学教师进行问卷调查,通过建立交叉滞后模型,探讨其创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和创伤后成长（PTG）在时间进程中的相互关系。结果显示：（1）震后一年和一年半的教师,其PTSD水平较低,PTG水平中等,两者具有一定稳定性;（2）在同一个时间点上,PTSD和PTG的相关不显著;（3）震后一年的PTG能显著负向预测震后一年半的PTSD,而震后一年的PTSD不能显著预测震后一年半的PTG。成长对于长期的创伤后负性应激降低有积极作用,可采用积极的视角来进行心理重建。     

Measuring slips and lapses when they occur – Ambulatory assessment in application to cognitive failures

Cognitive failures are lapses in attention, cognition, and actions that everybody experiences in everyday life. Self-reports are mainly used for assessment but those instruments are memory-biased and more related to personality aspects than to actual behavior. Ambulatory assessment is already used for capturing emotions or addictive behavior, but not yet for cognitive failures. The newly developed Questionnaire for Cognitive Failures in Everyday Life (KFA) was applied via mobile phones (electronic KFA) wherein an acoustic signal asked participants (N = 91, 60–76 years) 4 times daily to answer 13 questions for 1 week. The new instrument showed satisfying reliability and was compared with a self-report method (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire; Broadbent, Cooper, Fitzgerald, and Parkes, 1982) in terms of correlations with cognitive abilities (working memory capacity, short-term memory, switching ability, and reasoning), personality traits, and demographical aspects. Although further validation is needed, first results are promising and eKFA enriches cognitive failures research.     

表面相似性对数量关系和相对大小关系理解的影响

研究采用数量关系匹配任务和相对大小关系匹配任务,通过高表面相似性、低表面相似性和交叉映射三种实验条件,探讨表面相似性对儿童和成人数量与相对大小关系理解的影响。研究一对37名4岁儿童进行三次每次间隔半年的追踪测查,结果表明4~5岁间儿童理解数量关系和相对大小关系的水平有显著提高;4岁儿童对数量关系的理解受到表面相似性的影响,4~5岁儿童对相对大小关系的理解受到表面相似性的影响。研究二探究44名成人数量和相对大小关系理解的特点,结果发现,成人完成两种关系匹配任务时也受到表面相似性的影响。     

6～12岁儿童Flanker任务下的冲突适应效应

为了探讨6～12岁儿童冲突适应能力的发展,本研究使用经典的Flanker任务,考察了181名一至六年级小学生在冲突任务中的成绩。结果发现,冲突效应在各个年龄段都显著,但是冲突效应大小在不同年龄段之间没有显著差异;对于冲突适应效应,在反应时和准确率上都发现了冲突适应的证据,表现为不一致试次后的冲突效应减小和错误率降低,并且,冲突适应效应的大小在各个年龄段也没有差异。以上结果表明,对于6～12岁左右的小学生,冲突适应效应已经稳定存在,并且,不存在年龄差异。     

《学习适应量表》的验证性因素分析

在北京多所学校对425名学生进行了《学习适应量表》的测量,验证性因素分析结果表明,总量表和各个分量表的模型拟合都未违反基本适令标准,总量表的整体模型拟合性良好,内在结构适合性也比较好。学习方法、学习习惯、学习态度、学习环境和身心适应五个分量表的整体模型拟合性较好,但内在结构不佳。     

Does overall reinforcer rate affect discrimination of time‐based contingencies?

Overall reinforcer rate appears to affect choice. The mechanism for such an effect is uncertain, but may relate to reinforcer rate changing the discrimination of the relation between stimuli and reinforcers. We assessed whether a quantitative model based on a stimulus‐control approach could be used to account for the effects of overall reinforcer rate on choice under changing time‐based contingencies. On a two‐key concurrent schedule, the likely availability of a reinforcer reversed when a fixed time had elapsed since the last reinforcer, and the overall reinforcer rate was varied across conditions. Changes in the overall reinforcer rate produced a change in response bias, and some indication of a change in discrimination. These changes in bias and discrimination always occurred quickly, usually within the first session of a condition. The stimulus‐control approach provided an excellent account of the data, suggesting that changes in overall reinforcer rate affect choice because they alter the frequency of reinforcers obtained at different times, or in different stimulus contexts, and thus change the discriminated relation between stimuli and reinforcers. These findings support the notion that temporal and spatial discriminations can be understood in terms of discrimination of reinforcers across time and space.     

Reliability and validity of the self‐perception profile for adolescents: An Australian sample

In this study, we explored the psychometric properties and factorial validity of Harter's Self‐Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA) with an Australian sample drawn from the Raine study 14‐year follow‐up. Participants, boys (n = 795) and girls (n = 758) from Grades 8, 9, and 10, completed the SPPA. Cronbach's alpha showed good internal reliabilities for seven of the eight subscales and global self‐worth. Boys had significantly higher athletic (p < .001), physical appearance (p < .001), and romantic (p < .05) self‐perceptions, while the girls perceived significantly higher behavioural conduct (p < .001) and close friendships (p < .001). Exploratory factor analysis yielded similar factors to those reported by Harter with North American adolescents, although cross loadings resulted in one additional factor. Our findings generally supported Harter's conceptualisation of the self as a multidimensional construct, and with minor modifications, the use of the SPPA with Australian adolescents.