Features of Coping Strategies in Overcoming Extreme Critical Situations: A Study on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Liquidators and Antiterrorist Participants

The present study investigated and compared coping strategies and self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders and radiation threat at different times in 122 cleanup workers (liquidators) of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in 76 liquidators who were also evacuated from the contaminated area, in 81 participants in antiterrorist operations (ATO), and in 84 individuals who were not liquidators or ATO combatants. The results showed that liquidators used a variety of coping strategies, while ATO participants and control subjects mainly used problem-oriented strategies. In all groups, coping subscale scores showed positive correlations with the radiation hazard factor that in turn increased the self-perception of psychopathological symptoms or disorders. Taken together, these findings would suggest that life-threatening stressors related to IR might increase the vulnerability toward developing psychopathological disorders and symptoms.     

Role of motivation to respond to provocation, the social environment, and trait aggression in alcohol-related aggression

Little attention has been paid to the motivation to respond to provocation and to the interaction between this motivation, alcohol, the drinking environment, and individual characteristics. Undergraduates at six Canadian universities (N = 1,232) read three vignettes describing conflict situations with social environmental manipulations while imagining themselves as either sober or intoxicated. Self-ratings assessed likelihood of assertive and aggressive responses and motivational indices of anger, offensiveness of the instigator's actions, and importance to respond to the provocation. Respondents also completed a measure of trait aggression. Multi-group structural equation models supported the hypothesis that perceived likelihood of reactive aggression is influenced by perceived alcohol intoxication, gender, trait aggression, social environmental factors, and motivation to respond to the provocation. In addition, a number of interactions were found among the predictors. These results provide insight into the types of factors that may influence aggression in drinking situations.     

Super-Recognisers show an advantage for other race face identification

The accurate identification of an unfamiliar individual from a face photo is a critical factor in several applied situations (e.g., border control). Despite this, matching faces to photographic ID is highly prone to error. In lieu of effective training measures, which could reduce face matching errors, the selection of “super-recognisers” (SRs) provides the most promising route to combat misidentification or fraud. However, to date, super-recognition has been defined and tested using almost exclusively “own-race” face memory and matching tests. Here, across three studies, we test Caucasian participants' performance on own- and other-race face identification tasks (GFMT, MFMT, CFMT+, EFMT, CFMT-Chinese). Our findings show that compared to controls, high-performing typical recognisers (Studies 1 and 2) and SRs (Study 3) show superior performance on both the own- and other-race tests. These findings suggest that recruiting SRs in ethnically diverse applied settings could be advantageous.     

Moments That Matter? On the Complexity of Using Triggers Based on Skin Conductance to Sample Arousing Events Within an Experience Sampling Framework

To sample situations that are psychologically arousing in daily life, we implemented an experience sampling strategy in which 82 Dutch young adults (M_age = 20.73) were triggered based on random time intervals and based on physiological skin conductance scores across a period of 5 days. When triggered, participants had to fill in short surveys on affect, situational characteristics and event characteristics on their smartphone. We found theoretically expected relationships between the skin conductance signal on the one hand and self-reported arousal and positive energy (e.g. energetic and enthusiastic) on the other hand, although effect sizes were small. Unexpectedly, none of the negative affective scales (i.e. irritation, anxiety, and negative valence) were predicted by skin conductance levels. Despite the (partial) validity of the signal, a simple algorithm that triggered the survey based on relative increases of skin conductance levels produced counterintuitive results due to a dependence between level and slope. Additional exploratory analyses highlighted other skin conductance signal characteristics (i.e. autocorrelation, number of peaks, and change points) that might be worth examining when designing future algorithms to sample arousing moments. Overall, our experiences highlight not only the promise but also the complexity of real-time measurement of physiological processes in daily life. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology     

Acceptability of aggression in four Spanish regions and a comparison with other European Countries

The degree of acceptance of various forms of aggression in different situations was investigated by applying questionnaires to students from four Spanish regions: Castile, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Basque Country. These data are also compared with similar studies in Finland and Poland. Although some minor differences were found between the different groups as well as some gender preferences, very similar acceptances were observed in all the populations studied, suggesting a certain universality of norms and beliefs about aggression in society. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc. ©1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The introduction of a group of alien mice (Mus musculus L.) into hierarchically organized groups of five male mice

Groups of 3 male or female Mus musculus were introduced into hierarchically organized colonies of 5 male mice for a period of 8 days. The colonies were of 2 kinds; high-level aggressive (HLA), which had been set up 3 days prior to the introduction of the aliens, and low-level aggressive (LLA), which had been established for 21 days before strangers were introduced. Both males and anestrous females were attacked, but males were attacked 5 times more frequently than females. In HLA colonies most of the attacks on the aliens were by the dominant; in LLA colonies there was no difference in the behavior of dominant and subordinate mice toward strangers. Both aggression toward aliens and intracolony aggression declined over the 8 day experimental period. In HLA colonies the dominant mouse mounted females 5 times more frequently than did either his subordinates or male mice in the LLA colonies. In HLA colonies aliens huddled with subordinates to form a single colony with 1 dominant and 7 subordinates. In LLA colonies alien males remained as a discrete group spatially separated in the cage. Female aliens were incorporated into the main colony. In all cases dominant male mice made more attacks on aliens as compared with familiar mice.     

大学生考试情境下的学业情绪

参加正常期末学业考试的167名大学生对自己在考前、考中、考后的9种学业情绪进行了自评。采用对应分析的方法分析了大学生在考试过程中不同阶段里学业情绪的变化。结果发现:大学生考试中的主要学业情绪有7种:愉快、自豪、希望、焦虑、羞愧、失望和厌烦,可分别以效价(X轴)和唤醒度(Y轴)来划分。各种情绪在考试过程中的变化特点为:愉快、自豪、希望在考后高于考前,而考中相对考前略有下降;焦虑和厌烦呈不断下降的趋势;羞愧和失望随考试的进行而升高,失望在考后达到最高。此外,考试成绩低分组学生的各种消极情绪均明显多于其他学生;希望和考前焦虑存在明显的性别差异;学习兴趣高的学生成绩优秀,考试时的愉快情绪多,厌烦情绪少。     

Primary school teachers’ perceptions of school children coping with changing family situations – a hybrid Hong Kong experience

The personal beliefs of teachers and the cultural traditions of society can have significant effects on the adjustment of children in changing family situations. This paper explores primary school teachers’ perception of children coping with difficult family situations and family changes in the hybrid context of Hong Kong, where Westernization meets with Chinese culture. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Thirty one teachers of different ages, experience, and roles at school were interviewed. The finding shows that teachers were on the whole quite traditional in their perception of children in difficult family situations despite the co-existence of modern ideas of marriage with traditional family values. Implications of the study for teacher education are discussed.     

儿童能力概念发展的研究述评

近二三十年来,有关儿童能力概念的研究主要分别从能力的跨时间和跨情境的稳定性、能力的效力和能力的不可控性3个维度较为深入地探讨了儿童能力概念的发展特点与趋势。但在儿童能力概念的研究中,对上述3个维度的整合性研究较为缺乏,而且能力概念的内涵及其构成等问题也有待于进一步的探讨。     

成就动机与机会-威胁认知

采用问卷法探讨 3类变量即成就动机、风险情景中的冒险倾向以及对风险情景的机会 -威胁认知的关系。结果发现相对争取成功动机而言 ,回避失败动机对预测个体的机会 -威胁认知状况更为敏感 ;研究也显示 ,高成就动机组是以强烈的争取成功的倾向导致其对机会的积极认知 ;低成就动机组则是以对失败回避的趋力强化了威胁认知。个体在风险情景中的行为倾向与认知反应显得更为复杂。首先 ,框架效应不是普遍但的确存在于某类风险情景中 ,方差分析证实风险情景与框架间的交互作用达到显著性水平 ,这说明被试保守倾向的反应受到情景与框架效应的交互影响 ;其次 ,风险情景即“获益”和“损失”极大地影响着被试的风险反应模式