De la prise en charge de la progression de l'interlocuteur vers un but à l'autorégulation des entreprises cognitives

Lorsque la visée de la communication est de comprendre et de se faire comprendre, les processus d'échange d'information requièrent le monitorage, tant intra qu'interpersonnel, de la progression vers le but à chaque étape de l'entreprise socio-cognitive. J. H. Flavell a puissamment contribué à éclairer les composantes cognitives de ce monitorage. Après avoir rappelé les principaux éléments de sa contribution, pertinents pour l'analyse des processus de communication, nous introduisons la dimension constituée par l'interaction interpersonnelle dans le monitorage. Nous essayons d'apporter des éléments montrant que c'est au coeur des échanges que s'effectue sa prise en charge cognitive. Nous poursuivons l'examen de la collaboration entre interlocuteurs en vue d'assurer la transmission de l'information au sein des structures de l'échange en pointant en particulier le monitorage et les régulations interpersonnelles. Enfin, nous situons notre point de vue parmi les théories ayant cherché à définir le rôle éventuellement structurant des interactions sociales dans l'acquisition d'expertise. Selon nous, les habiletés s'installent d'abord largement grâce à la communication de type asymétrique, une variété de processus étant en jeu alternativement, puis elles sont intériorisées—appropriées alors par le sujet qui devient capable de monitorer sa propre activité d'après les modèles observés d'abord chez autrui.     

Crisis Intervention With Survivors of Natural Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Andrew

Crisis intervention has typically been conceptualized as seeking a return of clients to a state of equilibrium. Our work with Hurricane Andrew survivors in south Florida, as part of the Disaster Mental Health Services team of the American Red Cross, has led us to appreciate the importance of several further considerations. In our work, we developed a proactive approach, attempting to recognize and extend clients' preexisting strengths. We offer a number of pragmatic interventions, focusing particularly on children's issues and we draw attention to sensitive multicultural issues.     

A Playroom Observation Procedure to Assess Children with Mental Retardation and ADHD

Forty-two children (ages 6 to 12 years old) with moderate mental retardation to borderline intellectual functioning were studied in a laboratory playroom setting to determine whether children identified as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or controls differed on activity and attentional measures. Children with ADHD were further divided into ADHD + conduct problems (ADHD + CD) and ADHD-only subgroups (with an ADHD-combined group comprising children of both subgroups). An interval recording system was used to code observations of independent play and a restricted academic task. Results indicated that the ADHD-combined group was significantly more vocal and engaged in a significantly greater number of toy changes than controls during independent play. Significant group differences were also noted during the restricted academic task, with the ADHD-combined and ADHD + CD groups more off-task and engaging in a greater number of toy touches than controls. Discriminant analyses found independent play measures to predict group membership in 70 percent of cases (ADHD-combined vs. controls), but in only 64 percent of cases using measures from the restricted academic task. No significant findings resulted when the ADHD subjects were further divided into two subgroups. Despite some inconsistent findings, such laboratory-based observations may be of value in the diagnosis of ADHD in children with moderate mental retardation to borderline intellectual functioning.     

Bidirectional relations between different forms of prosocial behaviors and substance use among female college student athletes

Bidirectional, longitudinal relations between alcohol and marijuana use and prosocial behaviors in women college student athletes were examined. Participants were 187 female college students (M_age = 19.87 years; 91% White) who completed questionnaires on their use of marijuana and alcohol, and six forms of prosocial behaviors across 6 years (2004–2010). The findings yield overall evidence that earlier marijuana use predicted lower levels of most specific forms of prosocial behaviors for women athletes in later young adulthood. Early expressions of altruistic behaviors predicted less marijuana use in later young adulthood. Expression of public prosocial behaviors early in young adulthood predicted higher levels of hazardous drinking in late young adulthood. These novel findings have important implications for links between prosocial development and substance use in women college athletes.     

Relationship between short- and long-term memory and short- and long-term extinction

Both the acquisition and the extinction of memories leave short- and long-term mnemonic traces. Here, we show that in male Wistar rats, the short-term memory for a step-down inhibitory avoidance task (IA) is resistant to extinction, and that its expression does not influence retrieval or extinction of long-term memory. It has been known for some time that short- and long-term inhibitory avoidance memory involve separate and parallel processes. Here we show that, instead, short-term extinction of IA long-term memory is the first step towards its long-term extinction, and that this link requires functional NMDA receptors and protein synthesis in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus at the time of the first CS-no US presentation.     

Achievement motivation among urban adolescents: Work hope, autonomy support, and achievement-related beliefs

Drawing upon expectancy value, hope, and self-determination theories, this study explores the contributions of work-based beliefs and autonomy support as predictors of adaptive achievement-related beliefs. Two hundred and one urban high school students who were enrolled in a work-based learning program completed measures of work hope, autonomy support, and achievement beliefs. Results from the full canonical correlation model revealed that work hope, career planning, and autonomy support shared 37.5% of the variance with achievement-related beliefs. Moreover, work hope and teacher autonomy support further contributed unique variance in explaining these beliefs. The findings contribute to the theoretical knowledge base concerning the value of work-based learning in fostering academic motivation among adolescents.     

Children's need for approval and achievement motivation: An interactional approach

This study examined the effects of children's need for approval (nApp) and a situational variable-frequency of expectancy statements-on children's achievement cognitions and behaviour. We replicated the Dweck and Gilliard (1975) paradigm, but also mea sured children's nApp. Ninety fifth grade boys and girls stated expectancies either prior to each trial, prior to the first and last trials, or prior to the last trial only. We found that although high and low nApp children lowered their expectancies after failure, high nApp children lowered them less than low nApp children. In contrast, persistence was influenced only by the frequency of expectancy statements and not by children's nApp. The results are discussed in the context of the interactional point of view in personality psychology.     

Recognition of facial expressions of different emotional intensities in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Behavioural problems are a key feature of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Also, FTLD patients show impairments in emotion processing. Specifically, the perception of negative emotional facial expressions is affected. Generally, however, negative emotional expressions are regarded as more difficult to recognize than positive ones, which thus may have been a confounding factor in previous studies. Also, ceiling effects are often present on emotion recognition tasks using full-blown emotional facial expressions. In the present study with FTLD patients, we examined the perception of sadness, anger, fear, happiness, surprise and disgust at different emotional intensities on morphed facial expressions to take task difficulty into account. Results showed that our FTLD patients were specifically impaired at the recognition of the emotion anger. Also, the patients performed worse than the controls on recognition of surprise, but performed at control levels on disgust, happiness, sadness and fear. These findings corroborate and extend previous results showing deficits in emotion perception in FTLD.     

Willingness to seek help for psychosocial problems among Latino and white American college students

This study compared 50 Latino and 50 White American students' perceptions of the severity of 25 psychological problems, their willingness to seek help for these problems, and their preferences for caregivers. Each group received a modified version of the Personal Problems Inventory. Latino students rated depression, financial concerns, and discrimination as more severe problems; their preference for mental health workers consistently significantly exceeded those of White students, although both groups preferred seeking help from family and community resources. Findings suggest the possibility of a greater role for therapists serving Latino students than currently exists.