A criticism of Young’s ‘Throwing Like a Girl’ through Scheler’s understanding of motor action

Continental Philosophy Review - This paper is concerned with the nature of feminine bodily comportment described by Iris Marion Young in ‘Throwing Like a Girl.’ According to Young, the...     

Beyond Idea Generation: The Power of Groups in Developing Ideas

Brainstorming research has claimed that individuals are more creative than groups. However, these conclusions are largely based on measuring creativity by the number of ideas generated, and researchers have tended to neglect other important components of creativity, such as the quality of developed ideas. These studies aim to address this gap in the literature and investigate how well individuals and groups develop ideas. The first study compared collaborative groups, nominal groups (i.e., groups composed of individuals working separately), and individuals on developing an original design for a language-learning game. No differences were revealed between conditions on the game ratings. In the second study, one idea was preselected and given to the participants for further development. Groups received higher ratings in the marketability and overall categories than both nominal groups and individuals, and higher ratings in the fun category than individuals. The qualitative data showed that groups discussed a wider range of topics and topics related to marketability more than individuals did. Thus it appears that there are benefits to developing ideas in a collaborative group rather than individually. Possible explanations for the present findings are explored.     

Psychometric evaluation and experimental validation of the statistics anxiety rating scale

The Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) was adapted into German to examine its psychometric properties (n = 400). Two validation studies (n = 66, n = 96) were conducted to examine its criterion-related validity. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were very similar to those previously reported for the original English version in various countries and other language versions. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated 2 second-order factors: One was more closely related to anxiety and the other was more closely related to negative attitudes toward statistics. Predictive validity of the STARS was shown both in an experimental exam-like situation in the laboratory and during a real examination situation. Taken together, the findings indicate that statistics anxiety as assessed by the STARS is a useful construct that is more than just an expression of a more general disposition to anxiety.     

Yin yoga and mindfulness: a five week randomized controlled study evaluating the effects of the YOMI program on stress and worry

Background and objectives: The YOMI program is a psychoeducational training and physical practice-based program that bridges knowledge from evidence-based psychotherapy with the practice of mindfulness and yin yoga. It consists of 10 content-specific sessions and does not include home assignments. The primary purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effects of the five-week YOMI program on perceived stress, worry and mindfulness in a non-clinical sample.

Design and method: In this randomized controlled trial participants were assigned to two groups. Group 1 participated in the five-week intervention twice a week while Group 2 was assigned to a waiting-list condition and participated in the intervention after Group 1. All measures were administered through self-report questionnaires, conducted via a web-based program.

Results and conclusions: The results of the study indicated significant effects of the YOMI program on decreasing stress and worry, and increasing mindfulness. Notably these changes were still present at five-week follow up. Consistent with the hypotheses, results suggested that the YOMI program established a group setting where individuals learned to use tools and methods to facilitate better self-directed practice. The study shows moderate to large effect sizes.     

Opening the cuebox: The information children and young adults generate and rely on when making inferences from memory

We used a cue‐generation and a cue‐selection paradigm to investigate the cues children (9‐ to 12‐year‐olds) and young adults (17‐year‐olds) generate and select for a range of inferences from memory. We found that children generated more cues than young adults, who, when asked why they did not generate some particular cues, responded that they did not consider them relevant for the task at hand. On average, the cues generated by children were more perceptual but as informative as the cues generated by young adults. When asked to select the most informative of two cues, both children and young adults tended to choose a hidden (i.e., not perceptual) cue. Our results suggest a developmental change in the cuebox (i.e., the set of cues used to make inferences from memory): New cues are added to the cuebox as more cues are learned, and some old, perceptual cues, although informative, are replaced with hidden cues, which, by both children and young adults, are generally assumed to be more informative than perceptual cues.