Has the ship sailed? The causes and consequences of school dropout from an ecological viewpoint

Social Psychology of Education - The purpose of this study is to determine the factors relating to school dropout from the perspective of dropout students, their teachers, and their parents. It...     

Social Contact,Academic Satisfaction,COVID-19 Knowledge,and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample

Adverse effects of COVID-19 are seen not only on the physical health of infected individuals but also on their subjective well-being. Sudden changes in social lives, lockdowns, and shifts towards online education have had a negative impact on many people, especially university students. As part of an international study, the current study focused on the well-being of students at Turkish universities in relation to social contact, academic satisfaction, and COVID-19 knowledge. A total of 7363 students from nine universities (86.6% from state universities, 71.04% female, and 73.52% at bachelor’s level) participated in an online survey. Results revealed that females had lower levels of subjective well-being and academic satisfaction. According to a mediation model in the study, the relationship between social contact and well-being was mediated by academic satisfaction and COVID-19 knowledge. Our findings can guide future researchers, mental health professionals, universities, and policymakers to understand and improve subjective well-being of university students.

     

Spontaneously occurring images and early memories in people with body dysmorphic disorder

A semi‐structured interview assessing the presence and characteristics of spontaneous appearance‐related images was designed and administered. A total of 18 patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and 18 normal controls took part. The BDD patients were found to have spontaneously occurring appearance‐related images that were significantly more negative, recurrent, and viewed from an observer perspective than control participants. These images were more vivid and detailed and typically involved visual and organic (internal body) sensations. The study also found that BDD images were linked to early stressful memories, and that images were more likely than verbal thoughts to be linked to these memories. Implications for theory and clinical practice are discussed.     

Perception of exertion and attention allocation as a function of visual and auditory conditions

AimThe aim of the present study was to test the role of auditory (e.g., music) and visual sensory modalities on perceived levels of exertion and attention processes across a 30% dynamometer-squeezing task. The study explored the dynamics embedded within the automated nature of the association–dissociation shift process.MethodSixty young adults (33 male and 27 female; M_age = 22.21 yrs, SD = 3.49) were recruited to perform a handgrip-squeezing task. They were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 15 participants. After establishing the maximal squeezing value they performed 30% max squeezing-task under one of four assigned condition: full vision and preferred music, full vision and no music, blindfolded and preferred music, and blindfolded and no music until volitional fatigue. Rate of perceived exertion and attention strategies were administered at 30 s intervals.ResultsA set of Repeated Measures ANOVAs indicated an additive effect of visual and auditory cues on the perception of exertion, and the dynamic pattern of attention shift. Participants who were given both forms of sensory information remained in a dissociative strategy for a significantly longer duration than participants in all other conditions.ConclusionsSeveral sensory modalities are required to affect perceived exertion and attention allocation while engaging in demanding workload. External stimuli may serve as mediating agents in diverting attention away from internal and painful stimuli. This distraction may likely contribute to the pleasantness of the exercise experience, ultimately leading to increased exercise participation and reduced dropout rates.     

Recipient Design in Communicative Pointing

A long‐standing debate in the study of human communication centers on the degree to which communicators tune their communicative signals (e.g., speech, gestures) for specific addressees, as opposed to taking a neutral or egocentric perspective. This tuning, called recipient design, is known to occur under special conditions (e.g., when errors in communication need to be corrected), but several researchers have argued that it is not an intrinsic feature of human communication, because that would be computationally too demanding. In this study, we contribute to this debate by studying a simple communicative behavior, communicative pointing, under conditions of successful (error‐free) communication. Using an information‐theoretic measure, called legibility, we present evidence of recipient design in communicative pointing. The legibility effect is present early in the movement, suggesting that it is an intrinsic part of the communicative plan. Moreover, it is reliable only from the viewpoint of the addressee, suggesting that the motor plan is tuned to the addressee. These findings suggest that recipient design is an intrinsic feature of human communication.     

Spontaneously occurring images and early memories in people with body dysmorphic disorder

A semi-structured interview assessing the presence and characteristics of spontaneous appearance-related images was designed and administered. A total of 18 patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and 18 normal controls took part. The BDD patients were found to have spontaneously occurring appearance-related images that were significantly more negative, recurrent, and viewed from an observer perspective than control participants. These images were more vivid and detailed and typically involved visual and organic (internal body) sensations. The study also found that BDD images were linked to early stressful memories, and that images were more likely than verbal thoughts to be linked to these memories. Implications for theory and clinical practice are discussed.     

Relationships between attachment security and self-construal orientations

The authors report the results of two studies in which they explored the relationship of related and individuated self-construals, as suggested by the balanced integration-differentiation (BID) model (E. O. Imamo?lu, 2003), with (a) general attachment security in the first study (N = 168 Turkish university students) and (b) relationship-specific attachment security with the family, peers, and romantic partners in the second study (N = 110 Turkish university students). Results indicated that attachment security tended to be associated with the relational self-orientation; however, when relatedness was complemented with individuation, there was a trend toward enhanced attachment security that reached significance when multiple measures of attachment across relationship contexts were considered. The authors discuss results with reference to their implications for attachment theory and the BID model.     

The generalized sense of power is a psychological resource: Evidence from a disaster response field training exercise

We examined whether the generalized sense of power—the belief that one is able to influence others in one's various social relationships—serves as a psychological resource that enables leadership in high-stakes, unfamiliar group challenges, such as emergencies or crises. We studied current and prospective humanitarian aid professionals (N = 180) during a major field training exercise: a three-day, immersive simulated humanitarian crisis. Individuals who entered the simulated crisis with a greater sense of power in their social relationships experienced lower stress (anxiety), behaved more assertively, and left the simulation with a relatively heightened desire to lead, despite not being deemed better leaders by their teammates. Lacking an initial sense of power was associated with experiences (e.g., feeling timid) that undermined the desire to lead. These results suggest that the psychological sense of power is a key leadership resource, without which one may be at risk of self-selecting out of leadership.