An investigation of the emotion assumptions of just-world theory /

The purpose ofthis study was to investigate the emotion assumptions underlying just-world theory. This theory proposes that people have a need to believe in a just world - a world where people get what they deserve. The first emotion assumption is that people, therefore, find injustices (Le., undeserved outcomes) threatening and thus emotionally arousing. Second, it is this arousal that is assumed to drive subsequent strategies for maintaining the belief in a just world. One strategy an individual may use to maintain this belief is derogating victims of injustice, or seeing their character in a more negative light. To test these two assumptions, 102 participants viewed a video depicting either a victim who presumably presented a high threat to people's belief in ajust world (she was innocent and, therefore, undeserving of her fate) or low threat (she was not innocent and, therefore, more deserving of her fate) while their heart rate and EDA was measured. Half of the participants were then given the opportunity to help the victim whereas the other half were not given this opportunity. The manipulations were followed by both explicit and indirect measures of evaluations ofthe victim as well as self-report measures of affect experienced while watching the victim video, and an individual difference scale assessing the strength of participants' just-world beliefs (as well as other measures that were part ofa larger study). Results indicated that participants did report feeling more threatened by the innocent victim. Although there was some evidence of victim derogation on the implicit measure of victim evaluation, there was no evidence that emotional arousal drove the negative evaluations of the victim who could not be helped. Some interaction effects with individual differences in just-world beliefs did occur, but these were not entirely consistent with the rationale behind the individual difference scales. These results provide only weak support for the first emotion assumption ofjust-world theory. Implications of these findings as well as limitations of the study and future directions concerning just-world theory are discussed.

Predictors of academic achievement and social competence in adolescence : facilitation, inhibition and general cognitive processing /

The relevance of attentional measures to cognitive and social adaptive behaviour was examined in an adolescent sample. Unlike previous research, the influence of both inhibitory and facilitory aspects of attention were studied. In addition, contributions made by these attentional processes were compared with traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. Data were gathered from 36 grade 10 and 1 1 high school students (20 male and 16 female students) with a variety of learning and attentional difficulties. Data collection was conducted in the course of two testing sessions. In the first session, students completed questionnaires regarding their medical history, and everyday behaviours (the Brock Adaptive Functioning Questionnaire), along with non-verbal problem solving tasks and motor speed tasks. In the second session, students performed working memory measures and computer-administered tasks assessing inhibitory and facilitory aspects of attention. Grades and teacher-rated measures of cognitive and social impulsivity were also gathered. Results indicate that attentional control has both cognitive and social/emotional implications. Performance on negative priming and facilitation trials from the Flanker task predicted grades in core courses, social functioning measures, and cognitive and social impulsivity ratings. However, beneficial effects for academic and social functioning associated with inhibition were less prevalent in those demonstrating a greater ability to respond to facilitory cues. There was also some evidence that high levels of facilitation were less beneficial to academic performance, and female students were more likely to exceed optimal levels of facilitory processing. Furthermore, lower negative priming was ''S'K 'i\':y-: -'*' - r " j«v ; ''*.' iij^y Inhibition, Facilitation and Social Competence 3 associated with classroom-rated distraction and hyperactivity, but the relationship between inhibition and social aspects of impulsivity was stronger for adolescents with learning or reading problems, and the relationship between inhibition and cognitive impulsivity was stronger for male students. In most cases, attentional measures were predictive of performance outcomes independent of traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. >,, These findings provide support for neuropsychological models linking inhibition to control of interference and arousal, and emphasize the fundamental role of attention in everyday adolescent activities. The findings also warrant further investigation into the ways which inhibitory and facilitory attentional processes interact, and the contextdependent nature of attentional control.associated with classroom-rated distraction and hyperactivity, but the relationship between inhibition and social aspects of impulsivity was stronger for adolescents with learning or reading problems, and the relationship between inhibition and cognitive impulsivity was stronger for male students. In most cases, attentional measures were predictive of performance outcomes independent of traditional psychometric measures of cognitive functioning. >,, These findings provide support for neuropsychological models linking inhibition to control of interference and arousal, and emphasize the fundamental role of attention in everyday adolescent activities. The findings also warrant further investigation into the ways which inhibitory and facilitory attentional processes interact, and the contextdependent nature of attentional control.

Social physique anxiety across physical activity settings : a meta-analytical review

The purpose of this meta-analytic investigation was to review the empirical evidence specific to the effect of physical activity context on social physique anxiety (SP A). English language studies were located from computer and manual literature searches. A total of 146 initial studies were coded. Studies included in the meta-analysis presented at least one empirical effect for SPA between physical activity participants (i.e., athletes or exercisers) and non-physical activity participants. The final sample included thirteen studies, yielding 14 effect sizes, with a total sample size of 2846. Studies were coded for mean SPA between physical activity participants and non-physical activity participants. Moderator variables related to demographic and study characteristics were also coded. Using Hunter and Schmidt's (2004) protocol, statistical artifacts were corrected. Results indicate that, practically speaking, those who were physically active reported lower levels of SPA than the comparison group (dcorr = -.12; SDeorr.-=-;22). Consideration of the magnitude of the ES, the SDeorr, and confidence interval suggests that this effect is not statistically significant. While most moderator analyses reiterated this trend, some differences were worth noting. Previous research has identified SPA to be especially salient for females compared to males, however, in the current investigation, the magnitude of the ES' s comparing physical activity participants to the comparison group was similar (deorr = -.24 for females and deorr = -.23 for males). Also, the type of physical activity was investigated, and results showed that athletes reported lower levels of SP A than the comparison group (deorr = -.19, SDeorr = .08), whereas exercisers reported higher levels of SPA than the comparison group (deorr = .13, SDeorr = .22). Results demonstrate support for the dispositional nature of SP A. Consideration of practical significance suggests that those who are involved in physical activity may experience slightly lower levels of SPA than those not reporting physical activity participation. Results potentially offer support for the bi-directionality of the relationship between physical activity and SP A; however, a causality may not be inferred. More information about the type of physical activity (i.e., frequency/nature of exercise behaviour, sport classificationllevel of athletes) may help clarify the role of physical activity contexts on SPA.

A classroom-based investigation of reciprocal teaching at the grade seven level

This study assessed the effectiveness of a reciprocal teaching program as a method of teaching reading comprehension, using narrative text material in a t.ypical grade seven classroom. In order to determine the effectiveness of the reciprocal teaching program, this method was compared to two other reading instruction approaches that, unlike rcciprocal teaching, did not include social interaction components. Two intact grade scven classes, and a grade seven teacher, participated in this study. Students were appropriately assigned to three treatment groups by reading achievement level as determined from a norm-referenced test. Training proceeded for a five week intervention period during regularly scheduled English periods. Throughout the program curriculum-based tests were administered. These tests were designed to assess comprehension in two distinct ways; namely, character analysis components as they relate to narrative text, and strategy use components as they contribute to student understanding of narrative and expository text. Pre, post, and maintenance tests were administered to measure overall training effects. Moreover, during intervention, training probes were administered in the last period of each week to evaluate treatment group performance. AU curriculum-based tests were coded and comparisons of pre, post, maintenance tests and training probes were presented in graph form. Results showed that the reciprocal group achieved some improvement in reading comprehension scores in the strategy use component of the tests. No improvements were observed for the character analysis components of the curriculum-based tests and the norm-referenced tests. At pre and post intervention, interviews requiring students to respond to questions that addressed metacomprehension awareness of study strategies were administered. The intelviews were coded and comparisons were made between the two intelVicws. No significant improvements were observed regarding student awareness of ten identified study strategies . This study indicated that reciprocal teaching is a viable approach that can be utilized to help students acquire more effective comprehension strategies. However, the maximum utility of the technique when administered to a population of grade seven students performing at average to above average levels of reading achievement has yet to be determined. In order to explore this issue, the refinement of training materials and curriculum-based measurements need to be explored. As well, this study revealed that reciprocal teaching placed heavier demands on the classroom teacher when compared to other reading instruction methods. This may suggest that innovative and intensive teacher training techniques are required before it is feasible to use this method in the classroom.

Rhapsodes of social science : Herodotus' performance of politeic inquiry

Herodotus' logos represents many examples ofthe relationship between political and paradigmatic authority, and the synthesis ofthese examples in a community characterized by free and equal speech. Herodotus' walkabout narrator sets forth an inquiry into knowledge-seeking he extends the isegoria principle from Athenian politics to the broader world. The History demonstrates (a) various modes of constructing meaning, (b) interacting notions ofhow people have lived and living questions as to how we ought to live, and (c) an investigation ofthe nature and limits ofhuman knowledge. Representing diverse wisdom, publicly and privately discovered and presented, Herodotus sets forth Solon's wise advice and law-making, the capital punishment of the learned Anacharsis, the investigative outrages of Cambyses and Psammetichus' more pious experiments. Their stories challenge and complement their communities' characters - the relative constraint under which the Egyptians and Persians make their investigations, the Scythians' qualified openness and the relative fearlessness and freedom in which the Greeks set forth their inquiries. Setting forth the investigator-storykeeper as a poetic historian, Herodotus shows that history as poetry thwarts natural decay by allowing custom to be reformed in an open milieu, and thus win through and survive. Despite the potential dangers that openness shares with tyranny, Herodotus' inquiry sets up a contest ofworld-views in which it is mutability that openness affords a community that ensures its survival.

The relation of attentional, emotional, and social regulation to cognitive competence, from infancy to school entry

Recent research on the sources of cognitive competence in infancy and early childhood has highlighted the role of social and emotional factors (for example, Lewis, 1993b). Exploring the roots of competence requires a longitudinal and multivariate approach. To deal with the resulting complexity, potentially integrative theoretical constructs are required. One logical candidate is self-regulation. Three key developmental questions were the focus of this investigation. 1) Does infant self-regulation (attentional, emotional, and social) predict preschool cognitive competence? 2) Does infant self-regulation predict preschool self-regulation? 3) Does preschool self-regulation predict concurrent preschool cognitive competence? One hundred preschoolers (46 females, 54 males; mean age = 5 years, 11 months) who had participated at 9- and/ or 12-months of age in an object permanence task were recruited to participate in this longitudinal investigation. Each subject completed four scales of the WPPSI-R and two social cognitive tasks. Parents completed questionnaires about their preschoolers' regulatory behaviours (Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist [1991] and selected items from Eisenberg et ale [1993] and Derryberry & Rothbart [1988]). Separate behavioural coding systems were developed to capture regulatory capabilities in infancy (from the object permanence task) and preschool (from the WPPSIR Block Design). Overall, correlational and multiple regression results offered strong affirmative answers to the three key questions (R's = .30 to .38), using the behavioural observations of self-regulation. Behavioural regulation at preschool substantially predicted parental reports of regulation, but the latter variables did not predict preschool competence. Infant selfregulation and preschool regulation made statistically independent contributions to competence, even though regulation at Time 1 and Time 2 ii were substantially related. The results are interpreted as supporting a developmental pathway in which well-regulated infants more readily acquire both expertise and more sophisticated regulatory skills. Future research should address the origins of these skills earlier in infancy, and the social contexts that generate them and support them during the intervening years.

Association between adolescent leisure, peer social capital and academic performance among Canadian youth

Previous research shows discrepant findings between youth leisure programming (before and after school programs, structured summer program, day camp, overnight camp), academic performance and other youth developmental outcomes. Studies underscores the importance of family, community and school social capital in educational success of youth, investigation of peer social capital in the leisure context and academic performance outcomes is limited. This study uses a sample of 10 and 11 year olds (N=1764) from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) Cycle 6, to study the association between youth leisure programming, peer social capital and academic performance. Ordinal logistic regression models consistently showed a positive association between overnight camp and academic performance even after controlling for determinants of health, and measures of family, school and community social capital. Similarly, the measure of peer social capital was positively associated with academic performance. Most importantly, the interaction between overnight camp participation and peer social capital was significantly associated with academic performance. Study findings, highlight overnight camp opportunities and peer social

An Investigation of the Role of Attention in the Cross-Race Effect: An Ecological Approach

The current set of studies was conducted to examine the cross-race effect (CRE), a phenomenon commonly found in the face perception literature. The CRE is evident when participants display better own-race face recognition accuracy than other-race recognition accuracy (e.g. Ackerman et al., 2006). Typically the cross-race effect is attributed to perceptual expertise, (i.e., other-race faces are processed less holistically; Michel, Rossion, Han, Chung & Caldara, 2006), and the social cognitive model (i.e., other-race faces are processed at the categorical level by virtue of being an out-group member; Hugenberg, Young, Bernstein, & Sacco, 2010). These effects may be mediated by differential attention. I investigated whether other-race faces are disregarded and, consequently, not remembered as accurately as own-race (in-group) faces. In Experiment 1, I examined how the magnitude of the CRE differed when participants learned individual faces sequentially versus when they learned multiple faces simultaneously in arrays comprising faces and objects. I also examined how the CRE differed when participants recognized individual faces presented sequentially versus in arrays of eight faces. Participants’ recognition accuracy was better for own-race faces than other-race faces regardless of familiarization method. However, the difference between own- and other-race accuracy was larger when faces were familiarized sequentially in comparison to familiarization with arrays. Participants’ response patterns during testing differed depending on the combination of familiarization and testing method. Participants had more false alarms for other-race faces than own-race faces if they learned faces sequentially (regardless of testing strategy); if participants learned faces in arrays, they had more false alarms for other-race faces than own-races faces if ii i they were tested with sequentially presented faces. These results are consistent with the perceptual expertise model in that participants were better able to use the full two seconds in the sequential task for own-race faces, but not for other-race faces. The purpose of Experiment 2 was to examine participants’ attentional allocation in complex scenes. Participants were shown scenes comprising people in real places, but the head stimuli used in Experiment 1 were superimposed onto the bodies in each scene. Using a Tobii eyetracker, participants’ looking time for both own- and other-race faces was evaluated to determine whether participants looked longer at own-race faces and whether individual differences in looking time correlated with individual differences in recognition accuracy. The results of this experiment demonstrated that although own-race faces were preferentially attended to in comparison to other-race faces, individual differences in looking time biases towards own-race faces did not correlate with individual differences in own-race recognition advantages. These results are also consistent with perceptual expertise, as it seems that the role of attentional biases towards own-race faces is independent of the cognitive processing that occurs for own-race faces. All together, these results have implications for face perception tasks that are performed in the lab, how accurate people may be when remembering faces in the real world, and the accuracy and patterns of errors in eyewitness testimony.