Students’ movement and participation in Latin-American psychology: historical and future perspectives

The historiographical paper presented is about the students’ activism and participation in the Latin American psychology. This aims are: 1) to provide a brief historic overview of the Latin American psychology; 2) to review on the students’ participation in the Latin American psychology; 3) to raise students’ future perspectives for the Latin American psychology. It is recognized that there is an extensive past of Latin American psychology and an emerging historiographical work that re fl ects that past.However, there are several historiographical gaps not covered yet by the investigations in the region. In this context, this paper wants to contribute to the study of the students’ activism and participation in the Latin American psychology construction. The historical perspective is supported by the renewed historiographical conception called instant history” which focuses on ancient and recent history at the same time. Indirect sources were used: articles, monographs and compiled editions.

Emotional characteristics of psychology students: a study based on the formative research perspective

In the formative research scheme, the author built a psychological scale, with the purpose of analyzing psychological characteristics of the School of Psychology students. The instrument showed a high reliability coefficient (α=0,86), the exploratory factorial analysis found five variables which allowed to predict some aspects of sex and career level through a logistic regression; the ALSCAL showed two emotional dimensions. The author recommends to improve the instrument and to continue its application in the School. It is also necessary to develop qualitative research to acquire new data about the topic of the research.

Impulsivity: A view from the behavioral neuroscience and developmental psychology

Impulsivity has been linked to three main factors: performing without direct involvement of the frontal lobe functions, an increase in the speed of response, and the acquisition of immediate gratification. This behavioral inhibition deficit involves a variety of behaviors including aspects of hyperexcitability, behavioral disinhibition and higher order decision making. Although by tradition, the definition of this executive function has been conceptualized from a psychopathological view, currently, the wide variety of neuropsychological, developmental and animal models assessment techniques encourage us to establish dialogues that integrate the knowledge of these theoretical perspectives for the interpretation and understanding of impulsivity.

Bibliography profiling of undergraduate theses in a professional psychology program

The bibliographic profile of 125 undergraduate (licentiate) theses was analyzed, describing absolute quantities of several bibliometric variables, as well as within-document indexes and average lags of the references. The results show a consistent pattern across the years in the 6 cohorts included in the sample (2001-2007), with variations, which fall within the robust confi dence intervals for the global central tendency. The median number of references per document was 52 (99% CI 47-55); the median  percentage of journal articles cited was 55%, with a median age for journal references of 9 years. Other highlights of the bibliographic profile were the use of foreign language references (median 61%), and low reliance on open web documents (median 2%). A cluster analysis of the bibliometric indexes resulted  in a typology of 2 main profiles, almost evenly distributed, one of them with the makeup of a natural science bibliographic profile and the second within the style of the humanities. In general, the number of references, proportion of papers, and age of the references are close to PhD dissertations and Master theses, setting a rather high standard for undergraduate theses.

An approach from positive psychology to mental health of university freshmen in Concepcion (Chile)

University is a demanding and changing environment for first year students, what could affect their mental health and their academic performance. Due these conditions, this research wanted to analyze mental health in freshmen of a private university in, Concepción, Chile, oriented by an approach from positive psychology. 554 were selected and surveyed to evaluate three variables: self-Esteem, satisfaction with life and optimism. furthermore, socio-demographic characteristics and mental health problems were assessed. Outcomes show that students evaluate positively themselves, their life and future. In addition, these variables are related with age, type of former school, religion, depression and anxiety. Systematic relationship found between these three strengths of mental health and their inverse relationship with the most prevalent problems in this area highlight the relevance that these three variables could have to define preventive and remedial strategies to promote student welfare.

Behavioral neurosciences in Latin-American psychology journals

Behavioral neurosciences have evolved from other disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and neurology, becoming a prominent area within general neuroscience. In mainstream psychology, neurosciences currently have an important role. In this paper we documented articles published in four Latin-American psychology journals and we classified these papers as empirical or theoretical. We analyzed the main topics covered in the behavioral neurosciences. Most of reported research used humans and rats as study subjects, although other species have also been used as models. Data suggest behavioral neurosciences currently play a growing and prominent role in Latin American psychology.

Qualitative research and consumer psychology: alternatives for application

Qualitative research is a research strategy used to analyze the reality. When applied to consumer psychology, it allows a deeper knowledge about consumer’s behavior and associated emotions and motivations. Qualitative research goes beyond the description of buyers’ behavior and shows information about how and why that behavior is produced.The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how qualitative research is relevant for the knowledge and the understanding of consumers’ behavior and how, through its techniques, it approaches the consumer’s socio-cultural reality and provides an interpretation of it. The present paper resumes the key aspects of qualitative research, mentioning its related antecedents of its contributions to the marketing and explaining the four most applied techniques in consumer psychology (interviews, focus group, ethnography and observation); moreover, it also studies the way to carry them out and gives some examples of some of the market issues which it can analyze. Finally, we take up again the qualitative data analysis as one of the most relevant topics because it produces important information for the decision making process related to the consumer. In addition, we explain the steps, strategies, types and technological tools to carry it out. 

determinismo; free will; psychology; science; profession

The discussion about the freewill and determinism con- troversy in human behavior is an old one in philosophy and psychology. Despite the fact that discussions on the topic are abundant, some of its implications seem to go unnoticed by psychologists, and especially by students of psychology. We argue that to the same extent that a psychologist is far from the determinism he imposes -a priori and unnecessary-constraints on the development of psychology as a science and profession. As a result, we suggest that the adoption of determinism as a wor- king hypothesis, is an important attitude for the transformation of psychology into a more effective science and profession.

Historical perspective of the Psychology of motivation

The psychology of motivation has a long tradition and history in psychology. In fact, we consider that, to a certain extent, understanding the history of the psychology of motivation is understanding great part of which has been psychology itself, since the main target of psychology was, and is, to try to explain behaviour, and the aim of psychology of motivation is to find out the causes of behaviour. In its long passage to the present time, there have been three perspectives that have monopolized most of the investigation: the biological, the behavioural and the cognitive. They are not excluding. Each one of them has been predominant in certain stages, although the same attention was paid to the other two. Nowadays, the biological and cognitive perspectives are those that receive greater attention from the investigators. The historical direction in the study of the psychology of motivation represents an important solution to know how the events that have given rise to the present consideration about the psychology of motivation were forged. To know the past helps us to understand the present, at the same time it allows us to hypothesise with great probability of success which will be the future in the study object.

Hans Jürgen Eysenck. Life and work of one of the most infl uential scientist in the history of psychology

On this article, the biography and work of one of the most influential scientists in psychology history is briefl y introduced. With his work, he laid the bases for the scientific study not only on personality, but also on human behaviour. Hence, the most important contributions done by this author are highlighted in a wide range of areas of our discipline, as well as the vision he had about how psychology should be as a science. A series of considerations related to the current situation of scientific psychology in Argentina, lead us to the conclusion that it is essential to rescue his work from forgetfulness, apart from going back over some of his lines of research and thoughts. 

Lessons in psychology – Colombia Nineteenth Century

Manuel Ancízar published in 1851 his Lectures on Psychology. The text has been a representative of the interests of Colombian intellectuals of the time for discipline. The treatise of the history of psychology Colombia have considered the nineteenth century as a period characterized by a poorly conceived attempt to import some emerging professional practices of psychiatric and educational type. However, the work of Ancízar showed large exhibition on the subject matter of psychology: human consciousness and the theories that support the formation of the new science. The core of the work is oriented towards the secular drama, against which Ancízar defended the supernatural origin and nature of the human soul. The author introduced an eclectic psychology in which, the secular orientation of modern ideas are integrated with the conception of the soul as a divine gift. The reading of the work has been outstanding and indispensable work for understanding ancient and autochthonous forms of access to psychological issues.

Resiliencia y variables sociodemograficas

En el presente trabajo se aborda la definición de una de las variables dentro de lo que se denomina Capital psicológico positivo, la Resiliencia, sus principales características y algunas de las variables socio demográficas que en el estudio pretenden ver el nivel de relación existente entre cada una de ellas (indirecta o directamente) en el proceso resiliente de una persona para posteriores discusiones y su implicación dentro de la gestión empresarial y sus direcciones futuras.

Poder e influencia en el liderazgo transformacional

Como proyecto de grado, el presente trabajo consiste en una revisión teórica de los conceptos de liderazgo, poder e influencia, junto con las posibles relaciones que entre ellos se pueden presentar. Para ello, cada concepto es definido de manera individual, y con base en ello, se identifica la dependencia que tienen estos conceptos entre sí y la importancia dentro del desarrollo del liderazgo transformacional actual. Para lograr lo propuesto, se llevó a cabo la revisión de una parte de la literatura académica presente en libros, revistas académicas, bases de datos y documentos relacionados con los temas y conceptos tratados. A partir de ello, se entendió la evolución del concepto del liderazgo y los enfoques presentados desde la década de los 1920´s hasta la actualidad, junto con el modelo de rango total y el tipo transaccional y transformacional del liderazgo, para luego definir el papel y la importancia de los conceptos de poder, los tipos de poder, la influencia y las tácticas de influencia, y así, identificar las posibles relaciones que se presentan entre los conceptos y la importancia de estos en el entorno organizacional actual.

Estereotipos sobre el envejecimiento según el periodo del desarrollo y el género

Teniendo en cuenta el drástico aumento en Colombia y el mundo de la población adulta mayor la pirámide poblacional se ha invertido. Lo que ha generado que cada vez haya más adultos mayores y la esperanza de vida sea mayor. Motivo por el cual surge la importancia de conocer diversos aspectos del envejecimiento, entre ellos los estereotipos. Adicionalmente hay muy poca investigación relacionada con los estereotipos sobre el envejecimiento según el género y el periodo de desarrollo. Levy (2009) encontró que son los jóvenes quienes tienen más estereotipos negativos sobre el envejecimiento pues estos sienten que la vejez está muy lejos de su realidad actual y no es en una amenaza personal. Por otro lado Bodner, Bergman y Cohen (2012), encontraron que son los hombres quienes tienen más estereotipos negativos sobre el envejecimiento. La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo describir el efecto del periodo del desarrollo y el género en los estereotipos sobre el envejecimiento en 860 adultos colombianos. Se midió la variable de estereotipos sobre el envejecimiento a través del cuestionario de Ramírez y Palacios (2015) y el periodo del desarrollo y el género a través de un cuestionario de datos sociodemograficos. Contrario a lo esperado, los resultados mostraron que no existe relación entre los estereotipos negativos con el género, el periodo del desarrollo, ni en la interacción de estos. En cambio, se encontraron diferencias entre los estereotipos positivos el género y el periodo de desarrollo. Se considera importante continuar realizando investigaciones relacionadas con esta temática pues cada vez son más los adultos mayores y la manera en que nos relacionemos con ellos, va a determinar un mejor proceso de envejecimiento para ellos.

Reciclaje de residuos sólidos domésticos y conductas pro-ambientales en una comunidad residencial de Bogotá, Colombia

Introducción: La implicación social dentro de la problemática ambiental, establece una relación causal entre hábitos e impacto ambiental; aspectos del comportamiento humano tales como la conveniencia, familiaridad, presión social y actitud, nos permiten realizar un acercamiento acerca de la decisión de reciclar o no en un hogar. Objetivo: identificar los factores ambientales asociados con el manejo de residuos domésticos entre los miembros de una comunidad residencial en la ciudad de Bogotá. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó un estudio transversal realizado a 200 personas de una comunidad residencial. La evaluación de la conducta pro-ambiental se llevó a cabo por medio de la utilización de la Escala del Comportamiento Pro-ambiental desarrollada por Corral-Verdugo unida a la escala de Reciclaje de Sidique. Para el tratamiento estadístico se empleó el análisis de regresión lineal múltiple. Resultados: La mayoría de los encuestados fueron hombres (55%), con una mediana de edad de 37,5 años. Más de la mitad tenía por lo menos formación en pregrado (53%), el 55,5% contaban con un empleo al momento de la entrevista, cerca del 50% de las personas refirieron tener casa propia y la mediana del tamaño de las mismas fue de 80 m2. De los aspectos sociodemográficos, el tipo de vivienda, sexo y edad, estuvieron relacionados con los factores ambientales pro reciclaje. Mientras que las conductas proambientales relacionadas fueron: altruismo, frugalidad, conducta ecológica general, indignación y aprecio por la naturaleza. Conclusiones: Las conductas proambientales Altruismo, Frugalidad, Conducta Ecológica, Indignación y Aprecio por lo natural, están relacionadas con la intención de reciclar. Para futuras investigaciones es necesario constatar la realización del comportamiento proambiental, para aseverar de manera irrebatible que las dimensiones analizadas pueden soportar una acción real y no un auto reporte de una conducta.