Self-assessments of memory correlate with neuroticism and conscientiousness, not memory span performance

Self-report measures of cognitive problems may have value, but there are indications that scores on such measures are influenced by other factors such as personality. In an online correlational study, 523 non-clinical volunteers completed measures of personality, digit span, and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire. Self-reported prospective and retrospective memory failures were associated positively with neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness, but not with digit span performance. These findings are consistent with other indications that conscientiousness and neuroticism may underpin self-reports of cognitive problems.

Competition for Cooperation: variability, benefits and heritability of relational wealth in hunter-gatherers

Many defining human characteristics including theory of mind, culture and language relate to our sociality, and facilitate the formation and maintenance of cooperative relationships. Therefore, deciphering the context in which our sociality evolved is invaluable in understanding what makes us unique as a species. Much work has emphasised group-level competition, such as warfare, in moulding human cooperation and sociality. However, competition and cooperation also occur within groups; and inter-individual differences in sociality have reported fitness implications in numerous non-human taxa. Here we investigate whether differential access to cooperation (relational wealth) is likely to lead to variation in fitness at the individual level among BaYaka hunter-gatherers. Using economic gift games we find that relational wealth: a) displays individual-level variation; b) provides advantages in buffering food risk, and is positively associated with body mass index (BMI) and female fertility; c) is partially heritable. These results highlight that individual-level processes may have been fundamental in the extension of human cooperation beyond small units of related individuals, and in shaping our sociality. Additionally, the findings offer insight in to trends related to human sociality found from research in other fields such as psychology and epidemiology.

Looking for Determinants of Ontological Security in the Spain of the Crisis

The concept of ontological security has a remarkable echo in the current sociology to describe emotional status of men of late modernity. However, the concept created by Giddens in the eighties has been little used in empirical research covering various sources of risk or uncertainty. In this paper, a scale for ontological security is proposed. To do this, we start from the results of a research focused on the relationship between risk, uncertainty and vulnerability in the context of the economic crisis in Spain. These results were produced through nine focus groups and a telephone survey with standardized questionnaire applied to a national sample of 2,408 individuals over 18 years. This work is divided into three main sections. In the fi rst, a scale has been built from the results of the application of different items present in the questionnaire used. The second part explores the relationships of the scale obtained with the variables further approximate the emotional dimensions of individuals. The third part observes the variables that contribute to changes in the scale: These variables show the structural feature of the ontological security.

Intervención cognitivo-conductual para el control de ansiedad ante la biopsia insicional en pacientes con cáncer de mama

Oncological patients are submitted to invasive exams in order to obtain an accurate diagnosis; these procedures may cause maladaptative reactions (fear, anxiety and pain). Particularly in breast cancer, the most common diagnose technique is the incisional biopsy. Most of the patients are unaware about the procedure and for that reason they may focus their thoughts on possible events such as pain, bleeding, the anesthesia, or the later surgical wound care. Anxiety and pain may provoke physiological, behavioral and emotional complications, and because of this reason, the Behavioral Medicine trained psychologist takes an active role before and after the biopsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a cognitive-behavioral program to reduce anxiety in women submitted to incisional biopsy for the first time. There were 10 participants from the Hospital Juárez de México, Oncology service; all of them were treated as external patients. The intervention program focused in psycho-education and passive relaxation training using videos, tape-recorded instructions and pamphlets. Anxiety measures were performed using the IDARE-State inventory, and a visual-analogue scale of anxiety (EEF-A), and the measurement of blood pressure and heart rate). Data were analyzed both intrasubject and intersubject using the Wilcoxon test (p≤0.05). The results show a reduction in anxiety (as in punctuation as in ranges) besides, a reduction in the EEF-A.

Los estilos de enseñanza: construyendo puentes para transitar las diferencias individuales del alumnado

Para progresar en el camino hacia una efectiva atención a la diversidad, es inevitable desarrollar un estilo de enseñanza que tenga en cuenta las diferencias individuales que presenta el alumnado, muy vinculadas a intereses, necesidades, aptitudes, potencialidades y estilos de aprendizaje particulares del educando. Rasgos, todos ellos, que los hace únicos y diferenciados. Así, desde el estudio de la variabilidad intersujeto y partiendo de un marco teórico multidimensional, se describen y analizan las diferencias interindividuales e intergrupales de 555 estudiantes de la Facultades de Ciencias de la Educación de Galicia pertenecientes a las Universidades de Coruña, Santiago de Compostela y Vigo, bajo el prisma de los siguientes estilos de enseñanza: reflexivo, cooperador, individualizador, innovador, indagador y académico. Los resultados obtenidos revelan la existencia de diferencias significativas en las preferencias sobre estilos de enseñanza en función de las variables propuestas: Universidad, especialidad, sexo y edad.

Diagnóstico del rendimiento académico de estudiantes de una escuela de educación superior en México

El objetivo del artículo es realizar un diagnóstico sobre la percepción de los factores que intervienen en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de cinco carreras universitarias en una escuela de educación superior en México, para así reconocer las áreas de oportunidad que permitan sugerir políticas y estrategias para elevar su rendimiento. Se utilizó una muestra de 1651 estudiantes, se obtuvieron los datos a partir de un cuestionario con treinta preguntas que estudian la percepción del rendimiento académico en escala tipo Likert. Se realizó un análisis factorial exploratorio que permitiera reducir los datos, facilitar la interpretación y validar el instrumento. Se identificaron tres factores: a) el rol de los profesores, b) la evaluación y c) la motivación de los estudiantes. Se llevó a cabo un análisis comparativo por carrera. Se encontró que los estudiantes perciben que la mayoría de los maestros no se preocupan por la condición de los jóvenes en situación de reprobación. Además, casi no motivan y carecen de expresiones de sentimientos de orgullo por los logros académicos de los estudiantes. La mitad de los participantes piensa que los docentes no cubren el temario en su totalidad. Se detectó que los estudiantes poseen una alta motivación siendo esto positivo porque son alumnos dedicados y responsables. Se concluye realizando una serie de sugerencias y explicando las implicaciones que tiene este trabajo para las instituciones de educación superior.

Nuevo marco para la producción de textos académicos

Este trabajo presenta la reelaboración de un modelo de producción de textos escritos, publicado por el Grupo Didactext en 2003. Se sitúa en un marco sociocognitivo, lingüístico y didáctico, y está concebido desde la interacción de tres dimensiones simbolizadas por círculos concéntricos recurrentes. El primer círculo corresponde al ámbito cultural: las diversas esferas de la praxis humana en las que está inmersa toda actividad de composición escrita. El segundo se refiere a los contextos de producción, de los que forman parte el contexto social, el situacional, el físico, la audiencia y el medio de composición. El tercer círculo corresponde al individuo, en el que se tiene en cuenta el papel de la memoria en la producción de un texto desde el enfoque sociocultural, la motivación, las emociones y las estrategias cognitivas y metacognitivas, dentro de las cuales se conciben seis unidades funcionales que actúan en concurrencia: acceso al conocimiento, planificación, redacción, revisión y reescritura, edición, y presentación oral. La orientación didáctica se interesa por la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la escritura académica en las aulas, así como por la investigación de la escritura en contextos de educación.

La música en el desarrollo de la espiritualidad y la religiosidad. Una aproximación al Cristianismo y al Budismo

La música puede afectar al individuo en todos sus niveles –físico, mental y espiritual–. El presente artículo se centra en el papel que ésta desempeña en el desarrollo de la vida espiritual y trascendental. Para ello, realizaremos un repaso histórico de su evolución estética y social, abordaremos dicho fenómeno a nivel fisiológico y presentaremos sus aplicaciones clínicas y sociales. Seguidamente y a modo de ejemplo de las concepciones de pensamiento occidental y oriental, trataremos la forma en que el cristianismo y el budismo conciben la música dentro de su doctrina. Finalizaremos con algunas reflexiones sobre el tema.

Correlation between anxiety and academic self-concept in interpreter trainees

This paper focuses on two basic issues: the anxiety-generating nature of the interpreting task and the relevance of interpreter trainees’ academic self-concept. The first has already been acknowledged, although not extensively researched, in several papers, and the second has only been mentioned briefly in interpreting literature. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the anxiety and academic self-concept constructs among interpreter trainees. An adapted version of the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986), the Academic Autoconcept Scale (Schmidt, Messoulam & Molina, 2008) and a background information questionnaire were used to collect data. Students’ t-Test analysis results indicated that female students reported experiencing significantly higher levels of anxiety than male students. No significant gender difference in self-concept levels was found. Correlation analysis results suggested, on the one hand, that younger would-be interpreters suffered from higher anxiety levels and students with higher marks tended to have lower anxiety levels; and, on the other hand, that younger students had lower self-concept levels and higher-ability students held higher self-concept levels. In addition, the results revealed that students with higher anxiety levels tended to have lower self-concept levels. Based on these findings, recommendations for interpreting pedagogy are discussed.

Motivation and Vocabulary Breadth in CLIL and EFL Contexts. Different age, Same Time of Exposure

Numerous studies have found a positive connection between learners’ motivation towards foreign language and foreign language achievement. The present study examines the role of motivation in receptive vocabulary breadth (size) of two groups of Spanish learners of different ages, but all with 734 hours of instruction in English as a Foreign Language (EFL): a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) group in primary education and a non-CLIL (or EFL) group in secondary education. Most students in both groups were found to be highly motivated. The primary CLIL group slightly overcame the secondary non-CLIL group with respect to the mean general motivation but this is a non-significant difference. The secondary group surpass significantly the primary group in receptive vocabulary size. No relationship between the receptive vocabulary knowledge and general motivation is found in the primary CLIL group. On the other hand, a positive significant connection, although a very small one, is identified for the secondary non-CLIL group. We will discuss on the type of test, the age of students and the type of instruction as variables that could be influencing the results.

Receptive Vocabulary of CLIL and Non-CLIL Primary and Secondary School Learners

CLIL instruction has been reported to be beneficial for foreign language vocabulary learning since CLIL students show higher vocabulary profiles than students of their same age in traditional EFL contexts. However, to our knowledge, the receptive vocabulary knowledge of CLIL and non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary education has not been examined yet. Hence, this study aims at comparing the receptive vocabulary size 79 CLIL primary learners with the receptive vocabulary knowledge of 331 non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary school. Sex-based differences were also analysed. The 2k Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) was used for the purposes of the study. Results revealed that learners’ receptive vocabulary sizes lie within the most frequent 1000 words, non-CLIL secondary school students throw better results than primary students but the differences between the secondary group and the CLIL group are not statistically significant. As for sex-based differences, we found no significant differences among the groups. These findings led us to believe that the CLIL approach offers a benefit for vocabulary acquisition since CLIL learners have been exposed to the foreign language for a shorter period of time and the results are quite similar to their non-CLIL secondary school partners.

Sedentary behavior and not physical activity predicts study progress in distance education`

For the official publication, see: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.06.021

Naar verantwoorde zelfregulatie in opvoeding, onderwijs en diagnostiek.

De beoordeling van vorderingen en inzet van (extra) diagnostiek ('indicatiestelling') in het onderwijs kunnen de kans op het ontstaan van problemen bij een kind vergroten. Tijdige herkenning en preventieve ondervanging van de problemen vragen veranderingen in de inhoudelijke, evaluatieve, didactisch-organisatorische en diagnostische systematieken in en rond scholen. Daarom wordt gewerkt aan de opbouw van een inhoudelijk integrerende, pedagogisch-didactische kernstructuur (PDKS). Deze helpt de dialoog en samenwerking tussen opvoedeling(en) of leerling(en), opvoeder(s), leerkracht(en) en andere professionals eenduidig in te richten en te optimaliseren. Didactisch-organisatorische steun wordt verleend door passende software in de vorm van 'Diagnostische, Instructie en Management Systemen' (DIMS). De beoogde veranderingen worden samen met leerkrachten en schoolleidingen ontwikkeld en proefondervindelijk gerealiseerd in enkele scholen voor primair onderwijs. De schoolontwikkeling biedt de contextuele condities ter realisatie van 'verantwoorde zelfregulatie' van elk kind of elke leerling. Dit wordt toegelicht in verschillende praktijkvoorbeelden. Ook worden volgende ontwikkelingen geschetst.

Plasticity varies with boldness in a weakly-electric fish

The expression of animal personality is indicated by patterns of consistency in  individual behaviour. Often, the differences exhibited between individuals are consistent across situations. However, between some situations, this can be biased by variable levels of individual plasticity. The interaction between individual plasticity and animal personality can be illustrated by examining situation-sensitive personality traits such as boldness (i.e. risk-taking and exploration tendency). For the weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii, light condition is a major factor influencing behaviour. Adapted to navigate in low-light conditions, this species chooses to be more active in dark environments where risk from visual predators is lower. However, G. petersii also exhibit individual differences in their degree of behavioural change from light to dark. The present study, therefore, aims to  examine if an increase of motivation to explore in the safety of the dark, not only affects mean levels of boldness, but also the variation between individuals, as a result of differences  in individual plasticity.  Results: Boldness was consistent between a novel-object and a novel-environment situation in bright light. However, no consistency in boldness was noted between a bright (risky) and a  dark (safe) novel environment. Furthermore, there was a negative association between boldness and the degree of change across novel environments, with shier individuals  exhibiting greater behavioural plasticity.  Conclusions: This study highlights that individual plasticity can vary with personality. In  addition, the effect of light suggests that variation in boldness is situation specific. Finally,  there appears to be a trade-off between personality and individual plasticity with shy but  plastic individuals minimizing costs when perceiving risk and bold but stable individuals  consistently maximizing rewards, which can be maladaptive.

Acoustic signalling reflects personality in a social mammal

Social interactions among individuals are often mediated through acoustic signals. If acoustic signals are consistent and related to an individual's personality, these consistent individual differences in signalling may be an important driver in social interactions. However, few studies in non-human mammals have investigated the relationship between acoustic signalling and personality. Here we show that acoustic signalling rate is repeatable and strongly related to personality in a highly social mammal, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). Furthermore, acoustic signalling varied between environments of differing quality, with males from a poor-quality environment having a reduced vocalization rate compared with females and males from an enriched environment. Such differences may be mediated by personality with pigs from a poor-quality environment having more reactive and more extreme personality scores compared with pigs from an enriched environment. Our results add to the evidence that acoustic signalling reflects personality in a non-human mammal. Signals reflecting personalities may have far reaching consequences in shaping the evolution of social behaviours as acoustic communication forms an integral part of animal societies.