Retrospective analysis of previous relationship disengagement and current and current attachment style

This study examined attachment styles and disengagement strategies used to end romantic relationships for 213 college students. The research predicted differences between attributions about the cause of the breakup and who initiated the breakup. The study also predicted differences in reports about the use of disengagement strategies, depending upon a person's attachment style and whom they attributed as the initiator of the breakup. People more frequently attributed the cause of breakups to situational factors than to the other person; and least frequently, to self. Persons who perceived they caused the breakup more frequently perceived they also initiated the breakup. Some of the hypothesized differences in reports about the use of disengagement strategies for persons with different attachment styles and different attributions of who initiated the breakup were observed for positive‐tone, behavioral de‐escalation, and negative identity management strategies. Leniency in self‐attributions was detected in higher reports of self‐use of justification strategies and lower reports of self‐use of behavioral de‐escalation.     

The effect of adult interactive style on the spontaneous communication of young children with autism at school

Relatively little is known about the effect of adult interactive style on children's communication. The aim of this study, written by Lila Kossyvaki, Glenys Jones and Karen Guldberg, all from the University of Birmingham, was to explore the effects of adult interactive style on children's spontaneous communication. The study used an action research methodology. Six children aged between four and five years with autism and three members of staff participated. Each child was video recorded for a total of two hours across four activities. The staff, in collaboration with the researcher, developed and put into practice an Adult Interactive Style Intervention (AISI) intended to promote spontaneous communication. Two months later each child was recorded for two hours across the same activities with staff using AISI. Cohen's d effect size was calculated to measure the differences pre‐ and post‐intervention. The increase in total initiations post‐intervention for all six children was significant. The findings suggest that attention should be paid to adult style when developing communication in children with autism.     

The effect of gender,deceit orientation and communicator style on macro‐assessments of honesty

Recently, deception research has focused primarily on micro‐analytic methods of lie detection (e.g., eye contact duration, response latency, vocal errors). This study adopted a macro‐assessment approach, where deception detection is based on global evaluations of communication, specifically honesty evaluation based on communicator style. 385 subjects viewed four different videotape segments of individuals participating in a simulated job interview. Two of the individuals were truthful throughout the interview, and two fabricated false information on some questions. Subjects were asked to evaluate or assess the honesty level of these individuals, as well as assess a number of communicator style dimensions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that honesty assessments can be predicted from communication style characterized by high friendliness, attentiveness, and preciseness, and low animated and dramatic styles. Some differences were observed for communicator style predictions of honesty based on liars/truthers, subject gender, target gender, and deceit‐orientation differences. Implications for future research are noted.     

Differences in one's own and one's partner's perceptions of social skills as a function of attachment style

Two studies focused on attachment‐style differences in people's social skills. Study 1 had a sample of 237 students who completed questionnaires assessing their own attachment styles and social skills (based on Riggio's six dimensions of social skill). Study 2, which focused on partner‐reports, used data from 258 couples to determine whether people's perceptions of a partner's social skill would vary based on the partner's self‐reported attachment style. The results revealed attachment‐style differences in various social skills across self‐and partner‐reports; however, these differences were generally less robust for partner‐reports. Differences in self‐reported social skill were consistent with Bartholomew's two‐factor conceptualization of attachment. Dismissive and fearful individuals rated themselves as relatively antisocial and unexpressive, in line with their negative models of others; preoccupied and fearful individuals rated themselves as overly sensitive, in line with their negative models of self. Preoccupied individuals were also perceived as the most socially sensitive by their partners, and across all the analyses, secures were ostensibly the most socially skilled.     

The relationships of communicator style, personality-based learning style, and classroom community among online graduate students

This study examined the relationships among communicator style, personality-based learning style, and sense of classroom community among 72 graduate students enrolled in online doctoral coursework. Findings suggested that communicator style patterns were related to learning styles and to classroom community. Moreover, the results of a canonical correlation suggested that friendly and open communicator styles were significantly related to feelings of being connected and the precise communicator style was related to both feelings of connectedness and to feelings that membership in the online learning community fostered educational goal attainment. No significant relationships were found between learning styles and classroom community.     

Evaluating Change and Stability in Learning Style Scores: a methodological concern

Learning styles are purported to be relatively stable characteristics with some change or development expected. Some studies using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) have reported significant positive test‐retest correlations of LSI scores or nonsignificant repeated‐measures ANOVAs and concluded that learning styles are stable. This study examined stability and change on Kolb's revised Learning Style Inventory (LSI‐1985) using 152 participants at two points in time separated by about 10 weeks. A variety of statistics were used to evaluate stability and change in LSI‐1985 scores for the four subscales and two dimensions and the four learning styles. The use of test‐retest correlations, differences between means and other methods emphasising group effects were criticised. It was recommended that researchers also analyse and report the stability and change of style categories directly, not just score changes. These comments are also applicable to other learning style measures such as the Learning Style Questionnaire.     

The Influence of Gender Identity on Separation Related Depressive Phenomena in College Men and Women

The chapter examines the effects of gender identity formation on the depressive configurations of men and women. It is proposed that the separation-individuation processes in males and females differ significantly and, in conjection with gender identity development, contribute to dramatic differences in males' and females' orientations toward relatedness, autonomy, separation, and their internal and external object worlds. Clinical vignettes are included as a means of illustrating the contrasting manifestations of man's and women's struggles with separation-individuation.     

The Development of Adolescents' Emotional Stability and General Self-Concept: The interplay of parents,peers, and gender

Gender differences associated with the development of adolescents' sense of general self-concept (confidence and self-worth) and emotional stability (calmness, freedom from anxiety, and depression) were investigated using a sample of 655 adolescents (mean age 16 years). Relationships with parents were important for males' emotional stability but not females' and so this finding challenges the belief that adolescent males are more concerned with establishing independence from parents than females. The research also challenges the notion that adolescent boys are less interested in close personal peer relationships than girls. Same sex and opposite sex peer relationships were more influential in the formation of adolescents' emotional stability than parental relationships. A reciprocal relationship was revealed between general self-concept and emotional stability. Comparing these results with results obtained on the same students 18 months previously (aged 14.5 years), demonstrates that adolescents increasingly transfer their emotional attachment from parents to peers in a process called individuation.     

Assessing ‘inexperienced’ students' ability to self‐assess: exploring links with learning style and academic personal control

The study sought to establish the level of students' self‐assessment skill—particularly inexperienced students—and to examine the relationship between self‐assessment skill and learning style, student perceptions of academic locus of control and academic self‐efficacy. Students were asked to evaluate and provide estimated marks for their own work, were which compared with tutors' actual marks. Students also completed measures of learning style, academic locus control and academic self‐efficacy. Comparisons of student estimated and tutor marks indicated a good level of self‐assessment skill in the majority of students. A significant minority of students did however fail to exhibit such skills. There was also some evidence of a tendency for students to underestimate their performance. While both strategic and deep approaches to learning were shown to be positively correlated with tutor mark, only surface approach was negatively correlated with students' estimated mark, suggesting that surface learners are inclined to provide lower evaluations of their own performance. Deep approach was also correlated with accuracy of student self‐assessment skill, suggesting that deep learning is associated with self‐assessment competency. No clear or convincing associations between self‐assessment skill and perceptions of academic locus of control or academic self‐efficacy were identified. Findings suggest that while self‐assessment skill undoubtedly develops, becoming more effective during students' academic career, inexperienced students do have the capacity for self‐evaluation and should therefore be included in self‐assessment activities. In the light of findings related to learning style and the heterogeneous nature of student groups, student monitoring and skill development are proposed in order to allow the integration of self‐assessment into the learning and assessment process.     

The differential impact of extrinsic and mastery goal orientations on males' and females' self-regulated learning

We investigated whether there were gender differences in associations between males' and females' mastery and extrinsic goal orientations and measures of self-regulated learning (self-efficacy, cognitive, and regulatory strategies) and performance. Survey data from 445 seventh- and eighth-grade students at both the beginning and end of the year indicated that males were more extrinsically oriented than females, whereas females reported greater use of cognitive strategies than males. Regression analyses indicated that for males an extrinsic goal orientation at the beginning of the year was related to decreased self-efficacy, less use of regulatory and cognitive strategies, and decreased performance at the end of the year. Females' extrinsic orientation did not affect any of those outcomes. Females' mastery orientation at the beginning of the year predicted increased self-efficacy, and increased use of regulatory and cognitive strategies at the end of the year. There were no positive effects over time for males holding a mastery orientation.     

Do you know what I'm thinking? A comparison of teacher and parent perspectives of underachieving gifted students' attitudes

The Achievement Orientation Model posits students are motivated to do well in school when they believe they have the necessary skills to perform a task (self-efficacy), find the task meaningful (goal valuation), and see their environment as supportive. When these factors are present, students self-regulate and achieve. We examined these factors from underachieving gifted students', their parents', and teachers' perspectives. Results indicated teachers recognize students who are confident and not confident about their abilities to be academically successful; however, they are less able to recognize when students value the work they are encountering in school. Parents' perceptions of students' attitudes more closely correlated with students' perceptions than teachers' perceptions correlated with students' perceptions. Teachers and parents appeared to base their perception of the importance students hold for school on their perception of students' self-regulation. Furthermore, gender differences existed in students' perceptions. Females' self-efficacy scores were statistically lower than males' self-efficacy scores, and males' self-regulation scores were lower than females' self-regulation scores. We provide suggestions for how school psychologists may use these findings to (a) collect important information from students, teachers, and parents, (b) interpret these data to identify underlying influential factors, and (c) guide the development of appropriate interventions to address student underachievement.     

‘They are out of control’: self‐perceptions,risk‐taking and attributional style of adolescents with SEBDs

Fifty‐six secondary school students with and without social emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBDs) completed self‐report measures of their strengths and difficulties, self‐concept and social identity, cognitive attributional style and participated in computer‐based tests of risk‐taking and impulsivity. Contrary to common understanding, the students with SEBDs made realistic estimations of their difficulties and were as able to make attributions as their peers without SEBDs; though they tended to attribute negative events internally significantly more often than did students without SEBDs. No differences were found between the two groups in terms of risk‐taking as measured on a computer‐based test. Implications of these findings for identification of and working with students with SEBDs are considered.     

A social inequality of motivation? The relationship between beliefs about academic success and young people's educational attainment

Meritocratic ideals, which emphasise individual responsibility and self‐motivation, have featured prominently in discourses about Australia's international competitiveness in academic achievement. Young people are often encouraged to attribute academic success and failure to individual factors such as hard work and talent, and to downplay extrinsic factors such as luck, task difficulty, or broader structural advantages and disadvantages. Using longitudinal data on a large, single‐age cohort (n=2,145) of young Australians participating in the Social Futures and Life Pathways (‘Our Lives’) project, we analyse the relationship between attributions for academic success across their final years of secondary schooling and how they related to educational attainment at the end of school. The belief that hard work would lead to academic success was widespread within the sample and positively associated with subsequent educational performance. Most students also emphasised the importance of having a supportive family, despite this being negatively associated with performance. Consistent with claims about a ‘social inequality of motivation’, the findings suggest that emphasising meritocracy may compound the disadvantages of young people from less educated or vocational backgrounds, and those living in rural and regional Australia, whilst impacting unevenly on males' and females' academic performance.     

Getting old and heading south: the academic success of Southerner learners in design cohorts

This paper investigates the relationship between learning style, as determined by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, age and one measure of academic performance in design assignments for two cohorts of first‐ and third‐year architecture students. The paper focuses on the results of a cross‐curriculum learning style survey conducted as part of a project aimed at resolving the learning difficulties of students collaborating in multi‐disciplinary and multi‐cultural team assignments. The research was conducted to determine how learning style differences in heterogeneous teams might be addressed through pedagogy. In light of evidence in student cohorts of learning style changes towards the learning styles of design teachers as students progress through their studies, this paper demonstrates how these changes reflect a statistically significant relationship between learning styles and academic performance in design assignments.     

浅谈文学翻译中的风格问题

文学翻译中的风格问题至关重要。风格既具有可知性,又包含一些非确定因素。在文学翻译中风格是可知的,同时这种可知性又有其限度。译者应尽可能地传达和再现原作的风格。     

Attribution style of adolescents with school-reported social,emotional and behavioural difficulties

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between attribution style and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBDs), and to explore differences in attribution tendencies between adolescents with and without SEBDs. In total, 72 adolescents attending a school in London were recruited; 27 were receiving support for SEBDs from the behaviour and education support team at their school and 45 were recruited from the main school population. Participants completed the Children’s Attribution Style Questionnaire and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that adolescents with SEBDs had a more negative attribution style, made more stable attributions of negative events and reported fewer internal attributions of positive events than students without SEBDs. The findings highlight the importance of cognitive factors in providing a basis for interventions intending to address young people’s behaviour and cater for the heterogeneous nature of SEBDs.     

Black males' self‐perceptions of academic ability and gifted potential in advanced science classes

The purpose of this research effort was to examine Black male students' self‐perceptions of academic ability and gifted potential in science. The purposeful sample consisted of nine Black males between the ages of 14 and 18 years. Four categories of self‐perceptions of academic ability and gifted potential emerged from the data. These included: (a) gifted high achievers; (b) gifted “could do better” high achievers; (c) gifted “could do better” situational nonachievers; and (d) gifted “could do better” underachievers. Science teachers' influences that referenced participants' academic achievement pointed to validation. Participants' perceptions regarding how science teachers' influenced their academic performance focused on science teachers' content knowledge. Power dynamics germane to Black male participants' value or worth that directed their efforts in science learning environments are discussed. Implications are posited for science teaching, science education programs, and future research. This research endeavor was based on two premises. The first premise is that Black males' self‐perceptions of academic ability affect their science academic achievement. The second premise is that, given parental, peer, and community influences, science teachers have considerable influence on students' self‐perceptions of academic ability. However, the focus of this research was not on parental influences, peer influences, or any potential influences that participants' communities may have on their academic achievement. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 888–911, 2005     

Communication and decision‐making styles,power base usage,and satisfaction in marital dyads

This research focused on use of power, decision‐making and communication styles of spouses in marital dyads, and the level of marital satisfaction of the partners in these relationships. Drawing primarily on previous work involving Management Communication Style and decision‐making styles in organizational and instructional communication contexts, but also examining directly relevant work within the marital context, three hypotheses and five research questions were advanced. Marital satisfaction for members of 136 marital dyads was examined to determine its relationship with self‐ and spouse‐reported communication and decision‐making styles and use of various power bases in communication designed to influence marital partner. The three hypotheses were supported by the findings: 1) Self‐reported satisfaction as a member of a marital dyad was positively related to the spouse's use of a more co‐active style of communication and decision‐making; 2) Such satisfaction was positively related to one's spouse's communication of referent power; and 3) Such satisfaction was negatively related to one's spouse's communication of coercive power. Use of reward power was also found to be negatively associated with a spouse's marital satisfaction. With only one meaningful exception, results for husbands and wives were very similar.     

Individual Differences in Learning: Cognitive control,cognitive style,and learning style

This paper assesses the value of three learning style tests when used to examine the design of educational materials for teaching computer science at a distance. The paper presents three studies where three different learning styles were used to discriminate preference and performance in different contexts. The studies indicate that the Learning Style Questionnaire and the Group Embedded Figures Test are of little value. However the Cognitive Style Analysis proved useful in discriminating performance on imagery‐rich materials in a simulated learning context. The paper argues that it may be necessary to match the theoretical basis of learning style with the context in which it is used in order to gain useful information. On the whole the studies showed that the value of learning style tests may be limited.