Effects of arousal on organization of positive and negative affect and cognitions: Application to attitude theory

This study explores the impact of arousal on key relations in attitude theory. Specifically, arousal was hypothesized and found to (a) increase the association between positive cognitions about the consequences of an act and attitudes toward the act and (b) decrease the association between negative cognitions and attitudes, thereby producing positive‐negative asymmetries. No positive‐negative asymmetries were predicted and found, however, for the association between positive or negative affective reactions toward the consequences of the act and attitudes. Finally, arousal was hypothesized and also found to induce a unitization in general affective and cognitive evaluations. High arousal and low arousal were manipulated through the controlled viewing of slides in a fully randomized, two‐group design with measurement error taken into account and electrodermal activity monitored to demonstrate changes in arousal. Subjects were 220 male students who provided judgments, evaluations, and attitudes toward the act of giving blood. Knowledge‐assembly theory and the semantic network theory of memory were used to frame hypotheses that, in turn, are based on a cognitive social learning theory of the self‐regulation of one's emotional states.     

How Infants' Arousal Influences Their Visual Search

The influence of arousal on visual attention was examined in 6.5-month-old infants (N = 42) in the context of a visual search task. Phasic increases in arousal were induced with brief sounds and measured with pupil dilation. Evidence was found for an inverted U-shaped relation between pupil dilation amplitude and visual orienting, with highest likelihood of a target fixation at intermediate levels of arousal. Effects were similar for facial stimuli and simple objects. Together, these results contribute to our understanding of the relation between arousal and attention in infancy. The study also demonstrates that infants have a bias to orient to human eyes, even when presented in isolation.     

The Role of Emotion in Informal Science Learning: Testing an Exploratory Model

Although there is substantial research on the effect of emotions on educational outcomes in the classroom, relatively little is known about how emotion affects learning in informal science contexts. We examined the role of emotion in the context of an informal science learning experience by utilizing a path model to investigate the relationships among emotional arousal, valence, attention, environmental values and learning outcomes. Sixty undergraduate and graduate students participated in one of two treatments consisting of watching an exciting or neutral nature documentary video, reading an associated narrative, and taking a post‐test. Our findings suggested that higher emotional arousal, less pleasant feelings about the content, and stronger environmental values led to greater short‐term learning outcomes. We discuss our findings in relation to current understandings of emotion and learning in informal science education settings.     

Children's Intrinsic Motivation to Provide Help Themselves After Accidentally Harming Others

Little is known about the flexibility of children's prosocial motivation. Here, 2‐ and 3‐year‐old children's (n = 128) internal arousal, as measured via changes in pupil dilation, was increased after they accidentally harmed a victim but were unable to repair the harm. If they were able to repair (or if they themselves did not cause the harm and the help was provided by someone else) their arousal subsided. This suggests that children are especially motivated to help those whom they have harmed, perhaps out of a sense of guilt and a desire to reconcile with them. Young children care not only about the well‐being of others but also about the relationship they have with those who depend on their help.     

Technological novelty and open‐endedness: Two characteristics of interactive exhibits that contribute to the holding of visitor attention in a science museum

This study was undertaken to isolate characteristics of interactive exhibits that are particularly effective in attracting and holding the attention of visitors in a science museum. Forty‐seven visitors were tracked through two adjacent exhibitions, comprising a total of 61 interactive exhibits. Four exhibit characteristics were identified and examined: technological novelty, user‐centeredness, sensory stimulation, and open‐endedness. Regression analyses show that two of these characteristics, technological novelty and open‐endedness, help to account for the variance in average visitor holding time; these characteristics have positive correlations with the amount of time spent by visitors at exhibits. Nonsignificant results are explained in terms of mitigating environmental and exhibit‐related factors. In addition, topics for future study are suggested. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 121–137, 2003     

Complexity and Control: the organisational background of credentialism

Sociologists of education have until very recently ignored the role of organisational processes in generating the demand for qualified personnel, preferring instead to explain any ‘inflation’ of the value of credentials in terms of either class strategies of social reproduction or as the outcome of positional competition within the labour market. In recent years, however, neo‐Weberian theorists have tried to redress this imbalance by pointing to the importance of contextual features of organisation (such as size and national prominence) as predictors of educational demand, while neo‐Marxist historians of the firm have examined the role played by credentials within the control processes of the capitalist enterprise. As a preliminary to more extensive investigation, a path analysis was carried out using the data from the original Aston study which tested one possible causal model of the organisational processes behind the level of specialist qualifications found in a sample of firms and public institutions. This analysis underlines the importance of the organisational division of labour as a mediating influence between contextual features and patterns of bureaucratic control and suggests that the level of specialist qualifications, far from being ‘spuriously’ associated with organisational structures, is deeply embedded in the causal network of complexity and control.     

基于资产减值准备的盈余管理应计利润计量研究

基于公允价值的理念,提出一种计量盈余管理的新模型——改进后扩展Jones模型。这一模型主要是在计量总应计利润时,扣除了资产减值准备对盈余的影响,并在修正Jones模型的基础上,考虑无形资产对计量盈余管理的影响。利用我国上市公司2003年到2006年的数据,通过改进后扩展Jones模型与其他盈余管理计量模型的比较分析,发现改进后扩展Jones模型检定盈余管理的效果更加显著。     

An Examination of the Sibling Training Hypothesis for Disruptive Behavior in Early Childhood

Sibling training for disruptive behavior (one sibling teaching another disruptive behavior) is examined during early childhood. We used a conservative, recently developed, statistical model to identify sibling training. Sibling training was operationalized as the cross‐lagged association between earlier child behavior and later sibling behavior, and differentiated from other reasons that contribute to sibling similarity. A three‐wave longitudinal study tracked 916 children (M_age = 3.46, SD = 2.23) in 397 families using multi‐informant data. Evidence for sibling training was found. Earlier younger siblings’ disruptive behavior predicted later lower levels of older siblings’ disruptive behavior. Thus, the sibling training found in early childhood was producing greater dissimilarity, rather than similarity, on disruptive behavior.     

Depression,Fatigue, and Pre-Sleep Arousal: A Mediation Model

Fatigue is a common and debilitating symptom of clinical depression; however, the causes are not well understood. The present study was designed to test the hypotheses that subjective sleep, objective sleep, and arousal in the pre-sleep state would mediate the relationship between depression status and fatigue. Sleep, pre-sleep arousal, and fatigue were assessed in 21 depressed and 37 never-depressed undergraduates. Results showed that pre-sleep arousal was a significant partial mediator of the relationship between depression status and fatigue. These results indicate that arousal in the pre-sleep state deserves further attention as a potential antecedent to fatigue in clinically depressed undergraduates.     

Linking Stereotype Threat and Anxiety

Claude Steele’s stereotype threat hypothesis has attracted significant attention in recent years. This study tested one of the main tenets of his theory—that stereotype threat serves to increase individual anxiety levels, thus hurting performance—using real‐time measures of physiological arousal. Subjects were randomly assigned to either high or low stereotype threat conditions involving a challenging mathematics task while physiological measures of arousal were recorded. Results showed significant physiological reactance (skin conductance, skin temperature, blood pressure) as a function of a stereotype threat manipulation. These findings are consistent with the argument that stereotype threat manipulations either increase or decrease situational‐specific anxiety, and hold significant implications for thinking about fair assessment and testing practices in academic settings.     

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother–infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother–infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (M_age = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic). Newborn attention and arousal were measured shortly after birth using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale. Higher newborn arousal predicted a slower return of infant RSA to baseline. Additionally, greater newborn attention predicted mothers’ slower return to baseline RSA following the still-face paradigm, and this effect only held for mothers whose infants had lower newborn arousal. These findings suggest that newborn neurobehavior, measured within days of birth, may contribute to later mother–infant physiological processes while recovering from stress.     

Teaching nature of science through inquiry: Results of a 3‐year professional development program

This study assessed the influence of a 3‐year professional development program on elementary teachers' views of nature of science (NOS), instructional practice to promote students' appropriate NOS views, and the influence of participants' instruction on elementary student NOS views. Using the VNOS‐B and associated interviews the researchers tracked the changes in NOS views of teacher participants throughout the professional development program. The teachers participated in explicit–reflective activities, embedded in a program that emphasized scientific inquiry and inquiry‐based instruction, to help them improve their own elementary students' views of NOS. Elementary students were interviewed using the VNOS‐D to track changes in their NOS views, using classroom observations to note teacher influences on student ideas. Analysis of the VNOS‐B and VNOS‐D showed that teachers and most grades of elementary students showed positive changes in their views of NOS. The teachers also improved in their science pedagogy, as evidenced by analysis of their teaching. Implications for teacher professional development programs are made. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 653–680, 2007     

Visual Attention to Global and Local Stimulus Properties in 6‐Month‐Old Infants: Individual Differences and Event‐Related Potentials

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were utilized in an investigation of 21 six‐month‐olds’ attention to and processing of global and local properties of hierarchical patterns. Overall, infants demonstrated an advantage for processing the overall configuration (i.e., global properties) of local features of hierarchical patterns; however, processing advantages were found to vary based on individual differences in look duration. Short‐looking infants showed differences in the negative central ERP component and the late slow wave (LSW) indicating greater attention to and discrimination of changes in global properties. Analysis of the LSW revealed that long‐looking infants discriminated changes in local features, but did not discriminate changes in global properties of visual stimuli. These findings indicate that short‐ and long‐looking infants utilize different approaches when processing hierarchical patterns.     

Experimenting with Sound and Silence: sonorous bodies,sonic selves,acoustic topographies,and auditory histories of schooling

Abstract

This article deconstructs some of the underlying assumptions that inform projects in Paynter and Aston’s 1970 book, Sound and Silence. Foucauldian and Deleuzian technologies of power and technologies of desire are used to frame an argument that Paynter and Aston’s projects play into the fabrication of sonorous bodies and sonic selves but also provide potentialities for the creativity of the subject. Sound and silence as material-in-flux is analysed through notions of temporality and affect to argue for a context of hope in acoustic topographies and auditory histories of schooling.     

Sensitivity of Four Subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch) to Stimulant Medication in Children with ADHD

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were examined on four subtests of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA‐Ch) when on and off stimulant medication. Performance was assessed relative to 18 individually age‐matched controls. Children with ADHD performed significantly worse on TEA‐Ch measures when off compared to when on stimulant medication. This was found in both predominantly inattentive (n = 6) and combined inattentive and hyperactive‐impulsive (n = 12) subtypes. The age‐matched controls significantly improved with repeated testing on most TEA‐Ch measures. Significant differences were found between the unmedicated children with ADHD and age‐matched controls on sustained attention (Score! and Walk Don’t Walk) and attention control measures (Same and Opposite Worlds). When the ADHD group was on stimulant medication, with the exception of the Walk Don’t Walk subtest, no significant differences were found between them and the age‐matched controls. Unlike the TEA‐Ch subtests, the significant differences between the two groups on the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) subtests remained when attentional status was altered in the children with ADHD. The study supports further investigations of the TEA‐Ch as a measure sensitive to changes in stimulant medication in children with ADHD.     

Sources of science self‐efficacy beliefs of middle school students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which A. Bandura's ( 1997 ) hypothesized sources of self‐efficacy predict the science self‐efficacy beliefs of middle school students (N = 319), to replicate previous findings that science self‐efficacy predicts science achievement, and to explore how science self‐efficacy and its antecedents differ by gender. Significant correlations were found between mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, physiological arousal, and self‐efficacy. Only mastery experiences significantly predicted science self‐efficacy. Girls reported stronger science self‐efficacy than did boys. Findings support and extend the theoretical tenets of Bandura's social cognitive theory. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 485–499, 2006     

The Eyes Know Time: A Novel Paradigm to Reveal the Development of Temporal Memory

Temporal memory in 7‐year‐olds, 10‐year‐olds, and young adults (N = 78) was examined introducing a novel eye‐movement paradigm. Participants learned object sequences and were tested under three conditions: temporal order, temporal context, and recognition. Age‐related improvements in accuracy were found across conditions; accuracy in the temporal conditions was correlated with conventional time knowledge. Eye movements tracked the veridicality of temporal order memory in adults and 10‐year‐olds seconds before providing memory judgments, suggesting that these movements reflect implicit access to temporal information. Seven‐year‐olds overall did not show this eye‐movement effect, but those who did were more accurate than those who did not. Results suggest that eye movements capture aspects of temporal memory development that precede overt decision processes—with implications for hippocampal development.     

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.     

Business students learning at a distance: One form of pre‐enrolment counselling and its effect on retention

This pilot study tested the effect of a pre‐enrolment counselling booklet on prospective business students who were matched with others receiving normal enrolment materials. Eventual enrolments from both groups were tracked throughout the year with comparisons of retention rates, student satisfaction, motivation and commitment. Those not enrolling were approached to discover the effectiveness of the counselling booklet. Course completion for the booklet group was over twice that of the control group; intrinsic motivation increased for the booklet group while extrinsic motivation increased for the control group. Some indication was found that the booklet was effective in a self‐selection pre‐enrolment process.     

Development of Phonological Constancy: 19‐Month‐Olds,but Not 15‐Month‐Olds,Identify Words in a Non‐Native Regional Accent

By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity (phonological distinctiveness). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not (phonological constancy). To test development of phonological constancy, sixteen 15‐month‐olds and sixteen 19‐month‐olds completed an eye‐tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native (Australian) and an unfamiliar non‐native (Jamaican) regional accent of English. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for Australian pronunciations, but only 19‐month‐olds did so for Jamaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15‐month‐olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development.