What do I want to feel? Emotion goals in childhood,adolescence, and adulthood

Beliefs about emotion utility can influence context-sensitive emotion goals (i.e., desired emotional responses). Although key for emotion regulation, emotion goals have been overlooked in children and adolescents. In 2018–2019 results of Studies 1 and 2 showed that children (N = 192, M_age = 8.65, 47% girls, 96% White) were less motivated by and found anger less useful in confrontation than adolescents (N = 192, M_age = 12.96, 50% girls, 93% White) and adults (N = 195, M_age = 29.82, 51% women, 96% White). The link between emotion goals and beliefs about emotion utility was weaker in children. In 2021, Study 3 (N = 60, 8-year-olds, 47% girls, 90% White) ruled out expectations as a possible explanation for the previous findings. Context-sensitive utility of emotions may be acquired during development.     

Resisting the sirens of temptation while studying: Using reappraisal to increase focus,enthusiasm, and performance

One of the major obstacles in the learning process is temptation, which has the power to divert students from even their most important goals (e.g. getting a degree). In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that cognitive reappraisal could be used to successfully resist temptation. Participants had to memorize tedious material while being tempted by pictures pasted on the wall (Study 1) or by funny clips on the television (Study 2). In Study 1, compared to a control group, participants who were instructed to reappraise the task as an opportunity to improve their memory (1) were less tempted by the pictures, (2) maintained their enthusiasm for the task, and (3) showed better performance in a subsequent memory test. Study 2 replicated and extended the findings from Study 1, showing that cognitive reappraisal is effective whether the target of reappraisal is the temptation itself, or the longer term goal. Taken together, our findings provide compelling evidence that cognitive reappraisal (of either the task or the temptation) may be a useful tool for increasing students' task performance and enthusiasm.     

A Case Study of Selection and Induction of Staff for Pre‐service Teacher Education in an Israeli University

The paper describes the structure of the pre‐service education programme in a major university in Israel, as well as the way teachers and tutors are selected for this programme. The unique feature of the programme is the affiliation of student teachers for two consecutive years with a tutor who is employed half‐time by the university and, at the same time, continues to teach in high school as a regular teacher.     

The Media and Economic Voting in Israel

The premise of the economic voting hypothesis is that citizensvote for the government if the national economy is doing well;otherwise, they vote against it. The causal chain of effectsin the economic voting hypothesis starts from the objectiveeconomic indicators, moves on to voter perceptions of the economy,and then to the vote. Under the competence hypothesis that isanalyzed here, this causal chain is slightly modified, withthe objective economy as the first step, voter perceptions ofthe economic competence of the government as the second step,and then the vote. It is argued that citizens learn about thestate of the national economy mainly from the media. Yet, onlyfew studies of economic voting include empirical analyses ofthe media's role in it. The findings support the competencehypothesis and the important role of the media in it. They underlinethe valuable contribution of media effects theories, and especiallymedia framing and priming, to our understanding of economicvoting.