Mate Value Discrepancy as Predictor of Forgiveness and Jealousy in Romantic Relationships

Mate value discrepancy (MVD), the perceived difference in resource value between self and partner in romantic relationships, may impact both forgiveness and jealousy. One hundred seventy-nine participants rated their own and their partner's mate value, and self-reported forgiveness and jealousy. MVD was associated with forgiveness in romantic relationships in that the higher the value of one's mate in relation to self, the more likely an individual would forgive that partner's transgression. Similarly, MVD played a role with jealousy in that the higher the value of the partner, the more likely an individual experienced jealousy. Additionally, individuals were more likely to forgive transgressions when their partners had higher mate values than theirs, even when jealousy is experienced.     

Understanding the Routine Expression of Deceptive Affection in Romantic Relationships

Studies suggest that individuals regularly communicate inauthentic affectionate messages to their romantic partners. Yet, most studies do not describe this process, what constitutes deceptive affection, or the functions involved. The study involved a 7-day diary in which participants recorded what they lied about, why they lied, and how they used affection to deceive their romantic partners. Results indicate that participants lied about their own feelings, feelings about their partners, or feelings about the situation. They communicated deceptive affection using verbal messages of confirmation or avoidance, and incorporated nonverbal cues of haptics, proxemics, and kinesics. Motives for the deception included face-saving, conflict management/avoidance, and emotion management. This study provides a clearer picture of how deceptive communication may support and maintain romantic relationships.     

Does Our Humor Affect Us?: An Examination of a Dyad's Humor Orientation

In this article, researchers explain how individuals' similarities in humor orientation influence dyadic cohesion and satisfaction. The researchers in this study investigated the impact of communication appropriateness as a mediating variable in relationships. Relational partners (n = 151 dyads) completed measures of both self and other regarding humor orientation, cohesion, and satisfaction. A couple's humor orientation was positively correlated with both dyadic satisfaction and cohesion. Communication appropriateness was a mediating factor in both the relationship between a couple's humor orientation and dyadic cohesion, and humor orientation and satisfaction. The overall dyadic humor orientation was more important than a couple's humor discrepancy, or either partner's scores.     

Towards a Competency Model for Teaching Computer Science

To address the special challenges of teaching computer science, adequate development of teachers’ competencies during their education is extremely important. In particular, pedagogical content knowledge and teachers’ beliefs and motivational orientations play an important role in effective teaching. This research field has been sparsely investigated up to now and there exists no consistent competency model for teaching computer science in Germany. Therefore, this paper describes the development of competency in the areas of pedagogical content knowledge, teachers’ beliefs, and motivational orientations with regard to computer science. Competency-relevant factors for teaching computer science are theoretically derived and concretely formulated with the help of expert interviews conducted according to the critical incident technique and analyzed using techniques of qualitative content analysis.     

Book reviews and notes

CRITICS OF SOCIETY: RADICAL THOUGHT IN NORTH AMERICA by T. B. Bottomore. New York: Pantheon Books, 1968. viii + 150 pp. $4.95

TWO WORLDS OF CHILDHOOD by Urie Bronfenbrenner. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970. x+ 190pp. $7.95.

JACQUES BARZUN ON WRITING, EDITING, AND PUBLISHING by Jacques Barzun. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1971. xi + 130pp. $1.35.

STUDENT HOUSING: ARCHITECTURAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS by William Mullins and Phyllis Allen. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971. vii+248pp. $25.00.

ARCHITECTURE FOR THE EDUCATIONAL THEATRE by Horace W. Robinson. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon, 1970. 147 pp. $7.50.     

Development of Intra‐ and Intergroup Judgments in the Context of Moral and Social‐Conventional Norms

Children and adolescents evaluated group inclusion and exclusion in the context of generic and group‐specific norms involving morality and social conventions. Participants (N = 381), aged 9.5 and 13.5 years, judged an in‐group member's decision to deviate from the norms of the group, whom to include, and whether their personal preference was the same as what they expected a group should do. Deviating from in‐group moral norms about unequal allocation of resources was viewed more positively than deviating from conventional norms about nontraditional dress codes. With age, participants gave priority to group‐specific norms and differentiated what the group should do from their own preference about the group's decision, revealing a developmental picture about children's complex understanding of group dynamics and group norms.     

Explaining the mathematical creativity of a young boy: an interdisciplinary venture between mathematics education and psychoanalysis

Curriculum documents for mathematics emphasise the importance of promoting depth of knowledge rather than shallow coverage of the curriculum. In this paper, we report on a study that explored the analysis of junior secondary mathematics textbooks to assess their potential to assist in teaching and learning aimed at building and applying deep mathematical knowledge. The method of analysis involved the establishment of a set of specific curriculum goals and associated indicators, based on research into the teaching and learning of a particular field within the mathematics curriculum, namely proportion and proportional reasoning. Topic selection was due to its pervasive nature throughout the school mathematics curriculum at this level. As a result of this study, it was found that the five textbook series examined provided limited support for the development of multiplicative structures required for proportional reasoning, and hence would not serve well the development of deep learning of mathematics. The study demonstrated a method that could be applied to the analysis of junior secondary mathematics in many parts of the world.     

Epistemic trajectories: mentoring in a game design practicum

Innovative professionals rely on a specific ways of thinking to solve the nonstandard problems that come up in practice (Goodwin, Am Anthropol 96(3):606–633, 1994; Schön, The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action, 1983; Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions, 1987; Sullivan, Work and integrity: the crisis and promise of professionalism in America, 1995). The professions have reproductive practices for transmitting these ways of thinking, such as practica (Schön, Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions, 1987). In this paper, we examine the learning relationship between a mentor and team of college students through an ethnographic study of a game design practicum at a European arts school. To examine the role that the mentor played in this practicum, we use two theoretical constructs. Epistemic frames—the configurations of the skills, knowledge, identities, values, and epistemologies that professionals use to think in innovative ways—provide a model for examining professional expertise (Shaffer, Comput Educ, 46(3):223–234, 2006a). Epistemic network analysis (ENA) (Shaffer et al., Int J Learn Media, 1(2):33–53, 2009) is a method for quantifying changes in epistemic frames (Shaffer, The bicycle helmets of “Amsterdam”: computer games and the problem of transfer, 2010). Our results here suggest that the mentor leads the team on a path that illuminates the nature of learning to think professionally, as well the function of a mentor in that process. We argue that the mentor, rather than providing a direct map to a professional vantage point, scaffolds aspects of the epistemic frame of game design that, in turn, aid in the development of a more professional frame. Using ENA to understand the way that mentors help coach learners to develop epistemic frames should be useful for further studies of professional education, as well as for studies of apprenticeship-based programs for youth.     

Progress at school and school effectiveness: non-cognitive dispositions and within-class markets

The New Zealand Progress at School project, designed to investigate school effects, found that individual progress at school is associated with a set of non-cognitive dispositions, most importantly, aspiration, self-concept, and acceptance of the institutional regime. The few schools identified as over-and under-performing were distinguished by the favourable and unfavourable dispositions of their students. School composition - or mix - effects proved in this study to be minor and relative to the output criterion, and some implications of that, including the selective effects of within-class markets, are discussed with particular reference to another contemporary New Zealand study, the Smithfield project. It is concluded that the study of school effectiveness might usefully include in its models the relationship between the properties of systems, the level of disposition, and the forms of practice they generate.