Implications of domain‐general “psychological support skills” for transfer of skill and acquisition of expertise

The article proposes that individuals who acquire certain psychological support skills may experience accelerated learning and enhanced performance in many domains. In support of this proposal, we present evidence that these skills enhance learning and performance, that they are domain‐general in that they can be applied in a variety of domains, and that they can be taught and learned. We also discuss two implications of the skills for current theories of expertise. The first is that any observed transfer of expertise between domains might result as much from the support supplied by application of the skills during learning and performance as from any direct transfer achieved due to two domains sharing similar task elements. The second is that use of these skills might contribute to an understanding of how performers sustain the motivation necessary for the extended period of deliberate practice required to maximize skill acquisition.     

Modifying socially withdrawn behavior: A playground intervention for students with internalizing behaviors

There is little research regarding interventions for children with internalizing behaviors in schools, both within classrooms and in nonclassroom environments. In response to this need, a nonclassroom treatment package, consisting of (a) social skills instruction, (b) mediated self‐management, and (c) a reinforcement system, was implemented to modify the socially withdrawn behavior of 3 elementary students. The effects of this treatment package were evaluated on the school playground—during recess—by recording both the number of communicative acts and the total time spent engaged in appropriate peer play for each target student. All target students showed marked improvement in their playground, social interaction. Future research should be conducted with similar populations, using variations of the described methods in other school settings. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 779–794, 2007.     

Effects of playing surface on physiological responses and performance variables in a controlled football simulation

Abstract

In spite of the increased acceptance of artificial turf in football, few studies have investigated if matches are altered by the type of surface used and no research has compared physiological responses to football activity on artificial and natural surfaces. In the present study, participants performed a football match simulation on high-quality artificial and natural surfaces. Neither mean heart rate (171 ± 9 beats · min^?1 vs. 171 ± 9 beats · min^?1; P > 0.05) nor blood lactate (4.8 ± 1.6 mM vs. 5.3 ± 1.8 mM; P > 0.05) differed between the artificial and natural surface, respectively. Measures of sprint, jumping and agility performance declined through the match simulation but surface type did not affect the decrease in performance. For example, the fatigue index of repeated sprints did not differ (P > 0.05) between the artificial, (6.9 ± 2.1%) and natural surface (7.4 ± 2.4%). The ability to turn after sprinting was affected by surface type but this difference was dependent on the type of turn. Although there were small differences in the ability to perform certain movements between artificial and natural surfaces, the results suggest that fatigue and physiological responses to football activity do not differ markedly between surface-type using the high-quality pitches of the present study.     

Past,present, future major sport event management practice: The practitioner perspective

The last decade has seen unprecedented demand to host major sport events, since they can potentially fulfil multi-levelled economic, social, and political agendas. However, despite their universal appeal and long history of implementation, the emergent industry is too often associated with examples of mismanagement. In the light of these continuing major sport event management incidents, the purpose of this study is to provide a review of current management practice and to place this in some sense of temporal context by reflecting on the historical as well future development of the evolving industry.Adopting a practitioner focus at the local organising committee level, a self-administered postal questionnaire was sent to 178 major sport event organisers from 11 countries. Based upon a stratified sample of the 20 priority sports of England, the most senior manager of these sport governing bodies and local authority hosts was invited to participate in the study. Providing a questionnaire response rate of 26% a second phase of data collection was undertaken. This entailed 10 in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews selected on the basis of a geographical convenience sample (50 mile radius of author) of returned questionnaire respondents.The findings reveal that current success is based upon effective and efficient management of the tripartite relationship of sport, media, and the event funders, as well as limiting chance occurrences. Reflecting on the historical and future drivers of the event industry, it was further concluded that a better understanding of economics, technology and culture are fundamental to ensuing a safer and new era of global professionalism.     

The ins and outs of US youth soccer: learning about loyalty and success

This paper discusses one aspect of competitive youth team soccer in the US: the tension between loyalty and success. Teams use rituals to encourage parents and players to place loyalty to the team over individual goals and self-interest. But competitive teams value team success over loyalty to its players. And youth learn to place self-interest over loyalty to the team, even at the cost of friendships. This becomes an important lesson for youth in a competitive economic system, where success in adulthood is often defined in economic terms. Thus, competitive youth soccer reproduces an upper-middle-class habitus familiar to many of the families that participate in youth sports in the US. The pursuit of desirable careers typically demands geographic mobility and the routine abandonment of significant others. It is a taken for granted aspect of the upper middle-class worldview, learned at a young age in competitive team sports such as soccer.     

道德教育的根本作为:引导生活的建构

道德教育的根本使命是成人。回归生活的德育要回归于人自身,而生活则是建立在实践基础之上的人之特殊生命活动。德育所回归的人是在生活实践中与他人、他物发生相互关系和作用的人,不是静止、孤立的实体。生活是人自己建构起来的,生活建构的结果,外在表现为生活方式,内在表现为人之品性。人就是他自己生活建构的结果,由是,生活论德育不是将人之至善追求诉诸孤立的人性改造,而是奠基于现实生活的改变。道德教育的根本作为就是引导生活的建构,它所指向的是更有利于人之生成和发展的好生活。道德教育要帮助学习者学会关注、反思、改变生活,提高他们的生活建构的品质和能力。     

Mental age and syntactic development in the intellectually handicapped

Language samples from five mildly intellectually handicapped subjects with chronological ages ranging from 11 years 0 months to 11 years 8 months, and mental ages ranging from 6 years 2 months to 10 years 1 month were analysed syntactically. The results indicated problems in identifying the relationship between mental age and indices of linguistic sophistication. Most correlations were not significant, and the results suggested that these eleven year old mildly intellectually handicapped children may not show syntactic differences as great as those of mental age. At this age, differences exhibited in language may be due more to variables of individual experience, and especially the teaching strategies they experience. The results do not support the documented hypothesis that language development is closely related to mental age.     

Making More of Faculty Culture: An Experiment in Building Intellectual Community

With the increase in academic specialty,scholars and leaders have sought new ways tostrengthen intellectual community. Their strategiesinclude experimenting with organisational structuresto bring about desired change. This qualitative casestudy examines the influences of such a structure. The Luce Seminars was a programme designed to supportsustained faculty conversation across disciplines atEmory University, a research university located in theUnited States. The analysis found that key functional and symbolic aspects of the program contributed to intenseparticipant involvement, resulting in broadened anddeepened intellectual discourse, enhanced disciplinaryorientation, and expanded possibilities for teachingand research. The authors conclude that structuredfaculty conversation across disciplines strengtheneddimensions of faculty culture related to interactionand scholarship at the university and suggest somebroad areas for future research.     

Comparing the magnitude and direction of asymmetry during the squat,countermovement and drop jump tests in elite youth female soccer players

ABSTRACT

The aims of the present study were to provide an in-depth comparison of inter-limb asymmetry and determine how consistently asymmetry favours the same limb during different vertical jump tests. Eighteen elite female under-17 soccer players conducted unilateral squat jumps (SJ), countermovement jumps (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ) on a portable force platform, with jump height, peak force, concentric impulse and peak power as common metrics across tests. For the magnitude of asymmetry, concentric impulse was significantly greater during the SJ test compared to CMJ (p = 0.019) and DJ (p = 0.003). No other significant differences in magnitude were present. For the direction of asymmetry, Kappa coefficients revealed fair to substantial levels of agreement between the SJ and CMJ (Kappa = 0.35 to 0.61) tests, but only slight to fair levels of agreement between the SJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.26 to 0.18) and CMJ and DJ (Kappa = ?0.13 to 0.26) tests. These results highlight that the mean asymmetry value may be a poor indicator of true variability of between-limb differences in healthy athletes. The direction of asymmetry may provide a useful monitoring tool for practitioners in healthy athletes, when no obvious between-limb deficit exists.