A meta-cognitive approach to doping in sports: The effects of thought validation on attitudes related to doping

ABSTRACT

To better understand doping-related attitude change, it is important to consider not only the amount of thinking (i.e., elaboration) done by message recipients, but also the favourability of their thoughts in response to the proposal, as well as the perceived validity in their thoughts. The main goal of the present study was to analyse the effects of a meta-cognitive process (i.e., thought validation) on attitudes related to doping. Thus, we randomly assigned participants to read a message either against or in favour of legalising several doping behaviours. Participants listed their thoughts regarding the proposal and indicated the perceived validity in their thoughts, then reported their attitudes. As hypothesised, the message against legalisation elicited more unfavourable thoughts and attitudes than the message in favour of legalisation. Most relevantly, the effects of the message direction on attitudes were greater for participants with higher (vs. lower) levels of thought validity. Furthermore, consistent with the thought validation process, results revealed that thought favourability was a better predictor of attitudes for participants with higher (vs. lower) perceived thought validity, indicating that perceiving one’s thoughts as valid plays an important role in persuasion. These findings provide novel insights for research and interventions regarding doping in sports.     

肌酸激酶与力量训练的实验研究

以速滑运动员为研究对象,观察不同训练水平运动员进行不同强度和不同训练时间的力量训练前后,其体内肌酸激酶(CK)活性的变化.结果表明:只有达到一定训练强度,才可引起体内CK活性的显著变化;不同水平运动员进行大强度力量训练后,均可引起体内CK活性大幅度升高;不同水平运动员进行相同强度(80%、90%)的力量训练后,训练水平较高者较训练水平较低者CK值上升幅度小;相同级别运动员进行不同强度(80%、90%)的力量训练后,训练强度大者较训练强度小者CK活性上升幅度大;相同水平运动员以相同的大强度进行力量训练后,较长时间训练者比短时间训练者,其体内CK值上升得小.进而说明选择测定训练前后CK活性值来判定运动员对力量训练的反应,是较为敏感实用的指标之一.     

EFFECTS OF TEACHER–STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS ON PEER HARASSMENT: A MULTILEVEL STUDY

Peer harassment is a major social problem affecting children and adolescents internationally. Much research has focused on student‐to‐student harassment from either an individual or a multilevel perspective. There is a paucity of multilevel research on students’ relationships with the classroom teacher. The purpose of this study was to use a socioecological perspective to examine the relationships between individual student‐level characteristics, problematic teacher–student relationships, and student‐reported peer harassment. A total of 1,864 children (50.7% female) aged 8 to 13 years (M = 9.82, SD = 1.24), nested in 27 schools (58.2% public) in Spain, participated in the study. Ninety‐four homeroom teachers reported on teacher–student relationships, and students completed self‐report measures related to peer harassment and teacher–student relationships. Multilevel models showed that relationships between students and teachers exerted a varying degree of influence on classroom levels of peer harassment. Specifically, student‐reported teacher support was associated with diminished student‐reported peer victimization, whereas direct and indirect student‐reported teacher‐to‐student aggression was associated with increased peer victimization. Additionally, student‐reported student‐to‐teacher aggression and teacher‐to‐student aggression were associated with increased student‐reported peer aggression. Teacher‐reported variables at the classroom level, however, contributed little to student‐reported outcomes. Results are discussed in the context of future research on relationships between teachers and students.     

Improving cognitive and physical function through 12-weeks of resistance training in older adults: Randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

We performed a randomized, controlled trial to analyse the effects of resistance training (RT) on cognitive and physical function among older adults. Fifty participants (mean age 67 years, ~60% woman) were randomly assigned to an RT program or a control group. Participants allocated to RT performed three sets of 10-15RM in nine exercises, three times per week, for 12-weeks. Control group did not perform any exercise. Variables included cognitive (global and executive function) and physical function (gait, mobility and strength) outcomes. At completion of the intervention, RT was shown to have significantly mitigated the drop in selective attention and conflict resolution performance (Stroop test: -494.6; 95%CI: -883.1; ?106.1) and promoted a significant improvement in working memory (digit span forward: -0.6; 95%CI: ?1.0; ?0.1 and forward minus backward: -0.9; 95% CI: ?1.6; ?0.2) and verbal fluency (animal naming: +1.4, 95%CI 0.3, 2.5). No significant between-group differences were observed for other cognitive outcomes. Regarding physical function, at completion of the intervention, the RT group demonstrated improved fast-pace gait performance (?0.3; 95% CI: ?0.6; ?0.0) and 1-RM (+21.4 kg; 95%CI: 16.6; 26.2). No significant between-group differences were observed for other mobility-related outcomes. In conclusion, RT improves cognitive and physical function of older adults.     

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.     

Virtual Microscopy as a Learning Tool in Brazilian Medical Education

Virtual microscopy (VM) is a widely used teaching method in Medical Education in many developed countries. In Brazil, however, this is not the case for most medical schools, considering Brazilian social inequality and uneven access to technology. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has also challenged Universities to seek and make a transition toward more effective methods of full-time online education. Thus, the main goal of this work was to verify student's perception and academic performance, assessed upon VM implementation in a Brazilian Medical School. Ribeirao Preto Medical School students answered a 26-question survey with regards to optical microscopy (OM) and VM. Academic performance was compared between participants that were (year of 2019) or were not (year of 2015) exposed to VM. Taken the results together, subjective impressions such as handling, suitability, learning effectiveness, and pleasure using the tools, have shown a higher score for virtual microscopy (median = 29), when compared to optical microscopy (median = 24) with a P-value < 0.001 by Wilcoxon rank test, upon measurement using an ordinal scale. Regarding academic performance, no statistically significant differences were found between groups (P-value = 0.38, Cohen's d = 0.19). Therefore, VM proved to be adequate to the Brazilian medical education in light of Brazilian social contexts and Covid-19 pandemic.     

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version of the Life Skills Scale for Sport

ABSTRACT

This research adapted the Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS) into Portuguese and provided evidence for its construct validity. Study 1 included four translators and five academics who developed a Portuguese version of the LSSS (P-LSSS). During this study, evidence for the content and substantive aspects of construct validity was provided using an expert panel and 25 sports participants. Study 2 included 413 participants that completed the P-LSSS. Within this study, evidence for the structural aspect of construct validity was provided via factor analyses. Study 3 included 134 participants who completed the P-LSSS and a measure of motivation. This study provided evidence for the external aspect of construct validity, with results showing more self-determined motivation had positive relationships with participant’s life skills development. Overall, our findings provided evidence for the construct validity of P-LSSS scores. Researchers and practitioners can use the P-LSSS to assess life skills development within sports participants.     

School visits to zoos and museums: a missed educational opportunity?

Recent studies in exhibitions have begun to consider the cognitive content of the ‘dialogue’ between visitor and exhibit designer. Such studies have focused on the leisure visitor and not on organised school visits. The study reported here compares the conversational content of primary school and family visitors at the London Zoo and the Natural History Museum, London. The data show that there are common features to the children's interactions with animal exhibits and that the content of the conversations varies little between family groups and school groups both within an institution and between institutions. The lack of any marked distinction between school and family visitors strongly suggests that schools are failing to make effective use of the educational potential of zoos. Secondly, the findings of this study are important in pointing to the features of animal exhibits to which children, and their accompanying adults, attend. The data suggest that there is a gulf between the level of knowledge and understanding visitors bring to the exhibits and the message that the museums and zoos may wish to communicate. It is suggested that more successful education will only be achieved when museums and zoos give more credence to understanding what the visitor already does, or does not, know.     

Metaphors we’re colonised by? The case of data-driven educational technologies in Brazil

ABSTRACT

This article discusses issues concerning the spread of data-driven educational technologies in Brazil. Here, as elsewhere, educational technology continues to be promoted optimistically as the bearer of a panacea for historically-rooted social problems. Whilst some of these technologies have indeed contributed to important widening-participation programmes in the last two decades, widespread advocacy of technological ‘solutionism’, reflected in gradually stronger policy demands for efficiencies to be improved through ‘innovation’, has supported a relentless marketisation of the country’s educational systems. As transnational corporations position themselves to take control of key areas of these systems, threatening to restructure the whole sector, data-driven educational technologies provide the latest example in a series of ‘new’ ideas offered in an ever-expanding market. Based on the notion of ‘conceptual metaphors’, which encapsulate specific ways of perceiving, thinking and relating with the world, this article examines key metaphors underpinning discourses surrounding data-driven educational technologies in Brazil. In particular, the article analyses ways in which these specific metaphors may be promoting perspectives that ignore difference and obscure broader questions concerning education, thus contributing to the reproduction of previously existing problems and supporting new forms of colonisation.