The contribution of children’s self-regulation and classroom quality to children’s adaptive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom.

In this study, the authors examined the extent to which children’s self-regulation upon kindergarten entrance and classroom quality in kindergarten contributed to children’s adaptive classroom behavior. Children’s self-regulation was assessed using a direct assessment upon entrance into kindergarten. Classroom quality was measured on the basis of multiple classroom observations during the kindergarten year. Children’s adaptive classroom behavior in kindergarten was assessed through teacher report and classroom observations: Teachers rated children’s cognitive and behavioral self-control and work habits during the spring of the kindergarten year; observers rated children’s engagement and measured off-task behavior at 2-month intervals from November to May. Hierarchical linear models revealed that children’s self-regulation upon school entry in a direct assessment related to teachers’ report of behavioral self-control, cognitive self-control, and work habits in the spring of the kindergarten year. Classroom quality, particularly teachers’ effective classroom management, was linked to children’s greater behavioral and cognitive self-control, children’s higher behavioral engagement, and less time spent off-task in the classroom. Classroom quality did not moderate the relation between children’s self-regulation upon school entry and children’s adaptive classroom behaviors in kindergarten. The discussion considers the implications of classroom management for supporting children’s early development of behavioral skills that are important in school settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Home numeracy experiences and children’s math performance in the early school years.

Children’s numerical competence in kindergarten is highly predictive of their acquisition of mathematics in Grade 1 and Grade 2, suggesting that experiences at home before schooling are important in understanding how numeracy develops. In this study, the mathematical skills of 146 children in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 were correlated with the frequency with which parents reported informal activities that have quantitative components such as board and card games, shopping, or cooking. Effect sizes were consistent with research relating home literacy experiences to children’s vocabulary. The present research supports claims about the importance of home experiences in children’s acquisition of mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion perception in Alzheimer’s disease and mood disorder in old age.

Difficulties in understanding emotional signals might have important implications for social interactions in old age. In this study we investigated emotion perception skills involved in decoding facial expressions of emotion in healthy older adults, compared with those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or late-life mood disorder (MD). Although those with MD were mildly impaired in identifying emotional expressions, this was not caused by negative biases in choosing labels. Emotion decoding performance in AD was much more impaired, particularly when relatively subtle expressions were presented. Difficulties in choosing between labels to describe an emotional face were predicted by executive dysfunction, whereas impaired ability to match 2 emotional faces was related to general difficulties with face perception. Across all 3 groups, problems with emotion perception predicted quality of life independently of variance predicted by cognitive function and mood, indicating the potential importance of emotion decoding skills in the well-being of older adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory efficiency and the strategic control of attention at encoding: Impairments of value-directed remembering in Alzheimer’s disease.

Selecting what is important to remember, attending to this information, and then later recalling it can be thought of in terms of the strategic control of attention and the efficient use of memory. To examine whether aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) influenced this ability, the present study used a selectivity task, where studied items were worth various point values and participants were asked to maximize the value of the items they recalled. Relative to younger adults (N = 35) and healthy older adults (N = 109), individuals with very mild AD (N = 41), and mild AD (N = 13) showed impairments in the strategic and efficient encoding and recall of high value items. Although individuals with AD recalled more high value items than low value items, they did not efficiently maximize memory performance (as measured by a selectivity index) relative to healthy older adults. Performance on complex working memory span tasks was related to the recall of the high value items but not low value items. This pattern suggests that relative to healthy aging, AD leads to impairments in strategic control at encoding and value-directed remembering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Countertransference in child psychoanalytic psychotherapy: The emergence of the analyst’s childhood.

The author focuses on a particular type of countertransference with children—the emergence of the therapist’s childhood memories and experiences in child psychotherapy. The revival of these childhood recollections in the analyst is not a barrier or sign of pathology as previously held, but rather in some cases a vital resource that may potentially deepen and facilitate analytic work. The therapist’s memory and attendant fantasies, physical/sensory experience, and affect states in the context of the childhood memory may afford the analyst the opportunity to not only make contact with his or her “self” as a child, but also to further symbolize these states of mind and use them in the exploration of the child patient’s mind. Through intersubjective exchanges with the patient, the analyst’s childhood memories are given new meaning in the context of the therapeutic work with the child patient. The author highlights the uniqueness of countertransference with children as compared with adults. A detailed clinical vignette is presented, organized around the arrival of a memory from the analyst’s childhood and how the analyst made use of it in the transference/countertransference field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Precipitates in the Behavior of Young’s Modulus in Aluminum Alloys

The behavior of Young’s modulus, E, was determined in aluminum alloys such as AA7075 and AA2024 at room temperature under various thermomechanical treatments. E was almost 2 pct (AA7075) and 3 pct (AA2024) lower for these materials after solution heat treatment and quenching than after annealing. When the aging time was increased, values of E tended to approach the annealing values. The variation observed was attributed to structural changes during the thermal treatments. However, when the alloys were cold deformed before or after aging, no appreciable changes in E were observed. This behavior is quite different to that observed in cold-worked pure aluminum (and also in pure iron), in which E decreased to a minimum (7 to 10 pct reduction in values) and then partially recovered with additional cold working. The variation in behavior with cold working observed in a pure material and other materials that contain a second phase with nanometric precipitates was correlated with the density of dislocations and the length of the dislocation segments generated during the cold working process.     

The benefits and costs of repeated testing on the learning of face–name pairs in healthy older adults.

We compared the benefits of repeated testing and repeated study on cued recall of unfamiliar face–name pairs in healthy middle-aged and older adults. We extended Karpicke and Roediger's (2008) paradigm to compare the effects of repeated study versus repeated testing after each face–name pair was correctly recalled once. The results from Experiment 1, which provided no feedback during the acquisition phase, yielded a crossover interaction: Middle-aged adults showed the expected benefit of repeated testing, whereas older adults produced a benefit of repeated study. When participants were given feedback in Experiment 2, both middle-aged and older adults benefited from repeated testing. We suggest that for face–name pairs, feedback may be particularly important for individuals who have relatively poor memory to produce benefits from repeated testing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychoanalytic process and Freud’s concepts of transference and transference neurosis.

The author investigates the concept of psychoanalytic process as it relates to the capability for defining the specificity of psychoanalytic treatments. The concept is traced back to its origin in Freud’s understanding of transference and transference neurosis. The author suggests that this process should be understood as an issue in which via “just-like-interpretations” contents of the patient’s transference enter into consciousness in the guise of a transference neurosis. These newly built substitutive formations are then removed by “just-like-it-was-interpretations” and changed into other substitutive formations. As this process can only be instigated by psychoanalytic measures, it is, therefore, the process itself that defines the specific difference of psychoanalytic treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partem totius naturae esse: Spinoza’s alternative to the mutual incomprehension of physicalism and mentalism in psychology.

Spinoza’s account of human agency is presented as a solution to the fundamental dichotomy between physicalism and mentalism in psychology. It is argued that this dichotomy originates in the 17th century with the Cartesian and Hobbesian responses to the collapse of the Scholastic synthesis. Spinoza’s view of nature as equally Mind and Body, and his understanding of efficient causality as grounded in a self-caused natural totality are described. Spinozism’s relative lack of influence on contemporary scientific culture is attributed to his work having been marginalized during the 1st century after his death by political and religious authorities. Contemporary responses to the mentalist/physicalist dichotomy are discussed, as are trends in contemporary psychology that were foreshadowed by Spinoza’s observations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking marital conflict and children’s adjustment: The role of young children’s perceptions.

Young children’s (n = 96) perceptions and appraisals of their parents’ marital conflict were evaluated at age 5 and again at age 6. Concurrent reports of marital conflict by each parent and teachers’ reports of children’s classroom adjustment served as criteria against which to evaluate the validity of young children’s perceptions. Children’s perceptions of their parents’ marital relationship were significantly correlated with spouses’ reports at ages 5 and 6, as well as correlated with teacher reports of internalizing and externalizing problems. Consistent with the cognitive–contextual theory, children’s tendency to blame themselves for their parents’ conflict partially mediated the link between marital conflict and children’s internalizing symptoms. In contrast, children’s reports that they become involved in their parents’ conflict partially mediated the effect of marital conflict on externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of play therapists in children’s transitions: From residential care to foster care.

Permanency planning operates on the belief that all children have the right to stable housing. This approach to child welfare has been implemented as a way to protect children from the negative outcomes associated with long-term residential care and multiple foster home placements. When a child is ready to leave residential care and return to a family living environment, there are multiple steps involved in the selection of a family and a child’s preparation for discharge. Play therapists perform many roles in these cases, all of which are critically important to children’s success in their new environments. This article’s aims are to (a) describe the various roles of play therapists in the residential-to-foster care transition process, (b) highlight several therapeutic techniques play therapists can use in their work with children preparing to leave residential care and enter a new foster home, and (c) discuss some of conflicting feelings that accompanies such sensitive work. A case study will further illustrate the ways in which play therapists can advocate for children who are ready to leave residential care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habitual size and projective size: The logic of spatial systems in children’s drawings.

The current study analyzed figure size modification in different types of spatial context (C. Lange-Küttner, 1997, Lange-Küttner, 2004) for sequence and practice effects. Children of 7, 9, and 11 years of age, as well as 17-year-olds, drew figures in a series of ready-made spatial axes systems, which (a) logically increased in dimensional complexity as in child development, (b) were randomized in sequence, or (c) were absent, as a control condition for figure size reduction through practice. Already 7-year-olds could subtly adapt figure size in the logical sequence, but the amount of size reduction stayed within the same size range as in the other two conditions. Only at 9 years of age did children show sensitivity to spatial constraints, with smaller figures in both the logical and random sequence than in the control condition. At 11 years of age, the spatial scale of figure size was maximized, particularly so in children who could change perspective and construct a bird’s-eye view, whereas this effect was attenuated in the 17-year-olds. Implications of the results for domain-specific conceptual development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of China’s special steel and the application prospects of spray-formed materials

Suggestions have been put forward speeding up the development of high-level tool steel and mold steel in China based on the analysis of products and development status of special steel home and abroad.Feasibility and necessity to produce high-level tool steel and mold steel by applying the spray forming method in future have been put forward.     

The Analysis on the Export Trend of China’s Aluminum Profiles in the Near Future

Since September 2006,in order to Control the export of products high in energy consumption, causing high pollution and with high intensity of resources and encourage the import of raw materials,the import and export policies on     

Feeling recovered and thinking about the good sides of one’s work.

Consistent with a positive psychology perspective, this longitudinal study investigated relations between positive and negative nonwork experiences (i.e., feeling recovered, thinking about the positive and negative aspects of one’s work during leisure time) with different job performance dimensions. In total, 358 employees working with persons with special needs responded to two questionnaires at an interval of 6 months. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that feeling recovered during leisure time predicted an increase in task performance after 6 months. This relation was mediated by occupational self-efficacy. Positive work reflection was found to predict an increase in proactive behavior (personal initiative, creativity) and organizational citizenship behavior. Negative work reflection was unrelated to job performance. Our results emphasize the role of positive nonwork experiences for employees’ job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of facial masking and sex on older adults’ impressions of individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves facial masking, which may impair social interaction. Older adult observers who viewed segments of videotaped interviews of individuals with PD expressed less interest in relationships with women with higher masking and judged them as less supportive. Masking did not affect ratings of men in these domains, possibly because higher masking violates gender norms for expressivity in women but not in men. Observers formed less accurate ratings of the social supportiveness and social strain of women than men, and higher masking decreased accuracy for ratings of strain. Results suggest that some of the problems with social relationships in PD may be due to inaccurate impressions and reduced desire to interact with individuals with higher masking, especially women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and individual differences in young children’s use and maintenance of a selective memory strategy.

Children who were 4 to 8 years of age were asked to perform a sort-recall task where only half of the items had to be studied and remembered. Following a baseline trial, children were assigned to 1 of 3 groups and were prompted to use either a sorting or a clustering strategy (experimental groups) or were not prompted at all (control group). Children were seen 2 weeks later and given a new set of items for the transfer-of-training sort–recall phases. Levels of recall and strategy use (sorting, clustering, multiple strategy use) were higher for older children, typical items, sorting prompts, and trials with repeated presentations of test materials. Older children used more strategies than younger children, although even 4-year-olds used more than one strategy when performing the memory tasks. Results of multivariate cluster analyses revealed systematic individual differences, separating low performers from production-deficient children and high performers. Overall, findings show that clustering appears to be an early developing, but less effective strategy, with multiple-strategy use and especially sorting being used more frequently and effectively by older children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)