1,721,057 research outputs found
The Ontological Representation of Death: A Scale to Measure the Idea of Annihilation Versus Passage
Full text linkSince the borders between natural life and death have been blurred by technique, in Western societies discussions and practices regarding death have became infinite. The studies in this area include all the most important topics of psychology, sociology, and philosophy. From a psychological point of view, the research has created many instruments for measuring death anxiety, fear, threat, depression, meaning of life, and among them, the profiles on death attitude are innumerable. This research presents the validation of a new attitude scale, which conjoins psychological dimensions and philosophical ones. This scale may be useful because the ontological idea of death has not yet been considered in research. The hypothesis is that it is different to believe that death is absolute annihilation than to be sure that it is a passage or a transformation of one’s personal identity. The hypothetical difference results in a greater inner suffering caused by the former idea. In order to measure this possibility, we analyzed the correlation between Testoni Death Representation Scale and Beck Hopelessness Scale, Suicide Resilience Inventory-25, and Reasons for Living Inventory. The results confirm the hypothesis, showing that the representation of death as total annihilation is positively correlated to hopelessness and negatively correlated to resilience
What makes a good student? How emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation contribute to academic Achievement
No full textThe authors propose a theoretical model linking emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation to academic achievement. This model was tested with 5,805 undergraduate students. They completed the Self-Regulated Learning, Emotions, and Motivation Computerized Battery (LEM–B) composed of 3 self-report questionnaires: the Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (LQ), the Emotions Questionnaire (EQ), and the Motivation Questionnaire (MQ). The findings were consistent with the authors’ hypotheses and appeared to support all aspects of the proposed model. The structural equation model showed that students’ emotions influence their self-regulated learning and their motivation, and these, in turn, affect academic achievement. Thus, self-regulated learning and motivation mediate the effects of emotions on academic achievement. Moreover, positive emotions foster academic achievement only when they are mediated by self-regulated learning and motivation. The results are discussed with regard to the key role of emotions in academic settings and in terms of theoretical implications for researchers
When being able is not enough. The combined value of positive affect and self-efficacy for job satisfaction in teaching
No full textThis study examines how good strategies and praxis interplay with positive affect and self-efficacy to determine a teacher's job satisfaction, in the hypothesis that teaching effectively does not in itself guarantee satisfaction: positive affect and self-efficacy beliefs are needed. Self-assessment scales,
designed to assess the use of efficient teaching strategies and praxes, self-efficacy in teaching, positive
affect and job satisfaction, were completed by 399 teachers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis revealed the mediating role of both positive affect and self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between teaching strategies/praxes and job satisfaction
Validation of the Brief Index of Sexual Functioning for women and men (BISF-W and BISF-M) in an Italian sample
No full textIntroduction: The Brief Index of Sexual Functioning for Women (BISF-W) is an international 4-factors tool assessing qualitative and quantitative aspects of sexual experiences in women, both in clinical and experimental settings. The present research aims at validating an Italian version of the BISF-W, to develop a BISF version for men (BISF-M) to fill the gap in the existing sexual function evaluation tools in Italy and to analyze gender and age groups differences in the BISF factors. Methods: The research included 6,355 women, aged from 18 to 65 (M = 34.94, SD = 10.52) and 2,207 men, aged from 18 to 80 (M = 38.25, SD = 13.67), who completed the BISF-W and BISF-M. The Quality of Marriage Index (QMI) was administrated to both samples for testing divergent validity, while Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) were administered for testing convergent validity. Correlation analysis, MANOVA between gender and age and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were conducted. Results: The CFAs confirmed that the proposed 4-factor model (Dyadic, Solitaire and Anal Sexuality, and Sexual Difficulties) is suitable both for the BISF-W and the BISF-M, demonstrated strong psychometric properties for assessing sexual functioning in both genders, with dyadic sexuality being the most important factor. MANOVA analysis showed significative differences in the factors’ scores, according to gender and age. Discussion: The BISF-W and the BISF-M are promising tools to address sexual functioning in individuals and couples, both in clinical and non-clinical settings. Gender and age differences are discussed regarding the potential use of BISF in the therapeutic context
La polizia penitenziaria: condizioni lavorative e salute organizzativa negli istituti penitenziari del Veneto
Full text linkCondizioni lavorative e salute organizzativa negli istituti penitenziari del Venet
The effects of coding on children's planning and inhibition skills
No full textComputational thinking (CT) and the coding element of it are progressively entering in the primary school curriculum worldwide. Yet, little is known about the effects of these skills on children’s cognitive development. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, we examined how 1st grade children’s gains in coding skills that follow instructional intervention transfer to two important executive functions (EFs): planning and response inhibition. One-hundred seventy-nine (179) first graders from 5 schools and 10 class groups, with no prior experience of coding, were randomly assigned to an experimental (coding, 5 classes) or control (standard STEM, 5 classes) instructional condition. The experimental intervention involved 8 h of coding activities (two weekly lessons for 4 weeks), through the Code.org platform. Children in the control group were exposed to standard STEM instruction. Four coding tasks drawn from Code.org, two standardized planning tasks (Elithorn maze test and Tower of London, ToL, test) and two standardized response inhibition tasks (NEPSY-II inhibition subtest and numerical Stroop), were used to assess children’s
skills at the pretest and posttest (after the instructional intervention). To measure retention, the same skills were also assessed for 44 children from the experimental group 5 weeks from the posttest (follow up). The results show that practice with coding through Code.org not only improved measurably children’s ability to solve coding problems, but also their EFs, increasing the time children spent planning, their ability to solve standardized planning tasks, and to inhibit prepotent responses. Such findings add to the still limited literature on the cognitive effects of coding, deepening our understanding of the positive implications of introducing Computational Thinking early in the school curriculum
THE TIME OF READING:THE FIRST PERCEPTION OF CHARACTERS IN NARRATIVE TEXTS
No full textWhen a character is introduced in a narrative text, his/her aspect and
personality are constructed by the reader on the basis both of information found in the
text and of inferences actively produced by the readers. The first perception of a
character is likely to change in the course of reading, as the reader encounters new
information and activates relevant inferences: this changes in the state of the mind are
components of reading pleasure.
The type of the information given by the narrator depends on his/her priorities.
Therefore, the reader receives information on the character and, at the same time, on the
narrator's priorities. In the course of his/her act of reading, the reader activates, in his
memory, material to be used in his concretization. In this way, s/he introduces new
information; what is not explicitly described may be concretized differently by different
readers. At the same time, the act of reading is very selective, removing information that
is considered irrelevant. If the reader is then asked about information which has not
been maintained in memory, s/he may be unable to recover it in full and may be forced
to draw inferences that lead to results that are different from the text's surface.
In this paper we examine the way in which six characters are introduced in
Italian novels by Gadda, Manzoni, Moravia, Svevo, Tarchetti and Vassalli. Participants
were asked to read passages from the texts where the characters were presented for the
first time and then summarize the passages and answer some questions. In our
examination of the answers, every time we find information that was not given in the
texts, we have evidence of material coming from the readers' inferences and world
knowledge. This study shows how characters can be concretized differently by different
readers, particularly in relation to gender and education
From Spatial to Social Asymmetry: Spontaneous and Conditioned Associations of Gender and Space
No full textAccording to the spatial agency bias model, in Western cultures agentic targets are envisaged as facing and acting rightward, in line with writing direction. In four studies of Italian participants, we examined the symbolic association between agency and the rightward direction (Study 1, N = 96), its spontaneous activation when attributing agency to female and male targets (Study 2, N = 80) or when judging the authenticity of photographs of men and women (Study 3, N = 57), and its possible relation to stereotype endorsement (Study 4, N = 80). In Study 4, we used a conditioning paradigm in which participants learned a counterstereotypical new association; we developed a novel measure to assess the association between gender and spatial direction, namely, the spatial association task. Participants envisaged and cognitively processed male and female targets in line with the spatial agency bias model and reported lower benevolent sexism after learning a new counterstereotypical spatial association. Our findings raise awareness about the biased use of space (and its consequences) in the representation of women and men, so that all people, and especially communicators and policy makers, can actively intervene to promote gender equality. Additional online materials for this article are available to PWQ subscribers on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/036168431667604
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