1,721,073 research outputs found
Problems of “Draw-a-Person: A Quantitative Scoring System” (DAP:QSS) as a Measure of Intelligence.
No full textThere has been some ongoing debate on whether the DAP:QSS can be used to measure intelligence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concurrent validity of the DAP:QSS with Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) and the DAP:QSS's accuracy as a predictor of RCPM scores and academic achievement. 184 children from two elementary schools in a region of Southern Italy was evaluated by the DAP:QSS, the RCPM, the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GH), and school marks. Drawings' scores, school marks, and RCPM scores were subjected to a Pearson's correlation. Stepwise regression analyses were carried out to identify significant predictors of RCPM scores and school marks. After controlling for socioeconomic status, the DAP:QSS showed a significant correlation with the RCPM and GH tests and academic achievement. However, the modest correlations with the RCPM, the small amount of variance in RCPM scores accounted for by the DAP:QSS (R2 = .24), and the errors of the DAP:QSS in correctly classifying participants with borderline/deficient intellectual functioning advise against the use of the DAP:QSS as a measure of intelligence
Effect of attachment and personality styles on the ability to interpret emotional vocal expressions: A cross-sectional study
Full text linkBackground: Taking attachment as its theoretical reference, the post-rationalist approach within cognitive theory has outlined two basic categories of the regulation of cognitive and emotional processes: the outward and inward personality orientations. Research on the role of attachment style in individuals' ability to decode emotions has never considered inward and outward orientations. Objective: This cross-sectional study was conducted to compare individuals with different attachment styles and different inward/outward personality organizations on their ability to decode vocal emotions. Methods: After being assessed for attachment and personality styles, a sample of university students performed an emotional-decoding task, and their accuracy (Study 1) and reaction time (Study 2) was measured. Gender effects were also examined. Results: No significant differences in emotion decoding accuracy emerged among individuals with either secure or insecure attachment styles and either inward or outward personality orientations. Both secure and inward individuals were significantly faster than insecure and outward ones in decoding vocal expressions of joy, whereas securely attached individuals were faster than insecure ones in decoding vocal expressions of anger. Conclusion: Considering that the recognition of emotion falls within the basic skills upon which typical social interactions are based, the findings can be useful to enhance the comprehension of personality-related factors involved in the context of daily social interactions
Stability analysis of slopes in soils with strain-softening behaviour
No full textABSTRACT:
This paper presents a numerical approach to analyse the stability of slopes in soils with strain-softening
behaviour. In these materials, a progressive failure can occur owing to a reduction of strength with
increasing strain. Such a phenomenon can be analysed using methods that are able to simulate the formation
and development of the shear zones in which strain localises. From a computational point of view,
this presents many difficulties because the numerical procedures currently used are often affected by a
lack of convergence, and the solution may depend strongly on the mesh adopted. In order to overcome
these numerical drawbacks, in the present study use is made of a non-local elasto-viscoplastic constitutive
model within the framework of the finite element method. The Mohr–Coulomb yield function is
adopted, and the strain-softening behaviour of the soil is simulated by reducing the strength parameters
with the increasing deviatoric plastic strain. To assess the reliability of the proposed approach, some
comparisons with the results obtained using other constitutive models for soils with strain-softening
behaviour are presented. Finally, a slope subjected to a prescribed process of weathering is considered,
and the effects of this process on the slope stability are discussed
The influence of the attachment style on the decoding accuracy of emotional vocal expressions.
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