The seed of goal-related doubts : a longitudinal investigation of the roles of failure and expectation of success among police trainee applicants

Various theories on personal goal striving rely on the assumption that failure raises doubts about the goal. Yet, empirical evidence for an association between objective failure experiences and doubts about personal long-term goals is still missing. In a longitudinal field study, applicants for a job as a police trainee (n = 172, Mage = 25.15; 55 females and 117 males) were accompanied across three measurement times over a period of five months. We investigated the effects of failure and initial expectation of success (in the standardized selection process) on doubts regarding the superordinate goal of becoming a police officer. As hypothesized, both failure and low initial expectation of success as well as their interaction led to increased goal-related doubts over time. The findings provide first empirical evidence for the role of failure in the emergence of goal-related doubts in personal long-term goals and, therefore, the disengagement process as it is hypothesized in various theories on goal striving and life-span development

Critical bursts in filtration

Particle detachment bursts during the flow of suspensions through porous media are a phenomenon that can severely affect the efficiency of deep bed filters. Despite the relevance in several industrial fields, little is known about the statistical properties and the temporal organization of these events. We present experiments of suspensions of deionized water carrying quartz particles pushed with a peristaltic pump through a filter of glass beads measuring simultaneously pressure drop, flux and suspension solid fraction. We find that the burst size distribution scales consistently with a power-law, suggesting that we are in the presence of a novel experimental realization of a self-organized critical system. Temporal correlations are present in the time series, alike in other phenomena as earthquakes or neuronal activity bursts, and also an analog to Omori's law can be shown. The understanding of bursts statistics could provide novel insights in different fields, e.g. in filter and petroleum industries.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

Tomographic Study of Internal Erosion of Particle Flows in Porous Media

In particle-laden flows through porous media, porosity and permeability are significantly affected by the deposition and erosion of particles. Experiments show that the permeability evolution of a porous medium with respect to a particle suspension is not smooth, but rather exhibits significant jumps followed by longer periods of continuous permeability decrease. Their origin seems to be related to internal flow path reorganization by avalanches of deposited material due to erosion inside the porous medium. We apply neutron tomography to resolve the spatio-temporal evolution of the pore space during clogging and unclogging to prove the hypothesis of flow path reorganization behind the permeability jumps. This mechanistic understanding of clogging phenomena is relevant for a number of applications from oil production to filters or suffosion as the mechanisms behind sinkhole formation.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Effects of relaxation processes during deposition of anisotropic grains on a flat substrate

The ballistic deposition on a one dimensional substrate of grains with one degree of freedom, called spin, is studied with respect to relaxation processes during deposition. The "spin" represents the grain anisotropy, e.g. its longest axis with respect to the vertical. The grains interact through some contact energy (J) and are allowed to flip with a probability q during deposition and relaxation. Different relaxation processes are investigated. The pile structure is investigated, i.e. the density and "magnetisation", as a function of q and J. A percolation transition is found across which the cluster size changes from exponential-like to a power law-like dependence. The differences between "ferromagnetic" and "anti-ferromagnetic"-like contact energies are emphasized as a function of q.Comment: 7 pages, 8 fig., submitted to Physica

How self-awareness is connected to less experience of action crises in personal goal pursuit

In this research, we applied a differential perspective to the study of action crises, i.e., being in an intra-psychic decisional conflict whether to pursue or abandon a goal once difficulties in its pursuit arise. In two studies, we investigated the role of individuals’ levels of self-awareness when experiencing such action crises. Both among professional ballet dancers (daily diary, Study 1) and university undergraduates (preregistered experience sampling, Study 2), individuals with greater levels of (dispositional and situational) self-awareness showed an adaptive, that is, problem-solving oriented way of dealing with difficulties in the pursuit of their (training or study) goals. As a consequence, self-awareness contributed to less experience of action crisis during goal pursuit and, as a result, led to better goal performance

Herausforderungen und Ressourcen bei der Bewältigung des Sehverlusts

Mit COVIAGE (2014–2017) und SELODY (2019– 2021) wurden in der jüngeren Vergangenheit bereits zwei wissenschaftliche Studien zum Einfluss einer Sehbeeinträchtigung auf die Alltagsbewältigung und Lebensgestaltung publiziert. Während sich COVIAGE dem «Erfolgsrezept» des erfolgreichen Alterns widmete, konzentrierte sich SELODY auf die Auswirkungen einer Sehbeeinträchtigung auf die Partnerschaft. In einer Studie an der ZHAW machten wir sprichwörtlich einen Schritt zurück und rückten den Erblindungsprozess in den Fokus, ohne uns dabei auf eine Altersgruppe oder einen Lebensbereich zu beschränken. Mithilfe sog. Erzählinterviews wurde untersucht, mit (a) welchen Herausforderungen Menschen im Prozess des Sehverlusts konfrontiert sind und (b) welche Ressourcen deren Bewältigung erleichtern. Die Studienergebnisse sollen u. a. Fachpersonen und Angehörige dabei unterstützen, ein Verständnis für die Erlebniswelt sehbeeinträchtigter Menschen zu entwickeln. An unserer Studie nahmen 12 Menschen im Alter von 23 bis 80 Jahren teil, welche aufgrund einer degenerativen Augenerkrankung hochgradig sehbeeinträchtigt oder erblindet waren. Im Unterschied zu den beiden Vorgängerstudien mussten die Teilnehmenden weder einen Fragebogen ausfüllen noch auf die Fragen eines Interviewleitfadens antworten. Stattdessen wurden sie dazu eingeladen, ihre persönliche Geschichte des Sehverlusts zu erzählen, ohne dabei unterbrochen zu werden. Dadurch erhielten die Teilnehmenden Gestaltungsfreiheit in der Schilderung der eigenen Erfahrungen. Die Ergebnisinterpretation profitierte von den verschiedenen Perspektiven einer erblindeten Studentin und eines sehenden Studenten. Präsentiert werden nachfolgend exemplarisch Herausforderungen und Ressourcen zu vier Themenfeldern. Mithilfe echter Zitate aus den Interviews werden theoretische Inhalte anschaulich und lebendig. Die beiden fiktiven Figuren Alexandra und Kai stehen dabei stellvertretend für die Gesamtstichprobe

Age-related development of self-regulation : evidence on stability and change in action orientation

Action (vs. state) orientation describes the ability to modulate affect and is at the core of goal-directed self-regulation. However, evidence on stability and change over time is scarce. In Study 1 (N = 368 couples), we investigated measurement invariance of action orientation (measured with the ACS-90) as well as rank-order stability and mean-level change over a period of four years. We report results from three samples with young adults (Study 2). Measurement invariance was obtained for an adjusted ACS-90 scale after removing 4 items. Rank-order stability was high. In both studies, one of two subscales – prospective action orientation – increased over time. Positive change was most consistent for middle-aged adults, implying that self-regulatory abilities improve during middle adulthood