Solution-oriented talks with students. Clever questions provoke solutions

Wer Schülerinnen und Schüler lösungsorientiert beraten will, sollte bei deren Kompetenzen ansetzen und nicht bei den Defiziten. Beratung soll die Schüler dazu anregen, ihre schon vorhandenen Möglichkeiten zur Lösung eines Problems zu entdecken und diese konstruktiv zu nutzen. Hilfreich ist dabei eine spezielle Fragetechnik der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer. (DIPF/Orig.)Whoever wants to provide solution-oriented counsel to students, should focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses. Counseling is to stimulate students to discover the already existing possibilities to the solution of problems and to use them constructively. A special technique of questions employed by teachers facilitates this process. (DIPF/Orig.

A Program for At-Risk High School Students Informed by Evolutionary Science

Improving the academic performance of at-risk high school students has proven difficult, often calling for an extended day, extended school year, and other expensive measures. Here we report the results of a program for at-risk 9th and 10th graders in Binghamton, New York, called the Regents Academy that takes place during the normal school day and year. The design of the program is informed by the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation and learning, in general and for our species as a unique product of biocultural evolution. Not only did the Regents Academy students outperform their comparison group in a randomized control design, but they performed on a par with the average high school student in Binghamton on state-mandated exams. All students can benefit from the social environment provided for at-risk students at the Regents Academy, which is within the reach of most public school districts

Evidence-based Kernels: Fundamental Units of Behavioral Influence

This paper describes evidence-based kernels, fundamental units of behavioral influence that appear to underlie effective prevention and treatment for children, adults, and families. A kernel is a behavior–influence procedure shown through experimental analysis to affect a specific behavior and that is indivisible in the sense that removing any of its components would render it inert. Existing evidence shows that a variety of kernels can influence behavior in context, and some evidence suggests that frequent use or sufficient use of some kernels may produce longer lasting behavioral shifts. The analysis of kernels could contribute to an empirically based theory of behavioral influence, augment existing prevention or treatment efforts, facilitate the dissemination of effective prevention and treatment practices, clarify the active ingredients in existing interventions, and contribute to efficiently developing interventions that are more effective. Kernels involve one or more of the following mechanisms of behavior influence: reinforcement, altering antecedents, changing verbal relational responding, or changing physiological states directly. The paper describes 52 of these kernels, and details practical, theoretical, and research implications, including calling for a national database of kernels that influence human behavior

Perceived coach behavior in training and competition predicts collective efficacy in female elite handball players

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between athletes’ perceived coach behaviors during training and competition, and collective efficacy. Elite female handball players in Norway (N = 113) completed the Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS), the Coaching Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), and the Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports (CEQS). Relationships were identified between perceived coach behaviors in training and competition environments and with athlete collective efficacy. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that prediction of variance in collective efficacy improved when perceptions of coach behaviour during competition were entered in addition to perceptions of coach leadership behavior during training. Furthermore, the results indicated that greater levels of perceived training and instructional behavior, positive feedback, social support, and supportiveness predicted greater collective efficacy. In contrast, higher perceptions of negative activation predicted lower levels of collective efficacy. The results highlight the important relationships between coach behavior in both training and competition, and their combined impact upon collective efficacy in elite female handball teams.status: publishe

A team fares well with a fair coach: Predictors of social loafing in interactive female sport teams

The present research aimed to develop and test a theoretical model that links players' perceived justice of the coach to a more optimal motivational climate, which in turn increases players' team identification and cohesion, and results in lower levels of social loafing in female sport teams. Belgian elite female basketball, volleyball, and football players (study 1; N = 259; Mage = 22.6) and Norwegian world-class female handball players (study 2; N = 110; Mage = 22.8) completed questionnaires assessing players' perceived justice (distributive and procedural), motivational climate, team identification, team cohesion (task and social), and social loafing (perceived and self-reported). In both studies, confirmatory and exploratory path analyses indicated that perceived justice was positively related to a mastery climate (P < 0.05) and negatively to a performance climate (P < 0.05). In turn, a mastery climate was linked to increased levels of team identification (P < 0.05) and task cohesion (P < 0.05). Consequently, players' perceived and self-reported social loafing decreased (P < 0.05). The findings of both independent studies demonstrated the impact of coaches' fairness, and consequently, the motivational climate created by the coach on the optimal functioning of female sport teams.status: publishe