Flexible social perspective taking in higher education and the role of contextual cues

Being able to coordinate the perspectives of oneself and others is likely to be helpful in educational contexts. For example, teachers need flexible social perspective taking to understand their own perspectives and those of their students. Evidence suggests that reading facilitates social perspective taking because it involves readers coordinating social perspectives. However, there is little evidence on actual flexible perspective taking in educational contexts. In the current research, we assumed that the presence of different spatial, temporal, and social cues with regard to (higher) educational contexts would affect flexible social perspective taking performances of prospective psychologists and teachers. Across two different studies, we employed relational frame theory and a within-subject design (n = 44 undergraduate students in Study 1 and n = 176 teacher education students in Study 2). We analyzed the data by Rasch-trees and general linear modeling. The results showed faster responding on flexible spatial and temporal social perspective taking tasks, involving a fictional college course in “English” rather than “statistics” (Study 1). In Study 2, the results suggested greater accuracy on flexible spatial and temporal social perspective taking tasks involving spatial rather than temporal relations (Study 2). The results shed some light on the integration of different approaches for research on understanding the relevance of flexible social perspective taking in educational contexts. Flexible spatial and temporal social perspective taking may be of benefit to both students in higher education and teachers in school education

Das Arbeitsgedächtnis nach zu langem Schlaf. Eine transversale, psychometrische Studie

Das Arbeitsgedächtnis spielt nach den Erkenntnissen der kognitiven Psychologie eine zentrale Rolle für die menschliche Informationsverarbeitung, da es jene Instanz ist, in der alle momentanen, bewussten, sinnlichen oder aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis geladenen Inhalte zusammenlaufen. Die Leistungsfähigkeit des Arbeitsgedächtnisses wird durch personale und situative Faktoren bestimmt; auch das individuelle Schlafverhalten bzw. die Schlafmenge können das Arbeitsgedächtnis beeinträchtigen. Somit könnte ein statistisch bedeutsamer Zusammenhang zwischen Leistungen des Arbeitsgedächtnisses und vorheriger Schlafmenge bestehen. In der vorliegenden Studie wird untersucht, in welchem Zusammenhang Prozesse des Arbeitsgedächtnisses mit Schlafgewohnheiten bei Erwachsenen stehen. In einem transversalen, nicht-kontrollierten Studiendesign und einer Stichprobe mit 68 Versuchspersonen wurde der Lesegeschwindigkeitstest aus dem Kurztest zur Messung des Arbeitsgedächtnisses (KAI-N) eingesetzt, das Zahlennachsprechen vorwärts/rückwärts aus dem Wechsler-Intelligenztest (WIE) sowie der Pittsburgh-Schlafqualitätsindex (PSQI). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine niedrige Leistung des Arbeitsgedächtnisses mit einer Schlafdauer von durchschnittlich mehr als 8 h pro Nacht innerhalb der letzten 4 Wochen einhergeht (r?=???0,24; p?<?0,05). Davon sind eher basale als komplexe Prozesse betroffen. Regelmäßiger Schlaf über 8 h kann das Arbeitsgedächtnis beeinträchtigen. Es ist z. B. zur akkuraten Abzählung von Tabletten im Klinikalltag erforderlich. Einer Person, die regelmäßig länger als 8 h schläft, wird daher empfohlen, nach der Ausführung von Arbeitsgedächtnisaufgaben das Ergebnis mehrmals zu kontrollieren. (DIPF/Orig.)According to findings from cognitive psychology, working memory plays a central role in human information processing, because it is the place where all current, conscious, and sensual contents or contents downloaded from the long-term memory converge. Working memory capacity is determined by personal and situational factors. Working memory might also be impaired by factors even more fundamental in individual behavior such as sleeping habits. Thus, a statistically significant correlation might exist between working memory performance and prior amount of sleep. The aim of the present study is to investigate associations between working memory and the sleeping habits of adults. In a transversal design without a control group and a sample of ?68 adults, we use the reading speed test from the working memory assessment KAI-N, the digit span forward and backward from the Wechsler adult intelligence scale, and the Pittsburgh sleep index. The results suggest that average sleep duration of more than 8 h over the last 4 weeks is associated with a lower performance in working memory (r?=???0.24, p?<?0.05), particularly basal processes. Regular sleep of more than 8 h can impair working memory as is, for example, required for the accurate counting of tablets or pills in the clinical setting. For a person who regularly sleeps more than 8 h, we recommend to check a result several times after the execution of working memory tasks. (DIPF/Orig.

School students’ beliefs about abilities and perspective-taking over time

Abstract Background Beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking are essential for appropriate behavior in professional and social life, cooperative learning, and situations were conflict is occurring. The social comparison theory and previous research suggested positive relations between school students’ beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking. The hypotheses were: (1) Beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking are positively related to each other after the transition to secondary school and (2) will fade thereafter. Methods The hypotheses were tested using data from two national longitudinal studies. In Study 1, analyses were based on a sample consisting of the same N = 4428 students in fifth, seventh, and ninth grades. Beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking were analyzed by one structural equation model considering relevant covariates, namely gender, school achievement, ethnic background, school type, and socioeconomic status. In Study 2, the sample consisted of N = 2105 students who were assessed at the beginning, during, and at the end of fifth grade. Beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking were analyzed by the same structural equation model as in Study 1 including the same covariates and additional cognitive abilities. Results: Relations only existed from the first to the second measurement point in both studies. Conclusions A possible explanation for the changed relationship over time is that the students adjusted to their peers, and likely learned to deal with diverse conflicting situations and to differentiate between academic, social or other abilities over the course of the school year. Perspective-taking items measure coordination between oneself and other people in social interactions and conflicting situations. In the future, such relations could be analyzed using domain-specific perspective-taking items

Papierbasierte oder internetbasierte Skalen zur Erfassung von Motivation (SELLMO) und Selbstkonzept (SESSKO)?

Die vorliegende Studie prüft die psychometrischen Eigenschaften und die Faktorenstruktur einer internetbasierten Version der Skalen zur Erfassung der Lern- und Leistungsmotivation (SELLMO) und der Skalen zur Erfassung des akademischen (schulischen) Selbstkonzepts (SESSKO) im Vergleich zu der papierbasierten Version. Darüber hinaus wird der Frage nachgegangen, welche Version (papier-/internetbasiert) eine höhere Rücklaufquote aufweist. Die beiden Instrumente bearbeiteten 810 Studierende des Lehramts je nach Anfangsbuchstaben des Nachnamens papierbasiert (A bis L) oder internetbasiert (M bis Z). Die Rücklaufquote internetbasierter Fragebögen fällt bedeutend höher aus als papierbasiert. Des Weiteren konnte gezeigt werden, dass die papier- und internetbasierten Fragebogenversionen vergleichbare psychometrische Eigenschaften aufweisen. Zudem konnte die in den Handanweisungen beschriebene Faktorenstruktur beider Instrumente repliziert werden.The study examines the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the online version of the Learning and Achievement Motivation Scales (SELLMO) as well as the Academic Self Concept Scales (SESSKO) compared with the paper version. Furthermore, the study clarifies which version (paper/online) shows an increased response rate from the students. A sample of 810 prospective teachers completed either the paper or online version. Prospective teachers with A to L as first letter in their surname received the paper questionnaires; participants with M to Z responded online. The online response rate was considerably higher than the paper-based one. Moreover, we found that the paper and online versions show comparable psychometric properties. In addition, the factor structure described in the manuals could be replicated