Fifth Graders\u27 Enjoyment, Interest, and Comprehension of Graphic Novels Compared to Heavily-Illustrated and Traditional Novels

The comparative effectiveness of graphic novels, heavily illustrated novels, and traditional novels as reading teaching tools has been sparsely researched. During the 2011-2012 school year, 24 mixed-ability fifth grade students chose to read six novels: two traditional novels, two highly illustrated novels and two graphic novels. Students participated in discussion groups structured with thinking skills, and completed assignments during and after reading the books. Student comprehension and enjoyment were measured by rubric-graded assignments and rating scales. The numbers of student responses during discussions per type of novel were tabulated. The graphic novel received the highest scores in all categories. The researchers conclude that graphic novels be considered an engaging and effective method of teaching reading to fifth graders

Intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations of children in conflict with the law

Aspirations provide a driving force for people to achieve what they want in life. The researchers aimed to explore the aspirations of children in conflict with the law, being interested to understand how these children aspire in life given the situation that they are in where they are stigmatized in the society. However, studies about aspirations of CICL were limited, so this research explores their intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations. Semi-structured interview was created based on the Aspirations Index. Eleven CICL, ages 9 to 18 years, were interviewed. The researchers found out that they exhibited intrinsic aspirations more saliently than extrinsic aspirations. Aspirations other than suggested in the Aspiration index were also found namely the spiritual and nurturance aspirations. The results imply that CICL still hope to become better individuals. The study provides better understanding on how they plan to live their lives despite having been in conflict with the law. This paper provides a wider perspective for the community towards CICL, and can be used for further studies in relation to aspirations of Children in Conflict with the Law

To which world regions does the valence–dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence–dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions. We addressed this question by replicating Oosterhof and Todorov’s methodology across 11 world regions, 41 countries and 11,570 participants. When we used Oosterhof and Todorov’s original analysis strategy, the valence–dominance model generalized across regions. When we used an alternative methodology to allow for correlated dimensions, we observed much less generalization. Collectively, these results suggest that, while the valence–dominance model generalizes very well across regions when dimensions are forced to be orthogonal, regional differences are revealed when we use different extraction methods and correlate and rotate the dimension reduction solution

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world