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GESIS Papers

The Big Five personality traits are established predictors of school grades. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet well understood. Effects of personality on grades might arise because behavioral tendencies facilitate learning and increase subject-specific competencies. Alternatively, personality effects on grades might be independent of cognitive competencies and reflect otherwise valued behaviors or teachers' grading practices. In the current study, we drew on large-scale data of 7th and 9th graders in Germany to explore the extent to which personality predicted grades even after accounting for competencies. Controlling for competencies and other key covariates, we cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined personality-grade associations across different school subjects, grade levels, and school types. Results indicate that the predictive power of personality is largely independent of subject-specific and general cognitive competencies. The largest effects emerged for conscientiousness. For openness, associations with grades partly overlapped with competencies, suggesting that openness may operate by fostering competencies. Overall, our results suggest that the associations between personality and grades unfold mostly independently of course mastery. This finding underlines the socioemotional value of personality in the classroom and encourages a more fine-grained view of the interplay between personality, competencies, classroom behavior, and grades.

With populations rapidly aging, the development over time in the cognitive function among the elderly approaching or reaching retirement is important for successful aging at work and planning pension policies. However, few studies in this field focus on this age group. This study characterizes time trends in cognitive function among 55-69-year-old Europeans from 2006 to 2015, and compares these trends by region, gender, and education. This study analyzes 40,689 subjects in Waves 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) covering ten countries. Cognitive function was measured by Recall and Verbal Fluency. Educational levels were classified by quartiles. A Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) model was used to explore the association between cognitive function and development over time after controlling for confounders. Further stratification analysis using GEE models was conducted, stratified by region, gender and education. Cognitive function improved significantly in southern and central Europe over the observed timeframe, whereas it did not in northern Europe. Those with relative low levels of formal education displayed the most rapid increases in cognitive function in southern and central Europe. Among those with lower education in southern Europe, males’ cognitive function improved more quickly than females’. The improvement of cognitive function at ages 55-69 in southern and central Europe may contribute to continuing engagement with productive activities in old age. Educational interventions for people with lower levels of education may be most effective in achieving such engagement. This paper extends the literature on the development over time in the cognitive function among the elderly close to retirement age in Europe by analysing southern, central and northern Europe, as well as differences by region, gender and education. The results may provide evidence for planning pension policies and educational interventions.

Low literacy among adolescents and adults worldwide remains a serious problem, even in economically developed countries. The consequences of low reading proficiency levels can be harmful in many ways for both the individuals concerned and their communities in terms of health, political, social and economic outcomes. While large-scale international assessments do assess reading proficiency, the data they provide for the bottom end of the scale are still somewhat undifferentiated. What is of particular concern to scholars and policymakers alike is to better understand the nature of reading difficulties among low-literate adolescents and adults. Addressing this need, the authors of this article present a new integrative process model which takes into consideration reader-related, text-related and task-related factors along different stages of the reading process that can cause reading difficulties. The process model incorporates different traditions of research on low reading proficiency: large-scale assessments, cognitive psychology, and research on developmental precursors of reading comprehension. It enabled the authors to identify core difficulty-generating factors, in particular task and text characteristics relevant in evaluating the difficulty of a reading task and thus in determining whether low-literate readers can solve it. The process model also proved suitable for incorporation into standard-setting practice. The authors demonstrate how the process model provided a framework for developing proficiency level descriptors (PLDs) which were then applied for the purpose of standard setting in a German large-scale assessment, the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Their results show that the PLDs were indeed suitable for differentiating between a low reading proficiency level and a functional reading proficiency level among adolescents and adults.

Hanushek et al (2015, ‘Returns to Skills Around the World: Evidence from PIAAC’, European Economic Review 73: 103) find a weak wage–skill relationship in countries with limited skill reward possibilities due to high union density, strict employment protection, and large public sector. If these factors also restrict employment possibilities and the incentives to join the labor market, a possible mirror image of the weak wage–skill relationship is a steeper employment–skill gradient. We use PIAAC data to estimate the employment–skill association, and the results for the whole sample of individuals give some indication that the employment–skill gradient is steeper in countries with strict employment rules and centralized bargaining. Our results for subgroups show imprecisely estimated employment–skill gradients for immigrants. For individuals with poor health conditions and low formal education, the estimated gradient is somewhat higher than in the whole sample in countries with high bargaining coverage, a large public sector, and centralized collective bargaining systems.

This article scrutinizes critically a pervasive knowledge shaping contemporary sociopolitical relations and spaces—“problem-solving knowledge”. It develops the argument that, as a governing knowledge, “problem-solving” is increasing in intensity and scope, with a range of negative and potentially dangerous effects. As a case study, the article examines how problem-solving knowledge operates in the OECD “skills” assessment programs PISA and PIAAC, with a particularly worrying connection between so-called “cognitive abilities” and labour market performance. It considers how this “turn to cognition”, with its associated moralism, divides “citizens” into those who either can or who cannot solve “problems”, producing “more productive” and “less productive” categories of people. More broadly, these programs illustrate how treating “problems” as self-evident referents is deeply depoliticizing, highlighting the importance of examining how governing takes place through problematization. Through tracing the emergence and functioning of “problem-solving” as a knowledge practice, the article encourages reflection on how problem-solving knowledge has come to be taken-for-granted as “truth” and on how it operates to limit political debate and to regulate political subjects.

Knowledge questions frequently are used in survey research to measure respondents’ topic-related cognitive ability and memory. However, in self-administered surveys, respondents can search external sources for additional information to answer a knowledge question correctly. In this case, the knowledge question measures accessible and procedural memory. Depending on what the knowledge question aims at, the validity of this measure is limited. Thus, in this study, we conducted three experiments using a web survey to investigate the effects of task difficulty, respondents’ ability, and respondents’ motivation on the likelihood of searching external sources for additional information as a form of over-optimizing response behavior when answering knowledge questions. We found that the respondents who are highly educated and more interested in a survey are more likely to invest additional efforts to answer knowledge questions correctly. Most importantly, our data showed that for these respondents, a more difficult question design further increases the likelihood of over-optimizing response behavior.

The basic cognitive skill of numeracy is a recognized form of human capital, associated with economic and social well being for individuals and for nations. In this study, we explore how occupational complexity relates to proficiency in numeracy, among adults in full-time employment. We operationalize occupational complexity by constructing three measures of task complexity: complexity with data, complexity with people and complexity with things. Data from the international OECD survey of adult skills, 2012, is employed to investigate both the distribution of these three dimensions of occupational task complexity and how these relate to numeracy in 13 countries. The analysis indicates that data occupational complexity predicts numeracy scores, when controlling for age, gender and educational level. The findings open for a hypothesis that occupational activities may enhance basic skills in adult populations. If elaborated and supported through further studies this finding has practical implications for workplace organization and contributes to theoretical understandings of the development of basic skills in adults.

It is well-established that human capital contributes to unequal levels of earnings mobility. Individuals with higher levels of human capital, typically measured through education, earn more on average and are privy to greater levels of upward change over time. Nevertheless, other factors may have an incremental effect over education, namely cognitive ability and the skill demands of employment. To deepen insight into whether these aspects contribute to earnings mobility over a four-year period, the present study examines positional change in Canada and Germany—two contexts typified as examples of liberal and coordinated market economies. A series of descriptive indices and relative change models assess how different measures of human capital are associated with earnings mobility. The results indicate that, while individuals with higher cognitive skills experience greater earnings stability and upward mobility in both countries, there is only an incremental effect of skills on mobility in Germany once we account for educational credentials. The results also provide evidence on the role of skill demands for earnings mobility; in both countries, advanced skills at work are associated with greater short-term mobility, even while controlling for cognitive ability and other factors. Together the results showcase how longitudinal data containing detailed measures of human capital allow for deeper insight into what facilitates earnings mobility.

Using an international survey that directly assesses the cognitive skills of the adult population, I study the relation between skills and unemployment flows across 37 countries. Depending on the specifically assessed domain, I document that skills have an unconditional correlation with the log-risk-ratio of exiting to entering unemployment of 0.65–0.68 across the advanced and skill-abundant countries in the sample. The relation is remarkably robust and it is unlikely to be due to reverse causality. I do not find evidence that this positive relation extends to the seven relatively less advanced and less skill-abundant countries in the sample: Peru, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico, Chile, Turkey and Kazakhstan.

Evidence on the association of cognitive ability with economic attitudes is mixed. We conducted a meta-analysis ( k = 20, N = 46,426) to examine the relationship between objective measures of cognitive ability and economic ideology and analyzed survey data ( N = 3,375) to test theoretical explanations for the association. The meta-analysis provided evidence for a small positive association with a weighted mean effect size of r = .07 (95% CI = [0.02, 0.12]), suggesting that higher cognitive ability is associated with conservative views on economic issues, but effect sizes were extremely heterogeneous. Tests using representative survey data provided support for both a positive association of cognitive ability with economic conservatism that is mediated through income as well as for a negative association that is mediated through a higher need for certainty. Hence, multiple causal mechanisms with countervailing effects might explain the low overall association of cognitive ability with economic political attitudes.

There is significant heterogeneity in actual skill use within occupations even though occupations are differentiated by the task workers should perform during work. Using data on 12 countries which are available both in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies survey and International Social Survey Program, we show that women use their cognitive skills less than men even within the same occupation. The gap in skill intensity cannot be explained by differences in worker characteristics or in cognitive skills. Instead, we show that living in a partnership significantly increases the skill use of men compared with women. We argue that having a partner affects skill use through time allocation as the gender penalty of partnered women is halved once we control for working hours and hours spent on housework. Finally, we do not find evidence of workplace discrimination against women.

Measures of cognitive or socio-emotional skills from large-scale assessments surveys (LSAS) are often based on advanced statistical models and scoring techniques unfamiliar to applied researchers. Consequently, applied researchers working with data from LSAS may be uncertain about the assumptions and computational details of these statistical models and scoring techniques and about how to best incorporate the resulting skill measures in secondary analyses. The present paper is intended as a primer for applied researchers. After a brief introduction to the key properties of skill assessments, we give an overview over the three principal methods with which secondary analysts can incorporate skill measures from LSAS in their analyses: (1) as test scores (i.e., point estimates of individual ability), (2) through structural equation modeling (SEM), and (3) in the form of plausible values (PVs). We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method based on three criteria: fallibility (i.e., control for measurement error and unbiasedness), usability (i.e., ease of use in secondary analyses), and immutability (i.e., consistency of test scores, PVs, or measurement model parameters across different analyses and analysts). We show that although none of the methods are optimal under all criteria, methods that result in a single point estimate of each respondent’s ability (i.e., all types of “test scores”) are rarely optimal for research purposes. Instead, approaches that avoid or correct for measurement error—especially PV methodology—stand out as the method of choice. We conclude with practical recommendations for secondary analysts and data-producing organizations.

This chapter gives an overview of the most important features of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey as it pertains to two main goals. First, only a well-designed survey will lead to accurate and comparable test scores across different countries and languages both within and across assessment cycles. Second, only an understanding of its complex survey design will lead to proper use of the PIAAC data in secondary analyses and meaningful interpretation of results by psychometricians, data analysts, scientists, and policymakers. The chapter begins with a brief introduction to the PIAAC survey followed by an overview of the background questionnaire and the cognitive measures. The cognitive measures are then compared to what was assessed in previous international adult surveys. Key features of the assessment design are discussed followed by a section describing what could be done to improve future PIAAC cycles.

This article explores the consequences of public and private spending on education at all levels, looking at skills and income inequality. We use data for 22 affluent democracies from 1960 or 1995 (depending on data availability) to 2017. High levels of public education spending consistently lower income inequality, both measured as wage dispersion and as the education premium. In contrast, higher levels of private education spending are associated with both higher wage dispersion and a higher education premium. We show that this effect works in part through differential skills acquisition. Public education spending raises the math scores of 15-years old students at the mean and at the 25th percentile, but private education spending has no effect on skills at these levels. We find the same pattern among skills of adults; public education spending raises skills at the 25th percentile and the mean; private spending has no effect. Finally, we also show that higher levels of adult skills indeed depress the education premium.

This methodological book aims to summarise existing techniques for analysing data resulting from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The present chapter provides an overview of the programme, outlining its goal, the participating countries, the survey cycles, and the research questions that can be addressed with the available data. In addition, the structure of the textbook is described.

As of summer 2019, more than 60 PIAAC datasets from participating countries worldwide were available for research purposes. These datasets can be differentiated, for example, in terms of their accessibility, the extent of the information provided, the population group in focus, and the design of the underlying study. PIAAC Public Use Files, for instance, are freely available and are therefore highly anonymised, whereas PIAAC Scientific Use Files are available only for scientific research purposes and provide access to more detailed variables. The majority of the PIAAC data are available as public use files, but some participating countries (e.g. Germany and the United States) have also made several scientific use files or other extended file versions available to the research community. Some of the available PIAAC datasets focus on specific population groups - for example, the incarcerated adult population in the United States. Regarding the design of the underlying studies, most available datasets are cross-sectional, but some longitudinal data already exist (e.g. PIAAC-L in Germany). The present chapter provides an overview of the structure, accessibility, and use of the PIAAC datasets available worldwide.

Context: We addressed the issue of person-job-fit by focussing on both professional success and work satisfaction. Publications studying the predictive validity of (cognitive) ability, personality, or vocational interest alone have shown relationships with professional success or work satisfaction for each predictor separately. Nevertheless, these predictors have rarely been studied simultaneously. Methods: To this end we tested the incremental validity of abilities, traits, and interests in a sample from diverse occupations: In 648 apprentices and students from five different branches (Food, Tech, People, Office, Craft) the (incremental) contributions of 3 intelligence factors (verbal, numerical, spatial), 3 alternative abilities (social-emotional, creative, practical), 4 conscientiousness facets, other big five factors (O, E, A, N), and of 14 professional interests were analysed regarding prediction of GPA in professional schools and school/job satisfaction. Results: Intelligence and conscientiousness were best predictors, followed by social-emotional competence and interests, whereas other traits provided marginal contributions. Predictors varied between branches, mostly following expectations. The test battery allowed a very good prediction of apprenticeship success (max. 37%), but for some branches prediction was considerably lower.Conclusion: Criteria for person-job-fit are not swappable, neither are the predictors. Professional success was mostly predicted by a different predictor set -namely ability and the personality dimension of conscientiousness- then satisfaction, which was mostly predicted by non-interest in a certain occupation. As a practical implication, we conclude that choosing the right candidate for a certain branch one needs to use a broad set of predictor variables. Besides cognitive ability also personality and vocational interests had predictive validity for an individuals person-job-fit.

Different ways of solving planning and spatial working memory tasks generate different taskperformance profiles. Tests were administered to 346 (planning) and 427 (spatial working memory) Argentinean children from different socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. A cross-sectional design was performed to explore eventual variable profiles of performance that were associated with levels of success or failure on tasks that tapped working memory and planning demands and to evaluate their association with SES backgrounds. The results showed that (1) different task-performance profiles were identified: decreased, changeless, oscillated, or increased; (2) the total score for the tasks was significantly different among these profiles; and (3) there were significant differences in the total score among SES groups, which depended on type of profile. These findings suggested the importance of studying individual differences in the performance of tasks that demand self-regulatory processes of children with SES disadvantages. This is important for the understanding of how children solve problems, and how that behavior varies according to SES. Keywords: Self-regulation Processes, Task-performance Profiles, Socioeconomic Conditions, Preschool Children ---- Individualitat und Selbstregulation bei Kindergartenkindern Zusammenfassung Aufgaben zum Planen und zum Arbeitsgedachtnis konnen verschiedenartig gelost werden. Argentinische Kinder mit unterschiedlichem soziookonomischen Status (SES) haben Planungsaufgaben (n=346) und Aufgaben zum visuellen Arbeitsgedachtnis (n=427) gelost. In einem Querschnittsdesign wurden Losungsprofile identifiziert und in Verbindung mit dem SES gebracht. Die Ergebnisse zeigten: (1) es gibt unterschiedliche Losungsprofile: abnehmend, gleichbleibend, oszillierend und zunehmend; (2) die Gesamtpunktzahl fur die Aufgaben unterschied sich signifikant zwischen den Losungsprofilen; (3) die Leistung unterschied sich zwischen den SES-Gruppen in Abhangigkeit der Losungsprofile. Diese Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Wichtigkeit der Betrachtung individueller Unterschiede in der Bearbeitung von Aufgaben, die Selbstregulation erfassen. Das ist bedeutsam, um zu verstehen, wie Kinder diese Aufgaben losen und wie sich ihr Verhalten in Abhangigkeit des SES unterscheidet. Schlagworter: Selbstregulation, Losungsprofile, Soziookonomische Bedingungen, Kindergartenkinder ----- Bibliographie: Fracchia, Carolina Soledad/Giovannetti, Federico/Gili, Juan/Lopez-Rosenfeld, Matias/Hermida, Maria Julia/Prats, Lucia Maria/Segretin, Maria Soledad/Lipina, Sebastian Javier: Individuality and Self-regulation in Preschoolers, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4-2016, S. 457-471. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v11i4.25604

Zusammenfassung Fortschritte in der Neuro- und Kognitionspsychologie haben zu einer Prominenz exekutiver Funktionen gefuhrt. Als kognitive Kontrollinstanz wird ihnen eine Schlusselfunktion fur erfolgreiches Lernen zugeschrieben. Der Beitrag behandelt die Moglichkeiten, exekutive Funktionen uber Bewegungsspiele zu fordern, und bezieht sich auf eine Interventionsstudie mit 197 Schulerinnen und Schulern der Jahrgangsstufe 6. Die Forderung dieser Zielgruppe wird angesichts des Uberganges von der Primar- in die Sekundarstufe und den damit verbundenen Entwicklungsaufgaben als besonders notwendig angesehen. In der Interventionsstudie wurde ein anwendungsorientierter Ansatz gewahlt, in dem uber 20 Wochen spezifische, kognitiv anspruchsvolle Bewegungsinterventionen in den Sportunterricht der Interventionsgruppe integriert wurden. Wahrenddessen blieb der Unterricht der Kontrollgruppe unbeeinflusst. Eine Messung der exekutiven Funktionen erfolgte zweimalig (Pre/Post) unter Verwendung reaktionszeitbezogener Computeraufgaben (n-back task, switching task, stroop task). Dabei konnte ein signifikanter Interventionseffekt bezuglich einer Teilkomponente exekutiver Funktionen (Inhibitionsfahigkeit) belegt werden. Interessant an dem Befund ist insbesondere, dass lediglich die alteren Schulerinnen und Schuler (ab ca. zwolf Jahren) von der Intervention profitierten, die jungeren hingegen nicht. Dieses Ergebnis spricht dafur, den bisherigen Fokus kognitiver Fordermasnahmen zu erweitern und auch Jugendliche entsprechend zu fordern. Schlagworter: Exekutive Funktionen, Interventionsstudie, Sportunterricht, Jugendliche, Alter ----- Development of Executive Functions in Secondary Schools – Findings of a Quasi-experimental Study on the Potential of Physical Education and Age Dependence of the Intervention Effect Abstract Advances in the fields of neuroscience and cognitive psychology have led to a prominence of executive functions. In the role of a cognitive control system they are considered key components of successful learning. The article deals with ways to promote executive functions through movement games and refers to an intervention study with 197 students in grade 6. The promotion of this target group is considered to be necessary due to the transition from primary to secondary school and the related developmental challenges. In the intervention study an application-oriented approach was chosen. Over a period of 20 weeks a cognitively and physically demanding intervention program was integrated into the physical education (PE) lessons of the experimental group. Meanwhile, the PE lessons of the control group remained unaffected. Executive functioning has been measured twice (pre/post) using reaction time-related computer tasks (n-back task, switching task, stroop task).A significant intervention effect has been identified regarding one subcomponent of executive functions (inhibition). What is particularly interesting about this finding is that only the older students (twelve years and older) benefited from the intervention, whereas the younger students did not. This result suggests extending the recent focus of cognitive support strategies and also to promote adolescents accordingly. Keywords: Executive Functions, Intervention Study, Physical Education, Adolescents, Age ----- Bibliographie: Eckenbach, Karin/Neuber, Nils: Entwicklung exekutiver Funktionen in der Sekundarstufe I – Ergebnisse einer quasi-experimentellen Studie zum Potenzial des Sportunterrichts und zur Altersabhangigkeit des Fordereffekts, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4-2016, S. 387-399. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v11i4.25600

GESIS Papers

To examine the relationship between the Big Five and cognitive ability, we investigated whether we could replicate in a heterogeneous population sample the positive association between cognitive ability and Openness and Emotional Stability and its negative association with Conscientiousness. Besides analyzing the pure associations, we shed further light on sources of these associations by investigating potential moderating effects of education and labor force participation. Our results clearly replicate the previously found positive association between cognitive ability and Emotional Stability and Openness and the negative relationship between Conscientiousness and cognitive ability. The correlation between cognitive ability and Openness was found to be moderated by educational attainment, the negative association between Conscientiousness and cognitive ability was moderated by labor force participation.

Ikizer and Ramirez-Esparza (2017) reported a study suggesting that bilingualism may have a positive impact on people's social skills. They found that a) bilinguals scored higher on a scale that is supposed to reveal social flexibility, and that b) they also report having social interactions more frequently than monolinguals. The authors relate this advantage in social flexibility to the need of exercising language switching in bilingual speakers. In this commentary, we argue that their arguments are not theoretically sound and that their observations are not compelling enough to reach this conclusion.

Nur die Hälfte der Jugendlichen, die höchstens einen Hauptschulabschluss haben, schafft den direkten Übergang in eine Ausbildung. Weder kognitive Fähigkeiten noch soziale Kompetenzen erhöhen die Übergangschancen dieser Jugendlichen. Solange vor allem Noten und Abschlüsse zählen, ist der Blick der Betriebe auf individuelle Stärken verstellt. korrigierte Ausgabe

Mit dem Forschungsbericht 30 werden vertiefte Erkenntnisse zu Geflüchteten aus der Befragung 2016 von insgesamt rund 4.500 Befragten vorgelegt, die im Rahmen der Großstudie "IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten" von den beteiligten Kooperationspartnern erarbeitet wurden. Thematische Schwerpunkte des Berichts sind Sprachpotenziale und Bildung von Geflüchteten sowie methodische Aspekte. Research Report 30 reports detailed informationon refugees from the survey that was carried out in 2016 among a total of roughly 4,500 respondents, which was drawn up by the cooperation partners involved as part of the major study entitled "IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Survey". The topics in the report focus on refugees’ linguistic potential and schooling, as well as on methodical aspects.

GESIS Papers

Migration and population ageing belong to the central challenges for the current and future Europe. Since 1985, the number of inhabitants in European countries who were born outside their country of residence has more than doubled. Besides, already by 2020, a quarter of Europeans will be over 60 years old. Both developments will have substantial impacts on numerous aspects of the European society. Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this volume investigates one of the intersections between migration and ageing by putting the focus on persons aged 50+ who migrated at some point in their life and now grow old abroad. Until now, little is known about the long-term consequences of migration. In the three studies of his thesis, Stefan Gruber investigates in how far migrants are affected by having migrated with regard to two different outcomes: subjective well-being and cognitive functioning.

GESIS Papers

In this article I address the reflexive nature of research undertaken when I investigated the presence of resilience found in an adolescent girl diagnosed with fragile X syndrome. The highlights of this article include specific challenges I experienced when conducting research with this adolescent and how I have adapted the process accordingly. These challenges involve the planning and preparation before data commenced; the influence of sensory integration, behavioral, cognitive and language characteristics of fragile X syndrome on an adolescent girl; and the aspects of ethical and rigorous research. I have also included recommendations such as guidelines for other researchers interested in conducting a similar study with adolescents affected by fragile X syndrome. I hope that with this article, other researchers would be provided with a better understanding of how to proceed with research that involves individuals with disabilities and more specifically, individuals diagnosed with fragile X syndrome. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1702102, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 18, No 2 (2017)

Objective: To evaluate cognitive aspects in institutionalized elderly people before and after realization of cognitive stimulation activities. Method: It is a semi-experimental and quantitative study. It was performed in a Long Term Care Institutions for the Elderly (ILPI) located in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte with the elderly who reached the minimum score in the survey instrument Mini Mental State Examination. They were only 26% of the residents. Results: After stimulation activities it was observed that the elderly were able to maintain or to increase the score for the various aspects evaluated. It was confirmed by statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon test a significant difference between the groups before and after, given by p-value = 0,027. Conclusion: It was identified that the realization of cognitive stimulation activities get responses that contribute to the increase of the Mini Mental State Examination score.

Der vorliegende Handbuchartikel definiert die Facetten politischen Lernens kompetenztheoretisch. Lernen erfordert, politisches Wissen im Gedächtnis zu behalten. Dazu gehört des Weiteren die Begründung von Argumenten, die Anzahl der Argumente bzw. die Nennung der Fakten (Deskription) unter Anwendung der Fachsprache und Nutzung konzeptuellen Wissens. Darüber hinaus haben die Schüler/innen eine individuelle Entscheidung treffen, die als politisches Urteil bezeichnet wird. In Erweiterung des Kompetenzbegriffs wird im Beitrag auf die motivationalen Voraussetzungen wie das Interesse am Fach und das fachbezogene Selbstkonzept hingewiesen.

My thesis is that liberal and progressive education models respectively refer to dual and unitary conceptions of intellectual development, and that these differences account for their pedagogical antagonisms. I test the validity of this argument by using it to account for the evolution of Western pedagogy and the fate of liberal and progressive education. I introduce the dualist epistemological premises of the major educational models that have followed one after the other in the history of Western education. Then, I account for the impact of classical empiricism, and later evolutionary doctrines, on the discredit of liberal education and the emergence of educational progressivism. Progressive educational conceptions are rooted in a representation of humankind developed under the influence of the Darwinian revolution. They justify an adaptive model of the mind within the framework of a functionalist psychology. According to alternative currents of modern educational thought, the use of auxiliary means of thought marks a rupture with human biological development. These currents underpin a dual conception of human reason according to which rational or theoretical understanding is a sui generis dimension of thought. They offer support for a modernized version of liberal education.

Ample evidence indicates that a person’s human capital is important for success on the labor market in terms of both wages and employment prospects. However, unlike the efforts to identify the impact of school attainment on labor-market outcomes, the literature on returns to cognitive skills has not yet provided convincing evidence that the estimated returns can be causally interpreted. Using the PIAAC Survey of Adult Skills, this paper explores several approaches that aim to address potential threats to causal identification of returns to skills, in terms of both higher wages and better employment chances. We address measurement error by exploiting the fact that PIAAC measures skills in several domains. Furthermore, we estimate instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment and parental education to circumvent reverse causation. Results show a strikingly similar pattern across the diverse set of countries in our sample. In fact, the instrumental-variable estimates are consistently larger than those found in standard least-squares estimations. The same is true in two “natural experiments,” one of which exploits variation in skills from changes in compulsory-schooling laws across U.S. states. The other one identifies technologically induced variation in broadband Internet availability that gives rise to variation in ICT skills across German municipalities. Together, the results suggest that least-squares estimates may provide a lower bound of the true returns to skills in the labor market.

This article analyzes the longitudinal development of differences in academic skills between children of Turkish origin and children of native-born German parents from age 3 to 6 in Germany with a focus on the role of immigrant parents’ acculturation to the receiving society. Growth curve models show that Turkish-origin children start with lower test scores at the age of 3 regarding German language skills and cultural knowledge but not with respect to cognitive skills. The difference in the language domain decreases until the age of 6 while it increases regarding children’s cultural knowledge. Immigrant parents’ acculturation to the receiving country is positively related with all three academic skill domains. The results point to the importance of early intervention strategies.

Es ist das Ziel des Beitrags, unterschiedliche Lernstrategien zu untersuchen, die für die Entwicklung der Politikkompetenz zentral sind. Schüler/-innen benötigen Strategien der Verarbeitung politischer Informationen. Sie müssen den Wert und Nutzen solcher Strategien kennen, um selbstreguliert lernen zu können. Lernstrategien sowie (Lern-)Motivation sind konstituierende Elemente selbstregulierten Lernens. Hierfür müssen sie ihr Wissen organisieren, reorganisieren und nicht verbundene Wissensteile integrieren. Auf der anderen Seite kommt es darauf an, die Lernmotivation aufrecht zu erhalten. Bislang ist nicht bekannt, welche Strategien im Politikunterricht genutzt werden und ob diese Schülervoraussetzungen in einem Zusammenhang zum politischen Wissen stehen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden Elaborier-, Memorier-, Kontrollstrategien (kognitive Strategien) sowie Lernmotivation und Wissen erhoben. Das Sample besteht aus 1071 Schüler/-innen in Realschulen und Gymnasien aus 51 neunten und zehnten Klassen. Mädchen nutzen bei gleichzeitiger Betrachtung von Lernmotivation und Lernstrategien die Kontrollstrategien mehr als Jungen, wissen aber nicht mehr. Mädchen setzen wie bei PISA mehr Memorierstrategien ein und bringen mehr Lernmotivation und Ausdauer auf. Sie verfügen über die besseren Lernstrategien. Die Nutzung der Kontrollstrategie hat erwartungsgemäß einen schwachen Effekt auf das Wissen. Das oberflächenstrategische Memorieren weist einen negativen Zusammenhang mit der Politikkompetenz auf. Der nicht vorhandene Effekt des tiefenstrategischen Elaborierens, das für nachhaltiges Lernen verantwortlich ist, überrascht.

Zusammenfassung Eine Vielzahl aktueller Studien zeigt, dass akute korperliche Belastungen zu einer Verbesserung der exekutiven Funktionen fuhren, wahrend andere Studien berichten, dass genau das Gegenteil der Fall ist. Weiterhin wurde der selektive Effekt akuter Belastungen mit mittlerer Intensitat bei Kindern und Erwachsenen mit geringer kognitiver Leistungsfahigkeit untersucht. Unklar ist bislang, wie sich eine einzelne Ausdauerbelastung mit hoher Intensitat auf die exekutiven Funktionen bei Jugendlichen mit geringer Leistungsfahigkeit auswirkt. Methode. Bei n = 73 Jugendlichen (12-17 Jahre; 48 Jungen, 25 Madchen) wurden die Reaktionszeiten (RT, in ms) sowie die Losungsrate (LR, in %) bei einer modifizierten Flanker-Aufgabe mit chinesischen Schriftzeichen in Ruhe und nach einer hochintensiven Ausdauerbelastung zu getrennten Testterminen erhoben. Zur weiteren Analyse wurden die Untersuchungsteilnehmer/innen basierend auf ihrer Testleistung in der Ruhebedingung in zwei Gruppen (kognitiv leistungsschwacher vs. leistungsstarker) unterteilt. Die aerobe Ausdauerleistungsfahigkeit wurde anhand des PACER-Tests (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run) ermittelt. Ergebnisse. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass die leistungsstarkeren Jugendlichen ihre Losungsrate nach der Belastung beibehalten. Bei den leistungsschwacheren Jugendlichen steigt die Losungsrate nach einer intensiven Ausdauerbelastung. Beide Gruppen erzielen bessere Reaktionszeiten nach der intensiven Ausdauerbelastung. In Ruhe erreichen die kognitiv leistungsstarkeren Jugendlichen mit besserer aerober Ausdauerleistungsfahigkeit hohere Losungsraten sowie schnellere Reaktionszeiten. Jedoch verschlechtern sich die Losungsraten dieser Jugendlichen nach der Ausdauerbelastung. Schlussfolgerung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen das Potential einer akuten Ausdauerbelastung mit hoher Intensitat zur Verbesserung der Inhibitionsfahigkeit bei Jugendlichen. Weiterhin scheinen kognitiv leistungsschwachere Jugendliche den grosten Nutzen aus einer akuten Ausdauerbelastung zu ziehen. Schlagworter: Exekutive Funktionen, Flanker-Aufgabe, akute Ausdauerbelastung, PACER, Jugendliche ----- Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Inhibitory Control in Adolescents Abstract Background. Recently, some researches have reported that exercise facilitates executive functions, whereas others have reported that exercise debilitates them. Furthermore, some studies have examined the selective effect of acute exercise of moderate intensity on poor cognitive performance at rest in children and adults. The extent to which a bout of high intensity exercise influences executive functions in adolescents, who differ in their cognitive capacity, remains unsolved.Method. 73 adolescents (12 to 17 year olds; 48 boys, 25 girls) performed a modified Flanker-task with Chinese characters in a seated condition, and again after high-intensity aerobic exercise on separated occasions. Participants were divided into two groups (low vs. high cognitive performer) based on task performance following the resting session. Aerobic capacity was examined using the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER). Results. Findings revealed that following exercise, high-performers maintained accuracy compared to seated rest. Low-performers demonstrated a differential effect, such that accuracy measures improved following exercise. Both groups had improved reaction times immediately after vigorous intensity aerobic exercise. Furthermore, greater aerobic fitness in high-performers was related to shorter reaction time and superior accuracy at rest, but it was related to lower accuracy after exercise. Conclusion. The results demonstrate the potential of acute physical exercise with high intensity to improve inhibitory control in adolescents. Additionally, adolescents with lower cognitive control capacity may benefit the most from single bouts of exercise. Keywords: Executive Functions, Flanker, Aerobic Exercise, PACER, Adolescents ----- Bibliographie: Schott, Nadja/Diesch, Jessica/Holfelder, Benjamin/Klotzbier, Thomas: Effekte einer akuten Ausdauerbelastung auf die Inhibitionsfahigkeit bei Jugendlichen, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4-2016, S. 401-415. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v11i4.25601

Deformation and destruction of the personality arise in her life's journey under the influence of personally significant for her crisis situations. The non-adaptive mental mechanisms dis-tort reality, lead to emotional disorders and social disadaptation of the personality and be-come the driving force of its deformation. The definition of a personal psychological boundaries in the inner and outer worlds and the individual cognitive styles of information processing are implemented in their asymmetric synergistic determinism. Deformation of the individual, violation of psychological boundaries and the non-adaptive mental mecha-nisms are mutually determined. Деформации и деструкции личности возникают в ее жизненном пути под влиянием личностно значимых для нее кризисных ситуаций. Дзадаптивные ментальные механизмы искажают реальность, приводят к появлению эмоциональных расстройств и социальной дезадаптации личности и становятся движущей силой ее деформаций. Определение личностью собственных психологических границ во внутреннем и внешнем мирах и индивидуальные когнитивные стили переработки информации реализуются в их асимметричном синергетическом детерминизме. Деформации личности, дисфункции психологических границ и дезадаптивные ментальные механизмы взаимно детерминированы.

The purpose of this study, the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral play therapy to improve social skills in children with AD - more active Sanandaj. Is a quasi-experimental study pretest – post test control group not equivalent. The study population consisted of all elementary school students with "11-9" years , referring to a centers of learning disorders in Sanandaj 94-95 . Using convenience sampling of 20 children with learning disorders were selected and assigned to two experimental and control groups. For data collection, a checklist was used to assess social skills children Matson. After 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral play therapy was applied to the experimental group, the results showed that the game - the treatment is to increase and improve social skills.

The article reflects the experience of Kharkiv higher educational institutions' leading teachers who were looking for and using ways to enhance cognitive activity of students in the difficult recovery time of higher school after the Second World War. Teachers' attempts to develop students' cognitive activity were conditioned by the need to perform complex tasks (to increase constantly the level and to improve the quality of graduates; to strengthen links between theory and practice; to attract students to scientific researches and introduction of teaching staff’s inventions in production; to improve qualifications of teaching staff of higher educational institutions (HEIs); to develop initiative of universities’ and institutes' teachers and professors; to develop and intensify independent work of students in the learning process), which were put forward the higher education institutions by the state leadership. Kharkiv University' and institutes' progressive professors tried to intensify students' cognitive activity at lectures, workshops, seminars, consultations, laboratory workshops. They used a variety of unusual for that time teaching methods: search, problem, research, etc. The article presents examples of various tasks (situation-exercises, group games, situations-problems) and approaches to the educational process (using problematic approach while giving lectures, case reports of students at lectures, exchange of best lecturers and others), describes the characteristics of using of them at lectures, seminars and workshops.

Performance on different measures of executive functions (EF) and self-regulation (SR) does not always correspond to the behaviour children show in real-life situations. The present study assesses the relationships between performances on different EF and SR measures and teacher ratings of children’s selfcontrol and thoughtfulness. In total, 217 children between 34 and 72 months (54% boys) were assessed. Four tests measuring cognitive EF (Digit Span backward, Block Recall, Day-Night Stroop, Hearts and Flowers) and two tests measuring behavioural EF (Tower) and SR (Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders [HTKS]) were administered. Additionally, teachers rated the dimension ‘self-control and thoughtfulness’ of the German observation scale ‘Social‐emotional well‐being and resilience of children in early childhood settings’ (PERiK). It was found that all measures differentiated with regard to age in the range of three to six years. Correlations between cognitive EF measures with the HTKS were almost twice as high as correlations with the Tower. This indicates that the HTKS taps similar processes as the cognitive EF measures. Teacher ratings did not show higher correlations with behavioural EF and SR than with cognitive EF measures. Also, behavioural EF and SR measures did not predict scores obtained on the teacher rating better than cognitive EF measure. This article discusses to what extent distinctions among measures of EF and SR are possible and useful. Keywords: Executive Functions, Self-regulation, Test Instruments, Cognitive Development, Pre-school ----- Zusammenhange zwischen verschiedenen Masen der exekutiven Funktionen und Selbstregulation bei Kindergartenkindern Zusammenfassung Die Leistung bei standardisierten Verfahren zur Erfassung der exekutiven Funktionen (EF) und Selbstregulation (SR) passt nicht immer zu dem Niveau an Selbstkontrolle, dass Kinder im Kindergartenalter in realen Situationen zeigen. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Zusammenhange zwischen den Leistungen bei verschiedenen Tests zu EF und SR und der Fremdeinschatzung der Selbstkontrolle, die die Kinder im Kindergartenalltag zeigen, durch padagogische Fachkrafte. Insgesamt 217 Kinder zwischen 34 und 72 Monaten (54% Jungen) nahmen an der Studie teil. Vier Tests zu Erfassung der kognitiven EF (Zahlen nachsprechen ruckwarts, Block Recall, Day-Night Stroop, Hearts and Flowers) und zwei Tests zur Erfassung der behavioralen EF (Turmbau) und der behavioralen SR (Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders [HKTS]) wurden durchgefuhrt. Daruber hinaus bewerteten padagogische Fachkrafte die Kinder auf der Skala „Selbstkontrolle und Rucksichtnahme“ des deutschen Beobachtungsbogens „Positive Entwicklung und Resilienz im Kindergartenalltag“ (PERiK). Zusammenhange zwischen den Messinstrumenten zur kognitiven EF mit den HKTS waren fast doppelt so hoch wie ihre Korrelationen mit dem Turmbau. Dieses Ergebnis weist darauf hin, dass der HTKS, ausgewiesen als Instrument zur Erfassung der behavioralen SR, ahnliche Konstrukte wie die Tests zur Erfassung der kognitiven EF misst. Die Bewertung des Kindesverhaltens durch die padagogischen Fachkrafte zeigte keine hoheren Korrelationen mit den behavioralen als mit den kognitiven Messinstrumenten. Auch die Einschatzung durch die padagogischen Fachkrafte wird durch die behavioralen Messungen nicht besser vorhergesagt als durch die kognitiven Messungen, wie es erwartet wurde. Es wird diskutiert, inwieweit eine Unterscheidung in die beiden Kategorien von Messinstrumenten moglich und sinnvoll ist. Schlagworter : Exekutive Funktionen, Selbstregulation, Testinstrumente, kognitive Entwicklung, Kindergarten ----- Bibliographie: Evers, Wiebke F./Walk, Laura M./Quante, Sonja/Hille, Katrin: Relations between Measures of Executive Functions and Self-regulation in Preschoolers, Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung, 4-2016, S. 435-455. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v11i4.25603

GESIS Papers

Die Studie "Pretest Befragung in Einrichtungen" trägt dazu bei, das methodische Fundament für eine repräsentative Befragung (Teilhabesurvey) zu den Lebenslagen von Menschen mit Beeinträchtigungen und Behinderungen in Deutschland zu schaffen. Ein vorliegendes Erhebungsinstrument aus einer Vorstudie wird so geprüft, angepasst und weiterentwickelt, dass Menschen mit kognitiv-kommunikativen Beeinträchtigungen, die in Wohneinrichtungen der Behindertenhilfe leben, in die Befragung einbezogen werden können.

Die Grundlage fur ethnische Bildungsungleichheit wird schon fruh gelegt. Eine Ursache hierfur ist, dass Fahigkeiten und Wissensbestande, die in der fruhen Kindheit erworben werden, die Grundlage fur das Lernen in spateren Bildungsetappen bilden. Der vorliegende Uberblick uber den Forschungsstand zur ethnischen Bildungsungleichheit im Vorschulalter richtet den Blick auf zwei- bis sechsjahrige Kinder. Zum einen wird die unterschiedliche Nutzung von institutionellen vorschulischen Bildungseinrichtungen (wie in Deutschland dem Kindergarten) betrachtet; zum anderen werden Kompetenzunterschiede im Bereich Kognition, Sprache sowie schulische Vorlauferfertigkeiten behandelt. Es zeigt sich, dass es in Deutschland heutzutage keine Unterschiede in der Nutzung vorschulischer Bildungseinrichtungen nach der ethnischen Herkunft gibt, wenn die Eltern einen vergleichbaren sozialen Hintergrund haben, allerdings Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund haufiger Einrichtungen mit ungunstigeren Lernbedingungen besuchen. Ethnische Kompetenzunterschiede konnen nur im Bereich der Sprache konsistent nachgewiesen werden. Gerade im Bereich der sprachlichen Fahigkeiten scheint der Besuch vorschulischer Einrichtungen fur Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund besonders forderlich.

The present studies examined the influence of two regulatory mode concerns—a locomotion concern with movement from state to state and an assessment concern with making comparisons [see Higgins, E. T., Kruglanski, A. W., & Pierro, A. (2003). Regulatory mode: Locomotion and assessment as distinct orientations. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 35, pp. 293–344). New York: Academic Press]—on engaging in counterfactual thinking and experiencing post-decisional regret. When contemplating a decision with a negative outcome, it was predicted that high (vs. low) locomotion would induce less counterfactual thinking and less regret, whereas the opposite would be true for high (vs. low) assessment. Locomotion and assessment orientations were measured as chronic individual differences in Study 1 and 2, and were induced experimentally in Study 3. In Study 1 and 3 a purchase scenario with a negative outcome was used to elicit counterfactuals and regret, while in Study 2 participants were asked to recall one of their own personal purchases that had a negative outcome. The results supported our predictions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the nature of counterfactual thinking and regret from the perspective of their relation to regulatory mode.

This pilot project explored the utility of a mobile health and wellness app to older adults interested in using low impact exercise as a protective factor against memory and mood loss. While it is known that exercise is a protective factor in preventing further cognitive regression, it is shown that adults 55 and older spend ten hours or more each day sitting or lying down, leaving the latter group even more compromised (Cavill, 2013). The piloting of a health and wellness self management tool through a mobile app featuring the Chinese exercise of Qi Gong represents an innovative, visual and accessible tool that supports daily physical activity while fostering a sense of personal empowerment and enhancing the quality of life.

"There are various reasons why less-educated men have higher risks of labor market vulnerability - risks such as being unemployed or, if employed, having only low socioeconomic status. The commonly used argument is that these higher risks result from increased job competition caused by an oversupply of higher educated workers, who displace the less-educated from their jobs. In addition to exploring this argument, we investigate the impact of less-educated men's cognitive skills, their social resources, and the (historically embedded) signaling value of not having educational credentials. We study this impact by using institutional and compositional variations across labor market entry cohorts in the United States. For our analyses, we use the data of the 1974-2008 US General Social Survey (GSS). They show that an oversupply of high-educated workers mainly increases the unemployment risks of the higher-educated themselves. In labor market entry cohorts where the negative selection on parental background of the group of less-educated is more pronounced, the less-educated run a relatively high risk of unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

"Moralische Dilemmata stellen Individuen vor die Entscheidung zwischen wichtigen Werten. Oft stellen solche Dilemmata zugleich die Gesellschaft vor die Aufgabe einer allgemeinen politischen Regelung. Drei didaktische Konsequenzen für den Unterricht werden in diesem Beitrag mit Beispielen skizziert: Es bedarf einer Phase der Politisierung, als Theoriebezug und Analyseinstrument eignet sich Kohlbergs Stufenmodell, und für die kooperativ-selbständige Schülerarbeit wurde die 'Moralstufenanalyse' entwickelt. Die Trennung und Zusammenführung von Moral und Politik finden eine Parallele in der Beziehung von sozialem und politischem Lernen." (Autorenreferat), "Moral dilemmas ask individuals to decide for one side of conflicting values. Often society will or must decide on a political rule to render a general answer. Three didactical consequences for teaching are outlined and demonstrated by examples: Teaching must arrange for a separate phase of political questioning, Kohlberg's stage model renders a theoretical frame for analyses and was transformed into the instrument of 'moral-stage-analysis' for cooperative learning. The relationship of ethics and politics (separation and combination are necessary) is the same as the relationship of social and political learning." (author's abstract)