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Using data from 1,571 ninth-grade students (Mage  = 14.62) from 82 academic track schools in Germany and their predominantly Caucasian middle-class parents, configurations of different family characteristics reported by parents were investigated. Latent profile analyses considering academic involvement, family interest, parents' self-concept, child's need for support, and parents' time and energy identified average, indifferent, motivated and engaged, motivated and disengaged, and involved families. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with students' motivational (self-concept, effort, and interest) and achievement outcomes (achievement test and grades) in math were analyzed. Students from families classified as motivated and disengaged showed higher initial levels motivation and achievement. Over 5 months, these students also showed an increase in self-concept and higher achievement than students from other family types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the view of the author on moral responsibility. The author states that most of the concern with moral responsibility grows out from connection between taking people to be responsible for something and making them responsible. The author cites that reactive attitudes disappear when their object was not responsible for event or action that triggered them. The author also mentions that the concept of moral responsibility has been formed by conscious and unconscious interests.

An unusual request can increase compliance in situations in which the typical response to the request is refusal. This procedure, called the pique technique, is said to be effective because the unusual request causes people to give mindful consideration to it. We tested this explanation in 2 studies. Passersby were asked for either a common amount of change or 37 cents. Participants who inquired about the unusual amount were given either a specific or an uninformative reason. The pique technique increased compliance, but only when participants stopped to ask about the request. These participants gave more money, regardless of the reason provided. The findings failed to support the notion that an unusual request leads to a mindful consideration of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the association between the strength of an individual’s intimacy goals in dating and preferences for dating partners, relationship initiation strategies, and contexts in which to pursue dating. Two studies demonstrate that intimacy goal strength positively corresponds with preferring partners who have strong intimacy and are warm and open, similar in attitudes and interests, and securely attached. The strength of intimacy goals also positively corresponds with the perceived use and effectiveness of emotional involvement as a strategy for initiating dating and negatively with meeting potential partners at campus parties. Data collected at a 4-month follow-up indicate that a stronger focus on intimacy goals is associated with entering a dating relationship for men, but not for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having in mind the need for an increased attention to the importance of pre-service teacher development concerning technology, this study examined teachers' interest to attain educational technology standards (Interest) in terms of their computer attitude (Attitude) and the professional support they received to attain these standards (Support). The study used a sample of 39 mathematics student teachers and 62 elementary student teachers. The two groups only differed in Support favouring elementary student teachers, who, contrary to mathematics student teachers, received some basic instruction concerning ET standards.Despite these differences in Support, the two-group path analysis applied revealed that, for both student teachers, the direct effects of Support on Attitude and of Attitude on Interest were positive and significant. On the other hand, the total and direct effects of Support on Interest, although positive, were insignificant. However, because of significant indirect effects, the impact of Support on Interest was mediated through Attitude in both groups. These findings support the view that in order to develop Interest, Support should focus on developing Attitude, which may hold true in general not depending on student teacher type and the level of Support. Implications for further research and (pre-service) teacher professional development are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translational research often begins when findings from the laboratory are replicated with and extended to clinical populations' and problems. If these initial extensions yield promising results, additional research typically is needed to further explore basic process and to develop and refine effective technologies. Basic findings directly inform methodologies, interventions, and data analysis at this stage of translational research, and one or more of the key distinguishing features of applied work usually are absent from these studies. For example, the study may be conducted in a laboratory-type setting instead of the usual social context to obtain a high degree of control over variables of interest, or it may focus on responses that are convenient to study rather than on behavior that would be the target of treatment.

The present studies test whether having a 'vested interest' in a particular outcome affects perceived covariation. Vested interest was defined as a function of whether Dutch university students were in favour or against the implementation of a threatening policy (receiving lectures in English as opposed to the native Dutch). In both studies subjects were told that this policy would be tried out at either their own or another comparable university, and that the university chosen would be the one with the greatest proportion of support for the plan. In Study 1 subjects (n = 151) were presented with statements expressing pro or contra attitudes and arguments to the policy. These were ostensibly derived from students at both universities but university affiliation was not indicated. In Study 2 (n = 114) similar information was provided but the statements were attributed to students from the two universities, such that there was an equal proportion of opposition/support for the plan at both universities. We hypothesized that illusory correlations would reflect the vested interest of attitude such that students opposing the policy would overestimate the proportion of opponents to supporters at their own university compared to those in favour of the policy. The results of both studies supported our hypothesis and they also revealed attitude to be a more important predictor of illusory correlation than perceived personal consequences for themselves. The prediction that illusory correlations would be weaker in Study 2 than in Study 1, because it provides less scope for bias, was not supported. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest tests often employ forced choice methods in which the subject is asked to state his preferences among a range of items. A major difficulty with the resulting scores is that the absolute strengths of the subject's interests, in terms of liking and disliking, cannot be inferred from the preferences alone. A much fuller picture can be obtained by eliciting from the subject both preference and like-dislike responses to the test items but this yields two sets of score data which can give rise to difficulties in interpretation. This paper describes a simple algorithm by which such responses can be integrated into a single, readily interpretable, set of scores in the range 0 to 100. The procedure is not confined to interest tests but can be applied to any situation where similar ranking and rating procedures are used in parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental technique for developing scoring keys for a biographical inventory was applied to the analysis of responses on a questionnaire completed by applicants for refinery operating jobs. The technique differed from more traditional empirical methods used to key biographical data in that it was not dependent on item—criterion relationships. The chief aims were to determine whether relatively independent and homogeneous keys could be constructed with this method and whether the resulting keys were useful in predicting job success. The analysis yielded 12 keys which were relatively independent and homogeneous. The results tentatively suggested that such keys may be comparable in predictive power to empirically derived keys which are less easily interpretable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses measures of over-controlled and under-controlled behavior. Two of the most frequently used objective measures of behavior in recent years have been the MMPI and the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (TAS). A major problem that confronted experimenters who used these instruments was the frequent finding that they were useful where interest lay only in establishing differences between various groups of subjects but were not adequate for predicting the behavior of individuals. One behavior scientist has been doing work pertinent to this problem. He constructed scales designed to measure conceptually independent dimensions of behavior categorized as "neurotic over-control" (NOC) and "neurotic under-control" (NUC). An especially promising property of these scales was the nonsignificant correlation between the scores on them. Apparently, they measured different types of ineffective behaviors.

The article presents information on the attitudes of the psychopath. The purpose of the present investigation was to study the attitudes, feelings, likes and dislikes of individuals diagnosed as cases of psychopathic personality. This condition is relatively much more important in criminology and in penal institutions, and it has also attracted widespread attention in the military forces. The attitudes of the psychopath have been studied by a detailed procedure, and special attention has been paid to the use of control groups in securing valid results.