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The incorporation of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools has been shown to improve academic and psychological health of students. Research has been limited regarding implementation of SEL programs in rural communities, where student needs are heightened. The current study examined factors that could impact teachers' intentions to be early adopters of a SEL curriculum in a rural community. Seventy-six teachers provided self-report data regarding perceptions of professional strengths, school climate, school resources for student support, ability to educate diverse students, ability to teach specific SEL domains, and intentions to be an early adopter of a SEL program. Present results indicated positive perceptions of school climate, one's ability to teach diverse students, and one's ability to teach self-management skills positively predicted intentions to be an early adopter of a SEL curriculum. Implications for rural schools are explored and recommendations for adoption of SEL curricula in rural schools are provided.

Alcohol-intoxicated suspects’ confessions are admissible in U.S. courts; however, it is unknown how jurors evaluate such confessions. Study 1 assessed potential jurors’ perceptions of intoxication in interrogative contexts. Many respondents were unaware that questioning intoxicated suspects and presenting subsequent confessions in court are legal, and respondents generally reported they would rely less on intoxicated than sober confessions. In Study 2, potential jurors read a case about a defendant who had confessed or not while sober or intoxicated. Participants who read about an intoxicated defendant perceived the interrogation as more inappropriate and the defendant as more cognitively impaired than did participants who read about a sober defendant, and as a result, they were less likely to convict. Furthermore, intoxicated confessions influenced conviction decisions to a lesser extent than did sober confessions. Findings suggest that investigators might consider abstaining from interrogating intoxicated suspects or else risk jurors finding confessions unconvincing in court.

Although researchers have explored social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools, the research on rural schools is limited. In this study, the authors explore parents' feedback on the impact of an SEL program on their children in rural schools.

Project/problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an effective model for school reform when implemented with fidelity. In the report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," it was recommended that if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the 21st-century economy, there must be a serious effort to "enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in STEM" (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). The report included the recommendation that states develop statewide specialty STEM high schools (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine, 2007, p. 6). In 2010, the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Academy (T-STEM) initiative was implemented to develop specialty STEM schools similar to those described in "Rising Above the Gathering Storm." The primary instructional strategy of T-STEM academies is problem- and project-based learning. In the STEM context, PBL is well suited as a primary pedagogy for STEM learning. This paper examines the following questions: What outcomes occur when PBL is implemented in a low performing school district? What is the role of PBL in school improvement? What are the challenges to implementing PBL with high fidelity?

Quixoteism is a motive that leads people to undertake challenging actions as an instrumental goal toward an ultimate goal of improving the welfare of the world. The present research tests whether the activation of a Quixoteism motive increases a person's willingness to perform extraordinary helping behaviors. In Study 1 (N = 66), the centrality of values linked to Quixoteism (i.e., the Transcendent-Change Constellation, TCC) predicted actual commitment to help, but only when this behavior was challenging. In Study 2 (N = 175), the centrality of TCC measured one month earlier was associated with a preference for challenging helping behaviors, but only when the ultimate goal of Quixoteism was previously primed (i.e., awareness of worldwide problems). This is the first work to focus on analyzing the association between Quixoteism and behaviors that involve a challenging helping (chivalrous) action., Author(s): Sergio Villar [sup.1] , Luis Oceja [sup.1] , Sergio Salgado [sup.2] , Eric Stocks [sup.3] , Pilar Carrera [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000000119578126, grid.5515.4, Departamento de Psicología Social, Universidad [...]

Recently, empathic concern was separated into the components of sympathy and tenderness (Lishner et al. 2011 (See CR27)). So far, these two emotional experiences have been assessed as episodic emotional responses, as the existent dispositional measures remain blind to such distinction. The aim of the present research is to develop and validate a dispositional measure that captures the personal disposition to feel sympathy, tenderness, and personal distress. This new scale is called Sympathy, Tenderness and Distress Dispositional Scale (SyTeD). In Study 1, we developed and tested the internal consistency and factor structure of the English version of the scale in the United States. In Study 2, we translated the scale into Spanish and tested its content and criterion validity in Spain. In Study 3, we tested the predictive validity of the sympathy-tenderness distinction within a helping vs. a care-based scenario in the United Kingdom (SyTeD-English version). In Study 4, we tested the predictive validity of the sympathy-tenderness distinction in a real helping situation in Spain (SyTeD-Spanish version). The results across these four studies suggest that the SyTeD is a useful measure of dispositional sympathy and tenderness that allows studying further different types of prosocial behavior (i.e., help vs. care)., Author(s): Belén López-Pérez [sup.1] , Pilar Carrera [sup.2] , Luis Oceja [sup.2] , Tamara Ambrona [sup.2] , Eric Stocks [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0000 8508 6421, grid.146189.3, Department of [...]

The impact of the New Tech Network (NTN) design on several academic measures was tested on ninth graders in four schools in one state located in the Southeastern United States. Research questions explored the extent to which achievement test scores, dual credits earned, and dropout rates differed between ninth grade students in high fidelity NTN schools and similar students in traditional schools. A quasi-experimental design using student-level variables from the state's PowerSchool database was conducted in order to test hypotheses related to the research questions. Results suggest that, when implemented with fidelity to the model, there was a significant effect of NTN on achievement test scores as students in NTN schools scored higher on both the End of Course (EOC) Math and English Language Arts (ELA) tests compared to students in control schools. This effect remained after controlling for poverty, race, and preexisting achievement level. Students in NTN schools also were slightly more likely to earn dual credit compared to similar students in control schools. However, there was no effect of NTN participation on dropout rate as students in NTN schools were more likely to be retained in their current grade level and not moving to the next grade level compared to students in control schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00682.x Byline: Luis Oceja (2), Eric Stocks ([dagger]), David Lishner ([double dagger]) Abstract: We tested the hypothesis that people are more likely to offer aid when the beneficiary of help is congruent with the entity that initiates prosocial action. In 2 experiments conducted in 2 different countries, participants were approached in naturalistic settings with an appeal for help. The target in need (individual vs. individual among others with the same need) and the beneficiary of potential help (individual vs. group) were manipulated. Results revealed that participants were more likely to offer aid when the target in need and beneficiary of help were congruent. The present research offers insight into perceptual factors that affect prosocial behavior in situations involving more than one victim. Author Affiliation: (*)Psicologia SocialUniversidad Autonoma de MadridCantoblanco UniversidadMadrid, Spain ([dagger])University of Texas at Tyler ([double dagger])University of Wisconsin Article note: (2) Luis Oceja, Departamento de Psicologia Social y Metodologia, C/ Pavlov 6, Ciudad Universitaria Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: luis.oceja@uam.es

The purpose of this study was to determine key concepts of self-efficacy for sleep hygiene among young adults/college students and sleep experts, and to refine the Self-Efficacy for Sleep Hygiene Inventory. The Self-Efficacy for Sleep Hygiene Inventory was revised using input from young adult focus groups and experts. Information from focus groups informed instrument revision. The revised instrument was distributed using an electronic survey to young adults age 18–26 years for a total sample of 296. A principal component analysis with Varimax Orthogonal Rotation was conducted resulting in a three-factor solution. Cronbach's alphas were:.85 for Behaviors to Adopt (nine items),.79 for Manage Mindset and Environment (eight items),.70 for Behaviors to Avoid (eight items), and.88 for the inventory (twenty-five items). Initial psychometric testing of the Self-Efficacy for Sleep Hygiene Inventory-Revised indicates that it is a reliable measure of self-efficacy for sleep hygiene in young adults age 18–26 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia prevalence is increasing exponentially and has a profound effect on individuals diagnosed as well as their family caregivers. Dementia care should be patient focused, not task or medically oriented. Patient-centered dementia care requires more staff time, is complex, and, as a result, financially threatens the healthcare system. Therefore, professionals must be prepared to meet the needs of this growing population. The aims of this mixed methods study were to examine the effect of a 16-h interprofessional program on healthcare students' dementia knowledge, attitudes toward people with dementia, confidence for dementia care and empathy, and to understand the relationships among the listed variables. Nursing, occupational therapy assistant, pharmacy, and psychology students participated in a 16-h team-based learning Dementia Care Bootcamp. Students reported significant improvements in dementia attitudes and knowledge, confidence for dementia care and empathy immediately after Bootcamp and 3 months later. Significant relationships among listed variables were noted. Qualitative data complemented the quantitative findings. In addition, the concept of dementia care competency emerged. Students recognized the benefits of learning about, with and from others from diverse professions. Interprofessional education has great potential to improve students' ability to care for people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At what point is an assemblage of individuals perceived as a single, unified group? And how do demographic characteristics of these individuals influence perceptions of groupness? To answer these questions, we conducted four studies in which participants viewed sets of images that varied in the number of individuals depicted, and then identified the number of persons at which the assemblage was perceived to be a single, unified group. Across four studies, we manipulated the gender and race composition of the persons depicted. The results suggest that five (plus or minus one) people constitutes the point at which a collection of persons is perceived less like separate individuals and more like a single, unified group. However, the demographic complexity of the assemblage also influences perceived groupness. The number of individuals required to be perceived as a unified group is larger for diverse, compared to homogeneous, assemblages of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While exercise is an effective intervention used to minimize side effects associated with chemotherapy, tai chi (TC) exercise for persons actively receiving chemotherapy remains understudied. The purposes of this study were to (a) evaluate the effects of TC on self-efficacy, quality of life (QOL), and cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and (b) understand the experience and perceived benefits of patients taking chemotherapy involved in a TC program. Design: An explanatory sequential mixed methods study with a dominant qualitative strand was used to explore the differences between an intervention group participating in TC (n = 3) and a nonexercising, wait-listed comparison group (n = 3). Method: Following 8-weeks of TC classes, a focus group was conducted with the intervention group. Pretest/posttest scores for CRF, self-efficacy, and QOL were analyzed using t tests to compare the means between and within groups. Thematic analysis was used to interpret transcripts. Quantitative and qualitative results were compared to determine congruence between findings. Findings: Qualitative findings revealed increased mind/body strength. Quantitative scores trended toward improved CRF, self-efficacy, and QOL. Findings from the two strands supported one another. Conclusions: Tai chi is an effective and feasible exercise for individuals with cancer receiving chemotherapy. This mind–body exercise appears to provide benefits beyond improved physical functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that the connection between values and people's behaviour may not be as straightforward and robust as has been claimed. We propose that a more holistic and discriminative view that acknowledges the influence of a specific combination of values on specific kinds of behaviour is needed. In the current project, we test two hypotheses regarding the transcendental‐change profile (TCP). First, that TCP is characterized by a combination of the readiness to engage in those challenges (instrumental) that can make the world a better place (terminal). Second, the centrality of the TCP facilitates performance of those prosocial actions that are perceived as stimulating and global. The results of five studies support the reliability and validity of this conceptualization of TCP (Studies 1 and 2), and show that when the prosocial initiative is perceived as either global (Study 3) or stimulating (Studies 4 and 5), the TCP is the strongest predictor of the willingness and commitment to engage in such prosocial action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that feeling empathy sometimes leads to compassion fatigue and sometimes to compassion satisfaction. In three studies, participants recalled an instance when they felt empathy in order to assess the role time perspective plays in how empathizers perceive the consequences of empathy. Study 1 revealed that college students perceive empathy as having more negative consequences in the short term, but more positive consequences in the long term. Study 2 showed that service industry professionals perceive the consequences of feeling empathy for customers who felt bad as less negative, and the consequences of feeling empathy for people who felt good as less positive, in the long as opposed to the short term. Because Studies 1 and 2 confounded time perspective with event specificity a third study was conducted in which event specificity was held constant across time perspectives. The same pattern of results emerged. The results of these studies indicate that perceptions of the effects of feeling empathy, whether positive or negative, become less extreme over time. These findings shed light on the relation between empathy and compassion fatigue and satisfaction by suggesting that situations that initially are experienced as stressful can over time make the empathizer stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I n 6 experiments, we manipulated the length of a communication message to assess reciprocity norm-following behaviour during conversational interaction. In Studies 1 and 2, scripts of different length were used in an online chat, and chat logs were analysed. In Studies 3 and 4, participants e-mailed scripts that varied in length to acquaintances, and replies were analysed. In Studies 5 and 6, a confederate initiated conversations with either strangers or acquaintances and recorded the amount of time the person responded. The results suggest that conversation partners reciprocate length across different communication media, regardless of the depth of the information disclosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely believed that impairment in an ability to experience affective empathy for others is a central feature of psychopathy. The authors tested this assumption by covertly manipulating and measuring state experiences of emotional contagion and empathic concern in college undergraduates and male forensic inpatients. Surprisingly, they found little evidence of a negative association between psychopathy and affective empathy in either sample. In those instances in which associations were found, they tended to indicate that higher psychopathy was associated with increased affective empathy. Follow-up analyses also revealed that psychopathy was positively associated with pervasive experiences of sadness, anger, and fear, and negatively associated with pervasive experiences of happiness among nonforensic individuals. This research raises questions about existing conceptualizations of interpersonal affect in psychopathy and offers suggestions for advancing future understanding of the role-played by emotional processes in psychopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much research has investigated the cognitive-perceptual factors that promote empathic concern. However, little research has investigated such factors for a related emotion: empathic embarrassment. We suggest that 2 factors promote empathic embarrassment for a target in a compromising situation: liking the target, and imagining oneself in the target's situation. Results revealed that liking a socially compromised target increases both empathic concern and empathic embarrassment (Experiment 1). Furthermore, imagining the person's thoughts and feelings increases empathic concern and a desire for future exposure to the person, whereas imagining oneself in the person's situation primarily increases empathic embarrassment (Experiment 2). Implications of these results for future empathy research and applications for those who suffer from chronic embarrassability are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why does empathy promote prosocial behavior? Previous research suggests that empathically aroused individuals help those in need, even when physical escape from the need situation is easy, and this evidence has been used to support the claim that empathy evokes an altruistic motive. However, existing research has not addressed the possibility that empathically aroused participants help because ease of physical escape fails to provide adequate psychological escape from awareness of the victim's suffering and the aversive empathic arousal such awareness produces. The two experiments reported here examined this issue by directly manipulating empathic arousal and the perceived ease of psychological escape among potential helpers. In both experiments, higher rates of helping were observed among empathically aroused participants, even under conditions of easy psychological escape. The findings of both experiments suggest that empathy evokes an altruistic motive to reduce the victim's suffering rather than an egoistic aversive-arousal reduction motive. In addition, the results of Experiment 1 suggest that concern for psychological escape from the suffering of others may constitute an important independent prosocial motive in need of future study. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the one-among-others effect has shown that inducing empathic concern towards a victim presented alongside with a small number of other victims enhances (a) the perception of this set of victims as separate and different individuals (instead of as a group), and (b) the preference to help them individually (rather than collectively). We propose that inducing a local (vs. global) perceptual scope increases (vs. lessens) these two outcomes. In this work, participants first reported their perception of an ad that showed a victim depicted as one-among-others and, afterwards, were unexpectedly asked to indicate their preference for giving the victims either "individualized", "collective", or "equal" assistance. In Experiment 1 (N = 48), we manipulated the participants' local (vs. global) perceptual scope and allowed empathy concern to occur naturally. In Experiment 2 (N = 213), we manipulated both the perceptual scope and empathy concern. Overall, results showed that the combined presence of local scope and empathic concern increased the awareness of others (η p 2 = .203 and .047, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.35] and [0.03, 0.13], ps < .03) and the preference for individualized assistance (zs = 2.08 and 2.74, ps < .02). Lastly, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of perceiving a set of victims as individuals (rather than as a group) in need.