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Previous research shows that children evaluate the competence of others based on how effectively someone accomplished a goal, that is, based on the observed outcome of an action (e.g., number of attempts needed). Here, we investigate whether 5- to 10-year-old children and adults infer competence from how efficiently someone solves a task by implementing question-asking strategies of varying expected information gains (EIG). Whereas the efficiency of a strategy defined as EIG is a reliable indicator of competence, the observed effectiveness of actions may depend on unrelated external factors, such as luck. Across two experiments conducted in Germany, we varied how efficiently and how effectively different agents solved a 20-questions game (Experiments 1 and 2) and a maze-exploration game (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 (N = 121), only adults identified a more efficient agent as more competent, and all participants attributed higher competence to agents needing fewer questions even when they employed the same inefficient strategy. In Experiment 2 (N = 220), adults and children from about 8 years onward successfully identified the agents using the more efficient strategy as more competent. Overall, our results suggest that observed effectiveness is a powerful cue for competence even when such an inference may not be warranted and that the ability to make explicit competence judgments based on the efficiency of a strategy alone emerges around 8 years of age, although, as shown in previous work, a more implicit understanding of competence may already be present during the preschool years.

Do children consider how others learned when seeking help? Across three experiments, German children (N = 536 3-to-8 year olds, 49% female, majority White, tested 2017-2019) preferred to learn from successful active learners selectively by context: They sought help solving a problem from a learner who had independently discovered the solution to a previous problem over those who had learned through instruction or observation, but only when the current problem was novel, yet related, to the learners' problem (Experiment 1). Older, but not younger, children preferred the active learner even when she was offered help (Experiment 2), though only when her discovery was deliberate (Experiment 3). Although a preference to learn from successful active learners emerges early, a genuine appreciation for "process beyond outcome" increases across childhood.

Little is known about how children generate options for taking action in familiar situations or how they select which action option to actually perform. In this article, we explore the interplay between option generation and selection from a developmental perspective using sports as a testbed. In a longitudinal design with four measurement waves, we asked 6- to 13-year-old children (N = 73) to generate and select action options in a soccer-related task. Children generated and selected options in accordance with the predictions of the take-the-first heuristic, which served as a theoretical starting point: They generated only a few options in decreasing order of validity (i.e., better options were generated earlier) and selected the first options they had generated. Older children selected the first option generated more often than younger children and generated options faster. Longitudinal effects revealed that both age groups generated fewer options and faster across waves. Time limitation fostered fewer and higher quality options being generated and selected. Overall, our results highlight the importance of considering the predecisional process of option generation to deepen our understanding of developmental changes in decision-strategy use. Future research directions and implications for children's real-life decision making are discussed.

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The focus of analysis is the reconstruction of the relationship between the philosopher and sociologist Max Horkheimer (1895--1973) and Hans Simmel (1891--1943), Georg Simmel's first son. Its basis is an unpublished folder at the Universitätsarchiv, Frankfurt am Main. Under review is the attempt by Horkheimer to arrange a visa for Hans Simmel to travel to the US. On the one hand, a testimony is revealed of an intellectual debt (Horkheimer's to Georg Simmel), which was transformed into a biographical debt toward Hans; on the other hand, we sketch a tragic link with the rise of the Nazi party and the consequences of the persecution and diaspora of Jews from Germany, as well as the Institute for Social Research (New York) commitments to help German intellectuals. Consequently, there are two principal aims: firstly, to reconstruct the biographical events which connect Hans Simmel and Max Horkheimer at a specific period (1936--1943), furnishing details about concrete aspects of their historical situation; secondly, in the background we examine the ambivalent relationship between Georg Simmel's thought and the former Frankfurt School authors, who appreciated Simmel's innovative style, yet distanced themselves from his irrationalbourgeois approach (due to the stigmatization of Korsch and Lukács). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of inpatient care quality and is associated with clinical outcomes following admission. Different patient characteristics have been inconsistently linked with satisfaction. This study aims to overcome previous limitations by assessing which patient characteristics are associated with satisfaction within a large study of psychiatric inpatients conducted across five European countries. Methods: All patients with a diagnosis of psychotic (F2), affective (F3) or anxiety/somataform (F4) disorder admitted to 57 psychiatric inpatient units in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK were included. Data were collected from medical records and face-to-face interviews, with patients approached within 2 days of admission. Satisfaction with inpatient care was measured on the Client Assessment of Treatment Scale. Results: Higher satisfaction scores were associated with being older, employed, living with others, having a close friend, less severe illness and a first admission. In contrast, higher education levels, comorbid personality disorder and involuntary admission were associated with lower levels of satisfaction. Although the same patient characteristics predicted satisfaction within the five countries, there were significant differences in overall satisfaction scores across countries. Compared to other countries, patients in the UK were significantly less satisfied with their inpatient care. Conclusions: Having a better understanding of patient satisfaction may enable services to improve the quality of care provided as well as clinical outcomes for all patients. Across countries, the same patient characteristics predict satisfaction, suggesting that similar analytical frameworks can and should be used when assessing satisfaction both nationally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background In Europe, at discharge from a psychiatric hospital, patients with severe mental illness may be exposed to one of two main care approaches: personal continuity, where one clinician is responsible for in- and outpatient care, and specialisation, where various clinicians are. Such exposure is decided through patient-clinician agreement or at the organisational level, depending on the country's health system. Since personal continuity would be more suitable for patients with complex psychosocial needs, the aim of this study was to identify predictors of patients' exposure to care approaches in different European countries. Methods Data were collected on 7302 psychiatric hospitalised patients in 2015 in Germany, Poland, and Belgium (patient-level exposure); and in the UK and Italy (organisational-level exposure). At discharge, patients were exposed to one of the care approaches according to usual practice. Putative predictors of exposure at patients' discharge were assessed in both groups of countries. Results Socially disadvantaged patients were significantly more exposed to personal continuity. In all countries, the main predictor of exposure was the admission hospital, except in Germany, where having a diagnosis of psychosis and a higher education status were predictors of exposure to personal continuity. In the UK, hospitals practising personal continuity had a more socially disadvantaged patient population. Conclusion Even in countries where exposure is decided through patient-clinician agreement, it was the admission hospital, not patient characteristics, that predicted exposure to care approaches. Nevertheless, organisational decisions in hospitals tend to expose socially disadvantaged patients to personal continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the Abstract Tours project of 1997 in East Berlin, Germany. It is a series of detournements which ignored all given routes and took their form from random geometric figures over a printed map. Abstract Tours parodied the idea of a Stadtrundgang or sightseeing tour by literalizing it and suggesting possible geometrical variants such as triangular, square or trapezoidal tours. These plans contribute to sharing the image of a city within their social and familial circle.