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Educators aspire to use the most effective teaching materials possible. Their choices, ideally, should be informed by empirical evidence on how materials they use can affect students' outcomes or performance, particularly their post-instruction performance or application. The current research tested the extent to which voice (active vs. passive) and modality (oral vs. written) of instructional examples influence (a) the degree to which a new process is learned and (b) subsequent performance. Results indicate that although voice and modality may be influential during the instruction process itself, they may have minimal impact on subsequent performance. The results are discussed in the context of the importance of using empirical evidence to inform educators' choices, as well as presenting strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of learning.

The Twenty Statements Test (TST) is widely used in cross-cultural psychology to elicit descriptions of the self-concept through free-format responses. This study examines whether the TST elicits descriptors that are most descriptive of the self-concept. Members of four ethnic groups in the United States participated, to assess the generalizability of the obtained patterns. Participants generated self-descriptions for the actual, ideal, and ought selves, then rated each description for its descriptiveness. Although a large proportion of self-descriptions were rated as “extremely descriptive,” some participants did not use the “extremely descriptive” rating for any of the descriptions they generated. Results suggest that descriptors generated earlier in the sequence are most descriptive, as are those generated in the actual self measure. The ratings of the extent of descriptiveness of the responses did not vary across four ethnic groups in the United States. These results are discussed in terms of the interpretation of TST-generated self-descriptions in cross-cultural research and other potential factors that influence which descriptors are elicited.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in American children. Screening is one strategy to identify children at risk for suicide. We analyzed pediatric suicide deaths in Connecticut (CT) over a 10-year period using data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) and the Department of Public Health (DPH). We also reviewed the outcomes of a suicide screening questionnaire implemented in the emergency department of our institution's affiliated children's hospital. From 2008 to 2018, there were 541 deaths among children aged 10 to 18 years, of which 16.2% were suicides. The majority of suicide deaths (77.9%) were by hanging, and 13.9% were by firearm. Since implementation of the suicide screening questionnaire, 89% of children registered in the ED were screened, of which 16% screened positive. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for children in CT. Further research should inform strategies to lower the risk of pediatric suicide by hanging and firearm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine how allocentrism, or the importance placed on ingroups, relates to the perceived homogeneity and entitativity (groupness) of relational (interpersonal) and collective (categorical) ingroups. In two studies (Ns = 198, 90), allocentrism is shown to be positively related to perceptions of ingroup entitativity and homogeneity. This pattern was obtained, however, only for perceptions of collective ingroups. Ethnic differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White participants' perceptions of ingroups were mediated by allocentrism (Study 1). Participants in Study 2 were members of a laboratory task group and their levels of allocentrism predicted their perceptions of the group's homogeneity and entitativity regardless of the actual homogeneity of the group. The effects of allocentrism on perceptions of ingroups are discussed in terms of self-esteem, group identification, and responses to ingroup members' deviations from norms.

Discusses a class project where students use content analysis techniques to examine societal trends of stereotyping in the media. Outlines the steps involved in this research methodology and indicates criteria that instructors could use for evaluation. Includes a table identifying tasks and research skills associated with each stage of the project. (MJP)

Issues concerning the influence of cultural variables on self-esteem are discussed. The ethnographies of 16 cultures were compared, and self-esteem proved to be connected to both cultural tightness and collectivism. Causal attributions for failure tended to be more external for more collective cultures, but no connection between failure attributions and cultural tightness was obtained. Cultural tightness or collectiveness was unimportant with causal attributions for success.

Two experiments exploring the influence of gender-role orientation on the organization of in-group and out-group information measured through cued recall and recall organization were conducted. Results indicate that gender-typed individuals are more likely to individuate in-group members than out-group members compared to androgynous individuals who equally individuated both in- and out-group members.

People have a more differentiated cognitive representation of in-groups than of out-groups. This has led to the prediction that memory should be better for in-group information than for out-group information. However, past research has provided equivocal support for that prediction. This article advances a differential processing hypothesis that offers a solution to this paradox. The hypothesis suggests that whereas in-group information is organized by person categories, out-group information is organized through attribute categories. In-group membership alters the categorical basis of memory for person information, but these categories are not necessarily superior to the attribute categories that are used to organize out-group information. That is, both person and attribute categories elicit equal amounts of recall for the in-group and the out-group. Three experiments are reported that support the differential processing hypothesis.

The self-concept similarities and differences among Turkish and American university students were investigated. The results suggested similarities across the cultural groups in descriptiveness of self-aspects, whereby relational attributes were rated as more self-descriptive than independent and other-focused and traditional aspects.