International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) Proceedings (Porto, Portugal, April 4-6, 2014)

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2014, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 4 to 6 of April. Psychology, in our time, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral standpoints), from this academic and practical scientific discipline, is aimed ultimately to benefit society. Our International Conference seeks to provide some answers and explore the several areas within the Psychology field, new developments in studies and proposals for future scientific projects. Our goal is to offer a worldwide connection between psychologists, researchers and lecturers, from a wide range of academic fields, interested in exploring and giving their contribution in psychological issues. We take pride in having been able to connect and bring together academics, scholars, practitioners and others interested in a field that is fertile in new perspectives, ideas and knowledge. We counted on an extensive variety of contributors and presenters, which can supplement our view of the human essence and behavior, showing the impact of their different personal, academic and cultural experiences. This is, certainly, one of the reasons we have many nationalities and cultures represented, inspiring multi-disciplinary collaborative links, fomenting intellectual encounter and development. InPACT 2014 received 326 submissions, from 31 different countries, reviewed by a double-blind process. Submissions were prepared to take form of Oral Presentations, Posters, Virtual Presentations and Workshops. It were accepted for presentation in the conference, 92 submissions (28% acceptance rate). The conference also includes a keynote presentation from an internationally distinguished Emeritus Professor Carlos Amaral Dias, BSc(Hons), MD, PhD, C. Psychol., FBPsS, Full Professor in the University of Coimbra, Director of Institute Superior Miguel Torga and Vice-President of the Portuguese Association of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, to whom we express our most gratitude. This volume is composed by the proceedings of the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT 2014), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.) and co-sponsored by the respected partners we reference in the dedicated page. This conference addressed different categories inside Applied Psychology area and papers are expected to fit broadly into one of the named themes and sub-themes. To develop the conference program we have chosen six main broad-ranging categories, which also cover different interest areas: (1) In Clinical Psychology: Emotions and related psychological processes; Assessment; Psychotherapy and counseling; Addictive behaviors; Eating disorders; Personality disorders; Quality of life and mental health; Communication within relationships; Services of mental health; and Psychopathology. (2) In Educational Psychology: Language and cognitive processes; School environment and childhood disorders; Parenting and parenting related processes; Learning and technology; Psychology in schools; Intelligence and creativity; Motivation in classroom; Perspectives on teaching; Assessment and evaluation; and Individual differences in learning. (3) In Social Psychology: Cross-cultural dimensions of mental disorders; Employment issues and training; Organizational psychology; Psychology in politics and international issues; Social factors in adolescence and its development; Social anxiety and self-esteem; Immigration and social policy; Self-efficacy and identity development; Parenting and social support; and Addiction and stigmatization. (4) In Legal Psychology: Violence and trauma; Mass-media and aggression; Intra-familial violence; Juvenile delinquency; Aggressive behavior in childhood; Internet offending; Working with crime perpetrators; Forensic psychology; Violent risk assessment; and Law enforcement and stress. (5) In Cognitive and Experimental Psychology: Perception, memory and attention; Decision making and problem-solving; Concept formation, reasoning and judgment; Language processing; Learning skills and education; Cognitive Neuroscience; Computer analogies and information processing (Artificial Intelligence and computer simulations); Social and cultural factors in the cognitive approach; Experimental methods, research and statistics; and Biopsychology. (6) In Psychoanalysis AND Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy: Psychoanalysis and psychology; The unconscious; The Oedipus complex; Psychoanalysis of children; Pathological mourning; Addictive personalities; Borderline organizations; Narcissistic personalities; Anxiety and phobias; Psychosis. The proceedings contain the results of the research and developments conducted by authors who focused on what they are passionate about: to promote growth in research methods intimately related to Psychology and its applications. It includes an extensive variety of contributors and presenters, who will extend our view in exploring and giving their contribution in educational issues, by sharing with us their different personal, academic and cultural experiences. Educational psychology oral papers include: (1) Effects of a multisensory/phonic intervention program on prevention of reading learning difficulties in kindergartners (Mariana dos Santos Moretto-Moresch and Sylvia Domingos Barrera); (2) Parents' and teachers' agreement on behavior problems in children with reading problems (Aikaterini Venianaki); (3) Differentiating cultural, social, and psychological attitudes towards school counselling in Saudi Arabia (Turki Aziz M. Alotaibi); (4) Construction and validity evidence of successful University-to-Work transition scale (Marina Cardoso de Oliveira, Lucy Leal Melo-Silva and Maria do Céu Taveira); (5) Body-esteem as perceived by Omani school students' grade 7 through 12 (Abdulqawi Alzubaidi, Ali Mahdi Kazem, Said Aldhafri, Muna Albahrani and Hussain Alkharusi); (6) Elderly answer about concepts of aging and computer use: Educational Psychology and gerontological perspective (Claus Dieter Stobäus, Anderson Jackle Ferreira, Caroline Prato Marques, Cláudia de Oliveira Tacques Wehemeyer, Denise Goulart and Juan José Mouriño Mosquera); (7) A realist constructivist approach to unit development in science (Theodore R. Prawat and Richard S. Prawat); (8) Designing, building and preliminary results of "Cerebrex", a serious educational videogame (Ali Lemus, Byron Ajin and Rigoberto Pinto); (9) Maternal acceptance-rejection and emotion regulation (assessed by Erica) in Portuguese adolescents (Teresa Sousa Machado and Isabel S. Reverendo); and (10) Attachment to parents (assessed by IPPA-R) and emotion regulation (REQ-2) in Portuguese adolescents (Teresa Sousa Machado and Mariana Duarte). Educational psychology posters include: (1) Self-regulation of learning in secondary school students with special educational needs (Karin Bakracevic Vukman and Majda Schmidt); (2) Personality traits and quality of relations to people in adult Psychology students (Galina Kozhukhar); (3) Psychometric analysis of the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) in the Arab culture (Ali Mahdi Kazem and Abdulqawi Alzubaidi); (4) Short form of WISC-IV for Spanish primary school children: A pilot study (Carmen Dasí, María J. Soler, Vicente Bellver and Juan C. Ruiz); (5) Coping behaviors in families of children with developmental disabilities in Albania (Erjona Dervishaliaj); (6) Imagined contact: A method to improve young adolescents' behavioural intentions towards a peer presented as having Asperger Syndrome (Eleni Fleva); (7) Burnout Syndrome among Brazilian lecturers in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Psychology and Education (Cristina Py de Pinto Gomes Mairesse and Ana Paula Melchiors Stahlschmidt); (8) School refusal and perceived academic self-efficacy in a sample of Chilean adolescents (José Manuel García-Fernández, Antonio Pérez-Sánchez, Maria Vicent Juan, Carolina Gonzalvez Macià, María Isabel González Núñes and Nelly Lagos San Martín); (9) New perspectives in traffic education life action role playing as a new method of teaching (Zuzana Strnadová, Leona Winklerová and Kamila Paráková); (10) Academic self-efficacy influence the attitude and interest in the school in a sample of Chilean adolescents (Antonio Pérez-Sánchez, José Manuel García-Fernández, Maria Vicent Juan, Carolina Gonzalvez Macià, Cándido J. Inglés and Nelly Lagos San Martín); (11) Applying the serious educational videogame: "Cerebrex" to 6th graders for an educational and motivational boost (Ali Lemus, Yetilu de Baessa and Jorge Mario Garcia); (12) Scientific literature review about school refusal through the SSCI (José M. García-Fernández, Antonio Miguel Pérez-Sánchez, Carolina Gonzálvez, Maria Vicent, María Soledad Torregrosa-Díez and Nieves Gomis); (13) Relationship between academic self-efficacy and selecting main ideas: Study with a sample of Chilean adolescents (Antonio Pérez-Sánchez, José M. García-Fernández, Maria Vicent Juan, Carolina Gonzalvez Macià, Patricia Poveda Serra, Cándido J. Inglés and Nelly Lagos San Martín); and (14) Individual differences in learning difficulty (Kénora Chau, Senad Karavdic, Michèle Baumann and Nearkasen Chau). Educational psychology virtual presentations include: (1) Marital quality: Work-family conflict as a vulnerability factor (Rosalba Raffagnino, Martina Fabrizi and Luisa Puddu); (2) A preliminary investigation of students' work engagement and anxiety (Hanan Asghar); and (3) Intercultural sensitivity of school psychologists in Serbia (Danijela S. Petrovic and Bojana M. Dimitrijevic). (Individual papers contain references.) [Abstract modified to meet ERIC guidelines.]