Human mediators of the relationship between metacognitive awareness and academic achievement: parents’ and teachers’ support. A mediation analysis

From an economic point of view, it is a global problem that young people do not pursue their scientific activities after graduating from university. One of the explanations for this phenomenon is the lack of success in higher education and the inadequate information, enlightenment and motivation of stu dents towards scientific activity. In this sense, the cognitive abilities and human resources that can increase young people’s academic performance, thereby reinforcing their commitment to science, prove to be relevant. The present study included 108 psychology students from Babeș-Bolyai University who completed the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and we recorded their academic performance (GPA), as well as the level of support offered by their parents and teachers. Our research is exploratory; in contrast with previous research, we examine not only simple linear relationships between metacognition that determines academic performance and students’ social support, but also two significant human resources, parent and teacher support, as a mediator in the relationship between metacognition and academic performance. We tested three mediation models in which the predictor variable is metacognition and the outcome variable is academic performa nce . In simple mediation models, both parental support and teacher sup port were considered significant mediators. Multiple mediation has revealed that metacognition, through the support of parents and then teachers, predicts learning achievement to a greater extent than it does in itself, without the presence of these supports.

Changing views of evolution and their consequences for psychology. From the Modern Synthesis to the Extended Synthesis, and beyond

Reductionist viewpoints have been increasingly replaced by complex systems viewpoints in biological theory and methodology since the turn of the millennium. This tendency has also been reflected in thinking about evolution. Just as the defining evolutionary synthesis of the 20th century - the Modern Synthesis - was born out of the integration of the most up-to-date knowledge of the times, so does a recently emerging new synthesis build on most recent genetic-epigenetic, genomic, eco-devo-evolutionary findings. The "Extended Synthesis" (Pigliucci & Müller, 2010) builds on current understanding of genes, heredity, and multiple evolutionary processes. In this framework, an extended interpretation is offered based on the integration of evolutionary and ecosystem-level processes into the explanation of evolution. In this paper, we aim to review the paths leading to the Extended Synthesis. We aim to present a historically embedded, concise overview of the major issues and developments related to the changing perspectives. The final point of the discussion eventually raises the question: How does psychology relate to the extended view of evolution?

The predictive role of life goals and self determination traits on academic performance in a Romanian STEMM and non-STEM undergraduate cohort

Based on self-determination theory (SDT) and the importance of intrinsic motivation and self-determination in academic performance we investigated the predictive role of intrinsic and extrinsic life goals (aspirations) and self-determination traits (perceived control, self-awareness) in undergraduate academic performance. We analyzed the predictive role of the above in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine), respectively non-STEMM/ non-STEM (Humanities, Arts, Literature, and Management) fields of study, taking into account the literature which indicates the differing demands of each field.

Does long-term focus increase victim-blaming? A study on the just-world hypothesis using the modified Stroop task

According to the just-world hypothesis (Lerner, 1980), people have an inherent need to believe that the world is a just place, where people generally get wha t they deserve. One of the benefits of holding this conviction is that it can promote investing in long-term goals. Acts of secondary victimization, such as blaming or derogating the victim can also be explained by just-world beliefs. This study looked at the effect of perceiving an innocent victim (a supposed threat to the belief in a just world) and long-term focus on the activation of the justice motive. We measured participants’ reaction times for justice-related and other stimuli with the help of the modified Stroop task (N=66). A significant difference between justice-related and neutral words has been found after being confronted with the threat to the belief in a just world, indicating that it indeed activated participants’ justice motive. Long-term focus did not have any significant effect. Higher levels of belief in a random world have been associated with greater victim-blaming tendencies.

Development and personal growthgroup -Apsychodynamic-analytical approach

Short-term analytical group interventions could support students or trainees (in social professions field) in order to enhance their personal resources and abilities reflected by the manner of using their psychological typology. A lack of empirical evidence regarding the effect on psychological type dynamic is a source of speculations in this field. The current study investigates, from an analytical psychology perspective, the impact of a short-term analytical group intervention program on psychological typology and personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism). The results provided by analyzing a sample of 69 participants revealed significant transformations of psychological type dynamics that reflect enhancing the intra-personal and inter-personal processes. The impact of this short-term intervention program on personality traits fell short of reaching significant level.

The embodied view of autism

In the past decades, research has firmly established that Autism Spectrum Disorder is a multicausal, multilevel phenomenon. With this multidimensional approach, theoretical viewpoints informing empirical research have also become more pluralized. In this paper, we describe a turn towards a metatheoretical shift in cognitive science labeled as "embodiment" and its application to theories and research on autism.We show how the premises of the embodied view of cognition: the relational-embodied nature of the mind and the interconnectedness of action, perception, thought, and affect lead to an approach to autism that is different from previous cognitivist approaches. In this framework, we discuss the role of sensorimotor and perception-action processes, as well as intersubjectivity in creating autistic developmental pathways. Autism is understood as rooted in a developmental cascade in which interdependent processes dynamically influence each other.

Social communication, executive functions and expressive language in children with ASD with ADHD symptoms –an exploratory study

There are several factors associated with language deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research identified theory of mind difficulties, executive function deficits, abstract thinking and social information processing deficits as being linked with language deficits in ASD. However when it comes to the co-occurance of ASD and ADHD symptoms studies have different theories regarding the way language and social communication deficits emerge. In our exploratory study we propose to investigate the role of the auditory memory in the development of vocabulary and his indirect relation to social interaction and communication. In order to reach our goals we have described 6 case studies of children with ASD and ADHD s ymptoms aged 7 years old. Our results reveal that even if the participants in this study have a low to medium performance in the auditory memory task, this does not seem to impact expressive language to a high extend. Moreover the majority of the participants in our study had good vocabulary skills but seem to have difficulties in social communication. This study was designed to be a preliminary investigation of the connection between different factors that may influence social communication in children with ASD and ADHD symptoms and it can bring new research directions in the domain.