Grigoris Kiosseoglou

Academic Achievement, Motivation and Future Selves

Summary The study examined the relation between possible selves, academic performance, motivation, self‐esteem and persistence on task. The assumption was that envisioning a desired end‐state produces information processing favouring the desired state and, as a consequence, the action seems more likely and people are able to construct more efficient plans. We hypothesized that academic performance is best for subjects who are able to produce well‐elaborated, vivid pictures of future selves. The sample consisted of 289 students, 14 and 15 years old, of both sexes. The statistical analysis revealed that those who endorsed specific, elaborated positive selves outperformed the other groups in academic achievement. There was also indication that this group of students showed more persistence on task. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the motivational role of possible selves in achievement situations.

The Relationship of Parental Attachment and Psychological Separation to the Psychological Functioning of Young Adults

Abstract The authors explored the interrelations between attachment patterns and psychological separation from parents as well as the contribution of these variables to adaptive psychological functioning. Among 153 university students in Greece, there was a positive association between security of attachment and freedom from guilt, anxiety, and resentment toward ones parents (conflictual independence); in contrast, there was an inverse relation between security of attachment and independence from parents in relation to emotional, functional, and attitudinal independence. Compared with the insecurely attached students, the securely attached students also scored higher on measures of self-esteem and lower on measures of anxiety and loneliness.

Implicit theories of intelligence, perceived academic competence, and school achievement: testing alternative models.

In the present study 3 alternative causal models concerning the relationships between implicit theories of intelligence, perceived academic competence, and school achievement were tested. The direction of changes in implicit theories and perceived competence during early adolescence also was examined. A total of 187 fifth and sixth graders were tested and retested a year later, when they were sixth and seventh graders, respectively. Cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that school achievement determined the adoption of a particular implicit theory through the mediation of perceived competence. Implicit theories were found to change toward the adoption of more incremental beliefs and perceived academic competence declined; however, high achievers, as compared with their low- and middle-level classmates, adopted more incremental beliefs and had significantly higher perceived competence.

Semantic and phonological processing in illiteracy.

Researchers of cognitive processing in illiteracy have proposed that the acquisition of literacy modifies the functional organization of the brain. They have suggested that, while illiterate individuals have access only to innate semantic processing skills, those who have learned the correspondence between graphemes and phonemes have several mechanisms available to them through which to process oral language. We conducted 2 experiments to verify that suggestion with respect to language processing, and to elucidate further the differences between literate and illiterate individuals in the cognitive strategies used to process oral language, as well as hemispheric specialization for these processes. Our findings suggest that semantic processing strategies are qualitatively the same in literates and illiterates, despite the fact that overall performance is augmented by increased education. In contrast, explicit processing of oral information based on phonological characteristics appears to be qualitatively different between literates and illiterates: effective strategies in the processing of phonological information depend upon having had a formal education, regardless of the level of education. We also confirmed the differential abilities needed for the processing of semantic and phonological information and related them to hemisphere-specific processing.

Perceptions of Parent Goals and Their Contribution to Student Achievement Goal Orientation and Engagement in the Classroom: Grade-Level Differences across Adolescence.

The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to examine student perceptions of their parent goals and their achievement goal orientations across adolescence, and (b) to examine how perceived parent goals relate to student achievement goal orientations, and engagement in the classroom (both emotional and behavioral) from early to late adolescence. A set of self-report questionnaires measuring the above variables was administered to three age groups of male and female students attending 7th (N=139), 9th (N=149), and 11th grade (N=138). Regarding the first aim of the study, results indicated that 9th and 11th graders scored lower than 7th graders on all student goal orientation scales as well as on the perceived parent performance goal scale. Regarding the second aim, multi-sample path analyses showed that the pattern of relationships among the variables under examination was different for the three grade levels. The significant and non-significant paths among the variables are discussed for each grade level. Implications of the above results for parents as well as for future research are pointed out.RésuméLe but de cette étude était double: (a) examiner les perceptions des étudiants des buts de leurs parents et leur orientation de but d’accomplissement à travers l’adolescence, et (b) examiner comment les buts des parents perçus se relient aux orientations des buts d’accomplissement des étudiants, et de leur enclenchement dans la salle de classe (émotif et comportemental) à partir du debut jusc à la fin d’adolescence. Un ensemble de questionnaires d’auto-report mesurant les variables ci-dessus a été administré à trois catégories d’âge d’étudiants masculins et féminins s’occupant de la lère (N=139). 3ème (N=149), et 5ème du Secondaire (N=138). Concernant le premier but de l’étude, les résultats ont indiqué que les étudiants de la 3ème et 5ème ont marqué plus bas que les étudiants de la lère sur toutes les échelles d’orientation de but d’étudiant, comme sur l’échelle de but de performance perçue par les parents. Concernant le deuxième but, les analyses de chemin d’multi-échantillon ont prouvé que le modèle des rapports parmi les variables à l’examen était différent pour les trois niveaux de Secondaire. Les chemins significatifs et non-significatifs parmi les variables sont discutés pour chaque niveau de scolarité. Des implications des résultats ci-dessus pour des parents aussi bien que pour la future recherche sont précisées.

Parental Psychological Control and Attachment in Late Adolescents and Young Adults

The aim of this study was to examine the association between parental psychological control and parental attachment. Another goal was to investigate the differential and combined effects of these two constructs on indices of psychological well-being, namely, self-esteem, positive or negative affect, and personal and interpersonal efficacy. Subjects were 319 males (n = 142) and females (n = 177) with an age range of 15 yr., 9 mo. to 22 yr., 5 mo. (M = 20.0, SD = 1.6). Analysis showed that psychological control was negatively related to attachment. Both psychological control and attachment predicted self-esteem, and there was some indication that psychological control exercised by mothers had a stronger influence on self-esteem. Attachment was also a significant predictor of positive and negative affect and perceived personal efficacy. No sex or age differences were found.

Verbal fluency in institutionalized patients with schizophrenia: age-related performance decline.

Several studies have reported a relatively stable level of cognitive deficits among patients with schizophrenia regardless of age, while others have suggested continued deterioration with age. We compared the performance of 42 institutionalized patients with schizophrenia and 42 age- and education-matched healthy controls on a semantic and phonemic verbal fluency test. Each group was divided into young participants (<65 years old) and elderly participants (> or =65 years old). We found a fluency condition x diagnostic group x age group interaction on total words produced, a fluency condition x diagnostic group interaction on the number of cluster-related words, and a fluency condition x age group interaction on the number of switches. Patients with schizophrenia generally used similar strategies (i.e., semantic or phonemic cluster-related words and switches) as healthy individuals when generating words, but to a lesser degree. We found a disproportionate decline in the elderly schizophrenic patients relative to that of healthy controls only on the phonemic, relative to the semantic test. This decline in performance appears related to the effects of aging rather than severity or chronicity of illness, duration of institutionalization, or a progressive degenerative process associated with the disorder.

The AQT© as a useful short screening test for dementia. Evidence from two European cultures

Background: Alzheimer s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the growing elderly population in many countries. The quests for symptomatic relief and prospects of pharmacological treatments of AD, call for sensitive and reliable screening tests which can be easily used by general practitionares in different countries and cultural settings. General criteria for such screening tests should include easy administration and unequivocal scoring, and independence of factors known to be related to cultural settings and educational level. The AQT is a novel screening test designed to assess cognitive processing speed. Three sets of universal stimuli are presented to patients in a fixed protocol. The administration takes 3 5 minutes and the clinical outcome measure is the time (seconds) it takes to perform the test. The AQT is standardised and validated in the USA and in Sweden. It is used by general practitionares and hospital staff throughout Sweden as a supplementary test to the MMSE in the assessment of dementia. Objective(s): We performed a collaborative research study between two European countries, Sweden and Greece, in order to establish the validity and reliability of the AQT, and to further evaluate whether test results meet the criteria of being independent of language and educational level. Methods: The Swedish participants were 97 patients with AD, and 59 healthy subjects, while the Greek participants were 75 patients with AD, and 29 healthy subjects, respectively. All patients met the NINCDS-ADRDA and the DSM-IV criteria for dementia. The patients educational level ranged from 2 to 17 years, MMSE: mean 22.6. The AQT and the MMSE were assessed in all subjects by experienced psychiatrists and neuropsychologists in routine clinical settings in both countries. The discriminatory values of the AQT and the MMSE for the two countries is presented in the Table. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that cognitive processing speed is a general and very sensitive measure which clearly separates mild dementia from normal aging. The usefulness of the AQT in dementia assessment is suggested by the striking similarity of findings in different cultural settings.

Metacognitive experiences in the domain of physics: Developmental and educational aspects

The study aimed to investigate metacognitive experiences in the domain of physics. Specifically, the experiences of task difficulty, certainty about the solution provided to a task, and personal satisfaction with the solution were examined. A total of 138 fifth and sixth grade pupils were asked to (a) solve a battery of tasks measuring thermal phenomena, and (b) evaluate their experienced task difficulty, certainty and personal satisfaction with their solutions on 4-point scales. Data analyses indicated that fifth and sixth graders exhibit relatively limited metacognitive awareness; their metacognitive estimations were not accurate in regard to their cognitive performance. However, the results suggest that pupils begin to associate their metacognitive estimations with their cognitive performance during the examined age period, although they usually overestimate it. The results are discussed in regard to the importance of metacognition to science education and implications for instructional practices are pointed out.

Psychometric properties of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children in Greek-speaking school children

The present study aimed at exploring the psychometric properties of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) in normally developing Greek-speaking school population (6–12 years old). TEA-Ch is an assessment that captures the multidimensional nature of the developing attentional system with child-friendly test tasks. The sample consisted of 174 Greek-speaking primary school children of both genders (N = 88 girls). Children were assessed individually using the TEA-Ch and two tasks (Vocabulary and Working Memory) from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-3rd edition (WISC-III)-Greek Version. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factorial validity of the TEA-Ch in the Greek-speaking population. The results verified both a two-factor (attentional control/switching and sustained attention) and a theory-driven three-factor structure of the TEA-Ch, namely selective attention, attentional control/switching and sustained attention. Moreover, the weak correlations of TEA-Ch tasks with vocabulary and working memory tasks provide evidence for its divergent validity and its usefulness as an additional measure of abilities that are not captured by well-known conventional intelligence tasks. Furthermore, TEA-Ch appears to be an age-sensitive assessment tool.