Manuela Paechter

Trait and state positive affect and cardiovascular recovery from experimental academic stress

As compared to negative affect, only a small number of studies have examined influences of positive affect on cardiovascular stress responses, of which only a few were concerned with cardiovascular recovery. In this study, heart rate, low- and high-frequency heart rate variability, blood pressure, and levels of subjectively experienced stress were obtained in 65 students before, during and after exposure to academic stress in an ecologically valid setting. Higher trait positive affect was associated with more complete cardiovascular and subjective post-stress recovery. This effect was independent of negative affect and of affective state during anticipation of the stressor. In contrast, a more positive affective state during anticipation of the challenge was related to poor post-stress recovery. The findings suggest that a temporally stable positive affect disposition may be related to adaptive responses, whereas positive emotional states in the context of stressful events can also contribute to prolonged post-stress recovery.

Psychometric Evaluation and Experimental Validation of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale

The Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS) was adapted into German to examine its psychometric properties (n = 400). Two validation studies (n = 66, n = 96) were conducted to examine its criterion-related validity. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were very similar to those previously reported for the original English version in various countries and other language versions. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated 2 second-order factors: One was more closely related to anxiety and the other was more closely related to negative attitudes toward statistics. Predictive validity of the STARS was shown both in an experimental exam-like situation in the laboratory and during a real examination situation. Taken together, the findings indicate that statistics anxiety as assessed by the STARS is a useful construct that is more than just an expression of a more general disposition to anxiety.

Teachers’ Concepts of Spatial Scale: An international comparison

Metric scale is an important concept taught as part of science curricula across different countries. This study explored metric and relative (body-length) scale concepts of inservice (N = 92) and preservice (N = 134) teachers from Austria, and Taiwan, and their concepts were compared with those of teachers from the USA. Participants completed three assessments: the Scale Anchoring Objects (SAO), Scale of Objects Questionnaire (SOQ), and a subsample of participants were interviewed with the Learning Scale Interview. A Rasch analysis was conducted with the SAO and SOQ and results showed that the Rasch model held for these assessments, indicating that there is an underlying common dimension to understanding scale. Further analyses showed that accuracy of knowledge of scale measured by the SAO and SOQ was not related to professional experience. There were significant differences in teachers’ accuracy of scale concepts by nationality. This was true for both metric and body-length SAO assessments. Post hoc comparisons showed that the Austrian and Taiwanese participants were significantly more accurate than the US sample on the SAO and SOQ. The Austrian participants scored significantly higher than the US and the Taiwanese participants. The results of the interviews showed that the Taiwanese experienced teacher participants were more likely to report learning size and scale through in-school experiences than the Austrian or the US participants. US teachers reported learning size and scale most often through participating in hobbies and sports, Taiwanese teachers reported learning scale through sports and reading, and Austrian teachers most often noted that they learned about scale through travel.

Academic Goal Orientation and Cardiovascular Reactivity in a Performance Situation

Abstract The present study investigated whether students’ academic goal orientation (learning goals, performance goals, work avoidance) and their individual competence beliefs (their academic self-concept) can predict motivation-related cardiovascular activation patterns in a demanding performance situation. A sample of seventy-two undergraduate students rated their academic goal orientation as well as their competence beliefs and completed a mental arithmetic task. Heart rate (HR), blood pressure, pre-ejection period (PEP) as well as cardiac output (CO) and total peripheral resistance were monitored continuously during rest and task exposure. Students scoring higher on work avoidance showed smaller increases in HR and CO, and a smaller shortening of the PEP. A lower academic self-concept was associated with attenuated CO reactivity and a smaller shortening of the PEP. Learning and performance goals were unrelated to cardiovascular activity. The attenuated cardiac activity observed for work avoidance and competence beliefs was interpreted in terms of reduced task engagement resulting from lower success importance.

Structuring and sequencing of complex text-picture combinations

AbstractThis study investigates the structuring and sequencing of a special type of verbal-pictorial learning material, namely “explanative illustrations” (Mayer, 1993). In such illustrations verbal and pictorial parts form an integrated whole with text embedded in the pictures and vice versa. Due to their complexity such instructing illustrations impose high demands on information processing. From the viewpoint of instruction one may ask how the reception of such explanative illustrations may be supported by an appropriate structure and sequence of the content.In two empirical investigations three types of content structures and sequences were compared to each other: (1) a top-down sequence (based on assumptions of the “Elaboration Theory”, Reigeluth, 1987b) from the whole to details which shows how details are embedded within the larger context), (2) a bottom-up sequence from details to the whole, (3) the presentation as a whole (as in print).In the first investigation the time for information processing was determined by the experimenter whereas in the second investigation the learners themselves could decide on their learning time.The results show stable learner preferences for the top-down sequencing but different learning results in both studies. The crucial variable explaining for the differences in learning results was the learning time and not the type of sequencing. However, the learning time is not independent from a certain type of sequencing. Only with the top-down sequence (1) learners took sufficient time for information processing.RésuméCette étude porte sur la structuration et la séquentialisation d’un type particulier de matériel d’apprentissage visuo-verbal, le programme “Illustrations that instruct” (Mayer, 1993). Dans ces illustrations les parties texte et graphiques forment un tout, les deux étant étroitement intégrées. Du fait de leur complexité, ces illustrations pour apprendre sollicitent un haut degré de traitement de l’information. On peut se demander comment le traitement de ces informations peut être facilité par la structuration et la planification des contenus abordés.Dans deux recherches empiriques, le matériel d’apprentissage comportait trois types d’illustrations explicatives correspondant à trois organisations différentes de structure et séquence des contenus:— un type de séquence descendante (fondée sur les principes de la “Théorie de l’élaboration” (Reigeluth, 1987b) allant du général au particulier, montrant comment les éléments de détail sont emboîtés dans le contexte plus large,— un type de séquence ascendante, allant des détails au plus général,— une présentation d’ensemble. Dans la première recherche, le temps de traitement de l’information était déterminé par l’expérimentateur, alors que dans la deuxième les apprenants décidaient eux-mêmes de la durée de leur apprentissage.Les résultats montrent que les apprenants préfèrent la présentation descendante, mais les deux études ne conduisent pas aux mêmes effets de l’apprentissage. La principale variable responsable des différences d’apprentissage est le temps d’apprentissage et non le type de présentation séquentielle. Cependant, le temps d’apprentissage n’est pas indépendant du type de séquence. Les apprenants n’ont pris un temps de traitement de l’information suffisant que dans la présentation descendante.

Pre-service teachers’ personal epistemic beliefs and the beliefs they assume their pupils to have

In their workaday life, teachers are faced with multiple complex tasks. How they carry out these tasks is also influenced by their epistemic beliefs and the beliefs they assume their pupils hold. In an empirical study, pre-service teachers’ epistemic beliefs and those they assume of their pupils were investigated in the setting of teacher education for vocational schools in Germany. Results of the empirical study point at significant inconsistencies between pre-service teachers’ beliefs, the beliefs they assume of their pupils and beliefs conducive to the curricular and didactic concept preferred for vocational schools. Partly, these inconsistencies can be explained by pre-service teachers’ learning experiences in school and university. It seems important that the education of teachers in vocational education aims at scaffolding pre-service teachers in developing beliefs that are conducive for their future profession.

Subtypes in clinical burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program: differences in burnout profiles, depression, and recovery/resources-stress balance

BackgroundBurnout is generally perceived a unified disorder with homogeneous symptomatology across people (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy). However, increasing evidence points to intra-individual patterns of burnout symptoms in non-clinical samples such as students, athletes, healthy, and burned-out employees. Different burnout subtypes might therefore exist. Yet, burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles have hardly been explored in clinical patients, and the samples investigated in previous studies were rather heterogeneous including patients with various physical, psychological, and social limitations, symptoms, and disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore burnout subtypes based on burnout profiles in clinically diagnosed burnout patients enrolled in an employee rehabilitation program, and to investigate whether the subtypes differ in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics.MethodsOne hundred three patients (66 women, 37 men) with a clinical burnout diagnosis, who were enrolled in a 5 week employee rehabilitation program in two specialized psychosomatic clinics in Austria, completed a series of questionnaires including the Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (MBI-GS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Recovery-Stress-Questionnaire for Work. Cluster analyses with the three MBI-GS subscales as clustering variables were used to identify the burnout subtypes. Subsequent multivariate/univariate analysis of variance and Pearson chi-square tests were performed to investigate differences in depression, recovery/resources-stress balance, and sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsThree different burnout subtypes were discovered: the exhausted subtype, the exhausted/cynical subtype, and the burned-out subtype. The burned-out subtype and the exhausted/cynical subtype showed both more severe depression symptoms and a worse recovery/resources-stress balance than the exhausted subtype. Furthermore, the burned-out subtype was more depressed than the exhausted/cynical subtype, but no difference was observed between these two subtypes with regard to perceived stress, recovery, and resources. Sociodemographic characteristics were not associated with the subtypes.ConclusionsThe present study indicates that there are different subtypes in clinical burnout patients (exhausted, exhausted/cynical, and burned-out), which might represent patients at different developmental stages in the burnout cycle. Future studies need to replicate the current findings, investigate the stability of the symptom patterns, and examine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions in different subtypes.

Evaluation medienbasierter Lehre mittels der Einschätzung des Kompetenzerwerbs

Zusammenfassung. Es wurde ein Fragebogen zur Erhebung der Qualitat von medienbasierten Lehrveranstaltungen entwickelt, mit Hilfe dessen die Teilnehmer/innen eine Einschatzung ihres Kompetenzerwerbs vornehmen. Der Fragebogen und das ihm zu Grunde liegende Konzept betrachten den Erwerb von Handlungsfahigkeit als eine wesentliche Zielvorstellung universitarer Lehre. Handlungsfahigkeit umfasst in diesem Konzept Sach-, Methoden- und Sozialkompetenz. Sofern es sich um medienbasierte Lehrveranstaltungen handelt, tritt die Vermittlung von Medienkompetenz hinzu. Die hier berichteten statistischen Analysen zur Prufung der Gute des Messinstruments beruhen auf einer Stichprobe von 122 Personen aus 9 Lehrveranstaltungen. Es wurde eine Analyse der Items, der Reliabilitat und der internen Struktur des Fragebogens durchgefuhrt. Insgesamt konnte ein Instrument entwickelt werden, welches testtheoretische Gutekriterien in gutem Mase erfullt.

Spotlight on math anxiety

Anxiety disorders are some of the most widespread mental health issues worldwide. In educational settings, individuals may suffer from specific forms of test and performance anxiety that are connected to a knowledge domain. Unquestionably, the most prominent of these is math anxiety. Math anxiety is a widespread problem for all ages across the globe. In the international assessments of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) studies, a majority of adolescents report worry and tension in math classes and when doing math. To understand how math anxiety takes effect, it has to be regarded as a variable within an ensemble of interacting variables. There are antecedents that facilitate the development of math anxiety. They concern environmental factors such as teachers’ and parents’ attitudes toward their students’ and children’s ability in math, societal stereotypes (eg, on females’ math abilities), or personal factors such as traits or gender. These antecedents influence a number of variables that are important in learning processes. Math anxiety interacts with variables such as self-efficacy or motivation in math, which can intensify or counteract math anxiety. Outcomes of math anxiety concern not only performance in math-related situations, they can also have long-term effects that involve efficient (or not-so-efficient) learning as well as course and even vocational choices. How can math anxiety be counteracted? A first step lies in its correct diagnosis. Questionnaires for the assessment of math anxiety exist for all age groups, starting at primary education level. Help against math anxiety can be offered on different levels: by educational institutions, by teachers and a change in instructional approaches, by parents, or by the affected person. However, much more research is needed to develop effective measures against math anxiety that are tailored to an individual’s characteristics and needs.

Goal Orientations and Activation of Approach Versus Avoidance Motivation While Awaiting an Achievement Situation in the Laboratory

While some students try to give their best in an achievement situation, others show disengagement and just want to get the situation over and done with. The present study investigates the role of students’ tendencies for approach or avoidance motivation while anticipating tasks and the corresponding activation of the approach/avoidance motivational system as indicated by transient changes of EEG alpha asymmetry. Overall, 62 students (50 female; age: M = 23.8, SD = 3.5) completed a goal orientation questionnaire (learning goals, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and work avoidance). They joined a laboratory experiment where EEG was recorded during resting condition as well as when students were anticipating tasks. Standard multiple regression analysis showed that higher values on performance-avoidance were related to a higher activation of the approach system whereas higher values on work avoidance were related to a higher activation of the avoidance system. Results question present assumptions about avoidance related goal orientations.