modern research in health, education and social

10th International Conference on MODERN RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY November 2017, Sibiu, Romania

MARIUS MILCU (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania) MICHAEL STEVENS (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A.) IRIS DAHL (Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany)

MODERN RESEARCH IN HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES. FROM EVALUATION TO INTERVENTION

Vol. XI / 2017

10th International Conference on MODERN RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY November 2017, Sibiu, Romania

MARIUS MILCU (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania) MICHAEL STEVENS (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A.) IRIS DAHL (Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany)

MODERN RESEARCH IN HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES. FROM EVALUATION TO INTERVENTION

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

EDITURA UNIVERSITARĂ Bucureşti, 2017

Redactor: Gheorghe Iovan Tehnoredactor: Marius Milcu Coperta: Monica Balaban

Editură recunoscută de Consiliul Naţional al Cercetării Ştiinţifice (C.N.C.S.) şi inclusă de Consiliul Naţional de Atestare a Titlurilor, Diplomelor şi Certificatelor Universitare (C.N.A.T.D.C.U.) în categoria editurilor de prestigiu recunoscut.

ISBN 978-606-28-0694-1 ISSN 2559 - 2947

DOI: (Digital Object Identifier): 10.5682/9786062806941

© Toate drepturile asupra acestei lucrări sunt rezervate, nicio parte din această lucrare nu poate fi copiată fără acordul Editurii Universitare

Copyright © 2017 Editura Universitară Editor: Vasile Muscalu B-dul. N. Bălcescu nr. 27-33, Sector 1, Bucureşti Tel.: 021 – 315.32.47 / 319.67.27 www.editurauniversitara.ro e-mail: [email protected]

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Modern Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences. From Evaluation to Intervention

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE President of the Organizing Committee: MARIUS MILCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Psychological Research Center, Sibiu, Romania Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania JULIAN ACHIM Southern New Hampshire University, U.S.A. DELIA BOGHEAN Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania ADRIAN TUDOR BRATE Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Psychological Research Center, Romania Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania TEODORA MARIA MILCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania SAUL NEVES DE JESUS University of Algarve, Portugal MICHAEL J. STEVENS The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A. INES TESTONI Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education & Applied Psychology University of Padova, Italy

5

Sibiu, Romania, November 2017

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

President of the Scientific Committee: MARIUS MILCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Center for Psychological Research, Romania Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology ADRIANA BABAN Babes Bolyai University of Cluj Napoca, Romania ADRIAN TUDOR BRATE Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Psychological Research Center, Romania Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania ŠTEFAN CHUDÝ Institute of Education and Social Studies, Faculty of education Palacký University on Olomouc, Czech Republic PETER DAN Long Island University, New York, U.S.A. CRISTINA GRABOVSCHI Université de Montréal, Canada JOHANNES KRALL Institute of Educational Sciences and Research, University of Klagenfurt, Austria GABRIELA MARCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Psychological Research Center, Romania

6


MARGARIDA GASPAR DE MATOS ISAMB / Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal; WJCR / ISPA – Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa, Portugal;

Equipa Aventura Social - Faculdade de Motricidade Humana / Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal CORNEL MOȘOIU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Center for Psychological Research, Romania MARILENA MILCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania JOSÉ EUSÉBIO P. PACHECO University of Algarve, Portugal SAUL NEVES DE JESUS University of Algarve, Portugal ALIN GILBERT SUMEDREA Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Department of Psychology, Center for Psychological Research, Romania INES TESTONI Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education & Applied Psychology University of Padua, Italy TEODORA MARIA MILCU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania JUAN TOBAL Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

7


VASILESCU, Ilie Puiu Department of Psychology, Ramsey Center for Health and Natural Sciences Union College, Barbourville, KY, U.S.A. PAOLO VITTORIA The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil ROBERT E. WUBBOLDING, EdD Center for Reality Therapy Cincinnati OH 45236, U.S.A. William Glasser Institute

8


TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS

9

INDEX OF AUTHORS

13

Marius Milcu, Saul Neves de Jesus, Juan Tobal. Previous: looking for our own identity. What’s next?

19

Ilie Puiu Vasilescu, Cristina Grabovschi, Julian Achim. Reviewer rating form

25

SECTION 1. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW RESEARCH / INTERVENTION METHODS. METHODOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

29

Chapter I. Petru Madalin Constantinescu, Iuliana Constantinescu, Rodica Filip, Iris Dahl, Michael J. Stevens. The Romanian Penn State Worry Questionnaire: adaptation of the instrument for clinical and non-clinical research and assessment of worry symptoms

31

Chapter II. Edgar Demeter, Dana Balas Timar, Alina Ionescu (Pădurean) & Alina S. Rusu. Romanian translation and linguistic validation of The Measure of Parental Style

41

Chapter III. Dumitru Grigore 1, Corina Mihaela Zaharia. Method for determining personality typology from EEG and EDA biosignals

51

Chapter IV. Cornel Pop, Corneliu Moșoiu. Interpersonal contamination assessment in a sample of Romanian medical students: a preliminary study

65

SECTION 2. RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

71

Chapter V. Alina Boja, Monica Maier, Zorica Triff. Impact of classroom inclusion on students’ adaptation to school

73

Chapter VI. Anamaria Cătană. Effectiveness of Coping in Childhood and Adolescence

83

Chapter VII. Irina Ermolaev. Direction on psychological intervention for optimizing the adolescents’ performances in exam situations

89

Chapter VIII. Cristina Ispas. Improving quality in education. The teacher as educational leader. Roles and abilities

99

Chapter IX. Nicoleta Lupu. Does play bring benefits to the child in any circumstances? Methodological reference guide in organising teaching games

113

9


Chapter X. Monica Maier, Alina Boja, Zorica Triff. Communication, mediation, and negotiation in preventing and eliminating learning difficulties in children and adolescents

125

Chapter XI. Lucian Negoiţă. Parenting styles as predictors of school inclusion among persons with physical and motor disabilities in rural versus urban areas in Romania

135

Chapter XII. Lia Maria Pop. ”Mind the Gap”! Research in Special Education: Goal, Rigor and Added Value

143

Chapter XIII. Annamária Porkoláb, Coșa Lucica Emilia. Aggression and Coping Strategies of Pre-University Teachers

151

Chapter XIV. Dorin-Gheorghe Triff, Mușata Dacia Bocoș. Correlations between work ability, occupational stress factors and health in primary and secondary education

157

Chapter XV. Zorica Triff, Monica Laura Maier, Alina Boja. Child physical abuse in the county of Maramures. Context and generator sources

169

SECTION 3. LIFE QUALITY. CLINICAL AND HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

181

Chapter XVI. Dana Balas Timar, Edgar Demeter, Claudiu Schwartz & Evelina Balas. The dynamic relationship between youth online posting selectivity and youth perceived parental support

183

Chapter XVII. Cristina Ioviță, Alina Constantin. Some aspects regarding the socialization of the institutionalised elderly suffering from Alzheimer dementia

189

Chapter XVIII. Silvia Carina Jicmon, Corneliu Moșoiu. Memory confidence and checking in a non-clinical group: a pilot study

199

Chapter XIX. Hannes Krall. Psychodrama Practitioner Research: Status and Development of Research in European Countries

205

Chapter XX. Laura-Elena Năstasă, Elena Stroe, Mirela Sandu. Managing emotions of specialists who interact with the social services beneficiaries

217

Chapter XXI. Mihaela Sterian, Romulus-Dan Nicoarã, Ana-Maria Nicoarã. Multiple perspective in family systemic therapy. Case study

227

Chapter XXII. Mihaela Sterian, Romulus-Dan Nicoarã, Ana-Maria Nicoarã. Body image and personality: associations between The Big Five Personality Factors and body image

233

Chapter XXIII. Mihaela Sterian, Romulus-Dan Nicoarã, Ana-Maria Nicoarã. Short-term psychotherapeutic interventions in schizophrenia. Case study

245

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SECTION 4. CAREER AND WORKPLACE ISSUES. WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

257

Chapter XXIV. Aldea-Capotescu Roxana, Corina Doroga. A qualitative analysis of the psychosocial risk factors and resources of railway employees

259

Chapter XXV. Nicoleta Constantinescu, Adrian Tudor Brate. Personality and Demographic Factors – Predictors of Organizational Cynicism

267

Chapter XXVI. Cornelia Iordănescu, Alexandra Acaru. Vocational interests, personality factors and academic performance in psychology students

273

Chapter XXVII. Dorin-Gheorghe Triff, Monica Laura Maier, Anişoara Pop. Evaluation of work ability through occupational stressors and individual characteristics of labour inspectors

281

SECTION 5. MILITARY PSYCHOLOGY. FORENSIC SCIENCES AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

291

Chapter XXVIII. Stefan Lita. Screening for depression in military forces using Beck’s Cognitive Triad

293

Chapter XXIX. Marius Milcu. Prospecting juvenile delinquency. From risk evaluation to risk management. Assessing violent and criminal behavior

303

SECTION 6. RESEARCH IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGS. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

311

Chapter XXX. Cátia Branquinho & Margarida Gaspar de Matos. The dream teens project: from youth voice empowerment to junior research specialists

313

Chapter XXXI. Peter Dan. The Fight to Control the Past: Collective Memory and the Case of Romania. A Psycho-social Perspective

321

Chapter XXXII. Soraia Garcês, Margarida Pocinho & Saul Neves de Jesus. Positive Psychology Research as a Framework for a new conceptual model in Tourism Settings

339

Chapter XXXIII. Peter Dan. Election 2016: Lies, Poetic Truth and the Post Truth Society

345

Chapter XXXIV. Gabriela Marcu. Sharing Your Attention Is Caring: how ActiveEmpathic Listening May Predict Altruism

365

11


Chapter XXXV. Rafaela Matavelli, João Viseu, Saul Neves de Jesus, Patrícia Pinto, Adriana Correia. Does coping moderate the effect of financial threat on life satisfaction? A multigroup analysis on different levels of financial threat SECTION 7. MISCELLANEOUS

373

385

Chapter XXXVI. Gabriela Cioca, Simona Bungău, Vicențiu Mircea Săceleanu, Liana-Gabriela Bera. Study on the attitude of pharmacists towards the spontaneous identification and report of adverse drug reactions

387

Chapter XXXVII. Pavel Grigore. The Father as a psychological construct. A psychodynamic perspective of fatherhood - a case study

393

Chapter XXXVIII. Margarida Gaspar de Matos, Teresa Santos, Marta Reis & Adilson Marques. Positive youth development in Portugal: a tool for peace and youth engagement?

403

Chapter XXXIX. Vicențiu Mircea Săceleanu, Săceleanu, Maria Rotaru, Adriana Săceleanu, Mihaela Stanciu. Increasing the quality of life of cerebrovascular patients by optimizing the strategy of diagnosis, treatment and recovery

411

‘Modern Research in Psychology’ Collection: Get facts and info about it

417

12


INDEX OF AUTHORS ACARU, Alexandra Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

273

ACHIM, Julian Southern New Hampshire University, U.S.A.

25

ALDEA-CAPOTESCU, Roxana Center of Advanced Organizational Studies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

259

BALAS, Evelina Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences, Aurel Vlaicu University, Arad, Romania

183

BALAS-TIMAR, Dana Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences, Romania

41, 183

BERA, Liana-Gabriela Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Preclinical Department, Sibiu

387

BOCOȘ, Mușata Dacia Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Romania BOJA, Alina Technical University Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania

157 73, 125, 169

BRANQUINHO, Cátia Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Portugal

313

BRATE, Adrian Tudor Psychological Research Center, „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania

267

Bungău, Simona Oradea University, Medicine and Pharmacy Faculty, Pharmacy Department, Oradea, Romania

387

CIOCA, Gabriela Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Preclinical Department, Romania

387

2

13


CĂTANĂ ANAMARIA Psychological Research Center, „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania

83

CONSTANTIN, Alina Eftimie Murgu University of Resita, Romania

189

CONSTANTINESCU, Iuliana Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

31

CONSTANTINESCU, Nicoleta Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

267

CONSTANTINESCU, Petru Madalin Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany

31

CORREIA, Adriana Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

373

COȘA, Lucica Emilia Cosa& Porkolab Professional Civil Association of Psychology Mureş, Romania Petru Maior University, DPPD, Tg. Mureș, Romania

151

DAHL, Iris Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany

31

DAN, Peter Long Island University, New York, NY, USA

321, 345

FILIP, Rodica Titu Maiorescu University and Iuliu Hateganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

31

DEMETER, Edgar Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, ClujNapoca, Romania

41, 183

DOROGA, Corina Clinical Hospital CF Cluj-Napoca, Romania

259

ERMOLAEV, Irina County Centre of Resources and Educational Assistance Constanta, Romania

89

14


GARCÊS, Soraia Research Centre for Regional and Local Studies of University of Madeira, Portugal

339

GRABOVSCHI, Cristina Université de Hearst, Canada

25

GRIGORE, Dumitru Psychometric Systems S.A., Military Technical Academy, Bucharest, Romania

51

GRIGORE, Pavel “C. Rădulescu-Motru” Institute of Philosophy and Psychology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania

393

IONESCU (PĂDUREAN), Alina Faculty of Humanities, Aurel Vlaicu University, Arad, Romania

41

IORDĂNESCU, Cornelia Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

273

IOVIȚĂ, Cristina Eftimie Murgu University of Resita, Romania

189

ISPAS, Cristina Eftimie Murgu University of Resita, Romania

99

JICMON, Silvia Carina Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

199

KRALL, Hannes University of Klagenfurt, Austria

205

LITA, Stefan Psychological Services Section, Romanian Gendarmerie, Bucharest, Romania

293

LUPU, Nicoleta University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Romania

113

MAIER, Monica Technical University Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania

73, 125, 169, 281

MARCU, Gabriela Center for Psychological Research, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

365

15


MARQUES, Adilson Faculdade de Motricidade Humana/Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal ISAMB/Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

403

MATOS, Margarida Gaspar de Faculty of Human Kinetics/University of Lisbon, Portugal ISAMB/Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon, Portugal INSERM / Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France

313, 403

MATAVELLI, Rafaela Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal,

373

MILCU, Marius Center for Psychological Research, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

19, 303

MOSOIU, Corneliu Center for Psychological Research, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania NĂSTASĂ, Laura-Elena Transilvania University of Brasov, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Romania

65, 199

217

NEVES de JESUS, Saul Research Center for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO), University of Algarve, Portugal

19, 339, 373

NEGOIŢĂ, Lucian University of Bucharest, Romania

135

NICOARÃ, Ana-Maria County Emergency Hospital, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

227, 233, 245

NICOARÃ, Romulus-Dan County Emergency Hospital, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

227, 233, 245

PINTO, Patrícia Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

373

POCINHO, Margarida Research Centre for Regional and Local Studies of University of Madeira, Portugal

339

POP, Anişoara University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania

281

16


POP, Cornel Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania

65

POP, Lia Maria University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Romania

143

PORKOLAB, Annamária Cosa & Porkolab Professional Civil Association of Psychology Mureş, Romania 2 Petru Maior University, Tg. Mureș, DPPD, Romania

151

Rotaru, Maria Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Dermatology department, Romania

411

RUSU, Alina S. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, ClujNapoca, Romania

41

REIS, Marta Faculdade de Motricidade Humana/Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal ISAMB/Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

403

SANDU, Mirela General Social Assistance of Child Protection Direction in Prahova - Community Service Complex Sinaia, Romania

217

SANTOS, Teresa Faculdade de Motricidade Humana/Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal William James Centre for Research, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisboa, Portugal

403

SĂCELEANU, Adriana Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Dental Medicine Department, Romania

411

SĂCELEANU, Vicențiu Mircea Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Neurosurgery Department, Sibiu, Romania, [email protected]

387, 411

SCHWARTZ, Claudiu Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Social Sciences, Aurel Vlaicu University, Arad, Romania

183

STANCIU, Mihaela Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Endocrinology Department, Romania

411

STERIAN, Mihaela The Faculty of the Education Sciences, “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest, Romania

227, 233, 245

17


STEVENS, Michael J. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A.

31

STROE, Elena Social Services Direction from Brasov - Day Centre "Astra", Romania TRIFF, Dorin-Gheorghe Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre from Baia Mare, Faculty of Engineering, Romania

157, 281

TRIFF, Zorica Technical University Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania

73, 125, 169

TOBAL, Juan Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

19

VASILESCU, Ilie Puiu Department of Psychology, Ramsey Center for Health and Natural Sciences (HNS), Union College, Barbourville, KY, U.S.A.

25

VISEU, João Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal

373

ZAHARIA, Corina Zaharia & ASociatii SCPP, APASC “No Stress Centre”, Bucharest, Romania

18

51


MARIUS MILCU 1 , SAUL NEVES DE JESUS 2 , JUAN TOBAL 3 1 Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Psychological Research Center, Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania, [email protected] 2 Research Center for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO), University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 3 Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, [email protected]

EARLY BEGINNINGS Back in 2007, along with a small group of colleagues and collaborators, we started to consider organising a scientific and professional conference regarding social and human sciences. In spite of the fact that we, at start, had very small funds, we had a substantial amount of trust and confidence and we were also armed with the support and enthusiasm of our students. With the help of all that, we managed to create a very promising organising plan (the first plan of all those that followed during the next years) and, almost unexpectedly, we managed to set up the final dimensions of the conference. After launching the final announcement, we waited. To everyone’s surprise, including the organisators’, the first people started to sign up to attend the conference. At first, they weren’t very numerous, but soon many more followed and the sign ups started transforming and becoming more constant and stable. The first 647 participants who were present at the first edition of our conference offered us a lot more trust and confidence and power so we managed to organise this conference each and every year. BACKGROUND Over a century ago, psychology took a decisive step in its evolution, breaking away from the mother-philosophy and developing its own research field, its own conceptual and methodological machinery. The young science was thus trying to become non-speculative, practical, applied, going slowly towards a new occupational axis: observation, analysis, intervention, improvement as far as psycho-behavioural, social or organizational processes and phenomena are concerned. At the beginning of the 21st century, psychology introduces itself as a matured, adaptable, particularly diverse science, bearing a great number of branches and sub-branches, carrying great and obvious impact on modern man, on groups and organizations, on society as a whole. Psychology is visibly going through a stage of scientific development, of enrichment concerning the conceptual system, of diversification of the kit of methods, instruments and work techniques. Nowadays psychological research plays an essential part, outlining and revealing new human and social horizons. By integrating in a way proper to its means a mixture of instruments and techniques of investigation and intervention, psychological research becomes the primary force of modern psychology, a truly vanguardist element. In this framework, it is our belief that organizing a scientific event dedicated to research in psychology would be most welcome. TARGETS OF THE CONFERENCE  Our primary target includes the gathering of specialists, of highly skillful practitioners in the field, with a view to exchanging information. We aim at providing specialists with the opportunity 19


to present their work, to reveal their latest research methods and instruments, to achieve intensive informational exchange, to the benefit of all taking part, as well as of psychology as a whole.  The purpose of this conference is to tackle practical, methodological aspects of health, education and social sciences (psychology, sociology, pedagogy, medical sciences, etc.), stemming from current research and its methodological, ethical, social, and cultural ramifications. We therefore aim to avoid purely theoretical, speculative activities, and organize instead practical, applied activities (workshops, debates), starting from topics of particular interest in field.  Since the future of the profession lies in the hands of current students, our event will include a special section dedicated to our future colleagues. Our purpose is to facilitate the contact between students and highly praised specialists, to accustom them to the relevant topics of modern research, to raise up the quality standards within training process, to contribute thus to the shaping of specialized knowledge and the enhancement of the experience of the students involved. Students will therefore benefit from specific scientific events, where they can reveal their own research work and projects, from round tables, trainings and workshops dealing with particularly interesting topics, all under the supervision of acclaimed specialists from various branches of psychology.  The city of Sibiu was nominated, for 2007, alongside with Luxemburg, as an European Cultural Capital. Thus becoming one of the bridges though which Europe will come to know Romania. The enlargement of the E.U. is likely to encourage the informational exchange between specialists, to promote the cultural, scientific, civic values under the auspices of the new 21 st century.

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THE EVOLUTION. THE CONSTANT SEARCH FOR OUR OWN IDENTITY At this very moment we situate ourselves at the 9th edition of our conference. It obviously suffered, as expected, changed regarding the organisation, the public, the topics and the professions we are targeting. Step by step, we managed to extend our area of interests, so that right now the conference gained a multidisciplinary aspect, allowing interactions between prestigious specialists coming from many more fields than before. More than that, along the years, the conference changed it’s very own title. Here are just a few examples: - Modern Psychological Research. Trends and Prospects; - Modern Psychological Research. Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research; - Modern Research in Psychology. Prospecting advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences; - Modern Research in Psychology. Modern Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences; - Modern Research in Psychology. Prospecting Interdisciplinarity in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Theory and Practice. Today, we can easily say that organizing this conference became a tradition. Our conference is known and highly appreciated by the thousands of the participants from all over the World who honoured us with their presence. A FEW RESULTS Following the nine editions which we carefully organized, we managed to publish 10 conference proceedings volumes, as you can see below:  Marius Milcu, Saul Neves de Jesusș Juan Tobal (2016). Prospecting interdisciplinarity in health, education and social sciences: theory and practice. Editura Universitară București, 340 p.  Marius Milcu, Margarida Gaspar de Matos, Ilie Puiu Vasilescu (2015). Advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Towards a better practice, Editura Universitară București, 508 p.  Marius Milcu, Robert Wubbolding, Ines Testoni (2014). Modern research in health, education and social sciences. Quantitative vs. qualitative research?, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 309 p.  Marius Milcu, Julian Achim, Saul Neves de Jesus (2014). Individuals, social and work groups, organizations: modern research in applied psychology, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 251 p.  Marius Milcu, Hannes Krall, Peter Dan (2014). Prospecting interdisciplinarity in health, education and social sciences, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 244 p.  Milcu, M., Schmidt-Brasse, Ute, Westhoff, Karl, Milcu, Marilena, Grabovschi, Cristina (2011). Prospecting advanced research in health, education and social sciences, Editura Universitară, Bucureşti, 226 p.  Milcu, M. (2010). Modern research in psychology: quantitative vs. qualitative research?, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 155 p.  Milcu, M., Griebel, Wilfried, Sassu, R. (2009). Cercetarea psihologică modernă. Direcţii şi perspective. Cercetare cantitativă vs. cercetare calitativă, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 292 p.  Milcu, M., Bronkema, Yazmin, Griebel, Wilfried, Sassu, Raluca (2009). Modern psychological research. Trends and prospects. Quantitative research vs. qualitative research, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 155 p.  Milcu, M. (2009). Modern Research in Psychology: Trends and Prospects. Rethinking Applied Psychology, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 138 p.  Milcu, M., Fischbach, A., Rafaeli, A., Schmidt-Brasse, U. (2007). Modern psychological research. Trends and prospects, Ed. Univ. „Lucian Blaga”, Sibiu, 143 p. 21


TERMS OF ATTENDANCE The event we are organizing is exclusively devoted to practical, applied, methodological issues in health, education and social sciences, connected to current research and its methodological, ethical, social, cultural implications. This is the main reason why we want to avoid theoretical, speculative activities. We are mainly interested in organizing practical, applied activities (workshops, debates), starting from topics of particular interest to the field of health, education and social sciences (psychology, sociology, pedagogy, medical sciences, etc.). Pares that have been already published in various magazines or presented at other scientific events cannot be presented during scientific communication sessions. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION WITH SCIENTIFIC PAPERS The event is available to all professionals interested in the proposed topics, with a BA in health, education and social sciences (psychology, sociology, pedagogy, medical sciences, etc.) or not, as well as to those enrolled in various forms of education (undergraduate students, MA, or doctoral students). WHAT’S NEXT? After a ten years’ evolution, we aim to new objectives: - diversifying our professional offer in the international conferences’ market; - enlarging the addressability zone of the conference by attracting specialists from many more areas and domains; -becoming more active regarding the relationships between our partners and collaborators.

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SCIENTIFIC SECTIONS I. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW RESEARCH / INTERVENTION METHODS. METHODOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY        

Ethics in modern research Assessment of the research process Development of e-learning products Multimedia tools in research Transfer of technology in workgroup / organizations Human computer interface (HCI) applications Assessing the quality of human resources Qualitative methods vs. quantitative methods in modern research II. RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

    

Research for Lifelong Learning Research and education for entrepreneurship Curricula design for education Strategies for quality improvement in education Social and public responsibility in modern education III. CAREER AND WORKPLACE ISSUES. WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

             

Aging in workgroups / organizations Health promotion in workgroups / organizations Balancing personal and professional life Self-regulation and affirmation Knowledge and skills. Performance and dynamic competence in workgroups and organizations Coping with dysfunctional people or groups Stress and emotions Risk perception in work places Communication. Social change Organizational culture Rules, regulations and values in organizations Social support, coping and wellness Innovation and creativity Leadership competences

23


IV. LIFE QUALITY. CLINICAL AND HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY       

Personality and health Illness perception. Managing illness Family and health Occupational health Culture and health Health promotion in society Traditional and modern approach in health assurance V. MILITARY PSYCHOLOGY. FORENSIC SCIENCES AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

      

Criminal personality Criminal behaviour Civil disputes Criminal laws Government regulations Public health protection Criminal groups VI. RESEARCH IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGS. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Research design and data analysis Cross-cultural research Immigration issues Individuals and groups Interpersonal relationship Group behaviour Intergroup relations Norms and values Social discrimination and stereotypes

VII. MISCELLANEOUS ...

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ILIE PUIU VASILESCU 1, CRISTINA GRABOVSCHI 2 , JULIAN ACHIM 3 Department of Psychology, Ramsey Center for Health and Natural Sciences (HNS), Union College, Barbourville, KY, U.S.A., [email protected] 2 Université de Hearst, Canada, [email protected] 3 Southern New Hampshire University, U.S.A., [email protected]

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SECTION 1. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW RESEARCH / INTERVENTION METHODS. METHODOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Chapter I. The Romanian Penn State Worry Questionnaire: adaptation of the instrument for clinical and non-clinical research and assessment of worry symptoms Petru Madalin Constantinescu 1, Iuliana Constantinescu 2, Rodica Filip 3, Iris Dahl 4, Michael J. Stevens 5 1

Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany, [email protected] 2 Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania, [email protected] 3 Titu Maiorescu University and University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iuliu Hateganu, ClujNapoca, Romania, [email protected] 4 Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany, [email protected] 5 The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, U.S.A., [email protected] Abstract: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is an important instrument for the assessment of worry symptoms, which was translated and adapted in many countries around the world. We sought to translate and adapt the PSWQ in Romania for clinical and non-clinical purposes. For that purpose, we conducted two studies. In the first study, we translated and backtranslated the PSWQ and tested the translation on 35 bilingual participants. Additionally, we assessed the temporal stability of the instrument along with its internal consistency. Results indicated a good translation and adequate initial psychometric properties of the instrument. In the second study, in a more heterogeneous sample of 116 participants, we assessed the factorial validity of the Romanian PSWQ by fitting three competing Confirmatory Analysis Models, according to prior research on PSWQ, using new developed corrections to traditional CFA in low samples and that allow taking into account the correlated errors due to method effects. We then analysed again the internal consistency of the instrument and assessed its convergent validity with validated anxiety, depression, and wellbeing measures. Results indicated that the instrument has excellent reliability, is unidimensional and has adequate convergent validity, being significantly related to anxiety and depression measures as well as to satisfaction with life. The potential clinical and nonclinical uses of the Romanian PSWQ are highlighted and the results are situated in the main research trend concerning the instrument, recent development of “positive clinical psychology” and cross-culturally, with respect to the particular Romanian socio-cultural context. Key-words: The Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Worry, bilingual test-retest method, corrected CFA, validity, reliability psychometric properties, having been established as a screening instrument for GAD and associated worry (Behar et al., 2003; Fresco et al., 2003) and used in such way for many clinicians (Hunsley, 2006).

INTRODUCTION PSWQ was developed by Meyer et al. (1990) as measure of worry, which typically occurs as a symptom of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and yielded initial good 31


However, recent research suggests that, in some particular samples (i.e. psychotherapy), the usefulness of PSWQ is restricted to particular symptoms and not the GAD (Salzer at al., 2009). On the other hand, many studies have shown that PSWQ is useful for assessment in many clinical conditions as well (e.g. Barlow, 1988; Dugas et al., 1998; Molina et al., 1998). Overall, studies have shown that PSWQ is generally clinically useful as well as cross-culturally appropriate. Thus, PSWQ was adapted successfully worldwide including Argentina (RodríguezBiglieri & Vetere, 2011), Germany (Stöber, 1995), Holland (Heiden et al., 2009), China (Zhong et al., 2009) to name only a few.

had no children, 40% (14) had 1 child, 14% (5) had 2 children, 1 participant (3%) had 7 children, most of the participants (31, 89%) were orthodox, 2 participants were protestant (2, 6%), and 1 was catholic (3%), 1 participant did not declare his religious denomination belonging, most of the participants were Romanian (34, 97%), and 1 participant had Hungarian ethnicity (3%), the participants had the following monthly income: 3000 lei, 8 participants (23%) did not declare their monthly income.

OBJECTIVES The main purpose of the present studies is to validate the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in Romania using scientifically sound methodology as well as to establish its psychometric properties and situate the findings cross-culturally, with respect to PSWQ research.

Instruments PSWQ (Penn State Worry Questionnaire) We administered the PSWQ (Penn State Worry Questionnaire) (Meyer, Miller, Metzger & Borkovec, 1990) which has 16 items and measures worry as a component of anxiety, often found in the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Generalized Anxiety Disorder GAD). PSWQ could be thus used mainly as diagnostic tool for GAD and other anxiety conditions or as a monitoring tool of clinical interventions as well as for other research purposes. The instrument has not yet been adapted in Romania. The answer format of the 16 items is on 5-level Likert scale, ranging from 1 (“not at all typical of me”) to 5 (“very typical of me”). The PSWQ items 1, 3, 8, 10, 11 must be reverse-scored in order to obtain a total score of worry. An example of symptom-positively worded item is: I notice that I have been worrying about things. And symptomnegatively worded item: When there is nothing more I can do about a concern, I do not worry about it anymore. The original PSWQ has adequate psychometric properties (Meyer et al., 1990). PSWQ has been also shown to be psychometrically sound in research over time regarding reliability (based on internal consistency and test-retest procedures) (see for ex. Molina & Borkovec, 1994 and Phillips, 2016 for a review) and acceptable

METHOD Study 1 Aims To translate PSWQ into Romanian and test the translation in a bilingual sample as well as asses two types of reliability, namely temporal stability and internal consistency by following International Test Commission Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests (International Test Commission, 2010). Participants The participants of our study were 35 bilingual persons (English and Romanian) from different regions of Romania, who indicated a high level proficiency in English language, chosen on a voluntary basis, who received no feedback or compensatory rewards for participation, with the following demographic characteristics: economists 26% (9), bank employees 51% (18), students 6% (2), other professions of higher education 12% (4), 1 simple worker and 1 retired, aged 23-84 (M=43.4, SD=13.12), 37% (13) males, 63% (22) females, (15) 43% of participants 32


convergent validity with peer ratings and with other clinical scales, discriminant validity as well as factorial validity (e.g. Stöber, 1997; Meyer et al., 1990; Brown, 2003). These adequate psychometric properties have also been shown cross-culturally (e.g. Zhong et al, 2009). The sociodemographic questionnaire was administered only once at the end of the last PSWQ assessment and included open questions about: occupation, age, gender, income, ethnicity, religion, marital status and number of children.

RESULTS For the analysis, the PSPP v. 0.8.5 software was used. Before we conducted the analysis, we first looked (by inspecting the total score histograms) for specific outliers and found none in the dependent variable, PSWQ, in both English and Romanian versions. Then we assessed the normality of the total score of PSWQ. Two Shapiro-Wilk tests calculated on the original and Romanian PSWQ did not reach significance at .05 level and the visual inspection of the histograms showed no significant deviation from normality with skewness of .07 (SE= .40) and kurtosis of -.17 (SE= .79) for the original version and with skewness of .09 (SE= .40) and kurtosis of -.36 (SE= .78) for the Romanian version. Further, we used test retest bilingual method (Butcher & Gur, 1974) and assessed the equivalence of the two versions of the instrument. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the PSWQ scores in the English language condition versus the Romanian language condition. There was an insignificant difference in the scores for PSWQ English (M=51.44, SD=12.23) and PSWQ Romanian (M=50.91, SD=13.77) conditions; t(33)=.36, p = .72 therefore we regard the two versions as equivalent. Since we had the equivalence of the two versions of PSWQ we assessed the test retest reliability of the instrument. The two versions of PSWQ were strongly correlated, r(32) = .79, p < .01 which attest that Romanian PSWQ has acceptable test temporal stability. The internal consistency of the 16 items of the Romanian PSWQ was high (α= .93) Corrected Item-Total Correlation ranged from .30 (item11) to .84 (item4) and deleting any of the items did not result in an improved internal consistency.

Procedure We used a translation back-translation method (Brislin, 1970). The first author of this paper translated the PSWQ into Romanian and the third author translated the instrument back into English and the team compared the two English versions of PSWQ as well as the Romanian translated version. We found 3 items which could have a misleading meaning in Romanian, therefore those items were adjusted and a final Romanian translation of PSWQ was created. Then, we recruited a bilingual sample from a multinational company from Romania. The participants agreed to participate anonymously on a voluntary basis without any rewards. We administered thereafter PSWQ to the bilingual sample on two occasions, first the English version and two weeks later the Romanian one, together with the demographic questionnaire as well as the filter question about significant stressors that had occurred during the time interval between the two administering sessions of PSWQ (2 weeks) which was answered negatively by all participants (Did anything stressful happen in this 2 weeks period that could impact on your responses to the questionnaire?). The administration was standardized, took place in the same room and the questionnaires were paper and pencil administered. The only variable manipulated was the language in which PSWQ was presented. In this study, there were no conflict of interests and ethical guidelines of the Romanian College of Psychologists (Colegiul Psihologilor din Romania) were followed.

CONCLUSIONS The first study outcomes show Romanian PSWQ linguistically equivalent to the original instrument and having acceptable to good reliability. We conclude that the instrument had initial adequate psychometric properties which were similar to original PSWQ as well as to other adaptations 33


throughout the world (e.g. Glöckner-Rist & Rist, 2014).

PCA that accounts for method effects arising when questionnaires have reverse-worded items, Brown (2003) confirmed the unidimensionality of the PSWQ. The two factor solutions reported by many studies (Beck, Stanley, & Zebb, 1995; Stöber, 1995; van Rijsoort, Emmelkamp, & Vervaeke, 1999) actually comprised one factor with 11 items (which reflects worry) and a contra-factor with 5 reverse-worded items (which reflects the absence of worry). Brown (2003) explained, based on previous work with other questionnaires that the twofactor solution is spurious and arises from artefactual reasons (e.g. carelessness or difficulty in reading reverse-worded items). Same issues made Wood & Tarrier (2010) assert that many clinical concepts (e.g. depression) which proved to be multifactorial are actually unidimensional and lie on a continuum from wellbeing to ill-being, making the aforementioned researchers outline a "positive clinical psychology", i.e. a clinical psychology that takes into account both positive and negative human experience. In terms of convergent validity, PSWQ was found to be positively related to Peer ratings, Depression, Anxiety, Tension as well as other constructs both in clinical and non-clinical samples (e.g. Meyer at al., 1990, Brown et al., 1992, Stöber, 1997, as well as in on-line studies (Zlomke, 2009). Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were found to be acceptable to good in the aforementioned studies).

Study 2 METHOD Aims To analyse the factorial structure of Romanian PSWQ as well as to analyse and assess its internal consistency and convergent validity. Participants The participants of our study were initially 128 persons and, after the removal of outliers (see preliminary analyses), 116 persons with a very heterogeneous professions range who received feedback upon request, but no compensatory rewards for participation, with the following demographic characteristics: age 15-57 (M=31.37, SD=9.60), 18% (21) were male, 82% (95) were female, most of the participants were orthodox (100, 86%), 3 participants were protestant (3%), (2) were atheists and 9 were catholic (9%), 2 participants (2%) did not declare their religious denomination belonging, most of the participants were Romanian (34, 97%), and 1 participant had Hungarian ethnicity (3%), the participants had the following monthly income: 3000 lei. Instruments PSWQ (Penn State Worry Questionnaire) We administered the Romanian PSWQ results from Study 1. The original PSWQ was found to be unidimensional using traditional Principal Component Analysis A (e.g. Brown et al., 1992) thus measuring the worry construct evenly. However, later authors found, by using Principal Component Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, that PSWQ have actually 2 factors (see Glöckner-Rist & Rist, 2014 for a review) namely, Worry Engagement and Absence of Worry, making the PSWQ internal factor structure a matter of debate. Using a more developed method of

CES-D (Centre for Epidemiological Study of Depression Scale) The Centre for Epidemiological Study of Depression Scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977) is a self-assessment scale designed to measure the depression symptomatology in the general population. CES-D scores establish the difference between patients with psychiatric problems and those without psychiatric problems. A score greater than 16 indicates depressive symptoms. The 20 items measure the affective and somatic dimensions of depression, reflected in the depressed state, feelings of guilt or futility, helplessness, psychomotor delays, lack of appetite, and 34


sleep disturbance. (Radloff, 1977). Since its creation, CES-D has been the focus of many research efforts and has been found valid and reliable worldwide, being also translated and adapted in Romania by the first and last authors of this paper, wherein it yielded adequate psychometric properties (see Stevens et al., 2013 for a review and for adapted Romanian version).

correlation with multiple other wellbeing tests and obtained significant correlations. Literature on Wellbeing includes a wealth of information on the psychometric properties of the scale as well as the theoretical constructs involved (see Diener, Suh, Oishi, 1997; Diener, Scollon, Lucas, 2003). The adaptation, translation and validation of this questionnaire on the Romanian population were conducted by the first, second and last author of this paper in collaboration with other researchers (Stevens, Constantinescu and Lambru, 2006) and Stevens et al. (2011) wherein SWLS yielded acceptable convergent and factorial validity as well as acceptable test retest reliability and internal consistency. We chose to measure Life Satisfaction in our study, because, theoretically and empirically, it should be related negatively to Worry. Too much worry could be even a consequence of the lack of wellbeing, as shown by previous studies (see Platsidou, 2012 for the theoretical validated model).

HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale is a valuable scale for assessing the incidence and severity of anxiety in both somatic and psychiatric patients as well as in the general population (Snaith, 2003). HADS was validated in different languages both in general practice and community settings (Stern, 2014) and good psychometric properties of reliability and validity have been reported (Snaith, 2003). The scale includes 14 items, seven items measuring anxiety and seven items measuring depression. For the current study we used only the anxiety subscale, namely HAS. Each item is rated on a 0-3 frequency scale: 0- not at all, 1- From time to time, occasionally, 2 A lot of the time, 3- Most of the time and one item must be reverse scored. The translation into Romanian and the validation were performed by Professor Maria Ladea (2007) who reported adequate convergent validity with anxiety and depression measures. In our study, the HAS obtained an Alpha-Cronbach of .78 and standardized Alpha-Cronbach of .79.

Procedure The questionnaires were administered anonymously on-line and the recruiting of the participants took place with advertisements on different on-line social websites. Participation to the study was on a voluntary basis. The filling out of the questionnaires took approx. 20 min. Three participants requested feedback with a secret code they introduced when filling out the questionnaires. Answering to all questionnaire items was compulsory before submitting the questionnaires form, but the demographic questionnaire did not have such a format. In this study, there were no conflicts of interests and ethical guidelines of the Romanian College of Psychologists (Colegiul Psihologilor din Romania) were followed.

SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale) Satisfaction with Life Scale contains 5 items of life satisfaction, being a measure of the cognitive process of evaluating the satisfaction of people's lives at a phenomenological level, respondents evaluating their agreement on items on a 7level Likert scale. The questionnaire was tested for reliability, demonstrating its stability in the many studies it was used (Diener, Suh, Oishi, 1997). The questionnaire was tested for construct validity by

RESULTS The analysis was conducted using the Statistical Software R v 3.1.0. Preliminary analyses were conducted on the initial 123 participants in order to test the assumptions required for Confirmatory Factor Analysis. 35


Using R with the package “rgl”, we obtained the bivariate scatter plots Matrix of the items with smooth lines, and the visual inspection indicated that some items had minor deviations from linearity. Further with the package “MVN” (Korkmaz, Goksuluk and Zararsiz, 2014) we ran the Mardia test (Mardia, 1970, 1974) and Shapiro-Wilk test and we tested the assumptions of multivariate and of univariate distribution respectively. The results indicated that both assumptions were violated. Afterwards, using the package “faoutlier” (Chalmers & Flora, 2015; Flora, LaBrish & Chalmers, 2012) we identified, using likelihood distances (Cook and Weisberg, 1982), 12 influential cases. Upon an inspection of the responses, it appeared that these participants might not have understood some items correctly and therefore the answers were biased, so we removed the outlying cases. When rechecking the linearity and normality assumptions, nothing was changed. However, as shown in simulation studies, even 1 influential case can be very powerful and can distort significantly the results (Flora, LaBrish and Chalmers, 2012), so we chose to eliminate the chosen outliers and run the analysis on 116 participants. Next, using the package “lavaan” (Rosseel, 2012) we fitted 3 CFA models under the robustness condition (given that there was neither multivariate normality nor univariate normality) and the fit index’ were adjusted with Sattora-Bentler correction (Satorra and Bentler, 1994). For evaluating the model fit we used Hu & Bentler (1999) index’ that best take account of acceptable Type I and II errors in low samples. SRMR (Standardized Root Mean Square Residual) was not corrected. The first model had one factor comprising all PSWQ items, the second model had two factors, namely Absence of Worry, comprising reverse worded items, and Worry Engagement, comprising the remaining items, and the third model had again one factor with correlated errors due to method effect (Schmitt and Stuits, 1985; Marsh, 1986, 1996; Woods, 2006). The results were similar to previous studies. The first model had the worst fit, and there

was a significant improvement when the model with two factors was fitted, However, one factor with correlated errors model best fitted the observed data according to Hu & Bentler (1999) cut-offs recommendations for CFA in low samples, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and (Tucker-Lewis Index) TLI > .90 and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual(SRMR) < .06. However, the model with two factors also fitted the data but PSWQ was found to be one-dimensional because both Corrected χ2 and SRMR were the smallest. Table 1. CFA Indexes of PSWQ df Corr. Model Corr. χ2*** CFI 1 factor 238.293 104 0.888

Corr. SRMR TLI 0.871 0.067

2 factor 196.503 103 0.921

0.908 0.053

1 factor 190.422 94 corr. err

0.919 0.897 0.047

***p +/-1 DifBetaS >+/-2) and bivariate scatter plots shown similar results, with possible outliers lying not very far from the smooth lines which indicate the linear trend of the relationship and we decided not to delete these possible outliers. The plots shown minor deviations from the specified linear relationships and we concluded that the linearity assumption was not violated. We also checked the normality of the variables

Table 4. Rank order correlations, of PSWQ with HAS CESD and SWLS CESD

HAS

CESD

0.69***

HAS 0.69*** PSWQ 0.57***

0.66***

PSWQ

SWLS

0.57*** -0.45*** 0.66***

-0.30 -0.22**

SWLS -0.45*** -0.30*** -0.22** ***p 0.05; translation:

“Avea un comportament imprevizibil față de mine’’, original: “Unpredictable towards me’’) and item 8 (r = .265, p > 0.05; translation: “Nu se îngrijea de mine’’, original: “Uncaring of me’’). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicated that at psychometric level, the sub-scales of the MOPS Questionnaire (Father & Mother variants; Parker et al., 1997) of the translated version (Romanian language) had a good internal consistency, which certifies that the Romanian translated version can function as a reliable psychological instrument in Romanian language. The results obtained by Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test support the hypothesis of this study, which assumed that there will be conceptual and semantic equivalence between the two versions of the questionnaire (Romanian and English forms). Regarding the MOPS variant that refers to the father's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), results indicated that there are no statistically significant differences between the two linguistic versions, nor between its sub-scales, which illustrates that the two versions (Romanian and English) are linguistically equivalent. Based on the results obtained for each pair of items (Romanian and English, Father variant), statistically significant differences were found in one out of 15 items, as follows: item 1 (translation: “A fost supra-protector/are’’; original: “Overprotective of me’’). Taking into account the fact that there were no significant differences regarding the sub-scales of this questionnaire (Father variant) between the two versions, the differences that occurred in item 1 may be due to the relatively small number of subjects (N = 33) or to the fact that they have reflected more on the content of this item of the translated version (Romanian language). The global analysis of the item pairs between the two versions (Romanian and English, Father variant) indicates that they are linguistically equivalent (93.33%). Regarding the MOPS variant that refers to the mother's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), results indicated there are significant 46


statistical differences between the general scores of the two versions of the instrument (Romanian and English language) and between the over-control sub-scale. Further analysis indicated that there are no significant differences regarding the indifference subscale and the abuse sub-scale, which illustrates that the two versions (Romanian language and English language, Mother variant) are partially linguistically equivalent. Taking into account the results obtained at the MOPS variant that refers to the father's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), the differences that occurred at the MOPS variant that refers to the mother's perceived behaviour may be due to the fact that most of the participants in this study belonged to the female gender. In this sense, the scientific literature suggests that the mother-daughter relationship is a particular one (Branje, 2008; Lefkowitz & Fingerman, 2003; Willson et al., 2003), meaning that in this form of interaction, mothers tend to manifest a stronger control over their daughters (the differences that occurred at the over-control sub-scale), and the dynamics of the motherdaughter relationship is a more emotional and ambivalent one, i.e. there is a tendency to oscillate between a harmonious relationship and a hostile relationship (this can be seen in the differences that occurred at the MOPS variant that refers to the mother's perceived behaviour, between the pre and post-test stages). Based on the results obtained for each pair of items (Romanian and English, Mother variant), statistically significant differences were found in 1 out of 15 items, as follows: item 1 (translation: “A fost supra-protector / oare’’; original: ”Overprotective of me’’). Taking into account the results obtained for the sub-scales of this questionnaire (Mother variant), the differences that occurred in item 1 may be due to the particular maternal relationship since the majority of the participants in this study belonged to the female gender. The global analysis of the item pairs between the two versions (Romanian and English, Mother variant) indicates that they are linguistically equivalent (93.33%). Because of the fact that statistically significant differences were found in item 1

for both the father's perceived behaviour and the mother's perceived behaviour of the MOPS questionnaire (Parker et al., 1997), a closer look at this item suggests that the translated version of the item is slightly different from the original one, therefore the modified version of the translated item will look like this: “A fost supra-protector/are față de mine’’. The relationship between the two versions of the MOPS Questionnaire (Parker et al., 1997; Romanian & English, Father and Mother variants), between its sub-scales and between the pairs of items was analysed using Spearman correlations. Regarding the MOPS variant that refers to the father's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), results indicated that the correlations between the two versions (Romanian and English) and between its sub-scales proved to be very strong. The correlations that were computed on each pair of items were found to be statistically significant as well. These results suggest that the English and Romanian versions of the Father variant of the instrument are linguistically equivalent. Regarding the MOPS variant that refers to the mother's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), results indicated that the correlations between the two versions (Romanian and English) and between its sub-scales proved to be very strong. The correlations that were computed on each pair of items were found to be statistically significant, except for item 7 (translation: “Avea un comportament imprevizibil față de mine’’, original: “Unpredictable towards me’’) and for item 8 (translation: “Nu se îngrijea de mine’’, original: “Uncaring of me’’). A possible explanation for the insignificant correlations of item 7 and item 8 (Mother variant) may be due to the relatively small number of subjects (N = 31) or the fact that they identified more with the translated version (Romanian). This explanation can be sustained because for the MOPS variant that refers to the father's perceived behaviour (Parker et al., 1997), the correlations that were computed on each pair of items were found to be statistically significant and for the MOPS variant that refers to the mother's perceived behaviour 47


(Parker et al., 1997), the correlations between the two versions (Romanian and English) and between its sub-scales proved to be very strong (p < 0.01). The results of this study are promising and relevant in opening the possibility to use the Romanian version of the Measure of Parental Style Questionnaire (MOPS, Parker et al., 1997) to successfully evaluate perceived dysfunctional parenting styles of juvenile delinquents and other young people from Romania. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the two versions (Romanian and English) of the MOPS Questionnaire (Parker et al., 1997) are linguistically equivalent. Specifically, the linguistic validation of the instrument is part of a study aiming to investigate different dimensions and the relationships they have with regard to juvenile delinquency in Romania. The perceived dysfunctional parenting styles are among the studied dimensions.

Lerner, R., and Peterson, A.C. (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 746–758). New York, NY: Garland. Baumrind, D. (1996). The discipline controversy revisited. Family Relations, 45(4): 405-414. Branje, S.J.T. (2008). Conflict management in mother–daughter interactions in early adolescence. Behaviour, 145(11): 1627 – 1651. Buri, J.R. (1991). Parental authority questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57(1): 110-119. Copaci, I.A., Soos, A., &Rusu, A.S. (in press). Romanian and Linguistic Validation of the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire: Implications for Pre-Service Teachers’ Evaluation. Journal of Psychological and Educational Research (JPER). Darling, N., & Steinberg, L. (1993). Parenting style as context: An integrative model. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3): 487-496. Dishion, T. J., & Patterson, G. R. (2006). The development and ecology of antisocial behaviour in children and adolescents. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Risk, disorder and adaptation, Vol. 3 (pp. 503541.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Gafoor, A.K., & Kurukkan A. (2014). Construction and Validation of Scale of Parenting Style. Guru Journal of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2(4): 315-323. Kathleen, S.B. (2011). The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Kawabata, Y., Alink, L.R.A., Tseng, W.-L., van Ijzendoorn, M.H., Crick, N.R. (2011). Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 31(4): 240-278. Kohlhoff, J., & Barnett, B. (2013). Parenting self-efficacy: Links with maternal depression, infant behaviour and adult attachment. Early Human Development, 89: 249–256. Lamborn, S.D., Mounts, N.S., Steinberg, L., Dornbusch, S.M. (1991). Patterns of competence and adjustment among

REFERENCES Baeza, F.L.C., Caldieraro, M.A.K., Pinheiro, D.O., & Fleck, M.P. (2010). Translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese of the Measure of Parental Style (MOPS) - a self-reported scale - according to the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) recommendations. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 32(2): 159-163. Ban, E. (2014). Problemele sociale in Romania si delincventa juvenila. București: Editura Pro Universitaria. Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewoods Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Baumrind, D. (1966). Effects of authoritative parental control on child behavior. Child Development, 37(4): 887-907. Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of pre-school behavior. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75(1): 43-88. Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4 (1, Pt.2): 1-103. Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In Brooks-Gunn, J., 48


adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families. Child Development, 62(5): 1049-1065. Lefkowitz, E.S., Fingerman, K.L. (2003). Positive and Negative Emotional Feelings and Behaviors in Mother-Daughter Ties in Late Life. Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 17(4): 607-617. Maccoby, E.E., Martin, J.A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In Mussen, P.H.; Hetherington, E.M., Manual of child psychology: Social developmen, Vol. 4 (pp. 1–101). New York: John Wiley and Sons. Moely, B. E., Mercer, S. H., Ilustre, V., Miron, D., & McFarland, M. (2002). Psychometric properties and correlates of the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire (CASQ): A measure of students' attitudes related to service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 8(2): 15-26. Moitra, T. & Mukherjee, I. (2010). Does parenting behaviour impacts delinquency? A comparative study of delinquents and nondelinquents. Official Journal of the South Asian Society of Criminology and Victimology (SASCV), 5(2): 274 – 285. Parker, G., Roussos, J., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., Mitchell, P., Wilhelm, K., & Austin, M.P.

(1997). The development of a refined measure of dysfunctional parenting and assessment of its relevance in patients with affective disorders. Psychological Medicine, 27(5): 1193-1203. Parker, G., Tupling, H. & Brown, L.B. (1979). A Parental Bonding Instrument. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 52(1): 1-10. Picardi, A., Tarsitani, L., Toni, A., Maraone, A., Roselli, V., Fabi, E., De Michele2, F., Gaviano, I., Biondi, M. (2013). Validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Measure of Parental Style (MOPS). Journal of Psychopathology, 19: 54-59. Santrock, J.W. (2007). A topical approach to life-span development (3rd Edition). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Simons, L.G., & Conger, R.D. (2007). Linking Mother–Father Differences in Parenting to a Typology of Family Parenting Styles and Adolescent Outcomes. Journal of Family Issues, 28(2): 212-241. Willson, A.E., Shuey, K.M., Elder Jr., G.H. (2003). Ambivalence in the Relationship of Adult Children to Aging Parents and InLaws. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65(4): 1055-1072.

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Chapter III. Method for determining personality typology from EEG and EDA biosignals Dumitru Grigore 1, Corina Mihaela Zaharia 2 2

1 Psychometric Systems S.A., Bucharest, Romania Zaharia & ASociatii SCPP, APASC “No Stress Centre”, Bucharest, Romania, [email protected]

Abstract: Research described in present study approaches EEG biosignals physiology and power spectral distribution, respectively EDA phenomenology, highlighting the electrodermal potential technique in alternating current. The experiment structure is based on a design adequate to the specific purpose of the topic, i.e. the use of two distinct methods pertaining to the quoted biosignals, in view of obtaining the same type of electrical behavior, expressed as personality typology. We determined the projective functions using, for EEG, power spectral density as measured by the NeuroSky MindSet headset; whereas for EDA, we considered the skin alternating current potential levels, basal type (SPL) and response type (SPR), acquired by the MindMiTM assessment system, patented by the author of the present study, in 2013. Key-words: bio-signals, electrodermal response, BCI systems, biofeedback. original technical solution, to add up to the current field research. The research-proper implies running multiple illustrating measurements of specific patterns for various physiology biosignals, by making use of an adequate type design, processing experimental data and drafting the statistical study on the correlation of the two biosignals categories, carrying out in own patterns same common action structures, by means of which it is possible to set up a redundant experience basis. The validation of the veracity of results yielded by the original approach of EDA phenomenology in the present research occurred through assessment by direct measurement of a number of subjects; such subjects were measured simultaneously, at forehead level, for EDA-type signals, respectively EEG-type signals. Such signals were later converted into a set of values

BACKGROUND Research applied in neural engineering, cognitive engineering and cognitive sciences is of paramount importance worldwide. Contemporary research of the brain involves advanced methods and technologies, among which, notably, magnetic resonance imaging, which supplies valuable information on the brain regions as activated by stimuli. Such images, reproduced by evocation, ascertain and certify the concept pattern recognition, which comes particularly useful in charting procedures. Electroencephalography techniques (EEG) are also used for brain mapping, but at a lower resolution. The present study mainly targets an identification of the correlation among biosignals patterns, distinct in terms of physiology and acquired by specific equipment. The present research extends an

51


expressing, for EDA, electrodermal potential levels (SPL), respectively by electrodermal response potentials (SPR); while for EEG, power spectral density, for the corresponding brain frequency bandwidths. Thus, the present experimental study is run through two distinct techniques based on biosignals, in order to obtain, by inference, in variables corresponding to each distinct technique, the same type behavior, expressed as electrical signals.

Considering that the psychophysical inference ratio implies the inferential reproduction of the EEGij psychological functions table, the inferential relation between factors may be determined starting from (2), as further indicated:  EEGij   EEGi  EEGij (3)

i: n



 / S Bn  S B1

m

n

i 1

j 1

 

ij

S

Bj



ij

S

(4) Bj

n

 EEG  ij

m S Bn  S B1

 ij S Bj .  ij S Bj j 1

m

n

 

ij

(5)

S Bj

i 1 j 1

Relations (2) and (3) connect the inferential function with the average spectral by power density S B ij so that the inferential function per se may be seen as a time function,  EEG (t ) , the behavior thereof being analysable in the aleatory processes paradigm. In order to express the inference of the psychic aspects in the neural processes, for local model (LEM) advanced by [Wilson & Cowan, 1972] we will consider function  EEG (t ) as an adjustment function (see Fig.

 ij is a

1).

S B and  EEG will be:

where  is a

i



j 1

inferential index may result:

average power spectral density S B on a bandwidth j along channel i, so that relation

 EEG ij   ij S Bj

EEG

 m



a relation based on which EEG final form ij

function which expresses the impact of

between

is the efficiency with which

S Bj may produce an inference along channel

average spectral power density S B on a bandwidth j, corresponds by inference EEG to psychological aspects meaningful along an analysis channel i. Here is the expression of quoted relations:  11 S B1 12 S B 2   1 j S Bj      21 S B1  22 S B 2    2 j S Bj    (1) Sij                    i1 S B1  i 2 S B 2    ij S Bj 

i  1, n;  j  1, n , where

i

EEG bio-signal of spectral power density

Inferential function EEG Correlation of EEG specific rhythms with the psychophysical states of a subject implies determination of one-to-one relations between power spectral density on each bandwidth and categories of psychological indices, taken to be inferential channels. On such terms, each channel i manifests an inference specific to a bandwidth j. That is why it is important to know in what way, the

for

 EEG

where

(2)

scale factor,

is a technological constant, while S Bn and S B1 are power spectral densities over bandwidth n and 1. 52


For a strictly stationary aleatory process

 (t ) average thereof is: 

x (t )  E (t )  p(t ) ( )d

(9)



where under the integral there is a repartition density of an inferential variable

set [Porat, 1994]. When the process is strictly stationary, the relation will be:  x (t )   x (10)

Fig. 1. The inferential function in LEM model In such case, the role of the linear filter he(t) is granted by component  ij (t ) . For each

For two set times, t1 and t2, and a repartition density common with inferential variables and , type:  (t1 )  (t 2 )

inferential function a random experience is considered, the result being seen as one of the possible result variants thereof.  is the samples space made of the multitude of possible results. Hence the inferential function will actually be a collection of signals usual in the time continuum, known as trajectories. To each point  in space  a function will be associated, of limited duration in time:

 (t ,  ),T  t  T

p (t1 )  t2   1, 2  , the average of the

aleatory variables produced will be written, as associated to each pair (t1,t2); such average value is known as statistical correlation function of an aleatory signal:

μΨ(t1 )Ψ t2   E  (t1 ) (t2 )  

(6)



j

(7)

μΨ(t1 )Ψ t 2   R (t1 , t 2 )

(t ) j  1,2,..., n, setting t=tk , set:

 1 (tk ), 2 (tk ),....., n (tk )  1 (tk ), 2 (tk ),....., n (tk )

We will have for

(12)

p (t1 )  t2   1 , 2  only

one dependence on the difference t2-t1, not on absolute time values. In such case, (12) becomes:

(8)

R (t1,t2 )  R (t2 t1)  R( ),  t1 ,  t2 (13)

is an aleatory variable [Papoulis, 1977]. Thus, the process will be seen as a set of aleatory variables, indexed by time:

(11)

For a strictly stationary aleatory process, designations being:

For a multitude sample functions, type:





 1 2 d 1d 2

  

duration 2T being the observation interval. If point  is set,=j, time function (t,) is a sample function:

 j   (t ,  j )

 (t ) for t

a function which illustrates a maximum in origin [Stoica & Moses, 2005]. A spectral analysis of aleatory signals can be run on statistical and energy criterions, as per theorem Wiener-Hincin; statistical correlation function determined above,

 (t ,  ) , j

where in order to simplify designations, is given up, noting the process  (t ) .

53


associated with the spectral distribution, yields a Fourier pair.

Table 1 indicates function  ij values, as

power

computed for an EEG bandwidth spectre,

Example 2. We further advance, for an illustration, a computation of the values for a set of EEG inferential indices, in average values of the spectral power densities of the EEG bandwidth, for a psychophysical inferential system, dimension i x j , where i = 7 and j = 8: Table 1: Experimental values

values

S B j , as well as efficiency with which

inference is produced along each channel. Computation of the EEG inferential indices set was run for m=7 and =75.

S B ,  ij and

In terms of (5), psychophysical tensor EEGfor dimension 7x8 becomes:

(19) (14)

Table 2: EEG experimental values

54


Fig. 2. Electrodermal inferential model (EIM) The EEG values are indicated in Table 2, as recorded on a standard 75 to 265 inferential units scale.

and conductivity (e.g. fear and fright drop, self-possessiveness and good temper increase), and such like. A illustrates a quite simplified electrical diagram of the electrodermal inferential model (EIM).

3. Electrodermal inferential model Inferential function will act as regulation function in the electrodermal model as well (see Fig. 2). Specific here are the two external stimulus signals of galvanic skin response, u1 (t ) and

u2 (t ) , which engender an excitation function hes(t), and activation (firing) functions, fa(t), responsible for opening response channels, which are the expression of spontaneous stimulus sent through the activating nerve cells ca, and manifested in electrodermal liability. The inferential electrodermal model that we advance there exists a symmetrical linear system reacting to an excitatory impulse he(t), activated by the ce nerve cells; respectively, a similar inhibiting system manifested by functions hi(t), under the action of inhibitor neural cells ci,, conjugated on the regulation loop with the inferential function EDA (t ) . The excitatory impulse, compound with the stimulation functions, will generate, at limbic system level, respectively at motor system level, the nonlinear behavior described by heSL (v ) and heSM (v ) , whose variations are

Fig. 3. Simplified EIM electrical diagram In terms of electricity, after firing the electrodermal chain by activation of impedance Z EDA , source G of Z G impedance opens and becomes active, such activity being described by the inferential function  EDA (t ) . Source activation is possible by applying the excitation signal at point C level. The real form of a firing signal manifested by activation of impedance Z EDA is illustrated in Fig. 18, where, for the seven

projectively expressed by the inferential function, so that, it becomes possible to identify changes (in the basal physiological changes table) of muscular tonus intensity and distribution, of skin electrical resistance 55


stimulation channels, the firing sessions will be noted only for the first step impulse, respectively for the last two.

Fig. 4. Skin impedance firing real signal Actual voltages balance at point B level can be expressed as UV  U G  U EDA , a sum

Such relations illustrate the direction of source G activation or inhibition, visible through level U EDA , as measured in point C. In other words, when skin conductance rises, source G is active, function  EDA (t ) describing linear activity thereof.

expressible function of the two impedances and actual current running through, as stated below:

UV  I ( Z G  Z EDA )

(15)

4. EDA inference function On the other hand, considering that the psychophysical inference ratio implies the inferential reproduction of the whole psychological functions EDAij table, we

Balance (22) for a relatively low time value, will meet requirement below:

ZG  Z EDA  ct.

(16)

determined that, for development thereof, inferential relation of factors will be expressed as:

Condition (23) states the relation of the two impedances, respectively the work regime of source G, of interest for the present study. Hence the following relations:

 EDA   EDA  EDA ij

ZG   U

G

Z EDA   U

 EDA



i

ij

(18)

signifying electrodermal inferential indices, components yielded the final form of

(17)

electrodermal psychophysical tensor EDAij :

(19) (34)

56


in which we identified and rewrote inferential electrodermal index  EDAij form, as:  EDA  ij

u1ii u1 j  u0 umax  u0 u1i  u2 i



t2

t1

of which we applied, on the palms of the evaluated subject, an electrodermal excitation signal, obtained by composing two signals: one step signal and one bearing signal, and we received through the specialised acquisition interface a response signal of which envelope contains essential information about the psychophysiological processes on which we proposed to identify an inference. Hence, we expressed the projective response of the neurocortex, on each channel in part, in inferential functions, determined by information about the level of electrodermal activity, by identifying the levels of electrodermal potential, stimulated in alternative current of SPL type - basal potential and SPR type - response potential. Also, we made a simultaneous take-over, through an acquisition server interface, model Open VIBE v1.2.2, from the INRIA, of a set of EEG-type signals from the forehead of the same individual, by means of the professional headpiece Neuro Sky MindSet (Figure 5).

ui (t ) dt

 u (t )  u (t )      u (t ) dt t2

t1

1

2

i

(20) 5. The coordinates of the experimental work 5.1 Method, electronic equipment, measurement and analysis software, participants The tests were conducted on a sample of 100 subjects aged between 20 and 65 years. The participation in the experiment was by voluntary option, each of the subjects being informed on the conditions of the experiment. For the performance of the experimental work, we used as electrodermal neurostimulator, the palm scanner of the psychometric system MindMiTM by means

Figure 5: Flow chart of the measurement system typologies for m = 4 polarity criteria (cognitive classes), both EDA biosignals and

Progressive sorting of the pair functions. With the purpose to determine the cognitive 57


EEG biosignals have been processed with an original software interface, particularly designed for this experiment, for the results to be subject to a correlation analysis. The software interface uses the mathematical model with the purpose to identify and store mixed cognitive functions, as also the progressive sorting subroutine (Figure 6), by means of which a one-on-one correspondence between them is identified for Pearson bivariate correlation assays made on the sample of 100 subjects. After completing the database enrolment process, the set of EEG cognitive functions

(F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7 and F8) related to the brain frequency bands is established. These functions, grouped based on the criteria provided in Table 3, are reference to progressive sorting. The result of this multistage selection of the EDA function, corresponding to an EEG, is included in a pair record. The tonic and atonic cognitive functions so determined are established in bipolar indicators of inferential pattern. The correspondence from the pair recording is presented in Table 4.

Figure 6: The algorithm of progressive sorting subroutine 58


Table 4: The correspondence between tonic and atonic cognitive functions in brain frequency bands

Another form of representing the relation between the behavioural functions, the cognitive typologies and the cognitive classes, in the design of the mixed EEG-EDA approach, is given as example in figure 7.

Figure 7: The diagram of behavioural functions in cognitive classes and the brain frequency bands

B higher), while a negative value r indicates a negative relation (A lower, B lower). A correlation coefficient equal to zero indicates no relation between the variables. The correlation of the total sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions at T1 and T2.

5.2 The Pearson bivariate correlation analysis Pearson coefficient used in this research reveals the correlation between two continuous variables, being also referred to as the product-moment or Pearson r coefficient. A positive value r expresses a positive relation between the two variables (A higher, 59


Using the Kolmogorov's axioms, we calculated the probabilities of the cognitive functions that decide the behavioural functions, for the two sets of data taken from a sample of 100 subjects, at the moments T1 and T2. The arrays of values resulting from the sum of all these functions, grouped based on their specific physiological category, were subject to the correlation analysis. Hence, Table 8 shows values of the Pearson coefficient that indicate a very good association between the values corresponding to the same type of biosignals T1 and T2: 0.868 for EDA, 0.861 for EEG. This indicates a high test-retest reliability, for both types of biosignals. A very good relation level was also obtained between the total sums for EDA-EEG, of 0.840 at T1 and 0.829 at T2, values that indicate test-retest reliability between the two evaluation systems, this being a first confirmation of the working assumption. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions VHIVLO at T1 and T2. In the logic of the above results there are also included those presented in the Tables 9 and 10 concerning the systematization of the overall cognitive functions after brain frequency. Given that the determined probabilities for correlation analysis are subject, and in selecting the cognitive function the results of the correlation level for antagonistic frequency categories will be symmetric against zero. We can find very good correlation values for the EDA-EEG functions of very high and very low frequency, of 0.884 at T1 and 0.838 at T2. Also these values, as with the total sums of the probabilities of cognitive functions, confirm the high test-retest reliability of the two measurement systems and, by this, also confirms the working assumption. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions HI-LO at T1 and T2. A third confirmation of the working assumption is brought by the values of the Pearson bivariate correlation coefficient, presented in the Tables 11 and 12 also in the

EDA-EEG low and high-frequency functions, of 0.830 at T1 and 0.849 at T2. The correlation of the probabilities of the tonic and atonic cognitive functions at T1 and T2. The determination of the cognitive functions in their individual form is the most important part of this experimental work. Subject to the same methods for the identification of probabilities they are found, from one measurement step (T1) to another, in the selection structure of the cognitive typologies, the values of the cognitive functions presented in the Tables 10, 11, 12 and 13 also correlate, confirming the working assumption. Very high values have been obtained: 0.980 for Ia-F1 (and the symmetric pair Ib-F2) and 0.948 for Ra-F7 (and Rb-F8) atT1, and 0.920 for Ia-F1 (and the symmetric pair Ib-F2) and 0.948 for Ra-F7 (and Rb-F8) at T2. Values that reflect a very good moderate correlation were obtained on the pairs: Oa-F3 (Ob-F4), 0.689 at T1 and 0.629 at T2, and 0.675 for Da-F5 (Db-F6) and 0,777 for Da-F5 (Db-F6) at T2, an explanation for these slightly low values from the first being the specific of the way of integrating the dependant values and the biosignals. The MindSet head piece from NeuroSky shows, for EEG signals, an overlap of a number of simple signals with amplitude usually varying from about 1V at 100 V for a normal adult and about 10 - 20 mV, if measured with subdural electrodes, such as the FFT electrodes. The phasic neurostimulator measures response electrical signals of which values can be followed between 18 and 435 mV, depending on the internal structure of the stimulation equipment. In this latter case, the signal integration is global, the signal being expressed in the response in the SPR potentials obtained by phasic stimulation and projectively deducted in values of the inferential functions. SHARES CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS Table 17 shows the percentage result of the shares of EDA and EEG cognitive typologies found in T1 and T2, thus, in the same category of biosignals we determined a share of 60


92.25% for EEG and 92% for EDA and for mixed category, 91.75% at T1 and 91.5 at T2. Table 18 also shows the correspondence of the shares of the behavioural functions at T1 and T2, where the values corresponding to the function I, deducted from Ia and Ib (F1 and F2) are 99% at T1 and 96% at T2, the values corresponding to the function O, deducted from Oa and Ob (F3 and F4) are 84% at T1 and 81% at T2. The function D deducted from Da and Db (F5 and F6) shows 86% at T1 and 91% at T2 and the R function deducted from Ra and Rb (F7 and F8) shows the same value of 98% at T1 and T2.

The correspondences of the shares of cognitive functions presented in Table 19 are also reflected by high values: 91.59% at T1, for very high and very low frequency bands, 92% at T1 for high and low frequencies, and 88.59% at T1 for very high and very low frequency bands, 94.59% at T1 for high and low frequencies, values that also confirm the working assumption. 5.4 Experimental results

Table 5. The correlation of the total sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions at T1 and T2

Table 6. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions VHI-VLO at T 1

Table 7. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions VHI-VLO at T 2

61


Table 8. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions HI-LO at T 1

Table 9. The correlation of the sums of the probabilities of the cognitive functions HI-LO at T 2

Table 10. The correlation of the probabilities of the tonic cognitive functions at T1

Table 11. The correlation of the probabilities of the tonic cognitive functions at T2

62


Table 12. The correlation of the probabilities of the atonic cognitive functions at T1

Table 13. The correlation of the probabilities of the atonic cognitive functions at T 2

Notes: **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 114. The correspondence of the shares of cognitive typologies at T1 and T2

CONCLUSIONS The comparative experiment described in this paper confirms the working assumption, i.e. there is a significant correlation between the values of the cognitive functions determined from the average of the spectral power densities of the EEG biosignals taken at scalp level and the cognitive functions corresponding to the basal (SPL) and response (SPR) electrodermal potential measured at the same time, at the palms of the same individual, by the phasic neurostimulation method; the applied design reflects the simultaneous and joint action of the targeted functions in the process of determining a psychological profile through the two types of biosignals. Furthermore, assumptions are offered for a future potential study on the correspondences between the palm areas and the locations of the EEG sensors in the "10-20 American System". The study also reveals that there is a functional difference between the EEG

Table 18. The correspondence of the shares of behavioural typologies at T1 and T2

Table 19. The correspondence of the shares of cognitive typologies at T1 and T2

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signals, which we consider predominantly signals of interest in functional explorations (neurophysiology), since they are connected to subsystems having a strictly specialised brain activity, and the EDA signals stimulated, which are signals of general interest in psychology and psychopathology, and are capable of correlation with the subsystems with integrated mental activity. This study brings highly valuable experimental arguments in connection with the possibility for the psychometric system MindMiTM used here for the determinations of electrodermal response to evaluate some psychophysiological aspects, at least to the same extent as the systems from the class of equipment based on electroencephalogramtype signals, significantly maintaining, through the manner of integrating the brain signals, projectively determined, on time units much wider than the potentials evoked in the EEG, the specificity to be useful particularly in psychological assessments. This, however, does not limit its possibilities of use in clinical assessments, where it can bring additional definitions in establishing a diagnosis.

P. H. (1981). Publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. Psychophysiology, 18, 232–239. [Hoffmann, Vesin, Ebrahimi & Diserens,] Hoffmann, U.; Vesin, J.-M.; Ebrahimi, T. & Diserens K. (2008). An efficient P300-based braincomputer interface for disabled subjects, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 167(1), 115-125. Korenman, E.M.D. (2000). Apparatus for monitoring a person’s psycho-physiological condition, United States Patent, US6067468. Lopes da Silva, F. (2004). Functional localization of brain sources using EEG and/or MEG data: volume conductor and source models, Journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 22(10). Sanei, S. and Chambers, J. (2008). EEG signal processing. ISBN 9780470025819. Accesed at August 09 2015: http://medcontent.metapress.com/index/A65 RM03P4874243N.pdfhttp://books.google.co m/ Wilson, H. R., and Cowan, J. D. (1972). Excitatory and inhibitory interaction in localized populations of modelneurons, J. Biophys., 12, 1–23. Turpin, G. & Clements, K. (1993). Electrodermal activity and psychopatology; the development of the palmar sweat index (PSI) as an applied measure for use in clinical settings; Progres in Electrodermal Research, Edited by J.-C. Roy et al. Plenum Press, New York. Wang, G. H. (1964). The neural control of sweating, University of Wisconsin Press. Wolpaw, J.R., Birbaumer, N., McFarland, D.J., Pfurtscheller, G. and Vaughan, T.M. (2002). Brain-computer interfaces for communication and control. Clinical neurophysiology: official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, 113(6), 767–91, June 2002. ISSN 1388-2457. Accesed at August 9 2015: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12048 038.

REFERENCES Boucsein, W., Schaefer, F., Neijenhuisen, H. (1989). ”Continuous recordings of impedance and phase angle during electrodermal reactions and the locus of impedance change”. Psychophysiology, 26(3), 369-76. Burger, C. (2014). A novel method of inproving EEG signals for BCI classifications, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Christie, M.J. (1981). Electrodermal activity in the 1980s: a review, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 74, August. Edelberg R. (1968). Biopotentials from the skin surface: The hydration effect, "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences”, Bioelectrodes, 148, 252–262, February. Fowles, D.C., Christie, M. J., Edelberg, R., Grings, W. W., Lykken, D. T., & Venables,

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Chapter IV. Interpersonal contamination assessment in a sample of Romanian medical students: a preliminary study Cornel Pop, Corneliu Moșoiu Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania, Centre for Psychological Research, [email protected] Abstract: Magical contamination is a special kind of heuristic isolated from other aspects of magical thinking by Paul Rozin and colleagues (Gilovich, Griffin & Kahneman, 2002). The aim of our research is to create a questionnaire to measure interpersonal contamination. Our interpersonal contamination questionnaire (CCI) is derived from an instrument used by Rozin, Markwith & Nemeroff (1992) to assess magical contagion in American adults. In this preliminary study, we have applied our current version of CCI on a sample of 59 medical students. Statistical analysis indicates a high internal consistency (α=.876). Key-words: magical thinking, interpersonal contamination, backward contagion, disgust medical students. Disgust is an important part of sympathetic magical thinking. According to anthropologist Sir James Frazer (1920) sympathetic magical thinking brings to light notions like “vital essence” and “soul stuff”. These essences are considered to be transmissible from person to an object, person to a place or person to person and vice versa. This law of magical contagion states that objects which have been in contact at one point will maintain a perpetual connection and will continue to influence each other even when the physical contact between them has been severed, in short “once in contact always in contact” (Frazer, 1920, Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff, 1986; Rozin & Nemeroff, 1990). Rozin and colleagues (1986), describe contagion as a special property for the triggers of disgust, these have the power to transform food into an inedible product or a highly prized object into one of those things people do not want near them by a simple touch. Sensitivity to contamination seems to be

INTRODUCTION In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), Charles Darwin proposes one of the first scientific approaches of disgust. His interpretation of this reaction is not limited to the sense of taste and smell (Darwin, 1872, p. 256). Psychoanalyst Andras Angyal (1941) sees disgust as being closely related to oral incorporation of offensive objects. Rozin, Haidt and McCauley (2008) offer a model where the outputs of disgust have stayed the same throughout human history while the inputs have transformed. According to this theory of disgust preadaptation (TDP), this emotion started as a repulsion reaction towards a food with an unpleasant taste and has “added / associated” additional functions along the way, going from a primal mechanism of disease avoidance to a more intricate system that protects social order and one’s soul from contact with strangers and violation of certain moral rules (Rozin et al., 2008, p 764). 65


present in all individuals, except for children (Rozin & Nemeroff, 1990). It is important to point out that some effects of disgust are not generated by fear of infection, when a hated or loved person touches a neuter object, certain essences or residues are transmitted even if no material particles are visible (Haidt, Rozin, McCauley, & Imada, 1997) giving that object additional properties with negative or positive valence. From the perspective of TDP, interpersonal aversion can be analysed from four different perspectives: an attribute of unusualness, disease, bad luck and moral misconduct. Following this heuristic, a piece of clothing worn by an unknown healthy person and then washed is less desirable compared to an identic piece of clothing in the store. This form of aversion is amplified if the stranger is a murderer or someone who lost a limb. Interpersonal contamination discourages the contact with persons who are not part of one’s intimate circle. According to TDP this property is adaptive because it reduces the risk of infection and can also serve a purpose in maintaining social hierarchies. A number of studies where people were asked to remember moments when they were disgusted have constantly obtained data involving violation moral principles (Haidt, Rozin, McCauley, Imada, 1997; Nabi, 2002). A lot of these stories involve betrayal, hypocrisy, racism etc. Sanfey, Rilling, Aronson, Nystrom & Cohen, (2003) have discovered in a fMRI study that participants to a ultimatum type game who have received repeatedly a very small percentage from a sum of money have eventually refused that offer and researchers have observed a very intense activity in their anterior insula – a part of the brain linked to the emotion of disgust. In another study by Sherman, Haidt and Coan (2007), participants who were presented with video materials about neo-Nazis were more disgusted than angry. In addition, Hodson and Costello (2007) have found that a high sensibility to disgust significantly predicts a low sympathy towards immigrants, they have also reported that interpersonal disgust can predict one’s

attitude towards immigrants, ethnic groups and towards underprivileged social categories. People’s everyday behaviour abounds in examples of interpersonal contamination, from our reluctance to throw away personal objects to our attitude towards strangers. This study is an attempt to create a short form questionnaire to test interpersonal contamination following the principles of the theory of disgust preadaptation. METHOD Participants Fifty-nine first year medical students from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu participated in this study. Their ages ranged from 19 to 26 years old, M=19.85, SD=1.44; 54=female, 5=male. Instrument Interpersonal contamination questionnaire (CCI) is an 18-item instrument derived from the questionnaire used by Rozin and colleagues to assess interpersonal magical contagion. (Rozin, Millman, & Nemeroff, 1986; Rozin, Nemeroff, Wane, & Sherrod, 1989). Permission to use the instrument was obtained by personal communication with Carol Nemeroff on November 8, 2014. CCI measures positive interpersonal contagion (trans-evaluation) and negative interpersonal contagion on a -10 to +10 Likert-type scale, where -10 is a “very unpleasant experience” and +10 is “a very pleasant experience” with zero as neuter. The plus and minus signs have no mathematic significance they were merely used to make clear a positive or a negative feeling towards a certain situation. Previous repeated measures on a smaller sample (N=42) were conducted to determine test-retest reliability of the questionnaire. ICC estimates at their 95% confident intervals were calculated, based on a 2-way mixedeffects model and absolute agreement indicating a moderate reliability of .680 (Koo & Li, 2016) as it can be observed in Table 1.

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Table 1. Intraclass Correlation Coefficient Intraclass Correlationb Single Measures Average Measures

95% Confidence Interval

F Test with True Value 0

Lower Bound Upper Bound Value

df1

df2

Sig

.680a

.469

.816

5.658

41

41

.000

.809c

.638

.898

5.658

41

41

.000

Two-way mixed effects model where people effects are random and measures effects are fixed. a. The estimator is the same, whether the interaction effect is present or not. b. Type A intraclass correlation coefficients using an absolute agreement definition. c. This estimate is computed assuming the interaction effect is absent, because it is not estimable otherwise.

Following the disgust preadaptation model, we took under consideration 3 types of phenomena that are central to the idea of interpersonal contamination and to the design of this questionnaire. a. Direct causality Example: “Imagine a t-shirt that belongs to…. This t-shirt was worn by this person a few days ago and then it was washed. The tshirt fits you perfectly. Please use the scale bellow to evaluate your feelings towards wearing this t-shirt – You will only be wearing this around your house and nobody will ever know you wore it”. This item example describes one of the most common situations of interpersonal contamination. It uses the following pattern: I. John touches object Z II. John is now in a perpetual relation with Z, his positive and negative attributes are now part of Z III. Margaret touches Z and John’s attributes will influence her b. Reversed causality Example: “Imagine a t-shirt that belongs to you. You wore this t-shirt a few days ago and then it was washed. Please use the scale bellow to evaluate your feelings if the following persons would wear this t-shirt – these persons know the t-shirt is yours” This type of item describes a key aspect of interpersonal contamination that cannot explained by microbial theory (Rozin, Haidt

& McCaulley, 2008). This is what Rozin and colleagues call “backward contagion” (Rozin, Markwith, & Nemeroff, 1992). In the case of reverse causality, the owner of the object is not the main source of contagion any more in this case he becomes the recipient and the person who comes in contact with the object later becomes the source of contagion. I. John touches object Z II. A perpetual link between Z and John is created III. Margaret finds Z IV. Margaret’s attributes are transmitted to John c. Mixed causality Example: This t-shirt belongs to you. You wore this t-shirt for a few days and then it was washed. Please use the scale bellow to evaluate your feelings if the following persons would wear that t-shirt – These people know this is your t-shirt. The t-shirt will be returned to you after is will be washed. This item describes a combination of forward and backward contagion after the model: I. John touches object Z II. A perpetual link between Z and John is created III. Margaret finds Z IV. Margaret’s attributes are transmitted to John V. The object comes back in John’s possession 67


There were 3 positive sources of contamination: “GOOD”, “LOVED”, “ATTRACTIVE” and 3 negative sources: “EVIL” SPITEFUL” and” DISGUSTING”. These were ordered randomly using random.org (Haahr, 2016). The vehicle of contamination was defined as a generic unisex t-shirt. The definitions for the sources of contamination are as follows: GOOD is a public figure someone you respect, he/she is well known for engaging in charitable actions; LOVED is someone you love; ATTRACTIVE is a person you consider as sexy/attractive; EVIL is someone you consider to be evil, this is someone who does/did acts of cruelty towards others, this is not someone you know personally, he/she is alive or dead; SPITEFUL is a person hostile towards you, you know this person personally and you don’t trust them, you really dislike this person; DISGUSTING is someone around whom you do not like to be, you avoid this person because of the way they look, smell.

DISCUSSION Our goal was to create an instrument that measures interpersonal contamination in normal everyday situations. So far, statistical results indicate that CCI has a high internal consistency and a moderate test-retest reliability. In our opinion, the primary objective is partly accomplished and more work is yet ahead of us. Some of our major limitations are linked to sample size and the validity of CCI. We are currently working to further develop CCI, planning to change and include additional items. REFERENCES Angyal, A. (1941). Disgust and related aversions. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 36(3), 393. Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. London, John Murray. Frazer, J. C. (1920). The golden bough. A study in comparative religion (3rd ed). London, Macmillan and Co. Haahr, M. (2006). Random.org: True random number service. Online resource available at: http://www.random.org Haidt, J., Rozin, P., McCauley, C. R., & Imada, S. (1997). Body, psyche, and culture: The relationship between disgust and morality. Psychology and Developing Societies, 9, 107–131. Hodson, G., & Costello, K. (2007). Interpersonal disgust, ideological orientations, and dehumanization as predictors of intergroup attitudes. Psychological Science, 18(8), 691-698. International Test Commission. (2017). The ITC Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests (Second edition). [www.InTestCom.org]. Koo, T. K., & Li, M. Y. (2016). A guideline of selecting and reporting intraclass correlation coefficients for reliability research. Journal of chiropractic medicine, 15(2), 155-163. Nabi, R. (2002). Anger, fear, uncertainty, and attitudes: A test of the cognitive-functional model. Communication Monographs, 69(3), 204-216.

RESULTS The construct of interpersonal contamination was measured on an 18-item scale. Table 2. Cronbach alpha for CCI Cronbach's Alpha

Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardised Items

No. of Items

.871

.866

18

The first 6 questions were constructed on the principle of direct causality, the next 6 questions were constructed on the principle of reversed causality and the last 6 questions were constructed on our assumptions there is a principle of mixed causality. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to determine internal consistency for this preliminary version of the instrument. CCI has a high level of internal consistency as determined by a Cronbach’s alpha of .866 (see Table 2).

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Rozin, P., & Nemeroff, C. (1990). The laws of sympathetic magic: A psychological analysis of similarity and contagion. In J. W. Stigler, R. A. Shweder, & G. Herdt (Eds.), Cultural psychology: Essays on comparative human development, 205-232. New York: Cambridge University Press. Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & McCauley, C. R. (2008). Disgust. In M. Lewis & J. Haviland (Editors). Handbook of emotions, second edition, 754-776. New York: Guilford. Rozin, P., Haidt, J., McCauley, C., Dunlop, L., & Ashmore, M. (1999). Individual differences in disgust sensitivity: Comparisons and evaluations of paper-andpencil versus behavioral measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 33(3), 330-351.

Rozin, P., Markwith, M., & Nemeroff, C. (1992). Magical contagion beliefs and fear of AIDS. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22(14), 1081-1092. Rozin, P., Millman, L., & Nemeroff, C. (1986). Operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in disgust and other domains. Journal of personality and social psychology, 50(4), 703. Sanfey, A. G., Rilling, J. K., Aronson, J. A., Nystrom, L. E., & Cohen, J. D. (2003). The neural basis of economic decision-making in the ultimatum game. Science, 300(5626), 1755-1758. Sherman, G., Haidt, J., & Coan, J. (2007). Nazis really are disgusting. Unpublished manuscript, University of Virginia.

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SECTION 2. RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Chapter V. Impact of classroom inclusion on students’ adaptation to school Alina Boja, Monica Maier, Zorica Triff Technical University Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre, Baia Mare, Romania [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract: The European Union objective regarding school dropout is to reach a rate under 10% in all European states until 2020, but some states, including Romania, are still having rather high numbers of the young with school adaptation difficulties, leading to school failure and even early school leaving. The present study presents a complex approach of the school adjustment problems, especially of the difficulties of adaptation, often observed in the school age students (more often in the transit periods, such as the beginning of the secondary education), but seldom diagnosed or improved. To prevent these problems, we propose a program for inducing positive classroom relations and enhance students’ cooperation. Key-words: school adaptation, social inclusion, school failure, socialisation strategies, Encounter Techniques, Circle Time method. whole

INTRODUCTION The definition of early school leaving (ESL) used at EU level refers to “those young people who leave education and training with only lower secondary education or less, and who are no longer in education and training” (The European Commission, 2013). As early school leaving (ESL) is a serious issue in most of the European states, the EU countries have committed to reducing the average share of early school leavers to less than 10%, by 2020. A research made by the INS (National Statistics Institute) in Romania has shown that we are still far from the target rate, as in 2015 the school dropout rate was of 18.5% and the ESL rate was higher in the rural environment (27.8 %) than in sub-urban (19.3 %) and in big cities (5.9 %). The same research states that “one of the most critical problems our education is confronting is school dropout, a phenomenon that generates negative effects on the individual and on the

society

[https://www.slideshare.net/

inscomunicare].

The reason of school dropout, according to statistical research, is represented, most commonly, by the poor economic situation, disorganised family environment, parents’ migration abroad and the lack of workplaces for the young”. Students most likely to drop out of school have school adapting difficulties, which may be obvious much earlier than their decision to abandon their education. Schools should prevent this phenomenon by identifying these students and supporting their adaptation. Based on research data, E. Albert Lörincz (1998) has differentiated five types of students’ adapting difficulties: 1. anxious children with hyperactivity, hyperemotionality and attention deficit; 2. children who disobey, with a non-assertive behaviour, with inhibited behaviour (the subject has the tendency to humiliate himself, is underestimating himself, has low self73


esteem; wants to satisfy everybody’s expectations, is very dependent on others) or is being aggressive; 3. isolated children because of: the inferiority or superiority complex: anxiety; introversion, passivity or exaggerated withdrawal; 4. children with exaggerated needs or special needs; 5. in this category, the failure to adapt is accompanied by behaviour disorders or deviant behaviour, with or without predelinquent or delinquent behaviour. We may add to this picture some other indicators, by mentioning that adaptation difficulties are manifested both on the outside level (behavioural) and on the inside level, by affecting the balance of the psychological structures. On the inside level, according to scientific literature, we may find disorders like: - affective instability, generated by education deficit and a fragile personality. It is accompanied by intense affective reactions (fear, anger, incontrollable laughing or crying) and uneven affectivity, hyperemotionality, aggressiveness, opposition spirit; -marked feeling of insecurity, which the child wants to evade, for example, by avoiding any form of organisation, frequent change of activities, running away from home or from school; - lack of purpose, of life perspectives, which generates the feeling of loneliness, thus the child refuses to cooperate with teachers or other pupils; -psychological disorders, somatic symptoms such as headaches, stomach aches, heavy sweating, some phobia. Depending on the aggressiveness of the symptoms, adaptation difficulties can take the form of deviation, defined by D. Ozunu (see C. Neamțu, 2003) as “a specific manner of behaviour that violates or contradicts social norms, not being as much a function loss, but rather a decline of the capacity to adapt to social life circumstances”. The causes of ESL are – according to UNICEF experts (http://www.unicef.ro/wp-

- individual factors: high absenteeism, lack of motivation for school activities, special educational need, health problems, deviant behaviour; - factors of family and socio-economic nature: poor economic resources, low parents’ educational level, disorganised families (divorced, single-parent, children temporarily or permanently in the care of grandparents) unemployment situation for one or both parents, negative attitude of family members towards the child’s education / school, performing gainful activities in the household, lack of minimal home study conditions - school-related factors: not attending preschool institutions (kindergarten), poor school results, high absenteeism, grade retention, not participating in extra-curricular activities, deviant/violent behaviour towards classmates or teachers; lack of communication, isolation from classmates; manifestation of other forms of failure to adapt to school. The study of the impact of the social integration of pupils in the classroom on their school adaptation is demanded by the fact that, although the majority of the researches on the psychosocial environment of the classroom assert the importance of the relational structures between the students in the educational process, this being seen as sources of adaptive success or failure, yet there is no experimental data on their actual importance for school activity. OBJECTIVES This problem has been researched in the urban environment, on the 9th and 10th grades of the E.Z. vocational school. The study aimed at: -Relieving the potential or manifested factors of the school adaptation as: the pupils’ attitude towards the pedagogical factors, the influence of the family and extra-curricular environment, the interpersonal relations in the class group; - Knowing the dynamics of the different sociometric structures, the status of the pupil in a group, the qualities according to which this hierarchy is made, the consequences of

content/uploads/copiii-care-nu-merg-la-scoala-ptweb.pdf.pdf):

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these manifestations on pupils’ attitude and behaviour.

-Ethnical structure: 82.80% Romanians, 15.92% Hungarians, 1.27% Romani; -Family educational level: none of the parents has general studies (graduated 8 classes) 6.58%; at least one parent has general studies (graduated 8 classes) 25.69%; at least one parent has finished upper secondary education 66.88%; at least one parent has a university degree 0.85%;

METHOD Aims In this context, the general hypothesis on which the experimental approach was structured is that: by systematically organising the educational influences in three complementary directions (selfknowledge, mutual knowledge and cooperation), acting on a unified methodological strategy, we can accelerate the pupils’ cohesion in the class, thus optimising the process of adaptation to school. Starting from this hypothesis, we have established the following objectives:  knowing the dynamics of the different sociometric structures, the status and role of the students in the classrooms, the qualities according to which this hierarchy is made, the consequences of these manifestations on students' attitude and behaviour;  identifying the potential or manifest factors of school adaptation difficulties, regarding the socio-affective relationships between the members of the classroom, in order to remove them;  experimenting a system of measures able to stimulate student self-knowledge (with a role in structuring self-image, self-esteem), intercognition and increase the intensity, sustainability and flexibility of cooperative relations among pupils;  highlighting ways to improve the methodology of conducting counselling lessons, in order to prevent, correct and eliminate school-related dysfunctions of socio-emotional nature.

Table 1 Sample of students Experimental group

Control group

Class

Subjects number

Class

Subjects number

Mechanical profile A

24

Mechanical profile B

23

Textile Industry A

20

Textile Industry B

22

27

Aesthetics and body treatments B

24

Aesthetics and body treatments C

26

Aesthetics and body treatments D

24

Total

97

Aesthetics and body treatments A

Parents' educational level

Participants In our study, conducted during the school year 2016-2017, we used a sample of 190 students, in the first and second year of the E.Z. Vocational School, Satu Mare County, Romania. On specialities, the students of the experimental and control sample are represented in Table 1. Characteristics of the students’ sample:

ESL General education Secondary education University degree

Chart 1 Parents’ educational level 75

93


-Socio-economic level: institutionalized students (no parents): 8, single-parent families 10; low socio-economic level (social scholarship) 15, Special Education Needs 6. -School results in the past school year (20152016): (see table 2). We can see that the curve 5-5.99 Exp. 21.6%

C 30.2%

of Gauss on average distribution of students’ performances in a class is not observed, most students having medium or poor school results.

Table 2 School results 6-6.99 7-7.99 Exp. C Exp. C 46.4% 43% 28.9% 25.8%

8-8.99 Exp. C 3.1% 1%

member within the classroom, on the relations with other pupils, and of the group’s cohesion. Even from this early stage of the investigative approach, the sociometric status of pupils proved to be a basic indicator of adaptation to school, and between these two aspects there is a direct proportionality relationship. From the pupils with disadaptive manifestations (N = 45), identified by the application of the AASB protocol, 81.1% are isolated or partially excluded by their classmates. The survey in the school documents included the study of the school catalogues, the transcripts of grades, the psycho-pedagogical records prepared by the counsellors for the students; programs and school planning were studied in order to properly organise the formative actions during the counselling hours. In the same sense, there were discussions with teachers and counsellors of the classes involved in the experiment. The pedagogical experiment, on the three combined previously stated coordinates (selfknowledge, mutual recognition and social networking/cooperation), took place in the form of a system of measures and actions designed to be available to any teacher or school counsellor.

Instruments The methods we used were: • questionnaire survey; • direct observation; • sociometric test; • survey in school documents; • pedagogical experiment. The proposed questionnaire – Evaluating the risk of school dis-adaptation ERSD - is a validated instrument (E.A. Lorincz, 1998), containing 40 questions, grouped in five dimensions: - self-perception (Sp); - perceiving pedagogical factors (Pps) – we referred to daily and weekly schedule, school curricula, teachers; - perceiving interpersonal relationships (Pis); - perceiving family influence (Pfi); - and extracurricular influences (Pei); The direct observation took place in a double sense: vertically (by assisting pupils' lessons and recreational activities), horizontally, among pupils, based on an observation protocol ("AASB" - Assessment of Adaptive School Behaviour, proposed by Maria Carcea, E.A. Lorincz, 1998). It consisted of 15 characteristics of school adaptation difficulties. From the aspect of the presentation form, each characteristic appears with its opposite, with a seven-step scale, for a finer differentiation. The results were then checked together with the class supervisors. The sociometric test required students (only those in the experimental group) to express their affinities with the other members of the class. The data obtained, materialized in the form of sociometric matrices and sociograms, provides information on the position of each

Procedure The formative stage of the intervention was conducted during the second semester of the school year 2016-2017, consisting in 14 activities led during the counselling lessons. The objectives pursued in the formative stage of the intervention: self-knowledge, mutual knowledge and cooperation were pursued during the counselling lessons, with the 76


whole classroom. In adopting this form of organisation, the source of the greatest benefit lies in the fact that in a group, pupils can reinterpret and discuss real situations in an atmosphere of relative emotional neutrality. The curative effect of the group is achieved by processes such as: developing altruism; the universality feeling (“I am not alone with my problem”); social learning; developing social skills and cooperation skills; We took into account the fact that it is very important that a pleasant atmosphere is achieved in the course of activities, with positive satisfaction and positive experiences, but equally important is the imposing some rules. Several rules – according to the Health Education Manual, edited by the Soros Foundation, Cluj, 1995 - which we also used during our work to help students to exercise their rights and manage their responsibilities are: 1. "Pay attention to what the other person says." This is achievable through permanent visual contact with the speaker and keeping quiet. 2. "Speak in turn". 3. "Stay tuned". Sometimes students may move away from the main point of the discussion. Instead of criticising it, the one who leads the discussion might say, "I'm not sure if what you say is related to the subject we are discussing. Can you help me?" 4. "Everyone's ideas are equally important." Students should be encouraged to share their ideas. Each student has his or her own role and should feel confident when expressing their own ideas. 5. "The right not to participate". Everyone has the right not to participate in those situations that could become painful for them. 6. "Do not encourage the silence of your classmates". Personal expression occurs when students think it is okay to disagree with someone, but it is not right to judge others because of their ideas. 7. "All questions have their role". Each question will be observed and answered. Achieving the proposed objectives was possible with the following methods:

a. Self-knowledge methods were first introduced in our intervention because we considered that weak self-examination, inability, fleeing and, more seriously, the lack of a desire to find out who we really are, are a major personal and social disadvantage, as we get to others through ourselves. Not knowing amplifies uncertainty, emotional instability and generates school difficulties. Among the methods of self-knowledge, we have selected the worksheets because they allow pupils to express their feelings and beliefs without the fear of being censored by others. Another reason is that written exercises help with the ordering of the information. Worksheets were similar to games, but, from their interpretation, pupils could learn a lot: know their qualities / flaws, preferences, feelings; to complete and correct the self-image with the help of classmates; to design the future. b. the Encounter methods Another category of activities is based on methods of group psychotherapy, including the Encounter method. There is often a sign of equality between Encounter groups and sensitivity training groups ("T" groups). In fact, the first were born from the "T" groups, which originated in conferences on the dynamics of small groups held in Bethel, Maine in 1947 (National Training Laboratory). Initially, "T" groups were used to help managers to become more sensitive or more aware of the employees' needs. Then the method was generalized to different categories of people. Starting from here, the Encounter groups were set up in response to the need to increase the human potential, to develop personality. Encounter methods appeared around 1960 in the humanist psychology of California, and their name comes from Karl Rogers (the same one who led the first sensitivity education groups). The Encounter methods are especially designed for self-knowledge and, in this process, the group - due to its psychosocial qualities - becomes a therapeutic agent, contributing to the development of constructive adaptive behaviours. Among the stated aims of the 77


method: analysing personal behaviours and values, achieving success in interpersonal relationships, developing conflict resolution skills. The activity takes place both verbally and non-verbally, more in the form of a game, as the game implies a certain empathy and may suggest solidarity. We gave value to these games with the pupils by interpreting their psychological meanings and by linking them to everyday life. For the sake of illustration, we will present a few Encounter exercises, stating the materials necessary for their performance, the purposes and means of achieving them, the interpretation given to each one. - Who am I? Group members, placed in circles, are represented using only 5 words. When everyone spoke, the exercise is repeated, but in the opposite direction. Interpretation: (Pupils are required to express their opinion and feeling on the following issues.) What did you feel when you had to present yourself? Was there was anything you thought of, but did not have the courage to say it? Which was more difficult, the first or the second presentation? Was there something positive or negative about what you said about yourself? Was there something that surprised you? - Aggressiveness Game. Everyone has to go through a physical obstacle first (a chair) and then a person has to stay in the way. The subject will pass saying "go out of my way". The obstacle person may present greater or lesser resistance. The subject may also react more or less aggressively. Interpretation: First of all, it is about what every student felt during the test. How was it to be an "obstacle"? Who could not undertake the role of an obstacle? We analyse who and how they went through the obstacle. We ask everyone to answer on how they react to obstacles in every day’s life. - Ads. Required materials: sheets, pencils. Everyone has to formulate two ads using only 30 words: "I'm looking for a friend" and "I'm offering my friendship". It should be a suggestive self-advertisement. Interpretation: It analyses who and how many times it has been chosen and how many

answers have been offered for every student. The discussion must be continued with reference to everyday life, regarding the sociability of subjects. c. The Circle Time method The Circle Time method was used for the first time in Sweden in the early 1990s. It is based on Ballard's works (1982) and promoted as a way of improving self-esteem by Murray White (1992). Mosley (1996) modified Ballard's theories, associating Circle Time processes with disciplinary policy of schools. Today, the method is widespread in schools in the UK. In Scotland, many primary schools are currently using this method and have begun their introduction in the gymnasium. It can be used with young people of all ages, provided they are tailored to the specifics of their level of development. The use of the Circle Time method by teachers, educators (who are not psychotherapists) is explained by the theory of its initiator, Ballard, according to which: "Circle Time is not a therapy. It should not be seen as a treatment of any kind; we do not solve problems in a Circle Time session but develop skills. Circle Time is an educational model and belongs to the school curriculum along with other areas of content. It does not require psychotherapeutic qualities such as those needed for therapy or treatment of any kind. The teacher does not bring a problem like "something-is-wrong-and-needs-to-berepaired" in the group, so he is not interested in analysing or interpreting psychologically. " We give some examples of Circle Time assertions that we have discussed with pupils: - A quality I'm looking for is ... - Something that I like to do with my friends is ... - I trust people who ... - When I'm nervous ... - I laugh with my friends ... - In the past, I felt abandoned when ... - In the past I left somebody ... - The person I admire most from school is ... - The teachers are ... - One thing I would change to school is ... - One thing I would change to this group is ... -I still need adults for ... 78


- I'm different from other people through ... - I am similar to other people through ... - I want to become like ... - I'm a person… - If I could make changes in this world I would ... - I think it's good to be a boy / girl because ... The true objectives of the method are based on the belief of its initiators that young people are entitled to: - understand and express their own feelings; - understand and respond to the feelings of others; - solve their problems, - without fear of punishment or criticism.

RESULTS After interpreting the sociograms, in the posttest phase, we extracted the following conclusions: - classes became more homogeneous, most of the students being placed in the middle circle; -the selection of the leaders was better achieved, their number being smaller, but with more choices than in the pre-test stage; -the elections became reciprocal, where they were unilateral, and we could observe in sociograms well-formed groups of friends (who also made choices among the other pupils of the class, proof that they were not exclusive groups); - students with school adaptation problems, but also with problems of integration in the class group, were accepted by their classmates, establishing two-way relations. Some of them joined an informal group of friends (usually with sociometric status and school performance similar to theirs). Only 5 pupils (representing 7.81%) continue to be totally rejected by the class group they are part of (with no choices or many rejections). It’s a small number, relative to the total number of pupils.

d. Role Playing Role play is a form of applying psychodrama in education, a psychotherapeutic method created by J. Moreno in 1921 and put into circulation after 1934. Unlike psychodrama, where specialists work with the inner conflicts of personality, in the case of roleplays exercises are meant to solve conflicting situations. They consist of the "systematic and organised execution of facts and actions, under relatively identical conditions, with the aim of forming habits and ways of moral behaviour, of establishing and fixing the volitional and character traits involved in the individual's attitude and moral conduct" (I. Vianu, 1975, p.166). Our goal was to externalize mental experiences, personal thoughts during stage improvisation, and to analyse them with the group. By the actions involved in the game, several other goals were achieved: - learning different ways of thinking; living and acting according to a particular status; acquiring the ability to interpret certain roles; - developing empathy and understanding of the opinions, feelings and aspirations of others; - developing the ability to understand and evaluate the opinions of the partner of interaction (by which role-play is also proven and a good intercognition exercise). At the same time, the fact that students were spontaneous had a cathartic effect on them.

Table 3. Comparison experimental group Pre-test

of

the

results,

Post-test

N Experiment al group

Valid

94

Valid

94

Missing 0

Missing 0

Minimum

6.00

8.00

Maximum

48.00

31.00

Std. Deviation

9.10

5.57

Mean

27.30

19.65

Median

27.00

20.00

By comparing the results of the experimental group in the pre- and post-test phases, we obtained the following: (see table 3) 79


We compared the experiment group’s results in the pre- and post-test stage, by using the

Paired sample T-test. The results are presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Paired sample test Paired Differences

Pair pre-test 1 – posttest

Std. Mean Deviation 7.64894 6.69891

Std. Error Mean .69094

The significance threshold value of less than 0.01 ensures that the probability that the results are due to factors outside the experimental intervention is less than 1%. Thus the null hypothesis is invalidated. The statistical results obtained in the post-test stage of our experiment allowed us to make the following observations: • Among the potential or manifest factors of school adaptation (factors of self-perceptive nature, pedagogical factors, the influence of the family environment, the influence of extra-school environment) we can differentiate the interpersonal relationships of pupils within the classroom as a basic indicator of the adaptation to school. This is shown by the correlation of adaptability difficulties - negative sociometric status (attitude of indifference or rejection by classmates), but also by the fact that in the hierarchy of dis-adaptive conduct attitudes of under-appreciation, aggression or inappropriate sociometric status dominate. As a result of the formative actions, attitudes and behaviours such as "unsatisfied by his own person", "avoided by classmates", "antisocial" are no longer part of the "top" of dis-adaptive manifestations. • the attitude towards the pedagogical factors also changed, as we influenced the interpersonal relations in the classroom, by relying on the stimulating role of the school group to which the student belongs. • as a result of self-knowledge stimulation activities, the students in the experimental

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper 6.27687 9.02101

Sig. (2t df tailed) 11.070 93 .000

group have a better self-image than those in the control group and, implicitly, positive self-esteem. Following the application of the ERSD, it results that in the experimental classes the score obtained is better at 64.2% of the students (in the post-test stage, compared to the pre-test) while at 34.5% of students in the control classes, it is weaker. • starting from this observation, we insisted on the issue of interpersonal knowledge (giving students various opportunities to express their opinions regarding their classmates: qualities, flaws, common passions) and cooperation, so that, at the end of the experiment, 93.6% of the students of the experimental classes knew their classmates' opinion of them. By comparison, at the level of the control group, only 54.1% of the students received feedback on the attitude of the class towards them; the rest of 45.9% have no clue about their acceptance by classmates, a source of affective insecurity and rejection of the class-group as a belonging-group (even orientation to informal groups, in 28.4% of the cases). • the sociometric status of the pupils undergoing the experiment changed considerably, some of the obtained positive outcomes being: increasing the degree of homogeneity of the classes (most of the pupils being included in well-defined groups of friends, while the number of rejected students decreased); selection of the most relevant leaders (their number being smaller but with more choices than in the pre-test 80


stage). Students with adaptation and integration problems in the classroom were accepted by classmates, setting up two-way relationships. • the optimization of the sociometric status also led to a decrease of the level of the risk of school disadaptation. In the experimental classes the number of pupils with adaptation difficulties decreased by 18%, while at the control classes the same number increased by 16.7%, evidence that the system of methods used influenced the adaptation to school of the students from the experimental group.

on developing students’ social skills and strengthening classroom inclusion; b. At school level: - creating well-defined programs for the identification of pupils with school disadaptation risks and a set of support measures (even economic support, as scholarships) for these pupils; - collaborating with the student’s families to solve the student’s school-related problems; Studies show that family support is a factor that matters in student education. The data indicates that students who have family support, discuss with parents about school, and if needed, can call for family support for school related problems, are less likely to experience ESL. This support is closely correlated with parental education, socioeconomic level of the family; - identifying partners in the community (NGOs, associations, firms), to support students in difficulty; -Using school resources to support extracurricular activities. These activities could raise a greater interest of students in educational activities and help them form their personality, fuelled by the confidence they give, self-control and knowledge of others. c. At teachers’ and counsellors’ level - increasing teachers’ accountability level in identifying students at risk of school dropout, their monitoring and permanent counselling; - during school hours, creating opportunities for teamwork among children, so that even students with weak school performances can experience success, - maintaining the motivation of the pupil to a high level by: using active methods, awakening students’ curiosity for the study; use of a fair system of rewards/negative consequences, in which the mark is a means of objectively measuring performance not an instrument punishing students; - practicing effective communication with students, based on assertive messages, avoiding labels and verbal violence or humiliation; - organising of extracurricular activities, to enforce students’ cooperation and social integration;

CONCLUSIONS By synthetizing the research results, we may state that optimising the sociometric status of the pupils in the classroom, by techniques of self-knowing, mutual-knowing, and strengthening social relationships, induces positive effects on students’ school adaptation. In the educational social system, the students must relate to both the educators (teachers) and the class-group, every relational contact implying influences that are leading to a better adaptation to school environment. These inter-relations influence the student’s intellectual development, his attitudes towards the school’s educative objectives, and also his behaviour and social evolution (Milcu, 2010, 2015). During this study we have gained some experience in working with students at risk of school disadaptation, which allow us to make the following suggestions and recommendations: a. At general, education policies level - introducing in ESL prevention programs and projects some measures related to identifying and supporting the integration into the classroom of isolated, excluded or at risk of disadaptation children; -adopting general and permanent measures to eliminate educational inequalities - the victims of which are children from vulnerable groups (Roma children, families with poor economic status, with low parental education, etc.). -creating teacher continuous education programs of classroom management, focused 81


- providing educational support to students with special education needs. Our study shows that the development of the students’ social skills, and the related building of positive relationships with/among pupils are paramount in the educational process, preventing school failure and early school leaving.

Milcu, M. (2010). The negotiation in educational organizations. An experimental approach, in Rusu Costache (ed.), Quality management in higher education, UT Press, Cluj Napoca, I, 611-614. Milcu, M. (2010). Managementul proceselor de comunicare vs. managementul relaţiilor interpersonale. Comunicare şi interacţiune, in Milcu, M. Cercetarea psihologică modernă. Direcţii şi perspective. Individ, grup, organizaţie: studii aplicative, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 207-210. Milcu, M. (2015). Particularities of intergroup relationships in modern organizations implications for leadership styles, in Milcu, M., de Matos, M. G. & Vasilescu, I.P. Advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Towards a better Practice, Editura Universitară București, 317-326. Neamţu, Cristina (2003). Devianta scolara, Editura Polirom, Iasi. Neculau, A. (1996). Psihologie socială. Aspecte contemporane, Ed, Polirom, Iaşi. Neculau, A. (1997). Liderii în dinamica grupurilor, EŞE, Bucureşti. The European Comission (2013): Reducing early school leaving: Key messages and policy support, at http://ec.europa.eu/ dgs/education_culture/repository/education/p olicy/strategic-framework/doc/esl-groupreport_en.pdf. The INS report on School Population in Romania, at https://www.slideshare.net/ inscomunicare. Unicef report Children that don’t go to school, at http://www.unicef.ro/wpcontent/uploads/copiii-care-nu-merg-lascoala-pt-web.pdf.pdf.

REFERENCES Albu, Emilia (2002). Manifestari tipice ale devierilor de comportament la elevii preadolescenti. Prevenire si terapie, Editura Aramis Print, Bucuresti. Albert-Lorincz, Eniko & Carcea, Maria (1998). Prevenirea dezadaptarii scolare. Contributii metodologice la profilaxia si terapia adolescentilor cu probleme de adaptare, Editura Cermi, Iași. Broderick, P.C. şi Korteland, C. (2002). Coping style and depression in early adolescence: relationships to gender, gender role, and implicit beliefs. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 201. Chapman, P.L. & Mullis, R.L. (1999). Adolescent coping strategies and self-esteem. Child Study Journal. (1), 29, 69. Coaşan, A. (1988). Adaptarea şcolară, EŞE, Bucureşti. Duck, Steve (1995). Friends for Life – the psychology of interpersonal relationships, Sage Publications Inc. Fisher B., Aubrey (1994). Interpersonal Comunication – Pragmatics of Human Relationship, Mc Graw-Hill Inc. Ivan, Claudiu & Rostaş, Iulius (2013). Părăsirea timpurie a şcolii – cauze şi efecte. Raport de cercetare. Roma Education Fund Romania.

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Chapter VI. Effectiveness of Coping in Childhood and Adolescence Anamaria Cătană “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Centre of Psychological Research [email protected] Abstract: This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of coping depending on the perceived degree of the controllability of stressors, by showing the correspondence between the theoretical rules that govern the coping behaviour and the empirical results obtained in the studies that have tackled coping in children and adolescents. The objectives of the study are: a) to clarify the concept of the effectiveness of coping in adolescents with reference to the nature and characteristics of stressors than may act in childhood and adolescence; b) to present a number of empirical models used in the study of the effectiveness of coping in children and adolescents, when both direct and mediated influences of coping strategies upon psychological functions of children and adolescents can be identified. Methodologically, the study contributes to the emphasis of the different ways of evaluating the effectiveness of coping in children and adolescents. Key-words: coping strategies, the effectiveness of coping, coping avoidance, confrontational coping, stress. the availability of coping resources held by a person in a certain stage of his/her development. (Aldwin and Yancura, 2004). Therefore, the evaluation of the functionality or dysfunctionality of coping strategies is done by taking into account the type of threat, the person who uses the strategy, when and in what environmental and psychological circumstances. According to Perrez and Reicherts (1992) cit. in Frydenberg (1997), in order to determine the effectiveness and adequacy of concrete efforts of coping, information about the way in which the individual senses the stressor and its consequences is needed; extra information is needed with regard to the intention of the coping actions, maladaptive coping possibly being the result of a perceptual or representational deficit and/or a deficiency of coping resources. Claiming that there is a correlation between the objective features of

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COPING AS MATCHING COPING STRATEGIES WITH STRESS FACTORS CHARACTERISTICS As a result of cancelling the identification of coping with the results it produces (especially with the positive results in the field of psychosocial adaptation), we ought to evaluate the extent to which coping is functional/dysfunctional, roductive / unproductive, effective / ineffective, adaptive / non-adaptive, depending on the effects it produces on a long and short term upon the physical and psychosocial development and functioning of individuals. However, we cannot talk about a formula that defines the universal effectiveness of coping, since it depends on the characteristics of the stressful situation, the cognitive evaluation of this situation, the perceived level of skills when using some coping strategies as well as 83


the situation, its subjective evaluation and the available resources for adequate efforts coping to be performed, the above-mentioned authors come up with six rules that govern the coping behaviour: Rule 1: If a high control and a low probability of change of the situation that has a high importance for the achievement of the individuals’ goals through the intervention of other factors is perceived, active coping may be anticipated. Rule 2: If the probability of change of the situation without one’s own intervention is higher than the perceived control, passivity is the most probable reaction. Rule 3: If the controllability and the possibility of changing the situation by other factors are perceived to be low, but the importance of the situation in achieving the goals of individuals is high, escape and avoidance may be anticipated. Rule 4: If the ambiguity of the stressor is perceived as high, an active search for information takes place, which leads to the increase of the perception of controllability of the situation. Rule 5: If the ambiguity of the stressor is perceived as low, and the possibility to control it is perceived as low, the suppression of the information is the most likely reaction. Rule 6: If a low short-term control over the situation which does not have high importance for the personal goal is perceived, the re-evaluation of the situation may be anticipated as a possible reaction. These rules state that, in general, attempts of direct negotiation occur with regard to problems, when there is a belief that the situation does not change without the goaloriented action. On the other hand, the belief that the situation cannot be controlled leads individuals to choosing to avoid it, which means that when you lack confidence in the feasibility of the goals, it is unlikely that people strive to cope in order to negotiate with stressors. Certainly, from a theoretical standpoint, this adequacy of coping with the characteristics of the stressors should facilitate a proper functioning of a person from physical, psychological and social points of view, at

least for a short period of time. The studies on children and adolescents (Carpenter, 1992; Chapman and Mullis, 1999; Griffith, Dubow and Ippolito, 2000; Piko, 2001; Broderick and Korteland, 2002; Crean, 2004) showed that the changes prompted by the development and the prescriptions of the gender role greatly influence the selection of coping strategies when dealing with different types of stressors, perceived as having various levels of controllability and ambiguity. On the other hand, other studies (Lengua and Stormshak, 2000; Vaughn and Roesch, 2003; Seiffge-Krenke, Klessinger, 2000) showed that, generally, active coping strategies that focus on tackling the problem, as well as the strategies based on searching social support are responsible for the positive adaptation and functioning of children and adolescents, whereas avoiding coping strategies are highly associated with problems in the adaptation and functioning area, especially when they are used over a long period of time in dealing with various stress factors. EMPIRICAL MODELS USED TO STUDY COPING EFFECTIVENESS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS It may be noted, therefore, that a situational characteristic closely linked with coping effectiveness is the controllability of the situation. Thus, an empirical finding (Compas, Malcarne and Banez, 1992 cit. in Seiffge-Krenke, 1998) was that the perception of a reduced level of control (especially in the case of interpersonal stressors), followed by the use of emotionally focused coping and the perception of a high control over the situation (especially in the case of academic stressors), followed by the use of problem – solving coping, causes a decrease in the reported level of distress in children and adolescents. This study also shows that, when there is no such correlation between the perception of controllability of stressors and these types of coping, the level of distress reported by children and adolescents is higher. Similar results were obtained in the study by Griffith, Dubow and Ippolito (2000), who showed that academic stressors (considered 84


by adolescents as being more controllable as compared with family stressors and the stressors generated by peers, probably because school problems are perceived as being more clearly defined with more predictable and less expensive from a psychological point of view when compared with interpersonal conflicts) require more strategies to confront the problem than the avoiding strategies. Instead, family stressors (considered by teenagers as less controllable than other investigated stressors and less responsive to the active efforts of coping, possibly due to inherent differences of power between parents and children) require to a great extent avoiding strategies than strategies aiming to solve the problem, while stressors connected with people of the same age (considered by teenagers as less controllable than school stressors but more controllable than family stressors) equally demand both confrontational coping strategies and avoiding strategies, because the relations with peers are perceived as being based to a greater extent on equality than the relations with parents, allowing the tackling of problems in this area through active coping. The aforementioned results demonstrate the existence of a correspondence between the way of perceiving the requirements generated by stressors and the coping strategies used to negotiate with them with regard to the three categories of stressors (academic, family, peer-oriented), confrontational coping being associated with a higher level of emotional adjustment than avoidance coping. The different impact of coping strategies on the adaptation of children and adolescents was highlighted by Bridges (2003), who showed that the number of coping strategies focused on the issue, strategies reported in dealing with interpersonal stressors, related negatively to self-reporting and reporting by mothers, for the problems identified in children and adolescents at the level of behaviour, meaning that using a greater number of problem-oriented strategies enables better psychosocial functioning of individuals. Similarly, given the results of certain studies, Crean (2004) showed that the

use of more cognitive and behavioural active coping strategies was negatively associated with alcohol and drugs, while the more frequent use of avoidance coping strategies (such as distraction, aggression) was positively associated with the usage of illegal substances by adolescents. The negative impact of avoidance coping upon the psychological functioning in early adolescence (11-15 years old) is shown by Caples and Barrera (2006), who empirically identified the mediating role of this type of coping between the degrading behaviour of the mother (characterized by verbal abuse, mockery, hostility, sarcasm, humiliation and unjustified criticism) and the internalized symptoms reported by adolescents (depression and anxiety). The authors of the study thus stress that the avoidance coping strategies are a mechanism through which the degrading behaviour of the mother, as a result of certain basic needs unmet (such as the need to be respected, understood and accepted), may increase the risk of depression and anxiety in adolescents due to repressed thoughts, experienced frustration, suffering and hopelessness that seek to avoid the loss of maternal love. Closely related to the proper use of various coping strategies in relation to the situational context (the type, the way of evaluating stressors and the extent to which a particular situation allows or not the achievement of individuals’ goals), the literature emphasises the existence of a connection between coping flexibility and effectiveness. In this respect, taking the results of some studies that tackle the impact of parents’ divorce upon the functioning of children and adolescents, Bridges (2003) revealed that the flexibility in the use of coping strategies is necessary for the positive functioning of individuals, children and adolescents who persist in using coping by searching social support from parents, given that this support is not available (because the parents themselves may face problems as a result of the divorce, not being able to give the necessary support to their children), presenting increased risk of negative results, at least for a short period of time, as compared with children and 85


adolescents who use alternative forms of coping. More recent studies have proposed to measure directly the efficiency of coping (not by indirect measuring of the effects generated in the adjustment, development and functioning of individuals), asking people to self-assess the results of their coping actions in different circumstances (thus answering their question: does it work for me?) and measure the perceived level of skills in the use of certain coping strategies. Thus, referring to the findings of some investigation, Bridges (2003) pointed out that the perception of the adaptive competence of coping (with a greater use of non-aggressive coping strategies) was a better predictor of the results in the field of adaptation than the active coping strategies, being associated with low levels of self-reported behavioural problems by children and adolescents. Similarly, taking the data from a longitudinal short-term study about the experience of children and adolescents regarding their parents’ divorce, the same author reveals the importance of the coping effectiveness evaluation, considered as the perception of children and adolescents regarding the possibility of efficient negotiation with both the problems and the negative emotions caused by these problems. This longitudinal study found that confrontational coping strategies are negatively associated with internalized problems (depression and anxiety), while avoidance coping is positively associated with the same kinds of problems. In all types of analyses, the effectiveness of coping wholly or partly mediates these relations. The study by Simons and al. (2002) also showed that the cumulative effects of the perception of coping strategies effectiveness (plus the perception of coping resources effectiveness) and of the perceived stress explain a greater share of the variance in overall satisfaction with life than each variable taken separately, which proves that efficient coping measures may decrease the effects of stress on subjective wellbeing. According to the models of resilience, the contextual and personal coping resources

(personality moods, family and social circumstances, the social system of support) along with the type and the evaluation of stressors, as well as the perceived flexibility and competence of coping exert an impact on the productivity and effectiveness of coping strategies used by children and adolescents in dealing with psychosocial stressors (issues highlighted in the studies by Lohman and Jarvis, 2000; Hamid, Yue and Leung, 2003; Bridges, 2003). However, Frydenberg (1997) draws attention to the coping differences identified between adults, on the one hand, and children and adolescents, on the other hand. As stated by the above-mentioned author, these differences are due both to the way in which children and young people perceive and experience the social contexts, and to the characteristics of cognitive, emotional and social development, factors that can cause changes in assessing the effectiveness of coping. Thus, the strategies that are appreciated as functional in childhood and adolescence may not be predictive for the adaptation to adult life. CONCLUSIONS AND NEW DIRECTIONS OF RESEARCH The studies presented in this article emphasise that the effectiveness of coping in childhood and adolescence is closely related to the characteristics and the cognitive evaluation of the stress factors, the perceived level of the flexible use skills of coping strategies, as well as the availability of coping resources. At the same time, it was underlined that the orientation towards different strategies of confrontational and avoidant coping is dependent on the prescriptions of the gender role and on the developmental particularities in childhood and adolescence (Milcu, 2010, 2015). Moreover, Crean (2004) points out that, in childhood and preadolescence, the learning process of coping strategies (and of other resources involved in adaptation) is ongoing, the reason why the cognitive and behavioural approach to problems is less integrated in this period, the individuals being rather in the experimental phase of some coping strategies than in the stage of carrying out some coping 86


actions appropriate to the characteristics of the situation, which are more efficient in the long term. In addition, the great majority of studies focussed on children’s and adolescents’ coping have analysed the efficacy of coping strategies used by children and adolescents in dealing with psychosocial stressors by reference to their effects in terms of their psychological and social functioning. All these observations may be considered as premises for the improvement of the theoretical study on the effectiveness of coping in children and adolescents, but also on the empirical extension of research to address this problem directly at these age stages. Additional information on perceiving the availability of coping strategies and personal competence in their use in dealing with various psychosocial stress factors may contribute both to the improvement of the understanding of the unfolding and development of coping in children and adolescents, and to the emphasis of the directions and mode of action in stressgenerating conditions for children and adolescents.

Personal Coping: Theory, Research, and Application, 31-45. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Chapman, P.L. & Mullis, R.L. (1999). Adolescent coping strategies and self-esteem. Child Study Journal. (1), 29, 69. Crean, H. F. (2004). Social support, conflict, major life stressors and adaptive coping strategies in latino middle school students: An integrative model. Journal of Adolescent Research. (6), 19, 657-676. Frydenberg, E. (1997). Adolescent Coping: Theoretical and Research Perpectives. London: Routledge. Griffith, M.A., Dubow, E.F. & Ippolito, M.F. (2000). Developmental and cross-situational differences in adolescents' coping strategies. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. (2), 29, 183. Hamid, P.N., Yue, X.D. & Leung, C.M. (2003). Adolescent coping in different chinese family environments. Adolescence. (149), 38, 111. Lengua, L.J., Stormshak, E.A. (2000). Gender, gender roles and personality: Gender differences in the prediction of coping and psychological symptoms. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 787. Milcu, M. (2010). About the diversity of university organizations. Learning about managing differences. A case study, in Rusu Costache (ed.), Quality management in higher education, UT Press, Cluj Napoca, I, 607-610. Milcu, M. (2015). Particularities of intergroup relationships in modern organizations implications for leadership styles, in Milcu, M., de Matos, M. G. & Vasilescu, I.P. Advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Towards a better Practice, Editura Universitară București, 317-326. Piko, B. (2001). Gender Differences and Similarities in Adolescents' Ways of Coping. The Psychological Record. (2), 51, 223. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1995). Stress, coping and relationships in adolescence, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Seiffge-Krenke, I., Klessinger, N. (2000). Long–Term effects of avoidant coping on adolescents’ depressive symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. (6), 29, 617.

REFERENCES Aldwin, M.C. şi Yancura, L. (2004). Coping. In C. Spielberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 507-510. Elsevier Academic Press. Bridges, L.J. (2003). Coping as an element of developing well-being. In M.H. Bornstein, L. Davidson, C.L.M. Keyes & K.A. Moore (Eds.), Well-Being: Positive Development across the Life Course, 155-166. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Broderick, P.C. şi Korteland, C. (2002). Coping style and depression in early adolescence: relationships to gender, gender role, and implicit beliefs. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 201. Caples, H.M. & Barrera Jr., M. (2006). Conflict, support and coping as mediators of the relation between degrading parenting and adolescent adjustment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. (4), 35, 603. Carpenter, B.C. (1992). Issues and advances in coping research. In B. C. Carpenter (Eds.), 87


Simons, C., Aysan, F., Thompson, D., Hamarat, E. şi Stele, D. (2002). Coping resource availability and level of perceived stress as predictors of life satisfaction in a cohort of turkish college. College Student Journal. (1), 36, 129.

Vaughn, A.A. & Roesch, S.C. (2003). Psychological and physical health correlates of coping in minority adolescents. Journal of Health Psychology. (6), 8, 671-683.

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Chapter VII. Direction on psychological intervention for optimizing the adolescents’ performances in exam situations Irina Ermolaev County Centre of Resources and Educational Assistance Constanta, Romania [email protected] Abstract: Through our investigative approach, we can offer a vibrant image upon the main indicators of high-quality education, which ensures the students’ good results in exams, the concern for their success being the main focus in the actual context. Each student can obtain school success, achieving their own standards, if they are aware of the elements that predict their progress. With regard to this, we have identified the essential factors that may lead to school success: cognitive, motivational, affective, and will factors, personality factors, as well as the role of teachers and parents. Knowing these aspects, we can draft an individualized curriculum, thereby creating the major premises for obtaining school success. School progress, as seen in the final exams results, associates with the school efficiency of competences, being conditioned by the students’ motivation, perseverance, emotional stability, attitude towards schools’ activities, thinking style, self-esteem. These internal factors of school success are constantly shaping under the influences of the external factors. Our aim is to transpose the conclusions obtained during our research into an innovative instrument for the use of the psychologists in the field of education, with great use for practitioners in the domain of education – school counsellors, teachers – and to highlight the benefits obtained from this study, which will lead to identify some concrete intervention methods, to facilitate exams success. Key-words: motivation, learning, strategy, counselling, adolescence, school performance. activities that consume much of his time and other resources to the detriment of learning. The investigation of the contexts in which teenagers develop and learn provides relevant information that can be used by the people involved (psychologists, teachers, parents) to make the right decisions to facilitate the students' preparation for success. The extent to which these issues are more or less important is given by the large, professional research that has focused on them, especially in the education systems of developed countries. At the same time, the target of this investigation is indicated by

INTRODUCTION One of the greatest challenges faced by students in their academic development is learning how to learn to be successful. In this study, we set to analyse the psychological factors of school success at the age of adolescence. This is a sensitive period in every person's life, marked by complex transformations both at a biological level, and at a personality level. It is also an age of ever increasing temptations. A teenager who does not value education can easily get into less productive, and sometimes even harmful,

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 the students' style of thinking regarding school performance in relation to the "gender" variable;  ways to benefit from the learning strategies by adolescents from urban and rural areas.

each member of our teenage classes who need support to reach their own learning potential. DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The purpose of the research Our purpose was to analyse the psychological factors involved in obtaining good results in the exams, in order to enable school success for teenagers. In this way, we can maximize the positive impact and diminish the negative aspects of the identified factors, during the teaching process, by proposing a set of functional methodological suggestions.

Hypotheses In order to achieve the objectives, we plan to investigate the following assumptions: SH1. It is presumed that there is a direct correlation between the adolescents’ motivation of learning and school success. SH2. We assume that there is a direct correlation between the use of specific learning strategies considered to be students’ strengths and the intrinsic motivation. SH3. We assume that autonomy correlates positively with certain learning strategies used by adolescents. SH4. It is assumed that there is a direct correlation between the use of learning strategies considered to be students’ strengths and the school success. SH5. We assume that there are differences in the ways that adolescent girls benefit from the learning strategies, compared to the adolescent boys.

Research objectives O1. Identifying the particularity of personality factors (personal autonomy, social desirability, extraversion, kindness, conscientiousness, emotional stability) that correlates with the learning strategies used by adolescents; O2. Identifying the personality factors that have the greatest ability to predict school success of adolescents; O3. Investigating the relationship between: a. learning strategies used in school environment and particular personality factors of adolescents (personal autonomy, social desirability, extraversion, kindness, conscientiousness, emotional stability); b. learning strategies used and school performance; c. learning strategies used and the forms of motivation main involved in this activity; d. personality factors typical of adolescents and school performance; e. self-esteem and school success; f. anxiety and exam success; g. students’ fear of negative evaluation and the obtained results; h. style of thinking and exam success. O4. Make the comparison between:  adolescent personality factors that are predictors of school success in relation to the “gender” variable;  the school motivation of adolescents, in relation to the "gender" variable;  students’ fear of negative evaluation in relation to the "gender" variable;

Sample In order to analyse the psychological factors of adolescent performance in exams, as predictors of school performance, in the research sample, for the preliminary study we selected 126 high school students, from the 10th grade, with ages between 16 and 17 years old. Of these, 47 are male (37%) and 79 are female (63%). Boys 37%

Girls 63%

Figure 1. The diagram structure chart for the "gender" variable 90


79 80 70 60 50

47

Figure 2. The diagram structure chart for the "age" variable Subjects were selected randomly, being students in various specializations within the educational institution in which we operate: mathematics - computer science (intensive computer science: 31 students - 24.6%), mathematics - computer science (31 pupils 24.6%), natural sciences (English bilingual 31 students - 24.6%), natural sciences (French / German bilingual - 33 students - 26.2%). Research methods The methods used in the preliminary study were: psychological test, questionnaire, interview. In order to analyse and interpret the data we used the following statistical indices: average, standard deviation, percentage calculation, Z criterion, Split-Half method, Bravais-Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman correlation coefficient, Alpha Cronbach correlation coefficient, enneachoric correlation coefficient, correlation coefficient r bis, factorial analysis. Tools For this study, we used School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory, Questionnaire for evaluation of personal autonomy, The personality questionnaire with 5 Factors, School motivation questionnaires, Fear of negative evaluation scale. a. School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory – SMALSI (Stroud, Reynolds, 2006; Janzen, Cormier, Hetherington, Mrazik, Mousavi, 2015) b. Questionnaire for evaluation of personal autonomy (The AP Questionnaire) is intended to evaluate four dimensions of personal autonomy: cognitive autonomy, behavioural autonomy, emotional autonomy and value autonomy c. The personality questionnaire with 5 Factors (The CP5F Questionnaire) is intended to evaluate the five super-factors of

the Big Five (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, Kindness and Autonomy) [Albu, 2007]. d. School motivation questionnaires elaborated by the CMBRAE for assessing the pupils' motivation, from their perspective, of parents and teachers. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE Each subject received all the research tools that were collectively administered. Completing the questionnaires was done during psychology classes. As a psychology teacher, I extracted from the official school documents (the class books of the four 10th grade classes at which the study was conducted) the elements meant to synthesize the pupils 'school achievement (9th-grade pupils' annual averages). As a result of the protocols analysis, we excluded those that did not answer all of the questions or those who were not present at all the specific stages of the study. RESULTS First hypothesis: „It is presumed that there is a direct correlation between the adolescents’ motivation of learning and school success.”

Figure 3. The scatter diagram of the correlation between school success and intrinsic motivation / the desire to know for girls 91


In the scatter chart, the spread of points is relatively narrow, indicating a great correlation for girls between school success and intrinsic motivation / desire to know. The form of scattering is in a straight line, indicating a straight-line relationship, not a curvilinear relationship. The line is from the top right corner to the bottom left corner, indicating a positive correlation. If this correlation was curved, then the Pearson correlation could have been misleading, which is not our case. In the scatter chart, the spread of points is relatively narrow, indicating a high correlation for boys between school success and intrinsic motivation-curiosity / willingness to know. The form of scattering is in a straight line, indicating a straight-line relationship, not a curved relationship. The line is from the top right corner to the bottom left corner, indicating a positive correlation.

the reasons, but also in the sense of motivating them extrinsically, through the didactic style we adopt, through the example offered to the pupils, through the development of organizational culture elements that gives them the desire to contribute to the prestige of the institution they belong, through notable school results. The results of the study testify the validity of the second hypothesis, existing a direct correlation between the use of specific learning strategies considered to be students’ strengths and the intrinsic motivation. Given the strong correlation between learning strategies that represent students' strengths and intrinsic motivation, we plan to develop a program to stimulate the optimization of these strategies and implicitly to facilitate the development of students' motivation for learning. The results confirm the third hypothesis of the study, according to which autonomy correlates positively with certain learning strategies used by adolescents, and the strategy that correlates with autonomy writing / research skills - is present in adolescent students, regardless of the genre they belong to. Given the correlation of girls' autonomy with personality factors such as emotional extraversion and stability, respectively with value autonomy and with the learning strategy of writing / research skills, as well as statistically significant correlations, found in boys, between autonomy and value autonomy, behavioural autonomy, cognitive autonomy, emotional autonomy, extraversion, emotional stability, writing / research skills and a negative correlation, with anxiety about the tests, we intend to continue the implementation of the program of developing pupils' life skills, during the psychology classes, in order to cultivate their autonomy and, implicitly, of the aspects to which they correlate. The results obtained generated the partial validation of the fourth hypothesis, in the sense of direct correlation between the use of learning strategies as the student's strengths and school success, only in the

Figure 4. The scatter diagram of the correlation between school success and intrinsic motivation / the desire to know for boys The first hypothesis in the study, which presumes that there is a direct correlation between the motivation for adolescent learning and school success, has been validated, acknowledging the fact that among a series of specific parameters of school motivation learning outcomes expressed in annual school reports that show school success, there are significant correlations. The obtained results encourage us to develop strategies aimed at facilitating students' motivation, not only in terms of internalizing 92


case of girls. Thus, it is necessary to complete the research design with new methods and tools that provide a clearer picture of the factors to which the boys' school achievement correlate, or to suggest a research with a distinctly theme, according to this research direction. The existence of strong correlations between girls 'school achievement and all the learning strategies used, that represent the learners’ strengths (study strategies, reading / listening skills, reading / comprehension strategies, writing / research skills, exam strategies, being organized techniques and time management) as well as negative correlations between girls' school achievement and students' weaknesses, directs us on approaches that can facilitate the optimization of students' learning strategies. Regarding the fifth hypothesis, which assumes that there are differences between the way teenage girls use learning strategies compared to teenage boys, processing the results showed that there are significant differences between the scores obtained by the group of girls only, and the batch of boys only. Thus, the specific hypothesis is proven as valid.

Development of adolescent life skills as a direction of psychological intervention to optimize their performance in examination situations Life Skills - Curriculum Development Directions The concept of life skills is self-defining as "a set of behaviours necessary for the person to live a life of acceptable quality, to develop and maintain optimal relationships with others in order to achieve the goals proposed in a given lifetime and in order to deal with the different difficulties”. Through the development of life skills, we aim to prepare pupils for easier integration into adult life, the society they live in, group culture, by way of family, school, as well as media etc. Through this approach, we recognize the place of pupils in the social structure and want to emphasize the unique contribution they make to their personal and social development process. As educators, counselling specialists, parents or community members, we need to prepare children and young people to become individuals with a social identity that successfully meet the new challenges and transformations of the society they live in, whether it's the environment, family, school, social, economic, cultural or political etc. The analysis of the results obtained from the implementation of the pupil's skills development program in the classroom generates the following conclusion: the level of satisfaction of the pupils with the life skills development program introduced at the Psychology classes is high or very high regardless of whether we refer to the content of the discipline, to the class atmosphere or to the teacher, as a facilitator of the development of life skills. With a mean of m>4, on a scale of 1 to 5, regardless of the class of pupils we refer to, we are encouraged to continue our approach to psychology discipline from the perspective of developing students' life skills. Identifying the role of developing pupils' life skills and providing them with appropriate contexts to practice in this respect, knowing the models of good practice in the development of life skills, establishing the

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS As a facilitator of learning, we believe that we have the responsibility to apply the results of the study in order for our students to achieve school performance. Thus, in the experimental phase, we propose the implementation of an intervention program designed to improve the passing of the exams. Through these efforts, we aim to overcome the observational stage and to reach the level of the formative-ameliorative intervention in order to find feasible solutions for a quality educational practice, able to ensure the admission of as many adolescents as possible. DIRECTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF ADOLESCENTS' PERFORMANCE IN EXAMINATION SITUATIONS 93


importance of knowing the needs for the development of life skills in pupils, familiarizing ourselves with the model of life skills development cycle, we can facilitate new school performance by the students we guide.

observer of their efforts to solve them successfully. For example, for the second activity aimed at approaching Sensory Psychological Processes, pupils receive a synthetic file and the task of identifying common aspects, i.e. those that differentiate Sensations - Perceptions - Representations, to clarify all aspects very easily, then they are then invited to identify the essential roles of these processes in real life. In order to facilitate understanding of the laws, visual aid is used and through the boards, we can easily demonstrate the content of each law, before giving it a statement. To address Thinking, from the perspective of life skills, students are invited to hierarchize, from the point of view of gravity, a series of events that we face or can face in real life and to argue about the way they have hierarchized them, mentioning the criteria to which they have been reported and establishing common points of view. Thus, they are oriented towards colleagues to identify the number of those who have developed similar or even identical hierarchies. Each student is prompted in order to identify which psychological cognitive-logical process has been predominantly involved and in order to define it. In order to address Memory, exercises are used to illustrate its features, reading a list of words and group them in categories, then memorizing them, afterwards matching the characteristics and the description of their meaning, retaining lists of words that have nothing to do with the other words, and the same words combined in a meaningful sentence. An example of this type of exercise is as follows: The class is divided into two groups, and then each pupil is assigned a list of words, each task being written on every worksheet. On some worksheets, students are asked to group the notions in classes (categories), while on others students are asked to memorize the words. After a minute, the students will turn over the sheet of paper (or put it in their notebooks), and they will reproduce the words in the list on another sheet of paper. Then they will compare the results.

Student-centred teaching as a psychological intervention to optimize adolescent performance in exam situations In order to maximize the time spent on psychology classes, we have developed a teaching-learning system based on the constant involvement of all students, facilitating the understanding of the contents by analysing them together with the pupils. Thus, the pupils receive support sheets developed by the teacher, holding each approached content, having tasks they solve individually during the time allocated to each exercise, and then present to the class the results of the individual activity. In defining concepts, students are encouraged to formulate their own responses, on post-its and present them, arguing about them. They discover together, guided by the teacher, the correct way of defining and explaining each concept. Support sheets facilitate the approach of the themes in an interactive way, and the time spent on notes on notebooks diminishes a lot, only a few essential aspects being written, notes which represent the synthesis of the relevant data. In this manner, each student has the chance to repeatedly engage in every hour of psychology, managing to clarify all the contents conveyed and to acquire them in a logical manner. Active-participatory methods are corroborated with modern learning tools, with pupils able to visualize key aspects in Power Point presentations, thus pinpointing their knowledge. Each student is trained in the teaching process and the time needed to implement the exercises specific to the development of life skills is gained. Students are placed in situations similar to the ones they face in everyday life, and the teacher has the role of a facilitator and an 94


To illustrate the differences between recognition and reproduction, students are asked to recognize the poem certain verses belong to. Assuming recognition was made quite easy, then students are asked to reproduce the following two verses of the same poem. Then compare the two forms of refresh and explain the differences. To address Imagination, students are reunited in work teams that respond to exercises aimed at developing imagination. They get the task of combining in a composition words and phrases that apparently have no connection with each other and then present them to the others. They also imagine a humorous dialogue between an athletic champion and the finish line, respectively between a tennis player and his rocket, before the competition, or between a chess player and the chessboard, before the game, elements that can be associated and included in a "dialogue" only because of the presence of imagination, for the transmission of motivational messages. At the same time, students are challenged to imagine how the present world would look like without mobile phones and to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the absence of such, respectively the advantages and disadvantages of the absence of cosmetics. Under the Language theme, students are involved in activity sequences designed to enable assertive communication, non-verbal communication through distance, or gestures, to play specific roles of "Occasional Teacher", to discuss a controversial subject, and construct arguments based on the position adopted "For", "Against" or "Undecided", thus illustrating the interrelation "Thinking Language". To address the Affectivity theme, worksheets that include images illustrating different emotional states are used, and students are invited to identify their own state. They are also invited to identify, under different photos, different states, such as: joy, fury, wonder, sorrow, fear, sadness. Students perform the greeting exercise, transmitting a certain state in a non-verbal way, and colleagues identify that state. At a higher level, the names of states are received on the

notes, to be transmitted nonverbally and verbally, to convey the opposite, in order to compare the credibility of the message. For Motivation, students are asked to analyse Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, to provide concrete examples of the manifestation of their own needs, specifying how they are hierarchized in their lives (which they consider a priority and through which activities they are met). To address the reasons, students are asked to state the reasons for action that most often cause them to engage in different school or personal projects. For interest, the requirement is to provide three examples of issues that are of interest to them. They are asked to state the beliefs that guide their own lives. They are invited to state the most powerful ideal that generates the setting of important goals to be achieved by them and what has generated the emergence of this ideal. They will describe their conception of world and life (1/2 page). For motivational optimum, students will express themselves regarding the level they consider motivation should be, so that they can successfully meet the demands of real life. This is the starting point for the clarification debate and will lead to the presentation of real examples. For the Attention theme, there will be exercises designed to illustrate and clarify the forms of attention and their role in everyday life, and students will be invited to provide arguments on Filtration Theory and The theory of Attenuation as if they were proposers of an explanatory theory attention. Under Will, students will mention situations where volunteer effort acts as a support and an initiation of actions, respectively as a brake, a diminution, a delay. They are also invited to illustrate the phases of voluntary acts, giving examples of situations in which they go fully through the qualities of their own will. Students will mention each quality of the will that is put to its worth in the examples provided. In order to demonstrate the promptness of the decision to the class, they will carry out the "Circle" exercise. Students hold their hands, forming a circle, pointing their back toward the inside of the circle. They are invited to find together two 95


solutions to the turning of the circle, having only six minutes to do so, in such a way that if they were initially facing the outside of the circle, in the end they would face each other, thus, the inside of the circle, without the detachment of their hands this whole time. The role of the game: Developing creativity and stimulating adolescents' collaboration, in identifying solutions quickly. In the approach of Temperament, an important role belongs to the identifying of one's own predominant temperamental type; pupils receive worksheets, on the basis of which they differentiate the characteristics of the introverted or extraverted type; they also receive the temperament identification guide, questionnaires and specific tests, as well as the sheet containing the description of the behavioural manifestations of each temperament. For Skills, students receive questionnaires that also facilitate getting a perspective on school and professional orientation, the sheets designed to clarify a "controversial" problem of skills - are they born or acquired? Each student is invited to reflect on a job he / she would choose and to write down what skills he / she considers to be involved by such, then discuss it in front of the class. In order to approach Character, students receive a documentary written record in which character traits are inserted, and then a work sheet specifying the task of presenting their own character traits, referring to the three explanatory patterns of character. They then perform the same exercise, referring to one of their colleagues. Exercises have the role of facilitating knowledge and getting to know one each other. For the Intelligence theme, it is proposed to present, analyse and exemplify the specific aspects of its explanatory theories, by involving the students who participate in the "I understand and help my colleagues to understand" exercise. Under the Creativity theme, students are encouraged to identify at least one way for a speech-impaired person to win a diction contest and to think about the possible consequences of the following events: what would happen if a drop of rain fell into a

timeless capsule? What would happen if we could hear everything people think? Students will analyse and present the indicators of individual creativity and inhibitory factors of creativity in school. Students will also match creativity levels with specific explanations. Thus, every aspect analysed in the discipline of psychology represents a point of reference in the development of students' life skills, being guided in the sense of correlating each of the contents addressed, with its role in real life. Permanent evaluation as a direction of psychological intervention to optimize adolescents’ performance in exam situations. The teacher proposes at the beginning of the school year the evaluation modalities that will be used to facilitate their clear knowledge by all pupils and the awareness of the fact that the outcome of the evaluation will not be a random one, but one assured by constant involvement during psychology classes. We support the extension of this evaluation approach to all other disciplines, as the pupils report in the feedback sheets used at the end of the school year that this is fair and the valuation gains value from the perspective of” objectivity”. Students appreciate the transparent way of scoring, which is known to them and which they consider "friendly". The teacher elaborates his own class book of each form where all the interventions of the students are recorded, the latter being familiar with the way the answers given are permanently monitored and encouraged to provide pertinent answers during each activity. Aware of the fact that notation is not subject to hazard, but includes all students' interventions at school, they do not show fear of a "bad grade", knowing that each grade involves more interventions throughout each semester. The evaluation also includes both individual work and teamwork, both oral and written component, providing enough contexts for students to practice all these ways, preparing them to successfully deal with all kinds of 96


evaluation situations and, implicitly, exam situations. Students are encouraged to be involved during every class and such contexts in which they feel valued are facilitated for them and at the end of every hour, every student's relevant interventions are recorded in written. Such steps require a good knowledge of the pupils by the teacher. This approach to evaluation allows teachers to avoid grading on a single answer, which could be given at a time that does not reveal the level of student-specific training in that discipline. A useful way is to address students using their first names. Practicing several evaluative ways aims to prepare students for exams, ensuring familiarity with different contexts of assessment, even without creating the impression of being evaluated, but that they are partners of the teacher in addressing a subject, in which it is important to prepare as well as the chance to express oneself. Sometimes even the class book can be used as a support for pupils' posters or post-its, so that they no longer consider it a tool to be associated with negative experiences. Sometimes, by the presence of the teacher's own class book and the absence of the official one from the activity, a friendly environment is ensured, in which the pupils feel secure and the teacher records the official data in the teachers' lounge after the actual activity unfolded with the pupils. Written assessment can also be approached in a friendly manner, not called Test or Exam, but Exercise or Workbook, and the result may be written as a finality of the use of several such assessments. By approaching students as participants in working teams, they will feel valued and will develop a sense of belonging to micro groups and class group, which will optimise group dynamics. The practice of the roles of the presenter of the teamwork results by each of the team members facilitates everybody's focus on team tasks and the development of the ability to speak in public, with a familiar, secure audience, in order to be able to argue their own ideas in front of evaluators met during future examinations.

Student participation in extracurricular activities proposed by the psychology teacher allows students to practice these roles in front of external evaluators, who may even be teachers from other countries. All these "different" evaluative ways, combined with the steps taken to provide psychological training for exams, can enable the adolescents’ success in contexts important to them, demonstrating that the teacher is interested in facilitating the optimization of these results from a one generation to another, but also from one stage to another, for every single student. REFERENCES Albu, M. (2000). Methods and Tools for Assessment in Psychology. Argonaut Publishing House, Cluj- Napoca. Albu, M. (2007). Five – Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI), Computerized Psychological Assessment Platform Cognitrom Assessment System. Allport, G.W., (2000). Personality Development and Structure, ALL Educational Publishing House Anderson, A., Hamilton, R. J., Hattie, J. (2004). Classroom climate and motivated behaviour in secondary schools, Learning environments research, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 211-225. Chelcea S. Golu, M., Golu, P., Mamali, C., Pânzaru, P., Tucicov-Bogdan, A. (1981). Dictionary of Social Psychology, Bucureşti, E.Ş.E Publishing House Constantin, T. (2004). Psychological Evaluation of Staff. Polirom Publishing House, Iaşi Cosmovici, A., Iacob, L. (2005). School Psychology, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House 8. David, D. (2007). Attitudes and Beliefs Scale–II (ABS–II), Computerized Psychological Assessment Platform Cognitrom Assessment System. Dragu, A., Cristea, S. (2002). School Psychology and Pedagogy, Constanţa, Ovidius University. Elliot, A. J., Thrash, T. M. (2002). Approach– Avoidance Motivation in Personality: Approach and Avoidance Temperaments and

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Patrick, H., Ryan, A. M., Kaplan, A. (2007). Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Classroom Social Environment, Motivational Beliefs, and Engagement, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 99, No. 1, pp. 83–98. Popescu-Neveanu, P. (1978). Dictionary of Psychology, Bucureşti, Albatros Publishing House. Roşca, AL. (1943). Reasons for Human Action, A Dynamic Psychology Study, ClujSibiu, Institute of Psychology of the University Publishing House. Şchiopu, U., Verza, E. (1997). Age Psychology. The cycles of life, Bucureşti, E.D.P. Publishing House. Turcu, F. (1999). Foundations of School Psychology, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House. Verza, E., Verza, F.E. (2000). Age Psychology, Bucureşti, Pro Humanitate Publishing House. Zapan, Gh. (1984). Personality objective assesment and knowledge, Bucureşti, E.Ş.E Publishing House. Zlate, M. (2008). Self and Personality, third edition, Bucureşti, Trei Publishing House.

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Chapter VIII. Improving quality in education. The teacher as educational leader. Roles and abilities Cristina Ispas “Eftimie Murgu” University of Resita, Romania, [email protected] Abstract: The teacher's purpose is to offer support to the construction and development of the human personality. Alongside other factors involved in education, the teacher greatly influences his students’ ability to achieve school success. As an educational leader, the teacher performs a number of roles and exercises, and engages a multitude of skills in the practice of his pedagogical roles. In this study, we focused on the teacher as a leader, a planner, an organiser, an evaluator, a motivator, an information supplier, a curriculum specialist, an education specialist, a learning facilitator, a school counsellor, a mentor, a school manager, a change promoter, a resource developer. Key-words: quality in education, educational leader, roles, teacher, education. teamwork, based on mutual help, on collaboration and cooperation, contributes to the success of the didactic act. The teacher is the one guiding the pupils’ learning, according to established pedagogical objectives, to the pupil’s interests and capacities, to the society demands and needs. The school, as the main supplier of learning, assumed the responsibility to form-develop the pupils’ potential at high ranges, thus maximizing their opportunities to growdevelop. “The teachers’ role is to organise learning in terms of viable terms and commitments, to sustain and order the pupils’ effort” (Cerghit, 2006). Most studies underline the educational leader as being the director of an educational establishment. The present study, starting from the teacher’s role and position in rapport to the classroom, considered the teacher as being the educational leader, who approaches the education process with dignity and responsibility, with initiative and openness towards change, with decision power inside the community and the society in which he

INTRODUCTION Contemporary society stands under the sign of profound changes in almost all the sectors of activity. In these conditions, a profound rethinking of the educational direction is necessary, together with the importance of didactic personnel in the promotion of quality education for the development of an autonomous and creative personality open to change, communication and collaboration. The teacher, seen as an education leader, activates different didactic strategies to encourage the pupils’ active participation to their own development. A continuous improvement of quality in education is found in the educational leaders’ preoccupations, in short- or long-term educational strategies. The manner in which educational personnel contributes to the development of quality in education depends on their understanding and assuming of pedagogical roles, of their special abilities needed for these roles. In any organisation, the most important resources are human resources. The main educational human resources are represented by teachers, pupils and parents. Their 99


activates (Pânișoară, 2009, p. 24). In this vision, the true educational leader is the teacher with a calling for this profession, capable of inspiring the classroom, of motivating, sustaining the affirmation of his pupils, to hold, transmit and apply in an efficient manner psycho-pedagogical and specialty knowledge and be a positive model for his pupils

Instruments The research was realized with the help of the sociologic enquiry method, based on a 16 items questionnaire. Procedure In the short presentation of the questionnaire offered to members of the didactic personnel, the vision of the teacher was presented, as an education leader for the pupils’ classroom, who case about his pupils’ needs and problems, is preoccupied with the development of a professional relation with his pupils, based on trust, support and reciprocal respect. The teacher’s role in the education process is manifested in all plans involved in the educational action, during classes and during extracurricular activities. Starting from specialty literature thoughts (Romiță Iucu, Sorin Cristea, Ion-Ovidiu Pânișoară, Ioan Cerghit, Constantin Cucoș, R.M. Harden & Joy Crosby), the items of the questionnaire explore the teachers’ roles, and the activities identified by the members of the didactic personnel interviewed as being specific to each role. By analysing the data obtained one can observe that more roles are identified, which suggests that there is no clear delimitation of these roles, but the border between them is unclear and sometimes these intertwined.

OBJECTIVES The purpose and objective of the research are: The identification of the didactic personnel’s perception of the teacher’s role, understood as educational leader, in the promotion of a quality education in contemporary society. The purpose of the research has been fulfilled through the following objectives:  The identification of pedagogic roles assumed by teachers in their activities with pupils;  The highlight of the main specific activities of pedagogic roles assumed by teachers;  The identification of the main abilities needed in the successful exercise of pedagogic roles. METHOD The development period of this research – the research was realized in the period October 2016 – March 2017.

RESULTS In the presentation and the interpretation of the results obtained the structuring of the information was chosen according to the items used in the questionnaire.

Participants The population investigated – the structure of the research sample – the present study contained a number of 126 didactic personnel representatives from the Caras-Severin district: 42 people (33.33% of the total sample) being teacher from the primary and preschool education level, 42 people (33.33% of the total sample) being teachers from the secondary superior education level (high school and vocational schools). From the demographic point of view, 63 people (1/2 of the total sample, respectively 50%) work in education establishments from the urban area, and 63 people (1/2 of the total sample, respectively 50%) work in the rural area.

Q1. What are the teacher’s roles fulfilled in the education process? Specialty literature in the domain identifies a series of roles for the teacher. In the same manner, Romiță Iucu (2006, p.54) describes eight roles for the teacher: 1) Planning: activities with an instructive and educational character, educational tasks and objectives, didactic contents, etc.; 2) Organisation: classroom activities, instructive-education work schedule, structures and forms of organisation; 3) Communication: scientific information, axes sets, communication 100


channels and common repertoires; 4) Management: didactic activity; 5) Coordination: in the generality of instructiveeducational activities inside the classroom; 6) Guidance: pupils on their road of knowledge; 7) Motivation: the pupils’ activity through positive and negative encouragements; 8) Counselling: pupils in school activities and in extra-school activities. Woolfolk (in Nicola, 1996) considers the teacher inside the instructive-educational process as playing different roles: 1. Expert in the teaching act (being able to take decisions in everything happening in the education process); 2. Leader (leading the group of pupils); 3. Motivational agent (triggers and maintains the pupils’ interest and desire to

learn); 4. Model (being a role model for his pupils); 5. Reflexive professional (reflecting on the classroom situations); 6. Friend and adult exponent etc. R.M. Harden and Joy Crosby (2000, p.334) have identified Twelve roles for the medical teacher. These roles can be grouped in six areas in the model presented: (1) the information provider in the lecture, and in the clinical context; (2) the role model on-thejob, and in more formal teaching settings; (3) the facilitator as a mentor and learning facilitator; (4) the student assessor and curriculum evaluator; (5) the curriculum and course planner; and (6) the resource material creator, and study guide producer.

Figure 1. The 12 roles of the teacher (Harden, Crosby, 2000, p.336)  curriculum specialist – 126 people (100%);  education specialist – 126 people (100%);  learning facilitator – 126 people (100%);  school counsellor – 126 people (100%);  mentor – 126 people (100%);  school manager – 126 people (100%);  change promoter – 126 people (100%);  resources developer – 126 people (100%);  Other, Which one? The following items (Q2-Q16) are part of the open questions category, thus the members of the didactic personnel interviewed identified the right choice answer for each question, which involved a sustained effort from the researchers to categorise the answers

In order to answer this item, teachers interviewed selected their answers from a list of choices, which was built on the basis of an analysis and a synthesis of the information gathered from literature in the domain. All members of the didactic personnel interviewed agreed unanimously that the teacher fulfils all professional roles mentioned in the list presented:  leader– 126 people (100%);  planner – 126 people (100%);  organiser – 126 people (100%);  evaluator – 126 people (100%);  motivator – 126 people (100%);  information supplier – 126 people (100%); 101


 The rhythmic evaluation of the pupils’ learning results – 97 people (68.25%); By analysing the answers received from the respondents, a high score in the category regarding the components of the education process has been observed (114 people – 90.48%), and regarding the evaluation of performance of pupils, the teachers and the school as an institution (97 people – 68.25%). These scores suggest the importance offered to the activities realized by teachers: planning, organising, development and evaluation of the instruction-education process and of the results obtained in the education process.

received, so that the teachers’ opinions were respected and their answers integrated into certain categories. Q2. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the leader role for the pupils’ development and education? The teacher, as a leader of the pupils’ development-education activity, is responsible for the quality of the entire didactic act and implicitly for the creation of the proper educational climate for development, for the insuring of the best conditions to reach the education finalities. As a classroom leader and of the didactic act, the teacher imprints his own leading style to his classroom, he is preoccupied in knowledge, and he understands and efficiently manages his classroom, by preventing conflicts, helping pupils to develop according to their capacities and interests. He permanently maintains a connection with the pupils’ parents, being aware of their importance in the pupils’ school success. The teacher leader of the didactic act takes decisions in the use of available educational resources, the development of the didactic act, the selection of didactic strategies used, the scheduling of the necessary time for each didactic sequence and the establishment of the evaluation modalities for the pupils’ performances. Teachers interviewed identified the following activities of the teacher’s leader role:  Planning, organising, developing, and evaluating the education process – 114 people (90.48%);  The distribution of responsibilities to the pupils’ collective – 29 people (23.02%);  The guidance of pupils’ learning in order to reach educational objectives – 86 people (68.25%);  The maintaining of strong connection to the pupils’ families– 78 people (61.9%);  The managing of problematic situations – 34 people (26.98%);  He is the leader of the Parents Committee – 10 people (7.94%);  He represents the connection of the pupils’ classroom and the other teachers’ / school management – 21 people (16.67%);

Q3. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the planner’s role for the pupils’ development and their education? The teacher as a planner of the education process anticipates pedagogic actions. Most schools have educational committees which deal with the curriculum planning and implementation inside the institution. These have an important role in curricular planning. Diamond (1998) suggested that the pupils’ active involvement in the projection of the curriculum to be studied has a special impact on pupils. Curricular planning has an important role to the teacher and must keep in mind the following aspects (Harden, 1986, p. 356-365):(1) the needs that the curriculum should meet; (2) the expected learning outcomes; (3) the content to be included in the curriculum; (4) the organization of the content; (5) the educational strategies; (6) the teaching methods; (7) the assessment procedure; (8) communication about the curriculum to personnel and students; (9) the educational environment; (10) procedures for managing the curriculum. During the last years, some subjects are taught in an interdisciplinary and integrated manner. Curriculum planning must respect this approach. In addition, curriculum planning must reflect in the didactic personnel preoccupation to teach in a differentiated manner certain learning units, so that each pupil is actively stimulated in the didactic process. 102


Starting with the beginning of the school year, the teacher plans his lessons according to the provision of the school programme, which contains general objectives, chapters, themes and the number of hours to be allocated for each of these. The teacher realizes the subject planning for one semester or for the entire school year. He plans the type of didactic activities developed with the pupils according to the number of hours allocated in the education plan and in the content of the school programme for the subject taught. A special attention is offered to the planning of human resources, of material, informational, financial and time resources necessary for the development of didactic activities. Extracurricular activities complete curricular one. The teacher plans the number, the type and content of extracurricular activities developed by the teacher with his pupils during a school year. The data obtained from interviewed teachers underline the following activities for the planner role:  The planning of available/necessary resources – 99 people (78.57%);  The planning of the learning units contents – 121 people (96.03%);  The planning of the teaching hours – 35 people (27.78%);  The planning of hours necessary for the consolidation/formation of abilities and aptitudes – 34 people (26.98%);  The planning of the initial, formative and summative evaluation – 87 people (69.05%);  The planning of extracurricular activities – 93 people (73.81%);  The planning of methodical commissions – 18 people (14.29%);  The planning of parents meetings – 64 people (50.79%); Most teachers participating in this research underlined the planning process of the learning units (121 people – 96.03%) and the resources available (99 people – 78.57%). The attention on this activity is natural, due to the fact that a calendar planning of didactic contents represents an important activity for the proper development of the didactic act.

Q4. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the organiser role for the pupils’ development and education? The teacher as an organiser of the education process pays attention to all elements of the instruction-educational activities, in the manner in which these influence the didactic act. All planned activities must be organised by the teacher after a permanent consulting of pupils’ opinions. The pupils’ active involvement in the organisation of didactic activities increases their interest in learning and offers pupils the possibility to intervene with suggestions meant to enrich the didactic act. “Organisation represents the complex action of an ordered, disciplined, rational, coherent and efficient insurance of didactic activities, of human forces and means and of materials necessary to operate essential components of the education process – objectives, contents, didactic strategies, the evaluation and mainly the forms of didactic activity” (Bontaș, 1996, p.171). The teachers interviewed identified the following activities for the organiser role:  The organisation of curricular activity according to the pupils’ particularities – 126 people (100%);  The organising of the pupils’ extracurricular activities – 77 people (61.11%);  The organising of parents meetings – 45 people (35.71%);  The organising of meetings with other specialists – 14 people (11.11%);  The organising of methodical commissions – 39 people (30.95%); From the analysis of the data collected from this sample, one can observe that the organisation of curricular activities on the basis of the principle of respecting pupils’ bio-psychic-social particularities gathers and agreement from all the members of the didactic personnel contained in this research. Q5. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher when undertaking the role of 103


with the development of real self-knowledge competencies. b) From the perspective of the instruction-educational process, curriculum evaluation enters the responsibility of each teacher. During the last years, the educational market was bombarded with a series of curricular materials (alternative study books, special notebooks with applicative exercises, guides etc.) which often don’t respect the demands of the education programme or quality criteria necessary for this type of documents. In these conditions, a critical evaluation is needed from the teacher, from the teacher, in order to select those most appropriate for the educational objective set in the education process. c) From the perspective of the teacher’s performance, evaluation may aim other teacher or even his own evaluation (selfevaluation). A realist image offers by the evaluation on objective criteria of his strong points, but also of vulnerable aspect that must be improved. Through a permanent connection to objectives proposed, through critical reflection of results obtained, the teacher may continuously improve his performance, which may implicitly lead to an increase of the pupils’ performances. d) From the perspective of the school as an institution, institutional evaluation may be internal (realized by the school teachers) or external (realized by teachers that don’t belong to the school evaluated). The main activities specific to the teacher as evaluator underlined by the members of the didactic personnel present in the research were:  the evaluation of the pupils’ educational results – 123 people (97.62%);  the evaluation of some curricular aspects – 72 people (57.14%);  the evaluation of the didactic personnel activity;  the evaluation of the institution – 66 people (52.38%); The data obtained from the members of the didactic personnel present in the research reflect the importance of two main education agents: the teacher and the pupil. For this reason, the evaluation demarches are oriented

evaluation for the pupils’ development and education? As an evaluator the teacher follows the verification, the measurement and the appreciation (grading) of results obtained during the valuation process and the identification of amelioration solution for the results obtained. Evaluation represents an essential component of the education process which reflects the level, the performances obtained and the efficiency of all factors involved in the teaching-learning process. “Given the importance of assessment of student performance in university teaching and in students’ lives and careers, instructors are responsible for taking adequate steps to ensure that assessment of students is valid, open, fair, and congruent with course objectives.” Murray et al. (1996) Evaluation may aim at different aspects as: a) the evaluation of pupils’ school performances, b) the evaluation of the instruction-educational process, c) the evaluation of the teacher’s performance, d) the evaluation of the school institution. a) From the perspective of the performances fulfilled by the pupil, the evaluation may aim at the results obtained by all sides of the pupil’s personality, respectively the degree in which learning took place. In the opinion of Whitman & Schwenk (1984, p.30) pupils evaluation is an integrative part of teaching and involved the development of a real interest regarding performances reached by the pupil. The evaluation of school results supposed their connection to educational objectives in order to measure the degree in which the educational programme objective was fulfilled and the efficiency of the didactic strategies used. Through evaluation one could highlight gaps observed in the pupils’ education and possible causes that lead to those results may be identified. In the evaluation of the pupils’ performances a series of methods and instruments meant to surprise with exactness the level of school performances reached by pupils evaluated may be used. Good teachers are preoccupied not only with the evaluation of the development level reached by pupils but also 104


mainly in the highlight of performances reached by the two poles: the pupil (123 people – 97.62%) and the teacher (102 people – 80.95%). The evaluation process contains appreciations on the curriculum, but also on the school as an institution that supplied education.

low motivation (under-motivation) may lead to negative effects on the pupils’ personalities. Over-motivation may generate a maximum energetic mobilisation and an emotional tension, which may lead to psychic blockage, to stress, behaviours disorganisation and failure. Undermotivation is characterised by an insufficient energetic motivation, which may lead to a superficial treatment of tasks, the nonrealization of the objective proposed in the parameters set. Researchers Covignton, (1992, 1998), C. Ames (1992) speak of a motivational optimum, as being that level of motivation with a maximum efficiency. A motivational optimum depends on the task difficulty and on the person’s psychic particularities. The teacher plays an important role in the identification of a motivational optimum for his pupils. In addition, a special aspect for the teacher as a motivator is to find necessary resorts for self-motivation. An unmotivated teacher may lead in his turn in not motivating others, which a motivated teacher inspires pupils to get actively involved in their own formationdevelopment. The teacher’s main activities as motivator identified by the members of the didactic personnel interviewed are:  pupils’ motivation – 126 people (100%);  parents’ motivation – 98 people (77.78%);  other teachers’ motivation – 75 people (59.52%);  motivation of socio-economic partners to sustain certain educational projects – 28 people (22.22%);  self-motivation – 37 people (29.37%). The data obtained from teachers participating in this research underline the important of school success in the pupils’ motivational process (126 people – 100%), but also of parents (98 people – 77.78%) who represent the pupils’ main supporters along their difficult road of training-education. The surprising result concerns the relatively low score of self-motivation activities. It is possible that teachers’ interviewed may see themselves as people with a pedagogic calling, motivated intrinsically for this profession, which makes them consider it an

Q6. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in undertaking the role of the motivator? As a motivator of his pupils, the teacher finds proper methods and techniques to stimulate interest, curiosity and the pupils’ desire for learning. Motivation pushes, starts the action in order to fulfil an objective. Motivation represents the “ensemble of dynamic factors that determine the individual’s behaviour” (Sillamy, 1996, p.202). “Motivation is the one that energises, directs and sustains behaviour” (Steers and Porter, in Saal, Knight, 1988, p.256). “Motivation refers to the individual’s internal factors that stimulate, maintain and channel behaviours with a purpose” (Huffman, Vernoy, Williams, Vernoy, 1991, p.381 apud Pânișoară, Pânișoară, 2005). The pupils’ positive motivation by using encouragement, prises, praises etc. has beneficial effects on their personalities, contributes in the creating and maintaining of a wellbeing state from psychical, emotional and social points of view. Negative motivation by using threats, punishments, offenses etc. leads to negative effects as unconcern, avoidance, aggressiveness, ignore, physical, emotional or social bad state etc. Regardless of the form of motivation used, intrinsic (triggered by the subject’s internal, personal factors) and/or extrinsic (triggered by the subject’s external factors), it represents the energetic engine of each activity. In the absence of motivation, pupils don’t care, don’t participate, and are bored and indifferent regarding a certain activity. Motivation represents an essential condition for the pupils’ success in their school activity. Literature in the domain (Nicholls, 1979; Collier, 1994) stipulates the fact that an intense motivation (over-motivation) and a 105


already active component of self-motivation and a supplementary nominalisation of this component may seem useless.

developed by the teacher as information supplied:  The transmission of scientific information – 120 people (95.24%);  The transmission of information on different opportunities of the pupils’ personal and professional development – 32 people (25.40%);  The selection of relevant information – 104 people (82.54%);  The establishment of the volume of information – 93 people (73.81%);  The systematisation of information – 99 people (78.57%);  The choice of the best strategies to transmit information – 74 people (58.73%);  The orientation of the reaching-learningevaluation process according to the educational objectives set – 85 people (67.46%); The data obtained from teachers interviewed show the fact that the main type of information transmitted by the teacher is the scientific ones.

Q7. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher when assuming the role of information supplier? The teacher as the information supplier is seen as an expert with knowledge in his competence domain, who transmits this knowledge to pupils/students. “Traditionally students expect to be taught. They believe that it is the responsibility of the teacher to pass on to them the information, knowledge and understanding in a topic appropriate at the stage of their studies. This leads to the traditional role of the teacher as one of provider of information in the lecture context.” (Hardenm, Crosby, 2000, p.337). In the transmitting of knowledge, the teacher uses a series of didactic strategies. From the perspective of knowledge transmitting, the lecture remains one of the most used traditional didactic methods, applied mainly in the university space, and in others. In time, the teaching act as the predominant process of knowledge transmission finds different approaches, from centring on the teacher, which established in an authoritative manner the content taught, without keeping in sight the pupils’ formation needs, to a centring on pupils, which is focuses attention on pupils, on their needs and interest for education, on the personalisation of the didactic process according to the pupil’s bio-psychic-social particularities. Thus, nowadays education sees knowledge transmission as a dynamic, interactive process, which supposed permanent feedback between the teacher and the pupil. The teacher selects, systematizes and offers information. An important role is played by the subject approached, the pupils’ accessibility degree, the information volume etc. and by the manner in which this information is transmitted, the communication channel used and the context in which communication takes place. The members of the didactic personnel interviewed identified the following activities

Q8. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of curriculum specialist? The teacher, as a curriculum specialist, studies changes in the didactic content and attitudes areas, of the instruction methodology (Schwab, 1969, in Creţu, 2000, p.274), thus contributing in the substantiation of curriculum politics, in their critical analysis, in the evaluation of consequences of the crossing of different curricular roads by pupils offered by the educational system. On one side, the teacher manages available resources for the proper development of the instruction-educational act, and on the other side he gets actively involved in the realization of didactic activities and materials, offering to his profession his entire personality, with dedication and professionalism. The teacher offers his pupils a large frame of information, data, knowledge and abilities, true pedagogical sources meant to stimulate and maintain interest for learning, curiosity and the desire to learn for his pupils. 106


 The evaluation of the pupils’ performances – 105 people (83.33%);  The self-evaluation of the teacher’s activity – 52 people (41.47%);  Peer collaboration to improve the didactic act – 73 people (57.94%). From the analysis of the data collected from the sample respondents, the attention of the curriculum specialist is shifted towards the educational process components and to the relation between these components.

The teacher practices inside the school space a type of curricular leadership through which didactic activities are developed in strong connection to its direct and indirect beneficiaries (Stan, 2016). The understanding of the manner in which different curriculum component are connected offers the curriculum a unitary, dynamic, flexible and creative character. Working directly with pupils, the teacher knows the developmental needs according to their age particularities, to their level of bio-psychic-social level of development. The curriculum specialist teacher may offer a real image of the teaching-learning-evaluation process, of formative demarches realized in order to obtain curriculum aimed competencies. A competent teacher proves profound knowledge on curricular contents, disposed of selection abilities for relevant didactic content, for the quantity and quality knowledge necessary in the didactic act, which essential and deep for didactic contents. The teacher, as a curricular expert may take decisions on what is happening in the education process. The interviewed members of the didactic personnel identified the following activities developed by the teacher as curriculum specialist:  The efficient management of educational resources available – 111 people (88.10%);  The planning, organizing and developing of learning-teaching-evaluation activities – 120 people (95.24%);  The identification of general (frame) objectives and reference (specific) objectives for the subject taught; starting from this premises, the teacher operates operational objectives for each didactic activity – 62 people (49.21%);  The analysis of pedagogical contents and their connection to the education planning, to the school programme and to the didactic activity– 70 people (55.56%);  The selection of relevant didactic content for the objectives proposed – 47 people (37.30%);  The application of diversified didactic strategies – 89 people (70.63%);

Q9. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of education specialist? Besides specialty education, the teacher as a specialist in education needs a proper psycho-pedagogical training meant to help him in his activity with the pupils. The educational specialist identities the best training modalities for pupils, he makes proposals for the improvement of the educational system, collaborates with other teacher in order to increase the quality of the educational process. The main activities underlined by the teachers interviewed as being specific for the teacher as specialist in education are:  The development of formal and nonformal specific activities – 49 people (38.89%);  The stimulation of the pupils’ interest for knowledge and their desire to learn – 56 people (44.44%);  The development of differentiated and attractive didactic activities with pupils – 97 people (76.98%);  The collaboration with specialists in other domains – 62 people (49.21%);  The special attention offered pupils’ preparing for life – 61 people (56.35%); According to the data offered by participant teachers in the research the education specialist developed different activities, which are attractive to pupils, listed in the formal and non-formal educational area and which in essential follow the pupils preparing for life.

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activities realized during school coordination classes or during other optional subjects which enlist in the curricula area Counselling and guidance, pupils may gain knowledge and abilities which aim at the school adaptation process, at the motivation for learning, the gaining of a healthy life style, the acquiring of study abilities, the prevention and fight against school failure, the stimulation of obtaining school performances, the adoption of a civilized behaviour inside and outside the school space, the proper management of emotional problems, the promotion of self-knowledge and personal development activities etc. The teacher sustains pupils in taking decisions regarding career, according to personal characteristics relevant for vocational guidance, for aptitudes and interest in a certain career, for the educational and professional options and opportunities for pupils. For this reason, the teacher is actively involved in the organisation and development of activities meant to facilitate pupils access to information regarding the choice of a career, in institutions/organisations, to people invited from different activity domains and to meetings with representatives of private and public institutions. Teachers interviewed underlined the following specific activities for the teacher counsellor:  Guidance for pupils with learning difficulties – 119 people (94.44%);  Counselling of gifted pupils – 29 people (23.02%);  Counselling for pupils’ parents – 89 people (70.63%);  Counselling teachers who face problems in relating with their pupils – 41 people (32.54%);  Motivation and encouragement for the improvement of the pupils’ school results – 95 people (75.40%);  Pupils’ counselling in school and professional orientation – 108 people (85.71%); Data collected from teachers participating in this study, thus underline the fact that the teacher’s activity as educational counsellor aims especially at pupils with learning

Q10. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of learning facilitator? The teacher as learning facilitator, promotes active learning, centred on the pupils, he mainly uses differentiated didactic strategies, values the creative experience and potential of every pupil, offered special insurance for the best learning conditions. Adept of a harmonious combining of traditional and innovative didactic strategies, the teacher renounces rigid and uniform teachinglearning-evaluation practices, in favour of a differentiated approach according to the specific of each pupil. The teacher follows the formation and development of functional competencies, capable of leading towards the processing, systematisation, restructuration and application of knowledge gained. The members of the didactic personnel interviewed identified the following activities as being specific to the teacher as a learning facilitator:  The identification of pupils’ main learning difficulties – 81 people (64.29%);  The insurance of necessary conditions for the development of the learning activity – 110 people (87.30%);  The development of teaching-learningevaluation activities centred on the pupil – 68 people (57.97%);  The preponderant use of interactive didactic strategies – 49 people (38.89%);  The cultivation of a positive educational climate – 22 people (17.46%). According to data collected from the sample respondents, the teacher’s main activity as learning facilitator is that of insuring the best conditions necessary for the development of the didactic act. Q11. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of school counsellor? Another role fulfilled by the teacher is that of the school counsellor. From this perspective, the teacher offers guidance to pupils, parents and to his peers with the purpose of optimizing the pupil’s adaptation to school life, to offer guidance in the choice of a professional career. Through specific 108


difficulties. In general, these difficulties represent not only the symptom of more or less serious problems faced by the pupils. Their nature may be cognitive (e.g. fall behind in learning due to gaps in the teachinglearning process), affective (e.g. different emotional trauma which may affect learning results), psycho-pedagogical (e.g. the pupil’s adaptation problems to the teacher’s teaching style), socio-economic (e.g. the absence of material resources, poverty). The teacher’s role as counsellor has tactful and professional application on real problems faced by pupils in order to identify and apply together with the pupils and their families, efficient strategies to improve the existent situation.

development of abilities and aptitudes, transformation abilities of academic contents in contents accessible to pupils; time management knowledge applied in the realization of didactic activities; efficient management skills of conflict situation and their transformation into learning opportunities; abilities in facing every situation; interpretation modalities of what is happening and reacting accordingly; solid knowledge of didactic projecting, evaluation and grading, in a differentiated approach of pupils. The teacher may fulfil the mentor role on one side with his pupils and on the other side with his younger peers, found at the beginning of their career. The involvement of experienced teachers in the mentoring of debutant teachers, favours a rapid adapting of new didactic personnel to the school environment, accelerates the development of their processional competencies (Isidori, 2003, p.26) and reflects the school preoccupation in increasing quality in education. The main activities identified by teachers participating in this research regarding the teacher’s role are a mentor are:  His being presents with his pupils during their development – 72 people (57.14%);  Guidance and advice for the pupils to react and behave in different life situations – 103 people (81.75%);  Encouragement for pupils to use the resources available in their formationdevelopment– 88 people (69.84%);  Counselling for pupils found in difficult situations – 47 people (37.30%);  Support for pupils in reaching their goals – 62 people (49.21%);  Offering himself as an example, as role model – 36 people (28.57%);  Helping didactic personnel members found at the beginning of their career in developing professional competencies – 42 people (33.33%). Data collected from teachers participating in this research indicate that the pupil’s guidance/advice activity by the teacher regarding different life situations as being the most relevant for the mentor role.

Q12. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of the mentor? As a mentor, the teacher assists, guides, encourages, counsels, sustains pupils in reaching different short of long term objectives. The mentor is a role model who facilitates the exchange of ideas, of knowledge, experiences in an action oriented towards professional and personal development for the person concerned. “without any doubt, the relation imposed by the mentorship is synonym to the classical rapport master-apprentice, each of them being formed inside a development process that is open, motivated and assumed” (Andreescu et al, 2014, p.5). A good mentor possesses a rich experience, which is put in the service of the person being educated, thus helping him to optimize learning experiences, through an active participation in this learning process. The relation teacher-pupil is based on reciprocal trusts and respect, on understanding and empathy. According to a study realized in 1994 (McIntzre et al. Andreescu et al, 2014, p.7-8) the mentor’s profile efficiently contains characteristics like: experience and activity organisation capacity; reality knowledge, knowledge of practical applicability and constrains; communication, negotiation and intervention abilities in human relations; solid lesson management knowledge; classroom organisation modalities; formation and 109


 Knowledge and application of efficient managerial strategies – 102 people (80.95%). The data obtained from the sample respondents for the manager role of the teacher, places the management activity on the first place inside the activity developed in the classroom, closely followed by the planning of activities with an instructioneducational character.

Q13. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the school manager role? The teacher as school manager, basis his decisions on theoretical and practical knowledge from the educational management domain, acquired during the initial and continuous training process. In his quality as school leader, the teacher contributes actively in the application of directions of the education reform, participates in the elaboration of the school development plan, in accordance to the school vision and mission, with the demands of the Education Law, with the norms regarding the insurance of education quality, follows the efficiency and the increasing of the performance of the school managed, insures the transparency of the managerial act, promotes innovation and professional responsibility, gets involved in the planning, organising, projecting and realizing of instructive educational activities realized inside the institution, monitors and evaluates the results obtained, facilitates the access of all children to quality education, permanently follows the increase of school success rate, offers a great attention to the training and perfecting of didactic personnel, insures a collaboration between the school and local and national authorities, develops solid partnerships with national and international organisations. “The contemporary teacher must prove qualities of a good manager of material means offered and must develop resources received” (Cucoș, 2014). In the vision of the members of the didactic personnel participating in this study, the teacher as school manager realizes the following activities:  The planning of teaching and educational activities – 112 people (88.89%);  The organisation of classroom activities – 85 people (67.46%);  Leading the activity in the classroom – 122 people (96.83%);  The coordination of instruction-education activities of the classroom– 96 people (76.19%);  Focusing on the fulfilment of educational objectives – 105 people (83.33%);

Q14. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of change promoter? The teacher, as change promoter, values the dynamism of a contemporary society, found in a continuous transformation, adaptation and movement. Education in contemporary society stands under the sign of innovation, of techniques and technology and of educational reforms. Change in education aims at the connection of Romanian education to national and international values, the continuous modernisation of the teachinglearning-evaluation process, the increase of access to all social categories to quality education, the reduction of school dropout, the development of efficient educational programmes meant in insure the harmonious development of human personality. The main activities developed by the teacher as change promoter in the opinion of this study participants refer to:  The development of concrete activities that aim a change of attitudes and mentalities and the promotion of an inclusive education – 74 people (58.73%);  Promotion of innovation in the education process– 38 people (30.16%);  Monitoring and permanent evaluation of didactic activities realized on the basis of the desired change – 44 people (34.92%);  Experiment of different didactic strategies in approaching the education process with the purpose of increasing its educational values – 95 people (75.40%);  Collaboration with different specialists in order to find the best ways to improve the didactic act – 32 people (25.40%). From the perspective of the change promoter role, members of the didactic personnel participating in this research consider the 110


teacher as experimenting different didactic strategies in order to increase educational qualities of the education process, and change must act especially at the level of attitudes and mentalities in order to promote inclusive education.

mathematical thinking, memory, perseverance etc.). Specific abilities have restraint applicability to the specialty domain, these frame the respective domain and are found in strong connection to general abilities. The main elements of pedagogical aptitudes are: scientific competence, psychopedagogical competence and the psychosocial competence (Mitrofan, 1988). The three components are integrated in the structure of the teacher’s personality: a) scientific competence – supposes solid specialty knowledge, research; b) psycho-pedagogical competence – involved abilities of teaching-learningabilities, pedagogical mastery, pedagogic tact etc.; c) psycho-social competence – puts an accent on optimisation processes of inter-human relations, on attitude qualities of charactermoral nature, on the influencing capacity of pupils etc. The operation of the didactic competence may be realized on five categories of specific competencies (Gherghinescu, 1999): 1. Cognitive competence – which contains intellectual abilities and knowledge expected from the teacher; 2. Affective competence – is specific to the didactic profession and reflects attitudes on an affective plan expected from the teacher; 3. Exploratory competence – addresses pedagogical practice and offers the possibility to exercise didactic abilities to new teachers; 4. Performancebased competence - by which teachers apply to practice knowledge acquired in time; 5. The competence to produce observable modification in pupils as a result of the pedagogic relation. The interviewed members of the didactic personnel identified the following categories of abilities necessary for the teacher to fulfil his pedagogical roles:  Scientific abilities (specialty training, scientific research) – 126 people (100 %);  Psycho-pedagogical abilities (abilities of teaching-learning-evaluation, team work abilities, individual work abilities, of working in a differentiated manner) – 126 people (100 %);

Q15. Which are the main activities developed by the teacher in assuming the role of human resources developer? From the perspective of the human resources development, teachers may become “activity builders, creators of new learning environments” (Ravet, Layte, 1997). This role offers the teacher the possibility to approach in a creative manner the instructive educational process, to conceive curricular materials according to the pupils’ formation needs. Curricular materials realized by teachers must respect school programmes, must value technological innovation in the domain, must have a strong formative character, respect the pupils’ age particularities and contribute to the improvement of the pupils’ school performances. According to the opinion of the teachers participating in this research, the teacher, as education resource developer, conducts the following activities:  The conception and elaboration of new original curricular materials – 126 people (100%);  Organisation of didactic resources in a creative, attractive and stimulant manner for the pupils – 24 people (19.05%); As developer of education resources, interviewed teachers identified two specific activities, one being mentioned by all teachers participating in the research. Q16. Which are the main abilities necessary to the teacher in order to successfully fulfil his professional roles? The teacher’s main abilities (competencies) necessary in the successful exercise of professional roles may be grouped into two categories of general and specific abilities. General abilities represent those features that may be applied in all domains (general intelligence, verbal fluency, logic111


 Managerial abilities (planning, organisation, development, monitoring and evaluation of the didactic act; classroom management and parents’ collective management) – 83 people (65.87 %);  Evaluation abilities (of the pupils’ performances, of the instruction-educational quality, of curricular document and of the school as an institution) – 99 people (78.57 %);  Abilities of professional and personal training and development (communication abilities, active listening abilities, team work abilities, guidance and control abilities, organisation at the work place abilities, relating abilities, continuous development abilities, motivation abilities of the pupils’ classroom, counselling abilities etc.) – 107 people (84,92 %); The data obtained for this item reveals that scientific abilities and psycho-pedagogical ones are, according to the opinion of these respondents, identified for the successful exercise of pedagogical roles.

Bontas, I. (1996). Pedagogie, Editura ALL, Bucuresti. Cerghit, I. (2006). Metode de învățământ, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti. Cucoș, C. (2014). Pedagogie. Ediția a treia revăzută și adăugită, Polirom, Iași. Diamond, R.M. (1998). Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: A Practical Guide, revised edn San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Gherghinescu, R. (1999). Conceptul de competenţă didactică, in Marcus, S.(ed.) Competenţa didactică, Editura All, Bucureşti. Harden, R.M. (1986). Ten questions to ask when planning a course or curriculum, ASME Medical Education Booklet No. 20, Medical Education, 20, 356- 365. Harden, R.M., Crosby, J. (2000). The good teacher is more than a lecturer – the twelve roles of the teacher, Medical Teacher, Vol. 22, No. 4. Isidori E. (2003). La formazione degli insegnanti principianti. Problemi e strategie, Morlacchi Editore, Perugia. Iucu B. R. (2006) Managementul clasei de elevi, Polirom, Iaşi. McIntyre, D., Haggerand, H., Wilkin, M., (1994). Mentoring: Perspectives on Schoolbased Teacher Education, Kogan Page, London. Mitrofan, N. (1988). Aptitudinea pedagogică, Editura Academiei, Bucureşti. Nicola, I. (1996). Tratat de pedagogie școlară, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti. Pânișoară, G., Pânișoară, I.O. (2005). Motivarea eficientă. Ghid practic, Polirom, Iași. Pânișoară, I. O. (2009). Profesorul de succes. 59 principii de pedagogie practică, Editura Polirom, Iași Saal F., Knight P. (1988). Industrial organizational psychology: Science and practice, Pacific Grove, Brooks/Cole Publication. Sillamy, N. (1996). Dicționar de psihologie, Univers enciclopedic, București. Stan, L. (2016). Educația timpurie. Probleme și soluții, Polirom, Iaşi.

CONCLUSIONS The present study investigated the opinion of pre-university teachers in the county CarasSeverin, with regard to the teacher’s roles described in the literature and the personal perception of teachers participating in this research, in relation to specific activities of these roles and skills necessary to practice the identified roles. The data obtained in the study emphasise a large frame of activities conducted by the teacher in the fulfilment of his professional roles. These activities are sustained by specific abilities through which the teacher fulfils his calling. The teacher, presented as the classroom leader, together with his pupils, invigorates the didactic act, giving it value and meaning. REFERENCES Andreescu M.C., Apetroae M., Apopei A., (2014). Manualul mentorului, Editura Spiru Haret, Iaşi.

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Chapter IX. Does play bring benefits to the child in any circumstances? Methodological reference guide in organising teaching games Nicoleta Lupu University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Romania [email protected] Abstract: Play is a very frequent method used in the process of education and teaching for both pre-school and school students. The vast majority of teachers and educators use games as a teaching method, starting from the simple premise that “children learn through play“, but few ask themselves if play really brings benefits to the child in any circumstances. The present study has this question as a starting point and it seeks to identify the criteria of choosing the teaching game. It starts from the hypothesis according to which teachers in public schools don’t choose games taking into consideration the particularities of development for the target group. In this respect, 70 teachers from the primary, secondary and high-school education in Brasov county have been interviewed; the results showing that the main criterion in choosing the game as a teaching method is the type of the lesson, followed by the necessary materials and space needed; while we find the criterion regarding the particularities of students and play among the last. The results draw attention to and highlights the importance of choosing the game as a teaching method also according to the particularities of development for the target group. Moreover, the article offers in the first part important theoretical ground (definitions, classifications, functions, theories of game and play, the particularity of play for school students as well as characteristics, classifications and ways to organise teaching games), on which teachers can organise games starting from the specialised literature, not on empirical information. Key-words: play, teaching game, criteria for choosing the game, methodological reference guide for organising the teaching game from the premise that “children learn through play“, but there are few who ask themselves if games really bring benefits to the child in any circumstances; the benefits of play in learning and development rely on the simple association play-child. This observation is reinforced by studies in specialised literature. Gerkunshenko, Sokolova (2013) pointed out that kindergarten teachers from 5 kindergartens in Russia do not use games properly, i.e. according to the particularities of development for the target group, cognitive

INTRODUCTION It’s no news that play is used by teachers and other specialists in the teaching-learningevaluation cycle, recovery, both in public education and special education. In special education schools, occupational therapy and implicitly ludotherapy are object of educational subjects; both teaching games and therapeutic games are widely used by psychotherapists. It is true that, in public education, the teaching game is a frequently used teaching method. Most teachers start 113


development stages and implicitly development of the play. Ray and co. (2005) questioned 381 school counsellors about the practice of play therapy in schools and, although they were aware of the usefulness of the play therapy, barriers have been noticed in implementing it, among which the lack of time and specialised training. In these circumstances, the choice and approach to this topic aims at emphasizing the importance of choosing the game as a teaching method according to the development particularities of the students. Specialised literature offers various definitions for the game. Chateau (1970) defines play as an instrument of forming the Self, with a permanent, universal, complex and multi-purpose characteristic. According to Piaget (1972, 1973) play is an activity of assimilation. Kelly (1982) and Adey (1987) have similar opinions, regarding play as an assimilation activity, not needing an effort for adaptation, a purposeful action. Play is the first type of activity the child instinctively do in order to discover the environment, activity followed by imitation (Claparede, 1975). According to Wallon (1975) games are genuine instruments and tests for the level of development. Popescu-Neveanu (1978) emphasises the importance of play. Play develops perceptions and representations, as well as intellectual psychic processes, memory, thinking process, imagination. Moreover, play is a way to develop physical abilities as well as cognition. (Brunner, 1980). Golu (1993) draws attention to play as a fundamental dimension of personality,

accompanying the entire human evolution, with an important generative function at a growing age and a regenerative one for adults and elderly. According to Landreth (1993, p. 41) “play is the most complex form of expression developed by human body...play is the only childhood activity taking place in all times and all place.” Larousse (1998) defines play as the physical and mental activity without a practical purpose, to which you dedicate willingly. It has been noticed that some authors consider play an activity specific to childhood, others state that it is a lifelong learning activity. Some give play an important role in intellectual development, psycho-motive and social development, while others suggest that play is only for pleasure. Play is also seen as an ideal way of knowing a child, which has a universal characteristic. Landreth (1982, 1993), Axline (1947) present the features of play: 1) play has a form, a structure, contains symbols, 2) play shows the level of emotional and cognitive development of the child, 3) play does not depend on external rewards, does not have to fulfil a goal, 4) play is natural, spontaneous, 5) play develops language, thinking, communication and social skills, favours the understanding of feelings, develops sexual identity, 6) play allows the experimentation of the adult role. A whole series of opinions have been expressed on play, organised in a number of theories trying to explain its origin, specificity, finality. The following table presents the main theories and their authors:

Tab. 1 Theories of play The theory of recreation, Schaller (1861), Lazarus (1883): play is a way to relax. Play is opposite to work. (Niculescu, Lupu, 2007). The surplus energy theory of play, Schiller (1795), Spencer: children have a surplus of energy and consume this energy through play. (Niculescu, Lupu, 2007) The theory of preparatory exercise, Karl Gross (1896): play is studied from biological perspective, compared with the way animals play. The child prepares himself, through play, for the adult life (Claparede, 1975). The theory of complementary exercise, H. Carr: play has the role of freeing the personality from instinctive tendencies, considered anti-social (Răduț-Taciu) The theory of recapitulation, S., Hall: through play, some primitive manifestations of life are being repeated (e.g. the hunting game) (Barbu and co., 1993) 114


The theory of functional pleasure, Buller: Pleasure is the key factor which makes the child play (Răduț-Taciu) Psychoanalytical theories: through play, the child frees himself from the negative feelings, emotions or situations on which he has no control, play becoming thus a defence mechanism. The role of the psychotherapist is to encourage the transfer of emotions experienced during the game, into real life (Osterrieth, 1976). Two tendencies have been noticed: the first tendency emphasizes on the oriental technique, in which the therapist leads the game; the second is based on non-oriental techniques where the child expresses naturally through the game. (Păunescu, Mușu, 1990) Piaget’s Theory: The function of play is to transform the reality, resulting an assimilation of reality, with no effort of adaptation. Piaget (1972, 1973) mentions the ludic triad: play as exercise, play as symbol, play with rules. He emphasizes on the importance of symbolic play in forming the intelligence and of movement play in the development of the sensory and motor skills. Birch (2000) equates the development stages of the game with the stages of intellectual development as follows: play as exercise – specific for the sensory and motor skills, play as symbol – specific for the preoperational stage of Thinking, play with rules – specific for the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. Vîgotski’s Theory: he develops the concept of “zone of proximal development”, the game developing the child's potential. While playing, an important role belongs to the adult, who guides the learning (Faulkner, 1995). According to the previous theories, the following conclusions have been drawn: Play depends on the child’s state, either of weariness and in this case, the child relaxes; or excitement and by playing, the child consumes his energy. Play prepares the child for the adult life. Play becomes a defence mechanism, through which the child gets control over everyday situations. Play facilitates learning through assimilation and accommodation processes. Play stimulates the child's potential when guided by an adult. Șchiopu (1970), Răduț-Taciu, Niculescu, Lupu (2007) present the functions of play. These are grouped according to essential functions, secondary functions and marginal functions. The main function of the game is the function of learning about the environment, which favours cognitive development. Another important function of the game is that of movement stimulation and the formative-educative functions. In addition, there is also the function of revealing the psychic through which the child develops emotions, attitudes, intentions and social function. Play facilitates information acquisitions (informative function),

information which will develop psychomotor, cognitive, emotional-affective, personality (formative function); all of which will allow the child to adapt to reality (adaptive function). Balancing function, compensation function and therapeutic function used in ludo-therapy are considered secondary functions of play. In specialised literature there are many classifications of play. Depending on the age when it occurs, Glava, A., Glava, C., (2002) identify: pre-school age games, primary school game, secondary school games, puberty games, teenage games, adult age games. Piaget (1972, 1973) mentions play exercises with: sensory-motive, developing Thinking functions, symbolic plays: conscious, unconscious plays with rules: spontaneous, transmitted ones. Decroly (1965) enumerates games which develop sensory, perceptive and motor structures, arithmetic and grammar games, games for initiation in reading, comprehension game, while Gross, quoted in Șchiopu (1970) mentions experimental games, games with general functions, sensory games, intellectual games, affective games and willpower games. Play is present since the child’s first year of life, changing gradually into an activity with 115


specific functions. Instinctively, the child develops through plays and imitation. Play is used by the child since birth and it is his first form of activity. For the primary school child, play is instrumental in developing psycho sensory processes, superior cognitive psychic processes as well as developing attention, willpower and motivation; while in the activity of the older students the educational play prevails. Play does not disappear from a person's life once his/her childhood is over and he/she gets into another age group. Berne (2002) shows that play is also present in our adult life. The stages for the development of play during school age are presented below: Play for the primary school child (6-10 years old) It is the time when the main activity becomes learning, a special place being occupied by the educational play, while the free, spontaneous play has only a recreational function (Șchiopu, 1970). Verza, Verza (2000) emphasizes that together with thought development, play strategies appear as well. It is noticeable the preference for such games as chess, which develop thought and involve attention, thinking, willpower, confusing the opponent. In this stage there is a preference for games with strict rules, where breaking the rules implies leaving the game (Șchiopu, 1970). Physical development allows the expression of competitive movement games, where the child gets the approval or exclusion from the group (Stan, 2014). Verza, Verza (2000) claims that between the play of a preschool child and that of the primary school child there are similarities (role play/pretend play, construction play, creation play), with the mention that the game of the primary school child is more organised and has a clear goal. There are also differences according to gender. Collecting things is also specific. Social games at the level of school or street group create new adaptation strategies. Play in puberty and adolescence The main activity of the pubescent is learning. Educational games practiced in school encourage this process. Interest for the future profession appears, interest to be found in the

game. It has been noticed a clear differentiation between boys and girls who are playing a game (boys are inclined to practice movement games, while girls prefer games to show their femininity; girls organise themselves more easily for the game and cooperate with less strain than boys). The pubescent can be very keen on collecting certain objects, following very clear criteria. His/Her taste for adventure leads to organising in groups and exploring different spaces. The pubescent participates in role plays and mimes the behaviour of the adults. There are also present the creative games, fun games, jokes. The performance, competitive games are perpetuated in pursuit of obtaining a position in the group. Choosing the partners for the game is made according to their abilities, abilities which ensure their success in the game. The participants will not accept the ones who break the rules or have no contribution to the completion of the game. In adolescence, social games have the function of expressing feelings, emotions, the words or the actions having an ambiguous significance, especially for the opposite sex. In adolescence, the interest for the „childish” games disappears, while appearing an interest for the leisure time activities (watching films or shows, going on trips). Teenagers form groups, in which each member has a very clear role, with a visible tendency to turn against the adults. (Verza, 1978, Verza, Verza, 2000, Șchiopu, Verza, 1995). It is worth mentioning, in addition to these activities, the preference of the preteens and teenagers for the computer games, which nowadays tend to replace movement and action games. After defining, classifying, explaining and describing the evolution of play we will focus attention on the game as educational method. According to Bache, Mateiaș and Popescu (1994) the educational game is a method of enabling the child’s transition from the activity dominated by play to the activity of learning. Manolache and co. (1979) describe educational play as a type of game which blends harmoniously the instructive, educational element with the fun element. Purcaru (2008) offers three definitions for the 116


educational play: 1) educational play is a type of play combining instructive, educational elements with fun. 2) educational play is a type of play through which the teacher consolidates, assesses and enriches the information being taught, 3) educational play is an attractive and accessible form of activity for the child, through which the instructional, educational goals are being achieved. Sabău (2006) mentions that educational play appears in three forms: 1) as a form of organising a learning activity, 2) as part of a learning activity, 3) as a teaching method during a learning activity. The same author makes the following classification of the educational games: According to the content, educational games can be grouped in the following categories: 1) educational games for learning about the environment, 2) educational games for speech development 3) educational games with mathematical content, 4) educational games for developing social, moral functions, 5) sensory and observational games, 6) creation games, 7) symbolic games According to the teaching materials used: 1) oral educational play, 2) educational play not requiring teaching aids, 3) educational play with teaching materials According to the psycho-physical aria developed: 1) psycho-motor educational play (construction games, manipulation games, sensory stimulating games, discrimination games, movement games), 2) educational play for intellectual stimulation (linguistic games, logical mathematical games, creativity games, games for learning about the environment), 3) educational play for socio-emotional development (communication games, presentation games, competition games, imitation games, self-control games). According to the instructional formative requirements: educational play for the acquisition of new knowledge, educational play for the consolidation of knowledge,

educational play for the assessment of knowledge. According to the number of children involved: 1) individual educational play 2) educational play for small groups 3) large group educational play According to the teaching subject: 1) educational play for writing 2) educational play for reading 3) mathematical educational play. Moscal (2006), Purcaru (2008) emphasize the fact that educational play differentiate itself among other games through objective, content, educational task, rules, action of the game, elements of the game and teaching materials. The objective is expressed according to the requirements of the curriculum. Educational task implies solving a situation and must be conceived in such a way as to stimulate thinking, to be accessible, to be tuned in to the children’s potential and to keep their interest. It is recommended that the game should have just one educational task. The rules of the game explain how the game will be played and develop children’s selfcontrol. Rules must be clearly stated in order to be understood by the children. The action of the game does not only imply ludic action, but it also means instruction, leading towards learning. Elements of the game must be tightly connected to the educational task. The content of the game refers to the knowledge to be taught, consolidated or assessed. The content of the game should be chosen according to the particularities of the students (age, level of development) Teaching aids must be varied, attractive and must serve the aim. The same authors mentioned above suggest the following stages in leading and organising the educational play: preparation of the teaching aids in advance, focusing attention, announcing of the aim and objectives of the game, presentation of the content by explaining the rules and educational task, carrying out the game and obtaining the 117


performance, completion of the game and assessment. In order to make the educational play effective, Putnic (2006), Purcaru (2008) add the following conditions for organising the game: clear formulation and clear settle of the aim and title of the game, specification of the objectives to be pursued, the explanations of the teacher should be short and simple, conducting the learning during the game. A special attention should be given to the children with learning difficulties, by stating the criteria for successfully doing the game, ensuring the transfer by complicating the game, providing the necessary material conditions, adjusting the content of the game to the students’ particularities, using a variety of teaching aids, attractive for the students. Rules of the game should be few and simple, simple in order to be understood and learned easily; special attention should be given to preventing conflicts, superiority or inferiority complex; games will be varied to offer any child the opportunity to win, organisation of the group should be homogenous as to provide equal chance to each group.

(only 3). 39 school-teachers and 31 teachers participated in the survey. 19 participants are between 24 and 35 years old, 18 participants are between 36 and 41 years old, 18 participants are between 42 and 52 years old, while 15 are between 53 and 60 years old (figure 1).

Fig. 1. Distribution of participants according to age There was a noticeable balanced distribution of the participants from the age point of view. The majority of the participating schools come from the urban area. 34 teachers have first education qualification, most of them having a teaching experience of 13-20 years. As for the experience in teaching students with special educational needs, most participants have an experience between 0-4 years. The majority of the teachers who participated in the research worked with students with moderate mental deficiency. Instruments The present research is a descriptive correlational study. The descriptive design implies a survey in form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire contains three questions: 1) Do you use play in your activity with students? 2) In what type of activities do you use play? 3) Name maximum five criteria for choosing play in the teaching activity. The first questions are closed-ended questions, in which participants had to choose between “yes and no” and tick a category of activity (recreation activities, learning

OBJECTIVES The objectives of the present research are: a. Identification of the type of activities associated with the game as teaching method b. Identification of the criteria used in choosing the game as a teaching method. METHOD Aims The hypothesis I started from is one according to which teachers from public schools do not choose the games using the criteria regarding the students. In this context, the paper aims at presenting a good practice example by offering methodological reference to organise the game, based on the particularities of the students. Participants The participants were 70 teachers from public education, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary (high school) from two primary and lower-secondary schools and a high school in Brasov county. A small number of male participants has been noticed 118


activities or both categories). The third question is an open-ended question, where teachers had to name the criteria they use to choose the game as a teaching method in their activities with students. At the same time, they were asked to provide socio-professional data (age, background, experience in teaching, level of students, teaching experience, teaching degree). Teachers were also asked if they teach students with special needs, the type and degree of deficiency for these students and working experience with this category of students.

- Objective (for getting attention, for the development of creativity, as a reward, for connecting with others, for movement, for relaxation) 2. Criteria regarding the students: - Students preferences - Students needs - Individual particularities - Physical health - Motor skills of the students - Intellectual level of the class - Age 3. Criteria concerning time, space and material resources: - Moment of the hour - Moment of the day - Availability - Season - Place - Materials involved - Games available 4. Criteria concerning the game: - Play effectiveness - The degree of attractiveness of the game - The degree of difficulty - Formative values of the game 5. Criteria concerning the teacher: - Personal working skills - Out of the 70 teachers who participated only 55 gave a positive answer to the question “Do you use play in your teaching activity?” - A large number of teachers use play as a teaching method both during the learning activity and during recreation activities, 42 teachers claiming this. - The thesis started from the hypothesis according to which teachers do not take into consideration the particularities of their students, when they choose play as a teaching method. - The results confirm the hypothesis. The participants in the survey choose the game according to the criterion regarding teaching planning, followed by material, time and space criteria. - The criteria regarding the students and the game itself occupy the last positions (figure 2). - Among the criteria regarding teachers ‘planning, on the first place we find the type of the lesson, followed by the objective and

Procedure To apply the questionnaire, special attention was given within schools to informing the headmaster about the survey and to obtaining his/ her consent. Informing the teachers and obtaining their consent to participate was also part of the procedure. The questionnaires were applied in group, through selfadministration during teachers’ meetings. After applying the questionnaire, the data were introduced in SPSS 14 application for statistics. The answers to the first two closed-ended questions were subject to the quantitative analysis (the answers being coded and introduced in the programme), while the answers to the open-ended question were subject to the content analysis (all the criteria mentioned by the teachers were written down, there were equated the similar criteria, four categories of criteria resulted; the answers were coded and introduced in SPSS). RESULTS From the content analysis there resulted five categories of criteria on which teachers choose the games in their activity with students: 1. Criteria concerning the planning of the activity: - Type of the lesson - Moment of the lesson - Extracurricular activities - Discipline - Number of students

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the moment of the lesson (figure 3). A possible explanation for these choices would be the way teachers have been trained. During their teaching studies a great deal of emphasis was on methodological training. The statistics

showed a correlation between the first education degree of the participating teachers and the choice of the game following the criteria regarding teachers’ planning (tab. 2).

1,40

0,5

1,25 0,4

1,055 1,018 Mean

Mean

1,00

0,75

0,3

0,455 0,2

0,50

0,25

0,273

0,236

0,1

0,2 0,127

0,164

0,109

Fig. 2. Criteria for choosing the teaching game

Objective

No. students

Discipline

Extracurricular activity

Planning criteria Student criteria Time material Game criteria space resourcescriteria

Moment lesson

Type lesson

0 0,00

Fig. 3. Criteria concerning the planning of the activity

Tab. 2. Correlation Criteria concerning the planning of the activity

Pearson Correlation Sig. (1-tailed) N

Among the criteria concerning resources, space and time, the second category of criteria in the chart, on the first place we found the teaching resources, followed by the space available (figure 4). As regarding the criterion connected to students, we find on the first place the students’ age, followed by their preferences (fig. 5). The most important from the criteria connected to play which teachers use in order

Education degree ,319(**) ,00 55

to choose the game is the degree of attractiveness of the game, followed by the level of difficulty (figure 6).

120

0,4

0,08

0,3

0,06

0,309

0,04

0,0727

0,327

0,1

0,02

0,164 0,109

0,0182

0,073

0,0182

0,0182

Game Effectiveness

Fig. 4 Criteria regarding material, time and space resources

Game Degree of dificulty

0

Games available

Space

Season

Availability

Moment of day

0

Game Degree of attractiveness

0,036 Materials involved

0,036 Moment of hour

0,0364

Game Formative values

0,2

Game Content

Mean

Mean


Fig. 6 Criteria concerning the game 0,3

CONCLUSIONS The present research has had as a main objective the identification of the criteria for choosing the teaching game by the teachers, in their activity with children. In this respect, there have been questioned 70 primary teachers and lower-secondary teachers from Brasov county. Among them, only 55 teachers declared they use play as a teaching method, part of the learning activity or recreation activities. The quantitative analysis of the answers offered by the participants pointed out four categories of criteria for choosing the game as teaching method. These are: criteria connected to teaching planning, criteria referring to the students’ particularities, criteria regarding material, space and time resources in conjunction with the characteristics of the game. The present study started from the premise that teachers do not have as a priority, when they choose the teaching game, the criteria with reference to the students’ particularities. The results obtained support the hypothesis. Teachers choose the game they use in the activity with their students according to the

0,25

Mean

0,2

0,15

0,291 0,218

0,2

0,1

0,2

0,05

0,073

Students needs

Students preferences

Students age

Intellectual level

Motor skills

0,018 Students health

Individual particularities

0

0,018

Fig. 5 Criteria regarding the students

121


criteria in connection with the curriculum planning. This is explicable in the context in which teacher trainings place great emphasis on the teacher planning. Among the criteria in the above mentioned category, on the first place we find the type of the lesson. The criterion with reference to the particularities of the students is to be found only on the third place. The results draw attention on the importance of choosing the game according to the psycho-pedagogical characteristics of the target group. The article offers a good practice model by providing important theoretical ground, on which teachers can organise games starting from the specialised literature and not form empirical information. All mentioned above offer the paper a high level of applicability.

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school teachers, teachers from primary and preschool education. Brașov: Editura Universității Transilvania. Putnic, M. (2006). Teaching game-methods and form of organising the formative and instructive activity. In Ilica, A. (coord.) Psychopedagogy, theory and methodology of teaching game. Summaries for preparing the university graduation examination. Educația Plus, 4, Arad: Editura Universității Aurel Vlaicu. Ray, Dee, C., Armstrong, Stephen A., Warren, E. Scott, Balkin Richard, S. (2005). Play Therapy Practices among Elementary School Counselors. Professional School Counseling, accessed online at ProQuest Central, http: search.proquest.com/ pqcentral/index. Răduț-Taciu, R. Course for long-distance education: educational game-theory and practice. Cluj- Napoca: Universitatea BabeșBolyai. Sabău, M. (2006). Classification of teaching games. Motor game, creation game, game

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Chapter X. Communication, mediation, and negotiation in preventing and eliminating learning difficulties in children and adolescents Monica Maier, Alina Boja, Zorica Triff Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre of Baia Mare, Romania [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract: The issue of didactic communication in terms of mediating learning groups, in which one or more members encounter difficulties in understanding and assimilating the transmitted information, requires, on the one hand, the knowledge of the individual and age characteristics of those who are involved in such activities, and, on the other hand, the negotiation of appropriate goal-oriented strategies. The hypothesis on which this study is based assumes that difficulties at the input level (receiving information), at the processing level or at the output level (communicating responses when assessed) can be prevented and/or cleared by suitable mediation. The teacher is not only a coordinator of training activities or a simple source of information, but also a mediator, constantly supervising the way in which students properly regulate their own cognitive functions and affective-motivational sphere. Up-to-date research provides a theoretical and practical base for the most effective mediation criteria in class; our study is based on it also. The effectiveness of learning depends on the way the teacher mediates the learning activity, while constantly referring to these criteria. Key-words: communication, mediation criteria, cognitive dysfunctions, mediated learning, learning difficulties. three basic steps to ensure successful learning: input (collecting information / reception), processing (understanding information) and output (response communication / presentation of learned information). Personal and social identity development of the young people is not achieved only by identification, but also by expression. The models offered by adults are mere foundations for the building of their own identities. In this respect, open reciprocity, negotiation of certain roles and positions held during the forming / informing activities is the key to the improvement of the educational process, in terms of objectives, contents, teaching strategies, forms of organization and relationship. Relationships with others,

INTRODUCTION Communication in general and didactic communication, in particular, have now become discussion topics in social and school environments. The successful reception and understanding of a message, for any purpose, depend mainly on how it is transmitted. At this level of analysis, didactic communication becomes the support for teaching learning, and assessment, on the one hand, and a proof of the vocation of the teacher, the one who must initiate and use it, for developmental and informative purposes, on the other hand. Additional to communication, mediation of learning activities, regardless of the age and level of the target group, regulates relations between the educator and the educated and relates affect-motivational factors with the 125


extended outside the classroom, include the family, media involvement, or of the social groups they belong to (directly and indirectly) in the process. The issue of children with learning difficulties is more frequently discussed in academic circles, but rather poorly analysed and materialised in classrooms. Teachers rather identify such difficulties or declare the frequency of their occurrence in a certain school interval, but rarely identify their causes, establishing a suitable course for correction or removal. Even more rarely happens the implementation of preventive measures and the constant surveillance of the learning effort of each student. A very important aspect we must consider when approaching learning difficulty issues is the teachers’ confusion between deficiency and difficulty. Deficiency needs a more complex approach in terms of diagnosis and intervention measures, institutional and interdisciplinary collaboration being needed, whereas learning difficulty is mainly the responsibility of the teacher, who should be able to deal with such cases by proper mediation.

classroom or implementing it only occasionally; O3. Identify the relationship between mediation criteria and the specificity of learning difficulties; O4. Identify behaviours specific to mediation criteria in the teachers' work in classroom. Participants 187 primary school teachers from 52 schools in urban and rural areas were investigated. All teachers had more than 10 years in education, being enrolled in first didactic degree. Instruments In order to demonstrate the hypothesis and meet the proposed objectives an observation grid was used, which was filled in during assisted lessons. The grid was developed on the basis of class mediation criteria, taken from the Research Program of the Witwatersrand University, developed and coordinated by R. Feuerstein et al (Translation by Cognitive Sciences Association in Romania, 2002):  intentionality and reciprocity;  meaning;  transcendence;  competence;  self-regulation and behaviour control;  participation;  individualization;  planning purposes;  challenging interest;  self-change. The observation grid of the mediated learning experience included a series of activities initiated by teachers in order to optimize the learning process.

METHOD Aims Between January 2015 and July 2017, we conducted a study concerning the relationship between mediation and learning within preuniversity education activities. We started from the hypothesis that there are some causal relations between the way the teacher mediates learning and the various difficulties encountered by the student when he/she accumulates and processes the information or when he/she issues different responses for different work tasks or different questions. The objectives of this study were as following: O1. Identify the way the mediation criteria proposed by Reuven Feuerstein et al. are applied to the class; O2. Identify learning difficulties at Input, Processing, or Output levels under the conditions of a teacher who is not implementing mediated learning to the

Procedure The activities were grouped in ten sections according to mediated learning criteria, as following: 1. Intentionality and reciprocity  the teacher expresses his/her interest in the students and their work and contentment when they make progress;  the teacher is ready to reformulate something that was not understood and pays 126

Modern Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences. From Evaluation to Intervention  the teacher considers his/her students

more attention towards those who learn slow or are being more passive. 2. Meaning  the teacher shows to his/her students the importance or value of the subjects discussed, their usefulness in everyday life;  the teacher shows explicitly the skills needed to fulfil a certain task. 3. Transcendence  the teacher relates the subject of the lesson to past or future subjects;  the teacher reveals the relation between the specific content and its aims;  the teacher asks the students to generalize starting from specific examples. 4. Competence  the teacher adapts stimuli to the student's competence level, by proper selection of teaching materials, simplifying, and slowing down the teaching and repeating rhythm;  the teacher adequately formulates the questions according to the development level of the student;  the teacher helps students to be aware of their progress;  the teacher reacts positively to each success of the student, even if the general results are not satisfying. 5. Self-regulation and behaviour control  the teacher helps students to adjust their behaviour, by asking them to focus on certain topics to read again certain paragraphs, to think before answering, and to check their own homework;  the teacher encourages students to organize their work and to prioritize activities;  the teacher applies group learning methods and encourages students to share their experiences with the others. 6. Participation  the teacher encourages students to help and to listen to each other;  the teacher imprints to his/her students’ sensitivity towards those around. 7. Individualization  the teacher accepts various answers, encouraging independent and original thinking;

responsible of their own behaviour and designates tasks that imply responsibility;  teacher allows students to choose some of the activities to be undertaken during class and encourages diversity of ways in which they use their free time. 8. Planning purposes  the teacher cultivates the students' need to establish their own purposes, as realistic as possible;  the teacher encourages perseverance, patience, and diligence in pursuit of goals;  the teacher forms students' capacity of planning, review and amendment of objectives in line with current needs and depending on the circumstances. 9. Provoking interest  the teacher encourages intellectual curiosity expression, originality and creativity and offers students the possibility to solve new tasks, in an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding. 10. Self-change  the teacher encourages self – assessment of individual progress;  the teacher helps students to monitor their changing process;  the teacher helps students to acquire learning autonomy by structuring their internal criteria for assessing progress;  the teacher discourages results based comparisons between students (e.g. hierarchy of values in the classroom). The teachers' activities evaluation was reported in a five-step scale, as follows: 1.The activity does not allow the appearance of mediated learning (No possibility = NP); 2.The teacher does not implement mediated learning in the class, not even when the activity allows it (Unused possibility = UP); 3.Mediated learning is consistently and successfully implemented (Usually implemented = UI); 4.Mediated learning is occasionally applied (Sometimes implemented= SI); 5.The teacher's activity is insufficient or opposing mediated learning criteria (Negation = N). In order to identify the relationship between mediation criteria and the emergence of 127


learning difficulties we proposed a detailed analysis of the results of the undertaken investigation. In this respect we associated the results obtained for each mediation criterion with the learning difficulties diagnosed at the level of input, information processing and output.

investigated teachers fail to provide arguments for the importance or value of a subject, focusing on a theme without explaining the reason for doing this. With regard to this criterion, mediated learning is implemented consistently and successfully in most cases (UI=79.13%, SI=9.03%, UP=5.19%). In cases when the activity does not allow the meaning mediation (NP=5.25%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=1.4%), students encounter the following learning difficulties:  They cannot identify the main ideas of a text;  They cannot draw the moral lesson of a story;  They cannot answer to the topic of the discussion or debate;  they cannot identify the reasons to support an argument;  They do not have a full perception of reality, elements being perceived separate, without any connection to one another;  They do not have the ability to use adjectives as „similar”, „the same as”, „different” in spontaneous speech;  They cannot make decisions implying comparing abilities (for instance using irrelevant criteria when modifying similarities and differences between phenomena);  They do not have the ability to make nondiscriminatory generalizations about events or people, without taking into account individual differences;  They are not able to find an adequate method to test a particular hypothesis (they rather guess or estimate than rely on empirical proof);  They use non-systematic and inefficient approaches when testing alternative hypotheses;  They are nor bale to choose appropriately because the alternative hypotheses were not successfully tested (they encounter difficulties when answering choice questions and choose impulsively);  They perceive the world as an unrelated sequence of events, separated, without any connection one to another;

RESULTS The results of the investigation show that 83.57% of the teachers investigated mediate intentionality and reciprocity as they organize educational activities taking into account the increased interest and motivation of the students to the topic of the lesson, give students the opportunity to ask relevant questions, provide adequate feedback to their oral and written responses. Also, these teachers are ready to explain again something the students did not understand, without labelling or punishing. Only 3.51% of the teachers investigated do not realize the need of explaining again issues related to the lesson topic, and 12.92% are not interested in the students' interventions and responses during the activity. Regarding this criterion, mediated learning is implemented consistently and successfully in most cases (UI=83.57, SI=9.17%, UP=3.26%). When the activity does not allow mediation of intentionality and reciprocity (NP=2.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=1.5%) the students encounter the following learning difficulties: d. Lack of confidence when facing new things; e. Low motivation when approaching a new or difficult task; f. Underdeveloped investigation strategies and decreased cognitive motivation to search and integrate all information needed to solve problems. Considering meaning mediation, 64.75% of the teachers investigated insist on the importance and value of the subject of the lesson, explaining the reason of focusing on the subject. These teachers frequently ask questions like “how” and “why”, questions connected to the process, giving students immediate feedback. Only 18.32% of the 128

Modern Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences. From Evaluation to Intervention  They need to return to specific operations;  They encounter difficulties when

 They cannot connect events or observe

similarities between objects in order to operate generalisations and inferences.

associating effect to its cause or when they have to see the consequences of an action;  They encounter difficulties integrating an event into a certain category, and the similarities to other events are not perceived;  They encounter difficulties at the level of forming concepts, abstract thinking or integrating new material. Transcendence mediation is achieved by 59.31% of the teachers in the studied sample. They explain a principle or concept going beyond the immediate situation, linking the subject of an activity to previous or future lessons. They explain as well, how the process based on problem solving can be used in various situations and they encourage the use of skills that are useful in many situations. 43.74% of the teachers do not explain how different skills can be used in different contexts, and 9.12% of them present each topic as an isolated set of ideas and information, unrelated to other data. Regarding transcendence mediation, it is consistently and successfully implemented in most cases as well as in this particular case (UI=59.31%, SI=7.92%, UP=5.29%). When the activity does not allow transcendence mediation (NP=14.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=12.98%) students encounter the following learning difficulties:  They enumerate data without taking into consideration the necessity to find meaningful connections or to assimilate these to an adequate scheme;  They count or add mechanically, without a real understanding of the number concept;  They are not able to apply concepts, given the inability to summarize data in order to extract the important concepts;  They cannot apply a concept from an unfamiliar domain;  They cannot link present events to previous or future ones (meaning that they are strongly grounded to the „here” and „now”);  They cannot resolve tasks based on previously internalized processes;

Competence is adequately mediated by the investigated teachers. They select and present an accessible form of the material, according to the students' development level, they ask questions accordingly, encourage students to be aware of the progress achieved, reported to personal standards. 85.14% of them break down complex tasks into small ones, in order to reduce the risk of not understanding, and consequently the appearance of anxiety. They reward also the successful steps taken towards fulfilling a task and taking part of the whole activity. Only 23.65% of the investigated teachers reward the correct result of a problem, without taking into account the intermediate steps, correctly accomplished Competence mediation is provided by most of the teachers (UI=90.67%, SI=2.07%, UP=1.14%). When the activity does not allow competence mediation (NP=4.5%) or the teacher's activity is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=1.62%) students have the following learning difficulties:  Inability to detect incongruity between different information sources (they cannot identify errors);  Weak data correction skills and inability to connect data, as well as weakly developed reflexive thinking;  Lack of intuition when solving a case;  Low interest in detecting problems;  Lack of perseverance in accomplishing tasks (they give up quickly and easily);  Reluctance to try something new or to test a new method when failing to fulfil a task;  Emotional outburst (crying, denying to respond, etc.) Self-regulation and behaviour control represent a mediation criterion referring to the management and self-management of learning. The investigated teachers succeed in adequately mediating self-regulation and behaviour control, up to 71.06%. They control the students' impulsivity, encouraging self-discipline, developing respect, commitment and perseverance in class 129

Sibiu, Romania, November 2017  They present materials illogically, given

activities. Only 3.20% of the teachers do not succeed to help students control their impulsivity, and in 1.30% of the cases communication takes place only in one way, not implying students in active learning. In most of the cases self-regulation and behaviour control are consistently and successfully mediated (IO=71.06%, IU=6.28%, PN=4.67%). When the activity is not favouring the mediation of this criterion (NP=12.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing it (N=5.49%), students encounter the following learning difficulties, because of inadequate self-regulation and behaviour control:  Disorganized activity, poor concentration on tasks and not-systematized approach of learning subject;  Lack of control, difficulties in adjusting speed, accuracy and precision necessary to fulfil a certain task;  Inadequate interpretation of oral language, even if hearing is properly developed;  Misinterpretation of instructions and questions;  Poor understanding skills, obstructing the correct interpretation of the message during speech;  Random and impulsive guessing of answers;  They do not think before beginning an activity and do not plan it;  They tend to repeat errors and cannot learn from mistakes;  They learn little from unstructured learning environments;  They encounter difficulties when defining and keeping a goal in mind, or repeatedly changing strategies;  Random and unplanned communication of data until finding solution by chance;  Poor communication skills (they rather use gestures than words);  They give incomplete and deficient response, by omitting or distorting data and details;  Description is limited, responses are unclear, vague;

the lack of comparison and insufficient summarizing at the level of elaboration phase;  They use responses obtained by trying and mistaking and argument them by using language deficiently, leading to vague information;  They excessively insist on irrelevant details;  They reproduce incorrectly and inaccurately using a model (they omit details when copying a figure);  They do not have the ability to focus on relevant visual stimuli (or instance they copy wrongly a word from the blackboard);  They do not have the ability to behave adequately (they fret, having difficulties in waiting for their turn);  They do not have the ability to pay sufficient attention to details;  They cannot form correct answers, based on partial data;  They can form correct responses in one way but not another (for instance they give a correct response but misspell it);  They say the first answer that comes to their mind in order to impress their colleague or teachers, proving their agility. Participation mediation is realised in the largest proportion. 98.73% of the teachers use efficient group teaching methods, encouraging students to share their working experiences with the others. These teachers encourage as well their students to help one another, developing tutoring and encouraging student to empathize with the feelings of others. Only 2.14% of the teachers do not verbalize the applied strategies when they solve a problem and do not encourage active listening when someone responds. 1.45% of those investigated do not succeed to promote tolerance and understanding of the other's point of view. Regarding this criterion, mediated learning is consistently and successfully implemented in most of the cases (UI=98.73%, SI=0.19%, UP=0.29%). When the activity does not allow participation mediation (NP=0.7%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this 130


criterion (N=0.09%), students encounter the following learning difficulties:  They engage an egocentric behaviour (they consider their own point of view and have difficulties in accepting different opinions).  They perceive their surrounding only from their point of view (they cannot integrate different opinions or approaches; they reject those who try to argument their own point of view);  They consider that others think in the same manner and they encounter difficulties in elaborating, extending or arguing their answers;  They do not respect others (social requests) and consequently may respond inappropriately in relation to the situation;  They depend on specific instructions or the teachers' resources and they are unable to rely on their own information or previous experiences;  They lack the abilities to search and extract information from various sources, even when they are at their disposal;  They tend to consider and focus on a single dimension or alternative;  They tend to consider only a part of the information needed to fulfil the task or to solve a problem;  They are unable to remember all the data needed to fulfil a task;  They update only a part of the information needed to solve a task and are unable to form a whole by combining the parts. Individualization involves the training of original and independent thinking, involvement in innovative activities. Individualization mediation is done effectively by 62.45% of the teachers investigated. They accept different solutions for the same problem, allow students to choose a part of classroom activities and encourage diversity in the use of leisure time, respect the right of every student to be different. Only 13.79% of those surveyed do not require students complete assimilation of beliefs and integrate different views. 34.15% of the teachers are not receptive to the students' suggestions and promote the same type of activities, promoting compliance to the detriment of individual creativity.

Individualization mediation is quite difficult to achieve, as it looks like (UI=62.45%, SI=11.09%, UP=12.51%). When the activity does not allow the mediation of individualization (NP=4.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=9.45%), students encounter the following learning difficulties:  Inability to engage in a situation, without previous planning;  Ability to solve immediate problems, “here” and “now”;  They cannot identify alternative solutions to the same problem;  They do not accept different points of view;  They are not able to apply the solutions given by colleagues, if they are contrary to their own views. The planning of goals is an individual and group competence, providing the optimization of the teaching-learning process. Purpose planning mediation consists in cultivating the students' ability and desire to establish realistic goals. The present study shows that only 52.13% of the teachers encourage perseverance and patience in achieving a purpose. Only 12.23% of them appeal to the students' individual purpose and not to the purpose formulated by the teacher in the draft lesson plan. Only these teachers develop in students the need and ability to reformulate their goals according to the change of needs and circumstances, encouraging student autonomy vis-a-vis their own future. Most of the teachers, respectively 76.13% are prescriptive, referring to their own goals, 2.38% of them formulate unrealistic goals, reported to the students' abilities. Purpose planning is the most difficult criterion to achieve by teachers, being consistently and successfully implemented in fewer cases than the other criteria (UI=49.68%, SI=19.17%, UP=13.29%). When the activity does not allow the mediation purpose planning (NP=14.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=3.36%), students encounter the following learning difficulties:  They are not able to postpone award in order to plan and invest on long term; 131

Sibiu, Romania, November 2017  They are not aware of their own purposes

VIII. They do not have the ability to find original solutions to problems or to create an original text; IX. They focus only on activities that satisfy their own needs, not paying attention or failing to integrate in group activities; X. They give up quickly when failing to find the solution to a problem; XI. They cannot deal with group learning activities. Self-change has as an intermediate stage the self-assessment of individual progress. The ability of self-assessment is formed progressively, once eliminated underappreciation or over-appreciation errors. The mediation of self-change is effectively realised by 82.12% of the teachers evaluated in this study. They promote the self-assessment of individual progress, encouraging students to use external criteria in order to evaluate progress (the group's results) as well as internal criteria (individual needs, abilities, expectancies, etc.). These teachers emphasize the importance of the developing of awareness of the self-changing (relating to the self, the others and the environment). 32.75% of the teachers assess students explicitly comparing them to group standards, emphasizing the comparison of grades/ratings. 2.14% of them systematically label students, making them behave according to the teacher's expectancies. Regarding self-changing mediation, many of the investigated teachers implement it consistently and successfully (UI=82.12%, SI=5.37%, UP=1.29%). When the activity does not allow the mediation of self-changing (NP=4.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=6.72%), students encounter the following learning difficulties: V. They cannot describe their own learning behaviour and cannot analyse the method use when approaching a task; VI. They do not mobilize to solve group or individual tasks, using all accumulated abilities and knowledge; VII. They permanently manifest unconditioned acceptance of the imposed tasks, without regarding their own needs or opinions connected to it;

and have the tendency to comply with the purposes imposed by the teacher or colleagues;  They do not mobilize in order to establish, seek or achieve personal goals;  They are not aware of the importance of the practical applicability of the acquired knowledge or the purpose of assimilating (personal benefits);  They do not take an account of their own needs at cognitive, affective or relational level, and do not satisfy them conscientiously. Encouraging intellectual curiosity is achieved by mediating the challenging of interest of the students. In the present study 81.21% of the investigated teachers succeed to encourage the originality and creativity of the students, offering them new, complex situations, challenging them to think at their own examples, and presenting them later to the group. 10.12% of the teachers have a conformist behaviour, discouraging divergent thinking. They present to the students standard situations, inhibiting originality in accomplishing of an activity. Only 3.15% of the teachers fail to induce perseverance to students in accomplishing difficult tasks. Regarding this criterion, mediated learning is consistently and successfully implemented in most of the cases (UI=81.21%, SI=9.17%, UP=3.29%). When the activity does not allow the mediation of interest challenging (NP=4.5%) or the activity of the teacher is insufficient or opposing this criterion (N=1.83%), students encounter the following learning difficulties: IV. They cannot tolerate the postponing of appreciations and expect immediate rewards (or punishments) for their actions; V. They do not have a systematic searching behaviour (they do not retrace steps in order to correct mistakes); VI. They regard a situation/problem only from a single perspective, lacking the ability to identify problems or similar situations, leading to generalizations; VII. They rely predominately on imitation when adopting a behaviour or giving a response; 132


VIII. They do not know where they made mistakes when getting poor grades or negative appreciations from others; IX. They lack self-appreciation criteria and cannot be valued in the group; X. The easily allow labelling, complying with subjective hierarchies; XI. They are not aware of their own learning progress and do not report to others in order to achieve an objective self-assessment; XII. They are poorly extrinsic or intrinsic motivated to learn.

more on personal goals rather than on the training of students to identify and achieve their own purposes. Most of the learning difficulties occur when there is not an adequate mediation of selfregulation and behaviour control (24 difficulties), meaning (16 difficulties), participation (10 difficulties), provoking interest (8 difficulties), self-changing (8 difficulties), transcendence (7 difficulties), competence (7 difficulties). The less learning difficulties occur in the case of inadequate mediation of intentionality and reciprocity (3 difficulties), individualization (5 difficulties), and purpose planning (5 difficulties). Although the mediation criteria are equally involved in developing learning difficulties, regardless of their type (input, processing, output), we noted a certain correspondence between the category they belong to and the various mediation criteria. In this respect, when intentionality and reciprocity, purpose planning, individualization and selfregulation and behaviour control are not adequately mediated, difficulties occur especially in the area of collecting information. At the level of information processing students encounter difficulties when the teacher does not mediate adequately meaning, transcendence and competence. Regarding the difficulties encountered by students in communicating responses, these occur especially when the teacher does not mediate participation, provoking interest, and self-changing during the class activity. Although the present study is an ascertaining one, it does provide an insight into the identification of the strategies for training teachers on activities that help to improve teaching-learning-assessment, so that learning difficulties are significantly reduced, and the students' potential is constantly valued. On the other hand, we believe that the improvement of programmes should be reviewed in terms of implementation of the evaluation criteria, centred on the teacher’s communication and mediation instead of on how to observe the curriculum or to achieve a series of rigid didactic objectives, separated from the educational context and the needs

CONCLUSIONS From the didactic perspective, the issue of students with learning problems constitutes a challenge for teachers and psychologists. The topic of this work starts from the idea of revaluation of the models given by current research in order to improve pedagogical interaction–learning report. The responsibility for implementing strategies of improvement, prevention and elimination of cognitive dysfunctions that trigger students' difficulties when collecting information, their processing and communicating appropriate responses to situations of evaluation is the responsibility of teachers who are not just sources of information and trainers, but especially mediators of learning activities (Milcu, 2010). The present study seeks to prove the way in which the teacher's mediating behaviour regulates the students' learning behaviour. In this respect, the consistent and successful implementation of the ten mediation criteria proposed by Reuven Feuerstein et al. (1998) leads to the decrease of some learning difficulties. On the other hand, when the teacher's activity does not allow adequate mediation of certain criteria or the didactic activity is opposing them, a series of specific learning difficulties occur. Teacher’s behaviour in class corresponds to adequate mediation, regarding intentionality and reciprocity, competence, self-changing, participation, challenging interest (over 80% of the investigated teachers). From the ten criteria, the planning of purposes is the least mediated (49.68%), with teachers focusing 133


and difficulties of the students when learning. A teacher enrolled to achieve the level I didactic qualification should prove didactic competences that are grounded in school reality, where students take part in individual learning courses, according to the traits of their personality.

differences in the prediction of coping and psychological symptoms. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 787. Maier, M. (2010). The development of metacognitive behaviour, Ed. Universității de Nord, Baia Mare. Milcu, M. (2010). The negotiation in educational organizations. An experimental approach, in Rusu Costache (ed.), Quality management in higher education, UT Press, Cluj Napoca, I, 611-614. Milcu, M. (2010). Managementul proceselor de comunicare vs. managementul relaţiilor interpersonale. Comunicare şi interacţiune, in Milcu, M. Cercetarea psihologică modernă. Direcţii şi perspective. Individ, grup, organizaţie: studii aplicative, Ed. Univ. Bucureşti, 207-210. Odom, S. L., Brantlinger, E., Gersten, R., Horner, R., Thompson, B., & Harris, K. (2005). Research in Special Education: Scientific Methods and Evidance - Based Practices. Exceptional Children, 71(2), 137148. Piko, B. (2001). Gender Differences and Similarities in Adolescents' Ways of Coping. The Psychological Record. (2), 51, 223. Turner, E. A., Chandler, M., & Heffer, R. W. (2009). Influence of parenting styles, achievement motivation, and self-efficacy on academic performance in college students. Journal of College Student Development, 50(3), 337-346.

REFERENCES Broderick, P.C. şi Korteland, C. (2002). Coping style and depression in early adolescence: relationships to gender, gender role, and implicit beliefs. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. 201. Chapman, P.L. & Mullis, R.L. (1999). Adolescent coping strategies and self-esteem. Child Study Journal. (1), 29, 69. Cook, B., & Cook, S. (2011). Thinking and Communicating Clearly Abaut EvidanceBased Practice in Special Education. Arlington: Divizion for Research, Council for exceptional Children. Diamond, R.M. (1998). Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: A Practical Guide, revised edn San Francisco, JosseyBass. Feuerstein, R. (coord.) (2002). The experience of mediated learning in and outside of class, The programme of cognitive research of the Witwatersrand University, trans. The Association of Cognitive Sciences in Romania, Cluj-Napoca. Lengua, L.J., Stormshak, E.A. (2000). Gender, gender roles and personality: Gender

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Chapter XI. Parenting styles as predictors of school inclusion among persons with physical and motor disabilities in rural versus urban areas in Romania Lucian Negoiţă University of Bucharest, Romania, [email protected] Abstract: The main aim of our research was to fill the scientific gap of knowledge regarding optimal academic adaptation with consequences upon inclusive education of persons with physical and motor disabilities in Romania, by trying to uncover the possible determinants of such adaptation, like parenting styles, using a wide range of possible educational outcomes i.e. standard school assessment, intrinsic motivation as well as satisfaction with school life. The participants were 121 students with physical and motor disabilities, from Romania. The main results showed that, although mother parenting style, namely mother responsiveness, positively predicted satisfaction with school life as well as intrinsic motivation for learning and father control added a significantly incremental value to the prediction model, standard school evaluation could not be predicted by parenting style dimensions. Furthermore, moderation analyses showed no significant interaction between area of residence (rural/urban) and the predictors, as initially assumed. We conclude that the two parenting styles could possibly contribute to better school inclusion and, in Romania, additional research on the relationship between parenting styles and academic outcomes among persons with physical and motor disabilities is needed. Key-words: academic adaptation, physical and motor disabilities, parenting styles, selfdetermination, empathy, residence involvement) and control (controlling, supervision, and pressure to grow). Thus, we have 4 possible combinations that bind the two theories:  High responsiveness and high control => authoritative parenting style  High responsiveness and low control => permissive parenting style  Low responsiveness and high control => authoritarian parenting style  Low responsiveness and low control => negligent parenting style. This model was shown to be very useful regarding the positive or the problematic behaviour of children generally speaking. Some studies (e.g. Gómez and Romero, 2003) have shown that the parenting style creates

INTRODUCTION Children's, adolescents’’ and college students’ well-being, as well as their success in the educational field rely heavily on a complex system of variables. Scientific literature shows that one important and prominent variable is parenting style (Baumrind, 1971, 1991). This author has been the proponent of four parenting styles, namely: the authoritative, the authoritarian, the permissive, and negligent parenting styles. Another scientific contribution to the aforementioned theory and taxonomy of parenting styles comes from Maccoby & Martin (1983) which categorize the parents on two distinct dimensions: responsiveness (warmth, emotional support, acceptance, 135


specific daily behaviours in children and the best ranked parenting style would be the authoritative style followed by the authoritarian style whereas the permissive and negligent styles have been associated with problem behaviour in children. The initial results have been also later replicated by Blatt-Eisengart and Cauffman’s (2006). The empirical results shown also that concerning the academic success, the parenting styles predicted well the academic performance as well as well-being in students (de ex. Aunola, Stattin & Nurmi, 2000, Huang & Prochner, 2004, Turner, Chandler & Heffer, 2009). On the other hand, concerning students with disabilities Raya et al. (2013, p. 210) stated that “Something that seems to be evident, in disabled children and in nondisabled ones, is that interaction with their parents and their educative style can be decisive in their academic performance and in their adaptation to the closest environment.” In the Romanian socio-cultural context, the results obtained world-wide have been only partially replicated. Consequently, the assumption that the parenting style (based on the control support dimensions) have significantly predicted children academic results (Necşoi, Porumbu and Beldianu, 2012) have received partial confirmation. Practically using hierarchical multiple regression, the aforementioned authors predicted school achievement (grades) having parenting styles as predictors. Their conclusions were: “our findings support the

idea that parenting style dimensions (parental control and parental support) are stronger predictors of school achievement than socio-demographic variables.” (p. 207) Being more specific to the case of Romania a relatively large proportion of students live and are educated in rural areas and the characteristics of those areas are more disadvantaged than urban areas (Stanef, 2013; INS, 2011). We can exploratory expect that there will be differences in the aforementioned relationships according to residence of the students with motor and learning disabilities. Having no previous literature in Romania regarding the specificity of our study undertaken kept this objective exploratory. Although, the chosen design is crosssectional and correctional data is analysed using multiple regression which by itself cannot prove causality, based on the reviewed theoretical assumptions we consider the parenting style as a cause of a basic personality traits and corresponding behaviour, which are an expression of socialising and begin to be build early in life (Baumrind, 1971, 1991) which have consequences on educational outcomes. Following this line of thinking, we consider academic performance as a variable which occurs later in life. The schematic representation of the study model can be seen in the Figure 1 below.

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This models, regardless of their confirmation or not, could be best explained by Selfdetermination theory where relatedness, control, play and important role for wellbeing, generally speaking (e.g. Hancox et al., 2015) but also specifically to persons with disabilities Wehmeyer, 1998). That is why we prefer to choose to define optimal academic adaptation through intrinsic motivation and education environment well-being along with traditional school based assessment.

money (Responsibility) or Has given me freedom to select the subject for study (Control). The parenting scale measures the two dimensions on a Likert scale within 5 levels ‘Very right’ (5), ‘Mostly right’(4), ‘Sometimes right, Sometimes wrong’(3), ‘Mostly wrong’(2),‘Very wrong’(1). The authors reported that the scale has adequate psychometric properties on the studied sample with correlation coefficients of 0.80 for the responsibility dimension and 0.76 for the control dimension with Usha and Manjusha (2006) parental style scale, which attests the convergent validity of the new built scale. The well-founded theory based items construction attests the content validity of the scale. Regarding reliability, the authors reported correlation coefficients on the testretest method 0.81 - responsibility dimension and 0.83 - the control dimension. Although the authors of the scale built it based on the Anglo-Saxon cultural context the construction of items in the Indian context suggested that the scale could be especially suited to the socio-cultural context where the items were built, according to our opinion the scale has a real face validity for the Romanian context, and the translation was done using the translation back translation method (Brislin, 1970). The Cronbach alpha coefficients obtained in our study were: Mother responsiveness .80, Father responsiveness .92, Mother control .93, Father control .90.

OBJECTIVES Our study has the main aim to uncover the relationships between parenting styles and educational outcomes among persons with physical and motor disabilities. For that purpose, 3 scales have been also minimally adapted for research purposes in Romania METHOD Participants The participants of our study were 121 college students (38.1 %) and pupils (61.9 %) disabilities from urban (45%) and rural areas (55%) of Romania, aged 14-37 years old (M=21, SD=2,34) Instruments Together with socio-demographic questionnaire we administered the following questionnaires: Parenting Style Scale The Parenting Style Scale used in this study was developed by Gafoor & Kurukkan (2014) as a scale designed to capture the parenting styles as perceived by the children regarding both parents in separately. At the basis of the construction of the scale was the theory from which we started in the realization of our study, the theory of Baumrind (1971), with the later improvements we have previously discussed, namely the dimensions of responsibility and control Maccoby and Martin (1983). The scale contains 38 items, half measuring the size of the responsibility, and half that of control. The scale is in the public domain. From the combination of the two dimensions, one of the four parenting styles mentioned above can be obtained. Examples of items are: Inquires how I spend

Satisfaction with school life (SWLS) Satisfaction with school life is a psychometric measure also found in the public domain with respect to copyright, and captures what has been called in the literature the hedonic wellbeing state (Deci & Ryan, 2001), SWLS is the cognitive evaluation of the state well-being by subjective comparison with an ideal. The scale can be used both to supplement certain clinical scales in clinical evaluation and as a periodic assessment tool to highlight the progress of clinical interventions (such as psychotherapy). The scale has a special notoriety for measuring well-being subjective 137


status, being found to be valid and true in countless studies from extremely diverse sociocultural contexts, including Romania. Adaptation and establishment of initial psychometric properties in Romania have been undertaken, among others, in a recent research (Stevens et al., 2013) where more detailed information on the scale, scale reliability, scale validity of the Romanian SWLS of the original version could be found. The authors reported good psychometric properties. SWLS 5 items rated on a Likert scale with 7 levels. For this research we have transformed SWLS as a general assessment of well-being in the specific educational field, thus respecting the general principle of the comparison between the ideal of each pupil and the school reality, obtaining a measure of satisfaction with the school. An example of the item is: I am satisfied with my school life. The SWLS School obtained a Cronbach alpha of 0, 83, and had moderately correlated with the Scale of Vitality r(119) = 0.61, p0,05) and positive values for the other four. The highest correlation index is between academic grades and consciousness (r=0.18, n=81, p>0.05). On the other hand, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient has a significant value for the 0.05 (1-tailed) when calculating correlation between academic grades and Icahan index (r=0,202, n=101, p=0,043), showing that a congruence index with high values is associated with higher academic grades, allowing an estimation of the variable value of academic grades in a percentage of 4%. Considering, based on existing Occupational codes that the best description for interests generically associated with the occupation of psychologist are represented by the Social and Investigative type, we ca see that 84.11% of participants in this study have such characteristic. This situation allows us to say that Psychology students have an interest profile that matches the occupation of psychologist, the existence of this profile allowing us to predict a high level of stability and satisfaction in practicing their future profession. Social and Investigative types are associated, in the studied group, with a high level of amiability and emotional stability. Thus, we can see that belonging to the group of subjects whose SDS code starts with S or I is associated with a higher gross score for amiability (M=51,50, SD 1,17 vs. M=44,46, SD=2,65) and emotional stability (M=45,52, SD= 1,21) vs. M=39,54, SD=2,72).

CONCLUSIONS By analysing the frequency distribution regarding summative SDS codes and descriptive data about the occupation of psychologist and its subcategories, we can see that there are few normative/regulatory descriptions in Romania and that they cover a small range of occupations listed under the generic term of psychologist. This situation prompts an objective limitation for the present study, i.e. the small number of existing codes for the cultural and professional context in Romania, implying a careful interpretation of data. Conclusions based on this interpretation can only be viewed as exploratory. As with other similar studies, the Iachan Index seems to have a limited capacity to explain the variation of the academic results factor (approx. 4% on this study), the correlation between the two being significant for the threshold of 0.05. Predicting 4% of the academic results variation, albeit statistically significant, may show the complex constellation of personal, motivational environmental factors involved in academic success. As other studies showed, (Wright et al., 1995, for example) even if they are significant predictors, personality factors generally explain the variance of success to a small extent. The results of the study showed the same phenomena highlighted by Tsabari, Tziner & Meir, (2005), who pointed out that a series of factors, such as congruence, are associated with performance, but the power of the effect is small. Also, in agreement with Donohue (2006), our data seems to show that professional interests measured in psychology students predict somehow the persistence and stability in university, as well as future stability in the profession of their choice. But the objective limitation of this study prompts a more cautious interpretation of the data, and further studies are necessary in order to allow generalisation for the Romanian context. REFERENCES Albu, M. & Porumb, M., (2009). CAS++ Personalitate și interese. In Miclea, M., 279


Porumb, M., Cotârlea, P., & Albu, M. (coord.) CAS++ Cognitrom Assessment System. Cluj-Napoca: ASCR. Busato, V., Prins, F., Elshout, J., & Hamaker, C. (2000). Intellectualability, learning style, personality, achievement motivation and academic success of psychology students in higher education. Personality and Individual Differences, 29(6), 1057-1068. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s01918869(99)00253-6. Donohue, R. (2006). Person-environment congruence in relation to career change and career persistence. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68(3), 504-515. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jvb.2005.11.002. Holland, J. L., Powell, A. B., & Fritzsche, B. A. (2009). Self-Directed Search: Ghid profesional de utilizare (Romanian version, by Pitariu, H., Vercellino, D. & Dragoș, I.) București: O.S. România. Holland, J.L., (2009) Caiet de identificare a ocupațiilor (adaptat în România de H. Pitariu, D. Vercellino, & I. Dragoș) Bucureşti: O.S. România. Ionescu, M. (2013). Predicting Professional Performance of Higher Education Teachers. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 76, pp. 393-397 Judge, T., Heller, D., & Mount, M.K. (2002). Five Factor Model of Personality and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology. DOI: 10.1037//00219010.87.3.530. Komarraju, M., Karau, S., & Schmeck, R. (2009). Role of the Big Five personality traits in predicting college students' academic motivation and achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 19(1), 47-52. http: //dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2008.07.001. Kuncel, N. R., Hezlett, S. A., & Ones, D. S. (2004). Academic Performance, Career Potential, Creativity, and Job Performance: Can One Construct Predict Them All? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(1),148-161. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.148 Lounsbury, J. W., Sundstrom, E., Loveland, J. M., & Gibson, L W. (2003) Intelligence, “Big Five” personality traits, and work drive

as predictors of course grade. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1231-1239 McKenzie, K., & Schweitzer, R. (2001). Who Succeeds at University? Factors predicting academic performance in first year Australian university students. Higher Education Research &Development, 20(1), 21-33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 07924360120043621. Niles, S. G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. A. (2015). Intervenții în dezvoltarea carierei în secolul 21. (V. ș. Armașu, Trad.) Cluj-Napoca: Editura ASCR. Nye, C., Su, R., Rounds, J., & Drasgow, F. (2012). Vocational Interests and Performance: A Quantitative Summary of Over 60 Years of Research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 384-403. Ordinul nr. 123/2015 privind modificarea şi completarea Clasificării ocupațiilor din România (COR) (2015). Bucuresti. Pigott, T. (2001). A Review of Methods for Missing Data. Educational Research and Evaluation, 7(4), 353-383. http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/edre.7.4.353.8937. Reardon, R., Bullock, E., (2004). Holland’s Theory and Implications for Academic Advising and Career Counseling, NACADA Journal, 24 (1&2). Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students' academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2),353-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0026838. Tsabari, O., Tziner, A., &Meir, E. (2005). Updated Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Congruence and Satisfaction. Of Career Assessment Vol 13, Journal (2), 216 232. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1177%2F1069072704273165 Wright, P., Kacmar, M., McMahan, G., & Deleeuw, K. (1995). P=f(M X A): Cognitive ability as a moderator of the relationship between personality and job performance. Journal of Management, 21(6),1129-1139. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/ 0149-2063(95)90025-x.

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Chapter XXVII. Evaluation of work ability through occupational stressors and individual characteristics of labour inspectors Dorin-Gheorghe Triff ¹, Monica Laura Maier ², Anişoara Pop ³ ¹ ² Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, North University Centre from Baia Mare, Romania [email protected] ³ University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania Abstract. Perception of labour inspectors’ occupational stress, one of the occupational groups highly affected by occupational stress, stress was investigated during periodic medical check-up, through a questionnaire that included: specification of causes of stress at work, "State / Trait Anxiety Inventory" (STAI), "Maslach Burnout Inventory", "General Self Efficacy scale" and "work ability index". Before the administration of questionnaires, glycaemia, cholesterol and lipemia were collected from the workers. VLDL cholesterol (p=0.028) and triglycerides (p=0.025) correlate significantly positively, with source of stress represented by risks of injury at work, while blood sugar correlates significantly positively only with age (p=0.013) and period of work in the unit (p=0.003). Work ability correlates significantly negatively with the following: state anxiety level (p=0.00), trait anxiety level (p=0.004), emotional exhaustion (p=000) and with sources of stress represented by communication with superiors (p=0.00), risks of injury at work (p=0.032), risks of disease (p=0.001), workloads (p=0.032), work schedule (p=0.002), daily completion of paper work (p=0.011). There is no difference in scores by age in the sense of work ability, stress levels, self-efficacy, trait-anxiety levels or burnout syndrome. Work ability is not influenced by age and by the individual characteristics but by the levels of stress perceived by workers. Key-words: occupational stress, work ability, stress factor, anxiety, emotional exhaustion. as needed to reach a specific purpose and it may be a protective factor against stress (Bandura, 1994). Stress sums up both a physiological and pathophysiological substrate as well as a psychological significance that includes affective, cognitive and behavioural manifestations. The sources of stress are very numerous and individual. Individual and organizational factors are numerous and can be interdependent. The perceived individual stress is in a continuous change of form (of causes, meanings and manifestations), the researcher noticing only its facets. The comparison is between the

INTRODUCTION From the groups of workplace stressors according to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), the following are mentioned and are considered to have an organizational impact: leadership, organization responsibilities, career, decision-making and control roles, and interpersonal relationships at work, job design, tasks and pace of work, work schedule (https://hw2014.osha.europa.eu/en/ stress-and-psychosocial-risks/what-are-stress -and-psychosocial-risks). Perceived Self-Efficacy is a construct that shows the capacity perceived by an individual 281


photograph and the (photographic) film represented by the continuous movement and modification of the forms. Likewise, stress can be partly revealed using such assessments by means of questionnaires. Although they only capture some aspects perceived by the subject, their importance cannot be neglected. It is similar to the importance of a photographic image in the recollection of events. In general, emotional reactions to stress involve negative affective states such as anxiety, fear and depression. More and more data from the literature suggest that in the appearance and development of anxiety disorders, the characteristics of the workplace can play an important role (Brodsky, 1988; Hobson & Beach, 2000). Workplace stressors are classified into two major types: "relational" and "concrete". "Concrete" stressors can be the following: excessive, multiple or disordered workloads, the impossibility of effective control of activities, etc. "Relational" stressors can be interpersonal conflicts, authoritarian style of the hierarchical leader, etc. Stressors have been studied through the perspective of career prospects, the complexity of occupational roles, professional tasks, inter-professional relationships as well as the economic contexts of institutions. Among the first explanatory models of stressors in the professional environment there are those that envisaged linear causal relationships and then systemic causality relationships. Stress is seen as a result of interactions between personality traits and stressful features. Personality traits explain the variability of the psychological and physiological response to stressors with implications on the feeling of personal effectiveness as well as on "perceived stress" and the use of effective coping strategies. Burnout, a particular form of occupational stress, occurs in workers with a high level of involvement, ambitious, well-trained in work. The aging of the European Union labour force raises many challenges for occupational health and safety, especially those relating to the maintenance of work capacity and to the exposure to risk of older workers who are even more vulnerable and become sick more

easily.

OBJECTIVES The assessment of work ability in terms of occupational stress factors and individual characteristics in a county labour inspectorate. METHOD During occupational medical check-up, scheduled and performed at the headquarters of the unit for 2 days in July 2017 in the first hour after the entry into the work shift, workers were asked to volunteer for filling in a questionnaire consisting of 6 parts: A. The first part, specifying the individual characteristics of the worker: age, sex, type of residence (rural or urban), accumulated service as a unit employee in terms of years worked in that unit, level of studies. B. The second part presents the causes of stress and their frequency in the workplace according to the topic of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, by means of a questionnaire with answers on an increasing frequency scale (never = 0, very often = 3) (Table 1). For purposes of statistical processing, questionnaire answers to some variables were coded in ordinal variables. C. The questionnaire representing the General Self-Efficacy Scale ("General selfefficacy scale") assessing perceived personal effectiveness. The maximum possible value of the score is 40 (Baban & Schwarzer, 1996). Table 1. Possible causes of stress at workplace for labour inspectors No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 282

Possible causes of stress in the workplace unable to change unpleasant aspects communication with superiors / support from superiors increased responsibility risks of disease Wage / remuneration levels risks of injury communication with other


8

employees workloads

9 10

work schedule daily completion of documents

comparing individual departments or company sections as well as individual groups of employees and age groups (http://www.ageingatwork.eu/?i=ageingatwo rk.en.tools.4). The questionnaire has a valid applicability in occupational health research and the daily practice of occupational health care (de Zwart, Frings-Dresen & van Duivenbooden, 2002). F. Maslach Burnout Inventory for the evaluation of emotional exhaustion (Maslach & al. 2001) (Maslach, C. & colab., 2001), Maslach & Jackson, 1981). We have studied the perceived level of stress according to its causes and the correlations that the scores of the main identified causes of stress have with the individual factors, respectively, with the levels of anxiety and burnout. A major point of interest was the identification of factors that significantly influence workers' ability to work. The data analysis software that was used included Epi Info v. 3.5.3, EXCEL 2010, SPSS v 16.0. Statistical tests used: KruskalWallis test, Mann-Whitney test (U test), ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman correlation coefficient (CC) for correlations between questionnaire variables. The p value was significant at 0.05. For purposes of statistical processing, questionnaire answers to some variables were coded (Table 2).

D. State/Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) allows the assessment of anxiety-state and anxiety-trait. (Spielberger, 1993). The anxiety level is an incomplete parameter of the stress state. The anxiety level can range between 10 (minimum) and 40 (maximum) on this scale. E. "Work Ability Index" (WAI) designed by the Finnish Occupational Health Institute is a validated tool that evaluates the individual working capacity of a particular employee based on the following dimensions: the current work capacity compared with the best one ever had by the worker in relation to the job requirements; the worker’s number of diagnosed diseases or the limiting conditions they suffer from; perceived impairment of work capacity due to illness; the duration of the medical leave they took during the last year; own forecast on 2-year work capacity (http://www.ttl.fi/en/health/wai). The WAI can be used both for individual employees and for groups of workers. This instrument can also be applied as an analysis tool both to the whole company and to the whole workforce of a company. According to WAI values, it offers the possibility of

Table 2. Coding used for statistical processing Variable Questionnaire answer Coding used in statistical processing sex Female Female=0 Male Male=1 Residence Urban Urban=1 Rural Rural=0 Sources of stress at 1.. to ..10 never (= 0) workplace rarely=1 often=2 very often = 3 Education A) Vocational school, A= 1 B) High-school, B= 2 C) Post-secondary C= 3 school D =4 D) Higher education

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age for female workers is 48.6 years (ranging from 34 to 54 years), and 51.23 years for the male workers (aged between 37 and 60). Age in the unit is higher for female workers (mean 15.57 years with values between 1 to 38 years) as compared with male workers in the studied group, i.e. mean 14.6 years (with values between 1 and 25 years). (Table 4).

RESULTS Out of a total of 58 employees, there were 48 workers who completed the questionnaires. With the exception of 3 employees residing in the countryside, the other workers in the unit live in the urban environment (Table 3). The gender ratio in the studied sample was females/males = 1.66 (sex ratio) (Fig. 1). All workers have higher education. The average

Table 3. Respondents’ distribution according to gender and type of residence Type of residency rural

Frequency

Percent %

M

1

33.3

0.8

90.6

F

2

66.7

9.4

99.2

3

100,0

M

17

38.6

24.4

54.5

F

27

61.4

45.5

75.6

44

100.0%

Total urban

95% Confidence interval

gender

Total

Table 4. Age by gender in the labour inspectorate gender men women

Obs. 18 30

Mean 51.72 48.60

Variance 61.27 53.62

Std Dev 7.82 7.32

gender

Minimum

25%

Median

75%

Maximum

Mode

men women

37 34

46 43

52 49

59 54

60 59

60 54

advisors, one is a driver and one is an auditor (Fig. 2).

men; 18; 38% women; 30; 62%

women

men

Fig. 1. Sex ratio in the labour inspectorate From the point of view of occupied positions/titles, 40 of the respondents are labour inspectors, 4 are chiefs (one is chief inspector, 3 are department heads), 2 are legal

Fig. 2. Distribution of labour inspectors according to occupied position 284


Except for "unable to change unpleasant aspects" as a source of stress in workplace, there are no differences in the average score of sources of stress by position in the labour inspectorate (Table 5).

From the point of view of occupied positions, significantly (ANOVA, p=0.0304) stress represented by "unable to change unpleasant aspects" is an increased stress source for the chief inspector and auditor.

Table 5. The average score "unable to change unpleasant aspects" stress sources by position Obs. Total Mean Variance Std Dev auditor

1

2.00

2.00

0.00

0.00

chief

4

8.00

2.00

0.66

0.81

driver

1

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

inspector

40

35.00

0.87

0.471

0.68

jurist

1

1.00

1.00

.00

0.00

Table 6. The age by position in the labour inspectorate Obs. Total Mean auditor 1 58 58 inspector 40 1984 49.6 legal advisor 2 94 47 chief driver

4 1

207 46

51.75 46

Table 7. The mean value of VLDL cholesterol by gender Obs. Total Mean

Variance .000 59.01 32

Std Dev .00 7.6 5.6

86.25 0.0

9.28 0.0

Variance

Std Dev

men

16

472.0000

29.5000

88.8000

9.4234

women

24

485.0000

20.2083

95.8243

9.7890

Kruskal-Wallis, p=0.0017 Before the administration of questionnaires, glycaemia, cholesterol (total and VLDL fraction) and lipemia were collected from the workers. There are no significant differences at the level of Age in terms of their position (Table 6). There are no significant differences at the WAI scores of the employees of the inspectorate in terms of their position (Fig.3). Average scores of workplace stressors are generally below average significance (average significance = 1.5), but there are differences in the representative studied sample (Fig. 4). The highest points in the graph correspond to

the following causes of workplace stress: "increased job-specific responsibility", "level of remuneration/wages" level and "need for activity records / daily completion of different forms". The minimum points in the chart correspond to the following causes of workplace stress: "illness risks" and "workplace injuries", "how to communicate with other employees", and "work program". The burnout score is low (44.7) and the anxiety levels also have low values of 35.1 (state anxiety) and 35.95 (trait anxiety). The average WAI of 44.7 shows a good work ability for workers. 285


The only sources of stress in which scores are equal according to the sex variable is represented by the position responsibility and the level of remuneration (Fig. 5). Significantly increased stress sources in men as compared with female workers are: "Daily completion of forms" (ANOVA, p=0.017; Bartlett Test p=0.7653), "risks of injury at workplace" (ANOVA, p=0.0203; Bartlett, p= 0,65), "risks of disease at workplace" (ANOVA, p=0.0472; Bartlett, p= 0.29), "unable to change the unpleasant aspects in the workplace " (Mann-Whitney, p= 0.0016), "communication with / and support from superiors" (Mann-Whitney, p= 0.0008).

Fig. 3. Mean values of WAI according to labour inspectors’ positions

Fig. 5. Average scores of stress sources by sex variable In 2015, during the medical examination, these items (stress sources) were monitored through voluntary participation, in a number of 21 workers from labour inspectorate (20 labour inspectors and one driver). Average scores of stress sources show differences between these years (Fig. 6). We notice an increase in the stress linked with the risk of injury and the work schedule and a decrease in the level of stress linked with the level of remuneration and communication with the superiors.

Fig.4. Mean values of stress sources at the workplace From the point of view of gender, male workers have significantly higher VLDL cholesterol than female employees (Table 7). From the point of view of the gender variable, men generally have an increased perception of almost all sources of workplace stress as compared with female workers. 286


(depending on the studied items), of the trend and differences in the unit perception of the stress levels according to employee causes. Average scores of anxiety, emotional exhaustion and self-efficiency show differences in the two years (Fig.7). Correlations among questionnaire variables VLDL cholesterol correlates significantly with triglycerides (CC=0.999**; p=0.00). VLDL cholesterol (CC=0.348*; p=0.028) and triglycerides (CC=0.354*; p=0.025) correlate significantly, positively, with source of stress represented by risks of injury at work while blood sugar correlates significantly, positively, only with age (p=0.013) and period of work in the unit (p=0.003). Cholesterol (total value, not VLDL fraction) correlates significantly, positively, with (CC=0 .413**; p= 0.008. ”Age” variable correlates positively only with the variables “period of work in the unit” (CC= 0.513** p= 0,000) and state anxiety level (CC= 0.314*, p= 0.03).

Fig. 6. Average scores of stress sources in 2015 and 2017

"Increased responsibility at work" variable correlates with: "risks of disease at workplace" (CC= 0.592**, p=0.000), "wage level" (CC= 0.429**, p= 0.03), "risks of injury at workplace" (CC=0.613**, p=0.000), "mode of communication and / or relationships with other employees" (CC=0.433**, p=0.03), “workloads" (CC= 0.589**, p=0.00). "Work schedule" (CC= 0.50**, p=0.00), "daily completion of documents" (CC= 0.623**, p=0.00), state anxiety level (CC= 0.353*, p= 0.016). "Wage level" besides the correlation mentioned with the variable "increased jobspecific responsibility", presents positive correlations with the following variables: "risks of disease at workplace" (CC=0463**, p=0.001), "risks of injury at workplace "(CC= 0.404**, p= 0.005), "mode of communication and / or relationships with other employees " (CC= 0.396**, p = 0.018), “workloads" (CC= 0.396**, p = 0.007). "Work schedule" (CC= 0.289*, p = 0.049), "daily completion of documents" (CC= 0.527**, p=0.00), “emotional exhaustion” (CC= 0.294**, p=

Fig.7. Average scores of anxiety, emotional exhaustion and self-efficiency in 2015 and 2017 Although the complexity of the factors that intervene in these differences does not allow drawing scientifically validated conclusions, this model of representation illustrates suggestively, through the metamorphosis of” stain stress” at the organizational level 287


0.047) and “state anxiety level” (CC= 0.335**, p= 0.021). "Unable to change unpleasant aspects in the workplace" variable correlates positively with: "communication with / and support from superiors" (CC=0.743**, p=0.00), "mode of communication and / or relationships with other employees"(CC=0.424**, p=0.003), "work tasks" (CC=0.333*, p=0.022), “daily completion of documents" (CC=0.358*, p=0.013), "risks of disease at work" (CC=0.289*, p=0.046) state anxiety level (CC=0.399**, p=0.005), trait anxiety level (CC=0.603**, p=0.00), emotional exhaustion (CC=0.492**, p=0.00), and negatively with self-efficacy (CC=-0.402**, p=0.005). "Workloads" variable correlates significantly with the following: “unable to be involved in changing unpleasant aspects” (CC=0.333*, p=0.022), “communication with superiors“ (CC=0.298*, p=0.042), “increased responsibility” (CC=0.589**, p=0.00), “risks of disease“ (CC=0. 561**; p=0.00), “wage levels“ (CC=0.396**, p=0.007), “risks of injury” (CC=0.496**, p=0.00), “communication with other employees“ (CC=0.574**, p=0.00), “work schedule“ (CC=0.697**, p=0.00), “daily completion of documents” (CC=0, p=0.00). Work ability (WAI) has the following significant correlations, all positively:” communication with / and support with superiors” (CC= -0.534**, p=0.00), "risks of disease at workplace" (CC= -0.468**, p=0.001), "risks of injury at workplace" (CC=-0.309*, p=0.032), "workloads" (CC=0.339***, p=0.020). "Work schedule" (CC=0.442**, p=0.002), "daily completion of documents" (CC= -0.364*, p=0.011), emotional exhaustion (CC=-0.641**, p=0.000), state anxiety level (CC= -0.0518**, p=0.000) and trait anxiety level (CC= 0.406**, p=0.004).

Increased results in “Unable to change unpleasant aspects” as a source of stress at the level of organizational decision makers (chief inspector, chiefs of department and auditors), indicates that future research needs to show if in the labour inspectorates these positions have either the legal decision possibility to change at least some of the unpleasant aspects or a structural legal constraint can be introduced. However, it is important for decision-makers in an organization to believe or to hope they can change the unpleasant aspects of the workplace even if those unpleasant aspects are just personal. Otherwise, it is hard to believe that intervention programs to reduce stress or improve health and safety at work could succeed. This study shows the importance of addressing the perceptions that decision makers have on their ability to change something. As well as the causes that make them pessimistic in this sense. Communicating with hierarchical superiors, disease risks and workplace injuries, the need for daily work records / daily completion of various forms, the impossibility of correcting unpleasant workplace issues are all significantly more significant sources of stress in male as compared with female workers. Age does not differentiate workers from the point of view of workplace stress levels, general self-efficacy, burnout syndrome, trait anxiety or work capacity. Older employees are having an increased level of anxiety as compared with younger ones. The decrease in workers' work capacity is associated with increased levels of anxiety and stress in the workplace, primarily with work and work schedules, the routine of filling in the forms, the risks of illness and injury. Working capacity is not influenced by age and individual worker characteristics, but by the levels of stress perceived by them: increased perceived stress is associated with decreased work capacity. Thus, the presented data recommend knowing the "organizational chart" and addressing stress both at organizational and at individual level with the help of effective programs of prevention and coping with stress sources,

CONCLUSIONS The main sources of stress of workers in the labour inspectorate are represented by the increased responsibility of the workplace, the level of remuneration, and the routine of daily filling in of different forms. 288


indicating that these elements may have a positive influence on the workers’ capacity of work.

Finish Institute of Occupational Health. Work Ability Index, avalaible at URL: http://www.ttl.fi/en/health/wai/ (accessed in 25.07.2017). Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013 of the European Commission. AGEING AT WORK Project. Work Ability Index. avalaible at http://www.ageingatwork.eu/?i=ageingatwork.en. tools.4. Maslach, C. & colab. (2001). Job burnout, Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422. Maslach, C., & Jackson, S.E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour. 2: 99-113. doi: 10.1002/job. 4030020205. Spielberger, C.D. (1993). Inventaire d'Anxiété Etat-Trait forme Y. Paris, Centre de Psychologie Appliquée. De Zwart B.C., Frings-Dresen M.H. & van Duivenbooden J.C. (2002). Test-retest reliability of the Work Ability Index questionnaire. Occup Med (Lond). Jun; 52(4):177-81. avalaible at https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12091582 (accesed in 30.10. 2017).

REFERENCES Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy. In Ramachaudran V. S. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of human behavior, Vol. 4, 71–81. New York: Academic Press. Brodsky, C.M. (1988). The psychiatric epidemic in the American workplace. Occupational Medicine, 3, 633–662. Hobson J. & Beach J.R. (2000). An investigation of the relationship between psychological health and workload among managers. Occupational Medicine, 50, 518– 522. Baban, A, Schwarzer, R. (1996). General Self-Efficacy Scale (accessed in 25.07.2017). Available at http://userpage.fu-berlin.de /~health/rumania.htm. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. The 2014–15 Healthy Workplaces Campaign. Avalaible at URL: https://hw2014.osha.europa.eu/en/stress-andpsychosocial-risks/what-are-stress-andpsychosocial-risks (accessed in 25.07.2017).

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SECTION 5. MILITARY PSYCHOLOGY. FORENSIC SCIENCES AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY

291


Chapter XXVIII.……. Screening for depression in military forces using Beck’s Cognitive Triad Stefan Lita Psychological Services Section, Romanian Gendarmerie, Bucharest, Romania [email protected] Abstract: The cognitive triad, cognitive bias and negative self-schemas are three useful concepts to explain and understand depression, and they are the building blocks of Beck’s theory of depression. The cognitive triad is a negative and irrational view of ourselves, our future and the world around us and can be measured with the Cognitive Triad Inventory (Beckham et al. 1986). However, instabilities in the CTI factor structure across different studies have been noticed on both Polish (Śliwerski, 2014) and German (Pössel, 2009) samples, which may emphasise methodological or conceptual flaws in theory or tool. The study examined the Romanian version of CTI in a nonclinical sample of 866 adults working in military units. The mean age was 37.28 (SD=6.23) with a span of 22 to 53 years and 98% were male with a mean professional experience of 12 years. Individuals were asked to rate how the item applies to them on a 7-point Likert scale. The analysis showed that: (a) the mean of CTI score was 173.5, while the mean of the three scales were 61.5, 56.2 and 55.7; (b) the reliability analysis revealed that internal consistency coefficient for the CTI score (α=0.80) is good, although the coefficients of the scales are much lower; (c) the correlations between the subscales ranged from 0.58 to 0.65 and the correlations between the CTI score and the three scales were 0.84, 0.88 and 0,86; (d) an item based exploratory factor analysis resulted in 7 factors that explain 51% of the total variance explained (TLI=0.90, RMSEA=0.001) and a confirmatory factor analysis of the three scales indicated one factor solution (CFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.001). According to current data the components of the cognitive triad are not discrete factors and the division into self, world, and future is an unwieldy taxonomy with highly overlapping categories, therefore we may conclude the Cognitive Triad Inventory measures only one factor, which might be named Negative Thinking or Negative Attitude. Key-words: cognitive triad, methodological or conceptual flaws, nonclinical military sample INTRODUCTION Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and one of the priority conditions covered by WHO’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme. It is generally recognised that depression is among the most burdensome of all disorders, because of its high prevalence and strong adverse effects on role functioning.

Depression in military forces Depression can affect anyone at any time and military service members are at a particularly high risk for developing these conditions. In fact, the Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses among Veterans and active duty military (Schwartz, 1997; Hoge, 2004; Seal, 2009). Recent studies also confirm that

293


depression is seen much more often in military service members than in civilians. According to a recent study conducted in the US (Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members, 2014) the rate of major depression is five times higher among soldiers than among civilians, intermittent explosive disorder six times higher, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) nearly 15 times more. At the same time, a study conducted in UK has found that members of the UK armed forces are twice more likely to develop depression or anxiety than members of the general working population. The results showed that 18% of men and 25% of women in the forces described symptoms of common mental disorders, as compared with 8% of men and 12% of women in other areas (Goodwin, 2015). It is not surprising that military personnel might suffer from a high level of depression because exposure to highly stressful life experiences, such as military combat, was one of the most documented risk factors for depression. Moreover, research has suggested that depression might be as common as, or perhaps even more common than, posttraumatic stress disorder among combat veterans (Ramchand, 2008; Iversen, 2005). However, more research has been carried out on the prevalence and correlates of PTSD than depression among military personnel (Gadermann, 2012). Taking into account these findings, the present study attempts to investigate the negative cognition held by military personnel in charge of public safety.

the activation of the negative cognitive pattern. According to this model there are three main components useful for understanding the psychological substrate of depression: a) cognitive bias; b) negative selfschemas; c) the negative triad. a) Cognitive Bias. Beck found that depressed people are more likely to focus on the negative aspects of a situation, while ignoring the positives. They are prone to distorting and misinterpreting information, a process known as cognitive bias. b) Negative self-schemas. A schema is a ‘package’ of knowledge, which stores information and ideas about our self and the world around us. These schemas are developed during childhood and depressed people possess negative self-schemas, which may come from negative experiences. A person with a negative self-schema is likely to interpret information about themselves in a negative way, which could lead to cognitive biases. c) The negative triad. Beck claimed that cognitive biases and negative self-schemas maintain the negative triad, a negative and irrational view of ourselves, our future and the world around us. For sufferers of depression, these thoughts occur automatically and are symptomatic of depressed people. Beck proposed the term “Negative Cognitive Triad” because he observed the tripartite nature of the negative cognitions of depressed individuals related to the self, world and future (Beck 1967). This triad consists of three major cognitive patterns that induce the patient to regard himself, his future and his experience in an idiosyncratic manner. Using the Beck’s words (1979), we may remind that a depressed patient:  Has a negative view of himself and he tends to attribute his unpleasant experiences to a psychological, moral or physical defect in himself. The patient believes that because of his presumed defects he is undesirable and worthless and he lacks the essential attributes to attain happiness and contentment.  Has a tendency to interpret his ongoing experiences in a negative way. He sees the world as making exorbitant demands on him

The cognitive model of depression and Beck’s cognitive triad Beck, Rush, Shaw and Emery (1979) developed a widely accepted and empirically supported theory that explains the development and maintenance of depression. The cognitive model of depression evolved from systematic clinical observations and experimental testing (Beck, 1963, 1964, 1967). The cognitive model views the symptoms of the depressive syndrome as consequences of 294


or presenting insuperable obstacles to reaching his life goals, therefore he misinterprets his interactions with environment as representing defeat or deprivation.  Has a negative view of the future and anticipates that his current difficulties or sufferings will continue indefinitely? When he considers undertaking a specific task in the immediate future, he expects unremitting hardship, frustration, deprivation and. failing. Negative thoughts about the self, world and future characterize the depressed state and the cognitive triad has the role of to activate other symptoms of depression. The triad has been empirically linked to depression in many studies using measures of low self-esteem, pessimism and hopelessness (Haaga, Dyck, & Ernst, 1991) and has been noticed that the elevated scores on negative cognition inventories during depressive episodes falls to within the normal non-depressed range once the depression remits (Blackburn et al., 1986; Dobson, Shaw, 1986; Dohr et al., 1989; Hamilton, Abramson, 1983; Hedlund, Rude 1995; Hollon et al., 1986).

METHOD Participants Respondents were 866 adults working in military units. The mean age was 37.28 (SD=6.23), with a span of 22 to 53 years, and 98% were male, with a mean professional experience of 12 years. Instruments This Beck‘s negative triad can be measures with the Cognitive Triad Inventory (Beckham et al. 1986) which consists of 36 items and comprises three scales: View of the Self, View of the World, and View of the Future. The final version of the American CTI showed good to excellent internal consistencies ( = .91 for view of self,  = .81 for view of world,  = .93 for view of future,  = .95 for total scale), and the CTI total scale correlated with the Beck Depression Inventory (r = .77). Moreover, the three CTI scales demonstrate mediate to high inter-correlations (self – world: r = .71, self – future: r = .70, world – future: r = .66). The Romanian version of the Cognitive Triad Inventory was used. The scale contains 36 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale and evaluates three dimensions: View of the Self, View of the World, and View of the Future. Negatively phrased items were reverse coded in a way that high scores represented positive views and low scores represented negative views.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the present study was to conduct a psychological screening of military personnel using the cognitive triad and to investigate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Romanian CTI in a nonclinical sample.

295


Figure 1. Statistical summary for CTI 296


Scales CTI Total Score View of the Self View of the World View of the Future

Table 1. Scale Reliability Statistics Gutmann's McDonalds' Cronbach's α λ6 ω 0,804 0,855 0,831 0,642 0,655 0,647 0,557 0,603 0,602 0,527 0,608 0,608

Procedure The analyses were focused on the fidelity, the factor structure and the criterion validity of the CTI (age, sex, professional status). Minitab and JASP were used to analyse data.

Average interitem correlation

0,14 0,15 0,13 0,13

Factor Analysis High correlations between the subscales suggested that a single underlying dimension might be present. An item based exploratory factor analysis resulted in 7 factors that explain 51% of the total variance explained. A scale based exploratory factor analysis indicated one factor solution that accounts for 74% of the variance. Moreover, a confirmatory factor analysis of the three scales indicated also one factor solution (CFI=0.99, RMSEA=0.001).

RESULTS Descriptive statistics Figure 1 presents a statistical summary for the CTI total score. It can be noticed that the mean of CTI is relatively high, the mean of CTI score was 173.5, while the mean of the three scales were 61.5, 56.2 and 55.7. The correlations between the subscales ranged from 0.58 to 0.65 and the correlations between the CTI score and the three scales were 0.84, 0.88 and 0.86. In the same time, according to Anderson-Darling Normality Test, the variables have a deviation from the assumption of normality.

Table 2. Fit indices for Exploratory Factor Analysis TLI RMSEA Chi-Sq. df p 511,589

246

0,001

0.90

0.001

Reliability analysis For the calculation of internal consistency, I used three coefficients, Cronbach, Gutmann and McDonalds. As can be seen in Table 1, the internal consistency indices obtained are high for the CTI Total Score (0.80-0.85), but quite small for the CTI scales (below 0.70). Internal consistency for the CTI score was very high (a=0.948) on both American and Polish samples. Figure 3. Scale based Confirmatory Factor Analysis According to current data there was no clear separation of negative thoughts and the division into self, world, and future is an unwieldy taxonomy with highly overlapping categories.

Figure 2. Item based Exploratory Factor Analysis 297


Table 3. Fit indices for Confirmatory Factor Analysis CFI RMSEA Chi-Sq df p 511.589

3

0.001

0.99

strong (1-2) and decisive (2BF10=0.140;) high versus low experience (BF01=10.527>BF10=0.095) and male and female (BF01=3.35>BF10=0.298).

Criterion validity In order to evaluate how the scale was operating in different groups, a comparison between the results of different categories was conducted. Table 4. Descriptive statistics for groups Mea Groups N SD n Young 35< 435 172.9 12.48 Old 36> 431 173.9 13.87 Low experience 515 173.2 13.33 High 351 173.8 12.99 experience Male 849 173.5 13.27 Female 17 171.4 8.55

The means provided in Table 4 show that small differences between old and young respondents, high versus low experience respondents and male and female respondents. Taking into account that the scores of CTI presents significant deviation from normal distribution, I decided to use Bayesian inference to test the difference between the above mentioned groups. According to Jeffreys (1961), Bayes Factor could be interpreted as substantial (0.5-1),

Figure 4. Bayes Factor Robustness Check for Old versus Young respondents’ groups Therefore, we have: a) moderate evidence that there are no significant differences between old and young respondents, b) strong evidence that 298


there are no significant differences between high versus low experience respondents. c) moderate evidence that there are no significant differences between male and female respondents.

these thoughts are not always consistent with the actual facts. The objective of the present study was to conduct a psychological screening of military personnel using the cognitive triad and to investigate the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Romanian Cognitive Triad Inventory in a non-clinical sample. Main findings The analysis yields three main conclusions. First, the results showed that the mean CTI score was 173.5 and no statistically significant differences were detected between different categories of personnel (young versus old, low versus high experience, male versus female). Second, the reliability analysis revealed that internal consistency coefficient for the CTI score is good (α=0.80), although the coefficients of the scales are much lower. Third, a factor analysis of the items did not yield support for Beck's tripartite model of negative cognitions about the self, world, and future, but rather yielded seven factors with a combination of cognitions from all three domains. Furthermore, a factor analysis of the scales confirmed that CTI may be used to measure one factor named Negative Thinking or Negative Attitude. The tripartite nature of the negative cognitions received some critics from conceptual and methodological perspectives. For example, Haaga (1991) questioned the conceptual distinctiveness of the three components of the triad and suggested that it might be clearer to reduce the cognitive triad to a single dimension of negative view of self. He considered that the negative view of future is related to the self and can be regarded as a subcomponent of a global negative self-view. In the same time, the negative view of the world might be also related to the self, as an interpersonal subcomponent. On the other hand, the methodological distinctiveness of the three components has been also questioned after a singular onedimensional negative view of the self, had been obtained by McIntosh & Fischer (2000) who stated that "The present data for the CTI suggest that the components of the triad are

Figure 5. Bayes Factor Robustness Check for High versus Low Experience groups

Figure 6. Bayes Factor Robustness Check for Male versus Female groups CONCLUSIONS The underlying idea of the cognitive theory of depression is that depressed individuals hold negative views of themselves, of the world, and of the future (the cognitive triad) and 299


not discrete factors but are rather commonly saturated by a single dominant factor, which we have named Self-Relevant Negative Attitude”. Instabilities in the CTI's factor structure across different studies have been also noticed on both Polish (Śliwerski, 2014) and German (Pössel, 2009) samples, and also on the children CTI version (Greening, 2005) which may emphasise methodological flaws of the instrument or conceptual problems of the theory.

2. Other-demandingness. might be best represented by the following thinking pattern: "Significant people with whom I relate or associate, absolutely must, under practically all conditions and at all times, treat me nicely, considerately, and fairly. Otherwise, it is terrible and you are rotten, bad, unworthy people who will always treat me badly and do not deserve a good life and should be severely punished for acting so abominably to noble me!" This other-directed form of demandingness often leads to strong feelings of anger, rage, fury, hurt, jealousy, and selfpity and to disruptive behaviours like love addiction, fights, vindictiveness, riots, homicides, feuds, wars, and genocide. 3. World-demandingness. might be best represented by the following thinking pattern: "The conditions under which I live (my environment, the ecology, the economic and political conditions) absolutely must, at practically all times, be favourable, safe, hassle-free, and quickly and easily enjoyable, and if they are not that way it's awful and I can't stand it. I can't ever enjoy myself at all. My life is impossible and hardly worth living!" This form of world-demandingness often leads to low frustration tolerance and strong feelings of self-pity, despair, anger, and depression, and to dysfunctional behaviours like withdrawal, inertia, procrastination, phobias, and addictions. As we have just seen there is a high similarity between the Beck’s negative triad and Ellis’s absolutist triad, both models emphasise automatic and irrational believes that leads to dysfunctional consequences and mental health issues, Unfortunately, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy has been impaired by severe misrepresentations in the scientific literature and a large part of its scientific potential was not used properly (David, 2015).

Beck’s negativism vs. Ellis’s absolutism Beck's cognitive triad, also known as the negative triad, is an irrational and pessimistic view of the three key elements of a person's belief system present in depression. and the concept is used as part of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, particularly in Beck's "Treatment of Negative Automatic Thoughts" (TNAT) approach. Using the same cognitive paradigm, Albert Ellis (1957, 1962, 2003) proposed a different kind of cognitive triad, also known as the demandingness triad, which emphasises the irrational and absolutistic thinking with regard to the self, to others, and to the world. According to the REBT theory of human disturbance, we "foolishly raise our strong goals, desires, and preferences, into unrealistic, overgeneralized, self- (and social) sabotaging absolutistic shoulds, oughts, musts, and commands, most of which come under three main categories: 1. Self-demandingness. might be best represented by the following thinking pattern: "I, myself, absolutely must, under practically all conditions and at all times, perform well and win the approval of significant others. If I fail in these important respects, that is awful and I am a bad, incompetent, unworthy person, who will probably always fail and deserves to suffer." This ego-oriented form of demandingness often leads to strong feelings of self-hatred, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and to dysfunctional behaviours like procrastination, withdrawal, and obsessiveness.

From the negative triad to the positive triad The cognitive triad involves "automatic, spontaneous and seemingly uncontrollable negative thoughts" about the self, the world or environment and the future. However, control of most intense feelings may be 300


achieved by changing patient’s ideas and by helping him realize that he has tailored the facts to fit his preformed negative conclusions. As a consequence, the depressed person may understand that his initial negative interpretations are biased if he is persuaded to reflect on these less negative alternative explanations. Recent research showed that individuals who had higher level of resilience held significantly more positive cognitions and reported significantly higher levels of lifesatisfaction and lower levels of depression. In the end, the cognitive triad might be regarded from a positive psychology standpoint (Mak, Ng, & Wong, 2011), therefore would be better to have:  Positive view of self. Viewing yourself in a positive light is a major starting point for the healing of negative wounds and having selfconfidence when dealing with hardships. Resilient individuals believe in their ability and skill to manage difficult or unexpected circumstances. We are likely to have more positive self-talk, believe change and accomplishment is easy instead of difficult, and be overall more motivated when we feel good and view ourselves positively.  Positive view of the world and others. Resilient people are more likely to find and develop social resources. They believe that others are trustworthy and good, and are willing to seek helpful and advantageous resources when necessary. Furthermore, when we see in the world a benign and generous place, we begin to take interest in others and seek new opportunities and experiences to boost our well-being.  Positive view of the future. Resilient people have a sense of hope and optimism with regard to the future. When things go awry, the outlook we hold can make or break our persistence. A positive and optimistic outlook gives us a sense that, despite hardships, things will turn out fine, and we will find a way to manage and cope with struggles. Be aware of your perspective and beliefs about yourself, the world, and your future, and understand that shifting your views can prompt the positive feedback loop

you need to begin an upward spiral in positive emotion. To conclude, we could state that screening for depression in the active duty military population is an important step toward the prevention of the adverse effects on role functioning and the assessment of negative thoughts might be a useful approach. REFERENCES Anderson, K. W. & Skidmore, J. R. (1995). Empirical analysis of factors in depressive cognitions: The Cognitive Triad Inventory. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 603-609. Beck, A.T. (1963). Thinking and Depression: Idiosyncratic Content and Cognitive Distortions, Archives of General Psychiatry 9:324-33. Beck, A.T. (1964). Thinking and Depression: Theory and Therapy, Archives of General Psychiatry 10:561-71. Beck, A.T. (1976/1979). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: Penguin Books Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, aspects. New York, NY: Harper & Row. Beck A.T., Rush A.J., Shaw B.F., Emery G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press. Beckham EE, Leber WR, Watkins JT, Boyer JL, Cook JB. (1986). Development of an instrument to measure Beck’s cognitive triad: The Cognitive Triad Inventory. J Consult Clin Psych. 54(4): 566–567. Blackburn, I. M., Euson, K. & Bishop, S. (1986). A 2-year naturalistic follow-up of depressed patients treated with cognitive therapy, pharmacotherapy and a combination of both. Journal of Affective Disorders, 10, 67– 75. David D. (2015). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). In R. L. Cautin & S. O. Lilienfeld (Editors-in-Chief), Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell: Hoboken, NJ. Dohr K. B., Rush A. J., Bernstein A. H. (1989). Cognitive biases and depression. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 98, 263–267. Gadermann A. M., Engel C. C., Naifeh J. A., Nock M. K., Petukhova M., Santiago P. 301


N., Benjamin Wu, Zaslavsky A M. and Kessler R. C. (2012). Prevalence of DSM-IV major depression among U.S. military personnel: Meta-analysis and simulation. Military Medicine. Aug; 177(8 0): 47–59. Goodwin L., Wessely S., Hotopf M., Jones M. (2015). Are common mental disorders more prevalent in the UK serving military compared to the general working population? Psychological Medicine, Volume 45, Issue 9 July, 1881-1891. Haaga, D. A. F., Dyck, M. J., & Ernst, D. (1991). Empirical status of cognitive theory of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 215-236 Hamilton E, Abramson L. Cognitive patterns and major depressive disorder: A longitudinal study in a hospital setting. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1983; 92:173–184. Hedlund S, Rude S. (1995). Evidence of latent depressive schemas in formerly depressed individuals. Journal of Abnormal Psychology; 3:517–525. Hoge C.W., Castro C.A., Messer S.C., et al: (2004). Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems, and barriers to care. N Engl J Med; 351(1): 13– 22. Hollon S.D., DeRubeis R.J., Shelton R.C., Amsterdam J.D., Salomon R.M., O’Reardon J.P., et al. (2005). Prevention of relapse following cognitive therapy vs medications in moderate to severe depression. Archives of General Psychiatry; 62:417–422. Ellis, A. (1957). Rational Psychotherapy and Individual Psychology. Journal of Individual Psychology 13: 38-44. Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. New York: Stuart. Ellis, A. (2003). Early theories and practices of rational emotive behavior theory and how they have been augmented and revised during the last three decades. Journal of RationalEmotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 21(3/4). Iversen A, Dyson C, Smith N, et al. (2005). ‘Goodbye and good luck’: The mental health needs and treatment experiences of British ex-service personnel. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186(6):480–6

McIntosh C.N., Fischer D.G. (2000). Beck’s cognitive triad: One versus three factors. Can J Behav Sci; 32(3), 153–157. Jeffreys, H. (1961). Theory of Probability, 3rd ed. Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. Śliwerski A. (2014). Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI) – preliminary study. Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 1: 47–54. Possel P. (2012). Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI): psychometric properties and factor structure of the German translation. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40 (2), 240-247. Ramchand R., Karney B.R., Osilla K.C., Burns R.M. & Caldarone L.B. (2008). Prevalence of PTSD, depression, and TBI among returning service members. In: Tanielian T., Jaycox L.H. (ed). Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 35–85. Schwartz D.A. (1997). Self-reported illness and health status among gulf war veterans: a population-based study. JAMA; 277(3): 238– 45. Seal K.H., Metzler T.J., Gima K.S., et al: (2009). Trends and risk factors for mental health diagnoses among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs health care, 2002–2008. Am J Public Health; 99(9): 1651–1658. Ursano R. J., Colpe L. J., Heeringa S. G., Kessler R. C, Schoenbaum M. & Stein M. B. (2014). The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members (Army STARRS) Psychiatry. Summer; 77(2): 107– 119.

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Chapter XIX. Prospecting juvenile delinquency. From risk evaluation to risk management. Assessing violent and criminal behavior Marius Milcu “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Centre of Psychological Research, Romania Association for Qualitative and Intercultural Studies in Psychology, Sibiu, Romania [email protected] Abstract: Juvenile delinquency and adolescent criminality are two complex phenomena with significant social and cultural impact. Although multi-disciplinary approaches constantly bring new information on these topics, there is still a margin of unpredictability regarding the causality and mechanisms of their occurrence. The physiological, psychological, emotional and social characteristics of that age-group cause the above-mentioned phenomena to take atypical, explosive forms, with great destructive potential and social danger. Our intetion is to build a valid and reliable evaluation intrument, that asseses the risk of antisocial and/or aggressive behaviors. The instrument would enable judicial practitioners to take rapid, efficient decisions regarding crime management and intervention strategies, that would address both singular and group criminal activity. Key-words: violent behavior, crime, aggressor, victim, abuse, humiliating treatment, constraint, social risk, evaluation, prediction. in social, medical, psychological, financial, costs this phenomenon entails, represent important features of the beginning of the 21st century. In this context, developing efficient measurement tools, which asses the risk of violent behavior and which, implicitly, predict the recidivism risk, becomes a priority among the interests of both specialists within the field and society as a whole. Our endeavour is not simply statistical, formal and ascertaining, but very dynamic, and takes into account an additional number of clinical, educational, social and cultural variables, in the effort to produce an ensemble of relevant quantitative and qualitative information, which will be the base of ulterior crime management interventions.

BACKGROUND Criminality in childhood and adolescence is an extremely delicate and controversial issue, which implies high social, psychological, emotional and financial costs. Young adult criminal groups are formed very easily and quickly and prove to be extremely effective in their antisocial activities. Another concern is that, although paradoxical, given the age-specific emotional and social immaturity, these groups act for long periods of time. This means that law enforcement institutions have difficulties in identifying and preventing these groups (Milcu, 2013 a, b, c). RESEARCH MOTIVATION The alarmingly young age at which criminal behavior debuts, along with a significant rise 303


An important element at the time was the higly restrictive human rights legislation, especially the posibility of hospitalizing a person against their will. The last 3 decades of the 20th century have significantly changed this perspective. The developing of human rights legislation has brought on tremenduous pressure on clinical practitioners. At the judicial practice level, there was a rapid shift towards distinguishing violent and nonviolent delinquents. Hospitalizing a person against their will became ilegal, and was possible only in rare, well defined circumstances. They drifted from evaluating the danger a mentally ill patient represented to evaluating a given individual’s risk of violent behavior, at a given time, in a certain social context. This new approach proved to be prolific, as it not only tried to register the existence of violent behavior, but to make predictions regarding the statistical probability of its occurance, correlated with various individual, social and cultural variables. Recently, the trend in assessing violent and criminal behavior is defined by specialists’ endeavours to develop intruments that facilitate risk management. The shift in accent, from risk evaluation to risk management, suggests individual intervention strategies and techniques, which entails involving a greater, multi-disciplinary team, consistent of: doctors, psychologists, priests, social workes, jurists, etc. Some of the instruments elaborated for this purpose are:  Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (Hare, 1991);  Screening for risk of inpatient violence: actuarial tool (McNiel et Binder, 1994);  HCR-20: Assessing Risk for Violence, deuxième version: (Webster et al. 1997);  SVR-20: Sexual Violence Risk (Boer et al., 1997);  SARA: Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (Kropp et al., 1995);  ESR Estimate of Suicide Risk (Polvi, 1997);  SORAG: Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (Quinsey et al., 1998);

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES O1. Identifying possible causal variables that determine antisocial and/or aggressive behaviors. O2. Conceptualizing these causal variables into easily quantifiable and measurable subvariables. O3. Articulating the identified variables and sub-variables in an evaluation instrument. O4. Testing the elaborated instrument’s functionality. SAMPLE Research group: 214 respondents (121 males and 93 girls). Age: between 11 and 17 years (not adults yet). The acts which constitute the reason for the indictment: theft of private and public possessions (private residencies, various stores or municipal facilities), battering, aggressive behavior, sexual offence. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The chosen method is the case study. The tools that we have used in order to achieve the research objectives are the following:  Anamnesis;  Psychological tests;  Sociometry;  Document analysis (depositions, testimonies, medical files, school records, etc.).  Interviews with various people (group members, friends, colleagues, police officers, lawyers, teachers, members of the families of those involved, etc.). ASSESSING VIOLENT AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, IN ORDER TO FACILITATE RISK MANAGEMENT Acknowledging the importance of the matter, clinical specialists have elaborated various violent behavior and social danger risk (that represent a criminal category) evaluation instruments, up until the 60’s. They conceptualized the problem in terms of investigating a patient with severe mental disorders, that represents a threat to those around him. 304


 VRAG: Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (Quinsey et al., 1998).

variables, clinical variables, criminal history and risk management. Starting from previous analyses, we have concieved a multidimensional intrument for measuring the risk of violent behaviors and, implicitly, for predicting recidivism.

ELABORATING THE ASSESSMENT TOOL We took into consideration a large number of variables: demographic variables, social

Tabel 1. Variables: demographic variables, social variables, clinical variables, criminal history and risk management Demographic variables

Social variables

Clinical variables

Age

Bad relations in family

Self-control difficulties

Previous criminal acts

Risk taking

The number of children within the family

Difficulties of adaptation in the workplace

Impulsivity

First criminal acts in early age

Deliberate exposure to less stabilizing factors

Adaptation difficulties in childhood/ adolescence

No personal, family, social support

Marital status

Negative values

Negative attitudes

Educational level

Negative social status

Mental illness

Relational instability Financial questions

Personality disorders

Criminal history

Breaking the curative actions

The failure of the previous actions of judicial supervision

Treatment resistance

Risk management

High level of stress

Addictions Antisocial lifestyle

Abnormal sexuality

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The educational level of the subjects varies:  Most of the research subjects attend school (80,3 %);  12,7 % had to take second examinations in several subjects;  4,1 % fail to graduate and attend the same form for an extra year;  3,2 % of the research subjects dropped out of school.

Unattainable plans

Medical record  Personal medical records: mental illness (3,9 %) or personality disorders (14,8 %);  Family medical background (grandparents, parents, brothers): mental illness (2,2 %) or personality disorders (11,4 %); Social environment The members come from different types of families, as follows: 305


 84,7 %: with social prestige within the community;  15,3 %: with bad social prestige within the community, meaning domestic fights, low or medium level of aggressive behaviours and criminality. Values Moral values: distinguishing the right from the wrong, that which is acceptable from that which is not. 73,6 % of the subjects exhibit significant confusion in personally interpreting right from wrong in a subjective, arbitrary manner. Religious values: human sacrality, freedom of faith and religious expressions; faith and revelations, spiritual feeling; self development aspiration and human fulfiment. 68,1% of the respondents fully lack religious values. Esthetical values: intuitive and imaginative thought, fixed on beauty and sensibility. Paradoxicaly, 59,3 % of the subjects assume certain artistical interests and values. Economical values: cost, value, money. Respondents are highly interrested in the economical values of existence. This is representative for 86,9 % of the subjects. Professional values: work, creating goods, utility. As expected, the research participants did not exhibit work-related values. We’re refering to 74,8% of the subjecs, that find work useless, unattractive and purposeless. Personal values: - Practicality: profit, profitability, own benefits; - Self-realization (successes, achievements, remarkable achievements); - Variety (placing yourself in novel, unusual situations,); - Decisiveness (refusing ambiguities, firm beliefs and following a fixed objective, good decizional algoritm); - Organizational spirit (orderly, rigurous, systematic approach) - Goal orientation (clearly setting interests and pourposes, strategies and directions); The research sample’s personal value configuration is ordered as follows: variety (84,3 %), practicality (81,9 %), goal orientation (72,4 %), self-realization (63,1

%), decisiveness (48,5 %) and, lastly, organizational spirit (32,4 %). Social, interpersonal values:  Dependence: the person is treated gently, understandingly, even respectfully at times, receives encouragement from the others;  Cofromism: by beahving, in accord wiht social conventions, resepecting rules;  Social regard: the individual is respected, praised, admired;  Independence: strives to take his/her own decisions, freedom of action;  Benevolance: generosity, gives suport to others;  Leadership: leads others, has authority over others, exerts power. The way in which (interpersonal) social values are articulated is, in itself, interresting. The most highly appreciated values are: social regard (89,2%), independence (83,1%), leadership (61,8%), conformism (42,2%), benevolance (19,6%) and, finally, dependence (23,6%). Financial backgrounds are very diverse. Some of the members come from:  23,7 %: well-situated families = 2 x (2 adults x the medium salary on economy);  61,2 %: regular families = 1 x (2 adults x average wage salary);  7,9 %: poor families = (1 adult x average wage salary);  7,2 %: even extremely poor families = (less than 1 adult x average wage salary). The way they use the benefits of the committed crimes (i.e. the money obtained from the sale of stolen goods) remains constant, as follows:  4,3 % of group members supports their families with money obtained from reselling the stolen goods;  18,6 % buys clothes;  31,5 % spend money for internet and games;  28,1 % buys gadgets (smart phones, tablets, etc.) ;  For 28,5 %, the money is used mainly for the acquisition and consumption of drugs and alcohol. 306


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The frequency of crimes committed There is no pattern in criminal behavior, yet it seems to occur occasionally, depending on the immediate needs of the individuals and groups, and on social environment and opportunities. Experience in criminal activities varies from 3 months to 6 years. This experience has not necessarily been accumulated in the same group. IMPLICATIONS FOR CRIME / RISK MANAGEMENT. CONCLUSIONS If elaborating an instrument for statistical analysis is easy, a dynamic instrument that has predictive value is harder to concieve and implement. Data obtained through administering such predictive instruments can found ulterior interventions, in the crime management effort, in the effort to reduce the incidence and costs these phenomena entail. Developing instruments for evaluating violent behavior risk and, implicitly, for predicting recidivism is methodologicaly difficult to accomplish, for they are eminently non-experimental and equally imply quantitative and qualitative approaches to a great number of clinical, educational, social, cultural and criminal variables. REFERENCES American Psychological Association; Quinsey, Harris, Rice and Cormier, 2nd Edition (2006). Violent Offenders: Appraising and Managing Risk; APA, Washington D.C. Belfrage, H., Fransson, G. & Strand, S. (2000). Prediction of Violence Using the HCR-20: A Prospective Study in Two Maximum-Security Correctional Institutions. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry 11 (1): 167175. Bergman, L. R. & Magnusson, D. (1997). A Person-Oriented Approach in Research on Developmental Psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology 9 (2): 291- 319.

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SECTION 6. RESEARCH IN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGS. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Chapter XXX. The dream teens project: from youth voice empowerment to junior research specialists Cátia Branquinho*1 & Margarida Gaspar de Matos 1,2,3 1

Faculty of Human Kinetics/University of Lisbon, Portugal, [email protected] ISAMB/Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon, Portugal, [email protected] 3 INSERM/University Paul Sabatier (Sabbatical grant Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) – SFRH/BSAB/135160/2017) 2

Acknowledgements: The authors thank the Aventura Social Team, The Dream Teens Group for their collaboration, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for funding the Dream Teens project, the Portuguese Society of Health Psychology for its financial management, the Faculty of Human Kinetics for its support, and the partnership of Lusíada University, of the ESCOLHAS Program (CHOICES program) and Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth. Cátia Branquinho is a doctoral student at the University of Lisbon (UL) (Grant number 800178).

Abstract: After four years of an action-research project aiming at empowering young people, promoting their active social engagement and participation and their active “voice”, this chapter analyses 1) how far was possible to promote the "voice" of youth regarding issues that directly affect them (study 1); 2) the quantitative impact resulting from the pre and post-test in terms of their expectations regarding the future, involvement in volunteer activities and leadership, and considering five dimensions: their feelings and competences for action, competences for problem solving, interpersonal skills, humanitarianism and feelings about life (study 2); and finally 3) the data resulting from the interviews with young people at the follow-up; the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the project (study 3). The main results are: 1) young people’s "voice" was stronger in subjects related to friends and society in general, while not so “heard” in school and in the local authority; 2) there was no statistically significant difference in the five dimensions pre-post test, although young people perceptions improved significantly in all dimensions, as well as the involvement in leadership activities and future expectations; 3) young people identify strengths: the project objectives, the debates, and relationships created; weaknesses: the demotivation of some participants; opportunities: the missed availability of local authorities to support youth and the invitations and visit to the national Parliament; threats: the bureaucracy of projects development, and the difficulty in communicating with some institutions, namely schools and local authorities. Key-words: Health Promotion; Life contexts; Social Participation; Social Support; Youth Empowerment; Youth‘ Participation; Youth‘ “Voice”. continue to be insufficient. Often perceived as problems rather than important resources (Benard, 1990; Kurth-Schai, 1988; Checkoway & Gutierrez, 2006) on issues that affect them, the young are often ignored as a

INTRODUCTION In Portugal and Europe, there are many research and intervention studies in the field of health, focused on the young population, but those that promote their participation 313


social group with their own value (Tsekoura, 2016). Given the importance of their inclusion and empowerment as agents of change, and the need to promote their visibility and participation in the issues of their generation (Matos, 2014, Matos & Simões, 2016), the Aventura Social team (http://aventurasocial.com) created Dream Teens http://dreamteens.aventurasocial.com; http://www.dreamteensen.aventurasocial.com) (Matos, 2015, Matos, Branquinho, Tomé, Camacho, Reis, Frasquilho et al., 2015). Starting in March 2014, this pioneer project in Portugal, involved and prioritized the "voice" and ideas of youth for health and wellbeing behaviours (Matos, Branquinho, Cruz, Tomé, Camacho, Reis et al., 2015), providing to a network of 147 youth opportunities for leadership and development of life skills in an adult-youth mentoring relationship - the three basic principles of the effectiveness of youth participation programs (Frasquilho et al. 2016, Matos et al., 2016). Aggregator of two different methodologies, the YPAR (Participatory Action Research) (Baum, MacDougall & Smith, 2006; London, Zimmerman & Erbstein, 2003; Ozer & Douglas, 2013) and Y-AP (Youth-Adult Partnership) (Zeldin, Gauley, Krauss, Kornbluh & Collura, 2015), Dream Teens, along with the principles proposed by the World Health Organization (2014), allowed: 1) to identify the real needs and priorities for intervention among youth; 2) provide a facilitating model of action planning; 3) identify supporting structures and processes; 4) facilitate evaluation and participation; 5) constant supervision, impact assessment and dissemination; and 6) promote the empowerment of participants.

2017); the quantitative impact of the pre- and post-test, in relation to expectations regarding the future, involvement in volunteer activities and leadership, as well as dimensions, feelings and competences for action, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, humanitarianism and feelings about life (study 2) (Branquinho, Matos & Aventura Social Project/Dream Teens, in press, 2018); and data from interviews regarding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the project (study 3). Participants With different populations involved in the three studies presented in this work, 108 participants are considered for the qualitative study of their "voice" (study 1) (39 did not respond to the challenges posed), with a mean age of 15.73 years ± 1.80), mostly girls (71.3%) from secondary education (52.8%); 46 participants, with a mean age of 16.13 years (± 1.89), mostly girls (78.3%), secondary students (65.2%), respondents to the pre- and post-test instruments in I and II National Dream Teens Meeting in the quantitative study of the impact of Dream Teens on the level of feelings and competences for action, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, humanitarianism, feelings about life, expectations of the future, and involvement in activities voluntary and civic activities (study 2); and in the last study, with a total of 12 individual interviews conducted (study 3), had a mean age of 18.5 years (± 1.62), predominantly girls (83.3%), secondary school students (41.67%) or higher education (33.33%). Instruments The following instruments were used: Study 1 - teasers/thematic challenges published biweekly during a year in the social network Facebook to collect youth "voice" on subjects that directly affect them; Study 2 - a questionnaire with two scales, a Likert scale of 5 points (1=totally disagree to 5=totally agree) and a three-point scale (worsened, improved and nothing changed), built with questions extracted from the instruments: Healthy Teens Project - UC

OBJECTIVES In order to disseminate the knowledge and to promote effectiveness of future youth participation programs, the present study presents the results of a qualitative study of the "voice" of youth to the subjects that affect them (study 1) (Branquinho, Cruz & Matos, 314


Berkeley (Ozer, 2007); Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (Huebner, 1991); Measuring Self-Efficacy in Youths (Muris, 2001); Active and Engaged Citizenship (Zaff, Boyd, Li, Lerner & Lerner, 2010) and Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviours (Search Institute, 2011), and sociodemographic data. Study 3 - a structured interview guide to gather strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the project.

At this stage, and with the support of senior project investigators, who carried out an investigation of the past three years on the thematic areas of work, intervention programs and guidance documents, young people were encouraged to discuss and draft a letter with 30 recommendations in the area of health, later delivered to a representative of the Secretary of Health at the First Dream Teens National Meeting, in which the young met and were reunited for the first time. In this meeting, to which only the most active young people of the network were invited (n = 46), the pre-test evaluation of the project was conducted. After this work for the identification of their needs and strategies for problem solving, a new phase began, in which this "voice" was incorporated in the book "Adolescents: safe navigation through unknown waters, Lisbon: Coisas de Ler" (published in Portuguese, English and French) (Matos, 2015), along with their leadership of the presentations of Dream Teens project and the HBSC - Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (www.hbsc.org) (developed in Portugal by Aventura Social team) in schools and local authorities of their living contexts. Continuing to develop new action-research projects. Once again, at the end of this phase, the youth gathered again, this time at the II National Dream Teens Meeting, with the post-test evaluation, the public presentation of the book and the individual projects of the young.In a final phase, which is currently under way, although under the supervision of the project's research team, as authentic "junior research specialists", a core group of youth (n=16) leads and energizes the Dream Teens network, continuing to develop actionresearch projects in their living contexts, and "giving voice" to their generation through their participation in conferences and seminars. Dream Teens was submitted for approval to the Academic Centre of the University of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Procedure This participatory action research project, which for four years has promoted the "voice" of youth on health and wellbeing behaviours, their participation and active citizenship, had three major phases. In the first phase, with the aim of disseminating the project to the target population, Portuguese young people with ages from 11 to 18, partnerships were established with various entities linked to work with youth, along with contacts with public figures who gave their image to the production of promotional videos of Dream Teens, disseminated in the partner institutions of the project, social networks and a national television channel. Of a total of 298 applications, of which 258 were considered for the analysis process of compliance with the inclusion criteria: age between 11 and 18 years; parental authorization; and letter of motivation, 147 passed to the Skype interview, which allowed the team of researchers to analyse: a) the manifestation of a critical conscience; b) the disclosure of coherence and explanatory motive of candidacy; and c) demonstration of motivation for teamwork. Included in Dream Teens, the following aspects were energized through Facebook with teasers/thematic challenges: 1) Personal Resources and Wellbeing; 2) Social Capital; 3) Love and Sexuality; 4) Consumption and Accidents; 5) Lifestyles; and 6) Citizenship and Social Participation, incentives of active discussion and collection of their "voice" (n = 108), and are oriented to the development of small action-research projects in their living contexts, after developing their skills and research techniques.

RESULTS In this study on the “voice” of the youth (study 1) (Branquinho, Cruz & Matos, 2017), 315


on the impact of project participation (study 2) (Branquinho, Matos & Aventura Social Project/Dream Teens, in press, 2018) and the identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Dream Teens (study 3), the main results are highlighted: Study 1 – based on a qualitative study of thematic challenges / teasers released biweekly on Facebook, analysed with an interpretative approach, after a thematic exploration of the data, later coding in categories and subcategories in the NVIVO 10 software (figure 1), and supported by the model of author Kia-Keating and colleagues (2011), highlighting the challenges integrated in the subcategory critical thinking related to society (cognitive level), and the subcategory friends (relational level), as the preferred subcategories of youth, verified through the largest number answers in your discussion. On the other hand, with a smaller number of responses, the subcategory critical thinking related to school (cognitive level) emerges (Branquinho, Cruz & Matos, 2017).

factor 1) feelings and competences for action (α = 0.905); factor 2) interpersonal competences (α = 0.745); factor 3) problem solving competences (α = 0.817); factor 4) humanitarianism (α = 0.826); and factor 5) feelings regarding life (α = 0.639), explaining 66.72% of the total variance described, a study of the impact of the project was carried out on the participants with the Student T test for paired samples, conducted in the software of quantitative data analysis SPSS v. 24. No statistically significant differences were identified in any factor. However, in the study of their perception of the impact of the project, items included in factors 1, 2 and 3 showed an improvement in year 1, and items of factors 1, 3 and 5 in year 2. Also, an increase in participation in community leadership activities was revealed (year 1=52.2% and year 2=52.3%), as was a slight decrease of the involvement in volunteer activities (year 1=96.3% and year 2=90.9%), and expectations regarding the future, namely, continuing to study in a university or institution (year 1=91.3% and year 2=80.4%). (Branquinho, Matos & Aventura Social Project/Dream Teens, in press, 2018). Study 3 - as a result of a process of transcription of the structured interviews conducted with the participants during the third year of the project, a codification of the data was developed in the software Nvivo 11, and its study using the same software. In examining the responses integrated in the nodes "strengths", "weaknesses", "opportunities" and "threats", the statements made by young people stand out: Strengths "...setting goals in the groups, and the debates among us helped a lot." "...there are friendships within the project and we can all be cohesive..." "The union of all people... is a strength to reach our goals." Weaknesses "…there is a demotivation of some of the young." "...the lack of communication... a line to guide us when we are more disoriented..." Opportunities "...the local authorities were open to hear us

Fig.1. Categorization of teasers challenges Adapted from: Branquinho, Cruz & Matos, 2017) Study 2 – resulting from the pre- and post-test evaluation, and after an exploratory factorial analysis of the items of the applied questionnaire, five dimensions emerged: 316


and hear about the project, and to accept that the Dreamers wanted to collaborate..." "...when I went to the Assembly, it was also a spectacular opportunity to publicize the project..." Threats "...the bureaucracy necessary for a project to be carried out... It takes a lot of time... and also because it is always difficult. It's easy for our representatives to hear... they always think it's a good idea, but then when it's time to change, it's always harder for something to happen." "The difficulty in talking to people who are at the forefront of organisations, schools."

(Matos, Gaspar, Cruz & Neves, 2013; Matos, Gaspar, Tomé & Cruz, 2012). In study 2 (Branquinho, Matos & Aventura Social Project/Dream Teens, in press, 2018), although there are no statistically significant improvements in any of the five dimensions studied, youth's perception of the impact of the project shows significant improvements in all dimensions: feelings and competences for action, interpersonal skills and problem solving skills in year 1, as well as feelings about life in year 2, replacing interpersonal skills, as well as greater involvement in community leadership activities. Possibly associated with the difficulty faced by youth in dealing with societal challenges (Flicker, Maley, Ridgley, Biscope, Lombardo & Skinner, 2008) or with a greater awareness of their basic skills, confidence and social knowledge developed throughout project participation (Head, 2011), these results are consistent with another study developed in Portugal (Branquinho, Fauvelet, Cruz, Santos, Gaspar & Matos, in press, 2018). The involvement in volunteer activities and the expectations for the future improved from the beginning to year 2. There was also an increase in participation in mentoring activities steady from the beginning and along year 1 and 2 (year 1=14.8 and year 2=18.2) and the same with mentoring (year 1=0% and year 2=9.1%). According to study 3, the analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as perceived and identified by youth, the following needs are highlighted: 1) Define goals; 2) Promote moments of face-to-face sharing, rethinking the media communication. Although social networks and applications of internet communication play an increasingly important role in the lives of the young, they prefer face-to-face communication; 3) Provide opportunities to get to know organisations and institutions and share the difficulties of the young in communicating with them; 4) Encourage the sharing of thoughts and feelings resulting from the project, in order to promote the enthusiasm of its participants.

CONCLUSION Four years after the start of the longitudinal study, considered by the Ministry of Health and Education as an innovative and good practice in health, Dream Teens continues to add achievements. With the publication of the 30 recommendations on health in the portal of the Ministry of Health (https://www.sns.gov.pt/), the book "Adolescents: safe navigation by unknown waters. Lisbon: Coisas de Ler" with the youth "voice" (Matos, 2015), and their presence in public and political intervention events, in the media and in conferences and seminars, it is time to see the recognition of youth participation in Portugal. For the purpose of study 1 (Branquinho, Cruz & Matos, 2017), the analysis of teasers/thematic challenges was considered at the cognitive, emotional, behavioural and relational levels, and highlighted a greater interest in subjects related to critical thinking regarding society (cognitive level) and friends (relational level), which tends to be less responsive to the challenges of critical thinking about the school (cognitive level); it is expected that this trend of disillusionment with school will change in the coming years, due to the implementation of the participation of the young in education, in terms of their integration into the curricular revision and health promotion projects proposed by the schools. Studies have highlighted the importance that young people attribute to friends and some disillusionment with school 317


The project is still under evaluation. These results show that Dream Teens was an empowering experience for young people. The authors are now concerned with 1) the sustainability and renewal of the network, 2) the improvement of the collaboration of established Institutions, namely schools and local authorities. During the next year, results will be discussed with potential stakeholders, defining the conditions in which the network can flourish and become a sustainable and automatically renewed process.

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Chapter XXXI. The Fight to Control the Past: Collective Memory and the Case of Romania. A Psycho-social Perspective Peter Dan Long Island University, NY, U.S.A., [email protected] A version of this work was also presented at the ASN World Convention, Columbia University, 14-16 April 2016

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past” (George Orwell, 1984) “Perhaps it might be said rightly that there are three times: a time present of things past; a time present of things present; and a time present of things future. For these three do coexist somehow in the soul, for otherwise I could not see them. The time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct experience; the time present of things future is expectation” (St. Augustine Book 11)

Abstract: The term “memory” is used with increasing frequency in Anthropology, Moral Philosophy, Ethics and other Social Sciences. The present paper proposes to clarify the connections between the common usage of the term and the psychosocial concept of memory, as well as propose a theoretical framework for the process of memory falsification which underlies many of the conflicts of memory politics. The mechanisms used to validate memories and to distort them are analyzed from the perspective of contemporary Neuropsychology and Social Psychology studies. Truthiness and poetic truth displace historical truth; exemplary memory replaces literal memory, facilitating the substitution of historical memory with collective memory. The latter is a social construct, a consensus created by negotiation. The narrative of collective memory is considered a very significant factor in the shaping and maintenance of group identity. The appraisal of social situations distorted by falsified memories results in perceived threat to the consistency of the collective memory narrative, which in turn leads to more primitive emotional responses and scapegoating, and the spreading and consolidation of distorted belief systems. The collective memory shapes the public sphere and the dialogue taking place within it, and its effects are analyzed from the perspective of the connections between collective memory and national identity. Challenging the collective memory narrative is interpreted by those who share it as an attack on their national identity. The implications of the findings for the ongoing memory wars are considered. The examples used are taken from contemporary conflicts over competing versions of the past in Romania, the Balkans and Western Europe. Key-words: Collective memory, historical memory, exemplary memory, neural binding, cognitive dissonance, self-deception, appraisal, identity narrative, Todorov, Damasio, Gazzaniga, Kandel, Zeki, Erikson, Hoffer, Milgram, Lifton, Wilson, Boia. sciences such as Anthropology, Moral Philosophy and Ethics. However, the definitions of “memory” vary widely to the

INTRODUCTION Studies using the term “memory” appear with increasing frequency in diverse social 321


point that studies are referring to different, albeit related phenomena. As Winter (2000) wrote “The only fixed point is the near ubiquity of the term “memory”. Just as we use words like love and hate without ever knowing their full or shared significance, so are we bound to go on using the term “memory,” the historical signature of our generation.” The purpose of the present study is to explore the links between individual memory and individual identity on one hand and collective memory and group identity on the other hand and to analyze their implications for social sciences, attempting to provide a conceptual framework for the processes of memory validation and falsification which play such an important role in memory politics and conflicts. By necessity, my approach will try to pull together perspectives which are usually divergent. The analysis will be from a psychosocial perspective, situated at the level at which both individual and social phenomena are integrated. It is my belief that is possible to find a level of analysis at which the neuropsychological, psychosocial, anthropological and even historical explanations of events are congruent.

The findings also suggest a difference between the mechanisms used for memory storage those used for memory retrieval:” The strengthening of engram synapses is crucial for the brain's ability to access or retrieve those specific memories, while the connectivity pathways between engram cells allow the encoding and storage of the memory information itself" (Tonegawa et al, 2015). A single neuron is responsible for recalling a particular memory by storing and re-activating the configuration of the neural networks involved in forming the original memory. In discussing the “Jennifer Aniston” neuron, namely a neuron that fired only for pictures of Jennifer Aniston (and other neurons which specifically fired for pictures of given celebrities and landmarks) Quiroga (2013) wrote "The firing of these neurons is relatively very late after the moment of seeing the picture, or of hearing the person's name, but is still very precise. These neurons also fire only when the pictures are consciously recognized and remain silent when they are not…This response… is only present for the consciously recognized pictures -- being absent if the pictures were not recognized. This brain response thus reflects an activation that provides a temporal window for processing consciously perceived stimuli in the hippocampus and surrounding cortex. Given the proposed role of these neurons in memory formation, we argue that the brain response we found is a gateway for processing consciously perceived stimuli to form or recall memories." In other words, whether an image is recognized consciously or retrieved and included in consciousness is the result of deliberative processes. The focus of the present paper will be, in part, on the social factors affecting these deliberative processes, since they determine both the selection, namely which events we chose to recall or recognize and also their moral value. The past is not a cumulative passive repository; the reconstruction of the past in individual and collective consciousness, illusory or not, compels us to act. The power of the recalled past to motivate is not dependent on its accuracy.

Memory and Identity A widely accepted model of memory is based on the existence of specialized neurons, called “memory engram cells” which undergo chemical or physical changes when acquiring a memory. When reactivated, even by a partial trigger, the entire memory is recalled. A good example is Proust: “A la recherche du temps perdu” is initiated by the aroma of a madeleine. Tonegawa et al (2012, 2015) have demonstrated the existence of such neurons in the hippocampus, and have further shown that the change caused by recording a memory is “long term potentiation” – the strengthening of synapses. The forming and retention of memories depends on the formation of neural networks: “there is …a pathway, or circuit, for each memory. This circuit encompasses multiple brain areas and the engram cell ensembles in these areas are connected specifically for a particular memory". 322


The ability to recall - to recreate a past event in consciousness - depends mainly on two factors: whether the event is recallable, meaning an associative chain exists connecting the mental representation of the event to the present neuronal configuration of the brain and whether the recalled event is amplified by attention. Events which are recalled but not amplified are preconscious, and may run in the background, so to speak. Events which are both recallable and amplifiable but neither recalled nor amplified are repressed - actively kept out of consciousness (Naccache 2008, Dan 2010). According to Levine (2002), both the attention and recall processes contain a “saliency determination” component: a decision whether a given representation is important enough to recall or to amplify by attention. There is also a determination as to whether the given representation is acceptable to an internalized moral code. This determination takes place necessarily out of awareness, since consciously deciding not to recall or not to pay attention to a representation would necessarily bring it into awareness, rendering the determination moot. By manipulating the saliency determination and the acceptability, repression keeps out of awareness selected representations or events. The prefrontal lateral cortex, the newest and most complex part of the brain which monitors social interactions, plays an important role in it. For example, in Milgram’s (1969) obedience experiments, the choice not to obey authority was always present, but seldom taken. The subjects cognitively restructured the situation so that the choice to disobey, albeit present, was not perceived, not in awareness, in effect repressed. The decision to distort the assessment or to repress the memory of an event is due to the intervention of internalized normative social structures, which in turn are the result of our evolution in small groups. Wilson (2012) considers eusociality to be the key to our success as a species, but the optimal survival strategies of the individual and of the group are almost polar opposites. There is an inherent conflict between selfish and

altruistic tendencies: selfish individuals have a higher chance of survival than altruistic ones, but groups composed of altruistic individuals have the evolutionary advantage over groups composed of selfish ones. The efforts to manage this conflict resulted in the emergence of a value system, a protomorality, promoting behaviors that enhanced group survival and inhibited the selfish behaviors that endangered it. As Churchland (2006) argues developing such controls is a requirement of civil life, “Very briefly, the crux of the matter is this: we are social animals and our ability to flourish depends on the behavior of others. Biologically realistic models show how traits of cooperation and social orderliness can spread through a population; how moral virtues can be a benefit, cheating a cost, and punishment of the socially dangerous a necessity.” It is important to understand, however, that the inhibition of behaviors and memories can occur only if they are represented mentally. Intervention cannot take place until mental imagery is formed and alternatives are being contemplated. These alternatives take the form of highly compressed scenarios. Each moral intervention is the answer to the implicit question: “may I?” used to assess a specific scenario, and it indicates that morals cannot evolve without temptation. In Pascal’s formulation (following up on St Augustin’s idea) “tu ne me chercherais pas si tu ne m’avais trouve” (you would not look for me if you hadn’t found me) The behavior (or memory) selected after deliberation is sanctioned by a brain structure Gazzaniga (2005 ) labeled “the interpreter” which decides whether it makes sense, because we have an overwhelming need to perceive our own actions as meaningful. However, this depends on our assessment of the situation, which, as Damasio (2010) has shown can take place on different levels of organization of the self. In turn, Dan (2013) has proposed that by using a “sliding scale appraisal” the meaning of the situation can be manipulated to imply threat or loss of face in order to justify behaviors that are normally unacceptable. 323


The above described temporal sequence fits the data from both phylogenesis and ontogenesis., indicating that the development of morality is not a luxury but a biological necessity that evolved into a social one; the genesis of the structures that mediate between social norms and individual behavior is the outcome of evolution, and the ability to repress memories is one of its consequences. Anthropologist Robert Redfield (1953) argued that groups organize their social world using two essential dichotomies: We/They and Human/Nonhuman. At the individual level another dichotomy, the Me /Non Me, precedes them. The latter is at the core of developing a sense of self, and the process of forging and maintaining an identity requires a significant input from the members of the group. According to Erikson (2002), identity is a state of self-sameness and continuity, integrated both longitudinally (historically) over the life cycle, and horizontally across situations. Identity is internally consistent and it is validated through interactions with others. It provides the point of view, the perspective from which we observe the world. The sense of identity is present in all our activities, it is the basis on which we decide the relevance of all our experiences, and information related to it is embedded in all our memories. However, we are not aware of how and when identity is generated or of how the sense of self is maintained. The sense of self is our longest permanently running mental process and it exerts a permanent influence over all our conscious decisions, yet an overwhelming proportion of it is taking place outside our awareness. One of the important functions of memory is to maintain the continuity of the narrative of the self. Sacks (2008), found that even when there is an absolute inaccessibility of long term memory and an inability to create new memories, with the patient living in the present and being able to recall only a few seconds of the past, some part of identity and most of the procedural memory are still retained, and the sense of self is not lost.

The sense of self is formed and exists only in relation to others, and once constituted is the criterion which is the basis for selfevaluation. Ramachandran (2006) hypothesized that mirror neurons mediated between the perception of self and that of others, evolving from an initial function of adopting “another’s allocentric visual point of view…to enable the adoption of another’s metaphorical point of view” (p 5, italics in text). Frith (2003) and Kandel (2012) note that the development of a “theory of mind- the ability to infer goals and emotional states from a person’s actions” -is a necessary adaptation which facilitates the management of interpersonal relations and confers an evolutionary advantage. The capability to gauge others’ reactions in order to validate one’s sense of identity is a consequence of developing a theory of mind. “The sense of identity is the result of ongoing self-assessment, selectively recalling from memory material that is consistent with the demands of continuity and integrity, and tailored to meet the demands of a given situation. The presentation of the self (Me) to others (Non Me) is an interpersonal, interactive negotiating process with the goal of trying to minimize the discrepancies between the subjectively experienced sense of self and the socially presented one. This interpersonal negotiation involves both deception and self-deception” (Dan, 2010) Self-deception is a pervasive and subtle process which helps one achieve a degree of internal consistency, enhancing the feeling of continuity with one’s personal history and values. It consists of multiple layers of truths, half-truths and falsehoods, forging coherent versions of the present and the past distorted as to provide satisfaction and a justification for one’s actions. The widespread use of self-deception raises the important issue of the authenticity of memory which is affected by a number of cognitive distortion mechanisms - Orwellian double thought, groupthink (Janis), psychic doubling (Lifton) - as well as by neural binding, the process through which the brain completes the necessarily incomplete mental representations. 324


For example, when one sees a horse behind a fence, in fact the visual field consists of slices of horse and slats of fence, yet one sees the whole horse and fence; the missing parts are provided from memory and integrated in the perception. Memories themselves are also completed by neural binding and the more complex aspects of this process defy explanation: How is it decided which networks to connect? How are “illusory conjunctions” being avoided? The need for the external validation of the self is due to our inability to distinguish between “real” and “illusory” memories, but it also allows for self-deception and deception. Political commentator and humorist Steven Colbert coined the term “truthiness” which the American Dialect Society defined as “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.” A corollary for truthiness is “goya” an “Urdu word (which) conveys a contemplative 'as-if' that nonetheless feels like reality, and describes the suspension of disbelief that can occur, often through good storytelling.” I believe truthiness plays an important role in the dynamic of self-deception, facilitating the distortion of reality in favor of more emotionally satisfying versions which are then used as a base for decision making. Since the maintenance of identity is an iterative process, the distortion is incorporated in the narrative of the self, and deceptive strategies – what Goffman calls “facework”- are used in the presentation of the self in interpersonal interactions. “Goya” facilitates the transition from truthiness to what Steele (2015) defined as “poetic truth”: “similar to “poetic license where one breaks grammatical rules for effect. Better to break the rule than lose the effect. Poetic truth… bends the actual truth in order to highlight what it believes is a larger and more important truth.” Substituting truth with poetic truth is at the core of religious and ideological distortions in both the assessment and the recall of a given situation or series of events. In a different context, namely the recall of traumatic events, Todorov (2004) makes a

distinction between literal memory and exemplary memory. Literal memory is a straightforward recording of the event without connections or empathy, while exemplary memories permit generalizations and comparisons as well as the derivation of moral judgements. In turn Zeki (1999) has defined the phenomenon of “representativeness”: when confronted with a new experience we tend to assume that it is typical (representative) of an entire class of events. Truthiness, representativeness and poetic truth are the cognitive strategies used to transform literal memories into exemplary ones in order to construct a more emotionally satisfying, less conflicted, version of the past. Neuroimaging studies support this pont of view. Westen et al. (2006) compared the functioning of self identified Republican and Democrat subjects who were asked to make a decision after being confronted with facts contrary to their beliefs. Westen described the findings in an interview with Emory University press as follows: "We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts. Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones." Berns et al. (2005) wanted to know if the subjects lie or self-deceive in order to agree with an ad-hoc group and concluded: “We’d like to think that seeing is believing but the study shows that seeing is believing what the group tells you to believe.” Berns et al. (2012) have also shown that decisions made based on principle are processed differently from decisions made on the basis of cost-benefit analysis. Ruff et al. (2013) studied the biological mechanisms involved in both voluntary and punishment induced compliance with societal norms and found “a 325


neural mechanism …that aligns behavior with social norms when punishment is possible.” These findings suggest the strategy of guilt free self- deception: It is enough to classify the decision as one made “on principle” and to consider possible punitive behavior; the subjects’ brains will do the rest, deceiving them to perceive things according to group norms. Another important component is the systematic distortion of the appraisal of situations in order to sanction otherwise unacceptable behavior (Dan, 2013): if a situation is perceived as threatening or implying loss of face, the spectrum of acceptable reactions shifts towards less nuanced, more aggressive options. The maintenance of identity can be described as a flow: the self-evaluation process is continuous and iterative; the result of the selfevaluation at moment “n”, as it is stored in memory, becomes the major input for the self-evaluation at moment “n+1” when a new situation warrants it. It has a fractal quality:

you re-find yourself whole in each fragment of your recalled experience, because the sense of self is embedded in all conscious activity. The sense of self has significant social and cultural components, defining the status and role of a person within a given context. Both the establishing and the maintaining of the links between individual, society and culture take place largely outside awareness. In effect, whenever the self is confronted with a new event, a decision has to be made as to whether to incorporate it in the narrative of the self. The decision may be reached relatively easily, and in that case the event is either included or excluded, and the sense of self is reinforced. On occasion however many iterations (self-assessments) are needed to reach a decision, if at all possible. A good graphic representation of this process is the Mandelbrot set, with a clearly defined inside (elements that belong to the narrative of the self) and outside (elements which do not belong) and a border area of infinite complexity.

Figure 1. Decisions involved in the maintenance of identity The decisions presented in the above Figure1 are based, at least in part, on social factors due to the requirement of validation by others. One of the propositions of the present study is that because group identities (religious, cultural, ethnic, national) are components of

individual identity, and because collective and individual identities are intertwined and interdependent, the same cognitive distorting mechanisms are employed in order to achieve continuity and a more positive, cognitive dissonance free, shared construct. 326


world, this realm and the one beyond) and in the emergence of ideas about transcendence, mortality and immortality. The different aspects of reality were integrated by incorporation in the same overarching universe of meaning – the symbolic universe – “which constitutes the universe in the literal sense of the word because all human experience can now be conceived as taking place within it...the entire historic society and the entire biography of the individual are seen as taking place within this universe” (Berger and Luckman, 1966, p. 96). The emergence of collective identities is a consequence of belonging to the same symbolic universe.

Collective memory and Identity The social cohesion within the group, an evolutionary necessity, was enhanced by the emergence of a common frame of reference. Initially the commonality consisted of familiarity with the faces, noises and smells of other group members. But we are a symbol-making species (Langer, 1948). The mental images dominate our inner world and prepare and motivate our actions. The development of language allowed the sharing the mental imagery, which in turn lead to the emergence of storytelling and to the invention of myths of creation. The myths played an essential role in structuring the universe into realms, (this world and the spirit

Figure 2. Individual, group and national frames of reference and the symbolic universe (Dan, 2015) “Individual identity stems from the encounter of multiple collective identities within one and the same person; each of our various affiliations contributes to the formation of the unique creature that we are. Human beings are not all similar, or entirely different; they are all plural within themselves, and share their constitutive traits with very varied groups, combining them in an individual way. Individual identity results from the interweaving of several collective identities; it is not alone in this respect. What is the

origin of the culture of a human group? The reply- paradoxically- is that it comes from previous cultures. A new culture arises from the encounter between several smaller cultures, or from the decomposition of a bigger culture, or from interaction with neighboring culture. There is never a human life prior to the advent of culture.” (Todorov, 2004,2010) The above quote highlights one of the paradoxes of individual identity: it is an integrated conglomerate of a multitude of shared collective identities. This quality is 327


similar to recursiveness in linguistics, and it indicates that identity has a fractal quality. One can identify as a Romanian of Greek Orthodox religious affiliation, who is Transylvanian, living in Bucharest, speaker of French, a theater lover, who is a fan of a given soccer team and loves red wine etc. Collective memory also has a kaleidoscopic quality: depending on the situation, each of these collective identities may be perceived as the salient one. However, while national identity is almost infinitely divisible in this manner, the concept of national territory attached to it in the collective memory is almost indivisible. This unusual situation is the source of many conflicts. Collective identity, be it group, ethnic, religious, ideological or national (or combinations of the above) is part of individual identity. The social factors involved in creating and maintaining the individual identity and their essential role in defining the moral norms provide the linkage mechanisms between individual and collective identities. But while the sense of self is vaster than the group identity and it incorporates it, in a situation where, let’s say, the national identity becomes more salient, it is subjectively perceived as being superordinate. For example, in a recent interview an Albanian from Kosovo was quoted saying” I am Albanian first and human second,” while presidential candidate Ted Cruz declared “I am Christian first and American second.” Overlapping group identities can also be used to define social differences: the mid-19th century poet and nationalist Alecsandri complained than when he asked a Moldavian nobleman “Are we all not Romanians?” the latter answered “Romanian is the peasant. I am a Moldavian Boyar.” While individual memory is distinct from individual identity, collective memory is identical to group identity. As Rusu (2013) notes, “for Fabian, the “concept of memory may become indistinguishable from either identity or culture” while Boyarin concurs, asserting that “identity and memory are virtually the same” (Boyarin 1994) Contrasting collective memory and history,

Halbwachs (1980, 1950) emphasized “the illusion” of the continuity of the collective identity and/or memory, which provides a narrative of the shared past that the group accepts as his own. The key element is not verifiability but belief. As Hoffer (2016, (1951)) observed "The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. ... It is obvious, therefore, that in order to be effective, a doctrine must not be understood, but has rather to be believed in. We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand." Ginzburg (1980) noted that “History always remains a science of a very particular kind, irremediably based in the concrete,” while “knowledge based on making individualizing distinctions is always anthropocentric, ethnocentric, and liable to other specific bias.” Todorov (2004) also contrasted the historical truth and collective memory. The former is based on recorded events, while the latter is “not a memory per se, but a discourse that takes place in the public sphere, which reflects the self-image that a society or a group within the society tries to project”. (Author’s translation). Collective memory is a consensual convention which allows for the integration of recalled events in a manner consistent with the poetic truth and the rejection of events not consistent with it. The same cognitive distortion mechanisms which mold individual identity are used to modify the collective memory: truthiness, poetic truth, representativeness, deception, self-deception. Taken together these strategies facilitate the construction of a false but coherent version of past events, which is then used to interpret and integrate present events. The individual then internalizes the parts of this narrative considered salient, including them into the narrative of the self. It is important to note that the infinitely complex border area confers flexibility to the system, and an ability to absorb negative events and to adapt - a quality Taleb (2012, 2014) named “antifragility.” If the ambivalence that gives this area flexibility is nullified, and each decision becomes an either-or type, the system becomes rigid and fragile, as for 328


example in the case of fanaticism, and prone to catastrophic events and collapse. In addition, the holder of such a belief system loses his or her free choice and is compelled to act.

The collective memory shares the same “flow” characteristic as the individual identity, as illustrated below:

Figure 3: Decisions involved in the maintenance of collective memory / identity In the case of individual identity, its integrity and consistency are the validated by interaction with others. However, in the case of collective memory/group identity what constitutes a check on its validity? If a fact affirmed by another group is seen positively its integration in the collective memory is conflict free. However, if a fact liked by the group in question is contested by other groups, or a fact disliked by the group is affirmed by other groups, confrontation occurs because the challenge is constructed as a narcissistic injury, a threat to the group identity itself. Like in the case of individual identity, selfconsistency is more important than objective reality, and the brain rewards you more for it. As a principled decision based on ideology it is processed differently and subject to different validation criteria. Furthermore, agreement with one’s own group is rewarding and reinforcing, while disagreement runs against the social pressure to conform, whose power is proven by numerous experiments (Sheriff, Asch,

Milgram, Zimbardo). This indicates that the validity checks on the accuracy of collective memory are few and weak, while the distorting mechanisms are more powerful and self-reinforcing. Haidt (2012) proposed 5 foundations for morality and each of them can be traced down to the evolutionary demands for what Tomasselo (2005) called “shared intentionality”: The Care / Harm foundation developed as a response for the need to care for offspring who are vulnerable; the Fairness / Cheating foundation deals with the need to get rewarded for pro-group activities without harm to your survival prospects; the Loyalty / Betrayal foundation developed “in response to the need of forming and maintaining coalitions;” the Authority/Subversion foundation deals with the necessity of managing interpersonal relations within a hierarchical system; and the Sanctity / Depravation foundation makes fanaticism possible by investing in extreme values for the sake of group cohesion.

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The last three: Loyalty / Betrayal, Authority / Subversion, and Sanctity / Depravation are easily distorted by the acceptance of poetic truth and facilitate the undermining of internalized moral codes, sanctioning unacceptable actions in order to promote the interests of the group. In the case of individual identity, information that is discrepant with the narrative of the self is repressed. Aside from validation by others and self-consistency, repression, guilt, and shame are the internal control mechanisms. In the case of collective memory repression takes the form of relegating questionable issues outside the public sphere, so they cannot be debated. Discrepant information that challenges truthiness and poetic truth is met with anger and aggression. Examples in Romania: include the reaction to the works of historian Lucian Boia, the reaction to the book of Manu and Buzdughina which disproved the claim that virulent anti-Semite and iron guard ideologue Paulescu was “robbed” of the Nobel prize, for medicine, the reaction to Radu Ioanid’s book and interviews about the Romanian participation in the Holocaust, the reaction to the work of Adrian Cioflinca, which uncovers new evidence of mass killings of Jews perpetrated by Romanian troops during WW II, or the reaction to Iepan’s documentary regarding the atrocities committed by Romanian troops in Odessa. Each of the above was labeled “antiRomanian” because they challenged the conventional wisdom and punctured sacred cows, challenging the collective memory narrative. Norman Manea’s (1994) essay “Felix Culpa” regarding Eliade’s lack of public repentance about his support for the Iron Guard was met with sharp criticism from the intellectuals of “the new Romanian right” and with antiSemitic slurs and thinly veiled threats. A similar reaction accompanied the publication of his critically acclaimed novel “The Return of the Hooligan,” which described from a very intimate point of view his experiences during the Holocaust, during communism and the reaction to bringing those memories back to life in the post-communist era.

When two groups have divergent or conflicting collective memories, competing versions of the truth are set against each other. For example, during the 1882-1883 blood libel trial of Tisza Eszlar, Hungary, the accusers of the Jews fabricated a coherent narrative that integrated all the facts and pointed to the guilt of the Jews, while the defenders offered a contrasting narrative which also integrated all the facts and exonerated the Jews. The 1920 Trianon peace treaty is seen as a historic injustice by the Hungarians, but is celebrated for the creation of “Greater Romania” by Romanians. Having a public dialogue in the public sphere including opposing points of view proves next to impossible, since diverging conflicting memories generate diverging public spheres: there is no common “neutral ground.” Mungiu-Pippidi’s (1999) study “Subjective Transylvania” has shown that the ethnic Romanians and Hungarians living side by side have widely diverging collective memories. Conflicts regarding the status World War II monuments commemorating Russian troops in Estonia and Poland, for example the moving of the “Bronze Soldier” statue in Tallinn and the destruction of the “Brotherhood-in Arms of the Polish and Red Army Soldiers” monument in Nowa Sol have been described by Russian officials as “unfriendly moves” and resulted in diplomatic protests and retaliations. In Croatia the appointment of cabinet minister Hasabegovic a known denier of the atrocities committed by the “Ustasha” regime during WWII has provoked a protest by the Simon Wiesenthal Institute. In all of these cases the highly emotional reaction is explained by the fact that the versions of the past, meaning the collective memories of the groups involved are polar opposites, and each group is heavily invested in its own version. Under these conditions there is no place in the public sphere where a discussion of the facts is possible and compromise cannot be reached. The characteristics of the public sphere depend on the nature of the society which 330


allows it to emerge. One of the principal defining factors is whether it is based on positive or negative liberty, a distinction first made by Isaiah Berlin (1958). The two notions of liberty are based on the fact that the relationship between individual liberty and collective liberty has the characteristics of a zero sum game. Negative liberty is based on the idea that the rights belong to the individual. The state may limit the individual’s actions only by taking away some of his rights. Positive liberty is attributed to the larger group and devolves to the individual, seen as a member, who is supposed to accept the curtailing of his rights for the good of the society. The morality of a society depends on the type of liberty it is based on. Societies based on positive liberty have a closed morality [Bergson, 1932 (1977)]: static, rigid, concerned with group cohesiveness resulting from enforced obedience and a preoccupation with group survival and war. In contrast, societies based on negative liberty have an open morality: dynamic, not linked to any given doctrine, creative and universal. However, precisely due to their open character, societies based on negative liberty allow the existence of numerous closed moralities so that is possible to live in an open society with a closed morality. Morar (2011) characterized this phenomenon as the “noble fragility” of open societies. Another factor shaping the public sphere is the balance between two opposing forces Barber (1995) labeled “McWorld” and “Jihad”. The former represents a centripetal force for transnational and cross-cultural homogenization and integration, and tends to occur more in open societies, while the latter is a centrifugal force for fragmentation, separatism and tribalism, often based on national or religious identity, occurring more often in closed societies,. Each society is characterized by a relative ratio of these forces; if the forces are in equilibrium the society is stable, if not there is strife. Obviously, the nature of society shapes the public sphere and determines

which topics can be addressed by public dialogue. The public sphere is also influenced by the individual strategies needed to adapt to society, more so in the case of societies with a totalitarian past. Milgram’s obedience to authority, Janis’ groupthink, Lifton’s psychic numbing and doubling, Orwellian doublethink, Milosz’ ketman and selfdeception are a few examples. The internal cohesion of the group is assured by self-censorship and those who are opposed to it are punished. Once the value system has been internalized, the individual becomes a de facto enforcer of conformity. In time, a false Self (Winnicott, 1960) develops and even the thought of an act of challenging the system- what Orwell called “thoughtcrime” or “crimethink”- triggers signal anxiety or “crimestop.” The individual learns to selfcensor, the self is silenced, and silence is constructed as consent. One of the psychological consequences is deindividuation, meaning the loss of one’s identity by subordination to that of the group. In turn, paradoxically, this process increases the vulnerability for an excessive attachment to the “facts” included in the collective memory. As Todorov (2004, 2010) has written “The cult of memory is a partial answer to the destruction of traditional identities and the inclusion into collective memory.” Hoffer’s (2016,(1951)) describes a somewhat similar dynamic: “A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for selfrenunciation.” In both cases individual identity is diluted by incorporation into collective identity. As affirmed earlier, rejection of a significant event by not including it in the collective memory is the equivalent of repression at the individual level. This is achieved by excluding the subject from the public dialogue taking place in the public sphere. The process though which certain topics become taboo in the public dialogue and cannot be discussed in the public sphere is similar to the one through which censorship 331


becomes self-censorship, progressing from the silencing of public speech to exclusion from the collective memory. For example, under communism, the discussion of the Romanian role in the Holocaust was made impossible because, as the Final Report of the Wiesel Commission notes, the official and definitive version of history, “Roller’s “History of Romania” replaced Jews and Roma … with communists and Romanians, as the main victims of fascism and ignored antisemitism as a defining trait of Antonescu’s dictatorship”. The official Romanian strategy in the communist and post-communist periods alike has been described by the Wiesel Commission (2005) as “selective negationism”; not a denial of the Holocaust per se, but a denial that Romania had a role in it. Schafir (2002) has identified several types of negationism used by countries which have participated in the Holocaust and try to deflect the guilt without denying the Holocaust outright. The role played by the fascist Iron Guard movement (the Legionnaires) is also subject to revisionism and negationism. More recently, the controversy surrounding the adoption of Law nr. 217/2015 (“for the modification and completion of Emergency Governmental Ordinance nr 31/2002 regarding the banning of organizations and symbols with fascist, racist or xenophobic character and the promotion of celebration of persons guilty of enacting infractions against peace and the humankind") commonly referred to as the “anti-Legionnaire law” has laid bare the essence of the conflict: Present day right wing sympathizers feel that the law punishes “anti-communist fighters” and insist that a similar law banning the denial of the crimes and a celebration of the symbols of communism be promulgated. Furthermore, they insist that the same law should prohibit the negation of Holocaust and the negation of the crimes of Communism, as well as the celebration of the symbols of either movement. What lies behind this reaction is the effort to draw a false moral equivalency between the Holocaust and the

crimes of Communism, trying to use the latter to justify the Holocaust post hoc by emphasizing the important role of Jews in the Communist nomenclature. The fight around this issue has a ritualistic aspect: A significant figure of the Iron Guard movement is being honored; the Wiesel Institute protests, an attempt at whitewashing the record follows, and a protracted conflict ensues. This pattern is by no means limited to Romania. In neighboring Hungary the controversy regarding the erecting of a bust of noted anti-Semite Balint Homan in Székesfehérvár followed a similar trajectory and it took an intervention of the US to stop it. (“It’s why, when a statue of an anti-Semitic leader from World War II was planned in Hungary, we led the charge to convince their government to reverse course…This was not a side note to our relations with Hungary, this was central to maintaining a good relationship with the United States, and we let them know.” President Obama, in a speech at the Israeli embassy on Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2016) This was followed by an almost identical incident in Budapest regarding the unveiling of the bust of Gyorgy Donat, another anti-Semitic politician. The same conflict is also fought under different disguises: when in 2009 the official Dictionary of Romanian Language (DEX) redefined the usage of the words “Kike” and “Gypsy” as “familiar “ rather than “derogatory”, the ensuing controversy was framed as “freedom of expression” versus “censorship”. Factors influencing Romanian collective memory In a courageous book, historian Lucian Boia (2012) asked the question “Why is Romania different?” The objective historical conditions include a low density, mostly rural population; a weak state structure in which the nobility (the Boyars) were the real power rather than the hereditary ruler (Voevod); being a fringe or boundary country. Romania was situated at various historical times between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, 332


neighboring the Russian Empire, very near the Austrian Empire, at the point where Islam meets Chritianity and Catholicism meets the Greek Orthodox religion. The first adopted written alphabet was cyrilic (Church Slavonian ) instead of Latin, a fact that further distanced Romania from Western Europe. It is a nation of latin origin surrounded by Slavs and Hungarians, and has been a divided country through most of its history. These objective conditions have led to what Boia calls „the inexplicable delay” compaed to all surrounding nations,covering all facets of society: science , culture, laws, competition, art. Developing and maintaining a national identity under these conditions was difficult. The initial building blocks of Romanian national identity were the awareness of latin origin as evidenced by the Romanian language and the Greek Orthodox religion. Romanian national identity – and collective memory - is to great extent a modern construct, undertaken after the emergence of modern Romania, the result of the efforts of the intellectuals of the 1848 generation for whom defining the Romanian national character became an important project. As Trencsenyi (2005) writes, one of the essential components of this undertaking was ideological: the clarification of the connections between individual psychological traits and ethnic and cultural characteristics, linking political programs and the problem of national identity. For those involved in the creation of the national identity, the „inexplicable delay” mentioned above presented a psychological conflict and generated a feeling of inferiority which, in turn lead to efforts to compensate. Almost from the beginning, the works of Densusianu and B.P. Hasdeu have resulted in protochronism: the tendency to ascribe to Romania a mythical and grandiose past. Thus the ancestors of Romanians, the “Dacians” are said to be the world’s oldest culture, to have invented monotheistic religion, the first form of writing, the Latin language which the Romans learned from them later etc. Protochronism has been supported by some of the historians of every

generation, has been amplified by nationalism under Ceausescu’s rule, and enjoys a great popularity-and increasingly absurd claims on the Internet today. (This is by no means an exclusive Romanian trend. Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Estonians, Georgians and Chechens have their own versions). Corollaries of protochronism are the conspiracy theories, due to the need to explain how and why the ancient grandeur was lost-generally involving the intervention of shadowy forces- and why modern Romania is not getting the recognition it deserves. I already mentioned the debunked theory that Paulescu was “robbed” of the Nobel Prize. More recently, Funar, the ex-mayor of Cluj asserted that (national poet) Eminescu was the true discoverer of the theory of relativity (also quantum physics, black holes and the Big Bang) and that he has been murdered “by the Jews” so that Einstein – whom he characterizes as retarded- could steal it. Never mind that Eminescu died in 1889 and Einstein published the special theory of relativity in 1905; logic clearly does not apply. As a belief system protochronism has developed the characteristics of a religion. The relationship between its pathology and the pathology of reason is one of reciprocity: the former causes the later, but then the pathology of protochronism becomes hidden from reason. In some ways it acquires the characteristics of a defense mechanism: it functions reflexively, mostly outside awareness. As a result, rationality is undermined, resulting in a “fragility of reason” (Morar ,2006). As Popper (1945) has noted, these theories” arise, of course, from the mistaken theory that, whatever happens in society – especially happenings such as war, unemployment, poverty, shortages, which people as a rule dislike – is the result of direct design by some powerful individuals and groups… Conspiracies occur, it must be admitted. But the striking fact which, in spite of their occurrence, disproves the conspiracy theory is that few of these conspiracies are ultimately successful. Conspirators rarely consummate their conspiracy. But, as Montaigne had said

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“The man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.” Elements of protochronism unavoidably found their way into the collective memory and have become a major distorting factor by the use of truthiness and poetic truth. A possibly more typical characteristic of Romania, also linked to the effort to overcome the unexplainable delay, is what Maiorescu called “forms without substance.” According to Maiorescu,(1868) Romania, a society with only two social classes, namely a large majority of mostly illiterate peasants and a tiny minority of landowners had adapted only the trappings of a modern society: "Before we had any village teachers, we created village schools, and before we had any professors, we opened universities, and [thus] we falsified public instruction. Before we had a culture outside of the schools, we created the Romanian Atheneum and cultural associations, and we despised the spirit of the literary societies. Before we had even a shade of original scientific activity, we created the Romanian Academic Society, with philological, historical-archaeological, natural sciences departments, and we falsified the idea of an Academy. Before we had any notable artists, we created the Music Conservatory; before we had a single worthy painter, we created the fine art schools; before we had a single valuable play, we founded the National Theatre, and we devalued and falsified all these forms of culture." Modern Romania has undergone a very rapid transition from one form of totalitarianism to another. As Boia (2011) notes, a (relatively) democratic period until 1937 was followed by “the personal regime of King Carol II from February 1938 until September 1940.The nationalist Legionnaire state from September 1940 until January 1941. The concentration of power in the hands of the Leader general (and later marshal) Antonescu (who has been associated with the legionnaires in the previous months) from January 1941 until August of 1944. A short democratic period (with many limitations) followed from August 1944 until

February 1945, then Petru Groza’s communist leaning governance from March 1945 to the end of December 1947. December 30 1947, with the proclamation of the Romanian Popular Republic, marks the start of the completely communist system. In only ten years, a succession of seven regimes covering the entire political ideological spectrum from the extreme right to the extreme left, from democracy to totalitarianism.” These changes were accompanied by a dizzying array of political positions taken by intellectual groups from the far right to the far left and everything in between, creating a veritable smorgasbord where individuals could pick and choose according to their convictions. As the dictatorship changed from a right wing one to a left wing one, previously dominant groups were driven into the underground and vice versa. The widespread use of conflicting deceptive and self-deceptive individual survival strategies during the almost successive dictatorships created huge zones of ambivalence and moral ambiguity which facilitated the public sharing of the essential lie (lebenslűge) on which such societies are based. In turn, this process was reflected in the distortions the collective memory. The tendency to adopt forms without substance combined with the sharing of the foundational untruths resulted in the undermining of moral values and a popular culture heavily infused with “poshlost” which, according to Nabokov, “is not only the obviously trashy but also the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive. By describing something as 'poshlost', we pass not only an aesthetic but also a moral judgment.” Romanian morality has always been utilitarian and relativistic in nature, as illustrated by popular wisdom such as “Until you cross the bridge you may become brother with the Devil himself”; “The thief not caught is an honest man”; ”The sword will not cut the bowed head.” All of the above described factors contribute to the creation of the shared version of the past we call collective memory, which is then 334


further distorted by truthiness and poetic truth in order to avoid cognitive dissonance, insure consistency and a positive emotional reaction

which fosters attachment. The interaction of these factors in generating the Romanian collective memory is illustrated in figure 4.

Figure 4: Factors contributing to Romanian collective memory Unfortunately, we live in a time when the forces of fragmentation and tribalism described by Barber seem to dominate the forces of integration and homogenization. As already mentioned collective memories are recursive, hence divisible without conflict, while the geographical territories linked to them are seen as indivisible. That is why it is easy to convince a minority to define itself as separate and forge the collective memory to support this newfound identity, but it is extremely difficult to allow it to claim a territory for itself. This will continue to be a source of conflict for the foreseeable future. Likewise, in the absence of a public sphere capable to host the mediation between groups with conflicting collective memories, the dialogue of the deaf will go on.

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Chapter XXXII. Positive Psychology Research as a Framework for a new conceptual model in Tourism Settings Soraia Garcês 1, Margarida Pocinho 2 & Saul Neves de Jesus 3 1, 2

Research Centre for Regional and Local Studies of University of Madeira, Portugal [email protected], [email protected] 3 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected]

Abstract: Positive Psychology is a fairly recent sub-field of psychology that is showing great potential in a variety of fields. Joining the field of positive psychology and that of tourism may seem impossible, but it is not. In this article, we explore the possible connections between these two complementary fields and offer a new conceptual model HOPE – Human Optimal Psychological Experience. This model converges variables from positive psychology as wellbeing (through the PERMA model), creativity, optimism and spirituality and applies them to tourism settings. An explanation for this framework is given and how these variables can be applied in this specific context as is tourism. Key-words: Positive psychology; tourism; human optimal psychology experience (HOPE). across multiple psychosocial domains." The themes surrounding positive psychology vary a lot. We can find researchers focusing on optimism, resilience, flow, well-being, humour, emotional intelligence, personal strengths and much more, leaving Salanova and López-Zafra (2011) to state that positive psychology has a multidisciplinary approach. The application of positive psychology ideas to tourism is one way in which this interdisciplinary is being seen. McCabe and Johnson (2013) acknowledged that there is an increasing awareness in the association of tourism and well-being. Tourism is many times seen as a frivolous vacation or as a giant commercial system. However, tourism might be understood as a human activity seeking a better wellbeing away from a daily environment. (Filep, 2014). Thinking about tourism and personal development simultaneously McCabe and Johnson (2013) suggest that individuals’ growth may involve a greater and deeper

INTRODUCTION Psychology is a science with a vast array of sub-fields, being positive psychology one of these. Positive psychology comprehensiveness is massive since it brings important ideas to different sectors such as education, health and/or organizations (Seligman, 2013). Positive Psychology is considered the science of well-being and according to its founder Martin Seligman well-being can be achieved and measured through five components: a) positive emotion, b) engagement, c) relationships, d) meaning and e) accomplishment. (ScorsoliniComin, Fontaine, Koller & Santos (2013). Liney, Joseph, Harrington, and Wood (2006, p.8) stated that "positive psychology is the scientific study of optimal human functioning". The core concept is to increase flourishing in people's lives. Butler and Kern (2016, p. 2) defined "flourishing" "as a dynamic optimal state of psychosocial functioning that arises from functioning well 339


tourism experience on a personal and spiritual level. There is a gradually advance in the literature about tourism positive outcomes in human well-being, and in some situations, these outcomes are long-term and diminish stress and burnout (Filep, 2014). According to Uysal, Sirgy, Woo, and Kim (2015), there is a need for a profound understanding of how tourists’ experiences are connected to people's quality of life. Traditionally, the marketing strategy focuses on destinations offers. Yet the idea that wellbeing and tourism are related may be a powerful tool to new marketing strategies by focusing on people happiness and well-being. Promoting tourism activities with keywords related to well-being, life satisfaction, quality of life or happiness, and associating tourism with an important part of people lives that can lead to more mental health, satisfaction and overall well-being may be important to deliver an effective marketing communication about destinations to potential visitors, who can see through this kind of approach what they can potentially gain from tourism activities (Sangpikul, 2010). Kirillova and Letho (2015) state that, during vacations, people enjoy improved physical well-being and overall happiness, but these gains quickly diminish when tourists return home. This "vacation effect is thought to be triggered by the liminal nature of tourism experience as well as the ability of a tourism environment to evoke awe." (Kirillova & Letho, 2015, p. 121). There is a body of research that states that people look for experiences that are consistent with who they are as people, meaning with their personalities (Passafaro, et al, 2015). Even in tourism settings, this idea appears to be accurate, and researchers are considering that indeed personality characteristics may be connected to tourists or visitors’ destination selection (Passafaro, et al, 2015). In this regard, Plog's psychographic model is one of the first to address the relationship between personality and tourism (Passafaro, et al, 2015). Plog's proposed that travellers can be categorized according to their personality, leading to the existence of

three types. Overall, the allocentric tourist is someone who likes to experience new things and seeks adventure. It is outgoing and selfconfident and relishes in meeting new cultures and people. The psychometric is more conservative, not so prone to adventure, likes familiarity which leads to a preference to return to destinations that they already know. The mid-centric tourist is considered the middle between allocentric and psychocentric types, which means that they are not individuals enthusiastic to new adventures, but they are amenable to it (GHK, 2013). In this model Plog made a distinction between tourists according to "their internal and stable tendency to be attentive and curious about the outer world (allocentric) versus being exclusively self-centred (psychocentric), positing that people tend then to choose both destinations and activities accordingly” (Passafaro, et al, 2015, pp. 10-12). Jani (2011, p. 90) addresses travel personality as an adaptation of one's personality to a travel setting leading "to travel activitiesrelated personality types". However, authors have been using different approaches and possibilities when applying personality theories to tourism, such as the use of Holland's personality types (Frew & Shaw, 1999), the application of optimism and pessimism (Lee, 2013) or even the Big Five personality theory (Li & Tsai, 2013). These let us believe that there are a variety of possibilities in how to research tourism preferences (Passafaro, et al, 2015). Tourism is a rising industry, leading to trying to better understand its effects' on people individually (Liu, 2013). Two important issues arise when researching tourism happiness or well-being. One of them is the struggle to define in an objective and clear way the constructs and consequently to apply research methods and procedures to its research (Filep & Deery, 2010). Kirillova and Letho (2015) acknowledge that a quantitative approach is required to explore the relationships amongst existential authenticity and experience of the vacation, but also an emic view, in a qualitatively way, to understand in-depth people tourist experiences. Filep (2016) suggested that a 340


new sub-field focusing on the study of human flourishing in tourism settings should be developed: positive tourism. As a comprehensive field with a humanistic view and roots in Positive Psychology, it would be focused on human beings and their wellbeing in three central settings: a) tourists; b) host communities and; c) tourism workers.

The variables wellbeing, creativity, optimism and spirituality are being conceptualized under de principles and models of positive psychology. Wellbeing is considered as the five components of the PERMA model, namely a) positive emotion, b) engagement, c) relationships, d) meaning and e) accomplishment. (Scorsolini-Comin, et al, 2013). Creativity is usually defined as the development of something new and useful (Hennessey, & Amabile, 2010), so we considered creativity in this context as the readiness to pursue new experiences. Optimism is being regarded as the ability to see bad events as specific, unstable and external accordingly to Seligman’s optimism explanatory style definition (Hershberger, 2005). Spirituality is being considered in a more holistic way as the pursuit or quest for significant experiences in life (Hill et al., 2000; Park & Peterson, 2009). Our aim is to translate this conceptualization to tourism settings, particularly to the tourist experience in a given destination. Figure 2 is an attempt to picture HOPE in tourism.

Figure 1. A conceptual framework of HOPE A NEW MODEL OF ‘HOPE’ It is aligned with the previous ideas that we constructed and suggest a new theoretical model that is the core of an empirical research being developed in Madeira Island, Portugal. This model is a first effort to structure what we called "Human Optimal Psychological Experience (HOPE)". This conceptualization is in its first stages and therefore subject to future improvements. The main variables that are the core of the model are well-being, optimism, creativity, and spirituality. Secondarily, the activities developed by tourists are also an important part of it. So, in an attempt to define it HOPE addresses a personal state of fulfilment that occurs during an ‘experience' in which the person's wellbeing suffers influences from his/her creativity, optimism and spirituality. As in a loop situation, individuals' wellbeing influences their ‘experiences' in a given moment and is influenced by them. Moreover, their creativity, optimism, and spirituality can affect the activities an individual enrols during an ‘experience' and therefore it will affect their wellbeing. Figure 1 tries to be a visualization of this dynamic model.

Figure 2. A conceptual framework of HOPE in tourism

Deconstructing this conceptual model to tourism HOPE (Human Optimal Psychological Experience) in tourism is characterized by: a) the tourist ability to see and seek new experiences and develop unique ways to enrich his/her life through the meeting and endorsing of new cultures and/or contexts (creativity); b) the tourist ability to 341


understand undesired events (such as lost luggage, airplane delays, bad weather, etc.) as temporary (it will pass), specific (it will not last forever) and external (it was due to some external condition, person and/or situation) will enhance a positive tourism experience (optimism); c) the tourist belief that the tourism experience is important/meaningful for his/her life and will contribute to his/her self-growth (spirituality); d) tourists’ creativity, optimism and spirituality influences their positive emotions (such as joy, satisfaction, etc., with the tourism experience), engagement (immersion in the new culture and/or context), relationships (with the host community), meaning (the belief that the experience was important for his/her self-development) and sense of accomplishment (feeling success in completing the journey/visit) [wellbeing]; e) understanding tourists' levels of creativity, optimism and spirituality will allow personalizing their experiences, in the form of the activities/actions that they will undertake in the destination, aligning their experiences with their personal/psychological preferences/characteristics, which in turn will contribute to the tourists' wellbeing (activities) and; f) the tourist wellbeing will influence the ‘human optimal psychological experience’ and at the same time will be influenced by it. The tourist wellbeing, in turn, is also influenced by his/her creativity, optimism and spirituality and the activities/actions undertaken, which contributes indirectly to the ‘human optimal psychological experience’ of the destination (dynamic model). Therefore, we have a theoretical dynamic model, where all variables influence each other in particular and different ways.

considers that tourism is a way for people to relax their mind and body and it can be seen as a healthy lifestyle. Likewise, positive psychology highlights people individual adaptation and the need to alter the way they see problems and difficulties in life through self-regulation. In this sense, positive psychology and tourism aim to the same result: to lead individuals to a better and optimized healthy mind and to discover who they really are as a person. Our idea is that, if we identify not only the tourist levels of wellbeing (through PERMA) but also the individual levels of creativity, optimism, and spirituality (intimately linked to personal wellbeing), it is possible to develop/offer personalized activities to tourists (according to their inner preferences), improving their wellbeing, which will ultimately lead to the increase of the tourist ‘optimal psychological experience' in a given destination. Further research is needed, but we HOPE that this new model can be a step in the enrichment of both fields of positive psychology and tourism. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The research for this paper was financially supported by ARDITI – Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento de Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação (Regional Agency for Development of Research, Technology, and Innovation of Madeira), Project M1420-095369-FSE-000001, Madeira 14-20 Program, through a post-doctoral research grant of the first author. REFERENCES Butler, J., & Kern, M. (2016). The PERMAProfiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(3), 1-48. doi:10.5502/ ijw.v6i3.526. Dan, C. (2015, December). Positive Psychology in Tourism. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Education, Management, Arts, Economics and Social Science, Changsha, China. Filep, S. (2014). Consider Prescribing Tourism. Journal of Travel Medicine, 21(3), 150-152. doi: 10.1111/jtm.12104.

CONCLUSIONS This conceptual model is a work in progress and it is being empirically tested in a project called "Tourist Wellbeing in Madeira Island"(For more information about this project, please contact the first author). This is a first step in developing a new conceptualization that we believe can add value to positive psychology and tourism fields. Dan (2015) 342


Filep, S. (2016). Tourism and positive psychology critique: Too emotional? Annals of Tourism Research. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.annals. 2016.04.004. Filep, S., & Deery, M. (2010). Towards a Picture of Tourists’ Happiness. Tourism Analysis, 5, 399-410. doi: 10.3727/108354210X12864727453061. Frew, E., & Shaw, R. (1999). The relationship between personality gender and tourism behavior. Tourism Management, 20, 193– 202. Government of the Hong Kong Administrative Region (2013). Tourism and Hospitality Studies: Introduction do tourism. Education Bureau: Hong Kong. Hennessey, B. & Amabile, T. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review Psychology, 61, 569-598. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100416 Hershberger, P. (2005). Prescribing Happiness: Positive Psychology and Family Medicine. Family Medicine, 37(9), 630-634. Hill, P., Pargament, K., Hood, R., McCullough, M., Swyers, J., Larson, D., & Zinnbauer, B. (2000). Conceptualizing Religion and Spirituality: Points of Commonality, Points of Departure. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviors, 30 (1), 5177. doi: 10.1111/1468-5914.00119. Jani, D. (2011). The influence of Personality on Tourist Information Behaviour. E-Review of Tourism Research, 9(3), 88-95. Kirillova, K., & Lehto, X. (2015). An existential conceptualization of the vacation. Annals of Tourism Research, 55, 110-123. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015. 09.003. Lee, Y.C. (2013). The influence of personality traits health knowledge and product attributes on intent to purchase Taiwan's healthcare tourism products. Social Behavior and Personality, 41(3), 395-410. Linley, A., Joseph, S., Harrington, S., & Wood, A. (2006) Positive psychology: Past, present, and (possible) future. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(1), 3-16. doi:10.1080/17439760500372796.

Liu, K. (2013). Happiness and Tourism. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4 (15), 67-70. McCabe, S., & Johnson, S. (2013). The happiness factor in tourism: subjective wellbeing and social tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 41, 42-65. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.12.00 1. Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2009). Character Strengths: Research and Practice. Journal of College & Character, 10(4), 1-10. doi: 10.2202/1940-1639.1042. Passafaro, P., Cini, F., Boi, L., D’Angelo, M., Heering, M., Luchetti, L., Mancini, A., Martemucci, V., Pacella, G., Patrizi, F., Sassu, F., & Triolo, M. (2015). The Sustainable tourist: Values, attitudes and personality. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 15 (4) 225-239. doi: 10.1177/1467358415576086. Salanova, M., & López.Zafra, E. (2011). Introducción: Psicología Social y Psicología Positiva. Revista de Psicología Social, 26 (3), 339-343. doi:10.1174/021347411797361248 Sangpikul, A. (2010). Psychology of Happiness and Tourism. In Makinen, A., & Hájek, P. (Eds), Psychology of Happiness (pp.189-195), New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Scorsolini-Comin, F., Fontaine, A., Koller, S., & Santos, M. (2013), “From Authentic Happiness to Well-Being: The Flourishing of Positive Psychology”, Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 26 (4), 663-670. Seligman, M. (2013). Building the State of Wellbeing: A Strategy for South Australia. Adelaide Thinker in Residence 2012-2013, Department of the Premier and Cabinet C/O, Government of South Australia. Uysal, M., Siry, M., Woo, E., & Kin, H. (2015). Quality of life (QOL) and well-being research in tourism. Tourism Management, 53, 244-261. doi: dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.tourman.2015.07.013.

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Chapter XXXIII. Election 2016: Lies, Poetic Truth and the Post Truth Society Peter Dan Long Island University, NY, U.S.A., [email protected] Abstract: The evolutionary origins of lying are analyzed from the standpoint of their relation to eusociality, altruistic behavior and the acceptance of symbolic reality. The prevalence of lying and of using fake news in the present US presidential elections are analyzed and supporting argumentation from the perspective of contemporary neuropsychological research is being offered. The present elections are seen as a fact free, post-truth environment, which pushed the limits of acceptable behavior and radically changed the parameters and strategies employed during the campaign. All examples are being drawn from the 2016 US presidential campaign. Key-words: Trump, Clinton, evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, moral psychology, collective identity, lying, poetic truth. individuals have the evolutionary advantage over groups composed of selfish ones. The efforts to manage this conflict resulted in the emergence of a value system, a protomorality, promoting behaviors that enhanced group survival and inhibited the selfish behaviors that endangered it. As Churchland (2006) argues developing such controls is a requirement of civil life, “Very briefly, the crux of the matter is this: we are social animals and our ability to flourish depends on the behavior of others. Biologically realistic models show how traits of cooperation and social orderliness can spread through a population; how moral virtues can be a benefit, cheating a cost, and punishment of the socially dangerous a necessity.” The most general of these are the prohibition of incest, the prohibition of killing in-group members and rules regarding the care and raising of children. These constitute the core of a developing set of values which are internalized by all group members leading to a shared morality. If Wilson’s assumptions are correct and eusocial behavior does indeed play such an essential role in the evolution of humans, this may provide an explanation as

A note from the author This article, like much of my work could be classified as “multidisciplinary” Perhaps this is correct, in the narrow sense. Yet, I have an abiding belief that a common frame of reference can be found integrating all the disparate levels: neuropsychological, evolutionary, psycho-social and political in a coherent explanation of the events. This is the perspective from which the present article is written. Full disclosure: I voted for Hillary Clinton. The evolutionary roots of lying Why do we lie? From the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, enduring processes are linked to behaviors which offered an advantage to the individuals and groups that developed and adopted them. Wilson (2012) considers eusociality to be the key to our success as a species, but the optimal survival strategies of the individual and of the group are almost polar opposites. There is an inherent conflict between selfish and altruistic tendencies: selfish individuals have a higher chance of survival than altruistic ones, but groups composed of altruistic 345


to why relatively large and new structures of the brain are dedicated to the management of social behavior. The shared morality of groups encourages fairness and truth telling, but deception and lying are widespread, existing in all cultures. Therefore, lying and cheating must have some adaptive value. Trivers (1971) believes that all individuals have both “altruistic and cheating tendencies” and in fact sees lying and cheating as mediating between the altruistic group and the selfish individual, as a stress reducing compromise. Byrne (2004) found a positive correlation between the use of deception and the size of the neocortex in primates. McNally and Jackson (2013) suggest that the evolution of cooperation has also led to the evolution of lying. Their approach is based on the concept of "tactical deception", or "the misrepresentation of the state of the world to others". Rather than behaving selfishly in an obvious manner, the individual can mislead others into cooperating when he is not. Furthermore, McNally and Jackson have shown that the prevalence of deception increases with the degree of cooperation in primate species. In other words, lying and eusociality are inextricably linked. The same factors that have led to the formation of a shared morality have also led to lying. One possible explanation is that lying has developed to mitigate the conflict between the selfish and altruistic tendencies mentioned above, permitting the individual to use some deceptive selfish strategies while appearing to follow the altruistic ones preferred by the group. An important factor in this process was the development of language. In Talleyrand’s words “speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts.” In turn, Smith (2004) believes that we developed simultaneously both a mechanism for deception and one for detecting it. Smith proposed the existence of a “Machiavellian module” a specialized mental module whose role is to infer the meaning of unconscious communication. To it we can add the brain structure Gazzaniga (2005) labeled “the interpreter” which decides, powered by to our overwhelming need to perceive our own actions as meaningful, whether our overt behavior makes sense. In

turn, this depends on our assessment of the situation, which, as Damasio (2010) has shown can take place on different levels of organization of the self. Furthermore, Dan (2014) has proposed that, by using selfdeception, a “sliding scale appraisal” of the meaning of the situation can be manipulated to imply threat or loss of face in order to justify behaviors that are normally unacceptable. The latter may sometimes function unconsciously, allowing us to be deceived by our own deceptions. As Hannah Arendt noted, any deception begins with selfdeception:” A characteristic of human action is that it always begins something new, and this does not mean that it is ever permitted to start ab ovo, to create ex nihilo. In order to make room for one’s own action, something that was there before must be removed or destroyed, and things as they were before are changed. Such change would be impossible if we could not mentally remove ourselves from where we physically are located and imagine that things might as well be different from what they actually are. In other words, the deliberate denial of factual truth — the ability to lie — and the capacity to change facts — the ability to act — are interconnected; they owe their existence to the same source: imagination.” (1972) I believe that the human tendency to use imagination, to accept symbolic reality as the equivalent of factual reality is an essential and universal trait of our species because it offers strong evolutionary advantages since it constitutes the basis of our ability to manipulate the mental representation of things. In turn, this ability allows for abstract reasoning, artistic expression and hypothetic reasoning. We are a symbol-making species – a process described by Langer (1948) as a primary activity “essential to thought and prior to it”. By acting on symbols and images, “man... in a very concrete sense creates his universe” (Bertalanffy, 1968). It is impossible to trace this universal trait back to its beginnings; I will create an arbitrary starting point by postulating the existence of the “first liar”. “The first lie was a momentous discovery. While the liar knows two universes – the 346


“real” one and the “false” one – the believer accepts the “false” one as the only one, inherently “true”. In fact an alternate universe is created, identical in all its aspects to the original one, except for the facts lied about. Once this step was taken, there was no returning. Mankind gleefully engaged on a path leading to culture, innovation, hypothetical thinking, abstract reasoning, art – and evil.” (Dan, 2007) By Plato’s time, as illustrated in his allegory of the cave, it was argued that the universe of ideas (i.e. the symbolic universe) was the “real” one, while the universe of objects was seen only as a poor reflection of it, mere shadows distorted by the limitations of our senses. With the emphasis on symbolic reality came greater vulnerability to be swayed by ideas rather than facts, and combined with our evolutionary bias toward altruistic behavior it resulted in an increased capacity to participate in evil. As Koestler (1967) said: ”The crimes of violence committed for selfish, personal motives are historically insignificant compared to those committed ad majorem gloriam Dei, out of a self-sacrificing devotion to a flag, a leader, a religious faith or a political conviction. Man has always been prepared not only to kill but also to die for good, bad or completely futile causes. And what can be a more valid proof of the reality of the self-transcending urge than this readiness to die for an ideal?” Despite the clear moral prohibitions against it (The Eighth Commandment), lying endured, and the need to render judgements in ambiguous situations has dulled the edge of the interdictions: Saint Augustine, considered that lying is "deliberately speaking against one’s own mind" but described situation where one can lie for the greater good; Thomas Aquinas concluded: "Therefore it is not lawful to tell a lie in order to deliver another from any danger whatever. Nevertheless, it is lawful to hide the truth prudently, by keeping it back, as Augustine says" (Summa Theologiae, II: 110:3). Just how this tolerance of lying gets integrated into moral norms raises an

interesting question. Vasile Morar (2011) has proposed the notion of “elementary morality” – the barebones simplified version of the basic moral principles transmitted by one’s parents and significant others. Once internalized, it forms the nucleus of the inner structure which is the basis for all moral judgments and for what we call the conscience. It can become deontological in nature, based on a Kantian notion of “moral imperative”, or teleological and utilitarian. Then how is lying being learned? Kant made a distinction between empirical truth-the agreement between cognition and its object- and the moral truth. The latter is “the truth of reason” based on a mutuality of respect and acceptance of the universal moral law. But since the development of lying and morality are linked to the requirements of eusociality, which is the key to the evolutionary success of our species, does moral truth include an acceptance of lying? Ariely’s (2008) contemporary studies show that given an opportunity to cheat, most people cheat a little and only a few do not cheat at all or cheat a lot. In other words, a certain level of cheating is endemic, kept in check by our desire to be perceived as “good.” However, Garrett, Lazzaro, Ariely and Sharot (2016) have shown that the amygdala, which generates negative emotions in response to lying tends to get habituated to it:” the amygdala … was most active when people first lied for personal gain. The amygdala's response to lying declined with every lie while the magnitude of the lies escalated. Crucially … larger drops in amygdala activity predicted bigger lies in future.” This study raises the possibility of a slippery slope, but if one is not aware (or only partially aware) of one’s own deception the descent in more and more lying does not have to take place. Since the subjective experience of the awareness that one is lying is unpleasant, we developed more subtle mechanisms for distorting the truth, which avoid detection and intervention by the internalized moral structures. Identity, Deception and self -deception Political commentator and humorist Steven 347


Colbert coined the term “truthiness” which the American Dialect Society defined as “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.” A corollary of truthiness is “goya,” an “Urdu word (which) conveys a contemplative 'as-if' that nonetheless feels like reality, and describes the suspension of disbelief that can occur, often through good storytelling.” As Mark Twain said: “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” I believe truthiness plays an important role in the dynamic of self-deception, facilitating the distortion of reality in favor of more emotionally satisfying versions which are then used as a basis for decision making. “The sense of identity is the result of ongoing selfassessment, selectively recalling from memory material that is consistent with the demands of continuity and integrity, and tailored to meet the demands of a given situation. The presentation of the self (Me) to others (Non Me) is an interpersonal, interactive negotiating process with the goal of trying to minimize the discrepancies between the subjectively experienced sense of self and the socially presented one. This interpersonal negotiation involves both deception and self-deception.” (Dan, 2010) Since the maintenance of identity is an iterative and additive process (identity in moment n plus new events is the input for identity at the moment n+1) the distortion is incorporated in the narrative of the self, and deceptive strategies – what Goffman calls “facework”- are used in the presentation of the self in interpersonal interactions. “Goya”the disposition to believe the deceptions incorporated in the identity narrativefacilitates the transition from truthiness to “poetic truth” (Steele, 2015) defined as similar to “poetic license where one breaks grammatical rules for effect. Better to break the rule than lose the effect. Poetic truth… bends the actual truth in order to highlight what it believes is a larger and more important truth.” This more important truth is emotional rather than factual: it puts the emphasis on feeling right rather than on being right. A closely linked notion is that of “poetic

justice,” which allows subjects to conceive of unrelated events as being the consequences of behaviors they disapprove. Neuroimaging studies support this pont of view. Westen et al. (2006) compared the functioning of self identified Republican and Democrat subjects who were asked to make a decision after being confronted with facts contrary to their beliefs. Westen described the findings in an interview with Emory University press as follows: "We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning. What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts. Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones." Instead of rationally analyzing the situation, the brain seeks a confirmation of self-consistency and rewards itself for it. Schreiber et al. (2013) confirmed Westen’s findings and also showed that evaluative processes depend on political orientation, and that “ that the neural processes of evaluation themselves are distinct, perhaps reflecting differentiable values, as well as differing preferences for issues, candidates, and parties… Republicans and Democrats differ in the neural mechanisms activated while performing a risk- taking task. Republicans more strongly activate their right amygdala, associated with orienting attention to external cues. Democrats have higher activity in their left posterior insula, associated with perceptions of internal physiological states. This activation also borders the temporalparietal junction, and therefore may reflect a difference in internal physiological drive as well as the perception of the internal state and drive of others.”(Schreiber et al. 2013) Lying is a powerful interpersonal strategy and it is naturally intertwined with politics: “Without the mental freedom to deny or affirm existence, to say “yes” or “no” — not 348


just to statements or propositions in order to express agreement or disagreement, but to things as they are given, beyond agreement or disagreement, to our organs of perception and cognition — no action would be possible; and action is of course the very stuff politics are made of. Hence, when we talk about lying … let us remember that the lie did not creep into politics by some accident of human sinfulness. Moral outrage, for this reason alone, is not likely to make it disappear” (Arendt, 1972). Adorno (1951) also commented that “Lies have long legs: they are ahead of their time. The conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power, a process that truth itself cannot escape if it is not to be annihilated by power, not only suppresses truth as in earlier despotic orders, but has attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false, which the hirelings of logic were in any case diligently working to abolish.” (1951) The 2016 presidential election had an emphasis on identity politics: African Americans, Latinos, Women, Working Class Whites, Millennials, Evangelicals, Nativists, White Nationalists etc. When dealing with such ad-hoc groups (because the voters can be divided in many other ways) the issue is finding the collective memory narrative that best approximates the groups’ sense of collective identity “Individual identity stems from the encounter of multiple collective identities within one and the same person; each of our various affiliations contributes to the formation of the unique creature that we are. Human beings are not all similar, or entirely different; they are all plural within themselves, and share their constitutive traits with very varied groups, combining them in an individual way. Individual identity results from the interweaving of several collective identities.” (Todorov, 2004, 2010) The above quote highlights one of the paradoxes of individual identity: it is an integrated conglomerate of a multitude of shared collective identities. This quality is similar to recursiveness in linguistics, and it indicates that identity has a fractal quality. One can identify as a Romanian of Greek Orthodox religious affiliation, who is Transylvanian,

living in Bucharest, speaker of French, a theater lover, who is a fan of a given soccer team and loves red wine etc. Depending on the situation, any of these collective identities may be perceived as the salient one. Collective identity, be it group, ethnic, religious, ideological or national (or combinations of the above) is part of individual identity. The social factors involved in creating and maintaining the individual identity and their essential role in defining the moral norms provide the linkage mechanisms between individual and collective identities. But while the sense of self is vaster than the group identity and it incorporates it, in a situation where, let’s say, the national identity becomes more salient, it is subjectively perceived as being superordinate. For example, presidential candidate Ted Cruz declared “I am Christian first and American second.” 2016: Jihad prevails over McWorld Barber (1996) has decribed two “axial principles of our age”: tribalism and globalism, two forces in conflict he named “McWorld” and “Jihad”. The former represents a centripetal force for transnational and cross-cultural homogenization and integration, and tends to occur more in open societies while the latter is a centrifugal force for fragmentation, separatism and tribalism, occurring more often in closed societies, based often on national or religious identity. For example, multinational companies and the European Union represent McWorld, and have been dominant for the last decades. However, when the national identity of the member states came under pressure because of the massive influx of Middle Eastern refugees, because of a perceived loss of autonomy caused by an overbearing EU centralized bureaucracy, because of the perceived attack on morality and cultural values, the centrifugal force of “Jihad” has become prevalent. Pan-European, transnational, multicultural identity proved to be no substitute for national identity and it did not fit any collective memory or identity narrative. Under conditions of perceived threat of identity we tend to strengthen group 349


cohesion by emphasizing within group similarities and accentuating between groups differences. Right leaning nationalist and isolationist regimes were voted into power in Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Lithuania; a coup has taken place in Turkey; the nationalist, anti-establishment right is on the rise in France, Germany, Spain and Greece. Brexit has taken place. The integrity of the European Union is seriously threatened, and economic isolationism is a distinct possibility. Furthermore, as the work of Foa and Mounk (2016) indicates, the fundamental beliefs regarding the importance of democratic values are weakening all over Europe and in the US. In fact, democracies seem to decay toward one of two solutions: “illiberal democracy- the will of the people determines public policy but individual rights

are regularly violated “(as for instance in Hungary) or ““undemocratic liberalism individual rights are respected but the mechanism for translating the will of the people into public policy has broken down” (as for instance in those European countries where the majority opposition to admitting new refugees is overlooked). This was the worldwide context in which the 2016 presidential election took place. The emphasis on identity politics connected the election to worldwide trends and gave it an anti-immigrant, anti-establishment, nationalist and isolationist character. If we combine the Jihad versus McWorld division with the one between rich versus poor countries we get a more nuanced representation of the possibilities:

In addition to identity politics, there was also a wider divide overlapping all groups. Most of the time presidential elections are fought in the middle of the field defined by the vertical divider between the liberals and the conservatives. In this election the field was

defined by the horizontal divider between the haves and the have nots. This explains the success of populist themes. Republican candidate Trump seems to have been attuned to it from the very start of the campaign, while the Democrats were definitely tone deaf.

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Molyneux (2016) showed the breakdown of working class votes by ethnicity, and also

within the white working class voters by political orientation:

These results suggest the existence of a structural disadvantage regarding the white working class vote for the Democrats and for Clinton, one that they fatally failed to address.

wishes or expects to hear. He has prepared his story for public consumption with a careful eye to making it credible, whereas reality has the disconcerting habit of confronting us with the unexpected, for which we were not prepared” (Arendt,1972) Post truth society is an almost fact free environment. What matters is the poetic rather than the factual truth, emotional satisfaction rather than rigorous fact

Election 2016: Lying to the voters I believe this election was a harbinger of the post truth society “Lies are often much more plausible, more appealing to reason, than reality, since the liar has the great advantage of knowing beforehand what the audience 351


checking. Substituting the latter with the former is at the core of understanding the dynamics and the ideological distortions of the public discourse in a post truth society. As Mascha Gessen wrote in The New York Review of Books: “Our allegiance to a factbased reality has been constantly challenged. But conspiracy theories work on a different level than mere lies. They lodge themselves in the mind by showing that something could be true without proving that it is true. They are therefore impossible to disprove: they cannot be fact-checked because their central tenets

are conjectures rather than facts. Debates spawned by conspiracy theories become fruitless arguments about beliefs, and merely by having them, we gradually elevate these theories from assertion to assumption Our beliefs about conspiracy theories do not stem from facts. Instead, they demand facts to buttress them” (11/2/2016). There are, however, some checks on just how far from the truth one can stray. In the public sphere, the degree of the distortion of the factual truth is limited by the Overton window:

As I have shown elsewhere (Dan, 2016), by using axes of coordinates one can create a tridimensional Overton space that constitutes

a better representation of the manner in which the Overton window is placed in the public space in a post-truth society:

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Trump has relentlessly pushed the Overton window toward more and more emphasis on the poetic truth. By dint of his good instincts and his training in “reality television” he showed a much better understanding of the contrived nature of the medium and its limits than the Clinton camp did. His early outrageous statements and actions, mocking war heroes, the handicapped, insulting minorities, insulting women, being rude and impulsive were framed as “fighting political correctness” and “telling it like it is” and effectively defanged. At the same time, they constantly lowered the threshold of what could be considered “acceptable” coming from him, inoculating him from the consequences, even when he publicly boasted about the size of his penis. (Incidentally, that should have cued his opponents on just how sensitive he is to ridicule and therefore easy to bait into mistakes. There was no follow up.) The popular but preposterous promise of building 30 feet+ high solid wall for the entire length of the US Mexico border-and make Mexico pay for it – has been relentlessly debunked. The scarier promise of rounding up and deporting 12 million people was held up for ridicule and contempt. The promise to ban on all Muslims entering the US has been characterized as un-American and unconstitutional. His early opponents – and later Hillary Clinton- did not understand that in a post truth election you simply cannot fight poetic truth with facts; you have to fight it with your own poetic truth. Please note that by definition poetic truth is a distortion whereby connecting emotionally is more important than being factually correct. Therefore, relentlessly fact checking someone who lied 75% of the time was useless and a waste of resources: his supporters were not interested in the truth and his opponents’ supporters already knew he was lying. Please note how well these facts fit the differences in brain functioning based on ideological orientation described above. “At the hands of Trump, facts have become interchangeable with opinions, blinding us into arguing amongst ourselves, as our very reality is called into question.” (Laureen

Duca, Teen Vogue 12/10/ 2016) In Salena Zito’s felicitous turn of phrase (The Atlantic, Sept. 23 2016) “the press takes him (Trump) literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” Trump also masterfully used Twitter to bait his adversaries and to deflect. He understood that Twitter is an ideal medium for poetic truths. He easily won 24-hour news cycles by outrageous tweets; his opponents and the media were distracted into trying to fact check and debunk them, rather than criticizing him for his policy positions. I believe a “countertweet” strategy, meeting lies with lies and outrageousness with outrageousness would have been much more effective. Election 2016: Fake News In addition, the flooding of social media with fake news gave Trump a tremendous amount of ammunition and a context for his tweets. All he had to say was “Many people are saying that…” and proceed to spread the fake news. Steve Bannon, a first class agent provocateur, was instrumental in perfecting this strategy. The Sanders and Stein supporters also used fake news to attack Hillary Clinton, whose own camp seemed remarkably inept at deflecting the attacks or mounting a similar campaign. They were fighting the fact based campaigns of the past, fact checking everything into oblivion, and it seemed that at times they were almost paralyzed by the fear of offending-and losingSanders’ or Stein’s supporters. Therefore, their answer was ineffectual and self-defeating. Meanwhile the mainstream press and social media tried endlessly to debunk the fake news and agonized over policies to stop them without limiting access to the media to even the most egregious violators. For example, BBC news reported that when technologist Daniel Sieradski has developed a plug-in - known as BS Detector - that flagged “questionable" websites on Facebook and Twitter, Facebook blocked it. Mark Zuckerberg explained: "We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties." Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker 353


December 5, 2016: “What Adorno identified as the erasure of the “borderline between culture and empirical reality” is endemic on social media. The failure of Facebook to halt the proliferation of fake news during the campaign season should have surprised no one; the local hirelings of logic are too enamored of their algorithms—and of the revenue they generate—to intervene. ..Traditional media outlets exhibited the same value-free mentality, pumping out Trump stories and airing his rallies because they got hits and high ratings. At some point over the summer, it struck me that the greater part of the media wanted Trump to be elected, consciously or unconsciously. He would be more “interesting” than Hillary Clinton; he would “pop.” That suspicion was confirmed the other day when a CNN executive, boasting of his network’s billion-dollar profit in 2016, spoke of “a general fascination that wouldn’t be the same as under a Clinton Administration.” Of the clouds and shadows that hung over Clinton in the press, the darkest, perhaps, was the prospect of boredom. Among voters, a kind of nihilistic glee may have been as much a factor in Trump’s election as economic dissatisfaction or racial resentment. The mechanism by which people support a political program “largely incompatible with their own rational self-interest,” as Adorno wrote, requires many kinds of deception.” From a neuropsychological standpoint Mills et al (2016), found that negativity bias -where greater weight in our cognitive processes is given to negative information over positive or neutral information -- is stronger in political conservatives and that the negativity bias influences how well they remember stimuli; Tullet (2016) found that conservatives were more skeptical about the value of science compared with liberals. These differences suggest that conservatives and liberals may differ with respect to the kinds of information they find persuasive in the context of political debate. I believe that these differences show that people with a conservative mindset are more likely to use and to believe negative fake news about their opponents.

Westen and Schreiber’s findings also suggest that there is a similarity between the role of ideology and religion, that they may be processed by the same networks and become part of the normative structures that manage social behavior. They facilitate the bypassing of reasoning in favor of emotionally satisfying solutions, while maintaining the illusion of rationality. As Berns et al. (2012) have shown decisions made based on principle are processed differently from decisions made on the basis of cost-benefit analysis. All someone has to do to process an issue diferently is to convince himself or herself that it involves a matter of principle. In a different study, Berns et al. investigated if and how the subjects misperceive the situation when faced with a group decision and concluded “We’d like to think that seeing is believing but the study shows that seeing is believing what the group tells you to believe.” In other words, the subjects’ brains deceive them in order to perceive things according to group norms. “Dan Kahan, a professor of law and psychology at Yale University, has formally posited what some may already suspect. America is not just a victim of fake news and the pervasive inability to apply skepticism to ferret it out. Kahan reveals it’s also under assault by affirmative choices to dismiss scientific evidence simply because it doesn’t match one’s social or cultural identity”. (Bloomberg News, Eric Roston 12/8/2016). Kahan, Jenkins-Smith and Braham (2010) in their discussion of “Cultural Cognition” have identified the process of “narrative framing”: “Individuals tend to assimilate information by fitting it to preexisting narrative templates or schemes that invest the information with meaning. The elements of these narrative templates—the identity of the stock heroes and villains, the nature of their dramatic struggles, and the moral stakes of their engagement with one another—vary in identifiable and recurring ways across cultural groups.” I believe these findings suggest that Trump supporters were more likely to be consumers, believers and purveyors of fake news. His 354


campaign seemed to have understood that fact, and used them extensively. In fact, as Craig Silverman wrote: ”In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others, a BuzzFeed News analysis has found.

During these critical months of the campaign, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Within the same time period, the 20 bestperforming election stories from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook” (BuzzFeed, Nov 16, 2016).

In fact, a single site, namely “Ending the Fed” was the source of four of the top ten fake news: “Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS, Hillary Clinton being disqualified from holding federal office, and the FBI director receiving millions from the Clinton Foundation. These four stories racked up a

total of roughly 2,953,000 Facebook engagements in the three months leading up to Election Day” (BuzzFeed, Nov 16, 2016). A study by the PEW Research Center also indicates that the majority of the American public has difficulty distinguishing between fake news and authentic news (Barthel, Mitchell and Holcomb, Dec 15 2016).

Another phenomenon that contributed to the popularity of fake news is the “filter bubble” (Pariser, 2011) a personalized web search

algorithm which exposes the user only to information consistent with the previous search history. Intended to gather data about 355


the user for commercial purposes, the unintended consequence is that it “closes us off to new ideas, subjects, and important information" and "creates the impression that our narrow self-interest is all that exists" In Pariser’s view this makes people more vulnerable to "propaganda and manipulation… A world constructed from the familiar is a world in which there’s nothing to learn ... (since there is) invisible autopropaganda, indoctrinating us with our own ideas. (The Economist, 2011) In turn, the fake news and the candidates’ lies were defended by a hyper-spin (hyperpartisan spin) propaganda machine which doggedly supported even the most patently absurd of Trump’s positions such as making allies pay for our military support, giving them nuclear weapons, quitting NATO or renegotiating the US debt. But, as Chriss Cilliza wrote in The Washington Post:”Trump, to his immense credit, understood that a) flouting the rules actually endeared him to a big swath of voters and b) there just might not be any real rules at all. While, also in The Washington Post’s words, “the campaign portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers.”(12/12/2016) I do not believe that the proliferation of fake news was a deciding factor in this election. However, it did have a polarizing and cumulative effect: since Hillary Clinton was the target of the fake news, her negatives were raised, motivating those who wanted to vote against her and creating revulsion among those who wanted to vote for her only reluctantly.

nightmare and reinforced the narrative that she is not “trustworthy.” Her-and her staff’sinability to provide a satisfactory explanation and to get a clean break added fuel to the fire instead of damping it. She seemed to be on the defensive, conceding the truth only when she was forced, and even then taking a very narrow and legalistic approach that was often seen as insincere and occasionally outright deceitful. Bill Clinton’s June 27th tarmac meeting with Attorney General Lynch further amplified the appearance of impropriety. Having said that, we know now that her emails and those of the DNC and of John Podesta have been hacked by Russian state controlled agencies and given to WikiLeaks in a sustained effort to hurt her candidacy and to support Donald Trump. The daily drip of embarrassing information proved hard to overcome. Several factors contributed to this situation: First, the mainstream media’s desire to prove that it was impartial resulted in a false equivalency in which the coverage of WikiLeaks was seen as balancing out the coverage of Trump’s latest outrageous action. The mainstream media did not try to assess independently whether the documents were unaltered despite warnings to the contrary: “It is not unthinkable that those responsible will steal and release more files, and even salt the files they release with plausible forgeries,” a bipartisan group of national security experts from the Aspen Institute stated on July 28. To be fair, the Clinton camp, the DNC or Podesta never succeeded in challenging the veracity of the leaked documents either, nor did they manage to convince the press to do it for them. They also proved remarkably inept at mounting a counter operation of disinformation, “salting” their e-mails with demonstrably fake documents in order to discredit their source. In turn, the Republicans did their utmost to benefit from the support they were receiving from the Russians. NBC news reported on October 31 2016 that “Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked a bi-partisan effort by the Obama administration and Congressmen of both parties to publicly

Election 2016: Emails, Hacks, WikiLeaks and the FBI Hillary Clinton started losing the 2016 election a long time ago, when she installed a private e-mail server in her home during her tenure as Secretary of State. This can be counted as a “self-inflicted wound”, a category which will be addressed later. The ensuing scandal and investigations, leaks and a partisan FBI constituted a public relations 356


expose Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. During that time, the RNC knew that it had been hacked by the Russian government (emphasis in the original text), but Putin was not releasing their messages, while only DNC emails were released to Wikileaks in a coordinated campaign” (Dilanian,Williams,Windrem and Johnson). Furthermore “FBI Director James Comey argued against publicly disclosing the U.S. intelligence community's conclusion that Russia was behind hacks into U.S. political institutions, highly placed sources told NBC News” on the grounds that “disclosing that operatives based in Russia were behind the widespread hacking not only might interfere with the U.S. election but also could violate Justice Department guidelines”. This is even more surprising because on October 28, FBI Director Comey had sent a highly unusual letter to members of Congress informing them that “In connection with an unrelated case the FBI has learned the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.” Comey wrote the letter against the advice of the Justice Department, and without knowing whether or not the emails were relevant. In fact he had not yet asked for a search warrant. That warrant, obtained two days later, was recently made public as a result of a lawsuit, and it did nothing to reassure the Clinton camp that the action had been justified or even legitimate” "Today's release of the FBI affidavit highlights the extraordinary impropriety of [FBI] Director [James] Comey’s October 28 letter, publicized two days before the affidavit, which produced devastating but predictable damage politically and which was both legally unauthorized and factually unnecessary," longtime Clinton lawyer David Kendall said in a statement. "The affidavit

concedes that the FBI had no basis to conclude whether these e-mails were even pertinent to that closed investigation, were significant, or whether they had, in fact, already been reviewed prior to the closing of the investigation." "What does become unassailably clear, however, is that as the sole basis for this warrant, the FBI put forward the same evidence the Bureau concluded in July was not sufficient to bring a case — the affidavit offered no additional evidence to support any different conclusion," Kendall said” (John Gerstein, Politico, 12//20/2016). Furthermore, the letter contravened to established policy regarding the FBI’s not doing anything to influence an election 60 days before Election Day. It appears that Comey succumbed to pressure from pro-Trump agents and feared that the existence of the e-mails (they were on Anthony Wiener’s laptop) will be leaked. As Spence Ackerman wrote in The Guardian on November 4, 2016: Current and former FBI officials, none of whom were willing or cleared to speak on the record, have described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comey’s July decision not to recommend an indictment over Clinton’s maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited.” “The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent. The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re proTrump.” Due to the process of “cognitive framing” and of the need for self-consistency described above, the Republicans’ opinion about WikiLeaks improved over time, while the Democrats’ decreased:

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At the same time, the same polarizing effect could be observed regarding the popularity of Putin, which increased among Republicans to

the point where he was more popular than any Democrat:

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On November 6th Comey sent Congress a second letter which said in effect that the emails were not relevant or were copies of material already examined and that “we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton” (namely not to bring an indictment) By then the damage was done. As pollster Nate Silver commented: “I’ll put it like this. Clinton would almost certainly be President –elect if the election had been held Oct. 27 (day before Comey letter)” Indeed, the polls show that late deciders, who decided in the week after Comey’s first letter, voted overwhelmingly for Trump by 29 points in Wisconsin, by 17 points in Pennsylvania and Florida and by 11 points in Michigan. However, it is not clear whether the change is due entirely to Comey’s letter. Other factors, for example the Clinton decision to campaign only minimally in Wisconsin and Michigan could have also played a role. In addition, I cannot fully agree with Silver’s assessment, because the polls it was based on have led to faulty conclusions regarding the outcome of the election. I do not know with certainty that the combination of Russian hacks and FBI interference resulted in Hillary Clinton losing the election, but it is evident that it has been a very significant factor, a gross interference in the electoral process and a violation of our democratic tradition. Whether Silver is correct or not, the fact that the Director of the FBI has lost control of his organization to the point that his fear of an

internal revolt forced him to interfere in an election needs to be investigated by a bipartisan commission. Election 2016: Self Inflicted Wounds As indicated above, I believe that Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server for official State Department business constituted a major self -inflicted wound, perhaps even a fatal one. Unlike Trump’s self-inflicted wounds, for example his fight with a Gold Star family or the Access Hollywood tape on which he brags about sexually assaulting women, the consequences of Clinton’s error have metastasized into WikiLeaks and the FBI investigation, which have put her on the defensive for the entire length of the campaign. While Trump’s mistakes hurt him, the effects did not prove as lasting. The lowered expectations, the inoculation effect and frankly the numbing caused by his daily assaults on good manners and common sense were reconstructed as “fighting political correctness” and “telling it as it is” by a populist candidate with a talent for addressing the voters’ grievances and who promised to bring back the good jobs lost through “bad” trade deals. This was and is essentially a lie, since the majority of jobs were lost to modernization, not outsourcing. It took 25 workers to produce $1 million worth of goods in the seventies; it takes 6.5 workers now. In fact, US manufacturing output increased four times as much as manufacturing jobs:

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Instead of offering this and similar arguments to explain the loss of jobs and to counter Trump’s attack on trade agreements, Hillary Clinton said on March 2016 “…we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business”- a counterproductive and brutal statement that would come back to haunt her. On September 9 she compounded her error by stating to donors:” You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.” Right? The racist, sexist,

homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -you name it…. Now, some of those folks -they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America." The toxic effects of this statement were far ranging and cannot be understated. They haunted Hillary’s campaign to the end. Shannon Monnat (2016) created a dataset of 3106 rural counties and found that counties with a majority white population with higher mortality rate caused by drugs, alcohol and suicide were more likely to have voted for Trump.

She considers these “deaths by despair” a measure of “hopelessness, depression, despair and anxiety.” When they were combined with a composite index of “economic distress” it became evident that the communities represented by these voters have been devastated by the loss of good paying manufacturing or mining jobs and that they felt marginalized, abandoned and betrayed by the system. The Clinton campaign proved incapable of addressing their grievances and/or offering them hope. Instead, it insulted them. During the Democratic primaries Clinton was forced to defend against the unexpected populist onslaught from the left of the Saunders campaign. The campaign

propaganda highlighted her enthusiasm gap with younger voters and portrayed her as unreliable, a tool of Wall Street, dishonest and manipulative; the fake news portrayed her as a loser and a cheat. Yet, because Clinton was convinced that she would eventually win the nomination, and because she was afraid of losing Saunders’ youthful supporters in the general election, she did not counter effectively. Her reaction was to move more to the left, losing her centrist credentials and credibility in the process. On the other hand her need for the support of President Obama, due to the necessity of reactivating the Obama coalition that was essential for her strategy, kept her from distancing herself effectively from his policies. The 360


combination of these pressures made her a hopelessly “status quo” candidate in a “change” election, unable to craft a message that would sway the white working class voters. Saunders’ attack also highlighted Clinton’s weaknesses as a candidate: her scripted and calculating persona, her inability to project empathy and trustworthiness, her lack of a coherent and optimistic economic message. Her only genuine claim to be a transformational candidate was the fact that she was the first woman either major party had nominated. Unfortunately, this did not have the drawing power it should have had due to latent and overt misogyny, and to the underestimation of the “macho” aspects of Latino culture in the case of Hispanic voters or the unwillingness on part of some Black males to empower a woman. The Clinton campaign was also characterized by hubris and miscalculation. Granted, some of this was due to the polls, which unanimously projected her as a winner, apparently validating her strategy. Both the polls and the Clinton campaign relied on a faulty turnout model, which underestimated the white working class turnout and overestimated the women’s vote (with the exception of minority women) and the minority turnout. Consequently, they made potentially catastrophic decisions regarding the final days’ strategy in the rustbelt states. In Wisconsin, a state that had two recent gubernatorial elections recalled over the issue of the unions’ collective bargaining right, the Clinton campaign failed to run a single ad highlighting her support for unions. The campaign also failed to hold a single rally in a Michigan United Auto Workers union hall, and did not emphasize the bailout of the auto industry. Also in Michigan, even after her local organization indicated that her lead is slipping and people wanted to come in to help from Iowa (a state which was clearly out of reach) the Clinton campaign HQ in Brooklyn overrode them and ordered them back. Edward-Isaak Dovere wrote in Politico on 12/14/2016. “The Brooklyn command believed that television and limited direct

mail and digital efforts were the only way to win over voters, people familiar with the thinking at headquarters said. Guided by polls that showed the Midwestern states safer, the campaign spent, according to one internal estimate, about 3 percent as much in Michigan and Wisconsin as it spent in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. Most voters in Michigan didn’t see a television ad until the final week.” In Pennsylvania and Ohio Clinton did not campaign in rural counties which she was destined to lose, in order to lower Trump’s margin of victory. If she would have lost those voters 2:1 instead of 3:1 she would be President elect today. Bill Clinton had said as much during the summer and Michael Moore had written an astonishingly prescient public letter, urging the Democrats to pay more attention to Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, to no avail. In the end Clinton lost Wisconsin, Ohio Michigan and Pennsylvania – and the presidency-by 80.000 combined votes, despite winning the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes. I believe that the above mistakes are the necessary- though perhaps not the sufficient explanation for Clinton’s loss. Due to my profession I am biased toward explanations in which multiple factors interact in complex ways, and in the case of the 2016 Presidential elections such an explanation (neglect of working class white voters plus the Russian hacking and WikiLeaks, plus the FBI interference, plus the fake news) is the most plausible. However, I think that it is possible that actively seeking working class and rural votes could have resulted in a narrow Clinton Electoral College victory. As to the transition to a post -truth society, I am afraid that the effects of the 2016 election will prove enduring and far ranging. The issue of how to deal with politicians and whole administrations who lie as a matter of fact and cannot be shamed if they are confronted about it will distort our political process, giving the advantage to populist demagogues unless or until a backlash forces a return to fact and evidence based political discourse and media coverage. 361


Research in Psychology, November 2013, Sibiu, Romania. Conference Proceedings: Prospecting interdisciplinarity in health, education and social sciences. Milcu, M., Dan P., Kraal, H. (Eds.). Bucureşti: Editura Universitară, DOI: 10.5682/9786062800147. Dan, P. (2016). The Fight to Control the Past: Collective Memory and the Case of Romania. A Psycho-social Perspective. Paper presented at the ASN World Convention Columbia University, April 14-16. Damasio, A.R. (2010). Self Comes to Mind. Vintage Books. New York Garrett, N., Lazzaro, Stephanie C., Ariely, D. & Sharot; Tali (2016). The brain adapts to dishonesty. Nature Neuroscience; DOI: 10.1038/nn.4426. Foa, R. S. & Mounk, Y. (2016). The Democratic Disconnect. Journal of Democracy, July, Volume 27, Number 3. Gazzaniga M.S. (2005). The Ethical Brain. The science of our Moral Dilemmas. Harper Perennial. New York. Kahan, D., Braman, D. & Jenkins-Smith, H. (2010). Cultural Cognition of Scientific Consensus. Journal of Risk Research, Vol. 14, pp. 147-74, 2011 Yale Law School, Public Law Working Paper No. 205 Koestler, A. (1967). The Ghost in the Machine (1990 reprint ed.). Penguin Group. Langer, S. (1948). Philosophy in a New Key. New York: Mentor. Mills, M., Gonzalez, F. J., Giuseffi, K., Sievert, B., Smith, K.B., Hibbing, J.R. & Dodd, M.D. (2016). Political conservatism predicts asymmetries in emotional scene memory. Behavioural Brain Research; 306: 84 DOI: 10.1016/ j.bbr.2016.03.025. Molyneux, G. (2016). Mapping the White Working Class. American Prospect, Dec 12. Shannon Monnat (2016). Deaths of Despair and Support for Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election. Research Brief. The Pennsylvania State University Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education. Morar, V. (2011). Moralitatea Elementara: Stari, Praguri, Virtuti. Bucharest: Paideia. Pariser, E. (2011). The You Loop. The Economist, June 6. Smith, D.L. (2004). Why we lie: The

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Chapter XXXIV. Sharing Your Attention Is Caring: how Active-Empathic Listening May Predict Altruism Gabriela Marcu Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Centre of Psychological Research, Romania [email protected] Abstract: There are many consistent results regarding the altruism – empathy relationship, starting with the empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson, 2008) and its validations or criticism. Yet another specific aspect of empathy that has not been so often associated with generosity is the active listening. Our research hypothesises that sharing one’s attention with another person (active listening) might be a predictor for future altruistic behaviour. The results confirmed this initial claim and may have impact in counselling practice or in other prosocial behaviour studies. Key-words: prosocial behaviour, altruism, empathy, active listening. research. The research efforts of the last decade have established a close link between altruism and empathy, as the capacity to share the feelings of another. Klimecki et al. underlined that meta-analytic evidence from psychology corroborates the Adam Smiths’s historical postulate on the empathy-altruism link, by revealing that empathic states and, to a smaller extent, empathic traits predict altruistic behaviour (Klimecki et al., 2016). More recently, researchers in evolutionary psychology have suggested that, in both humans and animals, empathy has evolved in order to promote altruism towards others in need, pain, or distress (de Waal, 2007). In order to provide more evidence for the healthcare professions more studies were run on the empathy-altruism hypothesis, finding significant association between the two (Burks et al., 2012, Persson et al., 2016, Huber & MacDonald, 2012, Klimecki et al., 2016). One conceptual issue here is the

INTRODUCTION As a specific prosocial behaviour, altruism has raised many research questions and hypotheses that contributed to a puzzle-like picture of the concept. Moreover, specific associations with other constructs, like empathy started various debated on whether altruism could be taught, enforced or enhanced. Of course, practical and social implications are to be considered. Putting altruism in juxtaposition with egoism, Batson defines it as a “motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing another’s welfare” (Batson, 2008), distinguished from altruistic behaviour, acting morally and helping, in order to gain inner rather than external rewards. Other researchers are considering altruism as a driven behavioural response in a social interaction, having empathy as a key motivator for altruistic behaviour. However, the psychological factors that drive altruistic behaviour have been poorly understood, despite massive psychological 365


 responding (n = 4). Sensing refers to a listener's ability to understand relational aspects of speech. Processing, the cognitive aspect of listening, involves attending to, comprehending, receiving, and interpreting messages. Responding, measures the perception of behavioural output of listening including verbal and nonverbal feedback. Active-empathic listening was originally defined as a form of listening employed by salespeople, where customary active listening is merged with empathy, but has been lately adapted to a more general social context. The scale can capture self-reported Activeempathic listening, perspectives of AEL from a close other or conversational partner, as well as ratings from trained coders. Self-Report Altruism Scale Distinguished by the Recipient, is a 21-item scale, developed on an evolutionary viewpoint, who evaluates altruism and the frequency of altruistic behaviours toward various recipients (family members, friends or acquaintances, and strangers) in daily life (Oda et al., 2013). The scale has been adapted on Romanian population in 2015 (Marcu, Bucuță, 2015). A total of 48 participants (mean age = 21.36 years) completed the two scales, after the initial informed consent. Participants were first year undergraduates in Psychology. No other special conditions have been necessary for application.

altruism measurement in the mentioned research. The cited studies used mostly economical games, like Dictator Game scenarios to assess altruistic behaviour. But one recent comparative study found no association between the self-reported altruism, measured with scale and so-called “manifest” altruism, measured with DG (Bucuță, Marcu, 2016). Therefore, we put into question here the link between active-empathic listening and the self-reported altruism. We took into account one specific aspect of empathy that has not been so often associated with generosity, the active listening. If altruism is a concept about giving a personal resource to another, or sharing it with another person, then we may consider any of the situations involving such acts, like giving time, attention or …self-control. This are less investigated aspects of giving but we consider them as equally important as the material resources involved in generosity. In this particular case, we hypothesized that active listening, as an act of sharing attention is consistently associated with altruism, measures on a self-rating scale. The attentionsharing was than evaluated as a predictor for altruism. METHOD To test whether our active-empathic listening - altruism hypothesis confirms, we conducted a correlational study in which we compared the scores at AELS (Active-Empathic Listening Scale) with the SRAS-DR (SelfReport Altruism Scale Distinguished by the Recipient) scores. The Active-Empathic Listening Scale (AELS) is an 11-item, three-factor scale measuring active-empathic listening across three dimensions:  sensing (n = 4),  processing (n = 3), and

RESULTS The descriptive data showed an approximately normally distribution for each of the two variables (the data are little skewed and kurtotic, for both scales. The ShapiroWink test for normality show a significant difference from normality for the SRAS-DR scale). We assumed that our data are approximately normally distributed, in terms of skewness and kurtosis.

366


Tests of Normality Kolmogorov-Smirnova Statistic SRAS AELS

,133 ,068

df

Shapiro-Wilk

Sig. 48 ,033 48 ,200*

Statistic ,935 ,978

df

Sig. 48 ,011 48 ,501

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction *. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

A Pearson correlation test was run, showing a significant association between the active-

empathic listening and self-reported altruism: r(48) = +.509, p < .01, two-tailed.

367


Correlations AELS AELS

SRAS 1,000 ,509**

Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

N SRAS

48,000

Pearson Correlation

,509

Sig. (2-tailed)

,000

48

**

1,000

N

48

48,000

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Correlation between the AELS’ subscales and SRAS-DR were also significant, but no

statistical significant link was found with the age of the participants.

Correlations SRAS SRAS

Pearson Correlation

1.000 .365*

Sig. (2-tailed) N INTUITION

.011 48.000

Pearson Correlation

.365*

Sig. (2-tailed)

.011

N PROCESSING Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

Sig. (2-tailed) Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N

.448**

.001

.001 48

48.000

.001

.000 48

.305 48

48.000 .496**

.001

.000

.000

48

48

-.027

-.153 .305

47

.000

.228 48

47

1.000 .075 .615 48

48.000

-.179 .075 .228

47

47 -.179

.000

.510**

47 -.153

1.000 .496**

.448**

.857

.857 48

48

48

AGE -.027

.510**

.000

.559**

Receptivity

.481**

48

.481**

N AGE

Processing

1.000 .559**

48

N RECEPTIVITY Pearson Correlation

Intuition

47 1.000

.615 47

47

47.000

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). predicted self-reported altruism. The regression analysis revealed that activeempathic listening (or attention-sharing with

Regression Analyses Regression analyses were computed to determine if active-empathic listening 368


another person) significantly predicted selfreported generosity (b = 7.67, p .01), meaning that the moderating role of coping was not significant. The model with invariant measurement and structural weights reported a goof fit: χ2/df = 2.45 < 5; RMR = .05 < .08; RMSEA = .04 < .05; GFI = .97; AGFI = .94; NFI = .97; IFI = .98; TLI = .98; CFI = .98; all > .95.

Moderating effect of coping and multiplegroup analysis Table 2 also presents the results for the analysis of the role of coping on the relationship between financial threat and life satisfaction. Given H3, coping may moderate the association between financial threat and life satisfaction. To test this interaction a multiple-group analysis within the SEM procedure was implemented. Prior to implementing this procedure, the score of each individual in the coping scale was obtained. Then, the mean of this score was computed and the individuals were classified in one of two groups based on their coping levels (low versus high). Participants whose coping levels were lower or equal than the average were included in the first group, low coping (n = 494), and participants who presented an average score higher than the average were classified in the second group, high coping (n = 407). According to H3, it is expected that the negative association between financial threat and life satisfaction is significantly weaker within those individuals with high coping levels and stronger within those with lower coping values. By applying a multiple-group analysis, a model with path estimates that are different between groups is compared with another one that assumes that all parameters (factor loadings and path estimates) are constrained to be equal (Marôco, 2014). In a first moment, the model’s invariance, which means differences between groups, is tested using

Table 2. Path Estimates in the Initial Model and in the Models with Coping as Moderator Initial Model Model with Coping as moderator High group Low group Estimates’ absolute Absolute Situation FT → LS: FT → LS: difference t-value FT → LS: -.36** 1. All cases -.43** -.44** .01 .00 CO →LS: .38** ** ** 2. High FT -.35 -.24 .11 .135 3. Low FT .005 -.28** .275 Note. FT: Financial threat; CO: Coping; LS: Life satisfaction; *p < .05; ** p < .01. In a second situation, H3 was evaluated in the group of participants with a financial threat score higher than the average (n = 434). From these, 180 reported a high coping level and

2.656**

254 reported a low coping level. In this multiple-group analysis, the results indicated that the model had unequal measurement weights (∆χ2 = 28.33; p = .000). Under this 378


unrestricted model, the results of the pairwise parameter comparisons test showed that the difference in the path estimates between the two groups, of .11, was not statistically different (|t| = .135; p > .01) (Table 2). So, in this situation, the moderating role of coping was also not significant. The unrestricted model used in this analysis also reported a goof fit, however worse than in the previous situation: χ2/df = 2.25 < 5; RMR = .06 < .08; GFI = .95; AGFI = .90; NFI = .93; IFI = .96; TLI = .93; CFI = .96; all ≥ .90. H3 was finally tested in the group of participants with a score of financial threat equal or lower than the average (n = 467). From these, 227 individuals reported a high coping level and 240 reported a low coping level. The ∆χ2 statistics indicated invariance in the measurement model (∆χ2 = 13.03; p = .11), but rejected that the structural model had the same path coefficient in the two groups (∆χ2 = 7.17; p = .007). This means that the model had the same measurement weights in the two groups, but a statistically different path estimate between individuals with low and high coping levels. The moderating role of coping was quite relevant in this situation. As reported in Table 2, the relationship between financial threat and life satisfaction was negative and statistically significant in the low coping group (β = -.28; p < .01). However, in the high coping group the path estimate was close to zero and was not significant (β = .004; p = .95). Therefore, the impact of the financial crisis on life satisfaction is significantly reduced and almost disappears in the group showing higher levels of coping. In this case and as expected, given the results from the ∆χ2 test, the absolute difference between the path estimates (of .275) was statistically significant (|t| = 2.66; p < .01). In other words, in cases of low financial threat coping moderated the relationship between financial threat and life satisfaction, significantly decreasing feelings of fear, threat, and general concerns about personal finances and increasing life satisfaction. Thus, H3 was partially supported. The model with invariant measurement weights and different structural weights also

presented a goof fit: χ2/df = 1.42 < 5; RMR = .04 < .08; RMSEA = .03 < .05; GFI = .96; AGFI =. 94; NFI =. 95; IFI = .99; TLI = 0.98; CFI =. 99; all >. 95. DISCUSSION Having in consideration that Portugal was strongly affected by the financial crisis, this study explored the association between financial threat and life satisfaction, as this economic stressor negatively affects the psychological health of individuals and increases symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression (Chen et al., 2012; Leal, Viseu, Jesus, Greenglass, & Paixão, 2014; Marjanovic et al., 2013). Essentially, what we aimed with this study was to assess mechanisms that mitigated the negative effect of financial threat on life satisfaction. To that end, we used coping as a moderating variable. The obtained results allowed us to achieve some conclusions. Compas, Banez, Malcarne, and Worsham (1991) suggested that adaptive coping acts as a promoter of resilience in times of economic difficulties and financial threat. Fundamentally, our goal was to understand how some positive psychology mechanisms, namely coping, could moderate this relationship and mitigate the negative impact of financial threat on life satisfaction. Our results showed that there was a negative and direct relationship between financial threat and life satisfaction, meeting the aforementioned literature. On the other hand, there was a positive and direct relationship between coping and life satisfaction, showing that coping mechanisms may help individuals in a process of behavioural adaptation to a particular situation, even if it is stressful or difficult. According to the results, we confirmed our two first research hypotheses, H1 predicted a negative and direct association between financial threat and life satisfaction, in other words, individuals with higher financial threat perceptions are more prone to experience decreased life satisfaction; and in H2 there was a positive and direct association between coping and life satisfaction. As such, coping facilitates feelings of life satisfaction. 379


To test the main premise of this study, established in H3, a sample division in two groups was conducted based on individuals’ coping levels. After analyzing the results, it was observed that the group that showed higher levels of coping mitigated the negative feelings of financial threat on life satisfaction. However, this reduction was significant only in the subsample with a low to moderate levels of financial threat. These results met with what we aimed to analyze: in some circumstances coping can act as a moderator of the effect of financial threat on life satisfaction, decreasing its negative impact. So, we have to consider that coping is a multidimensional process and that it depends on individual and environmental conditions (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000). Authors like Folkman and Moskowitz (2004) argued that an individual cognitively reappraises negative events in order to maximize the best way to obtain positive benefits from those events. Wadsworth and Compas (2002) suggest that adaptive coping promotes resilience during periods of economic hardship, since there is an ensemble of conscious efforts to regulate an individual’s emotions. In 2009, Seligman referred to this behaviour as the paradox of behavioural learning: to see something positive in a negative event. Finally, in H3 coping mitigated the direct effect of financial threat on life satisfaction. Although the values were not statistically significant, there was a decrease of the effect in the group with higher levels of coping as proposed by this hypothesis, as there was a reduction in the magnitude of the effect of financial threat. On the other hand, in the group with lower levels of coping, individuals who took part in this research continued to feel the negative effects of the financial crisis, such as fear and insecurity regarding their finances, thus showing a reduced life satisfaction. Still, in relation to (H3), coping mechanisms, when analyzed the whole sample, attenuated the direct and negative association between financial threat and life satisfaction. After dividing the sample into high levels versus low levels of financial threat, coping

mechanisms significantly attenuated the association between financial threat and life satisfaction in individuals with low financial threat scores. Although the values were not statistically significant when we analyzed the full sample, these results were of great importance for the current search for intervention practices. With these results, we will be able to focus our knowledge in favour of practices aiming at the promotion of well-being and in the reduction of negative symptoms like fear, stress, anxiety, and insecurity about personal finances. It should be also noted that there is a lack of literature that addresses this relationship (i.e., between financial threat and life satisfaction), however, this study took a step forward, not only by assessing the direct relationship between these variables, but also by considering the moderating role of coping. With this study we can infer that periods of austerity have a negative impact on individuals’ psychological health, directly and negatively influencing their life satisfaction. We can also add that coping strategies can mitigate this relationship by lessening the aforementioned negative impact. In individuals with low perceptions of financial threat, coping practically dissolved the effect of financial threat. According to Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) traditional coping model, this construct is the outcome of the evaluation that an individual performs about his resources and the environment, in other words it is the way in which an individual perceives a stressful event (e.g., an economic crisis) and how he evaluates it (e.g., light or moderate stress). The results of our study are in agreement with the assertions of other authors, such as PaisRibeiro and Rodrigues (2004). These authors stated that the human development process requires multiple challenges, changes, and cognitive restructuring and that coping strategies help an individual to ensure the balance between the intrinsic and extrinsic processes. Alternatively, according to Lazarus (1999), coping mechanisms are activated by the individual. When there is a confrontation 380


between specific moments of stress, an intrinsic strength emerges and the skills that the individual possesses to face periods of difficulty increase. As a consequence, the intensity of the stressor decreases promoting the prevention of pathological symptoms. Recently, Fiksenbaum and colleagues (2017) analyzed individuals’ perceptions of financial threat and their relationship with life satisfaction. Their study was performed with Canadian and Portuguese samples. The authors observed that there was an increase in stress, anxiety, and suicidal ideation on the individuals that had a higher perception of financial threat. In sum, and after observing the consequences of austerity periods, we can affirm that the conclusions of this study have theoretical and practical implications, mainly for the development of intervention programs based on the strengthening of coping mechanisms and positive emotions, such as optimism and social support, which will help individuals during austerity periods.

times of financial crisis) may be created. These contingency plans can be used among the unemployed, a population that was strongly affected by the crisis, to empower individuals’ personal strengths and increase their life satisfaction. These behavioral reinforcements can be related to exercises that increase the awareness on issues related to coping, such as: (a) confrontation with problems; (b) planned resolution of problems; (c) acceptance focused on the process to assume responsibilities; and (d) training on a positive re-evaluation of the facts that were experienced. These intervention programs meet the proposals of authors such as Mongrain and Anselmo-Matthews (2012), in which there is the belief that these programs are important tools to avoid stress, anxiety, and depression, and that behavior modification, being trained and modified, can be useful to the unemployed, school finalists looking for a first job, and workers affected by the financial crisis.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE STUDIES One of the limitations of our study is related to the sampling process. The collected sample should have been more diversified and larger, comprising the various regions of the country and taking into account the socio-economic conditions of the participants. On the other hand, a longitudinal study could have been performed to examine possible modifications in the behaviour of participants, as well as a comparative study in several regions of the country to assess whether financial threat has equally affected the Portuguese population during the crisis. Finally, another limitation of this study was the methodological design. Since this was a cross-sectional study, it was not possible to observe causal relationships. Despite these limitations, the data provided gives us relevant information on how studying coping mechanisms, in times of austerity, can improve the quality of life and reduce psychopathology symptoms. In future researches, intervention programs based on positive psychology (e.g., behavioural training to increase life satisfaction and individual well-being in

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SECTION 7. MISCELLANEOUS

385


Chapter XXXVI Study on the attitude of pharmacists towards the spontaneous identification and report of adverse drug reactions Gabriela Cioca1, Simona Bungău2, Vicențiu Mircea Săceleanu3, Liana-Gabriela Bera4 1

Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Preclinical Department, Sibiu, Romania, [email protected] 2 Oradea University, Medicine and Pharmacy Faculty, Pharmacy Department, Oradea, Romania, [email protected] 3 Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Neurosurgery Department, Sibiu, Romania, [email protected] 4 Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Medicine, Preclinical Department, Sibiu, Romania, [email protected] Abstract: Drug treatment brings major benefits in preventing and treating illnesses, improving, in most cases, the patients’ quality of life. The supervision of post-marketing drugs, especially for the identification of their adverse reactions, is the key activity of the pharmacovigilance system, whose ultimate goal is to provide healthcare professionals and consumers with accurate information on the benefit-risk balance for each drug molecule authorized to be placed on the market. Physicians and pharmacists play an active role in current medical practice in the spontaneous reporting system of adverse drug reactions (ADR). Our study investigates the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of pharmacists towards the ADR reporting on drugs to identify possible causes of under-reporting. Key-words: adverse drug reaction, attitudes of pharmacists, spontaneous reporting systems, questionnaires, drug risk, quality of life. benefit balance for each authorized drug molecule for its entire lifetime (Bungău, Bungău & Ţiţ, 2015; Uivaroşan, Endres, Ţit & Bungău, 2015). Drug risk assessment is conducted by analysing the ADR identified after clinical use, both during the pre-authorization stage and after the drug was placed on the market. In the post-authorization period, intensive safety monitoring is performed within the system of pharmacovigilance (PhV), whose role is crucial in the detection, efficient collection, validation, registration, data analysis, signal detection safety, validation and communicating it to all health professionals and customers [Cioca, Agop,

INTRODUCTION Drug treatment brings major benefits in the prevention, treatment, and amelioration of illnesses, improving, in most cases, the patients’ quality of life. However, the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADR) may decrease compliance with treatment (Sokol, McGuigan, Verbrugge &, Epstein, 2005), increase the cost of care (Bungău, Bungău, Ţiţ & Pallag, 2015; Ţiţ, Bungău, Nistor Cseppento, Copolovici & Buhas, 2016; Uivaroşan, Fodor, Bungău & Ţiţ, 2015) and trigger temporary or persistent disability, or even death. In this context, in recent years, a great emphasis has been placed on the active and continuous assessment of the risk 387


Popa, Bungău & Butuc, 2017; Cosentino, Leoni, Oria, Michielotto, Massimo, Lecchini & Frigo 1999; Farcaş, Macavei & Bojiţă, 2008; Grootheest, Mes & Jong-van den Berg, 2002; Iorga, Sztankovszky, Soponaru & Gardikiotis, 2015; http://www.ema. europa.eu/docs/en_GB/document_library/Sci entific_guideline/2012/06/WC500129138.pd f ]. A valid safety signal may modify the riskbenefit balance and, consequently, the leaflet and summary of product characteristics, and eventually can lead to the banning of that molecule from the market [13]. The main role in this system is played by the spontaneous reporting of ADR by physicians, pharmacists and nurses, professionals that identify ADR in their current clinical practice. In Romania, ADRs are reported primarily to the Service of Pharmacovigilance and Risk Management, part of the National Agency for Drugs and Medical Devices (NADMD). According to the data provided by the NADMD, the number of registered reports in Romania is continuously growing, up to 4928 reports in 2016. From a total of 414 spontaneous reports from healthcare professionals, physicians submitted 394 ADRs (95.16%), and pharmacists 17 ADRs (4.10 %) (http://www.anm.ro/agentie/ rapoarte-de-activitate/). However, their number remains low (Farcaş, Macavei & Bojiţă, 2008) as compared with other countries in the European Union (EU), both with respect to reporting by physicians (Cosentino, Leoni, Oria, Michielotto, Massimo, Lecchini & Frigo 1999), and with respect to reporting by pharmacists. In Romania, the pharmacist profession is an independent one, professionals being able to perform, according to their university training, activities like the manufacture and control of drugs, the dispensing from pharmacies of pharmaceutical preparations with and without a prescription, which is the main activity in the context of community pharmacy, encountered under the influence of a number of factors, among which, the health policies and the relationship with the medical representative of the pharmaceutical

companies (Bungău, Bungău, Ţiţ & Pallag, 2015; Osterberg & Blaschke, 2005], the collaboration with physicians for drugs therapy surveillance activities, including identification and reporting of ADR. In other words, the pharmacist must be regarded as a partner of the physician in the broad context of pharmacotherapy, not only in the hospital pharmacy but also in the community pharmacy. Although the legal context in Romania gives this profession the necessary means to become actively involved in the PhV activity, however, this fact does not materialize in a significant number of reports, given that NADMD requests the submission of both serious and non-serious reports. OBJECTIVES Our study objectives were to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of pharmacists towards the reporting of ADR and to identify possible causes of underreporting. METHOD Instruments To achieve the goal of our research, we conducted a cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire between March and May 2017. The questionnaire was adapted from Grootheest K. et al. (2002). The study protocol was approved by the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. The obtained theoretical model defines the relationship of the knowledge, the attitude and the behaviour towards the identification and reporting of adverse reactions and helps to identify barriers in the reporting process. Procedure The questionnaire was initially distributed in printed form to a number of 10 pharmacists to check their compliance with the questions. Suggestions led to small changes in the organization of the questions, resulting in a final form of the questionnaire. Subsequently, based on the printed form of the questionnaire, the online version was designed using Google forms. The link was randomly sent to 326 pharmacists out of all 388


those registered in the College of Pharmacists, in the west and the centre of Romania. The randomization was made using Microsoft Excel. All responses were anonymous. Statistical analysis was performed using the QI Macros for Excel (version 2016). The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and presented as means and standard deviations. To assess the associations between variables we used Chi-Squared test or Fisher test, as needed. Statistical significance was set at p