Three studies examine the effects of exposure to nature on positive affect and ability to reflect on a life problem. Participants spent 15 min walking in a natural setting (Studies 1, 2, & 3), an urban setting (Study 1), or watching videos of natural and urban settings (Studies 2 & 3). In all three studies, exposure to nature increased…

Data from the Gallup World Poll highlighted the differential relations between perceived stress, well-being, and wealth at the individual- versus nation-level. At the nation level, stress was a distinct concept from negative affect (NA). It correlated positively with well-being (positive affect, life satisfaction, and domain satisfaction) and…

This article seeks to explore the importance of the affective politics of fear in education and to discuss the implications for educational policy, theory and practice. The aim is to explore how discourses of fear work in some educational contexts and draw significant boundaries between "us" and "them" through the structuring…

Moral intelligence is newer and less studied than the more established cognitive, emotional and social intelligences, but has great potential to improve our understanding of learning and behavior. Moral intelligence refers to the ability to apply ethical principles to personal goals, values and actions. The construct of moral intelligence consists…

In this report, researchers examined rifle marksmanship development within a skill development framework outlined by Chung, Delacruz, de Vries, Bewley, and Baker (2006). Thirty-three novice shooters used an M4 rifle training simulator system to learn to shoot an 8-inch target at a simulated distance of 200 yards. Cognitive, psychomotor, and…

Computer games are now becoming ways to communicate, teach, and influence attitudes and behavior. In this article, we address the role of humor in computer games, especially in support of serious purposes. We begin with a review of the main theories of humor, including superiority, incongruity, and relief. These theories and their…

This paper examines how drama teachers' identities play a part in their teaching practices in schools. It highlights what can be learned from drama teachers' expressions of self for their classroom content and management. Much of the current research into teachers and teaching is concerned with "good practice" where students are placed at the…

Affective priming is a technique used in experimental psychology to investigate the organization of emotional schemata not fully available to conscious awareness. The presentation of stimuli (the prime) with strong positive emotional valence alters the accessibility of positive stimuli within the individual's emotionally encoded cognitive system.…

Measurement of affective states in everyday life is of fundamental importance in many types of quality of life, health, and psychological research. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is the recognized method of choice, but the respondent burden can be high. The day reconstruction method (DRM) was developed by Kahneman and colleagues ("Science,"…

When political knowledge is scarce, affective attitudes, which can consist of emotion-driven feelings regarding political figures, government, country, and foreign nations, often assist policy judgment. Based on pre- and post-surveys administered in Introduction to American Politics courses, fall 2003-fall 2005, this study examines how political…

Research to date has revealed divergent relations across factors of psychopathy measures with criteria of "internalizing" (INT; anxiety, depression) and "externalizing" (EXT; antisocial behavior, substance use). However, failure to account for method variance and suppressor effects has obscured the consistency of these findings…

In a 4-year longitudinal study, the authors investigated effects of retention in first grade on children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors; social acceptance; and behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement. From a large multiethnic sample (n = 784) of children below the median on literacy at school entrance, 124 retained children…

In this paper we examine how to design software instructions for user cognition and affect. A basic and co-user manual are compared. The first provides fundamental support for both; the latter includes a buddy to further optimize support for user affect. The basic manual was faster and judged as easier to process than the co-user manual. In…

Although often described as temperamentally "easy" and sociable, children with Down syndrome also exhibit behavior problems. Affective development is important for social and behavioral competence. We examined negative affective expressions and a range of emotion regulation/coping strategies during a frustrating task in a sample of children with…

This study examines the formulation of national identity in Palestinian children by exploring their understanding of its paradoxes. Twelve Palestinian children were interviewed from cities, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank. The children express the multiple dimensions of national identity in terms of "self" and…