Background: There is evidence that an entity view of ability (where ability is viewed as a fixed entity that cannot be changed) is linked with social comparison goals and poor performance. On the other hand, an incremental view of ability (where ability is viewed as an acquirable skill) is linked with a mastery goal orientation and positive…

Background: Research has suggested that the pressure of exams could undermine pupils' interest in their subjects, but almost all of this research has been conducted in laboratory settings. The Transfer Test in Northern Ireland provides an unusual opportunity to assess the effects of exam pressure in real life because some 10- and 11-year-olds sit…

Background: Higher education is facing a number of problems: adjusting to larger and more heterogeneous student populations, increasing the number of graduating students, and preparing for lifelong learning. Improving learning competence can make a substantial contribution to solving each of these major concerns. The growing knowledge base on…

Background: Research on pupils' bullying (1991) and violence (1993) motivated the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science to initiate a national campaign on school safety. The government campaign was undertaken from 1995 to 2000. Aim: To test for differences in secondary pupils' bullying and violence before and after the campaign while…

Background: Self-managed learning groups are increasingly used in higher education. There is a need for more systematic investigation of university students' perceptions of the processes and outcomes of this learning method. Aims: This study aimed to identify the domains of process issues that students perceive as relevant to their participation…

The classical twin method -- comprising comparisons of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins -- in the domain of cognitive abilities and attainments has led to wide acceptance of results suggesting a large amount of additive genetic variance, with far-reaching implications both for the nature of future studies on the causes of cognitive…

Past research has indicated that there is a negative relationship between victimization and self-worth. Furthermore, children with movement problems such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are considered at risk of both victimization and low self-worth. This study investigated the relationship between peer-victimization and self-worth in…

Background: Recent research on the influence of presentation format on the effectiveness of multimedia instructions has yielded some interesting results. According to cognitive load theory (Sweller, Van Merri?nboer, & Paas, 1998) and Mayer's theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2001), replacing visual text with spoken text (the modality effect)…

Background: According to the optimal stimulation theory and the delay aversion hypothesis, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience difficulties when they are confronted with low levels of stimulation and delay, respectively. Aim: This study investigated the activity level of children with ADHD during waiting…

Background: Research on the relationship between cognitive skills and mathematical problem solving is usually conducted on adults or on participants with acquired deficits associated with brain injury (e.g. Cipolotti, 1995; Cohen, Dehaene, & Verstichel, 1994; McCloskey, 1992). Aims: In these studies we wanted to make a contribution to the field…

Background: An important aim of educational psychology is to account for the difficulties in cognitive strategy maintenance. Possible explanations may be found in developmental studies concerning the interdependence of knowledge accessibility and strategy use, and in current achievement goal models which assume that individuals with a learning…

Background: High levels of behaviour problems are found in children with language impairments, but less is known about the level and nature of language impairment in children with severe behavioural problems. In particular, previous data suggest that at primary age, receptive impairments are more closely related to behaviour problems, whereas…

Background: Studies on argument have found that participants tend to prefer explanations to evidence. This apparent bias toward explanation has been qualified recently by research that has found it to diminish with the availability of evidence. Aim: This study examines the use of explanation versus evidence in the context of argumentation with…

While reviews abound on theoretical topics in educational psychology, it is rare that we examine our field's instrumentation development, and what effects this has on educational psychology's evolution. To repair this gap, this paper investigates and reveals the implications of software technologies for researching and theorizing about core issues…

Objectives: To assess teachers' emotional expression about pupils using the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) and coding procedures for parental expressed emotion (EE). To compare EE for disruptive and non-disruptive pupils. Method: Twenty-one teachers provided speech samples for both a disruptive and a non-disruptive pupil in their class selected…