Acta Psychologica最新文献

Background: Classroom emotions play a crucial role in fostering students' moral learning, involving both teacher and student emotions. Currently, few studies consider classroom emotions as an integrated system, particularly how teachers' emotional expression styles and students' emotional states influence learning outcomes in moral education.

Aims: This study investigates how teachers' emotional expression styles (explicit vs. implicit) and students' emotional states (happy, neutral, or rationally sad) affect learning outcomes in moral education classes, focusing on perception, memory retention, and value identification.

Sample: 185 undergraduate students participated in the study.

Methods: An experimental design was employed, where teachers' emotional expression styles (explicit vs. implicit) and students' emotional states (happy, neutral, or rationally sad) were manipulated. Participants' learning outcomes were assessed in terms of perception, memory retention, and value identification.

Results: Both teacher and student emotions impact learning outcomes, with distinct effects. Students' emotional states significantly affect their memory retention and value identification scores. Notably, rationally sad, the emotion that aligned with the emotional tone of the teaching material, proved more effective in enhancing learning outcomes compared with happy or neutral. Additionally, teachers' emotional expression styles were found to significantly influence students' perception and post-class emotional states. Expressive teaching styles significantly improved perceived performance, and students reported more rationally sad after class.

Conclusions: The study highlights the interactive role of teacher and student emotions in moral education. Educators should implement emotional strategies that account for the synergy of classroom emotions.

Teacher math anxiety is a significant factor influencing instructional quality and student achievement. Yet, few studies have explored which variables play a role in the levels of anxiety about teaching math, in part due to the lack of proper screening tools. In this study, we adapted two specialized instruments, the Math Anxiety Scale for Teachers (MAST15) and the Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale (MTAS19), to the European Spanish, and we examined their structural, convergent, and external validity within a sample of Spanish primary and secondary school teachers. Furthermore, we explored gender differences, school settings, teachers' self-efficacy and generalized anxiety symptoms to understand how those variables interact with the anxiety about teaching math. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests to evaluate the internal structure of both scales. MAST15 confirmed a two-factor model (general math anxiety and anxiety about teaching math), while MTAS19 demonstrated moderate fit across two dimensions (student-directed and self-directed teaching anxiety). Both scales showed high internal consistency, indicating robust reliability. The results revealed that math anxiety is closely linked to generalized anxiety and inversely related to math self-efficacy. Teaching experience was associated with lower self-directed anxiety, suggesting that professional practice helps mitigate anxiety over time. Gender differences emerged for generalized anxiety but not for math-specific anxiety. Institutional and contextual factors, such as location in disadvantaged areas, showed no significant impact on math anxiety levels. These findings support using MAST15 and MTAS19 in cross-cultural research and provide insights into targeted interventions to reduce anxiety about teaching math.

Amid the ever-evolving business environment and increasing uncertainty, organizations must optimize their internal management and organizational structures to achieve sustainable development goals. This necessitates a deeper analysis of leadership. Rooted in social cognitive theory, this study examines the mechanism connecting self-interested organizational ethical climate and exploitative leadership. Employees from medium to large-sized enterprises in Xinjiang, China, were surveyed, and 296 valid responses were collected. Results show that self-interested organizational ethical climate exerts a significant positive influence on exploitative leadership, with hostile attribution bias mediating this relationship. Self-efficacy negatively moderates the relationship between self-interested organizational ethical climate and exploitative leadership. This study reveals the antecedent mechanisms and influence pathways of exploitative leadership, providing important theoretical and practical insights for organizational management.

The current study investigates the factors affecting students' behavioral intentions to utilize "artificial intelligence" (AI) applications in learning by extending the "unified theory of acceptance and use of technology" (UTAUT) model with the inclusion of cognitive flexibility. Data were collected from 315 undergraduate students and analyzed employing a two-step approach involving "structural equation modeling" (SEM) with AMOS. The measurement model was first run to assess and confirm the reliability and validity of the variables, followed by the structural model to test the hypothesized relationships. The results revealed that "performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), and social influence" (SI) exerted significant positive effects on students' behavioral intentions to use AI applications, while "facilitating conditions" (FC) exhibited no significant impact. Additionally, "cognitive flexibility" (CF) did not directly influence behavioral intention but exerted a significant indirect effect through its influence on PE, EE, and SI. These findings underscore the significance of students' cognitive adaptability in shaping their perceptions of technological usefulness and ease of use and highlight the value of integrating psychological variables into technology acceptance models in educational contexts. Implications for educational technology implementation and future research directions are discussed.

Virtual reality (VR) offers new possibilities for training of military personnel; complex scenarios can be simulated where conventional training methods reach their limits. Besides that, its use in psychological skills training, such as stress control techniques as part of stress inoculation training (SIT), is conceivable. SIT requires a level of stress that renders the use of stress control techniques necessary. In this study, we examined how much stress can be induced using VR, and what impact cyber sickness, interest in technology, technology anxiety and movement influences have on stress induction. Utilizing a between- subject study design, Military Police recruits (n = 92) went through a scenario in VR (n = 33) and real-life (n = 26) while a third group (n = 33) performed typical movements from the scenario without further stressors. Results show an increase between baseline heart rate and exposure heart rate of 26.25% (M = 22.03 bpm) in VR condition, and 34.42% (M = 28.3 bpm) in the real-life condition. Subjective stress perception aligns with this pattern. Cyber sickness, interest in technology and technology anxiety had no significant influence on the results. VR is suited to induce stress but couldn't reproduce the same descriptive level of stress as in real-life. Further research on the individual modelling of stress levels, a deeper insight into subjective stress perception as well as further physiological stress measurers in context of VR-SIT is required. We discuss how to close the gap between VR and real-life, additional stressors to further increase the induced stress and considerations of practical applicability in military training.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effects of a program to enhance mental toughness in upper school-aged male children within sports school setting. Thirty sports school male children aged 15-16 were involved in a program to enhance mental toughness, while thirty-two children were assigned to a control group and received no intervention. Mental toughness enhancement program was designed to enhance athletic mental toughness skills: determination, visualization, positive cognition, and self-belief. Before and after the educational experiment, children from the experimental and control groups completed the Psychological Performance Inventory-Alternative (PPI-A). The findings revealed that educational program had a significant medium overall effect (F (4, 57) = 2.62; p < .05; η_p² = 0.16) on mental toughness of upper school-aged male children in the experimental group. Univariate analyses of the interaction between group and time for athletic mental toughness revealed a statistically significant impact of the educational program on positive cognition and self-belief within sports school settings. The conclusions of this study could be valuable for practitioners seeking to cultivate the mental toughness of children in sports school setting. This research may stimulate more research in the future, specifically targeting upper school-age, a relatively under-researched age period.

Maintaining appropriate interpersonal distance (IPD) is essential for safe and comfortable interactions. While previous research has shown that the preferred IPD exhibits directional anisotropy around the body, inconsistent patterns have been reported due to methodological differences and limitations of visual modality when comparing the front and rear spaces. In two experiments, we examined the extent of the auditory personal space around the body by measuring the preferred IPDs for actual footsteps using an auditory version of the stop-distance task, which exploits the omnidirectional sensitivity of the auditory system. Across two experiments, participants preferred a greater IPD for footsteps approaching from the front compared to the rear and lateral directions, consistent with the vision-based findings. We also measured the perceived IPD of footsteps and found that rear footsteps were perceived as more distant. Experiment 2 found that a faster tempo of footsteps increased the preferred but not perceived IPD, suggesting distinct mechanisms underlying auditory distance estimation and IPD regulation. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed that individuals who perceived footsteps as closer preferred greater IPD, suggesting a proactive spatial buffer against perceived proximity. Finally, when adjusting for the preferred IPD by directional bias in the perceived IPD, the adjusted personal space was greater in the rear direction than in the other directions, suggesting that discomfort with footsteps occurred at a greater perceptual distance behind the body. Altogether, our findings provide evidence of directional anisotropies in personal space and distance perception in the auditory domain, contributing to the understanding of comfortable interpersonal communication in a three-dimensional environment.

In today's competitive digital landscape, social media marketing has become a powerful mechanism for shaping consumer perceptions and influencing purchase behavior. However, limited research has examined how social media marketing activities (SMMAs) drive consumers' willingness to pay premium prices for technology products, particularly in emerging markets. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study aims to clarify how five SMMA dimensions, including informativeness, interactivity, personalization, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), and trendiness, affect brand awareness, brand image, and brand trust, which subsequently shape consumer attitudes and willingness to pay premium prices for tech gadgets. A quantitative research design was adopted, and data were collected from 371 Vietnamese consumers through an online survey. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the study tested the hypothesized relationships among SMMAs, brand-related outcomes, and consumer responses. The findings reveal that informativeness, personalization, and eWOM significantly enhance brand awareness, image, and trust, while interactivity positively influences awareness but has no significant impact on image or trust. Moreover, brand image and brand trust emerge as critical determinants of consumers' willingness to pay premium prices. The results advance theoretical understanding by refining the S-O-R framework and extending personalization theory, highlighting the contextual roles of interactivity and trendiness in shaping brand-related outcomes. Practically, the study provides valuable insights for digital marketers in the tech gadget industry, emphasizing the need for transparent information, personalized marketing, and the amplification of positive eWOM to strengthen brand trust and increase consumers' willingness to pay premium prices.

This study focuses on the evolving dynamics of sustainable fashion consumption among young consumers in Hanoi during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on an integrated framework combining the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior and Self-Determination Theory. Through a large-scale survey (N = 1191) and PLS-SEM approach, it explores how e-marketing strategies - such as electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM), content marketing, and social media influencers - alongside psychological barriers like Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Fear of Better Options (FoBO), and Fear of Doing Anything (FoDA), influence purchase intention and brand e-loyalty. The findings reveal that content marketing and influencers consistently drive purchase intentions, paralleled by the positive impulse of FoMO. In contrast, FoBO persistently hinders decision-making, while FoDA exhibits a critical reversal from a negative barrier during the crisis to a positive predictor in the post-pandemic period. Furthermore, perceived value significantly strengthens the intention-loyalty relationship, whereas e-service quality showed no moderating effect. From these findings, the study suggests that overcoming decision paralysis in the post-pandemic era requires a strategic pivot toward value-driven transparency, offering actionable pathways for brands to convert latent interest into loyal, sustainable consumption.