Pierre Philippot

The rapidly growing, but still small, research literature on homelessness in Europe has often been provided by non‐academics, using qualitative methods, and has been published in sources that are not widely available. This article summarizes definitions employed, observed prevalence, the socio‐demographic characteristics, and the physical and mental health status of the homeless in Western Europe. Research pertaining to the causes of homelessness and the societal response to the problem are also reviewed, and the ethical and methodological questions raised by European researchers are debated. A critical analysis of the largely descriptive European research is provided, and some noteworthy exceptions are described. We also discuss a number of promising theoretical models, including those that focus on learned helplessness, social strain, and social stress.

Group Dynamics and Emotional Expression - January 2007

Group Dynamics and Emotional Expression - January 2007

Cet article cherche à identifier les facteurs qui peuvent influencer la motivation des élèves et plus généralement leur adaptation scolaire. Les recherches passées en revue indiquent que la perception qu’ont les élèves des structures de buts et de la qualité des relations enseignants-élèves sont des éléments importants pour leur engagement scolaire. Une série d’analyses multi-niveaux visant à évaluer si ces perceptions des élèves peuvent refléter des différences de pratiques d’enseignement entre les classes ou si elles reflètent uniquement des interprétations individuelles et/ou des effets de composition sont présentées. Les seuls effets de composition observés de manière récurrente concernent le genre et l’année de scolarité des élèves. Confirmant les résultats antérieurs, les analyses montrent qu’une structure centrée sur la maîtrise a un effet positif sur la motivation des élèves. Mais ces analyses montrent en outre qu’une structure centrée sur la performance a un effet négatif sur la motivation des élèves et augmente le risque de victimation. Enfin, ces analyses indiquent que des relations enseignants-élèves de qualité ont un effet pacificateur sur l’agressivité des élèves.

The degree of specificity at which emotional information is activated might determine evoked emotional intensity. However, the nature of this effect remains unclear. Four studies tested (a) whether people hold the naïve theory that activating specific details of emotional information arouses acute feelings; (b) whether an emotionally distressed population (social phobics) also holds that theory; and (c) whether voluntarily focusing on specific aspects of a distressing situation reduces its emotional impact. Results indicate that control as well as emotionally distressed people hold a naïve theory that specifying emotion increases its intensity. However, Studies 3 and 4 showed that voluntarily elaborating specific aspects of a distressing situation reduces distress. Results are discussed in terms of voluntary versus automatic processing of emotional information.

Objectives: This clinical trial study investigates whether a behavioural educational intervention based on the autoregulation theory can improve periodontitis patients' compliance with proper dental care at a 1‐month follow‐up.Material and Methods: Thirty patients matched for gender (20 men), age (mean age=39 years) and education were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental treatment condition. In the control condition, patients received the regular treatment based on instruction of the proper prophylactic dental care. In the experimental treatment condition, patients received information about the symptoms of periodontitis, the causes, consequences and temporal course, and the types of effective strategy and they were requested to keep daily records of the effects of applying prophylactic dental care on their periodontitis symptoms. In both groups, plaque indices (PIs) (Silness & Löe 1964) were measured prior to treatment and at a 1‐month follow‐up. A self‐report questionnaire also assessed the representation of periodontitis in all patients.Results: A 2 (time of measurement: baseline versus follow‐up) × 3 (PI localization) × 2 (experimental group) mixed‐design anova computed on the PI reports a large effect of time, F(1, 28)=267.10, pF(1, 28)=7.09, pη²=0.19, indicating that smaller PI were observed in the experimental group (mean=0.24, SD=0.14) than in the control group (mean=0.88, SD=0.38) at follow‐up. Post hoc analyses showed that this pattern applies to the proximal and lingual PI but not to the vestibular PI.Conclusions: The present data show that the behavioural education intervention is (a) more effective than a classical intervention based on information and training about prophylactic techniques and (b) that it is effective in bringing most patients to normal levels of PI. For clinical practice, it suggests that better results can be obtained if (a) patients are taught a correct representation about periodontitis and (b) patients' sense of self‐efficacy is developed through their own direct experience, by observing the effects of their behaviour on periodontitis symptoms.

The relation between emotion intensity and the voluntary activation of personal memories was investigated in 2 experiments. Two hypotheses were compared: the specificity hypothesis, which states that emotion intensity is positively related to the specificity of personal memories, and the strategic inhibition hypothesis, which postulates that specifying past experiences requires the inhibition of emotion. Study 1 showed that priming a specific (vs. overgeneral) access mode to autobiographical memory results in less emotion during a subsequent mental imagery trial. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with a wider array of emotions and a different method of emotion induction (films). Overall, results support the strategic inhibition hypothesis. The notion of specificity is discussed as well as implications for cognitive theories of emotion and their clinical applications.