What does Serge Moscovici’s Theory of Social Representations Have in Common with Developmental Psychology?

The purpose of the text is to point out the elements linking social representation theory and developmental psychology. Despite the differences that may seem obvious between developmental psychology and social psychology, in reality there is a deep bond that unites them; a continuity, resulting from the notion that both sub-disciplines explore issues of knowledge transformation: the former studies the transformation of knowledge over time, the latter over space. It seems interesting to show the connections and differences between these elements of the theories of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Serge Moscovici, which deal with the concept of the development of children’s knowledge of the world in a socio-cultural context. In addition, the epistemology of social representations developed by Gerald Duveen on the basis of Piaget’s concept is important for showing these connections.

Tekst powstał w ramach projektu NCN Miniatura 5: 2021/05/X/HS6/01444; ID 71745

Selected Biophyschosocial Aspects of Functioning of Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Their Families

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a disease that shows extremely complex connections between the genetic-molecular sphere and the characteristics of psychological functioning. The text presented below introduces the importance of biological sources in explaining many aspects of the psychological functioning of DMD patients. In the field of research and rehabilitation practice related to DMD, interdisciplinarity becomes a necessity that can improve the quality of life of patients with DMD and their families to a greater extent than before. On the one hand, the article is a concise account of the views that have been dominating both in the past and today about this disease, as well as a proposal outlining the directions of future research related to describing and explaining the processes that form the psychological image of people with DMD. The complexity of this image can be made more accessible and understandable if, both in research and in everyday life, it becomes possible to refer to the genetic-molecular sources, psychological resources and characteristics of the environment in which a person with DMD grows up in the process of describing and explaining DMD.

The aim of the study was to identify family-related factors connected with aggressive and task-oriented coping strategies in adolescent youth in situations of social conflict. The study was conducted on a sample of 893 adolescents aged 13 to 15. M. Plopa’s Parental Attitude Scale (Skala Postaw Rodzicielskich, SPR), the Questionnaire for Coping Strategies in Parents in Situations of Social Conflict (Kwestionariusz Strategii Radzenia sobie Rodziców w Sytuacji Konfliktu Społecznego, KSRwSK) by D. Borecka-Biernat, and Questionnaire for Coping Strategies in Adolescents in Situations of Social Conflict (Kwestionariusz do Badania Strategii Radzenia sobie Młodzieży w Sytuacji Konfliktu Społecznego, KSMK) by D. Borecka-Biernat were used in the study. An analysis of the results of the study has indicated family discriminants of aggressive and task-oriented coping strategies in adolescents in situations of social conflict; those discriminants include the perceived parental attitudes in father, including the inconsistent, autonomous, and demanding attitude; the perceived aggressive strategy in mother and father in situations of social conflict, as well as the task-oriented strategy in mother in situations of social conflict. Identifying the determinants of aggressive and task-oriented strategies in youth might allow the caretakers of adolescents to better understand their behaviour in situations of social conflict and look at its roots from the young people’s perspective. Understanding the determinants of these behaviours is a necessary step in designing strategies that can shape individuals capable of coping with conflicts in a mature manner.

In the early years of life, motor skills contribute to the formation of cognitive skills. The aim o the present study (conducted in June 2021) was to determine mutual relationships between motor variables: aiming-catching as well as manual dexterity, and the cognitive variable of spatial reasoning. It was assumed that manual dexterity played a mediating role in the relationship between agility skills and spatial reasoning. A second aim of study was to test the assumption that age played a moderating role in the relationship between manual dexterity and spatial reasoning. The participants were Polish preschool children (N = 83), including 42 boys (100% white race of children from Eastern Poland). The results indicated that manual dexterity mediated the relationship between aiming-catching skills and spatial reasoning. Age as an important moderator of the relationship between manual dexterity and spatial reasoning.

The goal of the current study was to explore the relations between the Big Five personality traits and school achievements of children in the fourth grade of primary school. Participants were (n = 157) children (aged 9–11 years) attending public primary school in Poland. Children completed a self-description inventory for the Big Five and teachers evaluated current school achievements of children for mathematics and Polish language. The obtained results indicated that neuroticism and openness to experiences were significantly associated with school achievements. Moreover, the relationship between the Big Five and school achievements was moderated by gender in that a) agreeableness as well as the Big Five sub-scales of inferiority and helping behaviour were negatively associated with school achievements only among girls, and b) the openness to experience sub-scale of problem solver was positively associated with school achievements only among boys. The results suggest that the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and school achievements may depend on gender.

High school graduates usually suffer from stress one month before the final exams. The research’s aim was to compare the depression and burnout symptoms measured in April 2019 (before the pandemic) and in April 2020 (during the pandemic) in the Polish high school students. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected adolescent girls more than boys, leading to higher rates of depression, student burnout, and imbalanced time perspective. Females perceived lower family acceptance than boys. Males were less depressed and more burned out during the pandemic than before, while girls not only were more burned out but were also more depressed, were imbalanced in their time perspective, and perceived lower family acceptance during the COVID-19 pandemic than before the outbreak.