The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one's life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, self-regulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one's capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one's life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one's behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective efficacy to exercise control over personal destinies and national life.

/pdf/social-cognitive-theory-an-agentic-perspective-hguh0k9i9z.pdf

Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective

Mindfulness is an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being. This research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. The development and psychometric properties of the dispositional Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) are described. Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies then show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced selfawareness. An experience-sampling study shows that both dispositional and state mindfulness predict self-regulated behavior and positive emotional states. Finally, a clinical intervention study with cancer patients demonstrates that increases in mindfulness over time relate to declines in mood disturbance and stress. Many philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions emphasize the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being (Wilber, 2000). Despite this, it is easy to overlook the importance of consciousness in human well-being because almost everyone exercises its primary capacities, that is, attention and awareness. Indeed, the relation between qualities of consciousness and well-being has received little empirical attention. One attribute of consciousness that has been much-discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. The concept of mindfulness has roots in Buddhist and other contemplative traditions where conscious attention and awareness are actively cultivated. It is most commonly defined as the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present. For example, Nyanaponika Thera (1972) called mindfulness “the clear and single-minded awareness of what actually happens to us and in us at the successive moments of perception” (p. 5). Hanh (1976) similarly defined mindfulness as “keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” (p. 11). Recent research has shown that the enhancement of mindfulness through training facilitates a variety of well-being outcomes (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1990). To date, however, there has been little work examining this attribute as a naturally occurring characteristic. Recognizing that most everyone has the capacity to attend and to be aware, we nonetheless assume (a) that individuals differ in their propensity or willingness to be aware and to sustain attention to what is occurring in the present and (b) that this mindful capacity varies within persons, because it can be sharpened or dulled by a variety of factors. The intent of the present research is to reliably identify these inter- and intrapersonal variations in mindfulness, establish their relations to other relevant psychological constructs, and demonstrate their importance to a variety of forms of psychological well-being.

/pdf/the-benefits-of-being-present-mindfulness-and-its-role-in-3carfso5c8.pdf

The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being

Attention to the beliefs of teachers and teacher candidates should be a focus of educational research and can inform educational practice in ways that prevailing research agendas have not and cannot. The difficulty in studying teachers’ beliefs has been caused by definitional problems, poor conceptualizations, and differing understandings of beliefs and belief structures. This article examines the meaning prominent researchers give to beliefs and how this meaning differs from that of knowledge, provides a definition of belief consistent with the best work in this area, explores the nature of belief structures as outlined by key researchers, and offers a synthesis of findings about the nature of beliefs. The article argues that teachers’ beliefs can and should become an important focus of educational inquiry but that this will require clear conceptualizations, careful examination of key assumptions, consistent understandings and adherence to precise meanings, and proper assessment and investigation of spec...

/pdf/teachers-beliefs-and-educational-research-cleaning-up-a-4nwlo8zyt9.pdf

Teachers’ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning Up a Messy Construct:

Preface Chapter 1 The challenge Chapter 2 The nature of the evidence: A synthesis of meta-analyses Chapter 3 The argument: Visible teaching and visible learning Chapter 4: The contributions from the student Chapter 5 The contributions from the home Chapter 6 The contributions from the school Chapter 7 The contributions from the teacher Chapter 8 The contributions from the curricula Chapter 9 The contributions from teaching approaches - I Chapter 10 The contributions from teaching approaches - II Chapter 11: Bringing it all together Appendix A: The 800 meta-analyses Appendix B: The meta-analyses by rank order References

Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement

The MOS social support survey.

Toward a Unifying Social Cognitive Theory of Career and Academic Interest, Choice, and Performance

Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic outcomes: A meta-analytic investigation.

Summary The foregoing review of the career barriers literaturepresents a mixed picture. On the one hand, students andworkers do perceive barriers to their career progress; but onthe other hand, barrier ratings are often found to besomewhat modest in size and have not been shown to beconsistently related to important career outcome or processvariables in the mostly student samples in which they havebeen studied. This is not to say that barriers are notconsequential for many Individuals. Indeed, they are likelyto be especially salient for those who have been victimizedby various forms of oppression. However, several concep-tual and methodological issues—such as the manner inwhich barriers have been defined, failure to consider thecontext and temporal specificity of barriers, noncorrespon-dence between barriers and outcome criteria (in terms ofcontent and developmental task), infrequent attention tomediating and moderating variables, understudy of nonstu-dent samples, and use of designs that do not explorepotential causal effects of barriers—may have partly ob-scured the impact of perceived barriers and the mechanismsthrough which they affect career behavior.Despite these considerations, recent career barriers re-search has constructed an important conceptual and method-ological foundation for further inquiry, and the program-matic research of Swanson, McWhirter, and Luzzo and theircolleagues has been particularly pivotal. In the remainder ofthis article, we attempt to build on this foundation, offering amodest set of suggestions for future research on careerbarriers and their conceptual partner, career supports. Thesesuggestions are premised on the need to clarify or elaboratecertain aspects of SCCT having relevance for the conceptu-alization and assessment of contextual variables.

/pdf/contextual-supports-and-barriers-to-career-choice-a-social-1hfuwuswpm.pdf

Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.

PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC ISSUES. The Maturation of Counseling Psychology: Multifaceted Perspectives, 1978-1998 (P. Heppner, et al.). Ethical Issues in Counseling Psychology: Old Themes--New Problems (K. Kitchener & S. Anderson). Psychotherapy Supervision and Training (R. Goodyear & C. Guzzardo). Scientific Training and Scholarly Productivity: The Person, the Training Environment, and Their Interaction (C. Gelso & R. Lent). Advances in Psychometric Theory and Methods (D. Bolt & J. Rounds). Issues in the Analysis and Interpretation of Quantitative Data: Deinstitutionalization of the Null Hypothesis Test (T. Tracey). Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology (S. Morrow & M. Smith). CAREER, EDUCATIONAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. Advances in Vocational Psychology Theory and Research (J. Swanson & P. Gore). The Development of Academic Achievement in School Aged Children: Precursors to Career Development (C. Arbona). Advances in Theory and Research on Subjective Well-Being (S. Robbins & W. Kliewer). Gender and Sexuality in Human Development: Implications for Prevention and Advocacy in Counseling Psychology (R. Fassinger). Role of Race and Social Class in Development: Implications for Counseling Psychology (N. Fouad & M. Brown). PREVENTIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL INTERVENTIONS. Preventive Interventions with School-Age Youth (E. Vera & L. Reese). The School-to-Work Transition: Adjustment Challenges of the Forgotten Half (D. Blustein, et al.). Prevention and Development in the Workplace (B. Hesketh). Counseling Older Adults: Theoretical and Empirical Issues in Prevention and Intervention (R. Hill, et al.). Health Promotion and Disease Prevention: A Concentric Biopsychosocial Model of Health Status (M. Hoffman & J. Driscoll). COUNSELING INTERVENTIONS. Advances in Theories of Change and Counseling (S. Warwar & L. Greenberg). Gender Issues in Counseling (C. Enns). Models of Multicultural Counseling (J. Ponterotto, et al.). The Process of Individual Therapy (C. Hill & E. Williams). Outcomes of Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Empirical Evidence Addressing Two Fundamental Questions (B. Wampold). Four (or Five) Sessions and a Cloud of Dust: Old Assumptions and New Observations about Career Counseling (S. Brown & N. Krane). Process, Outcome, and Methodology in Group Counseling Research (D. Kivlighan, et al.). Processes and Outcomes in Couples and Family Therapy (M. Friedlander & Ma. Tuason). Indexes.

Handbook of counseling psychology

Introduction. H.E.A. Tinsley and S.D. Brown, Multivariate Statistics and Mathematical Modeling. J. Hetherington, Role of Theory and Experimental Design in Multivariate Analysis and Mathematical Modeling. R.V. Dawis, Scale Construction and Psychometric Considerations. H.E.A. Tinsley and D.J. Weiss, Interrater Reliability and Agreement. M. Hallahan and R. Rosenthal, Interpreting and Reporting Results. A. Venter and S.E. Maxwell, Issues in the Use and Application of Multiple Regression Analysis. C.J. Huberty and M.D. Petoskey, Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Covariance. M.T. Brown and L.R. Wicker, Discriminant Analysis. R.M. Thorndike, Canonical Correlation Analysis. R. Cudeck, Exploratory Factor Analysis. P.A. Gore, Jr., Cluster Analysis. M.L. Davison and S.G. Sireci, Multidimensional Scaling. M.M. Mark, C.S. Reichardt, and L.J. Sanna, Time-Series Designs and Analyses. P.B. Imrey, Poisson Regression, Logistic Regression, and Loglinear Models for Random Counts. L.F. Dilalla, Structural Equation Modeling: Uses and Issues. R.H. Hoyle, Confirmatory Factor Analysis. B.J. Becker, Multivariate Meta-analysis. G.A. Marcoulides, Generalizability Theory. R.K. Hambelton, F. Robin, and D. Xing, Item Response Models for the Analysis of Educational and Psychological Test Data. L. Dumenci, Multitrait-Multimethod Analysis. I.G.G. Kreft, Using Random Coefficient Linear Models for the Analysis of Hierarchically Nested Data. T.J.G. Tracey, Analysis of Circumplex Models. J.B. Willett and M.K. Keiley, Using Covariance Structure Analysis to Model Change over Time. Author Index. Subject Index.

Steven D. Brown

Papers

Toward a Unifying Social Cognitive Theory of Career and Academic Interest, Choice, and Performance

Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic outcomes: A meta-analytic investigation.

Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.

Handbook of counseling psychology

Handbook of applied multivariate statistics and mathematical modeling