The Review on the Role of Ambiguity of Tolerance and Resilience on Students’ Engagement

Due to the arrival of positive psychology (PP) in the development of teaching, the construct of engagement has been thrived and got a notable function in the educational arena. Alternatively, numerous individual differences, containing ambiguity of tolerance, have been taken into consideration as a result of the key role they can play in the process of learning, and thus, on different facets of the learners’ engagement. Furthermore, resilience is recommended to be an alternate and effective way of engaging English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Also, it is a significant feature of the human adaptation system in which students can efficaciously manage and tackle stressful involvements despite their troubles and disasters. Given the eminence of both ambiguity tolerance and resilience in educational settings and the fact that little attention has been given to these constructs in foreign language learning, the present review makes an effort to scrutinize the impact of ambiguity of tolerance and resilience on EFL learners’ engagement. Succinctly, the fundamental roles of ambiguity tolerance and resilience in learners’ engagement were confirmed, and consistent with the conclusions drawn from the present review, some suggestions are set forth concerning the implications of this paper.

Revisiting the Religious Openness Hypothesis in a Migration Context: The Case of Muslims with a Turkish Migration Background in Germany

The religious openness hypothesis, which states that religious traditions have the potential to integrate faith with intellect, is examined in this study within a migration context for the first time. Based on two lines of research, our central question is whether the sociological context or the Islamic tradition per se explains the (in)compatibility of faith and intellect orientation and their relation to psychological openness. Religious openness, psychological openness (ambiguity tolerance and acculturation strategies) and religiosity were measured among Muslims with a Turkish migration background in Germany. Our findings show a non-significant relationship between faith and intellect orientation and we therefore propose that the secular context is the crucial explaining factor. Religious reflection also moderates the link between different forms of religiosity and ambiguity tolerance. Finally, heterogeneous religious rationalities were uncovered that challenge the negative view of Muslims as fanatic, closed-minded people which prevails among the German majority society.

The Effect of Perceived Uncertainty on Competitive Behavior

How do people behave in the face of uncertainty? Some studies suggest that even when they are unaware of how others will behave, people default to cooperative behavior; however, other research suggests that uncertainty leads to more competitive behavior. Little research has examined how individual differences moderate such behavioral decisions. This study proposes that a stable (dispositional) sense of justice may, ironically, lead to more competitive behavior. Specifically, people who score highly in belief in a just world, system justification, and religiosity, and low in ambiguity tolerance may be more inclined to compete rather than cooperate because they believe people who experience positive outcomes deserve those outcomes regardless of the means taken to achieve them. Across two studies, participants (N = 288) engaged in a prisoner’s dilemma game — a task where they must choose to compete or cooperate — and completed the aforementioned individual difference measures. Results show that people tended to cooperate, but those high in system justification and belief in a just world were more likely to compete. In other words, people with a strong sense of cosmic justice were likely to exhibit competitive behavior under uncertain conditions. KEYWORDS: Ambiguity Tolerance; Competition; Cooperation; Just World Beliefs; Prisoner’s Dilemma; Prosocial Behavior; Religiosity; System Justification; Uncertainty

Cognitive Skills and Economic Preferences in the Fund Industry

By running a battery of experiments with fund managers, we investigate the impact of cognitive skills and economic preferences on their professional decisions. First, we find that fund managers’ risk tolerance positively correlates with fund risk when accounting for fund benchmark, fund category, and other controls. Second, we show that fund managers’ ambiguity tolerance positively correlates with the funds’ tracking error from the benchmark. Finally, we report that cognitive skills do not explain fund performance in terms of excess returns. However, we do find that fund managers with high cognitive reflection abilities compose funds at lower risk.

The perception of doability and how is it measured

This article argues that the propensity to perceive impossible challenges as doable is a personality trait, and presents a method for measuring it. The name coined for this concept is “possibilitivity,” a portmanteau of “possible” and “creativity.” Possibilitivity is related to such personality traits as self-efficacy and locus of control. This article shows that this trait is embedded in individual cognitive processes, whilst targeting social issues; in this vein, it may be seen as an important mechanism facilitating change-making and transgressing the seemingly impossible. Methodology for assessing this trait is presented, i.e., the process of constructing and validating a questionnaire, its psychometric properties, and some comparisons within the sample (N = 1117). One of the findings is that women are significantly more prone to perceive difficult challenges as doable than men. Seeing this study as the first step, further research recommendations are presented, e.g., comparing possibilitivity between various segments of society, as well as analyzing potential correlations with other traits, e.g., empathy or ambiguity tolerance.

The Analysis of Internal Consistency and Internal Structure of Questionnaires of Tolerance / Intolerance to Ambiguity: IAS, TAN, MSTAT-I and MSTAT-II

The article presents the results of internal consistency and internal structure analysis on a sampleof 184 subjects of the four most widely used questionnaires of tolerance / intolerance to ambiguity: the Intolerance to Ambiguity Scale (IAS) by S. Badner, Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (MSTAT-I and MSTAT-II) D. McLane and the Tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity new questionnaire (TAN) by T. V. Kornilova. The IAS subscales showed low internal consistency, the Tolerance-intolerance of ambiguity new questionnaire scale showed satisfactory internal consistency and the MSTAT-I and MSTAT-II scales showed high internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-factor model of MSTAT-I, the other models were not confirmed on our data. Exploratory factor analysis revealed unsatisfactory internal structure of the IAS, TAN, MSTAT-II. The results of the study are discussed.

ProReal®: The ‘good enough’ online alternative to face-to-face Dramatherapy

The Covid-19 restrictions have limited the access of face-to face therapies for many people and continues to effect how Dramatherapists operate. The following article offers reflections around adapting to an on-line medium, focusing more specifically around the software of ProReal. Limitations and considerations are acknowledged, including technological difficulties, computer efficacy, ambiguity tolerance and the need for careful contracting and reassurance of autonomy and control when using on-line platforms. The article ends with a short selection of vignettes from ProReal sessions.

Taking unknown risks based on positive and negative information

Many decisions have to be made under partial ambiguity where information is notavailable about the full probability distribution of risks. To decide in a principled way,one would have to make some assumption(s) about hidden risks. We examined howpeople may balance between the valence of the available information and the potentialinformation concealed by the ambiguity. Under partial ambiguity, people showedflexible skepticism towards the valence of the partially observable probabilisticinformation. When ambiguity size was small, risk taking was sensitive to valence: if theinformation was promising, ambiguity aversion increased, skeptically balancing thepromising prospects of available positive evidence against the hazards of what mightbe hidden from the view. Conversely, when the available information wasdisappointing, ambiguity tolerance increased, cautiously anticipating more than whatthe available information promised. This flexible skepticism was not a trivially reflexiveresponse to valence: when ambiguity was large (i.e., available information wasunreliable), the valence of available information did not impact risk attitudes.

The Roles of Spiritual Well-being and Tolerance of Uncertainty in Prediction of Happiness in Elderly

Antecedentes: De acuerdo con las conceptualizaciones del bienestar espiritual, la intolerancia a la ambigüedad y la felicidad, este estudio se propuso investigar las influencias del bienestar espiritual y la tolerancia a la incertidumbre sobre la felicidad con respecto a los roles moderadores del sexo en los ancianos. Método: Participaron 120 ancianos de la ciudad de Shiraz, provincia de Fars, Irán. Para la recopilación de datos se utilizaron un cuestionario demográfico, el Inventario de Bienestar Espiritual (SWBI), la Escala II de Tolerancia a la Ambigüedad de Tipos de Estímulos Múltiples (MSTAT-II) y el Cuestionario de Felicidad de Oxford (OHI). Resultados: Los resultados mostraron que la espiritualidad, el bienestar y la intolerancia a la incertidumbre explican el 60% de la variación de la felicidad en los ancianos. Pero los resultados rechazaron el papel del sexo en la predicción de la felicidad en el presente estudio. Conclusión: Este estudio demuestra los roles predictivos del bienestar espiritual y la tolerancia a la ambigüedad sobre la felicidad en el campo de la gerontología. Background: According to spirituality well-being, ambiguity intolerance, and happiness conceptualizations, this study was purposed to investigate the influences of spiritual well-being and uncertainty tolerance on happiness with regards to the moderating roles of sex in the elderly. Method: Participants included 120 elders from Shiraz City, Fars province, Iran. A demographic questionnaire, the Spiritual Well-Being Inventory (SWBI), the Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale-II (MSTAT–II), and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHI) were used for data collection. Results: Findings showed that spirituality well-being and uncertainty intolerance explain 60% of happiness variation in the elderly. But results rejected the role of sex on the prediction of happiness in the present study. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the predictive roles of spiritual well-being and ambiguity tolerance on happiness in the field of gerontology.