Related Beliefs Research Articles

Outcome expectancy in social cognitive theory: The role of contingency in agency and motivation in education

ABSTRACT Bandura proposed 2 constructs as central to agency and motivation: self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Considerable research has documented the central role that self-efficacy plays in motivation, self-regulation, and learning in educational settings. Outcome expectancy, however, has received less study. This article focuses on clarifying the role of outcome expectancy in contemporary theories of motivation and achievement in education and examining how outcome expectancy and related contingency beliefs like perceived instrumentality affect student motivation. Practical contingency-based approaches that educators at all levels can use to develop student outcome expectancies and ways to use outcome expectancies to motivate students are discussed.

An evaluation of a one-day pain science education event in a high school setting targeting pain related beliefs, knowledge, and behavioural intentions

BackgroundPersistent pain is a common condition affecting one in four UK adults. Public understanding of pain is limited. Delivering pain education within schools may improve public understanding in the longer term. ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of a one-day Pain Science Education (PSE) event on sixth form/high school students’ pain beliefs, knowledge and behavioural intention. MethodsExploratory, single-site, mixed-methods, single-arm study involving secondary school students ≥16 years old attending a one-day PSE event. Outcome measures included the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ), Concepts of Pain Inventory (COPI-ADULT), a vignette to assess pain behaviours; and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews. ResultsNinety (mean age 16.5 years, 74% female) of the 114 attendees, agreed to participate in the evaluation. PBQ scores improved on the Organic beliefs subscale [mean difference −5.9 (95% CI -6.8, −5.0), P < 0.01] and Psychosocial Beliefs subscale [1.6 (1.0, 2.2) P < 0.01]. The COPI-Adult revealed an improvement [7.1 (6.0–8.1) points, P < 0.01] between baseline and post intervention. Pain behavioural intentions improved post education for work, exercise, and bed rest related activities (p < 0.05). Thematic analysis of interviews (n = 3) identified increased awareness of chronic pain and its underpinning biology, beliefs that pain education should be widely available, and that pain management should be holistic. ConclusionsA one-day PSE public health event can improve pain beliefs, knowledge and behavioural intentions in high school students and increase openness to holistic management. Future controlled studies are needed to confirm these results and investigate potential long-term impacts.

THE MEDIATING ROLES OF TRIANGULAR LOVE COMPONENTS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP BELIEFS AND MARRIAGE ATTITUDES

This study examined the mediating roles of triangular love components (intimacy, passion, and commitment) in the relationship between university students’ romantic relationship beliefs and marriage attitudes. The research sample consisted of 376 undergraduate students, 289 of whom were female and 87 were male, studying at a public university. In addition to the Personal Information Form, four measurement tools, namely the Inönü Marriage Attitude Scale, the Sternberg Triangular Love Scale (STLS and STLS-M forms), and the Romantic Relationship Beliefs Scale, were employed in this study. According to the resultant findings, of the triangular love components, intimacy had a partial mediating role, while passion and commitment had full mediating roles in the relationship between romantic relationship beliefs and marriage attitudes. All the adjustments regarding the collected data were conducted in the R programming environment. The findings were discussed based on the existing literature, followed by suggestions for various practices in the field and future studies.

Assessing the interrelationship between asthma and obesity self-management behaviors.

Asthma and obesity are common coexisting conditions with increasing prevalence and substantial morbidity. This study examines the inter-relationship between illness and treatment beliefs in asthma and obesity and how they influence self-management behaviors. Overweight and obese adults ≥ 18years with asthma were recruited from primary care and pulmonary practices in New York, NY and Denver, CO (n = 219). Path analysis was used to examine the relationship between asthma, weight and exercise-related illness and medication beliefs and SMB. Necessity beliefs about asthma medications and diet were associated with better medication adherence and healthier dietary behaviors (β = 0.276, p = < 0.001, β = 0.148, p = 0.018 respectively) whereas concerns about these self-care activities were associated with poorer adherence and worse dietary behaviors (β = - 0.282, p < 0.001, β = - 0.188, p = 0.003 respectively). We found no statistically significant association of exercise behaviors with any other weight or asthma illness or treatment beliefs. Our study demonstrates that necessity and concerns about treatment are associated with adherence in asthma and obesity. The lack of association of exercise behaviors with any asthma or weight related beliefs may reflect limited awareness of the impact of weight on asthma and warrants additional research.

Enhancing fuzzy evidential reasoning approach using dynamic adjustment mechanism and new rule-based transformation for engineering emergency response evaluation

With the frequent occurrence of various emergency events in engineering field, engineering emergency response (EER) evaluation plays an increasingly significant role in handling such situations and provides great challenges to research since the uncertain information and the urgent response time. Aiming at achieving timely and effective emergency response, an enhanced evidential reasoning (ER) approach based on the dynamic adjustment mechanism and new rule-based transformation is proposed. First, the linguistic terms to represent various preference information provided by experts are encoded into the trapezoidal interval type-2 fuzzy sets (TrIT2FSs) with different granularities. Second, for ensuring the validity of the information, based on the definition of the expert decision risk preference coefficients, a dynamic adjustment mechanism is constructed to identify and adjust the preference information. Meanwhile, combined with social network, the experts’ weights can be calculated and revised several times to obtain group information. Then, a new rule-based transformation and related optimization models are proposed to convert the TrIT2FSs into interval belief structures. Furthermore, considering the importance of attributes, the relative weights and interval belief structures are combined. Finally, according to integrated interval belief structures obtained by the analytical ER algorithm, a new ranking approach with the optimism degree and decision tendency degree is constructed to rank the interval expected utility and score utility of each alternative. To further show the effectiveness, superiorities, and stability of the proposed method, a case study on the EER evaluation is preformed and some comparisons and discussions are provided.

Divine Relations as a Basis of Subjective Social Status During Later‐Life: Direct and Moderating Effects

AbstractEarly social theorists, including W.E.B Du Bois, recognized the importance of religion and its links to inequality, particularly in how religious vocabularies are attuned to frictions with inimical concrete social and political realities. We apply these ideas to research on the intersection of religious beliefs and economic deprivation, examining how beliefs in divine relations not only structure subjective social status (SSS), but also the association between financial stress and SSS. Analyses of data from the Caregiving, Aging, and Financial Experiences Study—a national study of Canadian older adults (N = 4010)—show that financial strain is associated with lower SSS, but better divine relations (higher support from a divine power and lower troubled relationships with a higher power) benefit SSS. Divine support also attenuates the association between financial strain and SSS. This research suggests a Du Bosian “double consciousness,” in which relations with a divine power serve as a basis for individual conceptualizations of social status that run counter to predominant narratives based on economic standing. We suggest directions for future research to explore the nuances of SSS within the religious context informed by a Du Boisian mode of inquiry.

Individual and Conjoint Factors Associated With Beliefs About the Harmfulness of Nicotine Replacement Therapies Relative to Combustible Cigarettes Among People Who Smoke: Findings From the 2020 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey.

This study examined individual and conjoint factors associated with beliefs about the harmfulness of nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) relative to combustible cigarettes (CCs). Data analyzed came from 8642 adults (≥18 years) who smoked daily/weekly and participated in the 2020 ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Survey in Australia (n = 1213), Canada (n = 2633), England (n = 3057), and United States (n = 1739). Respondents were asked: "Compared to smoking cigarettes, how harmful do you think nicotine replacement products are?" Responses were dichotomized into "much less" versus otherwise for analysis using multivariable logistic regression models, complemented by decision-tree analysis to identify conjoint factors. Percentages believing that NRTs are much less harmful than CCs were 29.7% (95% CI = 26.2% to 33.5%) in Australia, 27.4% (95% CI = 25.1% to 29.8%) in England, 26.4% (95% CI = 24.4% to 28.4%) in Canada, and 21.7% (95% CI = 19.2% to 24.3%) in the United States. Across all countries, believing nicotine is not at all/slightly harmful to health (aOR = 1.53-2.27), endorsing nicotine vaping products (NVPs) as less harmful than CCs (much less harmful: aOR = 7.24-14.27; somewhat less harmful: aOR = 1.97-3.23), and possessing higher knowledge of smoking harms (aOR = 1.23-1.88) were individual factors associated with increased odds of believing NRTs are much less harmful than CCs. With some country variations, these nicotine-related measures also interacted with each other and sociodemographic variables to serve as conjoint factors associated with the likelihood of accurate NRT relative harm belief. Many people who regularly smoke cigarettes are unaware that NRTs are much less harmful than cigarettes. Additionally, beliefs about NRTs relative harmfulness appear to be influenced by both individual and conjoint factors. This study demonstrates that despite past efforts to educate people who smoke about the harms of NRTs relative to CCs, misperceptions around the relative harmfulness of NRTs remain substantial. In all four studied countries, subgroups of people who smoke regularly who are misinformed about the relative harmfulness of NRTs, and who may be reluctant to use NRTs for smoking cessation can be reliably identified for corrective interventions based on their understanding of the harms related to nicotine, NVPs and smoking along with sociodemographic markers. The identified subgroup information can be used to prioritize and inform the development of effective interventions to specifically address the gaps in knowledge and understanding of the various subgroups identified. Our results suggest these may need to be tailored for each country.

Comic absurdity and profane acts in education

ABSTRACT In this theoretical and provocative paper our aim is to problematize universal ideals, and the closely related belief in educationalization, that frame education today. Inspired by the ethico-political work of Agamben ([2007]. Profanations. New York: Zone Books), and his focus on profane acts of play, and Zupančič's ([2008]. The odd one in: One comedy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press) psychoanalytical adaptation of Hegel's ‘concrete universal', we illustrate how universal ideals and beliefs often ‘fail' in comic absurd ways when they are performed in concrete practices. By analyzing different examples, which stem from the research literature, we describe how such ‘failure' looks. We argue that it is important to engage with the comic absurd as doing so can reveal how educators, politicians, and policymakers contribute to the (re)production of failures within the socio-symbolic (educational) order. However, such an engagement may enable us to ‘fail better’ in education if we also allow ourselves to question, challenge, and perhaps change this order by means of profane acts.

Screening practices of cancer survivors and individuals whose family or friends had a cancer diagnoses-a nationally representative cross-sectional survey in Japan (INFORM Study 2020).

We examined cancer screening practices and related beliefs in cancer survivors and individuals with family or close friends with a cancer diagnosis compared to individuals without the above cancer history for 5 population-based (gastric, colorectal, lung, breast, cervical) and 1 opportunistic (prostate) cancer screenings using nationally representative cross-sectional survey in Japan. We analyzed 3269 data from 3605 respondents (response rate, 37.1%) and compared the screening beliefs and practices of cancer survivors (n = 391), individuals with family members (n = 1674), and close friends with a cancer diagnosis (n = 685) to those without any cancer history (n = 519). Being a cancer survivor was associated with screening for gastric (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.04-2.95), colorectal (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.03-2.36), and lung cancer (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.10-2.66) but not breast, cervical cancer or PSA test. Having a family cancer diagnosis was associated with colorectal and lung cancer screening. Having friends with a cancer diagnosis was associated with PSA test. Cancer survivors and family members perceived themselves as being more susceptible and worried about getting cancer than individuals without any cancer history. Cancer survivors strongly believed screening can detect cancer and were more likely to undergo screening. Subgroup analysis indicated an interrelation between gastric and colorectal cancer screening among survivors. A cancer diagnosis in oneself or family or friend influences an individual's health-related belief and risk perception, which can increase the likelihood of cancer screening. Targeted and tailored communication strategies can increase awareness of cancer screening.

National Youth tobacco surveys (2014–2019) show increasing beliefs in the harm and relative addiction of e-cigarettes but decreasing associations between those beliefs and e-cigarette use

BackgroundTo evaluate the potential efficacy of increasing harm and relative addiction beliefs in discouraging e-cigarette use, we examined how adolescents’ beliefs about e-cigarettes have changed over 6 years and how the predictive validity of these beliefs has changed over time. MethodsUsing data from the 2014–2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) (grades 6–12; N = 117,472), we evaluated the association between adolescents’ beliefs about the harm and relative addiction of e-cigarettes and current e-cigarette use, as well as susceptibility to use. Logistic regressions and pairwise contrasts were used to analyze changes in these beliefs and determine how well these beliefs predict ever use, current use, and susceptibility to use over time. ResultsE-cigarette harm and relative addiction beliefs tended to increase over time. In most years, these beliefs were negatively associated with e-cigarette use, including ever use, current use, and susceptibility to use. Interactions between these beliefs were also observed in some years such that harm belief better predicted use when e-cigarettes were also perceived as more addictive. Survey year also interacted with health harm and relative addiction beliefs such that the predictive validity of these beliefs for e-cigarette use decreased over time. ConclusionsBeliefs about e-cigarette harm and relative addiction have increased over time and predict use of, and susceptibility to, e-cigarettes among US adolescents. However, the predictive validity of these beliefs has decreased over time. Future research should explore the reasons for the decreased predictive validity of health beliefs in e-cigarette use and identify constructs that predict adolescent e-cigarette use over and above general harm and relative addiction beliefs.

Using the integrated theory of health behavior change to assess factors affecting diabetes medication adherence among black adults during COVID-19: an explanatory sequential mixed methods design

ABSTRACT Objectives (1) Evaluate changes in medication adherence and the role of psychosocial and interpersonal factors on adherence. (2) Explain the changes in medication adherence based on patient perceptions of adherence behaviors. Design We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design for surveys at baseline and 1-year follow-up, followed by interviews. The Integrated Theory of Health Behavior Change guided the design of a questionnaire including self-reported measures of medication adherence, psychosocial factors such as illness and medication beliefs, self-efficacy, and depressive symptoms, interpersonal factors including social support and patient-provider communication, and socio-demographic and clinical factors. A convenience sample (n = 228) of adult patients with type 2 diabetes who self-identified as Black/African American completed the mail/telephone surveys. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with respondents of both surveys who had changes in medication adherence. Descriptive, mean differential, bivariate correlational analyses, and content analysis was conducted. Data integration merged quantitative and qualitative results as a joint display. Results Response rates for the baseline and follow-up survey were 28% and 47% respectively. Medication adherence scores were significantly correlated with illness perceptions (r = .30) and depression (r = .25) at baseline, and self-efficacy (r = −.51) and depression (r = .37) at follow-up. Qualitative themes included patient perceptions of adherence behaviors, impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, health literacy and self-efficacy. Mixed methods integration showed contrasting perceptions of the same themes including adherence behaviors, medication beliefs, social support, and patient-provider communication among participants whose medication adherence increased and decreased overtime. Conclusion Self-efficacy, diabetes beliefs, and depressive symptoms were key psychosocial factors that affected medication adherence among Blacks/African Americans. Contrasting perceptions of beliefs in medicines, social support, provider relationships and communication among increased and decreased adherence participant groups explained the changes in adherence, which can be used to adapt existing interventions.

Dark Triad and Dating Violence: Mediating Role of Irrational Beliefs in Romantic Relationships

Dark Triad and Dating Violence: Mediating Role of Irrational Beliefs in Romantic Relationships

Jang Yeon Jin;Kim Jin Sook

본 연구는 이중관계에 대한 사회복지사의 윤리적 신념이 어떠하며, 얼마나 경험하고 있는지를 살펴보고, 응답자의 인구사회학적, 기관 및 업무 특성에 따라 신념이나 경험에 차이가 있는지를 알아보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 전국의 사회복지사를 대상으로 온라인 설문조사를 실시하여 530명의 응답 결과를 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 응답자들은 이중관계에 대한 신념에 대해서는 다소 허용적인 기준을 가지고 있었으나, 실제 경험은 적은 것으로 나타났다. 세부적으로는 성적 관계보다 대가성 관계나 개인적 관계에 대해 더 허용적이었으며 경험도 더 많은 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 인구사회학적, 기관 및 업무 특성에 따른 응답자의 이중관계 신념과 경험의 차이는 성별, 사회복지학 학위 여부, 경력, 연령, 지역규모 등에 있어서 유의미한 차이가 나타났다. 이와 같은 결과를 토대로 사회복지실천에 있어 윤리교육 방향을 제언하였다.This study aimed to examine what social workers’ ethical beliefs about dual relationships were, how much they experienced them, and whether there were differences in beliefs or experiences depending on the sociodemographic background of the respondents. To this end, an online survey was conducted targeting social workers across the country and the results of 530 responses were analyzed. As a result of the analysis it was found that the respondents had somewhat permissive standards for their belief in dual relationships but had little actual experience. In detail, it was found that they were more permissive and had more experience with relationships based on compensational or personal relationships than sexual relationships. In addition, the difference in dual relationship beliefs and experiences of respondents according to demographic characteristics showed significant differences in gender, social welfare degree, experience, age, and location in a large city. Based on these results, the direction of ethics education in social welfare practice was suggested.

Under God and Under Threat: Christian Nationalism and Conspiratorial Thinking as Links between Political Orientation and Gun Ownership

Conservative political orientation is a strong predictor of gun ownership in the United States. We explore the extent to which this relationship is mediated by two related belief systems: Christian nationalism and Right-Wing conspiratorial thinking. Drawing on nationally representative data from the sixth wave of the Baylor Religion Survey (N = 1,248), we use logistic regression and the Karlson-Holm-Breen method to analyze gun ownership, disaggregated by type of gun and reason for ownership. Christian nationalism and conspiratorial thinking underlie political effects on automatic and semi-automatic guns, handguns, and guns owned for protection, especially among non-Hispanic white respondents. Christian nationalism and conspiratorial thinking are less salient to driving political differences in long gun or recreational gun ownership. Findings elucidate the belief-based mechanisms underlying the societally important link between conservative politics and gun ownership, demonstrating how beliefs pattern who owns guns (and why) in the United States.

Women's beliefs about methods and contraceptive discontinuation: Results from a prospective study from Nairobi and Homa Bay counties in Kenya.

Rates of contraceptive discontinuation are high in many low and middle countries contributing to unmet need for contraception and other adverse reproductive health outcomes. Few studies have investigated how women's beliefs about methods and strength of fertility preferences affect discontinuation rates. This study examines this question using primary data collected in Nairobi and Homa Bay counties in Kenya. We used data from two rounds of a longitudinal study of married women ages 15-39 years (2,812 and 2,424 women from Nairobi and Homa Bay respectively at round 1). Information on fertility preferences, past and current contraceptive behavior, and method-related beliefs about six modern contraceptive methods were collected, along with a monthly calendar of contraceptive use between the two interviews. The analysis focused on discontinuation of the two most commonly used methods in both sites, injectables and implants. We carry out competing risk survival analysis to identify which method related beliefs predict discontinuation among women using at the first round. The percentages of episodes discontinued in the 12 months between the two rounds was 36%, with a higher rate of discontinuation in Homa Bay (43%) than in the Nairobi slums (32%) and higher for injectables than implants. Method related concerns and side effects were the major self-reported reasons for discontinuation in both sites. The competing risk survival analysis showed that the probability of method related discontinuation of implants and injectables was significantly lower among respondents who believed that the methods do not cause serious health problems (SHR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.62-0.98), do not interfere with regular menses (SHR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.61-0.95) and do not cause unpleasant side effects (SHR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.56-0.89). By contrast, there were no net effects of three method related beliefs that are commonly cited as obstacles to contraceptive use in African societies: safety for long-term use, ability to have children after stopping the method, and the approval of the husband. This study is unique in its examination of the effect of method-specific beliefs on subsequent discontinuation for a method-related reason, using a longitudinal design. The single most important result is that concerns about serious health problems, which are largely unjustified and only moderately associated with beliefs about side effects, are a significant influence on discontinuation. The negative results for other beliefs show that the determinants of discontinuation differ from the determinants of method adoption and method choice.

Health literacy and COVID-19-related beliefs and behaviors: a longitudinal study of the Japanese general population.

Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), health communication has played a critical role in the process of disease prevention. Based on the concepts of health literacy and protection motivation theory, this study longitudinally examined the relationship between general health literacy measured immediately before the COVID-19 outbreak, and COVID-19-related information utilization, health literacy, beliefs and protective behaviors during the subsequent year in the Japanese general population. The participants were 767 Japanese residents who completed self-administered questionnaire surveys in January 2020 and February 2021. Based on the hypotheses, we constructed and tested a path model to predict the adoption of protective behaviors. Higher health literacy in 2020 was significantly related to higher COVID-19-related health literacy in 2021, which, in turn, was related to the adoption of recommended protective behaviors both directly and indirectly through threat and coping appraisal. Coping appraisal, but not threat appraisal, significantly differed by health literacy level. Generic health literacy skills for accessing, understanding and applying health information may enable people to better adapt to specific health risks. Our findings provide guidance for future health literacy education and health risk communication in populations with different health literacy levels.

Palestinian law to protect family and prevent violence: challenges with public opinion

The Palestinian Family Protection Law was submitted for ratification in November 2020 after much collaboration between advocates, attorneys and governmental officials, as well as community and international organizations. The draft bill addresses a myriad of social issues affecting vulnerable populations in the West Bank of Palestine, including: the legal age for marriage; gender inequality in inheritance; divorce; gender-based violence; and domestic violence. However, immediate feedback from local religious scholars, with increasing pressure from the general Palestinian population, was deeply divided, with negative perceptions relating to the perceived ‘foreign’ nature of the regulations and criticism that the law was not in accordance with Palestinian culture and Islamic Law. This criticism led to two years of inactivity regarding the bill. The current study sought to evaluate the attitudes, behavior and beliefs regarding the underlying human rights issues and assumptions concerning gender, marriage, and domestic violence that could be found in the codices of the proposed legislation as well as among the general population of Palestine. The data demonstrates that the population sampled viewed the underlying premise of the Family Protection Bill negatively. Individuals with a graduate degree or above tended to view the bill with less negativity, whilst females viewed the bill more positively than males. The results of this study illustrate that, with regard to legislation that relates to family life in Palestine, there is a wide gap between the points of view held by human rights advocates and NGO’s and those held by the general population. To further the agenda of family protection community education relating to social issues, the fundamentals of Sharia law and national sovereignty may be needed so as to clarify the core Islamic beliefs in relation to human rights and oppression, as well as to increase Palestinian ownership of the family protection agenda.

Common beliefs about sexuality: a Tunisian survey among pregnant women

IntroductionSexual relationship is affected by the emotional factors, changes in women’s body, sexual dysfunctionsand also common beliefs about sex in pregnancy. Couples might tend to avoid sexual intercourse in pregnancy due to different beliefs.ObjectivesOur objective was the evaluation of sexual related and common beliefs among pregnant womens.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional and descriptive study. We targeted Tunisian pregnant women whatever the term of pregnancy. We collected data using a self-questionnaire performed with Google Forms and posted regularly on social networks over a period of six months. In order to assess the most common beliefs, we used a panel of questions inspired by the literature.Results34 pregnant women participated to the study. Mean age was 31,56 years (SD =3,25). All the participants had a secondry or university education (5.9% and 94.1% respectively). Ninteen women (55.9%) were multiparous with 44% in the third trimester.Among participants, 20.6% believe that sexual intercourse can be harmful to the baby, 41.2% believe that the number of intercourse should be limited during pregnancy and 17.6% thought that sexual intercourse should be stopped in the first three months.In relation to body image, 11.8% of women approve that pregnancy takes women’s all beauty and 8.8% thought that their bodies weren’t attractives as before for spouses. About a quarter of our population (23.5%) agreed that pregnant women lose sexual desires and 14.7% approved that intercourse satisfies only men. Only one women (2.9%) reported that intercourse during pregnancy is considered a sin.ConclusionsWe have identified through this study different beliefs about sexuality during pregnancy, sometimes aberrant and which can affect the sexuality of couples. Attention of health professionals should be attracted to this issue and sexuality should definitely be integrated into prenatal care and counselling.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Curriculum Learning for Goal-Oriented Semantic Communications With a Common Language

Goal-oriented semantic communication will be a pillar of next-generation wireless networks. Despite significant recent efforts in this area, most prior works are focused on specific data types (e.g., image or audio), and they ignore the goal and effectiveness aspects of semantic transmissions. In contrast, in this paper, a holistic goal-oriented semantic communication framework is proposed to enable a speaker and a listener to cooperatively execute a set of sequential tasks in a dynamic environment. A common language based on a hierarchical belief set is proposed to enable semantic communications between speaker and listener. The speaker, acting as an observer of the environment, utilizes the beliefs to transmit an initial description of its observation (called event) to the listener. The listener is then able to infer on the transmitted description and complete it by adding related beliefs to the transmitted beliefs of the speaker. As such, the listener reconstructs the observed event based on the completed description, and it then takes appropriate action in the environment based on the reconstructed event. An optimization problem is defined to determine the perfect and abstract description of the events while minimizing the various communication costs with constraints on the task execution time and belief efficiency. Then, a novel bottom-up curriculum learning (CL) framework based on reinforcement learning is proposed to solve the optimization problem and enable the speaker and listener to gradually identify the structure of the belief set and the perfect and abstract description of the events. Simulation results show that the proposed CL method outperforms classical RL and CL without inference scheme in terms of convergence time, task execution cost and time, reliability, and belief efficiency.

상담자 자기효능감의 관계적 원천에 관한 연구

A tripartite model of relational efficacy beliefs which explains how self-efficacy developswithin close relationships was applied to the context of counseling supervision to confirmrelational sources of counselor self-efficacy. Survey data about relational efficacy beliefs werecollected from 153 counselors and analyzed using AMOS 21.0. The results of path analysis showthat counselor self-efficacy is well predicted by counselors' beliefs about how their supervisorsperceive counselors' ability(Relation-Inferred Self-Efficacy: RISE), and counselors' beliefs aboutthe supervisors' ability(other-efficacy) and counselors' length of counseling experience moderatethe strength of this relationship. Furthermore, other-efficacy predicts RISE and supervisoryrelationships. It is suggested that RISE and other-efficacy play important roles as relationalsources of counselor self-efficacy in a supervisory relationship.