60 (44 in the final sample) full-time or part-time employed or full-time student participants at the University of Central Florida were recruited to see whether a break in virtual nature will help improve upon executive functioning (EF) processing speed; especially in an EF impaired population. The main interest is that if virtual nature breaks aid with mental performance, then the application of virtual nature break can prove beneficial to both normal and, most importantly, the cognitively impaired. The lack of methodological consistency and the limited research on the subject yields mixed results in previous literature. The present study tries to address some of these gaps. Participants had to fill out a demographics survey, perform a cognitive load (Mental Rotation Task) and processing speed task (Stroop Color-Word Task), and then engage in a simulated 15-minute break in nature (video & sounds). Afterwards, they performed the processing speed task again to measure for change. The results failed to demonstrate that a moderately short break consisting of a nature video helps boost EF performance in the normal group. Those who demonstrated impairment in EF in the treatment group had to small of a sample size to be tested on. Numerous limitations and weak statistical power, especially in the impaired group, calls into question the validity of the study. As a result, the study findings are inconclusive.

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nÃo hà / Buscou-se testar experimentalmente o efeito que o contexto de avaliaÃÃo exerce sobre o desempenho cognitivo. Sujeitos prestes a executar uma tarefa cognitiva (Teste de RotaÃÃo Mental) foram induzidos a considerar sua pertenÃa a um grupo associado com fraco desempenho no domÃnio em questÃo. Se tal manipulaÃÃo do contexto de avaliaÃÃo prejudicar o desempenho, estamos diante do fenÃmeno da âameaÃa do estereÃtipoâ. TambÃm buscou-se reduzir esta possÃvel piora no desempenho. A amostra foi composta de 97 universitÃrios cotistas e nÃo-cotistas. Partimos da hipÃtese de que parte da diferenÃa de desempenho observada entre estes grupos deve-se a fatores situacionais. Identificar e quantificar estes fatores, assim como buscar formas de diminuir ou eliminar seus efeitos, à relevante em vÃrios nÃveis. Foram testadas tambÃm as relaÃÃes estabelecidas pelos sujeitos no que diz respeito aos termos envolvidos no construto. Adaptou-se para este propÃsito a âescala de sobreposiÃÃo do eu, endogrupo e exogrupoâ para medir a percepÃÃo de proximidade/distanciamento dos grupos entre si e dos sujeitos em relaÃÃo aos grupos, bem como, o InventÃrio de Ansiedade Frente a Provas (IAP), com o objetivo de aumentar o poder discriminativo do construto de âameaÃa do estereÃtipoâ. Do ponto de vista teÃrico, buscou-se uma leitura analÃtico-comportamental do fenÃmeno da ameaÃa do estereÃtipo. Pretendeu-se com isso favorecer uma aproximaÃÃo entre psicologia social, anÃlise do comportamento e a avaliaÃÃo educacional. Todas essas Ãreas possuem premissas em comum e a intenÃÃo aqui à demonstrar como uma abordagem interdisciplinar pode beneficiar todas elas. Para tanto, nos valemos dos conceitos de controle e equivalÃncia de estÃmulo, e principalmente dos oriundos da Teoria das Molduras Relacionais. ApÃs um treino, os participantes responderam trÃs blocos de 40 tarefas de rotaÃÃo mental. Entre os blocos 1 e 2 foi inserida uma das variÃveis independentes âameaÃa, controle, ou valorizaÃÃoâ, entre os blocos 2 e 3, a segunda das variÃveis independentes âreduÃÃo da ansiedade, da ameaÃa ou controleâ. Os resultados mostram uma superioridade estatisticamente significativa no desempenho dos nÃo cotistas na linha de base. No segundo bloco, os cotistas ameaÃados apresentaram a menor mÃdia entre todos os grupos, ao passo que os cotistas do grupo de controle foram os que mais melhoraram. A valorizaÃÃo nÃo apresentou o resultado esperado. No terceiro bloco os cotistas em geral pioraram o desempenho, mas os nÃo cotistas melhoraram. Os cotistas na condiÃÃo de reduÃÃo do estereÃtipo foram os que mais melhoraram no terceiro bloco. As variÃveis de 14 valorizaÃÃo do grupo e reduÃÃo da ansiedade mostraram resultados ambÃguos, mesmo no nÃvel qualitativo de anÃlise. No inventÃrio de ansiedade frente a provas, nÃo houve diferenÃa significativa entre cotistas e nÃo cotistas. A escala de sobreposiÃÃo do eu, endogrupo e exogrupo mostrou que os participantes nÃo consideram haver uma diferenÃa significativa entre os dois grupos e que nÃo consideram excludentes ou opostas as identificaÃÃes com eles. / This study investigated the effect of the context of evaluation over the cognitive performance in an experiment. Students on the verge of executing a cognitive task (Mental Rotation Task) were induced to consider their relation to a group negatively associated with the domain of the test. If their performance decreased in the face of this manipulation we could say that this situation is a âstereotype threatâ. The possibility of plummeting this decrease in the performance of the students under stereotype threat was also investigated. The sample was composed of 97 university students, both those who benefitted from affirmative action program and the ones that did not. The start point of this research is the idea that at least part of the discrepancy that can be seen in the grades of these two groups when they are compared is due to situational factors and therefore is important to identify and quantify these factors in order to lessen this discrepancy. The concepts involved in the construct of stereotype threat were investigated with the use of the Overlap of Self, Ingroup, and Outgroup Scale. The idea behind this scale is to see how the subjects perceive the similarity and distance between the two groups. Another measure used in the experiment was a scale to see how anxious the individual usually feel in evaluation contexts. Both these measures are important because they are related to the validity of the construct of stereotype threat and can moderate both its effectiveness and susceptibility. Theoretically, a behavior analytic approach to study the phenomenon was proposed. The objective in doing so is to close a gap between social psychology, behavior analysis and educational evaluation. All these areas have many premises in common and the concept here in view show how an interdisciplinary approach can benefit all of them. The concepts used were stimulus equivalence, stimulus control and specially those coming from the relational frame theory. As for the experiment, it was composed of three blocks with 40 tasks each. Between the blocks 1 and 2 either a control text, a valorization text or a threat text was introduced. Then between the blocks 2 and 3 either a text aimed to reduce the threat, or to reduce the anxiety or a control text. The results have shown a statistically significant better performance of the ânon affirmative actionâ in the first block. In the second block, the group of âstereotype threat affirmative actionâ was the one with the worst performance in contrast with the âstereotype threat control groupâ that were the ones who increased most theirs scores. The âvalorization stimuliâ did not show a clear result for any of the groups. In the third block, the âaffirmative action groupâ as a whole 16 decreased their scores, but the ânon affirmative actionâ kept increasing theirs. Nevertheless, the âaffirmative actionâ in the subgroup of âstereotype reductionâ were the ones who increased most their performance, even more than the ânon affirmative actionâ group. Group valorization and reduction in anxiety have shown ambiguous results even in the qualitative level of analysis. In the Anxiety Inventory of Taking Tests, there was not a significant difference between the groups (affirmative and non affirmative action groups). The Overlap of Self, Ingroup, and Outgroup Scale showed that the participants did not consider that there was a significant difference between their groups or that their identifications were mutually excludent or opposite.