**Author details**

David Tzuriel

the MLE theory. These findings indicate that the higher the severity of the child's ADHD and the lower the mother's SES level, the lower the cognitive modifiability of the child. Similarly, in Tzuriel and Shomron's [25] study on children with learning disability (LD), one distal factor *Home Environment* (HOME [47]) explained directly children's cognitive modifiability (β = 0.60) together with a summed score of four MLE strategies (β = 0.41). These findings indicate that for children experiencing learning difficulties, the distal factors influence directly the child's cognitive modifiability. It is possible to explain these findings by the fact that in samples of children with learning difficulties (e.g., ADHD, LD), even adequate mother-child mediation is not sufficient to overcome or "nullify" the distal factors' strength of predicting children's cognitive modifiability. It should be emphasized that mothers of children with learning difficulties had no prior training for mediation. We assume that training of mothers to use better MLE strategies in their spontaneous interaction with their children would reduce significantly the effects of the distal factors on children's cognitive modifiability. These findings offer an elaboration of the MLE theory. The effects of distal factors on children's cognitive modifiability in samples of typically developing children are not direct (as conceptualized by the theory), whereas in samples of children with learning difficulties, distal factors have direct effects on children's cognitive modifiability unless a more intensive level of mediation is applied. An intensive use of MLE strategies would minimize the effects of the distal factors. Enhancement of MLE strategies is

essential to ameliorate the direct effects of distal factors on cognitive modifiability.

**5. Discussion and conclusions**

32 Educational Psychology - Between Certitudes and Uncertainties

developing his/her abstract abilities.

theory.

This modification of the MLE theory should be investigated in intervention studies where mothers of children with learning difficulties will be trained to use MLE strategies. We suggest that mothers trained to mediate (experimental) would be compared with nontrained mothers and their interactions with their children should be observed a year later after the effects of training are internalized and assimilated into the mother-child interactional system. The children should then be administered DA measures to assess their cognitive modifiability. My hypothesis is that distal factors will directly affect children's cognitive modifiability among nontrained mothers but will be significantly lower or disappear among trained mothers.

The empirical findings of studies on the effects on mother-child MLE strategies on children's cognitive studies support both commonsense knowledge and the MLE theory. MLE strategies used spontaneously in family interactions seem to facilitate the child's ability to benefit from mediation offered within the family context and later to generalize to other formal and nonformal learning situations. An intriguing finding that has emerged consistently in most studies is that cognitive modifiability was predicted most powerfully by mediation for Transcendence (expanding) (**Table 1**). The effect of mediation for Transcendence is articulated in view of the fact that it is the least frequent strategy. Mediation for Transcendence is expressed by the mediator's efforts to focus the child on concepts, generalizations, and principles, thus

The findings that distal factors in samples of children with learning difficulties [25, 27] directly predict children's cognitive modifiability might indicate a need to modify or refine the MLE

Address all correspondence to: david.tzuriel@biu.ac.il

School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

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[61] Tzuriel D, Hatzir A. The effects of mediational strategies of fathers and mothers and amount of time they spent with their young children on children's cognitive modifiability. Paper presented at the 7th Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Education (IACE). Calgary, AB, Canada; June 1999

**Chapter 4**

Provisional chapter

**The Importance of Mindfulness in the Achievement of**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.79938

The Importance of Mindfulness in the Achievement of

**Optimal Functioning: Conceptualization for Research**

The concept of 'optimal functioning' has emerged as a major line of research development in educational psychology. Optimal functioning, which reflects the paradigm of positive psychology, is concerned with a person's achievement of maximization in his/her functioning, whether it is mental, cognitive, emotional, or social. This inquiry places strong emphasis on importance of flourishing, happiness, and the proactivity of human endeavors. An important question then for consideration, from this testament, is how researchers optimize the achievement of optimal functioning. We have recently made progress by focusing on empirical research development and methodological conceptualizations into the study of optimization. Our conceptualizations, collectively, contend that there are psychological, educational, and psychosocial variables that operate as sources of 'energization', which then stimulate the buoyancy of motivation, personal resolve, effective functioning, strength, and effort expenditure. Energization, in its totality, from our postulation, may then arouse, intensify, and sustain a person's internal state of functioning. Our cross-institutional, crosscultural research collaboration (e.g., Australia, Malaysia, and Taiwan), to date, has considered one notably construct that could serve as a source of internal energization for the achievement of functioning: mindfulness. We strongly believe that the totality of mindfulness, positive in nature, could play a central role in the psychological processes of human agency.

Keywords: positive psychology, mindfulness, optimization, optimal functioning,

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and eproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

cross-cultural beliefs, Buddhism, nirvana, enlightenment

Optimal Functioning: Conceptualization for Research

**Development**

Abstract

Development

Huy P. Phan, Hui-Wen Wang, Jen-Hwa Shih, Sheng-Ying Shi, Ruey-Yih Lin and Bing H. Ngu

Huy P. Phan, Hui-Wen Wang, Jen-Hwa Shih, Sheng-Ying Shi, Ruey-Yih Lin and Bing H. Ngu

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79938


#### **The Importance of Mindfulness in the Achievement of Optimal Functioning: Conceptualization for Research Development** The Importance of Mindfulness in the Achievement of Optimal Functioning: Conceptualization for Research Development

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.79938

Huy P. Phan, Hui-Wen Wang, Jen-Hwa Shih, Sheng-Ying Shi, Ruey-Yih Lin and Bing H. Ngu Huy P. Phan, Hui-Wen Wang, Jen-Hwa Shih, Sheng-Ying Shi, Ruey-Yih Lin and Bing H. Ngu

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79938

#### Abstract

[61] Tzuriel D, Hatzir A. The effects of mediational strategies of fathers and mothers and amount of time they spent with their young children on children's cognitive modifiability. Paper presented at the 7th Conference of the International Association for Cognitive

[62] Weitz A, Tzuriel D. The relationship between mediated learning strategies in motherchild interactions and personality, behavior, temperament, and cognitive skills of 8—9:6-year-old children born with very low birth weight. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference of the International Association for Cognitive Education and

[63] Tzuriel D, Rotem S, Kashy-Rosenbaum G. Mediated learning experience (MLE) strategies and discourse quality in mother-child and teacher-child interactions with kindergarten children: Effects on children's cognitive modifiability. Paper presented at the 13th conference of the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology.

Psychology (IACEP). Knoxville, TN, USA: University of Tennessee; July 2007

Education (IACE). Calgary, AB, Canada; June 1999

38 Educational Psychology - Between Certitudes and Uncertainties

Athens, Greece; July 2015

The concept of 'optimal functioning' has emerged as a major line of research development in educational psychology. Optimal functioning, which reflects the paradigm of positive psychology, is concerned with a person's achievement of maximization in his/her functioning, whether it is mental, cognitive, emotional, or social. This inquiry places strong emphasis on importance of flourishing, happiness, and the proactivity of human endeavors. An important question then for consideration, from this testament, is how researchers optimize the achievement of optimal functioning. We have recently made progress by focusing on empirical research development and methodological conceptualizations into the study of optimization. Our conceptualizations, collectively, contend that there are psychological, educational, and psychosocial variables that operate as sources of 'energization', which then stimulate the buoyancy of motivation, personal resolve, effective functioning, strength, and effort expenditure. Energization, in its totality, from our postulation, may then arouse, intensify, and sustain a person's internal state of functioning. Our cross-institutional, crosscultural research collaboration (e.g., Australia, Malaysia, and Taiwan), to date, has considered one notably construct that could serve as a source of internal energization for the achievement of functioning: mindfulness. We strongly believe that the totality of mindfulness, positive in nature, could play a central role in the psychological processes of human agency.

Keywords: positive psychology, mindfulness, optimization, optimal functioning, cross-cultural beliefs, Buddhism, nirvana, enlightenment

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and eproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
