The role of edges in object recognition by pigeons

In three experiments, we explored how pigeons use edges, corresponding to orientation and depth discontinuities, in visual recognition tasks. In experiment 1, we compared the pigeon's ability to recognize line drawings of four different geons when trained with shaded images. The birds were trained with either a single view or five different views of each object. Because the five training views had markedly different appearances and locations of shaded surfaces, reflectance edges, etc, the pigeons might have been expected to rely more on the orientation and depth discontinuities that were preserved over rotation and in the line drawings. In neither condition, however, was there any transfer from the rendered images to the outline drawings. In experiment 2, some pigeons were trained with line drawings and shaded images of the same objects associated with the same response (consistent condition), whereas other pigeons were trained with a line drawing and a shaded image of two different objects associated with the same response (inconsistent condition). If the pigeons perceived any correspondence between the stimulus types, then birds in the consistent condition should have learned the discrimination more quickly than birds in the inconsistent condition. But, there was no difference in performance between birds in the consistent and inconsistent conditions. In experiment 3, we explored pigeons' processing of edges by comparing their discrimination of shaded images or line drawings of four objects. Once trained, the pigeons were tested with planar rotations of those objects. The pigeons exhibited different patterns of generalization depending on whether they were trained with line drawings or shaded images. The results of these three experiments suggest that pigeons may place greater importance on surface features indicating materials, such as food or water. Such substances do not have definite boundaries cued by edges which are thought to be central to human recognition.     

Civilian Response Corps Force Review: The Application of Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis to Prioritize Skills Required for Future Diplomatic Missions

Created by the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, the Civilian Response Corps (CRC) contains a diverse pool of qualified and ready‐to‐deploy civilian professionals that support conflict prevention and response efforts in countries or regions that are at risk of, are currently in, or are transitioning from conflict or civil strife. As such, it is vital to optimize the CRC's skill groupings to maximize adaptability and responsiveness to highly uncertain and trying political conditions and crises across the globe. The nature of the CRC value proposition is such that determining which skill set compositions deliver the greatest benefit requires a multi‐faceted perspective that looks at a number of attributes and factors, both tangible and intangible. To meet these needs, an organizational decision‐making approach utilizing multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was applied to ensure that skill‐grouping allocations were determined in a logical and robust manner. The MCDA analysis allowed for a wide range of worldviews and perspectives, drawn from select members of academia and partner agencies of the CRC who provided their expert opinions on the expected demand for skill groupings commonly identified as most necessary in a civilian ‘surge’ capacity. These skills were assessed with reference to a values hierarchy of representative country scenarios, missions and sub‐missions identified by the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. Of particular interest was the use of the MCDA method to prioritize CRC skill groupings and to help inform the Department of State's understanding of the ‘ideal’ proportion and types of civilian skills for inclusion in the CRC. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time perspective and environmental engagement: A meta-analysis

Environmental issues entail both a social conflict (private vs. public interests) and a temporal conflict (short- vs. long-term interests). This paper focuses on the role temporal concerns play in influencing environmental engagement by quantitatively integrating results of studies that assessed the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors. The meta-analysis included a total of 19 independent samples and 6,301 participants from seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States). Results showed that the associations between time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were higher than those for proenvironmental attitudes. Supporting predictions, the associations between future time perspective and proenvironmental behaviors were strong and nontrivial compared to those for the combined past-present time perspective. The findings indicate that future time perspective seems to play an important role in influencing individuals' attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

License to sin: Self‐licensing as a mechanism underlying hedonic consumption

Hedonic overconsumption is often considered to be caused by impulsive factors. The current paper investigates whether self‐licensing, relying on reasons to justify subsequent gratification, can also be included as a significant contributor to hedonic consumption. Two studies were conducted to investigate whether self‐licensing can account for an increase in hedonic consumption while ruling out impulsive factors such as resource depletion, negative affect, and visceral state as alternative explanations. A pilot study indicated that perceiving oneself as having invested greater effort and thus having a self‐licensing cue did not lead to a decline in self‐control capacity compared with not having a self‐licensing cue. The main study employed the same procedure and established that having a licensing cue did lead to increased snack intake while controlling for impulsive factors. Together, these studies support the notion that self‐licensing is a separate mechanism leading to hedonic gratification independent of impulsive factors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confabulating reasons for behaving bad: The psychological consequences of unconsciously activated behaviour that violates one's standards

Numerous studies have been conducted to demonstrate that behaviours are frequently activated unconsciously. The present studies investigate the downstream psychological consequences of such unconscious behaviour activation, building on work on the explanatory vacuum and post‐priming misattribution. It was hypothesized that unconsciously activated behaviours trigger a negative affective response if the behaviour violates a personal standard and that this negative affect subsequently motivates people to confabulate a reason for the behaviour. Results provided evidence for this mediated moderation model. Study 1 showed that participants who were primed to act less prosocially indeed reported increased levels of negative affect and, as a result, were inclined to confabulate a reason for their behaviour. Study 2 replicated these findings in the domain of eating and provided evidence for the moderating role of personal standards as well as the entire mediated moderation model. These findings have relevant theoretical implications as they add to the modest number of studies that demonstrate that the effect of unconscious priming may extend well beyond performing the primed behaviour itself to influence subsequent affect and attribution processes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Knowledge of memory functions in European and Asian American adults and children: The relation to autobiographical memory

This study investigated explicit knowledge of autobiographical memory functions using a newly developed questionnaire. European and Asian American adults (N = 57) and school-aged children (N = 68) indicated their agreement with 13 statements about why people think about and share memories pertaining to four broad functions—self, social, directive and emotion regulation. Children were interviewed for personal memories concurrently with the memory function knowledge assessment and again 3 months later. It was found that adults agreed to the self, social and directive purposes of memory to a greater extent than did children, whereas European American children agreed to the emotion regulation purposes of memory to a greater extent than did European American adults. Furthermore, European American children endorsed more self and emotion regulation functions than did Asian American children, whereas Asian American adults endorsed more directive functions than did European American adults. Children's endorsement of memory functions, particularly social functions, was associated with more detailed and personally meaningful memories. These findings are informative for the understanding of developmental and cultural influences on memory function knowledge and of the relation of such knowledge to autobiographical memory development.     

Job search self-efficacy: Reconceptualizing the construct and its measurement

Job search self-efficacy (JSSE) is one of the most studied variables in the job search literature and an important component of the theory of planned behavior and self-regulation theory which have both been used to explain the job search process. However, even though JSSE has been a part of job search research for thirty years, the measurement of JSSE has varied from study to study. This questions both the validity of the measures used and the findings from each study that used a different measure. In this paper, we propose and test a two dimensional measure of JSSE that corresponds to job search behavior (JSSE-B) and job search outcomes (JSSE-O). The results of a longitudinal study of employed and unemployed job seekers support a two-factor model corresponding to the two dimensions of JSSE. We also found differential relationships between each dimension of JSSE and several antecedents and consequences. Among the antecedents, environmental exploration and self-exploration were stronger predictors of JSSE-B while career planning was a stronger predictor of JSSE-O. In terms of consequences, JSSE-B was a stronger predictor of job search intention and behavior while JSSE-O was a stronger predictor of the number of job offers received. These findings provide support for two dimensions of JSSE and have important implications for job search research and practice.     

Job-search strategies and reemployment quality: The impact of career adaptability

Past job-search research has focused on how hard unemployed people search for a job, but we still know little about the strategies that people use during their search and how we can predict the quality of the reemployment found. The first aim of this study was to predict the use of different job-search strategies via job-seekers' career adaptability. The second aim was to examine the impact of different job-search strategies on both the number of job-offers and the quality of the obtained job. In a two-wave study, 248 unemployed people indicated their career adaptability and the job-search strategies that they used. The use of a focused and exploratory strategy contributed to the number of job offers, whereas the use of an exploratory strategy reduced the quality of reemployment 8 months later. Moreover, career decision making and career confidence positively predicted reemployment quality. Implications for reemployment practice and further research are discussed.     

Life satisfaction in chronic pain patients: the stress-buffering role of the centrality of religion

Chronic pain (CP) is a stressful condition that severely impacts individuals' lives. Researchers have begun to explore the role of religion for CP patients, but the literature is scarce, especially for West European populations. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study examined the associations between the religious meaning system and the life satisfaction for a group of CP patients who were members of a Flemish patients' association. To take into account the religious landscape of West European countries, the centrality of one's religious meaning system, rather than religious content, was the focus. Results from the questionnaires completed by 207 patients suggest that the centrality of a meaning system is an important factor in the promotion of life satisfaction for this group, above and beyond the influence of several control variables. Furthermore, the centrality of the religious meaning system moderated or buffered the detrimental influence of pain severity on life satisfaction.