Decision-making competence and cognitive abilities: Which abilities matter?

Decision-making competence is a skill that is associated with numerous positive life outcomes. Even though multiple cognitive abilities have been shown to predict decision-making competence, few studies have incorporated a large test battery tapping into several cognitive abilities concurrently in the same models. The current paper presents a study that sought to investigate which cognitive abilities predicted overall decision-making competence in adults using hierarchical regression analysis. A cognitive test battery, comprising abilities such as general intelligence, executive functions, numeracy, visuospatial ability, and time perception, was administered to 182 participants. Results indicate that both general intelligence, which was consistently the strongest predictor, and numeracy contributed independently to overall decision-making competence. Executive functions did predict overall decision-making competence, while all predictors were included in the models. A novel finding concerns the relationship between time perception and decision-making competence. The complementary roles of these cognitive abilities are discussed.     

Decision-making competence in younger and older adults: which cognitive abilities contribute to the application of decision rules?

Older adults perform worse than younger adults when applying decision rules to choose between options that vary along multiple attributes. Although previous studies have shown that general fluid cognitive abilities contribute to the accurate application of decision rules, relatively little is known about which specific cognitive abilities play the most important role. We examined the independent roles of working memory, verbal fluency, semantic knowledge, and components of executive functioning. We found that age-related decline in applying decision rules was statistically mediated by age-related decline in working memory and verbal fluency. Our results have implications for theories of aging and decision-making.     

Predictive minds and small-scale models: Kenneth Craik’s contribution to cognitive science

I identify three lessons from Kenneth Craik’s landmark book “The Nature of Explanation” for contemporary debates surrounding the existence, extent, and nature of mental representation: first, an account of mental representations as neural structures that function analogously to public models; second, an appreciation of prediction as the central component of intelligence in demand of such models; and third, a metaphor for understanding the brain as an engineer, not a scientist. I then relate these insights to discussions surrounding the representational status of predictive processing – which, I argue, provides a contemporary vindication of Craik’s extremely prescient “hypothesis on the nature of thought.”     

From Searle’s Chinese room to the mathematics classroom: technical and cognitive mathematics

Employing Searle’s views, I begin by arguing that students of Mathematics behave similarly to machines that manage symbols using a set of rules. I then consider two types of Mathematics, which I call Cognitive Mathematics and Technical Mathematics respectively. The former type relates to concepts and meanings, logic and sense, whilst the latter relates to algorithms, heuristics, rules and application of various techniques. I claim that an upgrade in the school teaching of Cognitive Mathematics is necessary. The aim is to change the current mentality of the stakeholders so as to compensate for the undue value presently attached to Technical Mathematics, due to advances in technology and its applications, and thus render the two sides of Mathematics equal. Furthermore, I suggest a reorganization/systematization of School Mathematics into a cognitive network to facilitate students’ understanding of the subject. The final goal is the transition from mechanical execution of rules to better understanding and in-depth knowledge of Mathematics.

Editor’s introduction: Innovative dynamical approaches to cognitive systems

This Editor’s Introduction to the Cognitive Systems Research special issue, “Innovative Dynamical Approaches to Cognitive Systems,” has three aims: First, the background and motivation for the topic are stated. Second, overviews of the contributing papers are presented. Third, based on the papers, speculations on future directions in dynamical approaches to the investigation of cognitive systems are presented. Here, the focus is on concepts, data analysis methods, and computational modeling.     

Social cognitive and demographic factors related to adolescents’ intrinsic satisfaction with school

Based on social cognitive theory, the purpose of this study is to examine certain social cognitive and demographic factors involved in intrinsic satisfaction amongst secondary school students of different cultural backgrounds in a new migrant-receiving country. Given the role of schools in youth acculturation and adaptation, it is important to detect the variables related to successful academic adaptation of adolescents. The sample comprised of 938 South American, African and Spanish adolescents who settled in Spain. Correlation analyses showed that age, social self-efficacy, academic self-concept, attribution style and intrinsic satisfaction were related. ANOVAs revealed that girls displayed a greater tendency to attribute their outcomes to internal factors than boys. Furthermore, older and Spanish adolescents displayed lower levels of intrinsic satisfaction than younger and immigrant adolescents. Path analyses found that social self-efficacy and academic self-concept were the best predictors of intrinsic satisfaction. Therefore, the promotion of social self-efficacy and academic self-concept should increase intrinsic satisfaction in schools. In addition, research into the role of cultural origin in self-regulation in schools may be necessary.     

Parents’ observed responses to children’s emotional distress: Relations with social competence in preschool

Although affective interactions in the family are important for development, home observational data are sparse. We replicated and extended one such study, Roberts & Strayer (1987, Developmental Psychology, 23, 415). Interactions in 33 two-parent families (mean child age = 4.8 years; 48% girls) were observed for four evenings, from suppertime until the child settled for the night. Parents completed the Child Rearing Practices Q-sort. Peer interactions and friendship networks in preschool were observed over four days. Teachers and observers completed the Preschool Behavior Q-Sort. Based on Q-rated peer competence and aggression, three expected groups of children were identified, one of them high on both aggression and peer competence. Although socially active and accepted by peers, they were, compared with other children, less cooperative with adults, less prosocial with peers, more impulsive, less achievement oriented, less purposive, and less happy (mean η² = .52). Parenting, especially observed impatience, threats, and use of force when children were emotionally distressed, showed important differences across groups.     

South Korean counselors’ perceived multicultural counseling competence: Relationship with openness to experience,perceived general counseling competence,and multicultural counseling education/practice

This study investigated variables related to the perceived multicultural counseling competence (MCC) of South Korean counselors. The relationship between perceived MCC and demographic information was explored, and effects of openness to experience, general counseling competence, and multicultural counseling education/practice on perceived MCC were examined.  Results revealed no relationship with demographic information and perceived MCC and significant effects of general counseling competence and multucultural counseling education/practice on perceived MCC. Implications for multicultural counseling training and future research are discussed.     

Students’ self-evaluation bias of school competence and its link to teacher judgment in elementary school

Social Psychology of Education - Research on the self-evaluation bias of students' school competence has focused mainly on its correlates for students' school adaptation. This study focused...     

Mothers’ competence profiles and their relation to language and socioemotional development in Chilean children at 12 and 30 months

The study of early parental competences is relevant because such competences are related to children’s development; however, most studies have considered competences using a variable-centered approach in which each parental competence is examined in isolation. This paper approaches these competences using a person-centered approach, generating profiles that combine different competences in Chilean mothers assessed when their children were aged 12 months and again at 30 months. The aim of this study was to generate and compare these profiles and to analyze the associations of these profiles with children’s language and socioemotional skills. Mother-child interactions in the contexts of storytelling and free play were videotaped at two different times. Ninety mother-child dyads were assessed using the Adult Sensitivity Scale (E.S.A.), the Evaluation of the Mentalization of Significant Caregivers, the Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO), Bayley’s language scale and the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS). Profiles of mothers’ behaviors were identified through person-centered within-group analyses of six aspects: sensitivity, mentalization, affection, responsiveness, encouragement, and teaching. Cluster analyses yielded three similar profiles for mothers at both ages: highly competent, average competent, and poorly competent. The mothers’ profiles were related to maternal age, socioeconomic status (SES) and educational level, and the mothers improved their profiles at the 30-month assessment. The mothers’ profiles were related to children’s language and socioemotional outcomes at both ages. These results and their applicability to promotion and intervention programs are discussed.     

Student teachers’ competence and career certainty: the effects of career anxiety and perceived control

In comparison to other professional faculties, student teachers are less certain about their career decisions. Consequently, examining the factors that influence their perceptions of career competence and certainty may be beneficial for their professional development. We examined how student teachers’ (n = 194) gender, grade of instruction, practicum, career anxiety, and perceived control affected their career competence and certainty. Anxiety had large and negative effects on competence and certainty. In contrast, primary control enhanced competence whereas secondary control enhanced certainty. High-practicum ratings were also associated with greater competence and certainty; however, these effects were mediated by anxiety and perceived control. These findings help us understand the transition that student teachers make from studentship to becoming professional teachers.     

Individual differences in infant fearfulness and cognitive performance: a testing,performance, or competence effect?

The author conducted 2 studies to examine the relations between infant fear and cognitive testing performance in 12-month-old infants. In Study 1, fear was assessed by using 2 standard temperament questionnaires and a laboratory-based, standardized stranger approach. Individual differences in cognitive development were assessed using the Object Permanence Scale of the Infant Psychological Development Scales (I. C. Uzgiris & J. M. Hunt, 1975). All 3 assessments of fear significantly predicted object permanence performance, with correlations ranging from -.32 to -.35. In Study 2, fear was assessed via a maternal report questionnaire, and habituation performance was assessed via a basic-level categorization task. Familiarity with the examiner and with the testing environment was manipulated to test for a familiarity influence on performance. Testing revealed individual differences in both fear and habituation. Results suggest that highly fearful infants required more trials to habituate and were less likely to meet the habituation criterion than infants who were less fearful. Methodological and conceptual implications of these results are discussed.     

Acute exercise and children’s cognitive functioning: What is the optimal dose of cognitive challenge?

Acute bouts of exercise have the potential to benefit children’s cognition. Inconsistent evidence on the role of qualitative exercise task characteristics calls for further investigation of the cognitive challenge level in exercise. Thus, the study aim was to investigate which “dose” of cognitive challenge in acute exercise benefits children’s cognition, also exploring the moderating role of individual characteristics. In a within-subject experimental design, 103 children (M_age = 11.1, SD = 0.9, 48% female) participated weekly in one of three 15-min exergames followed by an Attention Network task. Exergame sessions were designed to keep physical intensity constant (65% HR_max) and to have different cognitive challenge levels (low, mid, high; adapted to the ongoing individual performance). ANOVAs performed on variables that reflect the individual functioning of attention networks revealed a significant effect of cognitive challenge on executive control efficiency (reaction time performances; p = .014, ƞ²_p = .08), with better performances after the high-challenge condition compared to lower ones (ps < .015), whereas alerting and orienting were unaffected by cognitive challenge (ps > .05). ANOVAs performed on variables that reflect the interactive functioning of attention networks revealed that biological sex moderated cognitive challenge effects. For males only, the cognitive challenge level influenced the interactive functioning of executive control and orienting networks (p = .004; ƞ²_p = .07). Results suggest that an individualized and adaptive cognitively high-challenging bout of exercise is more beneficial to children’s executive control than less challenging ones. For males, the cognitive challenge in an acute bout seems beneficial to maintain executive control efficiency also when spatial attention resources cannot be validly allocated in advance. Results are interpreted referring to the cognitive stimulation hypothesis and arousal theory.     

Predicting pleasure at others’ misfortune: Morality trumps sociability and competence in driving deservingness and schadenfreude

Schadenfreude occurs when people feel pleasure at others’ misfortunes. Previous research suggested that individuals feel such a malicious pleasure when the misfortune befalls social targets perceived as highly competent but lacking human warmth. Two experiments explored whether the two components of warmth (i.e., sociability and morality) have distinct roles in driving schadenfreude. Study 1 (N = 128) compared a competent but immoral individual to a competent but unsociable person and found that people felt more schadenfreude when a misfortune befell an individual lacking morality. Study 2 (N = 199) confirmed the primary role of morality in driving schadenfreude by manipulating not only morality and sociability, but also competence. Moreover, both experiments showed that social targets lacking moral qualities elicited higher levels of schadenfreude because their misfortunes were perceived as deserved. Overall, our findings suggest that morality has a primary role over other basic dimensions of person perception (i.e., sociability and competence) in driving schadenfreude.     

Materials used to support cognitive behavioural therapy for depression: a survey of therapists’ clinical practice and views

ABSTRACT

Use of supporting materials in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is widely advocated, and homework increases effectiveness. The study aimed to identify materials most frequently used by CBT therapists to support CBT for depression, and those perceived clinically most effective. Questionnaires were sent to 3665 accredited CBT therapists asking about their use of resources commonly described in CBT manuals, and their views on effectiveness. Of 3665 approached by post/email, 994 (27%) responded. Another 33 completed the questionnaire via the study website. 818/1027 (80%) of respondents were accredited practitioners who deliver one-to-one therapy. Symptom measures, lists of problems/goals, activity schedules, behavioural activation diaries/plans, and case formulation worksheets were used “frequently” or “very frequently” by over 85% of respondents. Sleep diaries and computerised CBT were used least. Most resources were used within and between sessions. Activity schedules, behavioural activation diaries/plans, case formulation worksheets, thought records, and resources to support the identification of conditional beliefs were regarded as most effective. Symptom measures, sleep diaries, and computerised/online materials were considered only moderately effective. Therapists use a wide range of materials to support individual CBT. For delivering CBT, technology-enabled approaches should incorporate a range of materials to enable therapists to tailor treatment effectively.     

The relation between cognitive and motor performance and their relevance for children’s transition to school: A latent variable approach

Both theoretically and empirically there is a continuous interest in understanding the specific relation between cognitive and motor development in childhood. In the present longitudinal study including three measurement points, this relation was targeted. At the beginning of the study, the participating children were 5–6-year-olds. By assessing participants’ fine motor skills, their executive functioning, and their non-verbal intelligence, their cross-sectional and cross-lagged interrelations were examined. Additionally, performance in these three areas was used to predict early school achievement (in terms of mathematics, reading, and spelling) at the end of participants’ first grade. Correlational analyses and structural equation modeling revealed that fine motor skills, non-verbal intelligence and executive functioning were significantly interrelated. Both fine motor skills and intelligence had significant links to later school achievement. However, when executive functioning was additionally included into the prediction of early academic achievement, fine motor skills and non-verbal intelligence were no longer significantly associated with later school performance suggesting that executive functioning plays an important role for the motor-cognitive performance link.     

Frequency, probability, and prediction: easy solutions to cognitive illusions?

Many errors in probabilistic judgment have been attributed to people's inability to think in statistical terms when faced with information about a single case. Prior theoretical analyses and empirical results imply that the errors associated with case-specific reasoning may be reduced when people make frequentistic predictions about a set of cases. In studies of three previously identified cognitive biases, we find that frequency-based predictions are different from-but no better than-case-specific judgments of probability. First, in studies of the "planning fallacy, " we compare the accuracy of aggregate frequency and case-specific probability judgments in predictions of students' real-life projects. When aggregate and single-case predictions are collected from different respondents, there is little difference between the two: Both are overly optimistic and show little predictive validity. However, in within-subject comparisons, the aggregate judgments are significantly more conservative than the single-case predictions, though still optimistically biased. Results from studies of overconfidence in general knowledge and base rate neglect in categorical prediction underline a general conclusion. Frequentistic predictions made for sets of events are no more statistically sophisticated, nor more accurate, than predictions made for individual events using subjective probability.