Working in Dyads and Alone: Examining Process Variables in Solving Insight Problems

This study investigated the effects of working in dyads and their associated gender composition on performance (solution rate and time) and process variables (number of impasses, number of passed solutions, and number of problem solving suggestions and interactions) in a set of classic insight problem solving tasks. Two types of insight problems were used: multiple moves available (MMA) and few moves available (FMA) problems. The results showed no effects on number of problems solved or solving time, but group and gender composition effects emerged when looking at process variables such as number of impasses, time to impasse, number of passed solutions, number of problem solving suggestions, and number of interactions between dyad members. Results support prior evidence that process loss in creative problem solving may be due to differences in interpersonal interactions during group problem solving that do not necessarily affect overall problem solving success.     

Face Recognition as a Function of Judgments of Likability/Unlikability

The relationship between face recognition and likability was investigated in three experiments. Subjects were asked to rate the likability of faces presented to them and then were tested on their ability to recognize the same faces. In Experiments 1 and 2, we used the subjects' individual ratings of likability to form idiocentric groups of faces (two groups, likable/unlikable, Experiment 1; three groups, likable/neutral/unlikable, Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, likable faces were found to be recognized more readily than were faces less likable. Experiment 2 revealed that the faces judged least likable were significantly less well remembered than neutral or more likable faces. In Experiment 3, a group mean for each face's likability was determined, and the faces were divided into quartiles according to the group mean scores. Again, the subjects' recognition responses for unlikable faces were at a lower level than for faces rated higher in likability. Experiments 2 and 3 found no difference in recognition memory between neutral and more likable faces. The results confirmed the notion that likability judgments (emotionality) play a mediating role in recognition.     

Realism Judgments and Mental Resources: A Cue Processing Model of Media Narrative Realism

Based on research on truth claims in the psychology literature, many scholars believe that readers and viewers of narratives start with an assumption of realism and adjust that judgment to the extent mental resources are available. Three studies reported here investigate the relationship between mental resources and realism judgments. Experiment 1 shows that realism depends on what kinds of cues to realism are in a story and the mental resources available to process those cues. Using hierarchical linear modeling, Experiments 2 and 3 indicate that the relationship between mental resources and realism judgments for commercial advertisements depends in systematic ways on initial judgments about realism so that increasing resources sometimes increase perceptions of realism and sometimes make ads seem less realistic. The results support a model in which initial expectations anchor realism judgments that may be modified away from the anchor if there are sufficient mental resources to process cues in the story.     

Judgments Regarding Sexual Aggression as a Function of Sex of Aggressor and Victim

The effects of sex of aggressor and victim (male/female, female/male, male/male, female/female) on judgments regarding sexual aggression on a date were studied. Participants were 415 female and 279 male community college students (M age = 23.0 years; 47.3% European American, 18.6% Latin American, 7.5% African American, 7.8% South East Asian American, 3.7% Asian American, and 15.1% other) who read one of four vignettes describing a date in which forced intercourse occurred. Participants rated degree of disapproval of the aggressor's behavior from their own viewpoint (Participant Rating), the victim's viewpoint (Victim Rating), and the aggressor's viewpoint (Aggressor Rating). Results of 4 × 2 (Vignette × Participant Gender) ANOVAs of Participant Rating and Victim Rating indicated similar disapproval of the aggressor for all couple types except for female aggressor/male victim, for whom disapproval was significantly lower. The aggressor's overall behavior was rated as date/acquaintance rape by 46.6–55.4% of participants for all vignettes except the female aggressor/male victim vignette (18.7%).     

The Role of Individual Differences in the Accuracy of Confidence Judgments

Generally, self-assessment of accuracy in the cognitive domain produces overconfidence, whereas self-assessment of visual perceptual judgments results in under-confidence. Despite contrary empirical evidence, in models attempting to explain those phenomena, individual differences have often been disregarded. The authors report on 2 studies in which that shortcoming was addressed. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 520) completed a large number of cognitive-ability tests. Results indicated that individual differences provide a meaningful source of overconfidence and that a metacognitive trait might mediate that effect. In further analysis, there was only a relatively small correlation between test accuracy and confidence bias. In Experiment 2 (N = 107 participants), both perceptual and cognitive ability tests were included, along with measures of personality. Results again indicated the presence of a confidence factor that transcended the nature of the testing vehicle. Furthermore, a small relationship was found between that factor and some self-reported personality measures. Thus, personality traits and cognitive ability appeared to play only a small role in determining the accuracy of self-assessment. Collectively, the present results suggest that there are multiple causes of miscalibration, which current models of over- and underconfidence fail to encompass.     

Moral Realism as a Moral Doctrine

This paper argues for the legalization of vote markets. I contend that the state should not prohibit the sale of votes under certain institutional conditions. Jason Brennan has recently argued for the moral permissibility of vote selling; yet, thus far, no philosopher has argued for the legal permissibility of vote selling. I begin by giving four prima facie reasons in favour of legalizing vote markets. First, vote markets benefit both buyers and sellers. Second, citizens already enjoy significant discretion in their use of their vote, including the ability to use their vote in ways antithetical to justice and the public interest. Third, vote markets are relevantly similar to other democratic practices that are legally permissible. Fourth, vote markets enable elections to better reflect the intensity of citizens’ preferences. Next, I reply to two counter-arguments. The first contends that vote markets will increase the political power of the wealthy; the second contends that votes must be used in the service of the public interest rather than private interests or influenced by participation in collective political deliberation. I argue that vote markets will not increase political inequalities relative to democracies without vote markets. There is little reason to expect electoral regulations to be less effective in satisfying egalitarian criteria in democracies with vote markets than in democracies without vote markets. Moreover, the claim that votes must be influenced by participation in collective deliberation or serve the common good implies counter-intuitive restrictions on political liberties beyond a ban on vote buying and selling, including an abridgement of equal suffrage.     

Phenomenological Metaphysics as a Speculative Realism

The debate between speculative realism and phenomenology has become quite heated over the past years. The matter of contention is the possibility of a metaphysics that can provide knowledge of reality as it is in itself. The speculative realists accuse phenomenology of denying this possibility, confining knowledge to the sphere of subjectivity. What has been overlooked in this debate is the similarity between the speculative project of Quentin Meillassoux and a Husserlian metaphysics. This article looks at these positions from a reconciliatory point of view. After outlining the debate, conceding the problematic nature of realism for phenomenology to the speculative realists, it will be shown that there is a place for a realist metaphysics within phenomenology. After showing the similarities between Meillassoux’s philosophy and a phenomenological metaphysics, and the legitimacy of qualifying the latter as a speculative realism, the conclusion will reflect on the modal notions at play in them.     

Considering the Knowledge You Have: Effects on Realism in Confidence Judgements

In three experiments, the hypothesis was tested that the realism of subjects' item-specific confidence judgements of their own answers to general knowledge questions would be improved by making the subjects heed content which might be expected to lower their confidence ratings. In each experiment, all subjects answered knowledge questions and then rated their confidence in their chosen answer. Before each question, the subjects in the experimental condition assessed the extent of their knowledge in a knowledge-area encompassing the knowledge question. Experiments 1 and 2 differed only in the design of the knowledge-area assessment scale. In Experiment 3, when making knowledge-area assessments, the subjects were asked to find examples of knowledge they lacked in the knowledge-area. Both Experiments 2 and 3 showed significantly improved realism in the subjects' confidence judgements. An aggregate assessment of the total number of questions believed to be answered correctly, given by the subjects at the end of Experiments 2 and 3, showed underconfidence in the experimental condition, particularly in Experiment 3. The results support the idea that the content active in subjects' memory at the time when confidence judgements are made affects their realism. Furthermore, our results show that the realism of subjects' item-specific confidence judgements can be improved without giving feedback.     

Creativity of Small Groups and of Persons Working Alone

Abstract

IN THE PRESENT STUDY, the experimental sample consisted of 79 groups of 3 to 5 students, and the control sample consisted of 20 students working alone. Both samples were assigned the same task. All participants (approximate age range = 18-22 years) in the experiment were affiliated with a large, urban university located on the East Coast of the United States.     

On Ground as a Guide to Realism

According to Fine (among others), a nonbasic factual proposition must be grounded in facts involving those of its constituents that are both real and fundamental. But the principle is vulnerable to several dialectically significant counterexamples. It entails, for example, that a logical Platonist cannot accept that true disjunctions are grounded in the truth of their disjuncts; that a Platonist about mathematical objects cannot accept that sets are grounded in their members; and that a colour primitivist cannot accept that an object's being scarlet grounds its not being chartreuse. The Finean might try to defend these implications, but it generates further problems. Instead, the principle should be rejected. An important upshot is that the principle cannot be relied on to distinguish robust realism from anti‐realism about a propositional domain, for the principle obscures ways of taking features to be both real and fundamental.     

作为一种实在论的批判的语境经验主义

批判的语境经验主义将社会和规范方面融入对科学的理解中,实践实在论也使文化和规范方面在理解科学时发挥重要作用。对二者的比较分析表明,前者可作为实在论的一种形式。二者的结合可发展出"多元社会实在论"这一新的实在论形式。在讨论了地图类比、目标导向的经验主义对不充分决定性问题的分析之后,通过借助海伦·朗基诺的最近研究可得出,多元社会实在论尽管可能,但由于缺乏上帝视角,它在为不充分决定性问题提供决定性解决方案时并不乐观。     

Advertising Effectiveness and Attitude Change Vary as a Function of Working Memory Capacity

Prior research has confirmed that the amount of attention paid to an advertisement will influence its effectiveness when it comes to changing consumer attitudes. This study expands on this understanding by exploring how individual differences in the ability to control attention (i.e., working memory capacity; WMC) might further moderate the effect of attention on advertising. Participants who varied in WMC were evaluated on their attitudes towards a consumer brand before and after viewing a video advertisement. While the advertisement did make participants more positive towards the product overall, this change in attitude was directly related to participants' ability to control attention and the degree to which the ad fostered the activation of autobiographical memories. Further, these changes in attitude were unrelated to how well the ad was remembered. This suggests that individual differences in attentional control can influence how advertisements impact customer attitude and the acceptance of persuasive messaging. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Care as a Basis for Radical Political Judgments

The best framework for moral and political thought is the one that creates the best climate for good political judgments. I argue that universalistic theories of justice fall short in this regard because they cannot distinguish idealization from abstraction. After describing how an ethic of care guides judgments, I suggest the practical effects that make this approach preferable. The ethic of care includes more aspects of human life in making political judgments.     

Counseling Supervisors' Assessment of Race,Racial Identity,and Working Alliance in supervisory Dyads

The authors investigated the role of race, racial identity attitudes and working alliance in counseling supervision using data obtained from supervisors in supervisory dyads. Results revealed the strongest working alliance for supervisor‐supervisee pairs with high racial identity development and the weakest working alliance for pairs with low racial identity development. Los autores investigaron el papel que juegan la raza, las actitudes de identidad racial y la alianza de trabajo en la supervisión de consejería, empleando datos obtenidos de supervisores involucrados en diadas de supervisión. Los resultados revelaron que la alianza de trabajo más sólida se da en parejas de supervisor‐supervisado con un desarrollo alto de identidad racial, y la alianza de trabajo más débil en parejas con un desarrollo bajo de identidad racial.     

Realism of Confidence,Modes of Apprehension,and Variable-Use in Visual Discrimination of Relative Mass

We investigated the role of movement in the perception of a novel affordance for wheelchair locomotion. Healthy adults without prior wheelchair experience judged the lowest lintel under which they could roll in the wheelchair. Prior to judgments, some participants were given brief (~2 min) practice at self-controlled wheelchair locomotion. There were 2 main results. First, participants who had this brief practice accurately judged their own minimum passage height (even when practice did not include passage under low lintels), whereas participants who had no practice gave inaccurate judgments. Second, prejudgment practice strongly influenced movement of the head and torso during judgment sessions. The results demonstrate that affordance perception can be learned through brief, indirect practice and suggest that such practice can inform exploratory movement.     

Gender Differences in Spatial Task Performance as a Function of Speed or Accuracy Orientation

Performance differences in spatial abilities as a function of gender may be modified by practice and relevant background experiences, as well as by directions given in laboratory situations. We examined whether a focus on speed or accuracy influenced performance in various spatial domains, using several different scoring techniques. Men and women from a small, predominantly White private college completed tasks of spatial perception, spatial visualization, and mental rotation under one of three conditions: speed-emphasis, accuracy-emphasis, or control. Participants also provided information concerning experiences pertinent to spatial ability. Results revealed relative parity between men and women on tasks of spatial visualization and spatial perception; speed/accuracy orientation did not alter these findings. Men outperformed women on mental rotation, but only when scored in a strict manner and when explicitly told to focus on accuracy, but not when directional emphasis was absent or geared toward speed. Self-reported background in math, sports, and the arts was unrelated to performance. The results are discussed in terms of women's efficacy beliefs about performing tasks explicitly designated as spatial in nature.