Examining cognitive development from a conceptual change point of view: The framework theory approach

Sexual socialization refers to how, through social interaction, an individual acquires and internalizes culture-specific knowledge, values and attitudes about sexuality. Little, however, is known about how an individual's genetic characteristics modify this process, or if individuals gravitate towards specific environments according to their genetic characteristics. The aim was to explore whether adolescents' genetic predispositions modify environmental influences on peer-group sexual attitudes. Using a Finnish population-based sample of twins and their siblings (n = 9534), it was found that genetic effects influenced peer-group sexual attitudes in men (52%) and women (46%), thus offering evidence for gene–environment correlation. Men showed less restricted peer-group sexual attitudes than women. Some indications of different genes influencing environmental exposure in men and women were found.     

The physician as moral entrepreneur

This paper argues that the work of the contemporary physician is at least in part the work of a moral entrepreneur. The effects of religious affiliation and religiosity on the decision making of a modern doctor are examined in an analysis of the responses of 231 physicians to a mailed questionnaire. Decision-making issues were considered to be those with social/moral implications. Religious physicians tend to favor clergy involvement in social and procreative issues. Roman Catholic physicians oppose the involvement of the medical profession in birth control issues.     

Group therapy for pathological gamblers: a cognitive approach

This study evaluated the efficacy of a group cognitive treatment for pathological gambling. Gamblers, meeting DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling, were randomly assigned to treatment (N=34) or wait-list control (N=24) conditions. Cognitive correction techniques were used first to target gamblers' erroneous perceptions about randomness, and then to address issues of relapse prevention. The dependent measures used were the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling, perceived self-efficacy, gamblers' perception of control, desire to gamble, and frequency of gambling. Post-treatment results indicated that 88% of the treated gamblers no longer met the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling compared to only 20% in the control group. Similar changes were observed on all outcome measures. Analysis of data from 6-, 12- and 24-month follow-ups revealed maintenance of therapeutic gains. Recommendations for group interventions are discussed, focusing on the cognitive correction of erroneous perceptions toward the notion of randomness.     

The Russian Orthodox Church as moral norm entrepreneur

Conflicts over religious symbols in the public sphere, gay marriage, abortion or gender equality have shown their disruptive potential across many societies in the world. They have also become the subject of political and legal debates in international institutions. These conflicts emerge out of different worldviews and normative conceptions of the good, and they are frequently framed in terms of competing interpretations of human rights. One newcomer voice in conflicts over rights and values in the international sphere is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which in recent years has become an active promoter of ‘traditional values’ both inside Russia and internationally. This article studies the ideational prerequisites and dynamics of Russian Orthodox ‘norm protagonism’ in the international arena.     

Klaus B: The success story of an entrepreneur - a case study

Interorganizational teams are rapidly becoming more prevalent as a means to improve organizations' responsiveness. To achieve their objective, interorganizational teams must engage in extensive amounts of boundary spanning activity. This study juxtaposed three structural variables, namely team informational diversity, team boundedness, and extrateam links, in an integrated model aimed at promoting our understanding of how to increase interorganizational team boundary spanning activity and its effectiveness. The model was tested with 49 health promotion teams. Our findings indicated that three types of boundary spanning—scouting, ambassadorial, and coordinating—were positively associated with interorganizational team effectiveness. In addition, for team informational diversity, team boundedness, and extrateam links, scouting and ambassadorial activities fully mediated their relationships with team effectiveness; for team boundedness, coordinating activity also fully mediated its relationship with team effectiveness. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating structural considerations into the management of interorganizational teams.     

Hand laterality and cognitive ability: a multiple regression approach

Several different associations between hand laterality and cognitive ability have been proposed. Studies reporting different conclusions vary in their procedures for defining laterality, and several of them rely on measures which are statistically problematic. Previous methods for measuring relative hand skill have not satisfactorily separated the overall level of hand skill, which is a known correlate of cognitive ability, from the asymmetry of its distribution. This paper uses a multiple regression paradigm that separates these two components. Support is found for Leask and Crow's [Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5 (2001) 513] proposal that average cognitive ability increases monotonically with increasing strength of laterality, regardless of its direction. The small average advantage to dextrals stems from them being more strongly lateralised than sinistrals. The paucity of strong dextrals amongst the very gifted is due to a smaller variance in cognitive ability in this group.     

Unpacking buyer-seller differences in valuation from experience: A cognitive modeling approach

People often indicate a higher price for an object when they own it (i.e., as sellers) than when they do not (i.e., as buyers)—a phenomenon known as the endowment effect. We develop a cognitive modeling approach to formalize, disentangle, and compare alternative psychological accounts (e.g., loss aversion, loss attention, strategic misrepresentation) of such buyer-seller differences in pricing decisions of monetary lotteries. To also be able to test possible buyer-seller differences in memory and learning, we study pricing decisions from experience, obtained with the sampling paradigm, where people learn about a lottery’s payoff distribution from sequential sampling. We first formalize different accounts as models within three computational frameworks (reinforcement learning, instance-based learning theory, and cumulative prospect theory), and then fit the models to empirical selling and buying prices. In Study 1 (a reanalysis of published data with hypothetical decisions), models assuming buyer-seller differences in response bias (implementing a strategic-misrepresentation account) performed best; models assuming buyer-seller differences in choice sensitivity or memory (implementing a loss-attention account) generally fared worst. In a new experiment involving incentivized decisions (Study 2), models assuming buyer-seller differences in both outcome sensitivity (as proposed by a loss-aversion account) and response bias performed best. In both Study 1 and 2, the models implemented in cumulative prospect theory performed best. Model recovery studies validated our cognitive modeling approach, showing that the models can be distinguished rather well. In summary, our analysis supports a loss-aversion account of the endowment effect, but also reveals a substantial contribution of simple response bias.     

career concerns of unemployed u.s. war veterans: suggestions from a cognitive information processing approach

The authors examined U.S. war veterans' career concerns (e.g., interests, personality, barriers, career thoughts) to provide possible avenues for research‐based and theory‐driven intervention. The veterans who participated in the study were receiving mental health, substance abuse, and vocational services at a residential facility. Participants were found to have interests in all RIASEC (J. L. Holland, B. A. Fritzsche, & A. B. Powell, 1994; J. L. Holland & G. D. Gottfredson, 1994) interest areas, and negative career thinking was found to be related to a variety of negative indicators. Suggestions are provided for working with veterans using the Cognitive Information Processing approach to career decision making.     

Effects of alcohol on person perception: a social cognitive neuroscience approach

The acute effects of alcohol on cognitive processing of expectancy violations were investigated using event-related brain potentials and a cued recall task to index attentional and working memory processes associated with inconsistency resolution. As predicted, expectancy-violating behaviors elicited larger late positive potentials (LPP) and were recalled better than expectancy-consistent behaviors. These effects were moderated by alcohol and the valence of initial expectancies. For placebo group participants, positive targets performing negative behaviors elicited the largest LPP responses and were recalled best. For those in the alcohol groups, negative targets behaving positively elicited the largest LPP and recall responses. These findings suggest that alcohol does not globally impair working memory processes in person perception but instead changes the nature of valenced information processing. Findings are discussed in the context of alcohol's effects on working memory processes, reward sensitivity, and the prefrontal cortical structures thought to mediate them.     

A category theory approach to cognitive development

The category theory concept of a commutative diagram is used to construct a model of the way in which symbolic processes are applied to problem solving. The model provides for a relationship between symbolic processes and the problem which depends on structural isomorphism and consistency, but is independent of similarity between symbol elements and problem elements. It is then shown that several different levels of thought can be distinguished within the basic model. More information is needed to assign symbolic processes to a problem in a consistent way with higher-level thought processes than with lower-level processes. These information-processing requirements permit the approximate age of mastery of each level to be predicted, thereby offering an alternate theory of cognitive developmental stages. Two experiments designed to test the theory are reported.     

Translating cognitive neuroscience to the driver's operational environment: a neuroergonomic approach

Neuroergonomics provides a multidisciplinary translational approach that merges elements of neuroscience, human factors, cognitive psychology, and ergonomics to study brain structure and function in everyday environments. Driving safety, particularly that of older drivers with cognitive impairments, is a fruitful application domain for neuroergonomics. Driving makes demands on multiple cognitive processes that are often studied in isolation and so presents a useful challenge in generalizing findings from controlled laboratory tasks to predict safety outcomes. Neurology and the cognitive sciences help explain the mechanisms of cognitive breakdowns that undermine driving safety. Ergonomics complements this explanation with the tools for systematically exploring the various layers of complexity that define the activity of driving. A variety of tools, such as part task simulators, driving simulators, and instrumented vehicles, provide a window into cognition in the natural settings needed to assess the generalizability of laboratory findings and can provide an array of potential interventions to increase driving safety.     

The development and validation of a Fear of Death Scale based on the cognitive approach of Avicenna

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to develop a culturally sensitive approach assessment instrument that measures cognitive beliefs related to Iranian Muslim salient fear of death. This paper discusses the development and validation of Avicenna Fear of Death Scale (AFDS). The results of confirmatory factor analysis resulted in an instrument (AFDS) consisting of five cognitive concerns related to the fear of death including complete annihilation, severe pain of death, consequences of sins, interpersonal attachment, and attachment to estate. Twenty-two statements overall were offered using a Likert scale to measure related cognitive beliefs. Results from a convenience sample of 291 college students, showed the AFDS to have favourable psychometric properties (e.g., adequate reliability and validity). The total alpha coefficient was .85, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency and the item-total correlation between .28 and .63 (p<.001) indicates that the items are discriminating well. Overall, results suggest that cross-cultural differences render a culturally sensitive approach to assessment and diagnosis essential, and therefore a culture-based scale like Avicenna AFDS might be fruitful extensions of the current death anxiety scales like Templer Death Anxiety Scale within the context of Iranian-Islamic culture. This diagnostic tool can help in the cognitive treatment of fear of death.