Characterization of Children's Decision Making: Sensitivity to Punishment Frequency,Not Task Complexity

On a gambling task that models real-life decision making, children between ages 7 and 12 perform like patients with bilateral lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), opting for choices that yield high immediate gains in spite of higher future losses (Crone &; Van der Molen, 2004 Crone, E. A. and Van der Molen, M. W. 2004. Developmental changes in decision-making: Performance on a gambling task previously shown to rely on ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Developmental Neuropsychology, 25(3): 251–279. [PUBMED][INFOTRIEVE][CROSSREF][Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The current study set out to characterize developmental changes in decision making by varying task complexity and punishment frequency. Three age groups (7–9 years, 10–12 years, 13–15 years) performed two versions of a computerized variant of the original Iowa gambling task. Task complexity was manipulated by varying the number of choices participants could make. Punishment frequency was manipulated by varying the frequency of delayed punishment. Results showed a developmental increase in the sensitivity to future consequences, which was present only when the punishment was presented infrequently. These results could not be explained by differential sensitivity to task complexity, hypersensitivity to reward, or failure to switch response set after receiving punishment. There was a general pattern of boys outperforming girls by making more advantageous choices over the course of the task. In conclusion, 7–12-year-old children—like VMPFC patients—appear myopic about the future except when the potential for future punishment is high.     

Using a Sharp Instrument to Parse Apart Strategy and Consistency: An Evaluation of PPT and Its Assumptions

Potential Performance Theory (PPT) is a general theory for parsing observed performance into the underlying strategy and the consistency with which it is used. Although empirical research has supported that PPT is useful, it is desirable to have more information about the bias and standard errors of PPT findings. It also is beneficial to know the effects of violations of PPT assumptions. The authors present computer simulations that evaluate bias and standard errors at varying levels of strategy, consistency, and number of trials per participant. The simulations show that, when the assumptions are true, there is very little bias and the standard errors are low when there are moderate or large numbers of trials per participant (e.g., N = 50 or N = 100). But when the independence assumption is violated, PPT provides biased findings, although the bias is quite small unless the violations are large.     

The Assessment of Limb Apraxia: An Investigation of Task Effects and Their Cause

To test the effects of variations in the structure of tasks used to assess limb apraxia, eight tasks—differing in their modes of elicitation (tactile, verbal, visual, imitation) and/or types of movement elicited (transitive, intransitive, meaningless)—were administered to 25 carefully selected subjects with idiomotor limb apraxia. When standardized scores (based on the performance of 10 nonneurologically impaired control subjects) were used to measure the differences between tasks, no clinically significant task effects were found. Additional investigation was made of two causal hypotheses regarding the processes underlying limb apractic performance. The results of factor analyses and a search for double dissociations among individual subjects were consistent with the (severity) hypothesis that differences in task performances (raw scores) reflect degrees of task difficulty; and they failed to support the (disconnection) hypothesis that posits separate and independent neural/mental processes underlying task performances.     

Development of a Career Task Self-Efficacy Scale: The Kuder Task Self-Efficacy Scale

The present study consisted of developing the Kuder Task Self-Efficacy Scale (KTSES). The KTSES is a 30-item scale measuring a person's self-efficacy for tasks corresponding to Kuder's 10 occupational interest areas (Kuder Zytowski, 1991). Responses from the KTSES were compared with responses to the Self-Esteem Inventory (SES; Rosenberg, 1965) and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSE; Taylor Betz, 1983) to see if career task self-efficacy was related to self-esteem and career decision-making self-efficacy. Answers to the KTSES were also compared with responses given for occupations corresponding to the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS; Kuder Zytowski, 1991) to see if occupational self-efficacy was related to career task self-efficacy. Results supported the validity and reliability of the KTSES. The utility of having a task self-efficacy scale to go with the KOIS is discussed, and ideas for future research are given.     

The Animate-Inanimate Distinction in Infancy: Developing Sensitivity to Constraints on Human Actions

Infants aged 4 and 6 months were presented with events in which a person acted so as to set another person, or an inanimate object, in motion. In one condition, the actor spoke to the person (natural) or inanimate object (unnatural); in the other condition, the actor grasped and manipulated the person (unnatural) or object (natural). Six-month-old infants looked reliably longer at the natural actions than at the unnatural actions. A follow-up experiment revealed that their preference depended on the naturalness of the human actions themselves, not on the features or motions of the person or object that was acted upon. Looking preferences at 4 months were equivocal, consistent with the thesis that sensitivity to the natural actions develops over the first 6 months of age. We discuss these findings in relation to the development of social understanding, social gaze, and visual exploration.     

The Contribution of Task Performance and Contextual Performance to Effectiveness: Investigating the Role of Situational Constraints

Task performance and contextual performance are two distinct dimensions of behaviour at work that can contribute independently to effectiveness outcomes for organisations. Contextual performance is important because it represents a type of behaviour that is largely under the motivational control of individuals. Little research has addressed how the opportunity to engage in contextual behaviours might be constrained by situational demands. This study examined the contribution of task performance and contextual performance to effectiveness in the work of air traffic controllers. As predicted, task difficulty moderated the relationship between contextual performance and effectiveness. The results demonstrate that contextual performance does contribute to effectiveness in technical domains, such as air traffic control, and highlight the importance of assessing situational factors when assessing performance and effectiveness.     

An Optimized Design of Choice Experiments: A New Approach for Studying Decision Behavior in Choice Task Experiments

In this paper, we present a new approach for the optimal experimental design problem of generating diagnostic choice tasks, where the respondent's decision strategy can be unambiguously deduced from the observed choice. In this new approach, we applied a genetic algorithm that creates a one‐to‐one correspondence between a set of predefined decision strategies and the alternatives of the choice task; it also manipulates the characteristics of the choice tasks. In addition, this new approach takes into account the measurement errors that can occur when the preferences of the decision makers are being measured. The proposed genetic algorithm is capable of generating diagnostic choice tasks even when the search space of possible choice tasks is very large. As proof‐of‐concept, we used this novel approach to generate respondent‐specific choice tasks with either low or high context‐based complexity that we operationalize by the similarity of alternatives and the conflict between alternatives. We find in an experiment that an increase in the similarity of the alternatives and an increase in the number of conflicts within the choice task lead to an increased use of non‐compensatory strategies and a decreased use of compensatory decision strategies. In contrast, the size of the choice tasks, measured by the number of attributes and alternatives, only weakly influences the strategy selection. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Academic Dishonesty: An In-Depth Investigation of Assessing Measurable Constructs and a Call for Consistency in Scholarship

For over 70 years, research has tackled the issue of academic misconduct in the university setting. However, a review of the literature reveals that (a) consensus on the magnitude of such behavior has not been reached, and, (b) no one with expertise in quantitative methodology has attempted to classify the behaviors that describe cheaters until Ferrell and Daniel proposed the use of the Academic Misconduct Survey (AMS). Even they, following their 1995 study, made a call for the development of understandable constructs in the measurement of cheating. Seventeen years later, the present study sought to produce such constructs. In a series of three phases of data collection, 4,100 participants completed a revised version of the AMS. A factor solution containing five factors proved to be the most interpretable. The five factors are as follows: creative padding, interactive cheating, false personal excuses, taking credit for others’ work, exam cheating. The present paper outlines the constructs proposed and discusses implications in this area for (1) scholars within the area of measurement and (2) educators with regard to student accountability and performance.     

Sensitivity to Inflectional Morphemes in the Absence of Meaning: Evidence from a Novel Task

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - A number of studies in different languages have shown that speakers may be sensitive to the presence of inflectional morphology in the absence of verb meaning...     

The Influence of Affect on Goal Choice and Task Performance

The present study investigated the influence of mood on self-set goals and task performance. Results from 2 studies suggest a restricted view of mood effects in which affective state influences the level of self-set goals or task performance, but not both. Study 2 reveals asymmetrical mood effects on task performance, with positive- and negative-mood participants exceeding the baseline performance of neutral mood participants. Evidence indicates that goal-setting instructions may alter how individuals interpret motivational implications of mood. Although theory implies an inclusive view in which mood has both direct and indirect (through goal-setting) performance effects, the conflicting influences of affect infusion at different points of the goal-striving process may diminish the likelihood of observing inclusive effects.     

The Effects of Leader Communication on a Worker's Intent to Stay: An Investigation Using Structural Equation Modeling

This study presents findings on the link between leader motivating language (ML) use and worker intent to stay. Structural equation modeling indicated that ML use significantly improves worker intent to stay—with a 10% increase in ML leading to an approximate 5% increase in worker intent to stay. Also, analysis showed that the full ML model better describes the data than any partial model based on a subset of the ML components, and this outcome helps advance researchers' understanding of the ML theory. Results indicate that proper leader language use can substantially improve the critical organizational outcome of worker retention. As such, this study identifies potential new paths for requisite leader communication research, training, and development.     

Narcissism and Sensitivity to Criticism: A Preliminary Investigation

Two studies investigated the connection between narcissism and sensitivity to criticism. In study 1, participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Sensitivity to Criticism Scale (SCS) and were asked to construct and deliver speeches to be rated by performance judges. They were then asked whether they would like to receive evaluative feedback. Narcissism and sensitivity to criticism were mildly, but not significantly, negatively correlated and had contrasting relationships with choices regarding feedback. Highly narcissistic participants tended to seek (rather than avoid) feedback, whereas highly sensitive participants tended to reject feedback opportunities. Study 2 examined the relationship between sensitivity to criticism and both overt and covert narcissism. Those scoring high on the trait narcissism, as measured by the NPI, tended to be less sensitive to criticism, sought (rather than avoided) feedback opportunities, experienced little internalized negative emotions in response to “extreme” feedback conditions, and did not expect to ruminate over their performance. By contrast, participants scoring high on a measure of “covert narcissism” were high in sensitivity to criticism, tended to avoid feedback opportunities, experienced high levels of internalized negative emotions, and showed high levels of expected rumination. These findings suggest that the relationship between narcissism and sensitivity to criticism is highly dependent upon the definition or “form” of narcissism considered.     

Narcissism and Sensitivity to Criticism: A Preliminary Investigation

Two studies investigated the connection between narcissism and sensitivity to criticism. In study 1, participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) and the Sensitivity to Criticism Scale (SCS) and were asked to construct and deliver speeches to be rated by performance judges. They were then asked whether they would like to receive evaluative feedback. Narcissism and sensitivity to criticism were mildly, but not significantly, negatively correlated and had contrasting relationships with choices regarding feedback. Highly narcissistic participants tended to seek (rather than avoid) feedback, whereas highly sensitive participants tended to reject feedback opportunities. Study 2 examined the relationship between sensitivity to criticism and both overt and covert narcissism. Those scoring high on the trait narcissism, as measured by the NPI, tended to be less sensitive to criticism, sought (rather than avoided) feedback opportunities, experienced little internalized negative emotions in response to “extreme” feedback conditions, and did not expect to ruminate over their performance. By contrast, participants scoring high on a measure of “covert narcissism” were high in sensitivity to criticism, tended to avoid feedback opportunities, experienced high levels of internalized negative emotions, and showed high levels of expected rumination. These findings suggest that the relationship between narcissism and sensitivity to criticism is highly dependent upon the definition or “form” of narcissism considered.     

任务与字频对汉字情绪启动反转效应的影响

本研究使用ERP技术对比了效价判断与真假字判断两种任务形式下的汉字情绪启动效应。结果发现,在效价判断任务中高频目标字出现情绪启动的反转效应,效价不一致比一致条件下反应时短,诱发了较大的P200;低频目标字出现情绪启动的一致性效应,效价一致比不一致条件下反应时短,诱发了较大的P200与N400。真假字判断任务中高频和低频目标字均出现情绪启动的一致性效应。情绪启动的反转效应依赖于刺激材料的可通达性与注意导向,启动字与目标字的反应竞争关系导致了情绪启动的反转效应。     

The Taxonomy of a Japanese Stroll Garden: An Ontological Investigation Using Formal Concept Analysis

This paper introduces current acoustic theories relating to the phenomenology of sound as a framework for interrogating concepts relating to the ecologies of acoustic and landscape phenomena in a Japanese stroll garden. By applying the technique of Formal Concept Analysis, a partially ordered lattice of garden objects and attributes is visualized as a means to investigate the relationship between elements of the taxonomy.     

The Opposites Task: Using General Rules to Test Cognitive Flexibility in Preschoolers

Executive functions play an important role in cognitive development, and during the preschool years especially, children's performance is limited in tasks that demand flexibility in their behavior. We asked whether preschoolers would exhibit limitations when they are required to apply a general rule in the context of novel stimuli on every trial (the “opposites” task). Two types of inhibitory processing were measured: response interference (resistance to interference from a competing response) and proactive interference (resistance to interference from a previously relevant rule). Group data show 3-year-olds have difficulty inhibiting prepotent tendencies under these conditions, whereas 5-year-olds’ accuracy is near ceiling in the task.     

The Effects of a Self-sacrificing Minority on Pro-environmental Norms and Behavior: An Investigation Using a Sea Pollution Game

This research investigated how a minority member sacrificing his/her personal benefits to protect the environment might influence the attitudes and behavior of others. The experiment, using a sea pollution game, employed a 2(minority factor)×2(cost factor) factorial design. Under the high-cost condition, in which an ecological minority bears the substantial cost it was hypothesized that the rate of subjects' pro-environmental behavior would be higher in the one-minority case than in the no-minority case. In contrast, under the low-cost condition, the differences between these two cases would decrease. The results supported this assumption. In prompting pro-environmental behavior, a self-sacrification minority member is more influential than one whose behavior is not self-sacrificing. Moreover, under the one-minority condition, path analyses indicated that the subjects' cost evaluation did not affect their behavior. It was concluded that when the subjects saw an ecological minority, the inhibiting effects of cost on their pro-environmental behavior would decrease.     

The Relationship of Spirituality to Cognitive and Moral Development and Purpose in Life: An Exploratory Investigation

In this exploratory study of 152 undergraduate students, the relationships among spirituality, cognitive and moral development, and existential sense of meaning were examined. Results suggest that no relationship exists between spirituality and cognitive development, but that spirituality is positively related to both moral development and purpose in life.     

Pick Your Poison: Choice of Activity Determines Mood Management Following a Stressful Task

People routinely seek out activities they believe will relieve stress. There has always been debate regarding the extent to which different activities, particularly those with aggressive content, successfully manage mood or worsen it. It is routinely believed that engaging in highly aggressive activities after becoming stressed worsens mood. However, unlike experiments, in real life people generally select activities that match their interests. In the present study, 105 university students were exposed to an acute stressor then randomized to either (a) a time filler control task; (b) to hit a bobo doll; or (c) given a choice of five different activities, some aggressive, some not. Results indicated that those who were given a choice of activities experienced the greatest reductions in stress and hostility. Furthermore, evidence did not suggest that more aggressive activities made participants more hostile, stressed, or aggressive.