The generalized sense of power is a psychological resource: Evidence from a disaster response field training exercise

We examined whether the generalized sense of power—the belief that one is able to influence others in one's various social relationships—serves as a psychological resource that enables leadership in high-stakes, unfamiliar group challenges, such as emergencies or crises. We studied current and prospective humanitarian aid professionals (N = 180) during a major field training exercise: a three-day, immersive simulated humanitarian crisis. Individuals who entered the simulated crisis with a greater sense of power in their social relationships experienced lower stress (anxiety), behaved more assertively, and left the simulation with a relatively heightened desire to lead, despite not being deemed better leaders by their teammates. Lacking an initial sense of power was associated with experiences (e.g., feeling timid) that undermined the desire to lead. These results suggest that the psychological sense of power is a key leadership resource, without which one may be at risk of self-selecting out of leadership.     

The counselor is a man and a woman

Recent research portrays the counselor as not only tender, gentle, loving, and passive-receptive in a Farsonian sense but also active and assertive, and able to confront and interpret immediacy when appropriate. Functional definitions of masculinity and femininity would suggest that the counselor initiates communication and is action-oriented as well as responsive and facilitative. Those counselors who offer the highest levels of facilitative dimensions also offer the highest levels of action-oriented dimensions.     

In the Netherlands the anti-Flynn effect is a Jensen effect

In this study, 63 observations of secular IQ changes (both Flynn and anti-Flynn effects) are collected from three demographically diverse studies of the Dutch population for the period 1975–2005 (representing the 1950–1990 birth cohorts), along with data on g loadings and subtest reliabilities. The method of correlated vectors is used to explore the association between Flynn and anti-Flynn effect magnitudes, both independently and together, and the g loadings of subtests. Despite a positive vector correlation the Flynn effects are not associated with the Jensen effect (r = .307, ns, N = 36), however the anti-Flynn effects are (r = .406, P = .05, N = 27). Combined, the vector correlation becomes negative but non-significant (r = −.111, ns, N = 63). Declines due to the anti-Flynn effect are estimated at −4.515 points per decade, whereas gains due to the Flynn effect are estimated at 2.175 points per decade. The N-weighted net of these is a loss of −1.350 points per decade, suggesting an overall tendency towards decreasing IQ in the Netherlands with respect to these cohorts. The Jensen effect on the anti-Flynn effect suggests that it may be related to bio-demographic changes within the Netherlands which have reduced ‘genetic-g’, despite the presence of large, parallel gains on subtests that may be relatively more sensitive to cultural-environmental improvements.     

Semantic picture-word interference is a postperceptual effect

Naming a picture is slower while ignoring a semantically related versus an unrelated distractor word (semantic picture–word interference, or PWI). To locate the PWI effect in the word production processing stream (during perceptual encoding, response selection, or afterward), we used the psychological refractory period paradigm, in which participants identified a tone and then, at varying SOAs, named a picture while ignoring a semantically related or unrelated word (following Dell’Acqua, Job, Peressotti, & Pascali, 2007). As in results from the Stroop paradigm (Fagot & Pashler, 1992), we found equivalent PWI effects at short and long SOAs following tone identification in two experiments, indicating that semantic competition occurs at response selection or later. Our results suggest that it is premature to assume that competitive selection occurs at multiple levels in the word production system (van Maanen, van Rijn, & Borst, 2009) or that the Stroop and semantic PWI effects are fundamentally different (Dell’Acqua et al., 2007).     

Spectrum inversion without a difference in representation is impossible

Even if spectrum inversion of various sorts is possible, spectrum inversion without a difference in representation is not. So spectrum inversion does not pose a challenge for the intentionalist thesis that, necessarily, within a given sense modality, if two experiences are alike with respect to content, they are also alike with respect to their phenomenal character. On the contrary, reflection on variants of standard cases of spectrum inversion provides a strong argument for intentionalism. Depending on one’s views about the possibility of spectrum inversion, the impossibility of spectrum inversion without a difference in representation can also be used as an argument against a variety of reductive theories of mental representation.     

The effect of a shared humorous experience on closeness in initial encounters

Randomly paired same‐sex strangers (N = 96) participated in a series of structured interactions systematically manipulated to either create or not create a shared humorous experience. They then completed measures of feelings of closeness to their interaction partner. Consistent with hypotheses derived from personal relationships and humor theories, there was a significant effect of humor on closeness. This effect was significantly partially mediated by self‐expansion and distraction from the discomfort of the first encounter, but not by self‐disclosure/acceptance. The effect was significantly moderated by trait sense of humor and marginally moderated by anxious attachment style (such that the effect was greater for those high in trait sense of humor and high in anxious attachment). A predicted moderation by avoidant attachment was not significant.     

Hippocampal c-fos is necessary for long-term memory of a socially transmitted food preference

The present article examined the requirement of hippocampal c-Fos for learning a socially transmitted food preference (STFP). We reported previously that expression of the c-Fos protein is increased in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus of rats trained on the STFP (Countryman, Orlowski, Brightwell, Oskowitz, & Colombo, 2005). Pretraining intrahippocampal antisense to the immediate early gene c-fos was administered to adult male Long-Evans rats to determine if c-fos expression is necessary for either short- or long-term memory for STFP. Guide cannulae were implanted bilaterally into the dorsal hippocampus. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were administered unilaterally either 6.5, 8.5, 10.5, or 12.5 h prior to STFP training while either sense ODNs or saline were infused into the opposite hemisphere. Immunocytochemistry was performed, and cells showing c-Fos immunoreactivity (ir) were counted from the antisense-treated hemisphere and compared to cell counts from the control hemisphere. The results indicated significant suppression of learning-induced c-Fos protein at the 8.5 and 10.5 infusion-train intervals. Additional rats were implanted with cannulae into the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, and antisense ODNs, sense ODNs, or saline were administered bilaterally 8.5h prior to training. Rats were tested immediately and 14 days after training. Rats in all groups showed a significant preference for the demonstrated food at the short-term memory test. At the long-term memory test, however, rats infused with c-fos antisense showed no preference for the demonstrated food whereas rats infused with either sense or saline maintained their preference. The present findings suggest that c-fos is necessary for consolidation of non-spatial hippocampal-dependent memory.     

Dancing is belonging! How social networks mediate the effect of a dance intervention on students' sense of belonging to their classroom

What does it take to feel you belong? Using a sample of 606 students in 30 classrooms, with 15 classrooms participating in a school‐based dance intervention, we examined intrapsychic and extrapsychic sources of social belonging using social network analysis. Whereas outdegree (the number of outgoing liking nominations to classmates) served as a proxy variable for students' active acceptance of others, indegree (the number of ingoing liking nominations from other peers) served as a proxy variable for the passive acceptance by others. Both measures should account for changes in students' sense of belonging to their classroom. Multilevel longitudinal mediation analyses supported our predictions—increased belonging related to increasing acceptance by others and of others, which were experienced by students participating in the dance intervention for a year (vs. a non‐treated control group). We discuss our findings within the current debate on the use of distal variables to explain intrapsychic constructs.     

Negative estimate of variance-accounted-for effect size: How often it is obtained,and what happens if it is treated as zero

Researchers recommend reporting of bias-corrected variance-accounted-for effect size estimates such as omega squared instead of uncorrected estimates, because the latter are known for their tendency toward overestimation, whereas the former mostly correct this bias. However, this argument may miss an important fact: A bias-corrected estimate can take a negative value, and of course, a negative variance ratio does not make sense. Therefore, it has been a common practice to report an obtained negative estimate as zero. This article presents an argument against this practice, based on a simulation study investigating how often negative estimates are obtained and what are the consequences of treating them as zero. The results indicate that negative estimates are obtained more often than researchers might have thought. In fact, they occur more than half the time under some reasonable conditions. Moreover, treating the obtained negative estimates as zero causes substantial overestimation of even bias-corrected estimators when the sample size and population effect are not large, which is often the case in psychology. Therefore, the recommendation is that researchers report obtained negative estimates as is, instead of reporting them as zero, to avoid the inflation of effect sizes in research syntheses, even though zero can be considered the most plausible value when interpreting such a result. R code to reproduce all of the described results is included as supplemental material.     

Stimulus-response compatible orienting and the effect of an action not taken: Perception delayed is automaticity denied

Orienting to a signal source is widely viewed asautomatic in the sense that it is triggered by the stimulus. However, this behavior is typically assessed in a context in which the subject knows beforehand what he or she has to do. In the present experiments, the role of task set was investigated by having the response vary randomly from trial to trial. On some trials, a cue signaled the subject to respond, and on the remaining trials, another cue signaled the subject to withhold a response. Stimulus contrast and temporal overlap between task cue and target were manipulated. The effect of a reduction in stimulus contrast was sometimes absorbed into the time taken to decode the cue, but critically, other times not. These results highlight the theoretical importance of considering task set as an essential element in processing, and they undermine the theoretical claim that putatively automatic processes are not subject to interference from other mental activities.     

The Structure of Content is Not Transparent

Sentences in context have semantic contents determined by a range of factors both internal and external to speakers. I argue against the thesis that semantic content is transparent to speakers in the sense of being immediately accessible to speakers in virtue of their linguistic competence.

     

Storytelling agents: why narrative rather than mental time travel is fundamental

I propose that we can explain the contribution of mental time travel to agency through understanding it as a specific instance of our more general capacity for narrative understanding. Narrative understanding involves the experience of a pre-reflective and embodied sense of self, which co-emerges with our emotional involvement with a sequence of events (Velleman 2003). Narrative understanding of a sequence of events also requires a ‘recombinable system’, that is, the ability to combine parts to make myriad sequences. Mental time travel shares these two characteristics: it involves an embodied sense of self and the ability to create novel scenarios. What is unique about mental time travel is that it is a story explicitly about our selves, and it involves metarepresentation. Agency is enabled by narrative understanding when we are able to put our current situation into a larger narrative context, whereby some possible actions, but not others, make sense. However, new features of agency are enabled when we understand stories that are explicitly about our selves: we gain the ability to plan and act on plans.     

Why the Practice of Medicine is Not a Phronetic Activity

This essay argues that the practice of medicine is not a phronetic activity in the original Aristotelian sense of that term. Jonsen and Toulmin are two philosophers who have conflated the techne of medicine with phronesis. This conflation ignores Aristotle's crucial distinction between techne and phronesis and his use of the medical analogy. It is argued that medical reasoning is similar to phronesis but does not exemplify it. Phronesis will not save the life of medical ethics. The concept could be utilized as a moral prosthetic.     

the moderating effect of sense of coherence on work adjustment

The authors examined the relationship between sense of coherence and D. B. Hershenson's (1981) model of work adjustment, specifically, the individual domains of work personality and work competencies. A sample of college students completed the Sense of Coherence Scale (A. Antonovsky, 1987) and the Work Personality Profile Self‐Report (WPP‐SR). A multivariate analysis indicated a medium relationship between sense of coherence and the WPP‐SR, with sense of coherence accounting for 18% of the variance. Univariate tests also indicated a medium relationship between sense of coherence and 4 of the 5 factor scales on the WPP‐SR.     

Autobiographical reasoning in life narratives buffers the effect of biographical disruptions on the sense of self-continuity

Personal identity depends on synchronic coherence and diachronic continuity of the self. Autobiographical remembering and autobiographical knowledge as well as the stability of bodily integrity, of social roles, of significant others and of physical and sociocultural environment have been suggested as supporting a pre-reflective sense of self-continuity. Stark biographical discontinuities or disruptions in these areas may destabilise the sense of self-continuity. To test the hypothesis that autobiographical reasoning in life narratives helps to compensate the effects of biographical discontinuities on the sense of self-continuity, life narratives of a lifespan sample with the ages of 16, 20, 24, 28, 44 and 69 (N = 150, 78 female) were investigated. Results confirm that if, and only if there have been biographical disruptions in the past four years, then autobiographical reasoning correlates positively with a sense of self-continuity. The findings contradict the thesis that mere remembering of past episodes is sufficient to maintain a sense of self-continuity under conditions of biographical change.     

The picture-word interference effect is not a Stroop effect

A psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm was used to isolate the locus of the picture-word interference effect along the chain of processes subtended in name production. Two stimuli were presented sequentially on each trial, separated by a varying stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). The first stimulus, SI, was a tone that required a manual response. The second stimulus, S2, was a picture-word stimulus associated with picture naming. The distractor word was conceptually related to the picture on half of the trials, and unrelated in the other trials. A picture-word interference effect was found at long SOA, but not at short SOA. Such underadditive interaction between SOA and semantic relatedness suggests strongly that the locus of the picture-word interference effect is functionally earlier than the PRP effect locus. The results are discussed in relation to models of word production suggesting the involvement of central mechanisms in the selection of lexical output.     

Spousal Religiosity is Positively Associated with the Partner's Meaning in Life

Past research has established that personal religiosity is positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. However, it has largely overlooked how religious others influence one's own life meaning. Given that a marital partner may be the most influential other in a person's everyday life, this study aims to examine how the religiosity of one's spouse is associated with the sense of meaning in life of the self, regardless of the religiosity of the self. Moreover, this study assesses whether this association differs by gender. Analysis of data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study reveals that spousal religiosity is positively associated with the partner's meaning in life, net of the partner's own religious commitment. However, these observed patterns do not vary by gender. Overall, these observations highlight the importance of social contexts in which others’ religious attributes are related to one's own meaning in life.     

Epistemology Without History is Blind

In the spirit of James and Dewey, I ask what one might want from a theory of knowledge. Much Anglophone epistemology is centered on questions that were once highly pertinent, but are no longer central to broader human and scientific concerns. The first sense in which epistemology without history is blind lies in the tendency of philosophers to ignore the history of philosophical problems. A second sense consists in the perennial attraction of approaches to knowledge that divorce knowing subjects from their societies and from the tradition of socially assembling a body of transmitted knowledge. When epistemology fails to use the history of inquiry as a laboratory in which methodological claims can be tested, there is a third way in which it becomes blind. Finally, lack of attention to the growth of knowledge in various domains leaves us with puzzles about the character of the knowledge we have. I illustrate this last theme by showing how reflections on the history of mathematics can expand our options for understanding mathematical knowledge.     

Plagiarism as an illusional sense of authorship: The effect of predictability on source attribution of thought

Previous studies have shown that contextually high-predictability ideas are essential for one to sense the authorship of thoughts and that having the sense that one came up with an idea of one's own, instead of through hearing of another's idea, results in the feeling that one has output the ideas. In this study, we investigated the effects of an idea's predictability on the misattribution of another's thought to oneself. The participants were asked to write down two original ideas about how to use various objects while avoiding the duplication of another's ideas that had been presented beforehand in an input–output phase. In the monitoring phase (1 week and 1 month after the input–output phase), the participants were asked whether each idea had been generated by them, by another, or not generated at all. We found that a high-predictability idea is likely to be regarded with the notion “I generated the idea.” This tendency increased with time, suggesting that participants were more likely to have a sense of authorship when high-predictability ideas were presented. We also discovered that they were more likely to conclude that the source of high-predictability ideas was the “Self.” We discussed the results from the viewpoint of the participant's sense of agency as well.