Absolute and Relative Decision Processes in Eyewitness Identification

A prominent and long-standing theory of eyewitness identification decision making distinguishes between absolute judgments, based on the lineup members' match to the witness's memory of the perpetrator, versus relative judgments, based on match values relative to other lineup members. This distinction was implemented in a computational model and simulations showed that the model predicts an accuracy advantage for absolute judgments over relative judgments under some conditions. The present experiment tested this prediction by evaluating the accuracy of witnesses instructed to use relative or absolute rules. Contrary to predictions, the overall analysis did not show an absolute advantage. Additional exploratory analyses showed a relative advantage when the suspect was surrounded by high-similarity foils. These results are consistent with a model that assumes that side-by-side comparisons of lineup members increase diagnostic accuracy by allowing witnesses to give greater weight to more diagnostic features and less weight to less diagnostic features.     

Reducing Knowledge of Results about Relative versus Absolute Timing: Differential Effects on Learning

The purpose of the present experiment was to examine further earlier suggestions that a reduced relative frequency of knowledge of results (KR) can enhance the learning of generalized motor programs (GMPs) but at the same time degrade parameter learning, compared with giving KR after every trial (Wulf & Schmidt, 1989; Wulf, Schmidt, & Deubel, 1993). In contrast to these earlier studies, here KR was given separately for relative timing and absolute timing. Subjects practiced three movement patterns that required the same relative timing but different absolute movement times. KR was provided on 100% or 50% of the practice trials for relative timing or absolute timing, respectively. In retention and transfer tests, the groups that had had 50% KR about relative timing demonstrated more effective learning of the relative-timing structure, that is, GMP learning, than the groups that had had 100% KR about relative timing. The KR frequency had no effect on parameterization during retention; yet, when transfer to a task with a novel overall duration was required, the groups given 100% KR about absolute timing were more accurate in parameterization than the groups provided with 50% KR about absolute timing. Thus, the reduced relative KR frequency enhanced GMP learning but had no beneficial effect, or even a degrading effect, on parameter learning. The differential effects of a reduced KR frequency on the learning of relative timing and absolute timing also provide additional support for the dissociation of GMP and parameterization processes.     

The Determinants of Happiness in Turkey: Evidence from City-Level Data

This paper analyses the determinants of happiness in Turkey between 2004 and 2013 by relying on TURKSTAT’s Life Satisfaction Surveys. It contributes to the literature by employing a set of novel variables and a larger dataset which became representative at city-level in 2013. Some of the interesting findings are as follows: degree of hope is found to be the strongest estimator of happiness which was neglected in previous studies; job satisfaction is as important as being employed. Similarly, being married makes people happier only if they are satisfied from their marriage. Education brings more happiness only if it helps to increase income. Moreover, our results support Easterlin Paradox (Nations Househ Econ Growth Essays Honor Moses Abramovitz 1974. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-205050-3.50008-7). We have shown that happiness and income share a potent and positive relationship when yearly or pooled micro datasets are analysed, which has not been observed in macro data.     

科学合理性:从绝对到相对

科学哲学家对科学合理性问题的认识经过了从形式的合理性过渡到非形式的合理性;从严格的预设主义跳到了极端的相对主义;从理性主义跳到了非理性主义;从对科学内部合理性的寻求跳到将科学内部合理性与科学外部非理性因素有效地结合起来;从对科学合理性的哲学分析走向对科学合理性的政治学、社会学、文化哲学的分析.由此,科学就溢出了"纯粹的科学"的范围走向了作为一种文化的科学、作为一种实践的科学、作为一种能够进行社会学分析、政治学分析和文化哲学分析的科学.     

Relative Income and Marital Happiness Among Urban Chinese Women: The Moderating Role of Personal Commitment

Compared with the rich knowledge in the West, studies of the impact of wives’ relative income on marital quality during the fast socioeconomic change period in urban China have surprisingly fallen far behind. This study attempted to examine the impact of relative income on marital happiness among urban Chinese women. Using an urban Beijing sample of 763 married women, this study found that a woman married to a husband with lower income tended to be less happy with her marriage, but this effect will be countered if there is more love in the sense of a genuine concern about the well-being of the partner and a willing to make sacrifice for him. The results were interpreted from theoretical verification and possible mechanisms linking personal commitment and marital happiness.     

Developmental Changes in the Use of Absolute and Relative Information: The Case of Spatial Extent

In the present paper we investigated the development of the ability to reproduce extent in elementary school students. Children were shown a target line in a frame and were asked to reconstruct the line in a frame of a different size. One experimental condition involved reproducing absolute extent, i.e., drawing a line that would be equal in length to the target line. The other condition involved reproducing relative extent; drawing a line that would preserve the relation between the target line and the frame. We found that in both conditions the length of the target and its relation to the frame affected children's responses. Yet, older children (7–9-year-olds) showed distinctive response patterns in the two conditions, indicating differentiation between absolute and relative extent. Whereas the performance of 5-year-olds in reproducing relative extent was similar to that of older children, their reproduction of absolute extent reflected a compromise between the use of absolute and relative cues. These findings extend the results of prior work suggesting an early advantage in the ability to use relative rather than absolute extent.     

Happiness and Leisure Across Countries: Evidence from International Survey Data

We study the statistical link between leisure and happiness. Using survey data from 33 countries in 2007, we find that (1) certain leisure activities, leisure’s role in self-fulfillment and social interaction, and leisure’s relation to work and other spheres of life are significantly linked to individual happiness; (2) the effect of leisure quantity is not as important as other aspects of leisure; and (3) some leisure activities can be negatively associated with happiness. Consistent with findings in previous studies, family income and individual demographic variables such as age and health condition are significantly associated with happiness. National unemployment and political stability also have robustly significant effects on happiness.     

Consistent and Variable Practice Conditions: Effects on Relative and Absolute Timing

The authors conducted the present experiments to resolve the discrepancy between studies in which relative-timing learning has been found to be enhanced by consistent practice conditions and contextual interference experiments in which relative-timing learning has been found to be enhanced more by random practice than by blocked practice. There were 40 participants in Experiment 1 and 48 in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 1 extended previous findings: The learning of the relative-timing pattern was systematically enhanced by the degree to which the practice conditions promoted movement consistency (constant > blocked > serial > random). Experiment 2 provided evidence that the discrepancy between the relative-timing effects in the 2 groups of studies was a product of the way in which relative-timing goals and feedback were presented. When the feedback was presented as segment times, random practice resulted in generally more stable relative-timing patterns during acquisition than blocked practice did. Thus, in both experiments, the learning of the relative-timing pattern was enhanced by more stable relative-timing conditions during acquisition. Absolute-timing learning, as indexed by the transfer tests, was enhanced by serial or random practice as compared with constant or blocked practice, and was relatively unaffected by feedback conditions directed at the relative-timing pattern. In terms of motor programming theory, those findings are taken as additional evidence for the disassociation of memories supporting generalized motor program (GMP) performance, as indexed by relative timing, and parameter performance, as indexed by absolute timing.     

Quality-of-Life Determinants of Happiness in Thailand: the Moderating Roles of Mental and Moral Capacities

This study investigates the influences of quality of life (QoL) in Thailand in terms of quality of family life, quality of community life, and quality of work life as determinants of happiness. Additionally, the moderating effects of mental capacity and moral capacity in relation to the influences of different QoL determinants of happiness are also investigated. The results indicate that quality of family life, quality of community life, and quality of work life have positive effects on happiness in Thailand. Further, our results indicate that mental capacity and moral capacity are significant as moderators in relation to the influences of two QoL determinants of happiness: quality of community life and quality of work life.     

Artists versus Nonartists: Rorschach Determinants and Artistic Creativity

A clear differentiation between artists and nonartists was found in both formal quantitative and informal qualitative analyses. The results of the present study lend statistical support to the discriminatory power of the Rorschach in identifying artistic creativity. Artists and nonartists were carefully matched as to sex, age, verbal intelligence and education. The Rorschach Group Method was utilized to compare the two groups on all formal scoring categories of both the Klopfer and Beck systems. In addition to formal scoring, possible discriminating aspects in the verbalization of responses were analyzed qualitatively.     

Absolute and Relative Biases in Estimations of Personal Risk1

Two studies examined the accuracy of personal risk estimates, as determined by comparing mean estimates made by college students with population statistics for college-educated individuals. Study 1 suggested that optimistic biases (the tendency for people to think they are less at risk than the average person) arise more because people overestimating the average person's risk than because they underestimate their own risk. In Study 2, subjects rated their risk after being presented with risk statistics that were 150%, 100%, or 50% of the true values. Subjects' estimates decreased with decreases in the comparison statistics, as if subjects attempted to preserve their “below-average” status, but they changed less than did the statistics and were actually pessimistic in comparison to the 50% values. Implications for interventions designed to influence risk perceptions are discussed.     

Individual and Country‐Level Effects of Social Trust on Happiness: The Asia Barometer Survey

The relationship of individual‐level and country‐level social trust to individuals' happiness was investigated, using cross‐national data of 39,082 participants from 29 Asian countries. For self‐reported happiness, 2.0% of the participants responded they were very happy, while 18.7% were very unhappy. The significant variables associated with happiness were female gender, being age 20–29 years or 60–69 years, married, high income and education, students/retired/homemaker, religious belief, good health, and higher individual and aggregate social trust. Individual health, social trust, and aggregate social trust were all independently associated with people's happiness. People were more likely to be happy if they lived in countries with higher aggregate social trust than countries with poor social trust.     

Absolute vs Relative Performance Rating Formats: Implications for fairness and organizational justice

The choice of performance rating format may influence employees' fairness perceptions. Participants in two studies, one consisting of 208 participants and the other of 393 participants, evaluated the fairness of common relative and absolute rating formats. The participants in the second study also evaluated the fairness of two rating formats, one absolute and one relative, presented in organizational contexts of varying procedural and distributive justice. Results indicate that not only are absolute formats perceived as more fair than relative formats, but differences in fairness perceptions also occur among relative and absolute formats. Furthermore, it appears that rating format influences procedural justice, especially when outcomes are perceived as fair. Implications for organizations' appraisal practices are discussed.     

Reducing Knowledge of Results About Relative Versus Absolute Timing: Differential Effects on Learning

The purpose of the present experiment was to examine further earlier suggestions that a reduced relative frequency of knowledge of results (KR) can enhance the learning of generalized motor programs (GMPs) but at the same time degrade parameter learning, compared with giving KR after every trial (Wulf & Schmidt, 1989; Wulf, Schmidt, & Deubel, 1993). In contrast to these earlier studies, here KR was given separately for relative timing and absolute timing. Subjects practiced three movement patterns that required the same relative timing but different absolute movement times. KR was provided on 100% or 50% of the practice trials for relative timing or absolute timing, respectively. In retention and transfer tests, the groups that had had 50% KR about relative timing demonstrated more effective learning of the relative-timing structure, that is, GMP learning, than the groups that had had 100% KR about relative timing. The KR frequency had no effect on parameterization during retention; yet, when transfer to a task with a novel overall duration was required, the groups given 100% KR about absolute timing were more accurate in parameterization than the groups provided with 50% KR about absolute timing. Thus, the reduced relative KR frequency enhanced GMP learning but had no beneficial effect, or even a degrading effect, on parameter learning. The differential effects of a reduced KR frequency on the learning of relative timing and absolute timing also provide additional support for the dissociation of GMP and parameterization processes.     

关于宗教认同的调查与分析

在西方宗教的研究脉络中,多数学者认为,只有少数人的宗教信仰是在经过一番研究和慎思之后,通过有意识地追求而获得的,而大多数人基本的宗教认同是通过家庭的宗教社会化而获得的。本文通过实地调查研究发现:中国社会的宗教徒,其宗教认同是一个在自我发现和自我指导中不断建构的过程,其中,人际网络的导引是认同建立的初始媒介,个人特定的宗教体验则是认同建立的关键要素.