Natural, unnatural, and supernatural concepts

Five experiments investigating information-processing consequences of concept naturalness and unnaturalness are reported. In particular, an attempt is made to examine the separate and joint effects of simplicity and entrenchment upon reasoning with natural and unnatural concepts. The experiments employed four variants of a concept-selection task in which subjects characterized the state of an object at some future time on the basis of information about the object at that time and at some earlier time. In all five experiments, both simplicity and entrenchment affected ease of information processing. The last two experiments showed that the effect of simplicity was greater than that of entrenchment. An informationprocessing model of task performance provided a very good account of the latency and error data. Scores from the concept-selection task correlated with scores from a set of psychometric inductive-reasoning tests; indeed, the correlations were higher than those usually found between cognitive task performance and psychometrically measured intelligence. Processing of nonentrenched concepts may provide a useful means for studying the nature of intelligent performance.     

Acceptance and recall of written prosocial,neutral, and aggressive modeling cues1

Nine groups of 50 college students responded to acceptance (imitation) and recall questions after being exposed to one of three written modeling sequences (prosocial, neutral, or aggressive), each of which included one of three types of vicarious consequences (positive, neutral, or negative). The results provided strong support for the theoretical predictions regarding the influence of written vicarious consequences on acceptance and recall of modeled behaviors. Regardless of the type of story, positive vicarious consequences led to a significantly higher level of acceptance of the modeled actions than did negative vicarious consequences. The effects of neutral vicarious consequences on acceptance varied with the nature of the modeling story. Although positive and negative vicarious consequences generally led to higher levels of overall recall than did neutral vicarious consequences, patterns of overall recall varied across the three types of stories. Similarly, analyses of the three components (details, behaviors, consequences) of the overall recall measure indicated that recall patterns were inconsistent across the three types of stories. Thus, the results of the present study indicate the importance of considering both vicarious consequences and the situations in which these consequences occur. Furthermore, the effects of written vicarious consequences appear to parallel those of live and/or taped consequences. Continued investigation of these effects is highly warranted.     

Use of Legal Drugs by Psychiatric Outpatients: Benefits, Costs, and Change

Caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol use by persons with a severe mental illness occurs frequently but is poorly understood. We used qualitative methods to elicit information regarding the functional relationships between legal substance use and its antecedents and consequences. This report summarizes responses provided by 37 psychiatric outpatients who participated in focus groups and key informant interviews regarding the use and functions of alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. We describe major themes regarding positive and negative consequences, triggers for use, change efforts, and offer observations regarding substance use in this under-served population.     

Charity, Supervenience, and Skepticism

In a number of articles Donald Davidson has argued that the charitable nature of his method of radical interpretation rules out the possibility of massive error and thus refutes Cartesian skepticism. The diversity of such arguments and the suggestions that are all being made under the name of the principle of charity have prompted a large body of conflicting responses, adding only to the obscurity of the issues that are generally associated with the question of skepticism. In this paper I propose to consider the debate in a new light by reconstruing the principle of charity as a supervenience constraint on belief attribution. This would help explain some of the puzzling features of Davidson's arguments, like the idea of an omniscient interpreter, and the ensuing commentaries. Having provided an analysis of the limitations of Davidson's arguments, I shall then suggest an alternative explanation of the purported necessity of the principle of charity. Finally, having construed the principle of charity as a supervenience constraint, I shall examine what consequences this construal has for the logical status of the principle itself and its alleged epistemic potentials.     

Faustian bargains: Short-term and long-term contingencies in phylogeny,ontogeny, and sociogeny

Rachlin's interpretations of self-control depend on the short-term versus the long-term consequences of behavior. Sometimes these effects support each other (typing an abstract produces a written product now and is later read by others). Sometimes they conflict (procrastination now is incompatible with finishing the abstract by deadline). We usually reserve the language of self-control for human cases where long-term consequences are chosen over short-term ones. Rachlin made this distinction salient in ontogeny, but it also applies to selection in phylogeny (Darwinian evolution) and sociogeny (behavior passed from one organism to another). Our account examines relations between short-term and long-term consequences at each level of selection. For example, sexual selection has adaptive, short-term mating consequences but may drive species to extreme specializations that jeopardize long-term survival. In sociogeny, as in the Tragedy of the Commons, group members may get immediate economic benefits from exploiting resources but exhaust those resources over the long term. Whatever the level, when short-term and long-term consequences have opposing effects, adaptive behavior may depend on whether temporally extended contingencies exert more control than more immediate benefits.     

Homework assignments, consequences, and classroom performance in social studies and mathematics

Elementary school students who frequently answered questions incorrectly in class were given daily homework assignments in social studies and math, but they rarely completed the assignments accurately and their classroom performance in social studies and math was only slightly better than when they did not have homework assignments. However, consequences provided for accurate completion of homework assignments increased the number of students completing homework and the accuracy with which homework assignments were completed. Further, assignments of homework with consequences for accuracy were associated with more accurate classroom performance.     

Neutrality, interpretation, and therapeutic intent.

Neutrality is a central concept within the theory of psychoanalytic technique. We spell out the major controversies in which the concept has become embroiled, and provide a definition that we believe coincides with actual psychoanalytic practice. We discuss its merits and weaknesses, noting also the negative consequences of relying on older definitions. We relate neutrality to the interpretive process, indicating ways interpretation protects neutrality and is made more effective by it. We discuss the complex and controversial relation between neutrality and the analyst's therapeutic intent.     

Development of syntax in a retarded girl using procedures of imitation, reinforcement, and modelling

Three experiments demonstrated the development and generalized use of a singular and plural declarative sentence in a child initially lacking sentence form responses. In each experiment, an adult(s) served as a language model(s), and consequences (sweets) were provided for imitation of the model. During training trials, an item(s) was displayed first to the model(s) then to the subject; these displays were accompanied by requests to label the item(s). Generalization was assessed by a number of probe trials that were periodically interspersed among training trials. During these trials, the subject was requested to label the displayed item(s) without any preceding labelling response from the model. Using these procedures, generalized use of a singular sentence ("That is one-") resulted in Experiment I, and generalized use of a plural sentence ("These are two-") resulted in Experiment II. In Experiment III, two models (a singular and a plural sentence model) were made available to the subject but imitation of only one model was reinforced during any one condition. Results indicated the subject labelled probe (generalization) items with the same sentence form that was modelled and reinforced during training trials.     

Mentoring provided: Relation to mentor’s career success, personality, and mentoring received

The relationship of a mentor’s perceptions of his/her career success, mentoring he/she received, personality, and the amount of mentoring he/she provided was investigated in a sample of 176 administrators. Results indicated that the amount of mentoring respondents reported they had provided was positively associated with their objective and their subjective career success and with the amount of mentoring they reported they had received. Mentoring provided mediated the relationship between mentoring received and subjective career success. Finally, the personality trait of openness was associated with mentoring provided over and above the contribution of human capital and demographics. The results were in line with suggestions in the literature that providing mentoring has positive consequences for the career of the mentor and that an individual who has been mentored is more likely to provide mentoring. However, the findings suggested a limited role for the personality of the mentor in providing mentoring. The implications for career development practices and tactics and for future research were considered, along with the limitations of the study.     

Instrumental conditioning of blood pressure elevations in the baboon

Two adult male baboons were surgically prepared with arterial catheters which provided a continuous measure of blood pressure and heart rate. Environmental consequences (food and electric shock) were made contingent upon prespecified increases in diastolic blood pressure levels. Continued exposure to these contingencies resulted in substantial increases in both diastolic and systolic pressures. The results demonstrated that blood pressure changes are highly susceptible to both operant“shaping” and stimulus control procedures and extend the range of instrumental conditioning effects upon the cardiovascular system.     

Consumer spaces as political spaces: A critical review of social,environmental, and psychogeographical research

The purpose of this review is to critique the social and environmental psychology literature on spaces and places with a focus on consumer culture and neoliberalism. By drawing on social theory and the Continental philosophical literature, the review argues that an alternative approach to knowledge production is required. To this end, recommendations are provided for what a psychogeographical approach in social and environmental psychology could look like. It argues that such work could be of benefit to academic and local communities by exposing the social costs and consequences associated with consumer culture and neoliberalism.     

Disagreement,equal weight and commutativity

How should we respond to cases of disagreement where two epistemic agents have the same evidence but come to different conclusions? Adam Elga has provided a Bayesian framework for addressing this question. In this paper, I shall highlight two unfortunate consequences of this framework, which Elga does not anticipate. Both problems derive from a failure of commutativity between application of the equal weight view and updating in the light of other evidence.     

Agent-Basing,Consequences, and Realized Motives

According to agent-based approaches to virtue ethics, the rightness of an action is a function of the motives which prompted that action. If those motives were morally praiseworthy, then the action was right; if they were morally blameworthy, the action was wrong. Many critics find this approach problematically insensitive to an act’s consequences, and claim that agent-basing fails to preserve the intuitive distinction between agent- and act-evaluation. In this article I show how an agent-based account of right action can be made sensitive to an act’s consequences. According to the approach which I defend, an action is right just in case it realizes an agent’s morally praiseworthy motive. Conversely, an action is wrong just in case it realizes a morally blameworthy motive. Specifying act-evaluation in terms of the realization, rather than the expression, of an agent’s motives allows an agent-based approach to distinguish between agent- and act-evaluation. This is because an agent may act from a morally praiseworthy motive, but fail (either through bad luck or poor judgment) to realize that motive. Her action will therefore not have been the right one, despite its being the expression of morally praiseworthy motives.     

Reactions to Physical Contact Among Coaches and Players: The Influence of Coach Sex, Player Sex, and Attitudes Toward Women

The purpose of the current study was to examine factors that impact people's reactions to physical contact by an athletics coach toward a player. Participants (82 undergraduate students in the U.S.) took part in a 2 (coach sex) × 2 (player sex) experiment aimed at assessing their perceived appropriateness of the coach striking the player and their preferred consequences for that action. Hierarchical regression analysis provided support for a coach sex × player sex × participant attitudes toward women interaction in predicting the perceived appropriateness of the physical contact. Multinomial logistic regression then indicated that perceived appropriateness was inversely related to the severity of the preferred consequences for the coach. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.     

Idiosyncratic deals: Testing propositions on timing, content, and the employment relationship

This study tests propositions regarding idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) in a sample of N = 265 hospital employees using structural equation modeling. Timing and content of idiosyncratic employment arrangements are postulated to have differential consequences for the nature of the employment relationship. Results confirm that i-deals made after hire have greater impact on the employment relationship than those made ex ante. Developmental i-deals are positively related to perceiving employment as a social exchange rather than an economic exchange, whereas work hour i-deals show the opposite pattern. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Creative Self-Efficacy: An Exploration of Its Antecedents,Consequences, and Applied Implications

Creativity and innovation are at the core of important outcomes such as economic and sales growth, production of articles and students' learning. Thus, it is not surprising to find research articles on creativity and innovation across different disciplines such as business, psychology, and education. Given the importance of understanding creativity and innovation, we reviewed the empirical literature examining the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy in the work domain. Our review used the theory of individual creative action and social cognitive theory as guiding frameworks to place creative self-efficacy in the creativity and innovation process, define creativity and innovation, explore how creative self-efficacy has been measured, examine the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy, point out gaps in knowledge and offer suggestions for future research and provide some applied implications. One important finding was that creative self-efficacy has made a significant contribution as a process variable explaining how several organizational and personal factors influence creative outcomes via their influence on creative self-efficacy.     

Information Deprivation Trauma: Definition,Assessment, and Interventions

Information deprivation trauma (IDT; Schild & Dalenberg, 2012b) is a concept that has not been adequately addressed in the trauma literature. IDT is a concept requiring a negative emotional response (e.g., fear, helplessness, horror) consequent to (a) a lack of understanding of the extent, magnitude, consequences, and probability of a current or impending meaningful event; and (b) an inability to access information about this event that would reasonably allow a person to prepare, appropriately respond, or self-protect. Arguments are presented that information deprivation itself might constitute a trauma, in addition to and apart from the possibility that information deprivation might enhance vulnerability to traumatization. Clinical examples are provided, and the Information Deprivation Trauma Interview (IDTI) is introduced for use in clinical and research settings.     

The relation of elementary-school children's externalizing behaviour to emotion attributions,evaluation of consequences,and moral reasoning

This study examined the relation of elementary-school children's externalizing behaviour to emotion attributions, evaluation of consequences, and moral reasoning. Externalizing behaviour was rated by the parents using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL/4 – 18). Moral development was assessed by three stories describing different types of rule violation and a moral conflict in friendship including obligations and self-interest. The children were asked about the emotions they would attribute to the hypothetical victimizer (or protagonist) and the self-as-victimizer (or protagonist), the evaluation of the interpersonal consequences of the rule violation (or action decision) as well as their justifications. Boys who made selfish action decisions and attributed positive emotions to the protagonist of the moral dilemma displayed more externalizing behaviour than girls. Furthermore, boys with consistent moral (negative) emotion attributions to the self-as-victimizer across the rule violations showed less externalizing behaviour than boys with inconsistent moral emotion attributions. Younger children who anticipated negative interpersonal consequences of transgressions displayed higher rates of externalizing behaviour than younger children who anticipated less negative consequences. Moral reasons in the context of emotion attributions to the self-as-victimizer were negatively associated with externalizing behaviour.