Positive living with anxiety: A morita perspective of human agency

Morita therapy, a Japanese cognitive behavioural approach, is applied to a Western context. This paper intends to focus on one of the Morita key concepts, namely the positive acceptance of social anxiety, and its underlying meaning of human agency that can be interpreted in daily life and counselling situations. Some similarities and differences between Morita philosophy of human anxiety and Western therapeutic conceptions of anxiety feelings are highlighted in order to clarify Morita principles as they are incorporated into counselling process in Western society. Suggestions for counselling, with special focus on counsellor attitude, client cognitive behavioural transformation, and client existential meaning making, are provided.     

A meta‐analytic review of tipping compensation practices: An agency theory perspective

Tipping represents a form of compensation valued at over $50 billion a year in the United States alone. Tipping can be used as an incentive mechanism to reduce a principal–agent problem. An agency problem occurs when the interests of a principal and agent are misaligned, and it is challenging for the principal to monitor or control the activities of the agent. However, past research has been limited in the investigation of the extent to which tipping is effective at addressing this problem. Following an examination of 74 independent studies with 12,271 individuals, meta‐analytic results indicate that there is a small, positive relation between service quality and percentage of a bill tipped ( = .15 without outliers). Yet, in support of the idea behind tipping, relative weights analyses illustrate that service quality was a stronger predictor of percentage of the bill tipped than food quality, frequency of patronage, and dining party size. Evidence also suggests that racial minority servers tend to be tipped less than White servers (Cohen's d = .17), and women tend to be tipped more than men (Cohen's d = .15). Still, given the magnitude of the effect, one might question if tipping is an effective compensation practice to reduce the principal–agent problem. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for future research.     

A cognitive-behavioral perspective on intelligence

The present editorial has two purposes. The first purpose is to indicate a parallel trend in two seemingly disparate areas of research which upon closer examination have interesting possible ties. These research areas are information processing and cognitive-behavior modification (CBM). The second purpose is to highlight the role that affect plays in intellectual functioning, noting some of the implications which then follow for the assessment of intelligence.     

A cognitive perspective on mindfulness

Mindfulness, the core teaching of the Buddhist tradition, has been receiving serious attention from the West in recent decades as evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness‐based interventions for emotional distress have become available. Although traditional Buddhist texts have described the mechanisms of mindfulness and the way to cultivate it in great detail, much is still not known from the perspective of Western science. In particular, there is no general agreement on the conceptualization and operationalization of mindfulness. Several conceptual models of mindfulness (referred to as “state” or “trait”) have been put forward to elucidate different aspects of this phenomenon, but none has gained sufficient empirical validation. This article proposes a new cognitive model of mindfulness. It has been our goal to describe and interrelate a relatively comprehensive group of determinants of a state of mindfulness, the consequences of its regular practicing, the mechanisms responsible for its beneficial effects, and the feedback mechanisms operating between the various constituents of the model. Within this model, the primary emphasis has been placed on understanding the cognitive processes shaping a state of mindfulness (i.e., the links between consciousness, meta‐awareness and the unconscious), and on their determinants (i.e., the executive functions of attention and the components of working memory). A metacognitive system promoting mindfulness, as well as the general capability of the central executive system, is suggested as a factor explaining individual differences in mindfulness, whereas decentering, self‐compassion, and reduction of self‐focused attention are proposed as mechanisms mediating beneficial changes. We hope that the model presented will encourage further discussion and orient future studies in the area of mindfulness.     

A normative perspective on motivation

Understanding the effects of motivation on instrumental action selection, and specifically on its two main forms, goal-directed and habitual control, is fundamental to the study of decision making. Motivational states have been shown to 'direct' goal-directed behavior rather straightforwardly towards more valuable outcomes. However, how motivational states can influence outcome-insensitive habitual behavior is more mysterious. We adopt a normative perspective, assuming that animals seek to maximize the utilities they achieve, and viewing motivation as a mapping from outcomes to utilities. We suggest that habitual action selection can direct responding properly only in motivational states which pertained during behavioral training. However, in novel states, we propose that outcome-independent, global effects of the utilities can 'energize' habitual actions.     

A confederate's perspective on deception

In this article, I outline my position regarding the use of deception in psychology experiments, based on my experience as a confederate. I describe an experiment I participated in and the problems resulting from the study: subjects' differing responses to the deception; angry reactions of some subjects to the experiment; and the general discomfort of both the subjects and the confederates, in particular, who had their doubts concerning the external validity of the study and the ethics involved in running it. Issues of informed consent and debriefing are also addressed; it is argued that the success of deception depends on the subject being misinformed as to the experiment's true nature and that debriefing itself sometimes angers subjects. I encourage a decrease in the use of deception and the reexamination of a system that attempts to balance the pain of experimental participants with anticipated benefit to scientific knowledge.     

A psychoanalytic perspective on depression

A correct understanding of the role of depressive affect in triggering psychic conflict leads to a reformulation of the origins and the psychodynamics of depression as a feature of mental illness. It also raises serious question about the validity of the diagnosis of depressive illness.     

A developmental perspective on bullying

In this paper, we examined the forms and relationship contexts of bullying in adolescence. Using cross‐sectional data, we assessed grade and sex differences in self‐reports of bullying and sexually harassing peers, as well as reports of dating aggression from1896 students from early to late adolescence. Reports of bullying others were highest around the school transition, with lowest levels at the end of high school. Boys reported more bullying and sexual harassment than girls. Sexual harassment of same‐ and opposite‐sex peers increased over the early adolescent years and leveled off in later high‐school years. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of indirect or physical aggression with a dating partner. Adolescents who bullied were at increased risk for the other forms of relationship aggression. These data highlight bullying as a relationship problem and point to the need for prevention programs to curtail the use of power and aggression in adolescent relationships. Aggr. Behav. 32:376–384, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

A genetic perspective on stuttering

If one considers stuttering to be one possible outcome of a developmental and learning process, it is possible to conclude, a priori, that both environmental variation and genetic variation are likely to be involved in determining those who ever stutter and those who never stutter. Proof exists of the importance of nongenetic (environmental) variation in the etiology of stuttering; no conclusive proof exists of the involvement of genetic variation. The available evidence on the familial concentration of stuttering is compatible with hypotheses that incorporate a major genetic component. According to these hypotheses, the familiality is due to genetic transmission, and the interaction of genetic predisposition with environmental factors is affected by the individual's sex. No conclusion is yet possible on the specific type of genetic transmission.     

A tract on psychology: agency and communion in human mentation

Listed are 117 propositions, generated as beginning notes for development of theoretical understanding of agency and communion in human mentation.     

A Piagetian perspective on mathematical construction

In this paper, we offer a Piagetian perspective on the construction of the logico-mathematical schemas which embody our knowledge of logic and mathematics. Logico-mathematical entities are tied to the subject's activities, yet are so constructed by reflective abstraction that they result from sensorimotor experience only via the construction of intermediate schemas of increasing abstraction. The ‘axiom set’ does not exhaust the cognitive structure (schema network) which the mathematician thus acquires. We thus view ‘truth’ not as something to be defined within the closed ‘world’ of a formal system but rather in terms of the schema network within which the formal system is embedded. We differ from Piaget in that we see mathematical knowledge as based on social processes of mutual verification which provide an external drive to any ‘necessary dynamic’ of reflective abstraction within the individual. From this perspective, we argue that axiom schemas tied to a preferred interpretation may provide a necessary intermediate stage of reflective abstraction en route to acquisition of the ability to use formal systems in abstracto.     

A behavioral perspective on college teaching

Much of the subject matter learned in college, particularly during the first two years, is taught in relatively large classes with text and lecture as the primary source of the information being learned. If students make effective and prolonged contact with these sources, they can acquire extensive verbal repertoires in many areas of knowledge. Unfortunately there are many other activities that compete for the typical student's study time. Several factors are often cited as variables that will support study behavior in competition with other activities, but the only powerful one available to the teacher is the exam grade, as it is related to the course grade. However, unless exams are clearly related to appropriate study behavior, require through and extensive coverage of the subject matter, occur frequently (preferably no less often than once a week), and are also clearly related to the course grade, even this factor will not generate prolonged and effective study behavior. Effective college teaching is essentially a form of aversive control, but if done properly the aversiveness is quite mild, and such aversive control can be responsible for the development of large and valuable intellectual repertoires.