What drives the organization of object knowledge in the brain?

Various forms of category-specificity have been described at both the cognitive and neural levels, inviting the inference that different semantic domains are processed by distinct, dedicated mechanisms. In this paper, we argue for an extension of a domain-specific interpretation to these phenomena that is based on network-level analyses of functional coupling among brain regions. On this view, domain-specificity in one region of the brain emerges because of innate connectivity with a network of regions that also process information about that domain. Recent findings are reviewed that converge with this framework, and a new direction is outlined for understanding the neural principles that shape the organization of conceptual knowledge.     

What if ideal advice conflicts? A dilemma for idealizing accounts of normative practical reasons

Philosophical Studies - One of the deepest and longest-lasting debates in ethics concerns a version of the Euthyphro question: are choiceworthy things choiceworthy because agents have certain...     

Who helps and harms whom? Relational antecedents of interpersonal helping and harming in organizations

Antecedents of interpersonally directed forms of citizenship and counterproductive behaviors (i.e., interpersonal helping and harming, respectively) have been studied most often under the broad categories of individual differences and job attitudes. Although these behaviors often are exhibited within the confines of interpersonal relationships, the impact of relationship quality and context on such behaviors has been understudied. The present study uses a social networks framework to examine the relational antecedents of interpersonal helping and harming in a sample of 62 members of a college sorority house. Results indicate that relational variables--direct, third-party, and structural or positional characteristics of positive and negative affective networks, and the frequency of voluntary interaction--explain substantial incremental variance (beyond traditional predictors) in helping and harming. Moreover, helping and harming were themselves weakly positively interrelated. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

What drives car use? A grounded theory analysis of commuters’ reasons for driving

A grounded theory analysis of reasons for driving to work was undertaken following semi-structured interviews with 19 regular private car commuters in a small English city. Five core motives were identified: journey time concerns; journey-based affect; effort minimisation; personal space concerns; and monetary costs. An underlying desire for control underpinned many of these motives. The analysis revealed misconceptions regarding journey times and control in relation to car and public transport use, systematic underestimation of car-related monetary costs, and the importance of self- and identity-relevant consequences in relation to transport policy acceptance. Drivers’ motives and misconceptions are discussed in light of transport demand management policies.     

Are math readiness and personality predictive of first-year retention in engineering?

On the basis of J. G. Borkowski, L. K. Chan, and N. Muthukrishna's model of academic success (2000), the present authors hypothesized that freshman retention in an engineering program would be related to not only basic aptitude but also affective factors. Participants were 129 college freshmen with engineering as their stated major. Aptitude was measured by SAT verbal and math scores, high school grade-point average (GPA), and an assessment of calculus readiness. Affective factors were assessed by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (FFI; P. I. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 2007), and the Nowicki-Duke Locus of Control (LOC) scale (S. Nowicki & M. Duke, 1974). A binary logistic regression analysis found that calculus readiness and high school GPA were predictive of retention. Scores on the Neuroticism and Openness subscales from the NEO-FFI and LOC were correlated with retention status, but Openness was the only affective factor with a significant unique effect in the binary logistic regression. Results of the study lend modest support to Borkowski's model.     

What drives self-affirmation effects? On the importance of differentiating value affirmation and attribute affirmation

In a series of studies, it is demonstrated that different types of self-affirmation procedures produce different effects. Affirming personally important values (value affirmation) increases self-clarity but not self-esteem. Affirming positive qualities of the self (attribute affirmation) increases self-esteem but not self-clarity (Study 1). As a consequence, attribute affirmation (which increases self-esteem) is more effective than value affirmation as a buffer against self-depreciating social comparison information. Attribute-affirmed participants more readily accept the self-evaluative consequences of threatening upward social comparisons than do value-affirmed participants (Study 2). However, value affirmation (which increases self-clarity) is a more effective buffer against dissonance threats. Value-affirmed participants showed less attitude change after writing a counterattitudinal essay than attribute-affirmed participants (Study 3).     

What did I eat yesterday? Determinants of accuracy in 24-hour food memories

Large-scale diet-related epidemiological work relies on the quality of self-reported food consumption. As this epidemiological work forms the basis of knowledge of the relationship of diet to disease, it is essential that the self-reports of personal diet are understood. It is generally accepted that foods consumed are under-reported, even over as short a period as 24 hours. However, little is known about the potential systematic biases that may affect the quality of self-reported food intake. The current study examines the accuracy of memories of the consumption of snack foods eaten in the previous 24 hours and investigates factors that may bias these memories. All participants had previously participated in a randomized intervention trial to lower dietary fat intake to 20 per cent of calories. Fifty-six women (intervention and control) tasted eight snack foods in a laboratory setting. They were telephoned a day later and asked to recall the type of snack foods (M&Ms, pretzels, etc.) and the quantity of each food they consumed. Subjects in general under-reported the number of selections and the quantity of each item consumed. Women who accurately recalled an item, reported more liking for that item compared to those who forgot the item. Women currently maintaining a low-fat diet were less accurate in their recall of low-fat items than women on a high-fat diet. Low-fat eaters, however, may be slightly better at recalling how much of certain foods they consumed. Results have implications for survey research and understanding the psychological influences on reports of food consumption used in large-scale diet studies.     

Rats respond for food in the presence of free food: How free is the “free” food?

An experiment conducted by A.J. Neuringer (Science, 1969,166, 399–401) in which he reported that rats maintained appreciable levels of bar pressing for earned food in the presence of freely available food was critically examined and replicated. Rats were trained to bar press, then housed in operant chambers and administered a 15-day preference test between free and earned food, followed successively by 10 days of free food only, a second 6-day preference test, and 7 days of earned food only. Throughout the experiment half of the animals were provided with tall free-food containers similar to those used by Neuringer; the other half were provided with short containers similar to those more commonly employed by other researchers. The former animals showed a consistent propensity to bar press for earned food across both preference tests, while the latter animals showed only an initial propensity to bar press which subsequently declined to very low levels. These results indicate that the maintenance of significant amounts of bar pressing by the rats in Neuringer's report was due to the relatively more effortful free-food source he employed. The utility of a neophobia-optimality model in explaining the present data is discussed.     

Organization and predictive power of general and relationship-specific attachment models: one for all, and all for one?

Given recent evidence for multiple attachment models, we examined the organization and predictive power of general and relationship-specific attachment representations in two samples using two distinct measures of attachment models. With regard to associations among relationship-specific models, peer models (romantic partner and friend) and parental models (mother and father) were more similar to each other than to any other models, and anxiety/self-model representations were more consistent across relationships than avoidance/other-model representations. With regard to links between general and specific models, romantic and friend models made the strongest and independent contributions to general models, and romantic relationship involvement moderated the importance of romantic models to general models. With regard to differential predictive power of multiple models, general, romantic partner, and mother attachment made unique contributions to well-being indicators; relationship outcomes, however, were only predicted by individuals' corresponding relationship-specific models. Implications for the measurement and conceptualization of adult attachment are discussed.     

“What Makes a Cooperative Driver?” Identifying parameters of implicit and explicit forms of communication in a lane change scenario

An automated vehicle needs to learn how human road users communicate with each other in order to avoid misunderstandings and prevent giving a negative outward image during interactions. The aim of the present work is to develop an autonomous driving system which communicates its intentions to change lanes based on implicit and explicit rules used by human drivers. To reach this goal, we aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of which aspects of lane change behaviour makes them cooperative from the perspective of other drivers. Therefore a vehicle used various lane change announcement strategies by varying combinations of driving parameters in a static driving simulator. (First study: Start indicator signal, Waittime, lane change duration; Second study: Longitudinal acceleration). It’s impact on the perception and behaviour of other road users was observed in two studies (N = 25 per study). The results showed that the earlier the merging vehicle was indicating its intentions, the more cooperative it was perceived. When turning on the indicator at a later time participants considered it as more cooperative to merge with a slower or faster lane change duration or to wait longer in the lane before starting to move to the other lane. An early longitudinal acceleration when starting to change lanes is perceived more cooperative. These findings can be used to model a lane change strategy based on human behaviour, which will eventually lead to more acceptable and safer interactions between automated and non-automated road users.     

What should allies do? Identifying activist perspectives on the role of white allies in the struggle for racial justice in the United States

The present research examined the perspectives of both White and Black racial justice activists on the roles of White allies in the struggle for justice for Black people in the United States. Study 1 used Q methodology, a mixed-methods approach, which identified four distinct perspectives about the role of White allies from a sample of activists (33 White and 22 Black Americans): (1) mobilize to support Black leadership, (2) interpersonal activism, (3) avoid dominating Black people's efforts, and (4) lifelong learning. In Study 2, we interviewed activists (22 White and 12 Black Americans) to understand their evaluation of, and preference for, each of perspective identified in Study 1. Thematic analyses showed that each perspective had its pros and cons regarding considerations of how to best use ingroup advantages without dominating the movement. Our findings contribute to our understanding of potential tensions in solidarity-based social movements.     

“What’s your definition of dirty,baby?”: Sex in music video

As sexuality in music video becomes more intense and more frequent, it requires more attention by scholars. This essay summarizes the findings of two decades’ worth of research on music video, most of which focuses on sexual and violent content in the videos. In addition, we suggest a typology of how sexuality is indicated and used by artists—especially female artists—to define their images and attract audiences.     

What drives horse success at following human-given cues? An investigation of handler familiarity and living conditions

Animal Cognition - Cues such as the human pointing gesture, gaze or proximity to an object are widely used in behavioural studies to evaluate animals’ abilities to follow human-given cues....     

What is non-fregean in the semantics of Wittgenstein'sTractatus and why?

From J.M. Bocheski's Rady starego filozofa [Advice of the old philosopher]: 6. Pytaj sie Zawsze (i) co to znaczy? i (ii) dlaczego? [Ask always (i) what does it mean? and (ii) why?]     

Is interpersonal and institutional e‐trustworthiness equally important in consumer e‐trust development? Implications for consumers' e‐trust building behaviours

Trust is a widely studied phenomenon across numerous disciplines. E‐trust researchers have conducted a vast number of studies, but despite extensive interest in the issue, there are only few studies that concentrate on how consumers build e‐trust. Furthermore, consumer e‐trust is seen to be a function of both interpersonal and institutional e‐trustworthiness, but only limited number of attempts have been conducted to study the relative importance of interpersonal and institutional e‐trustworthiness in consumer e‐trust development process. The present article seeks to improve this situation by studying how consumers' perceived interpersonal and institutional e‐trustworthiness influence their intention to build e‐trust. The results of the study suggest that consumers build e‐trust actively, and the development of e‐trust is not only based on trustees' behaviour. Moreover, the results indicate that interpersonal e‐trustworthiness is more important than institutional e‐trustworthiness in consumers' e‐trust building. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How can mindfulness be promoted? Workload and recovery experiences as antecedents of daily fluctuations in mindfulness

While previous work on mindfulness has focused predominantly on the benefits of mindfulness and of mindfulness interventions, the present article addresses the question of how natural experiences of mindfulness can be promoted in the context of work. Accordingly, this article sheds light on day‐to‐day fluctuations in workload and recovery experiences (psychological detachment and sleep quality) as antecedents of state mindfulness. Furthermore, this study extends extant research that has documented beneficial effects of mindfulness on subsequent recovery experiences by arguing that the relationship between mindfulness and recovery experiences is reciprocal rather than unidirectional. Using an experience‐sampling design across five workdays and involving three daily measurement occasions, we found that sleep quality and workload were related to subsequent levels of mindfulness. While not displaying a significant direct relationship with mindfulness, psychological detachment was indirectly related to mindfulness via sleep quality. Fatigue was identified as an important mechanism explaining these relationships. Furthermore, findings confirmed that the relationship between mindfulness and recovery experiences is reciprocal rather than unidirectional. Taken together, this study contributes to an enriched understanding of the role of mindfulness in organizations by shedding light on factors that precede the experience of mindfulness and by pointing to the existence of gain spirals associated with recovery experiences and mindfulness.

Practitioner points

• Organizations seeking to promote mindfulness among their workforce should try to keep workload to a manageable degree.
• Organizations may also pay attention to care for employees' day‐to‐day recovery as it has been shown to facilitate mindfulness.

     

What is the relationship between ideas in the human mind and ideas in the mind of God for Spinoza?

The relation between ideas in the human mind and ideas in the mind of God in Spinoza is problematic because it is often expressed in obscure language and because Spinoza seems to be making puzzling and contradictory statements about it. I try to eliminate the problem by going from the idea that God has of himself to his idea of the essence and existence of the human mind and the human body. I then go from the idea of the essence of the human mind to the idea of the essence of other things, including God.     

What Happens in Therapy? Adolescents’ Expectations and Perceptions of Psychotherapy

A measure of adolescent pre-treatment expectations/perceptions of psychotherapy was developed, evaluated, and used to examine adolescent expectancies of psychotherapy. The development of the Psychotherapy Expectations and Perceptions Inventory (PEPI) is described and initial psychometric properties reported. Utilizing a sample of adolescents (N = 546), expectancies of psychotherapy were assessed using the PEPI. Results indicate adequate internal consistency and a 3 factor structure. Specifically, factors identified were labeled (1) measuring negative expectancies, (2) process/outcome expectancies, and (3) expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Boys reported greater negative expectancies, but also greater expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Girls reported greater therapy process/outcome expectancies. Prior contact with mental illness was not related to any studied factors. Clinicians may benefit from assessing adolescent expectancies to facilitate rapport and engagement in the therapy to foster more therapeutic change. Future research that examines the relationships between specific demographic characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, etc.) and service utilization variables among adolescents is warranted.