Remarks on the Absentminded Driver

Piccione and Rubinstein (1997) present and analyse the sequential decision problem of an “absentminded driver”. The driver's absentmindedness (imperfect recall) leads him to time-inconsistent strategy evaluations. His original evaluation gets replaced by a new one under impact of the information that the circumstances have changed, notwithstanding the fact that this change in circumstances has been expected by him all along. The time inconsistency in strategy evaluation suggests that such an agent might have reason to renege on his adopted strategy. As we shall see, however, this danger is only apparent. There is no serious problem of dynamic inconsistency in this case. My diagnosis of the case under consideration is in many respects similar to the one provided by Aumann, Hart and Perry (1997), but the analysis leading to this diagnosis is not quite the same. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Why Does Interactional Justice Promote Organizational Loyalty,Job Performance,and Prevent Mental Impairment? The Role of Social Support and Social Stressors

Using social exchange theory as a conceptual framework, we investigated the relationship between interactional justice and the outcomes organizational loyalty (affective commitment, turnover intentions), perceived job performance (self-rated performance, personal accomplishment), and mental impairment (cognitive irritation, emotional exhaustion) in an online survey of 218 employees working in the field of computer technology. Specifically, we predicted that interactional justice would heighten the quality of social exchange relationships and therefore expected perceived social support (POS) and bullying to mediate the proposed relationships. We tested our hypotheses applying a latent structural equation model. Our findings revealed that POS mediated the relationship between interactional justice and organizational loyalty, whereas bullying mediated the relationship between interactional justice and mental impairment. Practical implications are discussed concerning how to foster interactional justice and POS and how to weaken bullying behavior.     

Cognitive Therapy: Nature and Relation to Behavior Therapy – Republished Article

Recent innovations in behavior modification have, for the most part, detoured around the role of cognitive processes in the production and alleviation of symptomatology. Although self-reports of private experiences are not verifiable by other observers, these introspective data provide a wealth of testable hypotheses. Repeated correlations of measures of inferred constructs with observable behaviors have yielded consistent findings in the predicted direction.Systematic study of self-reports suggests that an individual’s belief systems, expectancies, and assumptions exert a strong influence on his state of well-being, as well as on his directly observable behavior. Applying a cognitive model, the clinician may usefully construe neurotic behavior in terms of the patient’s idiosyncratic concepts of himself and of his animate and inanimate environment. The individual’s belief systems may be grossly contradictory; i.e., he may simultaneously attach credence to both realistic and unrealistic conceptualizations of the same event or object. This inconsistency in beliefs may explain, for example, why an individual may react with fear to an innocuous situation even though he may concomitantly acknowledge that this fear is unrealistic.Cognitive therapy, based on cognitive theory, is designed to modify the individual’s idiosyncratic, maladaptive ideation. The basic cognitive technique consists of delineating the individual’s specific misconceptions, distortions, and maladaptive assumptions, and of testing their validity and reasonableness. By loosening the grip of his perseverative, distorted ideation, the patient is enabled to formulate his experiences more realistically. Clinical experience, as well as some experimental studies, indicate that such cognitive restructuring leads to symptom relief.     

Self-Reported Cognitive Inconsistency in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Insight into one's own cognitive abilities, or metacognition, has been widely studied in developmental psychology. Relevance to the clinician is high, as memory complaints in older adults show an association with impending dementia, even after controlling for likely confounds. Another candidate marker of impending dementia under study is inconsistency in cognitive performance over short time intervals. Although there has been a recent proliferation of studies of cognitive inconsistency in older adults, to date, no one has examined adults' self-perceptions of cognitive inconsistency. Ninety-four community-dwelling older adults (aged 70–91) were randomly selected from a parent longitudinal study of short-term inconsistency and long-term cognitive change in aging. Participants completed a novel 40-item self-report measure of everyday cognitive inconsistency, including parallel scales indexing perceived inconsistency 5 years ago and at present, yielding measures of past, present, and 5-year change in inconsistency. The questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric characteristics. The sample reported an increase in perceived inconsistency over time. Higher reported present inconsistency and greater 5-year increase in inconsistency were associated with noncognitive (e.g., older age, poorer ADLs, poorer health, higher depression), metacognitive (e.g., poorer self-rated memory) and neuropsychological (e.g., poorer performance and greater 5-year decline in global cognitive status, vocabulary, and memory) measures. Correlations between self-reported inconsistency and neuropsychological performance were attenuated, but largely persisted when self-rated memory and age were controlled. Observed relationships between self-reported inconsistency and measures of neuropsychological (including memory) status and decline suggest that self-perceived inconsistency may be an area of relevance in evaluating older adults for memory disorders.     

Performance variability is related to change in cognition: evidence from the Victoria Longitudinal Study

Performance variability across repeated task administrations may be an important indicator of age-related cognitive functioning. In the present investigation, the authors examined whether age differences and change in inconsistency were related to 6-year (3 occasion) cognitive change. Inconsistency scores were computed from 4 reaction time tasks performed by 446 older adults (54-89 years). Replicating previous cross-sectional results, greater inconsistency was observed for older participants even after controlling for differences in response speed. New longitudinal results demonstrated (a) associations between inconsistency at baseline measurement and 6-year change in cognitive performance; (b) longitudinal change in inconsistency; and (c) intraindividual covariation between 6-year change in inconsistency and 6-year change in level of cognitive function. These findings support the view that performance variability serves as a marker of cognitive aging.     

Social Status and Aggressiveness as Moderators of the Relationship Between Interactional Justice and Workplace Deviance

Workplace deviance is a prevalent and costly problem for organizations. This study examines the relationship between interactional justice, a specific type of organizational justice perception that reflects how a person is treated by an authority, and 2 categories of deviant behavior. Based on a person-situation model, we expected the relation between interactional justice and deviance to be stronger when the employee is high rather than low in aggressiveness. Drawing from prior research suggesting that people with low status react defensively to self-invalidating events, we hypothesized that the social status variables of hierarchical position, gender, and race would also moderate the relation between interactional justice and deviance. Finally, we propose a 3-way interaction involving aggressiveness, status, and interactional justice. Data were collected from 192 employees of a public sector organization. The results provide support for several of the hypothesized interactions involving aggressiveness, social status variables, and interactional justice.     

Three applications of functional analysis with group dynamic cognitive behavioral group therapy

Case illustrations from group dynamic cognitive behavioral group therapy are presented to demonstrate three applications of functional analysis and the resulting cognitive behavioral interventions. The principles of group dynamic cognitive behavioral group therapy are explained. A functional analysis is applied first to the problem behavior of an individual group member. A clinical case illustrates how the group members help to change this individual group member's behavior from a learning theory perspective. Next, the circular interactional problem behavior between two group members is reduced to the individual functional analysis of each of the two member's problem behaviors. It is then illustrated how the two group member's problem behaviors, as well as feedback from others, contribute toward helping to change each others behavior. The paper concludes that functional analysis and ensuing behavioral interventions can be also applied to group as a whole behavior.     

互动公正对员工绩效与主管承诺的影响及其机制

采用问卷调查法和结构方程建模技术探讨互动公正对员工绩效与主管承诺的影响及其机制。通过分析215份员工和其直接主管的配对数据,结果发现：(1)互动公正通过主管认知信任的部分中介作用正向影响员工的任务绩效,即一方面直接影响员工的任务绩效,另一方面通过认知信任间接影响员工的任务绩效;(2)互动公正通过主管情感信任的完全中介作用正向影响员工的进谏行为;(3)互动公正通过主管认知信任和情感信任的完全中介作用正向影响员工的主管承诺。     

Rationality and reasoning with metaphors

Traditional accounts of rationality typically preclude metaphorical reasoning. We review research that has highlighted the pervasiveness of metaphors in creative problem solving, jurisprudence and history of science, and argue that any account of rationality must explicitly acknowledge the ontology of representation and include an ontology-changing mechanism. From these considerations, we present an interaction-based view of cognition and examine the problem of rationality in its terms. We argue that rationality is closely related to the attitude of a cognitive agent towards incoherency—by which we do not mean internal inconsistency but operational incongruity in the external world. We conclude that though rationality permits a change of ontology, it requires a healthy respect towards the autonomous structure of the environment.     

Assessment Intervention Using the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure Test: A Clinical Illustration

Therapeutic assessment (TA) aims to affect change in a client, in part, through an in vivo intervention using any number of assessment methods during a planned assessment intervention session (AIS). To date, neuropsychological tests have not been widely used in AIS. We suggest that the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) can be a helpful tool, especially when the assessment questions pertain to cognitive functioning, owing to its complexity and the fact that it taps several different cognitive functions. To illustrate this, we present the case of Mr. B, a 45-year-old man with a childhood history of neglect and abuse who was struggling with mood and cognitive complaints in the context of identifying a satisfying career. His performance on the RCFT had illuminated his cognitive style, and an AIS was built around observing and changing his approach to problem solving in the context of a supportive relationship. Based on the intervention, he was able to reassess his narrative of cognitive dysfunction, address his problems in organization, and practice using another person for support in problem solving.     

Interactional Complexity and Communication

This paper draws attention to an oversimplification that we believe has been frequently made in the analysis of interpersonal communication. This happens when one uses interpersonal communication models that do not match the interactional complexity of the system under observation. The aim of the paper is to present some conceptual parameters (Territoriality, Temporality, Duality) of an N-adic model of communication in the effort to match the interactional complexity of the N-person games. In other words, if we accept the so-called "systems" approach, we need communication models that allow us to observe different levels of interactional complexity. The observer (the therapist) may decide on which level to take up his or her stance with reference to the particular case at hand and the goals in studying it.     

Avoiding Epistemic Hell: Levi on Pragmatism and Inconsistency

Isaac Levi has claimed that our reliance on the testimony of others, and on the testimony of the senses, commonly produces inconsistency in our set of full beliefs. This happens if what is reported is inconsistent with what we believe to be the case. Drawing on a conception of the role of beliefs in inquiry going back to Dewey, Levi has maintained that the inconsistent belief corpus is a state of ``epistemic hell'': it is useless as a basis for inquiry and deliberation. As he has also noticed, the compatibility of these two elements of his pragmatist epistemology could be called into question. For if inconsistency means hell, how can it ever be rational to enter that state, and on what basis could we attempt to regain consistency? Levi, nonetheless, has tried to show that the conflict is only apparent and that no changes of his theory are necessary. In the main part of the paper I argue, by contrast, that his attempts to reconcile these components of his view are unsuccessful.The conflict is real andthus presents a genuine threat to Deweyan pragmatism, as understood by Levi. After an attempt to pinpoint exactly where the source of the problem lies, I explore some possibilities for how to come to grips with it. I conclude that Levi can keep his fundamental thesis concerning the role of beliefs in inquiry and deliberation, provided that he (i) gives up the view that the agent can legitimately escape from inconsistency, and (ii) modifies his account of prediction alias deliberate expansion by acknowledging a third desideratum, besides probability and informational value, namely, not to cause permanent breakdown further down the line of inquiry. The result is a position which is more similar to Peter Gärdenfors's than is Levi's original theory, while retaining the basic insights of the latter.     

Does inconsistency always lead to negative affect? The influence of need for closure on affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency

We present an experiment showing that need for closure (NFC)—defined as the epistemic desire for certainty—can moderate individuals' affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency. Informed by Kruglanski and colleagues' new theory, that cognitive inconsistency elicits negative affect particularly under certain circumstances, we find that NFC (i.e. the desire for certain, stable and unambiguous knowledge) influences the strength of consistency effects and resulting negative affect. More specifically, we find that individuals who are high on NFC experience more negative affect upon encountering an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition. However, when individuals are low on NFC, inconsistency is irrelevant, and their affect depends on whether the ultimate outcome of the cognition is positive or negative. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.     

Cognitive Consistency Theory in Social Psychology: A Paradigm Reconsidered

Abstract

From the 1950s onward, psychologists have generally assumed that people possess a general need for cognitive consistency, whose frustration by an inconsistency elicits negative affect. We offer a novel perspective on this issue by introducing the distinction between epistemic and motivational impact of consistent and inconsistent cognitions. The epistemic aspect is represented by the updated expectancy of the outcome addressed in such cognitions. The motivational aspect stems from value (desirability) of that outcome. We show that neither the outcome’s value nor its updated expectancy is systematically related to cognitive consistency or inconsistency. Consequently, we question consistency’s role in the driving of affective responses and the related presumption of a universal human need for cognitive consistency.     

Phrasal Unit Boundaries and Organization of Turns and Sequences in Korean Conversation

This paper examines an aspect of the grammar-interaction interface with respect to how participants orient to intra-turn phrasal unit boundaries as a locus that has interactional import for turn and sequence organization in Korean conversation. Phrasal unit boundaries in Korean serve as a space within a turn in which the speaker of the turn in-progress invites the recipient to acknowledge the speaker's point expressed up-to-that-point and collaboratively display his/her understanding thereof. In a sequentially and topically 'ripe' context, such unit boundaries often constitute places where more active participation on the part of the recipient is invited in the form of collaborative completion in which the recipient co-constructs the primary speaker's on-going turn. Phrasal unit boundaries also provide interactional resources which the speaker may exploit to sequentially delete out a problem in talk, e.g., by a sort of tying operation in which a subsequently added phrasal unit ties back to the speaker's previous utterance to the effect that the intervening talk containing a problem is canceled out by way of being shown to have been an interruption of the speaker's turn in-progress. This practice points to an aspect of the way in which the 'agglutinative' grammatical process involving the use of phrasal units shapes interactional patterns as observed in the course of organizing turns/sequences and managing problems in talk.     

The Relationship between Everyday Problem Solving and Inconsistency in Reaction Time in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether inconsistency in reaction time (RT) is predictive of older adults' ability to solve everyday problems. A sample of 304 community dwelling non-demented older adults, ranging in age from 62 to 92, completed a measure of everyday problem solving, the Everyday Problems Test (EPT). Inconsistency in latencies across trials was assessed on four RT tasks. Performance on the EPT was found to vary according to age and cognitive status. Both mean latencies and inconsistency were significantly associated with EPT performance, such that slower and more inconsistent RTs were associated with poorer everyday problem solving abilities. Even after accounting for age, education, and mean level of performance, inconsistency in reaction time continued to account for a significant proportion of the variance in EPT scores. These findings suggest that indicators of inconsistency in RT may be of functional relevance.     

Naive misconceptions of Cooke and Breedin’s research: response to Ranney

In this paper, we respond to Ranney's (1994) comment on our paper on naive physics (Cooke & Breedin, 1994). In his comment, Ranney criticizes our methods and analyses, as well as our claims of theoretical inconsistency. In response to Ranney, we show that mast of his criticisms can be traced to several misconceptions. Some of these misconceptions seem to stem from his drawing of inappropriate similarities between his own research and ours. Specifically, ftanney seems to hall faun' misconceptions about our research: (1) the belief that trajectory responses in our study were relevant to our claims about theoretical consistency, (2) tie belief that aggregation of theoretical variations weakens claims of inconsistency, (3) the belief that the method of written reports is inferior to the method of structured interviews, and (4) the belief that our proposal of on-the-fly theorizing is at odds with temporal consistency and nonimpetus beliefs.     

All employees are equal,but some are more equal than others: dominance,agreeableness, and status inconsistency among men and women

Status inconsistency is a situation in which there is an objective or subjective mismatch between, for example, a person’s education and his/her income. This mismatch may transform into status enhancement, wherein rewards exceed one’s human capital, or into status detraction, wherein one’s human capital exceeds one’s rewards. Although status inconsistency affects employees’ attitudes and behaviours, little is known about individual differences in this variable. The current study investigates whether the relationships of agreeableness and dominance—with objective and subjective status inconsistency vary by gender. We analysed objective and subjective input and return statuses among a sample of 375 employees. We found that men who expressed a gender-non-congruent trait, namely agreeableness, experienced an objective backlash effect compared with dominant men, whereas women who expressed a gender-non-congruent trait, namely dominance, did not experience a backlash effect compared with agreeable women. In addition, our results show that agreeable employees, both men and women, perceive themselves as status-enhanced when in fact they are not. Finally, we show that objective status inconsistency mediates the relationships of agreeableness and dominance with subjective status inconsistency.     

Behind the Mirror: Reflective Listening and its Tain in the Work of Carl Rogers

Although Rogerian reflective listening is considered a fundamental therapeutic practice, it is widely misunderstood. This article endeavors to dispel myths about Rogers’ reflective approach through detailed readings of his work, while also opening up a central problematic in Rogers’ thinking. Rogers struggled repeatedly with the dilemma of how the therapist can faithfully reflect the client's experience while avoiding insincerity. The metaphor of a mirror and its tain, or back surface, is used to guide a close analysis of how Rogers grappled with the tension between the therapist's reflective listening process and his or her inner experience while reflecting. It is shown that each of Rogers’ revisions of his conceptualization of reflective listening constitutes a dialectical shift that opens a different approach to the problem of the tain, eventually concluding in an interactional formulation of reflection as the provision of tentative therapist understandings designed to be amended in response to client feedback.     

Political Consequences of Inconsistency: The Accessibility and Stability of Abortion Attitudes

This paper investigates the political consequences of inconsistency for the accessibilityand self-assessed stability of attitudes toward abortion. Two different sources of inconsistencyare examined: cognitive inconsistency between abortion attitudes and ideological identifications,and social inconsistency between individual abortion attitudes and the attitudes of others withinthese individuals' networks of association. The data analyzed are drawn from theresponses of 2,174 registered voters in a 1996 election survey that used computer-assistedtelephone interviewing (which enabled measurement of response latencies). The analysis focusedon the relationships among the accessibility, self-assessed stability, and extremity of abortionattitudes; the consequences of cognitive inconsistency for the accessibility and self-assessedstability of abortion attitudes; and the consequences of socially inconsistent abortion attitudes forthe accessibility and stability of abortion attitudes.