Anticipating the consequences of social behavior

Some forms of psychological theory explain behavior in part by its consequences. The consequences are called reinforcing if the behavior is strengthened; punishing if the behavior is weakened. Through repetition, the consequences eventually become generalized or anticipated. While social psychology has used consequences extensively in its manipulations, this has been implicit rather than explicit. This paper reviews ten such manipulations over ten areas of social psychology for the first time and shows how implicit consequences can determine social behavior. The problems with executing and interpreting these manipulations are extensively discussed. It is concluded that the notion of “anticipating the consequences of social behavior” can bring unity to many areas of social psychology and provide a sound motivational basis.     

Anticipating the Societal Challenges of Nanotechnologies

“In this article we sketch out the landscape for this Special Issue on anticipating and embedding the societal challenge of nanotechnologies. Tools that actors may choose to employ for these processes are articulated, and further explored through the introduction of the seven articles which comprise this Issue. Taken together, these articles create a cogent narrative on the societal challenges posed by nanotechnologies. They are drawn together by three distinct themes, each of which is briefly considered within this context of this Introductory article”.     

略论职业资格刑的缺失——以卫生法为视角

在三鹿奶粉等卫生刑事案件中,以"自由刑+财产刑"为主要刑罚适用模式,由于职业资格刑的缺位,反映出我国资格刑制度存在重刑化倾向、财产刑的刑罚遏制力有限、刑事责任与行政责任的角色错位等问题.应设立独立的职业资格刑制度,对"职业资格"这种犯罪工具,予以剥夺、限制.     

Exploring the Repeated Name Penalty and the Overt Pronoun Penalty in Spanish

Anaphoric expressions such as repeated names, overt pronouns, and null pronouns serve a major role in the creation and maintenance of discourse coherence. The felicitous use of an anaphoric expression is highly dependent on the discourse salience of the entity introduced by the antecedent. Gordon et al. (Cogn Sci 17:311–347, 1993) showed that, in English, sentences containing repeated names were read more slowly than corresponding sentences containing pronouns when the antecedent of the anaphoric expression was the subject of the previous sentence. This effect was dubbed the Repeated Name Penalty (RNP), and it was further found that this processing delay is eliminated if the antecedent of the anaphoric expression is the object of the previous sentence. The RNP was later extended to Mandarin Chinese (Yang et al. in Lang Cogn Process 14:715–743, 1999) and to Spanish (Gelormini-Lezama and Almor in Lang Cogn Process 26(3):437–454, 2011), which suggests that this might be a universal phenomenon. Moreover, the Spanish results showed an additional effect: sentences containing overt pronouns were read more slowly than corresponding sentences containing null pronouns when the antecedent of the anaphoric expression was the subject of the previous sentence. This effect was dubbed the Overt Pronoun Penalty (OPP) and, like the original RNP, the effect is also eliminated if the antecedent is in object position (Gelormini-Lezama and Almor 2011; Gordon et al. 1993). The similarity of the RNP and the OPP in Spanish suggests that these two processing phenomena might be caused by the same underlying principles. This paper is a critical review of the literature on these processing delays in Spanish and an attempt to integrate the data in a unified framework. Specifically, and following pragmatic explanations like the Informational Load Hypothesis (Almor in Psychol Rev 106:748–765, 1999), the RNP and OPP in Spanish can be understood as superficial manifestations of an imbalance between processing cost and discourse function.     

Cognitive tuning sets: Anticipating the consequences of communication

This paper reviews the literature on cognitive tuning sets: the expectations of having to transmit or receive information. It is shown that having to transmit information leads to a unified and distorted summary being transmitted, a reluctance to receive additional information, a rejection of inconsistent information, and a shaping of the material to accommodate the anticipated audience. As well, the opinions of the transmitters become polarized. It is argued that the receiver condition is probably not the correct control group to use since the outcome depends on the uncontrolled perceived goals. It is suggested that future research should probably treat the multiple effects of cognitive tuning sets separately. An integrated explanation is given in terms of anticipating the consequences of communication. This work was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Scheme.     

Cognitive tuning sets: Anticipating the consequences of communication

This paper reviews the literature on cognitive tuning sets: the expectations of having to transmit or receive information. It is shown that having to transmit information leads to a unified and distorted summary being transmitted, a reluctance to receive additional information, a rejection of inconsistent information, and a shaping of the material to accommodate the anticipated audience. As well, the opinions of the transmitters become polarized. It is argued that the receiver condition is probably not the correct control group to use since the outcome depends on the uncontrolled perceived goals. It is suggested that future research should probably treat the multiple effects of cognitive tuning sets separately. An integrated explanation is given in terms of anticipating the consequences of communication. This work was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Scheme.     

The Repeated Name Penalty,the Overt Pronoun Penalty,and Topic in Japanese

When reading sentences with an anaphoric reference to a subject antecedent, repeated-name anaphors result in slower reading times relative to pronouns (the Repeated Name Penalty: RNP), and overt pronouns are read slower than null pronouns (the Overt Pronoun Penalty: OPP). Because in most languages previously tested, the grammatical subject is typically also the discourse topic it remains unclear whether these effects reflect anaphors’ subject-hood or their topic-hood. To address this question we conducted a self-paced reading experiment in Japanese, a language which morphologically marks both subjects and topics overtly. Our results show that both repeated-name topic-subject anaphors and repeated-name non-topic-subject anaphors exhibit the RNP and that both overt-pronoun topic-subject and overt-pronoun non-topic-subject anaphors show the OPP. However, a detailed examination of performance revealed an interaction between the anaphor topic marking, reference form, and the antecedent’s grammatical status, indicating that the effect of the antecedent’s grammatical status is strongest for null pronoun and repeated name subject anaphors and that the overt form most similar to null pronouns is the repeated name topic anaphor. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of anaphor processing.     

Anticipating seizure: pre-reflective experience at the center of neuro-phenomenology

The purpose of this paper is to show through the concrete example of epileptic seizure anticipation how neuro-dynamic analysis (using new mathematical tools to detect the dynamic structure of the neuro-electric activity of the brain) and "pheno-dynamic" analysis (using new interview techniques to detect the pre-reflective dynamic micro-structure of the corresponding subjective experience) may guide and determine each other. We will show that this dynamic approach to epileptic seizure makes it possible to consolidate the foundations of a cognitive non pharmacological therapy of epilepsy. We will also show through this example how the neuro-phenomenological co-determination could shed new light on the difficult problem of the "gap" which separates subjective experience from neurophysiological activity.     

The Direction of Causation and the Direction of Time

It is, it seems, a fundamental fact that the future is due to the present, or, more mildly, is affected by the present, but the past is not. What does this mean? It is not clear and, if we try to make it clear, it turns into nonsense or a definition…     

Anticipating the Self: Toward a Personal Construct Model of Emotion

Previous accounts of the role of emotion in construct theory place insufficient emphasis on the constructive role of emotion as a “feeling toward.” Emotion is regarded either as an epiphenomenon of acts of construal or as an outcome of prior cognitive processes. It is argued in this paper that emotion performs an anticipatory role in pursuit of the current concerns of the self, a view that follows from a closer analysis of the function of anticipation. A revision of the control systems theory of Carver and Scheier (1981) is proposed, in which emotional anticipation at the level of the self is distinguished from schema-based anticipation at the level of behavior. Given the framework of personal construct theory as a method of analysis, this revised view of emotion enables a range of self-concept processes to be better understood.     

Form and formless: A discussion with the authors of Anticipating China

Chinese culture is neither the first problematic thinking (analogy) claimed by the authors of Anticipating China, nor the second one (logical inference). On the one hand, analogies are one of the most remarkable aspects of Chinese thinking, while on the other hand, Yin-Yang, Dao and Fo are all universal codes that could neither be reached by analogy nor by logical inference. In fact, both the first and second problematic thinking share the same world view, taking the world as a composite, and the difference lies merely in whether the components are irreplaceable particulars or substitutable elements. Both build their knowledge on the components and how they combine. In the terms of this paper, both systems are constructed with spatially definable forms, real or nominal. The highest codes in Chinese culture are not built upon the physical properties of an object, and could never be found by analysing the object, physically or logically. Yin-Yang, Dao and Fo are names without form, and thus are thinking modes that cannot be described by a spatial concept. They are non-structural systems and a way of formless thinking.     

中央线索化对动态范式中基于客体的返回抑制的影响

采用3×2×3的混合实验设计,考察了三种线索-靶子呈现时间间隔条件下,中央线索化对动态范式中“基于客体的返回抑制”的影响。结果表明,在外周方框旋转同时或旋转停止后中央线索化时,出现了“基于客体的返回抑制”效应,但在外周方框旋转之前中央线索化时,“基于客体的返回抑制”效应却消失了。这说明中央线索化对动态范式中的“基于客体的返回抑制”有着重要的影响,也为动态范式中“基于客体的返回抑制”的空间位置抑制动态更新说提供了新的证据。     

Lateral asymmetries in the development of the overarm throw

Lateral asymmetries of manual, pedal, and ocular preferences, and motor asymmetry in the performance of the forceful overarm throw were analyzed in 71 children aged 4 to 10 years old. Performance with each side of the body was assessed on the basis of qualitative analysis, as proposed by M. A. Roberton and L. Halverson (1984) for identification of developmental stages by components of the task. Lateral preference was indicated by the frequency the children used the right or the left side of their body to carry out different manual, pedal, and ocular tasks. The overarm throw movement pattern was developed with both sides of the body but at different levels. Development of the nondominant side lagged behind that of the dominant side at all ages; a significant asymmetry in performance detected in the 4-year-olds was stable up to the age of 10 years. Indices of asymmetry for lateral preference and performance were found to be specific because no consistent correlations were observed among them throughout the age periods studied. Those results show the multidimensional character of human laterality and imply a property of motor development that prevents asymmetry of performance from increasing because of unilateral practice.     

Genetic Testing of Children for Predisposition to Mood Disorders: Anticipating the Clinical Issues

Large-scale sequencing information may provide a basis for genetic tests for predisposition to common disorders. In this study, participants in the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative (N?=?53) with a personal and/or family history of Major Depressive Disorder or Bipolar Disorder were interviewed based on the Health Belief Model around hypothetical intention to test one’s children for probability of developing a mood disorder. Most participants (87 %) were interested in a hypothetical test for children that had high (“90 %”) positive predictive value, while 51 % of participants remained interested in a modestly predictive test (“20 %”). Interest was driven by beliefs about effects of test results on parenting behaviors and on discrimination. Most participants favored testing before adolescence (64 %), and were reluctant to share results with asymptomatic children before adulthood. Participants anticipated both positive and negative effects of testing on parental treatment and on children’s self-esteem. Further investigation will determine whether these findings will generalize to other complex disorders for which early intervention is possible but not clearly demonstrated to improve outcomes. More information is also needed about the effects of childhood genetic testing and sharing of results on parent–child relationships, and about the role of the child in the decision-making process.     

Attentional Tracking in the Perception of Apparent Motion: Evidence from Sequential Blanking Displays

Perception of sequential blanking displays was studied in a series of three experiments investigating factors that influence whether “shadow motion” or “item motion” is seen in a display. In addition to the duration of the blanking interval (BI) itself, three other such factors were identified: the eccentricity at which the display is viewed, the spacing of items in the display, and the type of motion that subjects are instructed to try to see. It is argued that these and other previously reported results are explicable without the need to invoke any kind of visual integration period. Instead, they are interpreted in terms of a first-order system of automatic luminance detectors and a second-order tracking system involving both voluntary and involuntary attention. The relationship of these findings to other recent work in apparent motion and visual attention and to other bistable motion displays is discussed.