Spatial learning and memory in the tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria)

A single tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria) was trained in an eight-arm radial maze, with the apparatus and general procedures modeled on those used to demonstrate spatial learning in rats. The tortoise learned to perform reliably above chance, preferentially choosing baited arms, rather than returning to arms previously visited on a trial. Test sessions that examined control by olfactory cues revealed that they did not affect performance. No systematic, stereotyped response patterns were evident. In spite of differences in brain structure, the tortoise showed spatial learning abilities comparable to those observed in mammals.     

Metacognitive therapy in recurrent depression: A case replication series in Denmark

Metacognitive therapy (MCT) for depression is derived from the Wells and Matthews (1994) self‐regulatory model, in which a Cognitive‐Attentional Syndrome (CAS) is the cause of psychological disorders. MCT for depression focuses on identifying patients' CAS and helps them to stop it. The CAS consists of worry, rumination and dysfunctional coping strategies. The focus in MCT is on removing the CAS by challenging positive and negative metacognitive beliefs and eliminating dysfunctional behaviors. In this case series, MCT was delivered to four depressed Danes and treatment was evaluated in 5–11 sessions of up to one hour each. An A‐B design with follow‐up at 3 and 6 months was conducted and the primary outcome was Beck's Depression Inventory II (BDI‐II). We measured CAS processes with the Major depressive Disorder Scale (MDD‐S). The results of the case series showed clinically significant improvements in depressive symptoms, rumination and metacognitive beliefs and the effects were still present at follow‐up for all patients. The small number of patients and decreasing baselines observed in some cases limits the conclusions. However, the results suggest that this treatment is feasible and was associated with large improvements in symptoms when delivered away from its point of origin and in a Danish help‐seeking sample.     

Why do Managers Engage in Trustworthy Behavior? A Multilevel Cross‐Cultural Study in 18 Countries

Drawing on theories of generalized exchange and the norm of indirect reciprocity, we conceptualize subordinates’ organizational citizenship behavior directed toward the organization (OCBO) and directed toward peers (OCBI) as antecedents of managerial trustworthy behavior and examine how managers’ affective trust in subordinates mediates this relationship. We also investigate the extent to which this mediation is moderated by the level of collectivism in a society. Data were collected from 741 managers and 2,111 subordinates in 18 countries representing all major cultural regions of the world. We find support for our hypothesized moderated mediation in that managers’ affective trust in subordinates mediates the relationships between both subordinates’ OCBO and managerial trustworthy behavior, and subordinates’ OCBI and managerial trustworthy behavior across the different countries studied. Further, managers’ affective trust in subordinates only mediates the relationships between both types of citizenship behavior and managerial trustworthy behavior when collectivism is low to medium but not when it is high. Implications for research on cross‐cultural psychology, trust, and organizational citizenship behavior are discussed.     

Presentism and Diversity in the History of Psychology

Providing an entry on the history of psychology for the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia has proved to be more problematic than one might expect. In particular, someone who goes under the internet name, ‘Jagged_85’ inserted claims to the effect that most of the major developments in the history of psychology have their origins in the medieval Arab world. Similar claims and at least one attempt to challenge those claims have appeared in the professional literature. A special issue of the online newsletter, Advances in the History of Psychology devoted to this topic has also appeared under the title, “Presentism in the Service of Diversity?” The term, “presentism” has several meanings but it usually refers to projecting the views of the present onto the past instead of making a serious attempt to understand how historical figures themselves understood the world. The present paper endorses the view that the claims of authors like ‘Jagged_85’ constitute presentism in the usual sense of the term. It also offers suggestions for how diversity without this type of presentism might be achieved.