Perceived Emotional Intelligence,Stress Reactivity,and Symptom Reports: Further Explorations Using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale

We examined the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence (PEI), measured by the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), and psychophysiological measures of adaptive coping. The TMMS assesses perceived ability to (a) attend to moods (Attention), (b) discriminate clearly among moods (Clarity), and (c) regulate moods (Repair). Study 1 showed significant positive associations between PEI and psychological and interpersonal functioning. In Study 2, skill at mood Repair was associated with less passive coping and perceptions of repeated laboratory stressors as less threatening; Clarity was related to greater increases in negative mood, but lower cortisol release during repeated stress. In Study 3, Repair was associated with active coping and lower levels of rumination; Attention was associated with lowered cortisol and blood pressure responses to acute laboratory challenges. These findings suggest that psychophysiological responses to stress may be one potential mechanism underlying the relationship between emotional functioning and health.     

Learning procedures and goal specificity in learning and problem-solving tasks

This experiment set out to examine the influence of two task variables (instructional procedure and goal specificity) on learning and problem-solving performance. A 2 × 2 between-subjects design was used. Twenty-four undergraduate students were asked to think aloud as they learned eight Word for Windows text editing operations, each implemented as a keyboard shortcut. Two instructional procedures were used, instructions presented either as lists or as paired statements. ''List'' groups required fewer trials than ''pairs'' groups to learn the operations, and relied more extensively upon rehearsal procedures, while ''pairs'' groups tended to use elaborative inference more frequently. Analyses of problem-solving solution times revealed no differences between the groups, although the no-goal groups tended to complete the tasks faster than the goal groups. Verbal protocols indicated that ''list'' groups tended to rely upon phonological cues to recover operation names, and made more phonological errors in recovering operation names. ''Pairs'' groups recalled more about the functions of the operations than the ''list'' groups. We conclude that different instructional procedures may lead to subtle, but important, differences in how information is encoded, represented, and recovered, and that individuals who perform to similar standards may not share the same understanding of the task in question.     

The role of cue familiarity in adults’ strategy choices for simple addition

Are adults’ decisions to use direct memory retrieval for simple addition influenced by the familiarity of problem operands? We manipulated the familiarity of a subset of operands by having adults repeatedly practise specific additions (two+five=?; Experiment 1) or magnitude comparisons (two five, choose the larger; Experiment 2). Both experiments provided evidence that pre-exposure to single-digit operands increased reported use of direct retrieval for new combinations of the familiarised operands. RT and error patterns across experiments also supported the conclusion that increased use of retrieval facilitated performance. These results show that operand familiarity potentially plays a significant role in adults’ strategy choices for simple addition.     

Schema Theory: A Critical Appraisal and Reevaluation

The authors replicated and extended results from the gunfight paradigm (A. Welchman, J. Stanley, M. Schomers, R. Miall, & H. Bulthoff, 2010a) in which participants moved faster when reacting to the perceived initiation of an opponent compared to initiating an action themselves. In addition to replicating these movement time effects, the authors found that time to peak velocity, peak velocity, and movement-endpoint dispersions were similarly impacted. The findings are discussed in terms of a triggering mechanism involved in ballistic and internally generated movements.     

Sex and Age Differences in the Risk Threshold for Delinquency

This study examines sex differences in the risk threshold for adolescent delinquency. Analyses were based on longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (n?=?503) and the Pittsburgh Girls Study (n?=?856). The study identified risk factors, promotive factors, and accumulated levels of risks as predictors of delinquency and nondelinquency, respectively. The risk thresholds for boys and girls were established at two developmental stages (late childhood: ages 10–12 years, and adolescence: ages 13–16 years) and compared between boys and girls. Sex similarities as well as differences existed in risk and promotive factors for delinquency. ROC analyses revealed only small sex differences in delinquency thresholds, that varied by age. Accumulative risk level had a linear relationship with boys’ delinquency and a quadratic relationship with girls’ delinquency, indicating stronger effects for girls at higher levels of risk.     

Differentiation and infinitesimal relatives in peirce’s 1870 paper on logic: A new interpretation

The process of ‘logical differentiation’ was introduced by Peirce in 1870. Directly analogous to mathematical differentiation, it uses logical terms instead of mathematical variables. Here, this mysterious process receives new interpretations which serve to clarify Peirce’s use of logical terms. I introduce the logical terms, the operation of multiplication, the logical analogy to the binomial theorem, infinitesimal relatives, the concepts of numerical coefficients and the number associated with each term. I also analyse the algebraic development of ‘logical differentiation’ and consider in depth one application of the process     

Domain‐based perceptions of risk: a case study of lay and technical community attitudes toward managed aquifer recharge

Despite growing water scarcity, communities in many parts of the developed world often reject technically and economically sound options for water augmentation. This paper reports findings from a study investigating risk perceptions associated with a proposed managed aquifer recharge scheme in Australia. Q Methodology was used to compare decision‐making frameworks of lay community and “technical expert” participants. Technical expert participants were also asked to approximate the decision‐making framework of a “typical” community member. The emerging contrasts between lay community frameworks and those approximated by technical experts suggest that there are prevailing yet errant assumptions about lay community attitudes toward new technologies. The findings challenge the characterization of the lay community and technical experts as being in entrenched opposition with one another.     

Pleasure,Freedom and Grace: Schiller's “Completion” of Kant's Ethics∗

Sidgwick argued that utilitarianism was not rationally required because it could not be shown that a utilitarian theory of practical reason was better justified than a rival egoist theory of practical reason: there is a ‘dualism of practical reason’ between utilitarianism and egoism. In this paper, it is demonstrated that the dualism argument also applies to Kant's moral theory, the moral law. A prudential theory that is parallel to the moral law is devised, and it is argued that the moral law is no better justified than this prudential theory. So the moral law is not rationally required. It is suggested that the dualism argument is a completely general argument that ethics cannot be rationally required.     

A Case Study Exploring the Influence of a Gardening Therapy Group on Well-Being

In a climate of improving health-care quality and understanding, this study explored how participation in a gardening group, facilitated through a mental health service in Ireland, influenced well-being. A case study used semi-structured interviews and participant observation to explore explicit and tacit aspects of group participation. Thematic analysis clarified that gardening group participation had a positive influence on well-being for all gardeners and group facilitators. This was through promoting coping, facilitating change, and developing skills. The setting, site ethos and tasks were important in assisting people to make lifestyle changes and to develop skills in order to experience well-being.