Manipulations that disrupt generative processes decrease conformity to examples: Evidence from two paradigms

Participants in six experiments viewed experimenter‐provided examples of space creatures (Experiments 1–3) or nonwords (Experiments 4–5b) and then created their own novel space creatures or nonwords. Consistent with previous research, people borrowed many of the features found in the examples despite instructions to avoid using any aspects of the experimenter's examples. However, requiring people to include a designated shape in their space creatures or a designated letter in their nonwords attenuated this effect. Additionally, the type of shape or letter (conventional versus unconventional) also affected conformity. These results suggest that the strategies that people use to create novel products can affect the level of conformity and also highlight the importance of adopting unconventional, or at the very least, new strategies when creating new products.     

Goal pursuit,goal self-concordance,and the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge

Recent theory suggests that personal goals influence the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge. We suggest that this effect is moderated by goal self-concordance: the extent to which a goal is pursued for autonomous rather than controlling reasons. Cueing paradigms were used to measure the accessibility of autobiographical knowledge relating to (i) goals that participants were and were not pursuing, and (ii) currently pursued goals that were high and low in self-concordance. As predicted, autobiographical knowledge relating to currently pursued goals was more accessible than autobiographical knowledge relating to non-pursued goals. General event knowledge relating to self-concordant goals was more accessible than general event knowledge relating to non-self-concordant goals, but a corresponding relationship did not emerge for event-specific knowledge.     

The future-orientation of memory: Planning as a key component mediating the high levels of recall found with survival processing

In a series of papers, Nairne and colleagues have demonstrated that tasks encouraging participants to judge words for relevance to survival led to better recall than did tasks lacking survival relevance. Klein, Robertson, and Delton (2010) presented data suggesting that the future-directed temporal orientation of the survival task (e.g., planning), rather than survival per se, accounts for the good recall found with the task. In the present studies we manipulated the amount of survival and planning processing encouraged by a set of encoding tasks. Participants performed tasks that encouraged processing stimuli for their relevance to (a) both survival and planning, (b) planning, but not survival, or (c) survival but not planning. We predicted, and found, that recall performance associated with tasks encouraging planning (i.e., survival with planning and planning without survival) should exceed tasks that encouraged survival but not planning (i.e., survival without planning). We draw several conclusions. First, planning is a necessary component of the superior recall found in the survival paradigm. Second, memory, from an evolutionary perspective, is inherently prospective—tailored by natural selection to support future decisions and judgements that cannot be known in advance with certainty.     

Predictors of the Strain Experienced by Professional Australian Footballers

The present study investigated the relationship between imagery use, leisure-time exercise, and exercise self-efficacy within a diverse range of exercisers. One hundred and sixty-two participants (M_age = 23.84; SD = 7.09; 97 female, 65 male) completed the Exercise Imagery Inventory (EII; Giacobbi, Hausenblas, &; Penfield, 2005 Giacobbi, P. R., Hausenblas, H. A. and Penfield, R. D. 2005. Further refinements in the measurement of exercise imagery: The Exercise Imagery Inventory. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 9: 251–266. [Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin &; Shepherd, 1985 Godin, G. and Shepard, R. J. 1985. A simple method to assess exercise behavior in the community. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Science, 10: 141–146. [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]), and an exercise self-efficacy scale (Rodgers &; Sullivan, 2001 Rodgers, W. M., Munroe, K. and Hall, C. 2001. Relations among exercise imagery, self-efficacy, exercise behavior, and intentions. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 21: 55–65.  [Google Scholar]) directly following an exercise session. The EII was also modified to include two rating scales of visual and kinesthetic imagery ability. Separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses determined that appearance-health imagery significantly predicted exercise behavior and coping efficacy, and technique imagery significantly predicted task efficacy (all p < .001). Furthermore, exercisers’ abilities to create appearance-health images moderated the relationship between imagery frequency and leisure-time exercise, coping efficacy, and scheduling efficacy (all p < .05). These findings suggest that appearance-health and technique imagery may lead to an increase in exercise behavior and self-efficacy beliefs.     

Don't Make Me Angry! A Psychophysiological Examination of the Anger–Performance Relationship in Intermediate and Elite Fencers

We aimed to identify the effect of state-anger on precision, speed, and power components of performance during fencing attacks. We conducted a laboratory-based, single-case research experiment to test the fine motor task performance of two experienced and two elite-level fencers under two emotional states: anger and emotion-neutral. We assessed anger via psychophysiological and self-report measures, and we induced anger via a brief imagery intervention. Through the use of an innovative design, which included multiple measures of change, we showed that anger had a consistent negative effect on precision but an inconsistent relationship with response time and muscle activity. The current research design and protocol offer a novel and in-depth method for examining the specific relationships between affective states, emotions, and the complexities that underpin performance. The specific effects of anger on performance were multifarious, complex, and inconsistent. Nonetheless, the results tend to indicate that anger facilitates reaction time and debilitates performance, and these effects were clearer for the most elite performers. The effects of anger on performance are clearly complex, so it would be rather premature to make any suggestions for future practice at this point. Nonetheless, the clearer findings with the elite fencers indicate that researchers will likely yield the most fruitful insights by examining the effects of emotion of performance in elite performers.     

Dignity in Three Acts

The author develops three distinct senses of “dignity” that materialize in Drozek’s paper. Dignity as intrinsic worth invites the question of whether the implicit notion of dignity in contemporary psychoanalysis is best viewed as Kantian and, if so, how we are to accommodate the rationalism that inheres in it. Dignity as a state of mind leads the author to sketch the view that dignity is imperiled by absence (of vitality, of realness), contrasting it with Drozek’s emphasis on badness. Dignity as a relational provision summons inquiry into the distinction between “valuing” and “recognizing” in the encounter between subjectivities. Recognition, it is suggested, not only begets love, but also serves as the most compelling analytic instantiation of the Kantian Formula for Humanity—to treat the other as an end. By spelling out these interrelated significations, we not only discern our debts to the concept of dignity but also reveal potential psychoanalytic contributions to the broader conversation about dignity’s essence.     

Misconstruing methods and meaning in the General Factor of Personality

Research has suggested that a General Factor of Personality (GFP) might represent a real and meaningful higher‐order factor in the personality hierarchy. However, there are psychometric shortcomings in many of the studies used to support this argument, as well as convincing empirical evidence for alternative explanations of the GFP as methodological rather than meaningful. The current article re‐examines the research supporting a substantive GFP by considering and evaluating the evidence presented in a recent volume (Just, 2011). It is concluded that covariation among first‐order personality factors is more likely a statistical or methodological artefact than a theoretically meaningful higher‐order construct.