Staying on track: Planned goal striving is protected from disruptive internal states

Past implementation intention research focused on shielding goal striving from disruptive internal states (e.g., being anxious) by forming if-then plans that link these very states to instrumental coping responses. In the present line of research, we investigated whether planning out goal striving by means of if-then plans specifying opportunities to initiate goal-directed responses also protects goal striving from the negative impact of disruptive internal states. Indeed, in the face of disruptive internal states, participants who had been asked to form implementation intentions that targeted opportunities for initiating goal-directed responses outperformed participants with a mere goal intention to do well on a focal task goal. Actually, implementation intention participants performed as well as control participants who were not burdened by disruptive internal states such as being in a certain mood (Study 1), ego-depleted (Study 2), or self-definitionally incomplete (Study 3). Results are discussed by pointing to the importance of hypo-egoic self-regulation.     

Personalistic concepts in action: The case of Adolf Hitler

Grounded in his personalistic worldview, William Stern regarded persons as inherently valuable beings who use values to conduct their lives. One might wonder if such a value-laden and idealistic approach can be applied to the case of Adolf Hitler, who clearly was a very destructive and disharmonious figure. In order to deal with this challenging question we will refer to three personalistic principles, namely convergence, introception, and unitas multiplex. As our analysis shows, all three principles can be exemplified in the case of Hitler if a neutralized version of each principle is used. By the demonstration of “iron will” he strived for coherence and unity, and was tremendously successful in managing that his followers introcepted the Nazi ideals. The convergence principle also applies to Hitler since there was unique conjunction of his traits with influences of his era.     

Capturing autonomy,competence, and relatedness at work: Construction and initial validation of the Work‐related Basic Need Satisfaction scale

The satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as defined in Self‐Determination Theory, has been identified as an important predictor of individuals' optimal functioning in various life domains. The study of work‐related need satisfaction seems, however, hampered by the lack of a validated measure. To assist future research, the present study aimed to develop and validate a Work‐related Basic Need Satisfaction scale (W‐BNS). Using four Dutch‐speaking samples, evidence was found for the three‐factor structure of the scale, the discriminant validity, and the reliability of the three need satisfaction subscales as well as their criterion‐related and predictive validity. The W‐BNS may therefore be considered as a promising tool for future research and practice.     

5岁儿童对熟悉面孔的特征信息识别

关于儿童面孔认知的已有研究大多未曾控制好实验材料的熟悉度。研究选用10个同班同学的面孔作为材料,考察了5岁儿童对熟悉面孔的识别特点。结果发现,5岁儿童能准确辨认同伴的面孔。依赖面孔的部分信息(内、外轮廓)甚至单一部件(眼睛),儿童辨认同伴面孔的成绩就可以高于随机水平。儿童的面孔识别模式和成人相似,辨认内轮廓的绩效高于外轮廓,眼睛的绩效高于鼻子和嘴巴。儿童识别自我面孔的模式和成人相反,辨认他人面孔的成绩好于辨认自我面孔。实验证明熟悉度是影响儿童面孔识别绩效的重要因素。     

浅谈对“五戒”的认识和意义

道教戒律是道教徒植福修因之慧炬,登真入道之慈航。是道教徒的道德规范,行为准则。故学道之士莫不持戒精严以积功累行。三洞诸经中说戒甚多:有《初真戒》、《三皈依戒》、《中极三百大戒》、《积功归根五戒》、《天仙大戒》……这些戒律皆为前贤祖师所授。对道教弟子的言行举止作了严格的规定和详细说明。上述戒律中《积功归根五戒》:“一、不得杀生;二、不得荤酒;三、不得妄言绮语、口是心非;四、不得偷盗;五、不得邪淫”,是每一位玄门弟子必须遵守的最基本的戒律之一。《老君戒经》曰:是五戒者,持身之本,持法之根。凡能持此五戒精进无虞者…     

"儿童对主观世界认识的发展"研究的热点

“儿童对主观世界认识的发展”研究经历了三次浪潮,第一次是以Piaget为代表的“自我中心主义的学说”;第二次是20世纪70年代兴起的“元记忆“的研究;第三次是20世纪80年代初兴起的“心理理论”的研究。本文分析了当前就“儿童对主观世界认识的发展”两大研究热点：元记忆和心理理论的研究。文章对元记忆和心理理论这两次研究浪潮的历史渊源、发展现状、相互之问的关系进行了剖析,特别对其分离与统合的现状进行了介绍,并对将来的研究进行了展望。     

The relationship between acceptance,fatigue, and subjective cognitive impairment in hematologic cancer survivors

Background/Objective: Cancer and its treatment can have a detrimental impact on psychological well-being. Acceptance as the basis of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has shown beneficial effects on depression and anxiety. However, its relationship to fatigue and cognitive impairment has not been investigated. A protective effect of acceptance may open up a new target for psychological intervention.Method: A cross-sectional postal survey was undertaken. 922 hematological cancer survivors (≥ 2.5 years post diagnosis) were recruited through two regional cancer registries in Germany. Acceptance (AAQ-II), fatigue (BFI) and subjective cognitive impairment (AFI) were assessed.Results: Higher levels of acceptance were negatively associated with fatigue and subjective cognitive impairment (R²= .34 and R²= .26, respectively). The relationship between fatigue and fatigue-related impairment of daily life was weaker for survivors with high acceptance.Conclusions: Acceptance is strongly associated with fatigue and subjective cognitive impairment. ACT may be useful to reduce symptoms of fatigue and subjective cognitive impairment in cancer survivors.     

Human Decisions in Moral Dilemmas are Largely Described by Utilitarianism: Virtual Car Driving Study Provides Guidelines for Autonomous Driving Vehicles

Science and Engineering Ethics - Ethical thought experiments such as the trolley dilemma have been investigated extensively in the past, showing that humans act in utilitarian ways, trying to cause...     

Quality of written record following mock eyewitness testimony: Note taking should be a minimum standard!

By using a video‐based narrative (unidirectional) eyewitness statement of an alleged victim, participants were asked to imagine they were police officers. We compared the quality of mock police officer written records in a between‐subjects design comprising three conditions: (a) a free recall (n = 27), (b) a free recall by using recall strategies of the cognitive interview (n = 27), or (c) note taking while watching the video (n = 26). The quality of the reports was determined by the amount of correctly recalled details, omitted details, added details (commission errors), and changed details (confabulations). As predicted, the number of correct details was higher in the “Note Taking” condition whereas performance in the “Free Recall” and in the “Cognitive Interview” conditions did not differ. Higher verbal memory ability resulted in a better quality of the written records. Our results suggest that note taking facilitates the quality of written records.     

Happy but overconfident: positive affect leads to inaccurate metacomprehension

When learning from text, it is important that learners not only comprehend the information provided but also accurately monitor and judge their comprehension, which is known as metacomprehension accuracy. To investigate the role of a learner’s affective state for text comprehension and metacomprehension accuracy, we conducted an experiment with N?=?103 university students in whom we induced positive, negative, or neutral affect. Positive affect resulted in poorer text comprehension than neutral affect. Positive affect also led to overconfident predictions, whereas negative and neutral affect were both associated with quite accurate predictions. Independent of affect, postdictions were rather underconfident. The results suggest that positive affect bears processing disadvantages for achieving deep comprehension and adequate prediction accuracy. Given that postdictions were more accurate, practice tests might represent an effective instructional method to help learners in a positive affective state to accurately judge their text comprehension.