Use of techniques promoting students' self-determination: Effects on students' analytic problem-solving skills

Based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1987, 1991), we assessed the effect of controlling strategies and restricted choice options on students' performance on analytic reason problems. Subjects in the controlling-directives condition were told by their teacher that a given strategy was the way students should solve a set of analytical problems. Although subjects in the noncontrolling-directives condition were taught the same strategy, they were encouraged to use any strategy they chose to solve the identical problems. The results indicated, as predicted, that subjects in the controlling-directives condition performed significantly worse than subjects in the noncontrolling-directives condition on a subsequent set of analytic reasoning problems, when tested by an experimenter who was unaware of a subject's condition. Interestingly, subjects in the controlling-directives condition regarded the teacher as qualitatively more competent than noncontrolling-directives subjects, in spite of their poorer performance. Furthermore, feelings about the task, mood differences, or perceptions of performance as a function of condition did not account for these findings. The data are discussed as they relate to the theoretical and practical import of the deleterious use of controlling techniques in a number of contexts, as well as adults' erroneous beliefs about controlling strategies.This study was funded in part from a grant from the Spencer Foundation and an NIMH grant to the first author.     

The amendment of large-magnitude aiming-movement errors

Summary The amendment of large-magnitude errors is discussed with particular reference to the correction of directional errors. It is argued that the correction of a large-magnitude error may be understood as a double-step tracking situation in which the second step reflects an artificially induced error signal. At issue is how the motor system may respond to such stimuli in rapid succession. The temporal integration of error stimuli predicts an initial response which reflects the weighted average of the step positions. This approach, however, does not explain the marked increase in peak velocity for the corrective response, compared to an equivalent single-step response. Alternatively, it has been argued that the initial response is initiated as if it were a single-step response to the initial step position and is subsequently amended. The superposition hypothesis argued that the two responses are planned in parallel and overlap in time, to be superimposed one on the other. This hypothesis does not explain changes in the direction of a double-step response at its initiation. The braking hypothesis argues that the initial response is halted and a corrective response initiated as rapidly as possible. This approach cannot explain changes in the slope of an ATF as a function of the second target-step amplitude. A model of double-step tracking is proposed which integrates the temporal integration and braking hypotheses. Since the braking of the initial response would involve the application of large forces, it is argued that braking is facilitated by the temporal integration of step stimuli. The corrective response is then implemented as rapidly as possible. The implications of these findings to the understanding of directional errors is discussed.     

Response amendments during manual aiming movements to double-step targets

The present paper reports a double-step analysis of a discrete aiming movement. A second target step was presented during the trajectory of the response to an initial step and represented an artificially induced movement error signal. Two stimulus patterns involving steps in the same direction (an undershoot error signal) and opposite direction (an overshoot error signal) to the initial step were examined. Moreover, in a random error condition the subject had no advance information regarding the direction of the error. In a deliberate error condition the subject knew in advance whether any subsequent error would be an undershoot or overshoot. Response parameters were considered as a function of the interstep interval which was randomly varied across trials. In terms of movement time, the standard deviations and a constant amendments score of double-step trials, subjects could respond more appropriately and effectively to a deliberate rather than a random error, and an undershoot error rather than an overshoot error. These results are discussed in terms of a mixed-mode of visuo-spatial error updating and related to the generalized motor program hypothesis.     

Right hemispheric specialization for mental imagery: A review of the evidence

An implicit assumption in the literature on functional hemispheric asymmetry is that the right hemisphere plays a special role in mental imagery. Using a definition of mental imagery as quasi-perceptual experience, we draw distinctions among visual imagery, visual recognition memory, and visuospatial abilities. We then review the research literature to evaluate the hypothesis that mental imagery is a specialized function of the right cerebral hemisphere, and find that it receives little unambiguous support. Case reports of loss of imagery are no more frequent with right than with left unilateral brain damage. Systematic studies of brain-injured patients provide some support for the hypothesis, but are also consistent with the alternative hypothesis of bilateral representation of imagery. Commissurotomized patients report dreaming and being able to form visual images. Behavioral and psychophysiological studies of non-brain-injured patients either fail to provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis or can be interpreted as compatible with the alternate hypothesis of bilateral hemispheric involvement in imagery. We conclude that there is, presently, insufficient empirical basis for considering imagery a right hemispheric function. We then discuss implications of this conclusion for future research.     

Affective state influences perception by affecting decision parameters underlying bias and sensitivity

Studies of the effect of affect on perception often show consistent directional effects of a person's affective state on perception. Unpleasant emotions have been associated with a "locally focused" style of stimulus evaluation, and positive emotions with a "globally focused" style. Typically, however, studies of affect and perception have not been conducted under the conditions of perceptual uncertainty and behavioral risk inherent to perceptual judgments outside the laboratory. We investigated the influence of perceivers' experienced affect (valence and arousal) on the utility of social threat perception by combining signal detection theory and behavioral economics. We compared 3 perceptual decision environments that systematically differed with respect to factors that underlie uncertainty and risk: the base rate of threat, the costs of incorrect identification threat, and the perceptual similarity of threats and nonthreats. We found that no single affective state yielded the best performance on the threat perception task across the 3 environments. Unpleasant valence promoted calibration of response bias to base rate and costs, high arousal promoted calibration of perceptual sensitivity to perceptual similarity, and low arousal was associated with an optimal adjustment of bias to sensitivity. However, the strength of these associations was conditional upon the difficulty of attaining optimal bias and high sensitivity, such that the effect of the perceiver's affective state on perception differed with the cause and/or level of uncertainty and risk.     

What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Qualitative Grounded Theory Content Analysis of Romance Narratives in the PG Era of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Programming

Although numerous studies have examined cultural representations of love and romance in myriad media sources, scarce attention has been paid to such representations in the genre of sports entertainment. As the most popular brand within this genre, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an important conduit of cultural knowledge in which to investigate narratives about modern romance. Using qualitative grounded theory content analysis methods, the current study examined representations of romance narratives in WWE’s two highest rated programs (Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown!) over a 6 month period. Fifty-two episodes comprising 105 h of televised programming were analyzed. Data analysis revealed evidence of six central romance narratives (Prince Charming, Dark Romance, Femme Fatale, Gold Digger, Cougar, and Woman Scorned). The meanings of these narratives were frequently contradictory in nature, revealing complex ideas about the nature of heterosexual romance. Many of the romantic relationships presented contained elements of multiple narratives, suggesting conflicting presentations of heterosexual gender relations not just across but also within individual relationships. Implications of these findings through the lens of social learning and schema theories are provided.     

Pitching and clutch hitting in Major League Baseball: What 109 years of statistics reveal

ObjectivesTheory on performance under pressure in sport has proposed that an athlete may be disrupted psychologically when distracted, or when explicitly monitoring too much the skills involved (Beilock & Carr, 2001; Masters, 1992). Research has also suggested that the extent to which an athlete allows pressure to impact performance may be greater for skills of increased complexity, such as hitting a baseball (Kinrade, Jackson, Ashford, & Bishop, 2010; Masters, Polman, & Hammond, 1993). Accordingly, hypotheses for the current study were that baseball hitters would be more susceptible to pressure-induced performance changes than pitchers, whose skills are less based in hand-eye coordination.Design & methodAn archival design was employed, accounting for 109 years of historical baseball data at both the team and individual levels.ResultsIn line with hypotheses, for players with a minimum of 10 postseason innings pitched in a single year (n = 835) pitching statistics were significantly correlated from regular season (less pressure) to postseason (more pressure). For those with a minimum of 20 postseason at bats in a year (n = 1731), hitting statistics were similarly correlated from season to postseason; overall, however, the weakest such relationship was batting average. For teams (n = 370), regular season pitching was expected to be the best predictor of postseason success rates; this hypothesis was supported, but only for the most recent era of baseball history (1995–2011).ConclusionsThe data imply that, while hitting should not be wholly neglected, a successful, clutch baseball team should be built primarily around pitching.     

Is the spell really broken? Bio-psychological explanations of religion and theistic belief

Recent advances in the evolutionary and cognitive sciences of religion have raised questions about whether the assumptions and findings of these fields as applied to religion conflict with belief in gods. Specifically, three scientific approaches to religion (Neurotheology, Group Selection, and Cognitive Science of Religion) are sketched, and five arguments against theistic belief arising from these approaches are discussed and evaluated. None of the five arguments prove formidable challenges for belief in gods.     

Faithful description and the incommensurability of evolved languages

Recent criticisms of non-reductive accounts of color assume that the only arguments for such accounts are a priori arguments. I put forward a posteriori arguments for a non-reductive account of colors which avoids those criticisms.