The importance of religiosity and values in predicting political attitudes: Evidence for the continuing importance of religiosity in Flanders (Belgium)

It has often been argued that religions influence political attitudes only indirectly by their influence on the value system of believers. This value system, in turn, is supposed to be used as a guideline in forming political attitudes. Thus, in this view, it should be sufficient to focus on value orientations if one wants to examine religion's influence on political attitudes. However, results of this study among first year psychology students (n=389), show that although value orientations hold greater predictive strength than religiosity towards political attitudes in Flanders (Belgium), religiosity, even apart from values, does provide additional information in predicting political attitudes. Thus, our results suggest that, at least in Flanders, religion, even apart from values, is still a politically important force. The most important value types, as measured by the Schwartz' Value Inventory (Schwartz, 1992), and religiosity dimensions, as measured by the Post-Critical Belief scale (Desimpelaere et al., 1999), associated with political attitudes were identified. Results show that each political attitude included in this study (economic conservatism, cultural conservatism, racism and nationalism) is predicted by a more or less unique pattern of religiosity dimensions and value orientations.     

Using trained pouched rats to detect land mines: another victory for operant conditioning

We used giant African pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) as land mine-detection animals in Mozambique because they have an excellent sense of smell, weigh too little to activate mines, and are native to sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore are resistant to local parasites and diseases. In 2009 the rats searched 93,400 m(2) of land, finding 41 mines and 54 other explosive devices. Humans with metal detectors found no additional mines. On average, the rats emitted 0.33 false alarm for every 100 m(2) searched, which is below the threshold given by International Mine Action Standards for accrediting mine-detection animals. These findings indicate that Cricetomys are accurate mine-detection animals and merit continued use in this capacity.     

Statistical Significance of the Contribution of Variables to the PCA solution: An Alternative Permutation Strategy

In this paper, the statistical significance of the contribution of variables to the principal components in principal components analysis (PCA) is assessed nonparametrically by the use of permutation tests. We compare a new strategy to a strategy used in previous research consisting of permuting the columns (variables) of a data matrix independently and concurrently, thus destroying the entire correlational structure of the data. This strategy is considered appropriate for assessing the significance of the PCA solution as a whole, but is not suitable for assessing the significance of the contribution of single variables. Alternatively, we propose a strategy involving permutation of one variable at a time, while keeping the other variables fixed. We compare the two approaches in a simulation study, considering proportions of Type I and Type II error. We use two corrections for multiple testing: the Bonferroni correction and controlling the False Discovery Rate (FDR). To assess the significance of the variance accounted for by the variables, permuting one variable at a time, combined with FDR correction, yields the most favorable results. This optimal strategy is applied to an empirical data set, and results are compared with bootstrap confidence intervals.     

Response preparation in Parkinson's disease: automatic vs. controlled processing

Using a finger cuing paradigm, we investigated response preparation in Parkinson's disease (PD). The central question was whether PD individuals are differentially affected by preparatory cues that specify a more automatic response set configuration (that induces within-hand preparation) as opposed to a more controlled one (that induces between-hands preparation). Reaction times (RTs) and error rates were measured in 20 non-demented individuals with PD and 20 healthy control participants with a long and short preparation interval (500 ms and 2000 ms). RT benefits and/or costs were measured for cues indicating a within- and between-hands motor preparatory set. Overall, RTs were significantly longer, and errors more frequent, for PD participants than for control participants. More importantly, in comparison with control subjects, PD individuals showed a significant deficit in between-hands preparation but not in within-hand preparation. Furthermore, longer preparation intervals slowed down cued RTs of the control participants, but not those of the PD individuals. Together, these findings suggest that whereas automatic response preparation processes are spared in PD, controlled response preparation processes operate at a slower rate and/or are delayed in time.     

Beyond shared perceptions of trust and monitoring in teams: implications of asymmetry and dissensus

Past research has implicitly assumed that only mean levels of trust and monitoring in teams are critical for explaining their interrelations and their relationships with team performance. In this article, the authors argue that it is equally important to consider the dispersion in trust and monitoring that exists within teams. The authors introduce "trust asymmetry" and "monitoring dissensus" as critical dispersion properties of trust and monitoring and hypothesize that these moderate the relationships between mean monitoring, mean trust, and team performance. Data from a cross-lagged panel study and a partially lagged study support the hypotheses. The first study also offered support for an integrative model that includes mean and dispersion levels of both trust and monitoring. Overall, the studies provide a comprehensive and clear picture of how trust and monitoring emerge and function at the team level via mean and dispersion.     

A process-content approach to adolescent identity formation: examining longitudinal associations between identity styles and goal pursuits

Research on identity focuses on the processes involved (e.g., identity style) or its content (e.g., goals and values), but limited research has addressed both issues simultaneously. The present study investigates cross‐lagged relations between identity styles (i.e., informational, normative, and diffuse‐avoidant) and goals (i.e., intrinsic vs. extrinsic and openness to change vs. conservation) in a 3‐wave adolescent sample (N = 806). Results support a reciprocal model, with process and content influencing each other. As for process effects, the informational and diffuse‐avoidant style predicted decreases in conservation goals, and the normative style predicted increases in conservation and extrinsic goals. As for content effects, conservation goals increased the normative style, and extrinsic goals decreased the informational and increased the diffuse‐avoidant style.     

Application of regression and neural models to predict competitive swimming performance

This research problem was indirectly but closely connected with the optimization of an athlete-selection process, based on predictions viewed as determinants of future successes. The research project involved a group of 249 competitive swimmers (age 12 yr., SD = 0.5) who trained and competed for four years. Measures involving fitness (e.g., lung capacity), strength (e.g., standing long jump), swimming technique (turn, glide, distance per stroke cycle), anthropometric variables (e.g., hand and foot size), as well as specific swimming measures (speeds in particular distances), were used. The participants (n = 189) trained from May 2008 to May 2009, which involved five days of swimming workouts per week, and three additional 45-min. sessions devoted to measurements necessary for this study. In June 2009, data from two groups of 30 swimmers each (n = 60) were used to identify predictor variables. Models were then constructed from these variables to predict final swimming performance in the 50 meter and 800 meter crawl events. Nonlinear regression models and neural models were built for the dependent variable of sport results (performance at 50m and 800m). In May 2010, the swimmers' actual race times for these events were compared to the predictions created a year prior to the beginning of the experiment. Results for the nonlinear regression models and perceptron networks structured as 8-4-1 and 4-3-1 indicated that the neural models overall more accurately predicted final swimming performance from initial training, strength, fitness, and body measurements. Differences in the sum of absolute error values were 4:11.96 (n = 30 for 800m) and 20.39 (n = 30 for 50m), for models structured as 8-4-1 and 4-3-1, respectively, with the neural models being more accurate. It seems possible that such models can be used to predict future performance, as well as in the process of recruiting athletes for specific styles and distances in swimming.