Causal illusion as a cognitive basis of pseudoscientific beliefs

Causal illusion has been proposed as a cognitive mediator of pseudoscientific beliefs. However, previous studies have only tested the association between this cognitive bias and a closely related but different type of unwarranted beliefs, those related to superstition and paranormal phenomena. Participants (n = 225) responded to a novel questionnaire of pseudoscientific beliefs designed for this study. They also completed a contingency learning task in which a possible cause, infusion intake, and a desired effect, headache remission, were actually non-contingent. Volunteers with higher scores on the questionnaire also presented stronger causal illusion effects. These results support the hypothesis that causal illusions might play a fundamental role in the endorsement of pseudoscientific beliefs.     

The Role of Positive Psychology,Cultural, and Family Factors in Latina/o College Students' Vocational Outcome Expectations

Latina/o college students (N = 120) provided their perceptions of positive psychology, cultural, family, and vocational outcome expectations. Presence of meaning in life, hope, Anglo orientation, and Mexican orientation were significant predictors of subjective happiness. Implications for counselors are provided.     

Resurgence is greater following a return to the training context than remaining in the extinction context

The present study examined whether resurgence of a previously reinforced target response upon removing alternative reinforcement would be greater when (1) returning to the original training context (ABA context changes) versus (2) remaining in the analogue treatment context in which the alternative response was differentially reinforced (ABB context changes). Experiment 1 arranged reinforcement of button pressing with points exchangeable for money in university students. Experiment 2 arranged reinforcement of lever pressing with food for rats. Experiment 3 arranged reinforcement of responses to a touchscreen with small bites of food with children diagnosed with ASD. Overall, resurgence of target responding tended to be greater when returning to the original training context (A) than when remaining in the analogue treatment context (B). These findings suggest context changes with differential reinforcement treatments could exacerbate the recurrence of problem behavior resulting from reductions in treatment integrity through failure to reinforce appropriate behavior.     

Perception of managers’ influence depending on status,power, and company performance

This research examines others’ perception of the influence of managers working in successful or unsuccessful companies who possess or lack status (to be respected by others) and power (control of valued resources). Study 1 shows that high‐status managers were judged as more influential in the firm than their low‐status peers, regardless of the company's situation. Study 2 finds that in a context of economic uncertainty, a manager with high status and power is perceived to be more capable of affecting the firm. The effect of power seems to be secondary since when a manager has low status, having high power does not significantly benefit the influence attributed to him or her. Furthermore, dominance (assertive behavior), not warmth, mediated the relationship between status and the attributed influence. Overall, these findings confirm that status is a very potent source of social influence, status and power are distinct constructs with different effects, and dominance rather than warmth is a key personal dimension linked to successful leadership.     

On Principal Congruences in Distributive Lattices with a Commutative Monoidal Operation and an Implication

Studia Logica - In this paper we introduce and study a variety of algebras that properly includes integral distributive commutative residuated lattices and weak Heyting algebras. Our main goal is...     

Educating Engineers for the Public Good Through International Internships: Evidence from a Case Study at Universitat Politècnica de València

Science and Engineering Ethics - At Universitat Politècnica de València, Meridies, an internship programme that places engineering students in countries of Latin America, is one of the...     

Factorial invariance,differential item functioning,and norms of the Orgasm Rating Scale

Background/Objective: Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) assess the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship. It is composed of four dimensions attributed to the orgasm (Affective, Sensory, Intimacy, and Rewards). The purpose is to analyse the factorial invariance of the ORS across groups, to examine the metric equivalence across sex, and to present the standard scores. Method: A total of 1,472 Spanish adults (715 men and 757 women) were evaluated. They were distributed across age groups (18-34, 35-49 and 50 years old and older). Factorial invariance across different groups and the differential functioning of the items across sex were analyzed, internal consistency was examined, and the standard scores were developed. Results: The structure of the ORS showed strict measurement invariance across sex, relationship status, sexual orientation and education level. It also reached a scalar measurement invariance across age range and duration of the relationship. Some items showed a differential functioning between sexes. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the ORS is invariant across different groups at a factorial level, and it shows equivalence across sex in most of its items at a metric level. The standard scores allow a more accurate assessment of the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship.