Providing Choice Making Opportunities Within and Between Daily School Routines

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of providing choice making opportunities, embedded within and between daily school routine activities, on the frequency of protests and task initiations exhibited by a student with a severe intellectual disability. An ABABC single-subject design was used to evaluate the effects of choice making opportunities embedded within and between three daily routine activities. During phase A, the classroom staff directed the student's participation without providing choice making opportunities within the activities. In phase B, staff provided choice making opportunities embedded within steps of each activity. Phase C extended choice making opportunities by providing the participant with a choice between activities as well as within the steps of the activities after it was noted that the first step of beginning the activities occasioned more protests than the other steps. The results of this study replicate earlier research showing that embedded choice making opportunities within routines reduced protests and increased task initiations. The addition of choice making opportunities between activities during phase C further reduced the incidents of protests.     

Design and efficacy of a head-coil bite bar for reducing movement-related artifacts during functional MRI scanning

This article describes the design, construction, application, and effectiveness of a simple bite bar for use with an MRI whole-head coil to reduce head-movement-related artifacts during functional brain imaging. The device is comfortable to use and allows considerable flexibility in positioning the subject’s head. Eleven subjects were scanned while performing a motor-sequencing experiment with and without the bite bar. The bite bar was generally effective in reducing maximum head movement to less than 0.5 mm (translation) and 0.5° (rotation).     

Perceived job image among police officers in Singapore: factorial dimensions and differential effects

The authors examined the perceived job image of police officers in Singapore and its differential effects on their work-related attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to quit). The authors obtained data from questionnaire surveys and focus-group interviews. Perceived job image consisted of 4 dimensions: (a) prestige, (b) integrity, (c) competence, and (d) nonroutine job nature. Results of hierarchical regression analyses suggested that the first 2 dimensions of the perceived job image construct were salient in affecting the police officers' work-related attitudes.     

COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION AND FOLK THEISTIC BELIEF

Cognitive scientists of religion promise to lay bare the cognitive mechanisms that generate religious beliefs in human beings. Defenders of the debunking argument believe that the cognitive mechanisms studied in this field pose a threat to folk theism. A number of influential responses to the debunking argument rely on making two sets of distinctions: (1) proximate/ultimate explanations and (2) specific/general religious beliefs. I argue, however, that such responses have drawbacks and do not make room for folk theism. I suggest that a detour through the literature in the philosophy of mind regarding the problem of mental causation regarding nonreductive physicalism can provide a way for preserving folk theism without doing violence to the way cognitive science of religion is being practiced today. More specifically, I believe there is a way of responding to the debunking argument that does not require a rejection of the causal premise.     

Exploiting asymmetric signals from choices through default selection

Setting defaults is an effective nudge, but few studies have examined situations where individuals can select their own default settings. Past research suggests that even when the final outcome is identical, observers perceive stronger signals from choices that switch from, rather than stay with, the default. In five experiments using hypothetical scenarios and an incentivized economic game, we test whether decision-makers driven by image concerns could strategically exploit that asymmetric signal. We found that in the presence of observers, participants were more likely to self-select into defaults that require them to switch to enhance a positive signal and into defaults that require them to stay to attenuate a negative signal. Our results support the framework of choice architecture as an implicit social interaction, and have potential implications for behavioral interventions in real-world settings.

     

Perceived autonomy support,behavioural regulations in physical education and physical activity intention

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between students' perceived autonomy support, behavioural regulations and their intentions to be physically active outside of school.MethodParticipants were 701 secondary school students aged between 13 and 17 years from Singapore. Questionnaires were used to assess perceived autonomy support, behavioural regulation, and intentions to be physically active outside school.ResultsResults supported the hypothesised model in that perceived autonomy support fosters more self-determined forms of behavioural regulations in PE. These forms of behavioural regulations in turn, enhanced more autonomous forms of intentions. The results also yielded an interesting finding that amotivation positively predicted students' intention to be physically active outside school.ConclusionThe findings highlight the importance of perceived autonomy support in fostering more self-determined forms of behavioural regulations in PE and intention to be physically active outside school.     

The influences of harmony motives and implicit beliefs on conflict styles of the collectivist

The collectivist preference for nonconfrontational conflict styles is usually attributed to the influences of the Confucian value of harmony, which promotes tolerance of interpersonal transgression. Harmony has two distinct motives in collectivistic Asian societies (Leung, 1997 ): harmony enhancement is affective in nature and represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony, while disintegration avoidance is instrumental in nature and sees harmony maintenance as a means to other ends. Hence, as predicted, harmony enhancement is positively related to the use of integrating and compromising, while disintegration avoidance is positively related to the use of avoiding and obliging and is negatively related to the use of integrating during a conflict with a peer in a collectivistic society, Singapore. Besides examining this from a motivational perspective, the study also examines the role of implicit beliefs of personality on one's choice of conflict styles. The two implicit theories of personality refer to the two different assumptions the lay person has about the mutability of personal attributes; an entity theorist believes that personal attributes are fixed and nonmalleable qualities, while an incremental theorist sees personal attributes as qualities that can be developed and changed. Results reveal that incrementalist implicit beliefs also significantly predicted the use of integrating. Harmony enhancement represents a genuine concern for relationship harmony and involves feelings of closeness, unity, and trust. The finding that integrating is predicted by a harmony enhancement motivation suggests the importance of fostering collectivist values of interdependence and feelings of unity and trust so as to encourage the use of integrating to discuss the opposing views openly and constructively. The present study also underscores the benefit of learning an incremental theory to be open to the positive changes in others and work toward improving the relationship and the situation during a conflict.     

Avengers,assemble the literature! A multi-study review of consumption,environmental values,and planetary health research

Mother Earth is dying. Humanity needs to step up. Otherwise, the planet we call home will soon be uninhabitable. The destiny of our planet inarguably depends on consumers, as their choices have the power to turn them into eco-superheroes (sustainable consumption) or eco-villains (unsustainable consumption). This article aims to review the current progress of consumption research and propose strategies to inspire consumers to embrace their inner eco-warrior spirit, fostering sustainable behavior that protects the environment and supports human well-being. To achieve this, this article employs an integrative approach, merging a meta-perspective on theoretical development with a multi-study methodological approach. Harnessing the power of scientometrics, this article delivers meta-insights from a multi-study analysis on consumption trends in relation to environmental values (micro-perspective; Study 1) and planetary health (macro-perspective; Study 2). These findings pave the way for future research and intervention strategies designed to nurture ecological sustainability and unleash the eco-warrior in every consumer.     

Contribution of self‐compassion to positive mental health among Korean university students

Although evidence suggests self‐compassion can serve as an important predictor of positive mental health, few studies have examined the contribution of self‐compassion to mental health. This study examined the relations between six components of self‐compassion and three dimensions of positive mental health (Psychological, Emotional and Social Well‐being) in young Korean adults. A sample of 689 Korean college students were administered the Self‐Compassion Scale (SCS) and the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC‐SF) to evaluate self‐compassion and positive mental health. A multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) analysis revealed that Self‐Kindness significantly predicted all dimensions of positive mental health. Additionally, Over‐Identification significantly contributed to Emotional Well‐being, Common Humanity to Social Well‐being and Isolation to Psychological Well‐being. These results suggest Self‐Kindness is a key predictor of positive mental health and that specific components of self‐compassion are strongly related to specific dimensions of mental health in Koreans.