The where and when of likely and unlikely events

Do people think likelihood is distributed evenly or do they have an intuition about the types of contexts in which likely and unlikely events tend to occur? Drawing on a probability-as-distance framework, the current research suggests that people relate probability to other distance dimensions, expecting unlikely events to more often happen in distant contexts and likely events in near contexts. Evidence for this association emerges using within-subject designs where participants directly assign low and high likelihood events to near and distant contexts (Studies 1 and 2), as well as between-subjects designs that focus on a variety of related judgments, including willingness to bet on favorites and long-shots (Study 3), decisions about insurance purchases (Study 4), and expectations regarding games of chance (Study 5). Results appear consistent across outcomes of differing valence (Study 5). Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Physiological and psychological impacts on male medical interns during on-call duty

This study aimed to explore the physiological and psychological impacts on male medical interns during on-call duty (OCD). A prospective study of 13 medical interns was carried out using repeated testing during an on-call internal medicine and a duty-free course. There are 10 OCDs per month and each duty is composed of 33.5 consecutive work hours followed by 2 duty-free days for a time period of 3 months. Spectral analysis of R-R intervals was performed to evaluate the participants' heart rate variability. Among the three main spectral components distinguished, a high-frequency (HF) component of 0.15-0.4 Hz and a low-frequency component (LF) of 0.04-0.15 Hz were analyzed. The ratio of LF and HF (LF/HF) was also calculated. Reduced LF/HF, which suggests reduced cardiac sympathetic modulation, was found during duty night work. Increased HF was identified during the first sleep after OCD, which corresponded to the sleepiness scales. The OCD causes temporary emotional influence by the findings of higher anxiety and depression scores. In addition, inattention and impulsiveness, as represented by the continuous performance test score and lower nocturnal sympathetic modulation, were found, which indicated the differences between the internal medicine course and duty-free course. Our study suggests that 10 stressful on-call duties monthly result in reduced sympathetic modulation during duty night work, high anxiety and depression state, and a persistent inattention.     

The Validity and Specificity of the Short-Form of the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ)

Moulding et al. (Assessment 18:357–374, 2011) created a 20-item short-form of the Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ; Obsessive Compulsive Cognitions Working Group in Behaviour Research and Therapy 43:1527–1542, 2005) labeled the OBQ-20. To date, the psychometric properties of the OBQ-20 have yet to be examined among clinical respondents. It is also unknown whether the OBQ-20 addresses the limited specificity of prior OBQ versions to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. In Study 1, using a small clinical sample (N?=?48), each OBQ-20 scale evidenced good internal consistency and shared a nearly identical correlation in magnitude with obsessive-compulsive symptoms relative to a corresponding full-length OBQ scale. In Study 2, using a large community sample (N?=?507), the OBQ-20 scales generally correlated equivalently with obsessive-compulsive symptoms relative to both depression and generalized anxiety symptoms. The OBQ-20 demonstrated strong psychometric properties, but, like prior OBQ versions, did not emerge as specific to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Given its brevity and potential transdiagnostic importance, the OBQ-20 will likely be a useful assessment tool in both research and clinical settings.     

Category-Based versus Attribute-Based Processing in Different-Aged Adults

Adaptive social functioning requires flexibility in processing operations in response to the characteristics of specific situations. Three experiments were conducted in which the ability of different-aged adults to appropriately use category-based versus attribute-based information in making affective judgments was examined. Contrary to expectations, we found that performance was minimally related to age or to working memory efficiency. Adults of all ages made affective judgments based on category information when such information resulted in appropriate inferences, whereas attribute-based information was used when category-based inferences were inaccurate. We interpret these results to be consistent with the hypothesis that the processing of evaluative information occurs at a preconscious level with little drain on processing resources.     

Reconceptualising hope within the context of vulnerability in South Africa

This study was aimed at clarifying conceptualisations of hope amongst vulnerable young people in a high HIV/AIDS prevalence South African setting. Participants were four young people ranging from 15 to 19, and interview data were collected on their household conditions, lived experiences in the communities and schools, and family support systems. Analysis applied grounded theory process to characterise main themes. Four mechanisms characterised the nurturing of hope processes in the context of vulnerability, namely: predatory, protective, promotion and possibility processes. Six protective intrapersonal themes were also identified: finding purpose, building a sense of the future; building faith in a higher power; embracing educational opportunities; thinking positively; building on strengths; and adopting supportive networks. Findings suggest that conceptualisations of hope need to be grounded in social context and the imperatives of social justice to support vulnerable young people in realising their future aspirations.     

Feeling Our Way Forward: Continuity and Discontinuity Within the Cosmic Process

Though their philosophical systems differed in many respects, both Charles Sanders Peirce and Alfred North Whitehead were united in their opposition to what they saw as the materialistic presuppositions of modern science and both urged instead a new psycho-physical approach to reality with emphasis on subjectivity/contingency as well as objectivity/necessity within all natural processes. This article reviews both systems and indicates how, taken in conjunction rather than seen as rival cosmologies, they offer a strong argument for rethinking the way Nature works both within us and around us.     

Veiled Reality and Structural Realism

Abstract

The noted philosopher of science, Bernard d'Espagnat, tries to mediate between objective reality and empirical reality via the notion of veiled reality: namely, while the laws proper to things in themselves are unknown, their existence and interrelated activity can be inferred from observation and analysis of human experience. The author claims that Whiteheadian creativity offers a better candidate for the notion of veiled reality because it is a transcendent activity, not a transcendent actuality. Likewise, a revision of the Whiteheadian category of society as a structured field of activity for its constituent actual entities indirectly confirms Henri Poincaré's notion of structural realism.     

Investigating Two Approaches to Fostering Children's Comprehension of Literature

This instructional study investigated the effects of two approaches to fostering elementary students' comprehension of literature. Participants were 54 third-grade students in 2 classrooms in a linguistic and culturally diverse, urban elementary school. Students read two folktales, receiving a Scaffolded Reading Experience (SRE) unit with one folktale and a unit we termed a Response-Oriented approach with the other folktale in a counterbalanced fashion. Classes were observed throughout both units and students completed multiple-choice and short-answer tests after reading each story and receiving the unit instruction. Teachers were interviewed after presenting both units. Results on the multiple-choice tests showed that students scored significantly higher when receiving the SRE units and that teachers preferred the SRE unit lessons. However, there were no differences between the two approaches on the short-answer tests, and teachers noted that some of the activities in the Response-Oriented units were very useful. Our conclusions are that both the Response-Oriented units and the SRE units provided strong scaffolding for students' reading, that the two approaches should be thought of as complementary rather than as competing, and that there is a place for both of them in classrooms that seek to build both comprehension and appreciation of literature.     

ACTIONS AND AGENTS: NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL RECONSIDERED

Using a process‐oriented understanding of the relation between actions and agents, the author argues that an ontological agent is the ongoing effect or by‐product rather than the antecedent cause of actions. Applied to the relation between natural and supernatural in philosophical cosmology, this allows one to claim, first, that agents (whether natural or supernatural) are not sensibly perceived, but only inferred from the ongoing observation of empirical actions; second, that the distinction between the natural and the supernatural is then conceivably a distinction between interrelated processes rather than between independently existing agents; and third, that a higher order process of supernatural origin could be operative in a lower order empirical process without interference even though its existence and activity could only be established on the basis of a faith commitment, not empirical evidence. What Paul Ricoeur referred to as a “surplus of meaning” over and above the scientific explanation of an event would be in play with the claim of divine guidance for the cosmic process.