CAUSATION,DISPOSITIONS, AND PHYSICAL OCCASIONALISM

Even though theistic philosophers and scientists agree that God created, sustains, and providentially governs the physical universe and even though much has been published in general regarding divine action, what is needed is a fine‐grained, conceptually coherent account of divine action, causation, dispositions, and laws of nature consistent with divine aseity, satisfying the widely recognized adequacy conditions for any account of dispositions.¹ Such an account would be a basic part of a more comprehensive theory of divine action in relation to the fundamental concepts of science and of mathematics. Our aim in this article is simply to present such a theory.     

BIBLICAL AND THEISTIC ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE EVOLUTIONARY ARGUMENT AGAINST NATURALISM

Alvin Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism states that evolution cannot produce warranted beliefs. In contrast, according to Plantinga, Christian theism provides (I) properly functioning cognitive faculties in (II) an appropriate cognitive environment, in accordance with (III) a design plan aimed at producing true beliefs. But does theism fulfill criteria I–III? Judging from the Bible, God employs deceit in his relations with humanity, rendering our cognitive functions unreliable (I). Moreover, there is no reason to suppose that God's purpose would be to produce true beliefs in humans (III). Finally, from the theistic/religious perspective, it is impossible to tell whether observations have natural or supernatural causes, which undermines an appropriate cognitive environment (II). Reliable identification of deceit or miracles could alleviate these problems, but the theistic community has failed to resolve this issue. Dismissal of parts of the Bible, or attempts to find alternative interpretations, would collapse into skepticism or deism. Thus, Plantinga's problem of epistemic warrant backfires on theism.     

What's Context Got to Do with It? Comparative Difficulty of Test Questions Influences Metacognition and Corrected Scores for Formula‐scored Exams

Summary: On formula‐scored exams students receive points and penalties for correct and incorrect answers, respectively, but they can avoid the penalty by withholding incorrect answers. However, test‐takers have difficulty strategically regulating their accuracy and often set an overly conservative metacognitive response bias (e.g., Higham, 2007). The current experiments extended these findings by exploring whether the comparative difficulty of surrounding test questions (i.e., easy vs. hard)—a factor unrelated to the knowledge being tested—impacts metacognitive response bias for medium‐difficulty test questions. Comparative difficulty had no significant influence on participants' ability to choose correct answers for medium questions, but it did affect willingness to report answers and confidence ratings. This difference carried over to corrected scores (scores after penalties are applied) when comparative difficulty was manipulated within‐subjects: Scores were higher in the hard condition. Results are discussed in terms of implications for interpreting formula‐scored tests and underlying mechanisms of performance.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observers' Language Proficiencies and the Detection of Non‐native Speakers' Deception

We examined whether observers' language proficiencies affected their abilities to detect native and non‐native speakers' deception. Native and non‐native English speakers were videotaped as they either lied or told the truth about having cheated on a test. A total of 284 laypersons—who were either native or non‐native English speakers themselves—viewed these videos and indicated whether they believed that the speakers were being truthful or deceptive. Observers were more accurate when judging native speakers than when judging non‐native speakers, suggesting that perceptual fluency aided deception detection. Although there was no effect of observers' language proficiencies on discrimination, their belief that interviewees were telling the truth increased with proficiency. On the whole, these findings suggest that non‐native speakers may be at greater risk of being incorrectly classified in forensic contexts.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relationship between Online Game Experience and Multitasking Ability in a Virtual Environment

Online game playing has become popular entertainment, yet its relationship with individuals' multitasking ability was inconsistent. Types of online game genre so far have not been compared and may be associated with multitasking abilities. This study proposed to explore the relationships between types of online game playing and multitasking ability, using Edinburgh Virtual Errands Test (EVET). One hundred and sixteen participants playing different online game genres, including multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), other online game playing, and no‐online game playing were compared. Each participant was required to fill in Chen's Internet Addiction Scale and the Internet Usage Questionnaire and perform EVET and working memory tests. The results showed a positive correlation between multitasking ability and working memory. In addition, a positive association was found between MOBA‐type gaming and multitasking abilities measured by EVET. In conclusion, MOBA‐type gaming compared with other game playing is associated with better multitasking abilities in a virtual environment.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention based on the Health Action Process Approach for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in Iranian adolescents

Objective: To evaluate an intervention programme based on the Health Action Process Approach and designed to increase the intake of fruit and vegetables (F&V) among Iranian adolescents aged 13 to 18.

Design: A randomised controlled trial with three arms examined the short- (1 month) and long-term (6 months) effects of the intervention. There were two intervention groups (one included adolescents only [A group; n = 510]; the second included mothers and adolescents [M + A group; n = 462]) and a control group (n = 483). All participants were recruited from schools.

Main outcome measures: Social cognitions, self-regulatory processes and F&V intake.

Results: The intervention led to an increase in F&V intake for adolescents in the short and long terms. Adolescents in the M + A group increased their F& V intake more than adolescents in the A group. Outcome expectancies, self-monitoring, intentions, action and coping planning, perceived social support and behavioural automaticity mediated the effect of the intervention on F&V intake.

Conclusion: The theory-based intervention led to an increase in F&V intake and promoted more positive social cognitions and self-regulatory processes among Iranian adolescents. The findings also provide evidence that involving mothers in an intervention can confer additional benefit.     

A first-principles study of the formation of θ′′ phase in Al–Cu alloys

The θ′′-Al₃Cu phase plays an important role in the precipitation process of Al–Cu alloys. This phase has a sandwich structure—every two {200}_Cu layers are separated by three {200}_Al layers. To analyse the formation mechanism of this structure, the elastic strain energy of the {200}_Cu and {200}_Al layers, and the chemical bonding energy that reflects the interaction between the electrons in Cu and neighbouring Al atoms are calculated and analysed by first-principles calculations, projected density of states and Bader analysis. Our computation results reveal that this sandwich structure is energetically preferred in the competition of elastic strain and chemical bonding energies. To minimise the elastic strain energy of {200}_Al and {200}_Cu layers, the {200}_Cu layers prefer being apart from each other, whereas the chemical bonding energy favours the opposite arrangement because the intermetallic bond between Al and Cu atoms may form through p-d hybridization.     

Influence of plastic strain localisation on the mechanical properties of metal matrix composites

The aim of the present study is to reveal the most critical underlying factor influencing the mechanical properties of metal matrix composites (MMCs). It is shown that the mechanical properties of MMCs are essentially governed by the degree of strain localisation during plastic deformation. In other words, the MMCs exhibit superior mechanical performance only if the strain localisation is obviously inhibited and the accumulated stresses can be effectively transferred out. The work provides a new perspective in guiding the design of next-generation high-performance MMCs by suppressing the strain localisation as far as possible.     

Cultural influences in acquiescent response: A study of trainer evaluation biases

The current study is developed to identify factors that affect trainees’ acquiescent tendency in organizational trainer evaluations. We posit that conflict‐handling style affects ones tendency to acquiesce in trainer evaluations, and this relationship is regulated by cultural influence. Surveys were sent to employees with training experience in Taiwan and North America, 395 valid responses were collected. Results showed that the two individual conflict‐handling styles: non‐confrontation style and dominating style, are positively related to acquiescent tendency; and their relationship is found moderated by the influence of Confucian work dynamism, thus confirming the influence of cultural norms. Our findings contribute to HRD practitioners by highlighting the different conflict‐handling style and culture influence will result in different level of acquiescent propensity, trainer evaluations results should be interpreted more carefully and cautiously.     

Personality Traits Predict Smartphone Usage

The present study investigates to what degree individual differences can predict frequency and duration of actual behaviour, manifested in mobile application (app) usage on smartphones. In particular, this work focuses on the identification of stable associations between personality on the factor and facet level, fluid intelligence, demography and app usage in 16 distinct categories. A total of 137 subjects (87 women and 50 men), with an average age of 24 (SD = 4.72), participated in a 90‐min psychometric lab session as well as in a subsequent 60‐day data logging study in the field. Our data suggest that personality traits predict mobile application usage in several specific categories such as communication, photography, gaming, transportation and entertainment. Extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness are better predictors of mobile application usage than basic demographic variables in several distinct categories. Furthermore, predictive performance is slightly higher for single factor—in comparison with facet‐level personality scores. Fluid intelligence and demographics additionally show stable associations with categorical app usage. In sum, this study demonstrates how individual differences can be effectively related to actual behaviour and how this can assist in understanding the behavioural underpinnings of personality. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology