Which body for embodied cognition? Affordance and language within actual and perceived reaching space

The mental representation of one's own body does not necessarily correspond to the physical body. For instance, a dissociation between perceived and actual reach-ability has been shown, that is, individuals perceive that they can reach objects that are out of grasp. We presented participants with 3D pictures of objects located at four different distances, namely near-reaching space, actual-reaching space, perceived-reaching space and non-reaching space. Immediately after they were presented with function, manipulation, observation or pointing verbs and were required to judge if the verb was compatible with the object. Participants were faster with function and manipulation verbs than with observation and pointing verbs. Strikingly, with both function and manipulation verbs participants were faster when objects were presented in actual than the perceived reaching space. These findings suggest that our knowledge of the world is implicitly built online through behaviour, and is not necessarily reflected in explicit estimates or conscious representations.     

Early Positive Information Impacts Final Evaluations: No Deliberation‐Without‐Attention Effect and a Test of a Dynamic Judgment Model

Evaluation judgments were affected by information order and not by subsequent unconscious versus conscious deliberation. In three experiments, we examined the influence of early positive information on final evaluations of four objects. Based on a task analysis, we predicted primacy effects in judgments in a sequential data acquisition task. Thinking periods following presentation were used to manipulate conscious or unconscious processing. In all three studies, we found no effects of thinking manipulations but instead found reliable order effects. We developed and tested an online judgment model on the basis of the belief updating model of Hogarth and Einhorn. The model accounted for large proportion of the individual level variability, and model comparison tests supported the presence of a primacy effect. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

One Foot Out of the Nest: How Parents and Friends Influence Social Perceptions in Emerging Adulthood

Attachment theory proposes that representations of attachment figures are transferred between relationships, resulting in stable relational experiences. The current study used a transference paradigm to examine how parental and best friend attachment representations influence perceptions of new relationship partners in emerging adulthood. We discovered that close friendships influenced attachment anxiety and avoidance experienced specifically with friend-like others, while parental relationships affected feelings of anxiety toward a variety of people. Several relationship factors, such as the importance of the friend relationship, moderated the transference process. Our findings suggest that emerging adults’ current relationships have an impact on their reactions toward novel individuals, and emerging adults’ feelings about their existing relationship partners color their future social experiences.     

The role of the formal employment contract in the range and fulfilment of the psychological contract: Testing a layered model

This study investigates the employment contract (temporary vs. permanent) in relation to psychological contract content and fulfilment. The psychological contract includes employees' perceptions of their obligations and their entitlements. We hypothesize that transactional elements constitute a common core that is shared both by temporary and permanent workers. Relational elements are added to this core to show employees' and employers' loyalty, and their intentions to do more than necessary. These elements are more likely to be perceived by permanent workers as compared to temporary workers. Additionally, we suggest that relational elements are difficult to fulfil. Accordingly, we expect lower levels of perceived fulfilment for permanent workers as compared to temporary workers. Based on exchange theory, we furthermore hypothesize that these perceptions follow a similar pattern in how employees report entitlements (i.e., what they receive from the company) and reports of their own obligations (i.e., what they give in return). Results based on a seven-country sample (N _permanent = 3354; N _temporary = 1980) show that permanent workers as compared to temporary workers perceive more relational entitlements and obligations but a similar level of transactional entitlements and obligations. Thus, these results supported the idea of a layered model. The relationship between contract type and fulfilment of the psychological contract was only partly in line with expectations. Temporary workers reported higher fulfilment of entitlements and transactional obligations, but no difference was found for fulfilment of relational obligations.     

Objects,numbers, fingers,space: clustering of ventral and dorsal functions in young children and adults

In the primate brain, sensory information is processed along two partially segregated cortical streams: the ventral stream, mainly coding for objects' shape and identity, and the dorsal stream, mainly coding for objects' quantitative information (including size, number, and spatial position). Neurophysiological measures indicate that such functional segregation is present early on in infancy, and that the two streams follow independent maturational trajectories during childhood. Here we collected, in a large sample of young children and adults, behavioural measures on an extensive set of functions typically associated with either the dorsal or the ventral stream. We then used a correlational approach to investigate the presence of inter‐individual variability resulting in clustering of functions. Results show that dorsal‐ and ventral‐related functions follow two uncorrelated developmental trajectories. Moreover, within each stream, some functions show age‐independent correlations: finger gnosis, non‐symbolic numerical abilities and spatial abilities within the dorsal stream, and object and face recognition abilities within the ventral stream. This pattern of clear within‐stream cross‐task correlation seems to be lost in adults, with two notable exceptions: performance in face and object recognition on one side, and in symbolic and non‐symbolic comparison on the other, remain correlated, pointing to distinct shape recognition and quantity comparison systems.     

Conflicts between on-task and off-task behaviors in the classroom: the influences of parental monitoring, peer value orientations, students’ goals, and their value orientations

Students in class are sometimes torn between following the lesson and engaging in off-task behavior. In this paper, instead of classifying it as a form of deviant behavior, off-task behavior is reconstructed as a manifestation of students multiple motivations in the classroom. The study examines whether parental monitoring, peer value orientations, students’ personal goals, and their value orientations determine students’ motivational interference in these conflict situations. Participants were 348 students (mean age 15.24) from 16 classes of four high schools. A self-report questionnaire was used that combined a qualitative assessment of personal goals with a quantitative approach. Qualitative answers were coded and data was analyzed in a series of hierarchical linear models. As hypothesized, relationships between motivational interference and parental monitoring, peer achievement and well-being value orientations, students’ school- and leisure-related goals, as well as students’ achievement and well-being value orientations were demonstrated. Students’ own value orientations emerged to be the strongest predictor of motivational interference and mediated between parental monitoring and motivational interference. The results suggest that teachers should help students to reconcile their multiple values and goals in the classroom.     

Evaluative conditioning in social psychology: Facts and speculations

The aim of the present paper is to examine the contribution of evaluative conditioning (EC) to attitude formation theory in social psychology. This aim is pursued on two fronts. First, evaluative conditioning is analysed for its relevance to social psychological research. We show that conditioned attitudes can be acquired through simple co‐occurrences of a neutral and a valenced stimulus. Moreover, we argue that conditioned attitudes are not confined to direct contact with a valenced stimulus, but can be formed and dynamically reformed indirectly, through association chains. Second, social research is examined in an effort to identify evaluative learning mechanisms. We suggest that several important phenomena in social psychology (e.g., ingroup favouritism, prejudice, name letter effect) are at least partly due to simple mechanisms of evaluative learning. The implications for attitude formation theory and for applied settings are discussed.     

Workplace duties or opportunities? Challenge stressors,regulatory focus,and creativity

Previous research has produced contradictory findings about the impact of challenge stressors on individual and team creativity. Based on the challenge–hindrance stressors framework (LePine, Podsakoff, & LePine, 2005) and on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), we argue that the effect of challenge stressors on creativity is moderated by regulatory focus. We hypothesize that while promotion focus strengthens a positive relationship between challenge stressors and creativity, prevention focus reinforces a negative relationship. Experimental data showed that high demands led to better results in a creative insight task for individuals with a strong trait promotion focus, and that high demands combined with an induced promotion focus led to better results across both creative generation and insight tasks. These results were replicated in a field R&D sample. Furthermore, we found that team promotion focus moderated the effect of challenge stressors on team creativity. The results offer both theoretical insights and suggest practical implications.