The impact of using forced decision-making strategies on post-decisional confidence

The impact of motivational and cognitive factors on post-decisional confidence (PDC) level was tested in two experiments. In the first experiment, subjects were first identified as having an intuitive preference toward using either a compensatory or a noncompensatory decision strategy and later on were forced to use either a compatible or a non-compatible strategy. PDC level decreased after using a noncompensatory strategy, and the decrease was higher when it was a noncompatible strategy. In a second experiment, subjects received feedback about their preferred strategy but were not later forced to use any specific strategy. Most subjects continued to utilize their preferred strategy and PDC level was not changed. Overall, intuitive PDC was not found to be sensitive to differences between compensatory and noncompensatory strategies. The result suggested that PDC is a function of an internal cost-benefit analysis which includes both cognitive and motivational factors.     

Relative and absolute duration judgments under prospective and retrospective paradigms

A dual-process contingency model of short duration judgment is proposed and tested. The first process, or P(t), is a timer that uses cognitive capacity to keep track of units of time. If capacity is directed toward other tasks, P(t) will record fewer units and produce lower time judgments than when capacity is not directed toward other tasks. This timing process is most likely to affect performance when people know in advance (prospective judgments) that time judgments will be required and when absolute, rather than relative, judgments are made. The second process, or P(m), which is used for retrospective and relative judgments, judges duration on the basis of the number of remembered high priority events (HPEs) occurring during the interval. When this process is used, time judgments increase with the amount of HPEs that can be retrieved at the moment of judgment. Two experiments are reported. Tactual stimuli were presented, and nontemporal information processing load (simple or complex stimuli), type of judgment (absolute or relative), and judgment paradigm (prospective or retrospective)were manipulated. The results obtained support the proposed dual-process contingency model.     

Cynical Hostility: A Risk Factor in HIV-1 Infection?1

The aims of this study of HIV-1 positive and HIV-1 negative gay males without disease were (a) to determine whether cynical hostility in these groups (measured by the Cook-Medley Ho scale) is associated with psychosocial deficits that potentially could influence the course of HIV infection; and (b) to examine the construct validity of the sum of three Ho subsets in this sample. Correlational analyses on the full samples, and multivariate analyses of high- and low-hostility groups (formed using Ho scale cutoffs from previous research), examined person variables (traits, coping style), environmental variables (social support, stressors), and affect. In all domains other than stressors (traits, coping styles, social support, and affect), cynical hostility was associated with psychosocial deficits, with results generally stronger for the full Ho scale than for the subset sum. Results support previous research on psychosocial deficits of the cynically hostile, extend findings to HIV-infected gay males, and enlarge our understanding of the trait and coping style correlates of cynical hostility. Implications of these findings for HIV infection are discussed.     

Associations between sleep variables and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs: A scoping review

Night-time is a period of great significance for many people who report paranormal experiences. However, there is limited understanding of the associations between sleep variables and seemingly paranormal experiences and/or beliefs. The aim of this review is to improve our understanding of these associations while unifying a currently fragmented literature-base into a structured, practical review. In this pre-registered scoping review, we searched for relevant studies in MEDLINE (PubMed), PsycINFO (EBSCO), Web of Science and EMBASE using terms related to sleep and ostensibly paranormal experiences and beliefs. Forty-four studies met all inclusion criteria. All were cross-sectional and most investigated sleep paralysis and/or lucid dreaming in relation to ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs. Overall, there were positive associations between many sleep variables (including sleep paralysis, lucid dreams, nightmares, and hypnagogic hallucinations) and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs (including those of ghosts, spirits, and near-death experiences). The findings of this review have potential clinical implications such as reducing misdiagnosis and treatment development and provide foundations for further research. Our findings also highlight the importance of understanding why so many people report ‘things that go bump in the night’.     

An Examination of Happiness, Racism, and Demographics on Judgments of Guilt

A policy-capturing study was conducted to evaluate the roles of both plaintiff and defendant race and gender on judgments of criminal guilt in either an assault or a theti case. It was hypothesized that defendant gender and race would affect likelihood of guilt ratings. Moreover, mock jurors' dispositional happiness, scores of modern racism, and race and gender were explored as potential influences on their decision-making policies and judgments. As predicted, strong support was found for the role of defendant gender on judgments of guilt. However, defendant race did not significantly impact guilt ratings. Post hoc analses revealed the importance of race and gender of the victim to juror decisions. In addition, participants' own race and gender played signiticant roles in the decisionmaking policies that were produced. Limitations of the study are discussed. as are topics for future research.     

Relations between maternal power-assertive parenting and adjustment in Chinese children: A longitudinal study

This 1-year longitudinal study examined relations between maternal power-assertive parenting and children's social, academic and psychological adjustment in China. Participants were 316 elementary school children (mean age = 11 years, 153 boys). Maternal power-assertive parenting was assessed using children's self-reports. Data on children's social and school adjustment were obtained from peer evaluations and teacher ratings. In addition, children completed measures of loneliness and depression. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that whereas maternal power-assertive parenting was only related to later academic adjustment, children's adjustment in socioemotional and academic domains contributed to the prediction of later maternal power-assertive parenting. The results were discussed in the Chinese context.     

心理旋转训练对5~6岁儿童空间能力和数学能力的影响

采用2（时间：前测/后测）×2（分组：实验组/控制组）的两因素混合实验设计,考察心理旋转游戏训练对5~6岁儿童空间及数学能力的影响。基于心理旋转的可塑性以及空间能力与数学能力之间的密切关系设计心理旋转干预方案,将36名被试分为实验组和控制组进行为期8周共24次的干预研究。研究结果表明：（1）空间能力与数学能力之间显著正相关;（2）心理旋转游戏有效地提高了5~6岁儿童的空间能力和数学能力,该训练方案具有良好的即时效果。     

Art,Empathy and the Divine

Religious art can reconfigure our conception of God’s omniscience. This should be seen in terms of divine understanding, with empathy and love required for God’s understanding of human beings. §I surveys reasons to think that God can empathize with us. §II and §III consider different ways that religious art has attempted to represent such empathetic relations. There are images of Christ’s suffering that elicit empathy in the viewer, and there are depictions of God’s empathetic understanding of humanity. §IV and §V consider the epistemic roles of art and how religious art can reconfigure how we think of God’s omniscience.     

Helping behaviour among people who use drugs: Altruism and mutual aid in a harm reduction program

People who use drugs, and particularly people experiencing addiction, are rarely afforded the opportunity to have their voices heard when it comes to drug treatment or drug policy or even when attempting to define themselves and their life experiences. Of course, there is much more to a person than one area of their behaviour. The current study seeks to capture and understand the lived experiences of people who use drugs, with a focus on their relationships and helping behaviour. We interviewed 32 participants in a harm reduction program seeking to provide understanding beyond stigmatizing and criminalizing drug narratives, by exploring their motivation and context for helping behaviours. Grounded theory methodology was used to understand the patterns of helping behaviour, along with the contexts in which help is or is not given. We particularly focus on participants' distribution of syringes and carrying medicine to reverse overdose (naloxone). Participants shared stories of altruism and mutual aid, along with barriers and disincentives to helping others. We situate these behaviours within contrasting environments of a free harm reduction program and the competitive market system of the U.S. society. Implications for practice and public policy are discussed.     

Symbolic Sequence Effects on Consumers’ Judgments of Truth for Brand Claims

We introduce symbolic sequence effects—the consequences of whether the sequence of the initial letters of a pair of words (e.g., a word representing a putative cause and another word representing a putative effect) conforms to the structure of symbolic sequences that are stored in the mind as overlearned natural language traces (“natural sequence”). We synthesize insights from psychophysics as well as numerical and natural language symbolic representations to demonstrate that consumers are able to unconsciously perceive the mere sequence of symbols contained in a brand claim, and that this sequence information influences judgments of truth. Across three experiments, we showed that when a brand claim is structured in a way that is consistent with the natural sequence of symbols (“A causes B” rather than “B causes A”), people experience feelings of sequential fluency, which in turn influences judgments of truth. This occurs despite the inability of participants to attribute the true source of the feelings. Our results suggest that carefully designed brand claims are likely to benefit from this natural sequencing. These findings provide important contributions to the literatures on processing fluency, branding, and advertising. These findings also have sobering societal implications and warn that fake news might be more persuasive if the perpetrators understand symbolic sequencing techniques.