Knowing what we can do: actions,intentions, and the construction of phenomenal experience

How do questions concerning consciousness and phenomenal experience relate to, or interface with, questions concerning plans, knowledge and intentions? At least in the case of visual experience the relation, we shall argue, is tight. Visual perceptual experience, we shall argue, is fixed by an agent’s direct unmediated knowledge concerning her poise (or apparent poise) over a currently enabled action space. An action space, in this specific sense, is to be understood not as a fine-grained matrix of possibilities for bodily movement, but as a matrix of possibilities for pursuing and accomplishing one’s intentional actions, goals and projects. If this is correct, the links between planning, intention and perceptual experience are tight, while (contrary to some recent accounts invoking the notion of ‘sensorimotor expectations’) the links between embodied activity and perceptual experience, though real, are indirect. What matters is not bodily activity itself, but our practical knowledge (which need not be verbalized or in any way explicit) of our own possibilities for action. Such knowledge, selected, shaped and filtered by the grid of plans, goals, and intentions, plays, we argue, a constitutive role in explaining the content and character of visual perceptual experience.     

Perceived competence and impression management: Testing the mediating and moderating mechanisms

Using a diverse and unique sample of triads (N = 191 self, peer, and supervisor reports) from a field survey of two service sector organisations, this study examined the effects of perceived competence (self‐reported) and supervisor‐rated performance ratings on peer‐rated impression management. The study also tested the mediating role of performance in competence–impression management relationships and the moderating role of job satisfaction (self‐reported) in performance–impression management relationships using bootstrapping techniques. The study further examined the conditional indirect effects (i.e., moderated mediation) of perceived competence on impression management. The sample consisted of white collar employees from a government organisation and a leading cellular company in a developing country (i.e., Pakistan). Employees with low perceived competence were more likely to use impression management tactics than were those with high perceived competence. Similarly, poor performance ratings produced high impression management. Moreover, performance mediated the relationship between competence and impression management. The findings also suggest that perceived competence has a negative indirect effect on impression management for those with high levels of job satisfaction. Finally, impression management was highest when performance and satisfaction were low.     

Career mobility at the intersection between agent and structure: A conceptual model

The main aim of this paper is to extend the suitability of the concepts of the boundaryless and the protean career for the study of career mobility. To do so, we introduce a conceptual model that maps out the main factors determining and constraining transitions in careers. This model shows marks of European thinking on careers. It not only builds on aspects of both the boundaryless and protean career concepts, but also extends the focus by paying attention to the interplay between agency and structure. It adds to our understanding of the complex interplay between individual and structural factors shaping individuals' careers. An additional added value of the model is that it is built on insights from diverse research streams, including self‐determination theory and turnover literature. The article concludes with a discussion of the main contributions of the model and directions for future research.     

Primary Care Physicians’ Awareness, Experience and Opinions of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

The purpose of this study was to assess primary care physicians’ awareness, experience, opinions and preparedness to answer patients’ questions regarding direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. An anonymous survey was mailed to 2,402 family and internal medicine providers in North Carolina. Of the 382 respondents, 38.7% (n = 148) were aware of and 15% (n = 59) felt prepared to answer questions about DTC genetic tests. Respondents aged 50 or older were more likely to be aware of DTC genetic testing than those less than 40 years old (OR = 2.42). Male providers were more likely to feel prepared to answer questions than female providers (OR = 2.65). Among respondents who reportedly were aware, family practitioners were more likely than internists (OR = 3.30) to think DTC testing was clinically useful, and 18.9% had patients ask questions or bring in test results. The small percent of physicians who were aware of DTC genetic testing or felt prepared to answer questions about it suggests that education of providers will be necessary if testing becomes more widespread.     

Refinement and Psychometric Properties of the Eight-Item Brazilian Positive and Negative Affective Schedule for Children (PANAS-C8)

This study aimed to refine the Brazilian Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C34). A total of 1,160 children, between seven and 16 years of age (M = 11.2; SD = 1.92), from public elementary schools in eight Brazilian southern cities participated in the study. Four studies were conducted for this project. Study I (n = 370) evaluated the factorial structure of the PANAS-C34 (the original 34-item version). Ten potential items were selected for the instrument’s refined version. Employing an independent sample (n = 340), Study II assessed the utility of this ten-item version. Exploratory factor analysis, parallel analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis supported a bi-factorial solution. However, significant modification indices emerged for two items (happy and sad) regarding their respective factors and thus they were excluded. In Study III, using another independent sample (n = 450), it was demonstrated that the eight-item version (PANAS-C8) had better fit indices than the ten-item version. In Study IV (N = 1,160) a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the measurement invariance of the factorial solution across gender. Moreover, convergent validity was also evaluated using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and the General Life Satisfaction Scale for Children (GLSS-C). Measurement invariance was obtained for the PANAS-C8 across all the investigated model parameters. The correlations between the PANAS-C8 and both the CDI and the GLSS-C were of similar magnitude to those obtained using the PANAS-C34. The PANAS-C8 had adequate validity indices, demonstrating its usefulness in evaluating positive and negative affect in children.     

Zwangsbehandlung – eine Zwischenbilanz

Each medical treatment encroaches on patient rights; therefore, every patient has the right to freely decide whether to be treated or not and has the freedom to refuse treatment even if it is unreasonable from a medical perspective. The law acknowledges this freedom even if the patient is incapable of responsible self-determination as a result of (mental) illness. Treatment contrary to the patient’s declared intentions (“Zwangsbehandlung”—compulsory treatment) is allowed only under specific, strict circumstances. These requirements must be legally established in a clear and precise manner. On the basis of a number of cases concerning compulsory treatment with drugs of patients in a forensic psychiatric hospital, the Federal Constitutional Court therefore established specific guidelines. The Federal legislators and some state legislators have generally implemented these guidelines, even with reference to partly different settings, but considering the fact that these guidelines were related to a special treatment situation they also found differing solutions to some extent. Nevertheless, there are significant regulatory gaps remaining which in particular relate to the treatment of somatic diseases of psychiatric patients.