Cooperating If One's Goals Are Collective‐Based: Social Identification Effects in Social Dilemmas as a Function of Goal Transformation1

Prior studies of the effect of group identification on cooperation in social dilemmas have advanced 2 competing accounts: the goal‐transformation hypothesis, which holds that identification makes personal and collective goals interchangeable; and the goal‐amplification hypothesis, which states that identification induces positive expectations about others’ cooperative behavior. However, prior studies have neglected to assess the process measures necessary to pit the one account against the other. The present study showed that the effect of identification was moderated by participants’ social value orientation. Identification influenced proselfs’ cooperation more than prosocials’ cooperation. Mediational analyses further showed that the effect of our identification manipulation was mediated by participants’ sense of collective self, and not by their expectations.     

In search of a comprehensive value model for assessing supplementary person-organization fit

In this study, the authors tested the comprehensiveness of the S. H. Schwartz (1992) value model as a conceptual framework for assessing supplementary person-organization fit. They conducted an extensive literature search in which they identified 42 value instruments or typologies that are used to measure life, work, or organizational values. Experts judged whether each of 1,578 items from these 42 instruments could be regarded as an indicator of 1 of the 10 value types identified by S. H. Schwartz (1992). The authors found that (a) 92.5% of the items could be classified into 1 of the 10 value types and (b) the remaining items suggested 2 possible new types (goal orientedness and relations). The authors also found indications that 2 value types could be split to obtain a more univocal meaning. Overall, these findings suggest that the S. H. Schwartz (1992) value model might be an appropriate comprehensive framework for studying supplementary person-organization fit.     

Less power or powerless? Egocentric empathy gaps and the irony of having little versus no power in social decision making

The authors investigate the effect of power differences and associated expectations in social decision making. Using a modified ultimatum game, the authors show that allocators lower their offers to recipients when the power difference shifts in favor of the allocator. Remarkably, however, when recipients are completely powerless, offers increase. This effect is mediated by a change in framing of the situation: When the opponent is without power, feelings of social responsibility are evoked. On the recipient side, the authors show that recipients do not anticipate these higher outcomes resulting from powerlessness. They prefer more power over less, expecting higher outcomes when they are more powerful, especially when less power entails powerlessness. Results are discussed in relation to empathy gaps and social responsibility.     

Promoting step responses of children with multiple disabilities through a walker device and microswitches with contingent stimuli

Children with severe or profound intellectual and motor disabilities often present problems of balance and locomotion and spend much of their time sitting or lying, with negative consequences for their development and social image. This study provides a replication of recent (pilot) studies using a walker (support) device and microswitches with preferred stimuli to promote locomotion in two children with multiple disabilities. One child used an ABAB design; the other only an AB sequence. Both succeeded in increasing their frequencies of step responses during the B (intervention) phase(s). These findings support the positive evidence already available on the effectiveness of this intervention in motivating and promoting children's locomotion.     

A Speeded Item Response Model with Gradual Process Change

An item response theory model for dealing with test speededness is proposed. The model consists of two random processes, a problem solving process and a random guessing process, with the random guessing gradually taking over from the problem solving process. The involved change point and change rate are considered random parameters in order to model examinee differences in both respects. The proposed model is evaluated on simulated data and in a case study. The research reported in this paper was supported by IAP P5/24 and GOA/2005/04, both awarded to Paul De Boeck and Iven Van Mechelen, and by IAP P6/03, awarded to Iven Van Mechelen. Yuri Goegebeur’s research was supported by a grant of the Danish Natural Science Research Council.     

Criterion‐Related Validity of Dutch Police‐Selection Measures and Differences Between Ethnic Groups

This study investigated the criterion‐related validity of cognitive ability as well as non‐cognitive ability measures and differences between ethnic majority (N=2365) and minority applicants (N=682) in Dutch police officer selection. Findings confirmed the relatively low predictive validity of cognitive ability generally found for police jobs. Previous research reported no differential prediction. The present study, however, found small but systematic evidence for differences in validity for the ethnic majority and minority group of both cognitive and non‐cognitive measures. For the minority group, training performance appeared to be mainly predicted by the cognitive ability test. For the majority group, cognitive ability showed very little predictive power. Non‐cognitive ability variables appeared to be somewhat more predictive in this group.     

Original mind and cosmic consciousness in the co-creative process

This article will investigate the issue of accessing benxin 本心 (original mind), subsequent operation from Self and, in that process, union with the “greater universe” or benti 本体 (original substance)—a state expressed in the West as “cosmic consciousness.” It is proposed that this allows one to participate as a partner in the creative process of one’s own life and the surrounding world. The equally important question of how to gain contact with original mind will also be addressed, as well as the consequences of doing so with regard to the human condition. The concept of original thought is introduced, being important here as it is held to be that thought which is generated in the pure condition of original mind, devoid of influence from finite physical existence.     

Transfer as the productive use of acquired knowledge, skills, and motivations

Historically, the notion of transfer has been very controversial, conceptually as well as empirically. Therefore, there is an obvious need for further inquiry aimed at a better understanding of the processes underlying transfer. Taking into account the recent literature, this article defines transfer as the broad, productive, and supported use of acquired knowledge, skills, and motivations in new contexts and learning tasks. As an illustration, an intervention study is briefly discussed. This study shows the possibility of designing a powerful learning environment that yields transfer effects in accordance with this reconceptualized perspective on transfer.     

Permission from an Input/Output Perspective

Input/output logics are abstract structures designed to represent conditional obligations and goals. In this paper we use them to study conditional permission. This perspective provides a clear separation of the familiar notion of negative permission from the more elusive one of positive permission. Moreover, it reveals that there are at least two kinds of positive permission. Although indistinguishable in the unconditional case, they are quite different in conditional contexts. One of them, which we call static positive permission, guides the citizen and law enforcement authorities in the assessment of specific actions under current norms, and it behaves like a weakened obligation. Another, which we call dynamic positive permission, guides the legislator. It describes the limits on the prohibitions that may be introduced into a code, and under suitable conditions behaves like a strengthened negative permission.     

A comparison of Estonian,Swedish, and Finnish mothers' controlling attitudes and behaviour

The current study examined maternal control of children across families with early adolescents from different sociocultural backgrounds. The intention was to find out whether belonging to the same ethnic group/language community (i.e., Estonian or Finnish) is more important for determination of child‐rearing attitudes and practices than sharing the immediate sociocultural context (i.e., Swedish society). In addition, attention was paid to the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. The results were obtained from three monocultural samples of Estonian, Swedish, and Finnish families living in their country of origin; two bicultural samples consisted of Estonian and Finnish families residing in Sweden. Two types of data—mothers' reported attitudes towards the importance of control over children's behaviour (the Control Scale) and video‐recorded real‐life verbal behaviour—were used to determine how the mothers' attitudes towards control relate to the behavioural control exhibited in their real‐life interactions. The study showed that the Finno‐Ugric mothers living in their countries of origin controlled their children's behaviour significantly more frequently than those Finno‐Ugric mothers who live in Sweden, but both Estonian samples outperformed Finns in their reported control attitudes. The Swedish mothers were the least directive among monocultural mothers both in maternal beliefs and in real‐life behaviour, but they differed from Estonian and Finnish mothers residing in Sweden only in their lower scores on the Control Scale. The study revealed that mothers' real‐life control behaviour corresponded rather modestly to their reported attitudes toward the importance of controlling children. Analyses of actual mother—child interaction showed that only the Estonian mothers living in Estonia actually put their relatively high scores on the Control Scale into practice in real‐life interactions with their children. Finally, some characteristics of Estonian, Finnish, and Swedish languages and cultures are discussed that might determine the cultural differences in child rearing that emerged.