Bayesian Fundamentalism or Enlightenment? On the explanatory status and theoretical contributions of Bayesian models of cognition

The prominence of Bayesian modeling of cognition has increased recently largely because of mathematical advances in specifying and deriving predictions from complex probabilistic models. Much of this research aims to demonstrate that cognitive behavior can be explained from rational principles alone, without recourse to psychological or neurological processes and representations. We note commonalities between this rational approach and other movements in psychology - namely, Behaviorism and evolutionary psychology - that set aside mechanistic explanations or make use of optimality assumptions. Through these comparisons, we identify a number of challenges that limit the rational program's potential contribution to psychological theory. Specifically, rational Bayesian models are significantly unconstrained, both because they are uninformed by a wide range of process-level data and because their assumptions about the environment are generally not grounded in empirical measurement. The psychological implications of most Bayesian models are also unclear. Bayesian inference itself is conceptually trivial, but strong assumptions are often embedded in the hypothesis sets and the approximation algorithms used to derive model predictions, without a clear delineation between psychological commitments and implementational details. Comparing multiple Bayesian models of the same task is rare, as is the realization that many Bayesian models recapitulate existing (mechanistic level) theories. Despite the expressive power of current Bayesian models, we argue they must be developed in conjunction with mechanistic considerations to offer substantive explanations of cognition. We lay out several means for such an integration, which take into account the representations on which Bayesian inference operates, as well as the algorithms and heuristics that carry it out. We argue this unification will better facilitate lasting contributions to psychological theory, avoiding the pitfalls that have plagued previous theoretical movements.     

Learning associations between action and perception: effects of incompatible training on body part and spatial priming

Observation of another person executing an action primes the same action in the observer's motor system. Recent evidence has shown that these priming effects are flexible, where training of new associations, such as making a foot response when viewing a moving hand, can reduce standard action priming effects (Gillmeister, Catmur, Liepelt, Brass, & Heyes, 2008). Previously, these effects were obtained after explicit learning tasks in which the trained action was cued by the content of a visual stimulus. Here we report similar learning processes in an implicit task in which the participant's action is self-selected, and subsequent visual effects are determined by the nature of that action. Importantly, we show that these learning processes are specific to associations between actions and viewed body parts, in that incompatible spatial training did not influence body part or spatial priming effects. Our results are consistent with models of visuomotor learning that place particular emphasis on the repeated experience of watching oneself perform an action.     

Validating a measure of children's monitoring-blunting coping styles in dental situations

The monitoring-blunting theory of coping suggests that when faced with a threatening situation, individuals can respond by either monitoring or avoiding (blunting) threatening information. The current study sought to validate a scale of children's preferences for monitoring or blunting in dental situations (the Monitoring Blunting Dental Scale or MBDS). The psychometric characteristics of the scale were assessed in a sample of 240 New Zealand children aged 11-13. Reliability was adequate for both monitoring (α = 0.74) and blunting (α = 0.76) subscale scores. Convergent validity was indicated by strong correlations (>0.6) between the measure's subscales and those of a related scale, although discriminant validity with respect to dental anxiety was problematic for the blunting subscale. Exploratory factor analysis supported a two-factor monitoring-blunting model, although confirmatory factor analysis indicated reasonable but imperfect fit for this model, SBχ2(251) = 510.7, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.066. We reflect on conceptual issues which may underlie the difficulties experienced here and elsewhere in developing psychometrically sound measures of Miller's blunting construct and suggest that the monitoring subscale of the study scale may be most useful to other researchers.     

The family empowerment program: an interdisciplinary approach to working with multi-stressed urban families

The family empowerment program (FEP) is a multi-systemic family therapy program that partners multi-stressed families with an interdisciplinary resource team while remaining attached to a "traditional" mental health clinic. The rationale for this model is that far too often, families presenting at community mental health centers struggle with multiple psychosocial forces, for example problems with housing, domestic violence, child care, entitlements, racism, substance abuse, and foster care, as well as chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses, that exacerbate symptoms and impact traditional service delivery and access to effective treatment. Thus, families often experience fragmented care and are involved with multiple systems with contradictory and competing agendas. As a result, services frequently fail to harness the family's inherent strengths. The FEP partners the family with a unified team that includes representatives from Entitlements Services, Family Support and Parent Advocacy, and Clinical Staff from the agency's Outpatient Mental Health Clinic practicing from a strength-based family therapy perspective. The goal of the FEP is to support the family in achieving their goals. This is accomplished through co-construction of a service plan that addresses the family's needs in an efficient and coherent manner-emphasizing family strengths and competencies and supporting family self-sufficiency.     

The aftermath of destruction: Images of destroyed buildings increase support for war,dogmatism, and death thought accessibility

Building on terror management theory, we hypothesized that viewing destroyed buildings would increase death thought accessibility and thereby elicit dogmatic belief and hostile worldview defenses. In Study 1, images of destroyed buildings and deadly terrorist attacks elicited greater death-thought accessibility than images of construction sites or intact buildings. Images of destruction also enhanced dogmatic belief (Study 2) and support for military action against Iran (Study 3). Study 4 found that heightened death thought accessibility, but not the accessibility of thoughts of war or national identity, statistically mediated the relationship between visible destruction and worldview defense. Further, although destruction images increased dogmatism, political orientation was not affected by the destruction manipulation nor was political orientation related to death-thought accessibility. Overall, these findings suggest that visibly destroyed infrastructure can motivate increased certainty of beliefs and support for military aggression (e.g., war and/or terrorism) against groups perceived to be threatening to one's worldview.     

A media analysis of a sport celebrity: Understanding an informal “team cancer” role as a socio-cultural construction

Objectives

Negative informal roles in sport such as a “team cancer” warrant further attention because of the association with athletes’ negative psychological experiences, impaired team processes, and reduced performance. The purpose of the current study is to extend understandings of the team cancer role by analyzing the socio-cultural context (i.e., sport media narratives surrounding a sport celebrity and key media incident) within which one “team cancer” was constituted in a professional sport context.

Method

National Hockey League (NHL) star Sean Avery was the sport celebrity of interest. The key media incident was the “sloppy seconds” comment made by Avery regarding his former girlfriend. The comment was an attack towards the opposing team’s defenseman, who was dating her. Newspaper representations of the comment (n = 62) were explored via ethnographic content analysis (see Altheide, 1996).

Results

It was found that the depiction of the team cancer emerged differently depending on two paradoxical discourses found within the media: a hockey moral code as truth vs. a hockey moral code as hypocrisy. This paradox surrounding the morality of sport was exemplified within the two hockey moral code discourses surrounding the personification of Avery’s team cancer identity and the “sloppy seconds incident”.

Conclusions

This study adds to our understanding regarding how the media influences the construction of an informal team cancer role from one professional sport incident. This focus opens up a window of new understandings and possibilities for research and application beyond current theories and understandings of negative informal team roles in sport psychology.     

Consequences of anticipatory processing on cognitive symptoms of social anxiety

Anticipatory processing is an anxious style of repetitive negative thought associated with social anxiety (SA) that was proposed by Clark and Wells. Considerable research has examined factors of Clark and Wells' cognitive model of SA (e.g. attention, interpretation), but few studies have examined anticipatory processing, which is hypothesized to interact with other components in the model. In the current study, individuals high in social anxiety symptoms (HSA; N = 56) and control participants [Normal Control (NC); N = 52] engaged in an anticipation or distraction task prior to a threatened social interaction. HSAs who anticipated had higher self-focused attention than NCs who anticipated and HSAs in the distraction condition, suggesting an important relationship between anticipation and self-focus that is specific to HSAs. Those who anticipated endorsed more negative interpretations than those who engaged in distraction, regardless of SA status. However, this relationship was mediated by self-focus. Implications in the context of Clark and Wells' model and future directions are discussed.     

Two faces of desert

There are two broadly competing pictures of moral responsibility. On the view I favor, to be responsible for some action is to be related to it in such a way that licenses attributing certain properties to the agent, properties like blameworthiness and praiseworthiness. Responsibility is attributability. A different view understands being responsible in terms of our practices of holding each other responsible. Responsibility is accountability, which “involves a social setting in which we demand (require) certain conduct from one another and respond adversely to one another’s failures to comply with these demands” (Watson, Philos Top 24:227–248, 1996). My concern here is the relation between moral responsibility and desert. Plausibly, if someone is morally responsible for something wrong then they deserve blame, and it is on the basis of them being morally responsible and its being wrong that they deserve blame. In this paper, I try to make progress toward understanding why it would follow that being morally responsible for something supports a desert claim. I propose to do this by exploring how the “two faces” of responsibility should proceed. An important upshot is that we gain a new currency by which to evaluate extant theories of responsibility that might favor one or the other conception: do they carry plausible desert commitments? To illustrate this benefit, I argue that accountability theory carries implausible implications for deserved praise.     

Walking Down the Sunny Side of the Street: Three Studies Developing a Spiritually Nuanced Measure of Optimism

Across a series of studies, an effort was made to operationalize optimism in a spiritually nuanced fashion. In the first study, it was proposed and tested that spiritual optimism might consist of two factors: “here and now” and “end of story” optimism. However, a second study suggested that spiritual optimism had more of a unitary quality. The second study also suggested that the construct of spiritual optimism was separate from the construct of hope. The third study confirmed the unitary nature of the spiritual optimism measure and provided evidence for the construct validity of the measure. Spiritual optimism was directly related to a general measure of coping and a measure of religious coping. The relationships between spiritual optimism and different types of religious coping appeared stronger than between spiritual optimism and the more general measures of coping.     

Attachment to God,Images of God,and Psychological Distress in a Nationwide Sample of Presbyterians

Drawing broadly on insights from attachment theory, the present study outlines a series of theoretical arguments linking styles of attachment to God, perceptions of the nature of God (i.e., God imagery), and stressful life events with psychological distress. Main effects and potential stress-moderator effects are then evaluated using data from a nationwide sample of elders and rank-and-file members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Key findings indicate that secure attachment to God is inversely associated with distress, whereas both anxious attachment to God and stressful life events are positively related to distress. Once variations in patterns of attachment to God are controlled, there are no net effects of God imagery on levels of distress. There is only modest support for the hypothesis that God images moderate the effects of stressful life events on psychological distress, but no stress-moderator effects were found for attachment to God. Study limitations are identified, and findings are discussed in terms of their implications for religion-health research, as well as recent extensions of attachment theory.