Non-Language Thinking in Mathematics

After a brief outline of the topic of non-language thinking in mathematics the central phenomenological tool in this concern is established, i.e. the eidetic method. The special form of eidetic method in mathematical proving is implicit variation and this procedure entails three rules that are established in a simple geometrical example. Then the difficulties and the merits of analogical thinking in mathematics are discussed in different aspects. On the background of a new phenomenological understanding of the performance of non-language thinking in mathematics the well-known theses of B. L. van der Waerden that mathematical thinking to a great extent proceeds without the use of language is discussed in a new light.     

Temporal discounting of monetary rewards in children and adolescents with ADHD and autism spectrum disorders

It has been difficult to differentiate attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in terms of some aspects of their cognitive profile. While both show deficits in executive functions, it has been suggested that they may differ in their response to monetary reward. For instance, children with ADHD prefer small immediate over large delayed rewards more than typically developing controls. One explanation for this is that they discount the value of rewards to a higher degree as they are moved into the future. The current study investigated whether children with ADHD can be differentiated from those with ASD in terms of reward discounting. Thirty‐nine children (8–16 y) with ADHD, 34 children with ASD and 46 typically developing controls performed a hypothetical monetary temporal discounting task. Participants were instructed to make repeated choices between small variable rewards (0, 5, 10, 20, 30€) delivered immediately and large rewards delivered after a variable delay. Children with ADHD but not ASD discounted future rewards at a higher rate than typically developing controls. These data confirm steeper discounting of future rewards in ADHD and add to a small but growing literature showing that the psychological profile of ADHD can be distinguished from that of ASD in terms of disrupted motivational processes.     

The Effects of Risk-Promoting Media on Inclinations Toward Risk Taking

Three experiments examined whether exposure to risk-promoting media increases risk-related thoughts and behavioral inclinations. Participants were exposed to risk-promoting pictures (Study 1), movies (Study 2), and video games (Study 3) or a risk neutral control condition. Subsequently to exposure, accessibility of risk-taking cognitions and participants' inclinations to act in a risk-seeking manner was measured. In line with our expectations, all three studies revealed that risk-promoting media content increases the accessibility of risk-taking cognitions (Studies 1 and 3), risk taking in a computer-based driving simulator (Study 2), as well as risk taking in decision making scenarios (Study 3). Mediational analyses clarified the underlying psychological process: Risk-promoting media content increases the accessibility of risk-promoting cognitions, which in turn results in increased risk-taking inclinations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Physically Attractive Social Information Sources Lead to Increased Selective Exposure to Information

The present research investigated the impact of a social information source's physical attractiveness on selective exposure to decision-relevant information. In two studies, support was found for the hypothesis that physically attractive information sources lead decision makers into being more selective in both searching for (Studies 1 and 2; selective exposure) and evaluating (Study 2; biased assimilation) decision-relevant information. In both studies, the effect was driven by differences in the selection and evaluation of decision-consistent information, that is, physically attractive information sources led to increases in the perceived quality of decision-consistent information as well as increased selective exposure to this information. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Higher levels of depression are associated with reduced global bias in visual processing

Sleep-related attentional bias is a well-documented finding in patients with primary insomnia. To address the question of whether attentional preference for sleep-related stimuli is due to sleepiness (as measured by the Stanford Sleepiness Scale; SSS) or sleeplessness (as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; PSQI) we investigated 105 non-clinical participants with two attentional bias tasks, an emotional Stroop task and a newly introduced mixed-modality task. The emotional Stroop task revealed significant positive linear relationships between sleep-related attentional bias and both poor sleep quality and sleepiness. Additionally, we found a significant negative interaction effect between these two variables on the cognitive bias. This means that attentional bias scores are reduced when poor sleep quality is associated with high sleepiness and high sleep quality is associated with low sleepiness. We did not find any significant result in the mixed-modality task. The results suggest that sleep-related attentional bias can be elicited by both sleepiness and sleeplessness.     

Visual search for dimensionally redundant pop-out targets: Redundancy gains in compound tasks

Two visual search experiments investigated the detection of odd-one-out feature targets redundantly defined on multiple dimensions. Targets differed from the distractors in either orientation or colour or both (redundant targets). In Experiment 1, the three types of target were presented either in separate trial blocks or randomized within blocks, and the task involved either a simple target detection response or a “compound” response based on the position of dials inside the target. Mean reaction times (RTs) were faster to redundant targets than to singly defined targets, with greater gains in simple detection than in compound tasks. Further, simple detection RTs to redundant targets were faster than the fastest RTs to singly defined targets, violating Miller's (1982) “race model inequality” (RMI). Experiment 2 showed that, with compound tasks, mean RT redundancy gains (and violations of the RMI) depend on practice. The results suggest that separate colour and orientation feature contrast signals coactivate perceptual mechanisms involved in target detection.     

What various kinds of errors tell us about lateral masking effects

Error analyses were conducted to study processes underlying lateral masking effects. Location errors (i.e., confusions with a flanking letter) occurred at a rate higher than chance, and they increased with increasing eccentricity and with decreasing spacing. In longer strings, confusions with a flanker directly adjacent to the target (which is itself laterally masked) were more frequent than with a far flanker, and these confusions also increased with increasing eccentricity and with decreasing spacing indicating that identification of the letter's form is not necessarily disturbed by adjacent characters. This was confirmed in a whole report task, where there was better recognition performance for the central letter than in partial report. Whereas in partial report, the left flanker was more often confused with the target than the right one, in whole report, the left-most letter was recognized best. The data provide evidence that positional uncertainty contributes to lateral masking effects, and that a substantial portion of positional uncertainty occurs after having identified the letter's forms.     

Stress-oriented Analysis of Computerized Office Work

Abstract

The stress-oriented job analysis instrument ISTA was applied to a sample of 232 office jobs to analyse the impact of new technologies on the stressor-strain relationship. Scales measuring work content (complexity of work, variety), stressors (time pressure, organizational problems, interruptions, concentration necessities, social stressors), and resources (control at work, control over time) were developed and demonstrated desirable scale characteristics. The results showed positive correlations between stressors and psychological dysfunctioning (psychosomatic complaints, irritation). Computer work was associated with a decrease of work stressors, but also with decreased job content. Work places using different software systems (word processing, specialist, spreadsheet, and graphic programs) manifested different characteristics regarding work content, stressors, and resources. For example, when working with word processors, most stressors occurred at a medium daily computer work time. This indicates that strategies of work design which involve computer and non-computer work have to be used carefully.     

Conflict escalation and coping with workplace bullying: A replication and extension

Bullying or mobbing is used for systematically harassing a person for a long time. In the context of stress theory, bullying is a severe form of social stressors at work, whereas in terms of conflict theory, bullying signifies an unsolved social conflict having reached a high level of escalation and an increased imbalance of power. Based on a qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews with victims of bullying and a quantitative questionnaire study with a total of 149 victims of bullying and a control group (N = 81), it was investigated whether bullying victims use specific conflict management strategies more often compared with individuals who are not bullied, and whether coping strategies used by successful copers with bullying differ from those of the unsuccessful copers. Successful copers were those victims who believe that their situation at work has improved again as a result of their coping efforts. The qualitative data showed that most victims started with constructive conflict-solving strategies, changed their strategies several times, and finally tried to leave the organization. In the interviews, the victims of bullying most often recommended others in the same situation to leave the organization and to seek social support. They more often showed conflict avoidance in the quantitative study. Successful victims fought back with similar means less often, and less often used negative behaviour such as frequent absenteeism. Moreover, they obviously were better at recognizing and avoiding escalating behaviour, whereas in their fight for justice, the unsuccessful victims often contributed to the escalation of the bullying conflict.     

There is more than obeying display rules: Service employees’ motives for emotion regulation in customer interactions

Although research has focused on how service employees regulate their emotions, few studies have explored why they do so. In this article, we first described which kinds of motives for emotion regulation exist in customer interactions. Second, we investigated how the motives are related to four emotion regulation strategies. The application of an explorative approach resulted in a list of 10 motives, which could be classified into the three motive categories: pleasure, prevention, and instrumental. Hierarchical linear modelling of 421 reported service interactions from a diary study revealed that the motive categories were differently related to the emotion regulation strategies. Motives of the instrumental category were only significantly positively related to surface acting. Motives of the pleasure category were positively related to deep acting and automatic regulation as well as negatively related to surface acting and emotional deviance. Motives of the prevention category were positively related to deep acting, surface acting, and emotional deviance as well as negatively related to automatic regulation. These results can be used by organizations not only to enhance the motivation of employees towards emotion regulation, but also towards more authentic emotional expressions.