Credit use: psychological perspectives on a multifaceted phenomenon

Consumer borrowing is a highly topical and multifaceted phenomenon as well as a popular subject for study. We focus on consumer credit use and review the existing literature. To categorize what is known we identify four main psychological perspectives on the phenomenon: credit use as (1) a reflection of the situation, (2) a reflection of the person, (3) a cognitive process, and (4) a social process. On top of these perspectives we view credit use as a process that entails three distinct phases: (1) processes before credit acquisition, (2) processes at credit acquisition, and (3) processes after credit acquisition. We review the international literature along a two-tier structure that aligns the psychological perspectives with a process view of credit. This structure allows us to identify systematic concentrations as well as gaps in the existing research. We consolidate what is known within each perspective and identify what seems to be most urgently missing. Some of the most important gaps relate to research studying credit acquisition from the perspective of credit use as a reflection of the person or as a social process. In particular, research on credit use as a reflection of the person appears to focus exclusively on the first stage of the credit process. We conclude with a discussion that reaches across perspectives and identifies overarching gaps, trends, and open questions. We highlight a series of implicit linkages between perspectives and the geographical regions in which studies related to the perspectives were conducted. Beyond diagnosing a geographical imbalance of research, we argue for future research that systematically addresses interrelations between perspectives. We conclude with a set of global implications and research recommendations.     

A computer program for testing and analyzing random generation behavior in normal and clinical samples: The Mittenecker Pointing Test

Random sequence generation tests have proved to be a useful diagnostic tool for the identification of clinically relevant impairments of executive functions and for the study of cognitive functioning in healthy individuals. The most prevalent variety, random number generation, involves several limitations, however. In the original Mittenecker Pointing Test (MPT; Mittenecker, 1958), subjects were instructed to point successively and as randomly as possible at nine unlabeled circles irregularly arranged on a cardboard. With the computer program presented here, Mittenecker’s classical test has been transferred to a contemporary format. The MPT can be applied using a standard PC keyboard and computes a series of sophisticated measures of deviations from randomness on the basis of information theory analysis. Because of its easy and well-controlled administration and reduced demands on memory and attention, the automatized MPT offers a wide range of application possibilities in normal but also in severely impaired clinical samples.     

Evidence for a cognitive control network for goal-directed attention in simple sustained attention

The deterioration of performance over time is characteristic for sustained attention tasks. This so-called “performance decrement” is measured by the increase of reaction time (RT) over time. Some behavioural and neurobiological mechanisms of this phenomenon are not yet fully understood. Behaviourally, we examined the increase of RT over time and the inter-individual differences of this performance decrement. On the neurophysiological level, we investigated the task-relevant brain areas where neural activity was modulated by RT and searched for brain areas involved in good performance (i.e. participants with no or moderate performance decrement) as compared to poor performance (i.e. participants with a steep performance decrement). For this purpose, 20 healthy, young subjects performed a carefully designed task for simple sustained attention, namely a low-demanding version of the Rapid Visual Information Processing task. We employed a rapid event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design. The behavioural results showed a significant increase of RT over time in the whole group, and also revealed that some participants were not as prone to the performance decrement as others. The latter was statistically significant comparing good versus poor performers. Moreover, high BOLD-responses were linked to longer RTs in a task-relevant bilateral fronto-cingulate-insular-parietal network. Among these regions, good performance was associated with significantly higher RT-BOLD correlations in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). We concluded that the task-relevant bilateral fronto-cingulate-insular-parietal network was a cognitive control network responsible for goal-directed attention. The pre-SMA in particular might be associated with the performance decrement insofar that good performers could sustain activity in this brain region in order to monitor performance declines and adjust behavioural output.     

Frege,Dedekind, and the Origins of Logicism

This paper has a two-fold objective: to provide a balanced, multi-faceted account of the origins of logicism; to rehabilitate Richard Dedekind as a main logicist. Logicism should be seen as more deeply rooted in the development of modern mathematics than typically assumed, and this becomes evident by reconsidering Dedekind's writings in relation to Frege's. Especially in its Dedekindian and Fregean versions, logicism constitutes the culmination of the rise of ‘pure mathematics’ in the nineteenth century; and this rise brought with it an inter-weaving of methodological and epistemological considerations. The latter aspect illustrates how philosophical concerns can grow out of mathematical practice, as opposed to being imposed on it from outside. It also sheds new light on the legacy and the lasting significance of logicism today.     

Boundaries of Citizenship Behavior: Curvilinearity and Context in the Citizenship and Task Performance Relationship

Resource allocation, attentional capacity, and role theories all suggest that the well‐documented linear relationship between citizenship behavior and task performance may be more complex than previously believed. In a study of 352 incumbents, we develop hypotheses that propose a curvilinear effect of employee citizenship on task performance. We further argue that this nonmonotonic relationship is different across the targets of citizenship performance and is moderated by several factors from the task context. Results support the curvilinear assertion, indicating that the relationship with task performance inflects when citizenship is more frequently performed. These diminishing returns are amplified when the target of citizenship is the organization compared to the individual. Findings further reveal that the task context elements of accountability and autonomy moderate the curvilinear relationship, whereas ambiguity does not. Implications for a reappraisal of the citizenship–task performance relationship are discussed.     

Deviance,norms, and social reaction

The author suggests a scheme that attempts to resolve some of the conceptual problems and dilemmas that Meier argues persist in the sociology of deviant behavior. He proposes that a distinction be made not only between the normative and the reactive perspectives toward deviance, but also between “hard” and “soft” varieties of the reactive perspective. The normative perspective has limitations and drawbacks—as does a liberal (or “hard") reading of reactive theory. The “soft” variety of the reactive perspective attempts to surmount these limitations and drawbacks.     

Extending a Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect to a Research Program

We reanalyze the recent multilab preregistered study on ego-depletion by Hagger and Chatzisarantis (2016 Hagger, M. S., &; Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2016). A multilab preregistered replication of the ego-depletion effect. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 546–573. doi:10.1177/1745691616652873[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as if their data were obtained under the research program-strategy (Witte &; Zenker, 2016a Witte, E. H., &; Zenker, F. (2016a). Beyond schools—Reply to Marsman, Ly, and Wagenmakers. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38, 313–317. doi:10.1080/01973533.2016.1227710[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 2016b Witte, E. H., &; Zenker, F. (2016b). Reconstructing recent work on macro-social stress as a research program. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38, 301–307. doi:10.1080/01973533.2016.1207077[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This strengthens Hagger and Chatzisarantis’s (2016 Hagger, M. S., &; Chatzisarantis, N. L. D. (2016). A multilab preregistered replication of the ego-depletion effect. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 546–573. doi:10.1177/1745691616652873[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) main conclusion, because our reanalysis more directly corroborates the absence of a medium-sized, or a small-sized, ego-depletion effect (d?=?.50 under α?=?β?=?.05; d?=?.20 under α?=?β?=?.01). We explain how a smaller ego-depletion effect of d?=?.04 can be tested under similar conditions, having determined this value by maximum likelihood estimation, and compare the research program-strategy to a standard meta-analytic integration.