From segregation to intergroup contact and back: Using experiments and simulation to understand the bidirectional link

Research on intergroup contact has mostly viewed desegregation as a necessary condition for contact to unfold its power to reduce prejudice. Through residential and school choices, however, prejudice also contributes to segregation. To shed light on this bidirectional link, we conducted two survey‐based experiments with stratified quota samples of German adults. In Study 1, respondents with less contact and more prejudice indicated a lower likelihood of renting an apartment in a neighborhood with a larger proportion of minority members, although housing quality and crime rate were held constant. In Study 2, similar results were obtained for the likelihood of enrolling their child at a school with a larger proportion of minority students. Building on these results in a computer simulation, we find that because contact only reduces prejudice, but does not produce pro‐minority preferences, spontaneous desegregation is unlikely to occur even under the most favorable structural and economic conditions.     

Best not to bet on the horserace: A comment on Forrin and MacLeod (2017) and a relevant stimulus-response compatibility view of colour-word contingency learning asymmetries

One powerfully robust method for the study of human contingency learning is the colour-word contingency learning paradigm. In this task, participants respond to the print colour of neutral words, each of which is presented most often in one colour. The contingencies between words and colours are learned, as indicated by faster and more accurate responses when words are presented in their expected colour relative to an unexpected colour. In a recent report, Forrin and MacLeod (2017b, Memory & Cognition) asked to what extent this performance (i.e., response time) measure of learning might depend on the relative speed of processing of the word and the colour. With keypress responses, learning effects were comparable when responding to the word and to the colour (contrary to predictions). However, an asymmetry appeared in a second experiment with vocal responses, with a contingency effect only present for colour identification. In a third experiment, the colour was preexposed, and contingency effects were again roughly symmetrical. In their report, they suggested that a simple speed-of-processing (or “horserace”) model might explain when contingency effects are observed in colour and word identification. In the present report, an alternative view is presented. In particular, it is argued that the results are best explained by appealing to the notion of relevant stimulus–response compatibility, which also resolves discrepancies between horserace model predictions and participant results. The article presents simulations with the Parallel Episodic Processing model to demonstrate this case.     

The role of intonation for interrogative suggestibility

The detrimental consequences of suggestive witness manipulation have been frequently discussed in the literature. Notably, these discussions have been limited to the consequences of suggestive question types and interrogator conduct. This study is the first to investigate the influence of interrogator's intonation on interrogative suggestibility. Specifically, utilizing a modified German version of the forensic Gudjonsson suggestibility scale as dependent variable, we experimentally manipulated phrase‐final contours (low vs. high) and accentuation of details (neutral vs. emphatic) in the questions of the interrogator in a student sample (N = 88). Phrase‐final falling intonation contours increased suggestibility both through suggestive questions and through negative feedback. In contrast, accentuation of selected details increased only the latter. The combination of both tonal patterns only partially influenced suggestive response behavior after the exposure to interrogative pressure. However, particularly the combination of phrase‐final rising and neutral intonation consistently led to lowest interrogative suggestibility. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and applied implications for forensic contexts.     

Further evidence of renewal in automatically maintained behavior

Renewal is a relapse phenomenon that refers to the recurrence of a previously reduced behavior following a change in stimulus conditions. Muething et al. (2022) examined the phenomenology of renewal among individuals with automatically maintained challenging behavior treated at an outpatient clinic. We replicated their findings by retrospectively examining renewal across various topographies of automatically maintained behavior treated at an inpatient hospital, and we extended their work by also examining differences across subtypes of automatically maintained self-injurious behavior. The prevalence of renewal was comparable to that observed by Muething et al., supporting the notion that automatically maintained challenging behavior is susceptible to relapse phenomena. Furthermore, renewal was twice as likely to occur for individuals with Subtype 2 versus Subtype 1 self-injurious behavior, providing additional evidence of behavioral differentiation between subtypes. Our findings suggest that even after apparent stability in treatment, practitioners should remain vigilant for the recurrence of automatically maintained behavior during generalization.     

Temporal Synechism: A Peircean Philosophy of Time

Axiomathes - Charles Sanders Peirce is best known as the founder of pragmatism, but the name that he preferred for his overall system of thought was “synechism” because the principle of...     

The Church in the World: Shifting Notions of Ecclesial Identity among North American Mennonites

Abstract : At mid‐century, Harold S. Bender's “The Anabaptist Vision” provided a definition of sixteenth‐century Anabaptist tradition that clarified the self‐understanding of its contemporary Mennonite heirs and by which their faithfulness to the tradition might be judged. Critics of the vision, such as J. Lawrence Burkholder, sought reformulations of the vision's central tension between separation from and integration into “the world,” calling for greater social responsibility and for a recognition that the ambiguities of human existence extend to the church, of necessity qualifying its lived expressions of radical discipleship.     

Explaining the harmonic sequence paradox

According to the harmonic sequence paradox, an expected utility decision maker's willingness to pay for a gamble whose expected payoffs evolve according to the harmonic series is finite if and only if his marginal utility of additional income becomes zero for rather low payoff levels. Since the assumption of zero marginal utility is implausible for finite payoff levels, expected utility theory - as well as its standard generalizations such as cumulative prospect theory - are apparently unable to explain a finite willingness to pay. This paper presents first an experimental study of the harmonic sequence paradox. Additionally, it demonstrates that the theoretical argument of the harmonic sequence paradox only applies to time-patient decision makers, whereas the paradox is easily avoided if time-impatience is introduced.     

Psychic skin: psychotic defences, borderline process and delusions

In this paper, I apply the concept of psychic skin to analytic work with people suffering from personality disorders and psychoses. When psychoses emerge, the defensive skin which protects the ego is breached and violent unconscious forces rip through the personality. Some of the patients diagnosed as schizophrenic with whom I work have identified with archetypal characters such as Christ, Satan, John Lennon and the Queen. I attempt to show how the adoption of these inflated personas can serve as secondary psychic skins. Such delusional identifications can provide a protective shield to hide the denuded self and prevent intrusion from the external world. Through clinical example, I try to demonstrate how these archetypal 'second skins' can preserve life until internal and external conditions make it possible for the self to emerge. I contrast such psychotic identifications with 'thin-skinned' and 'thick-skinned' narcissism as well as 'defences of the self' in borderline states where the psychic skin may be damaged but does not disintegrate. I also look at the ways in which Jung's own personal experience was different from this and how he managed to avert psychotic breakdown.     

Influence of stimulus amplitude on unintended visuomotor entrainment

Rhythmic limb movements have been shown to spontaneously coordinate with rhythmic environmental stimuli. Previous research has demonstrated how such entrainment depends on the difference between the movement periods of the limb and the stimulus, and on the degree to which the actor visually tracks the stimulus. Here we present an experiment that investigated how stimulus amplitude influences unintended visuomotor entrainment. Participants performed rhythmic forearm movements while visually tracking an oscillating stimulus. The amplitude and period of stimulus motion were manipulated. Larger stimulus amplitudes resulted in stronger entrainment irrespective of how participants visually tracked the movements of the stimulus. Visual tracking, however, did result in increased entrainment for large, but not small, stimulus amplitudes. Collectively, the results indicate that the movement amplitude of environmental stimuli plays a significant role in the emergence of unintended visuomotor entrainment.     

Taken out of context? Cross-level effects of between-person self-efficacy and difficulty on the within-person relationship of self-efficacy with resource allocation and performance

Research examining the within-person relationship among self-efficacy, resource allocation, and performance has been decidedly mixed, with positive, null, and even negative relationships being observed. In the present research, we propose that relationship of within-person changes in self-efficacy with subsequent changes in resource allocation and performance depends upon one’s typical level of self-efficacy; that is, increases and decreases in self-efficacy have different implications for individuals that are generally highly efficacious than for individuals who are typically less efficacious. Moreover, we propose that these relationships further depend upon the difficulty of goal being pursued. Support for these arguments is found across two studies. These results provide support for self-efficacy’s non-monotonic relationship with resource allocation, including our proposition that the nature of this non-monotonic relationship differs as a function of difficulty. These results also help further illuminate when and for whom self-efficacy is likely to increase or decrease resource allocation and performance.