‘Zeitgeist’and minority influence—where is the causality: A comment on Clark (1990)

Does the mood of the time (Zeitgeist) facilitate the influence minorities are able to exercise, or is it itself direct product of minority influence? It is argued, from a social psychological definition of the minority–majority relation, that the former interpretation fails to explain many of the observed effects and in particular the conversion effect. A model is offered that is consistent with the second interpretation.     

Synchronic consistency and psychologization in minority influence

The importance of synchronic consistency as a factor facilitating minority influence had not previously been the object of a systematic study. We carried out a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experiment aimed at studying the consequences of a) ideological similarity or dissimilarity of two minority sources belonging to b) a single minority or two different ones, on subjects c) ideologically both close and distant from positions defended by the influence sources, d) according to the absence or presence of psychologization. In the main, our hypotheses were confirmed. As expected concerning the ‘close’ subjects, in the absence of psychologization, the similarity and dissimilarity between minority sources take over, respectively, the signification of consistency and inconsistency and, consequently, increase or decrease the influence exerted by the minority sources. Psychologization decreases the benefits of synchronic consistency. Contrariwise, the ‘distant’ subjects did not seem to follow the same ‘logic’: the condition of opinion dissimilarity in the same minority is the most influential; its influence, however, diminishes when the divergence of opinion is explained by means of a psychological dissimilarity. Data related to the image of the sources indicate that the influence process is no longer determined by perceived consistency or inconsistency, but by the objectivity attributed to minorities. Under these circumstances, intra-minority pluralism became the guaranteer of objectivity.     

The cotherapy relationship: Special issues and problems in aids therapy groups

This paper examines the special issues and problems in the co-leadership relationship which arise in ongoing AIDS therapy and support groups. A brief review is given outlining some of the advantages and disadvantages of the coleader model. Specific attention is then paid to the issues/themes of physical deterioration of members, disfigurement, frequent absences, and members dying. Four particular patterns of interaction that develop between cotherapists are identified, illustrated, and discussed.The author thanks the Group Services staff and volunteer therapists for their contributions to this article.     

Direct and indirect influence in the Asch paradigm: Effects of ‘valid’ or ‘denied’ information

In an experiment using the Asch paradigm, a source whose response was ‘denied’ (source younger than subjects, in an experiment context implying the development of visual acuity) was found to have less direct influence than a ‘validated’ source (older or same age as subjects), tending to specialize in a pattern of influence similar to the so-called conversion phenomenon (i.e. direct influence only).     

The role of stimulus comparison in perceptual learning: An investigation with the domestic chick

In two experiments an imprinting procedure was used to familiarize chicks with two stimuli, A and B, that subsequently served as the discriminanda in a simultaneous discrimination. On the first day of each experiment, subjects either received presentations of A and B that were intermixed within a session (mixed exposure) or presentations of A in one session and of B in another (separate exposure). For half of the subjects in each of the exposure conditions, A and B differed in both colour and form; for the remainder A and B differed in form alone. On the second day of the experiments, the chicks were placed into a cool test apparatus and given training in which approaching A was rewarded by the delivery of a stream of warm air, but approaching B was not. Acquisition of this discrimination was more rapid when A and B differed in two respects than when they differed in form alone. When A and B differed in both colour and form, the heat-reinforced discrimination was acquired more rapidly after separate exposure than after mixed exposure; but when A and B differed in form alone, discrimination learning was more rapid following mixed exposure than separate exposure. The latter finding, that the opportunity to compare stimuli differing in only one dimension facilitates subsequent discrimination learning, is consistent with earlier suggestions (Gibson, 1969) regarding the conditions that promote perceptual learning.     

Reduction of inflammatory pain in female rats after NR2B NMDA cortical antagonism

Studies have shown that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors play a critical role in pain processing at different levels of the central nervous system. In this study, we used female adult Wistar rats to examine the effects of antagonizing the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor in phasic and tonic pain processes. All the rats underwent stereotaxic surgery for cortical cannula implantation and after at least one week of recovery, rats performed behavioral tests. For evaluating the effects of drugs on motor coordination rats were tested in the rotarod apparatus. Moreover, rats were evaluated in the paw withdrawal latency (PWL) to a noxious thermal stimulus. Furthermore, rats were tested in the formalin-pain test. Rats that received the NR2B antagonist Ro 25-6981 before and after formalin injection showed significantly reduced pain responses in the formalin test, as compared with female control rats (p<0.05). In contrast, no differences among groups were found in the phasic pain test (Hargreaves) and the rotarod test. Taken together, these results suggest that cortical antagonism of the NR2B subunit of NMDA receptors is able to reduce inflammatory pain levels not only before, but after the formalin injection in females at different phases of the estrous cycle.     

Grapheme–color synesthesia can enhance immediate memory without disrupting the encoding of relational cues

Previous evidence has suggested that grapheme–color synesthesia can enhance memory for words, but little is known about how these photisms cue retrieval. Often, the encoding of specific features of individual words can disrupt the encoding of ordered relations between words, resulting in an overall decrease in recall accuracy. Here we show that the photisms arising from grapheme–color synesthesia do not function like these item-specific cues. The influences of high and low word frequency on the encoding of ordered relations and the accuracy of immediate free recall were compared across a group of 10 synesthetes and 48 nonsynesthetes. The main findings of Experiment 1 showed that the experience of synesthesia had no adverse effect on the encoding of ordered relations (as measured by input–output correspondence); furthermore, it enhanced recall accuracy in a strictly additive fashion across the two word frequency conditions. Experiment 2 corroborated these findings by showing that the synesthetes only outperformed the nonsynesthetes when the materials involved words and letters, not when they involved digits and spatial locations. Altogether, the present findings suggest that synesthesia can boost immediate memory performance without disrupting the encoding of ordered relations.     

Would you Value a few More Hours of work? Underemployment and Subjective Well-Being Across Chilean Workers

Underemployment has gained attention in recent years because of its effects on health and well-being (life satisfaction), it is a widespread phenomenon in the labor force that affects not only workers, but also households, companies and governments. This paper explores the relationship between underemployment and subjective well-being for a representative sample of Chilean workers using an ordered probit model. Also, by using different underemployment definitions and a latent class ordered probit model we analyze the observed and unobserved heterogeneity in this relationship. Finally, we assess the monetary valuation of well-being costs by estimating the amount of money that a worker is willing to accept in order to bear the potential negative effects of underemployment on well-being. Our results find a negative relationship between underemployment and subjective well-being, as the average worker is willing to accept an increase of CLP$64,009 (roughly 30.5% of the minimum wage) in her/his monthly wage for being underemployed. If we take into account the observed and unobserved heterogeneity, our results identify a group that is not sensitive to underemployment, while others are willing to accept an increase of CLP$146,622 in her/his monthly wage for being underemployed. Our work highlights the importance of well-being in the workplace and has implications for labor flexibility legislation and the empowerment of workers. Heterogeneous responses to underemployment imply that one-size-fits-all policies to regulate working hours might not suffice.

     

Implementation Intentions Improve Prospective Memory and Inhibition Performances in Older Adults: The Role of Visualization

Implementation intentions have been shown to be a very effective strategy in improving prospective memory in older adults. However, their efficacy in improving inhibition has never been assessed in aging. We thus examined the efficacy of implementation intentions in a prospective memory task and an inhibition task in 87 older participants. Following a crossover design, half of the participants were instructed to form an implementation intention in the prospective memory task, the other half in the inhibition task. The moderating role of working memory, visualization and verbalization habits, and impulsivity were also assessed. Regression analyses revealed that for both tasks, participants benefited from implementation intentions but only if they were used to using visual strategies in daily life. The efficacy of implementation intentions was not moderated by working memory, impulsivity, or the use of verbal strategies in everyday life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aging and Situation Model Updating

The aim of this study was to investigate age differences in narrative comprehension and memory, with a focus on the updating of situation models during comprehension. While there are large effects of aging on memory for propositional textbase information, there is very little evidence that older adults have difficulty at the situation model level. Because described events are often dynamic, a comprehender must consistently update their situation model to make it consistent with the new information. The current experiments investigated whether there are any age differences associated with the ability to update a situation model along the spatial and temporal dimensions. Although updating effects were observed, they were largely not influenced by age. The relation of these findings to an understanding of older adults’ language comprehension and memory performance is discussed.