The principals of meaning: Extracting semantic dimensions from co-occurrence models of semantics

Notable progress has been made recently on computational models of semantics using vector representations for word meaning (Mikolov, Chen, Corrado, & Dean, 2013; Mikolov, Sutskever, Chen, Corrado, & Dean, 2013). As representations of meaning, recent models presumably hone in on plausible organizational principles for meaning. We performed an analysis on the organization of the skip-gram model’s semantic space. Consistent with human performance (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957), the skip-gram model primarily relies on affective distinctions to organize meaning. We showed that the skip-gram model accounts for unique variance in behavioral measures of lexical access above and beyond that accounted for by affective and lexical measures. We also raised the possibility that word frequency predicts behavioral measures of lexical access due to the fact that word use is organized by semantics. Deconstruction of the semantic representations in semantic models has the potential to reveal organizing principles of human semantics.     

Sex differences in reaction time mean and intraindividual variability across the life span

Men are often found to have faster and less variable reaction times (RTs) than do women. However, it has not been established whether these differences occur in children. One suggestion is that sex differences in RT variability may be due to the effect of sex hormones on the brain and, by implication, may be expected in adults but not in children. The present study investigates sex differences in RT mean and intraindividual variability in a sample that includes both children and adults (age range = 4-75 years). Mean and intraindividual variability of simple RT (SRT) and 4-choice RT (CRT) were measured in 1,994 visitors to science festivals held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008 and 2009 and in Cheltenham and Cambridge, England, in 2008. The commonly reported pattern of decreasing RT mean and variability in childhood and adolescence, followed by an increase in mean and variability through adulthood and into old age, was confirmed. Greater intraindividual variability for females in SRT and CRT was observed in adults but not in children. Males had significantly faster mean SRT than did females across the life span, but there were no sex differences in mean CRT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Changing beliefs and behavior through experience-taking

The present research introduces the concept of experience-taking-the imaginative process of spontaneously assuming the identity of a character in a narrative and simulating that character's thoughts, emotions, behaviors, goals, and traits as if they were one's own. Six studies investigated the degree to which particular psychological states and features of narratives cause individuals, without instruction, to engage in experience-taking and investigated how the merger between self and other that occurs during experience-taking produces changes in self-judgments, attitudes, and behavior that align with the character's. Results from Studies 1-3 showed that being in a reduced state of self-concept accessibility while reading a brief fictional work increased-and being in a heightened state of self-concept accessibility decreased-participants' levels of experience-taking and subsequent incorporation of a character's personality trait into their self-concepts. Study 4 revealed that a first-person narrative depicting an ingroup character elicited the highest levels of experience-taking and produced the greatest change in participants' behavior, compared with versions of the narrative written in 3rd-person voice and/or depicting an outgroup protagonist. The final 2 studies demonstrated that whereas revealing a character's outgroup membership as a homosexual or African American early in a narrative inhibited experience-taking, delaying the revelation of the character's outgroup identity until later in the story produced higher levels of experience-taking, lower levels of stereotype application in participants' evaluation of the character, and more favorable attitudes toward the character's group. The implications of these findings in relation to perspective-taking, self-other overlap, and prime-to-behavior effects are discussed.     

Can spirituality be taught to health care professionals?

Although people with life-limiting conditions report a desire to have spiritual concerns addressed, there is evidence that these issues are often avoided by health care professionals in palliative care. This study reports on the longitudinal outcomes of four workshops purpose-designed to improve the spiritual knowledge and confidence of 120 palliative care staff in Australia. Findings revealed significant increases in Spirituality, Spiritual Care, Personalised Care, and Confidence in this field immediately following the workshops. Improvements in Spiritual Care and Confidence were maintained 3 month later, with Confidence continuing to grow. These findings suggest that attendance at a custom-designed workshop can significantly improve knowledge and confidence to provide spiritual care.     

Profiles of perfectionism,body-related concerns,and indicators of psychological health in vocational dance students: An investigation of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism

ObjectivesThe study examined 1) profiles of multidimensional perfectionism; and 2) inter-relationships between these profiles and indices of body-related concerns and psychological health in the case of vocational dance students.DesignA cross-sectional design was employed.MethodsOne hundred and ninety-four vocational dance students (females = 169, males = 25; M age = 16.73, SD = 1.45) completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost-MPS; Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990), the Brief Measure of Positive and Negative Affect (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), the Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) Scale (Martin, Rejeski, Leary, McAuley, & Bane, 1997), an assessment of physical symptoms (Emmons, 1992), and the emotional and physical exhaustion subscale from the Athlete Burnout Measure (Raedeke & Smith, 2001).ResultsUsing a two-stage cluster analysis procedure, the dancers were grouped according to their scores on three Frost-MPS subscales (personal standards, concern over mistakes, and doubts about action). Four different profiles emerged: (1) dancers with pure personal standards perfectionism; (2) dancers with non perfectionism; (3) dancers with pure evaluative concerns perfectionism; and (4) dancers with a mixed profile of perfectionism. The results suggested that these different profiles of perfectionism distinguished according to body-related concerns and indicators of psychological health.ConclusionsIn support of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism (Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010), dancers with adaptive achievement tendencies demonstrated greater psychological adjustment compared to other three subtypes, whereas dancers with relatively greater concerns over mistakes and high doubts about actions, regardless of their personal standards, reported greater psychological distress.     

Appearance matters: Attentional orienting by new objects in the precueing paradigm

Five experiments examined whether the appearance of a new object is able to orient attention in the absence of an accompanying sensory transient. A variant of the precueing paradigm (Posner & Cohen, 1984 Posner, M. I. and Cohen, Y. 1984. “Components of attention”. In Attention and performance X, Edited by: Bouma, H. and Bouwhuis, D. G. 55–66. Hove, , UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd.  [Google Scholar]) was employed in which the cue was the onset of a new object. Crucially, the new object's appearance was not associated with any unique sensory transient. This was achieved by using the variant “annulus” procedure recently developed by Franconeri, Hollingworth, and Simons (2005). Results showed that unless observers had an attentional set explicitly biased against onset, a validity effect was observed such that response times were shorter for targets occurring at the location of the new object relative to when targets occurred at the location of the “old” object. We conclude that new onsets do not need to be associated with a unique sensory transient in order to orient attention.     

Everyday Cognitive Functioning in Cardiac Patients: Relationships Between Self-report,Report of a Significant Other and Cognitive Test Performance

ABSTRACT

Candidates for cardiac bypass surgery often experience cognitive decline. Such decline is likely to affect their everyday cognitive functioning. The aim of the present study was to compare cardiac patients' ratings of their everyday cognitive functioning against significant others' ratings and selected neuropsychological tests. Sixty-nine patients completed a battery of standardised cognitive tests. Patients and significant others also completed the Everyday Function Questionnaire independently of each other. Patient and significant other ratings of patients' everyday cognitive difficulties were found to be similar. Despite the similarities in ratings of difficulties, some everyday cognitive tasks were attributed to different processes. Patients' and significant others' ratings were most closely associated with the neuropsychological test of visual memory. Tests of the patients' verbal memory and fluency were only related to significant others' ratings. Test scores of attention and planning were largely unrelated to ratings by either patients or their significant others.     

Is Winning Everything? The Relative Contributions of Motivational Climate and Won-Lost Percentage in Youth Sports

The purpose of this study was to examine the main and interactive effects of motivational climate and won-lost percentage upon young athletes’ evaluations of their coaches, enjoyment of their team experience, and perceived parental liking for the coach. A total of 268 male and female youth basketball players, aged 10 to 15 years, completed the Motivational Climate Scale for Youth Sports (Smith, Cumming, & Smoll, in press) and selected attitudinal scales relating to their sport enjoyment and their evaluations of their coach. Regular season won-lost percentages were calculated for each of the 50 teams. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to predict player evaluations of the coach. Attitudes toward the coach were positively associated with perceptions of a mastery-involved climate and negatively associated with perceptions of an ego-involved climate. Won-lost percentages positively predicted players’ evaluations of their coach's knowledge and teaching ability, but accounted for far less attitudinal variance than did the motivational climate measures. Consistent with earlier findings, young athletes’ sport enjoyment, and evaluations of their coach were more strongly related to coaching behaviors than to their team's won-lost record. No significant interactions involving winning and motivational climate were found.     

Churches as organisations: towards a virtue ecclesiology for today

This article is an attempt to offer insights from organisation studies to ecclesiology. To do so it draws particularly on the work of the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre to offer a virtue ecclesiology for today. The application of MacIntyre's conceptual framework of practices, institutions, goods and virtues to all kinds of organisations, which already exists in the field of organisation studies, is extended to the church as an organisation. It suggests that the church may be re-described as an organisation in which the practices of faith are housed within the institution of the church. On this understanding, the gift of the church to the world is not simply the practices of faith but the manner in which they are institutionalised.     

Cohen’s d needs to be readily interpretable: Comment on Shieh (2013)

Shieh (2013) discussed in detail δ*, a proposed standardized effect size measure for the two-independent-groups design with heteroscedasticity. Shieh focused on inference—notably, the large challenge of calculating confidence intervals for δ*. I contend, however, that the standardizer chosen for δ*, meaning the units in which it is expressed, is appropriate for inference but causes δ* to be inconsistent with conventional Cohen’s d. In addition, δ* depends on the relative sample sizes in the particular experiment and, thus, lacks the generality that is highly desirable if a standardized effect size is to be readily interpretable and also usable in meta-analysis. In the case of heteroscedasticity, I suggest that researchers should choose as standardizer for Cohen’s δ the best available estimate of the SD of an appropriate population, usually the control population, in preference to δ* as discussed by Shieh.