Memory-based versus on-line processing: Implications for attitude strength

Three experiments tested whether the manner in which attitudes are created—through on-line or memory-based processing—can impact the resultant strength of those attitudes. In each study, participants were presented with 20 behavioral statements about a person named Marie. Whereas some participants were asked to continually evaluate Marie based upon each sentence and then report their overall evaluation (on-line processing), others were asked to focus on the sentence structure and to evaluate Marie only after they had read all the sentences (memory-based processing). Even when controlling for attitude accessibility, attitudes created through on-line processing were stronger than attitudes created through memory-based processing: Experiment 1 showed that participants in the on-line condition felt more certain of their attitudes, Experiment 2 showed that on-line attitudes were better predictors of participants’ evaluative preferences, while Experiment 3 showed that on-line attitudes manifested stronger attitude-behavioral intention correspondence.     

Defining Compulsive Behavior

Neuropsychology Review - Compulsive tendencies are a central feature of problematic human behavior and thereby are of great interest to the scientific and clinical community. However, no consensus...     

Theological Education as Missional Formation

Theological education is missional in nature. The disability perspective within theological education provides this missional aspect, which is vital for the growth and sustenance of the church. Since its inception, the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (WCC‐EDAN) has contributed to this great mission. This paper is an attempt to understand theological education as missional formation from the perspective of disability studies, especially the contributions of WCC‐EDAN.     

Religiosity and Premarital Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents: An Analysis of Functional Form

While numerous studies show a persistent inverse association between religion variables and adolescents’ sexual behaviors, the nature of this relationship is not well understood. Specifically, many previous studies presuppose that the associations between adolescent religiosity and sexual behaviors are linear. However, a number of studies have also identified important nonlinearities of religious influence during adolescence, with highly religious individuals being distinct from their peers. Incorporating this knowledge into a theoretically motivated modeling approach, this article provides a comparative analysis of functional forms describing the relationships between religiosity and adolescent sexual behaviors. Using data from two waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a linear functional form is compared with nonlinear alternatives that link multiple religion measures to outcomes of sexual activity. Results show that the majority of these relationships are best defined by nonlinear functional forms, suggesting that the influence of religiosity increases as individuals become more religious.     

Aging and the perceptual organization of 3-D scenes

In the current study, the authors investigated whether the ground dominance effect (the use of ground surface information for the perceptual organization of scenes) varied with age. In Experiment 1, a scene containing a ground, a ceiling, and 2 vertical posts was presented. The scene was either in its normal orientation or rotated to the side. In Experiment 2, a blue dot was attached to each post, with location varied from bottom to top of the posts. In Experiment 3, a scene similar to that in Experiment 1 was presented in different locations in visual field. Observers judged which of the 2 objects (posts in Experiments 1 and 3, blue dots in Experiment 2) appeared to be closer. The results indicated that both younger (mean age = 22 years) and older observers (mean age = 73 years) responded consistently with the ground dominance effect. However, the magnitude of the effect decreased for older observers. These results suggest a decreased use of ground surface information by older observers for the perceptual organization of scene layout.     

Domain-specific assessment of anger expression and ambulatory blood pressure

Bongard and al’Absi (2003) proposed domain-specific anger expression as an improved method for measuring the expression of anger with stronger links to cardiovascular parameters. We tested this proposal by relating their domain-specific measure to ambulatory blood pressure. One hundred and forty-nine Singapore young adults responded to a modified version of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory that measured anger expression at home, school/work and leisure and then underwent 24 h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Results indicated significant differences in reported anger expression in the three domains measured and also showed that domain-specific measures of anger expression were more strongly related to ambulatory blood pressure than was the general measure of anger expression. These results provide additional evidence for the importance of measures of anger expression that take account of the specific context in which anger occurs.     

Mediators of physical activity behavior change: a multivariate approach

OBJECTIVE: Using a multivariate extension of the Baron and Kenny (1986) mediation framework, we examined the simultaneous effect of variables hypothesized to mediate the relationship between a motivationally tailored physical activity intervention, and 6-month physical activity behavior in 239 healthy, underactive adults (M age = 47.5; 82% women). DESIGN: Participants were randomly assigned to (a) print-based feedback; (b) telephone-based feedback; or (c) contact control. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychosocial variables, including self-efficacy, decisional balance, and processes of change. RESULTS: All mediation criteria were satisfied for both intervention arms. A moderate indirect effect of print (0.39, 95% CI = 0.21, 0.57) was found due to increases in behavioral processes (0.54, 95% CI = 0.29, 0.80) being attenuated by decreases due to cognitive processes (-0.17, 95%CI = 0.31,-.03). A moderate indirect effect was observed for telephone (0.47, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.66), with increases due to behavioral processes (0.61, 95% CI = 0.34, 0.87) attenuated by decreases due to cognitive processes (0.15, 95% CI = -0.27, -0.02); self-efficacy and decisional balance mediational paths did not attain statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of studies that deconstruct the theoretical components of interventions to determine which combination produces the greatest behavior changes at the lowest cost.     

Gender and Sex Diversity in Sport Organizations: Introduction to a Special Issue

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Special Issue on gender and sex diversity in sport organizations. In doing so, we first provide a brief outline of the extant literature, emphasizing the research and theoretical developments at the macro, meso, and micro level of analysis. Based on this framework and review, we allude to the communalities and intricacies in the existing understanding of sex and gender in the sport workplace. Further, we highlight how the contributions in the Special Issue address these voids and can serve as a catalyst to continued scholarly work in the area.     

Forcing in Łukasiewicz Predicate Logic

In this paper we study the notion of forcing for Łukasiewicz predicate logic (Ł∀, for short), along the lines of Robinson’s forcing in classical model theory. We deal with both finite and infinite forcing. As regard to the former we prove a Generic Model Theorem for Ł∀, while for the latter, we study the generic and existentially complete standard models of Ł∀. Presented by Jacek Malinowski