Qualitative Analyse von Gruppeninteraktionen in offenen verteilten Lernumgebungen

Summary. Open learning environments support on the one hand a constructive approach to potentially open tasks and on the other hand social interaction by means of distributed systems. Beyond that they enable a detailed data acquisition and thus the focusing on the process of interaction in groups. On the basis of a distributed system with shared workspaces and structured visual representations, an approach has been developed for the analysis of collaboration on the basis of group interactions (action based collaboration analysis). This approach was implemented in a system for the automatic analysis of group interactions which uses formalizations of interaction events in predicate logic as indicators for action sequences. Tests with different groups of participants indicate the applicability of the approach and give first insights into cooperations and conflicts in shared problem solving situations. Zusammenfassung. Offene Lernumgebungen unterstützen auf der einen Seite einen konstruktiven Zugang zu potentiell offenen Aufgabenstellungen und auf der anderen Seite soziale Interaktion durch verteilte Systeme. Darüber hinaus ermöglichen sie eine detaillierte Datenerhebung und damit die Fokussierung auf den Prozeß der Interaktion in Gruppen. Auf der Grundlage eines verteilten Systems mit gemeinsamen Arbeitsbereichen und strukturierten visuellen Repräsentationen wurde ein Ansatz zur Analyse von Zusammenarbeit auf der Basis von Gruppeninteraktionen (action-based collaboration analysis) entwickelt. Dieser wurde in einem System zur automatischen Analyse von Gruppeninteraktionen implementiert, wobei prädikatenlogische Formalisierungen von Interaktionsereignissen als Indikatoren auf Aktionssequenzen dienen. Untersuchungen mit verschiedenen Versuchsgruppen zeigen die Anwendbarkeit des Ansatzes und liefern erste Einsichten in Kooperationen und Konflikte beim gemeinsamen Problemlösen.     

Characteristics of personally important episodic memories,counterfactual thoughts,and future projections across age and culture

We have limited knowledge as to whether the phenomenological differences between episodic memories, counterfactuals, and future projections show the same pattern across age groups and diverse samples. Here we compared the characteristics of these mental events, reported by younger and older participants in a Turkish (Study 1) and in an American sample (Study 2). In both studies, memories contained more sensory-perceptual-spatial details, were easier to bring to mind, and more specific. Future projections were the most positive, whereas counterfactuals were the least emotionally intense. In Study 1, older participants rated the events more positively and experienced them with more perceptual detail, whereas younger participants reported the future to be more voluntarily rehearsed, important, and central. These age differences did not replicate in Study 2. Overall, phenomenological differences between the events are robust and replicate across diverse samples. However, age differences are more sensitive to cultural or individual differences.     

To be at the tail of the lions or the head of the foxes?

Agents seeking an opportunity for profit often have to compete with others who pursue the same opportunity. When having to choose between a number of opportunities differing in their value and if individuals differ in their chances of outperforming others, the choice can be cognitively and emotionally demanding. We explore choice between opportunities using stylized Lions–Foxes games. In such a game, each of three players, with different odds of beating others, has to choose one of two contests that offer different rewards. After game theoretically analyzing the games, which we have experimentally employed, we report four experiments that vary in choice elicitation (repeated play or strategy method), in players' matching (random strangers or partners) and in rewards. Regarding contest choices, we found the choice of the higher value (and seemingly more prestigious) contest to be positively related to winning odds, contrary to what four out of the five (mixed, partially mixed, or pure) equilibria predict. Participants started out rather optimistic, with a large majority choosing the higher value option, but with experience, they approached the only viable of two pure strategy equilibria. Still, mixing continued via reacting to past play and outcome, apparently balancing dissatisfaction from choosing either contest.     

Illusory trust: Kanizsa shapes incidentally increase trust and willingness to invest

Previous research has shown that the completion of basic perceptual processes is intrinsically pleasant. In the absence of diagnostic and objective cues to trustworthiness, nondiagnostic factors such as positive affect can incidentally lead to reported and behavioral trust. On the basis of these two premises, it was tested whether positive affect from the completion of perceptual processes has implications for the formation of trust in first-time business-consumer interactions. We tested this hypothesis in four experiments, using the famous Kanizsa illusion as an exemplary perceptual process that has been shown to trigger positive affect. We found that participants trusted companies who featured a Kanizsa shape as their logo more than companies with closely matched logos that did not allow for the completion of a basic perceptual process. This was evident on self-reported (Experiment 1) as well as behavioral (Experiments 2–4) measures of trust. This effect even persisted under incentivized conditions (Experiment 4) and was partially mediated by the intrinsic pleasantness of perception (Experiment 3). These findings for the first time demonstrate that positive affect is not the only consequence of perception, but rather has further trickle-down consequences for social judgments and economic decision making. Perceptual illusions seem to elicit illusory trust. Therefore, these novel findings bear important implications not only for both logo design and marketing but also for consumer decision making.     

Daily Responsiveness,Expectations, and Self-disclosure: How the Average Levels and Within-person Variability of Three Relationship Components Mediate Personality–Relationship Transactions in Romantic Couples

The associations between couple members' personality and their relationship satisfaction can be conceptualized as reciprocal transactions. To better understand these transactions, we focused on both partners' interpersonal vulnerabilities (i.e. neuroticism, low self-esteem, and insecure attachment); daily emotional, cognitive, and behavioural relationship components (i.e. perceived responsiveness, positive expectations, and self-disclosure); and relationship satisfaction. Specifically, we examined whether the average levels and within-person variability of the relationship components mediated the transactions between interpersonal vulnerabilities and relationship satisfaction. Data came from 689 female–male couples aged 18 to 81 years who participated in three measurement occasions across 12 months, including a 14-day diary phase. We used mediated dyadic bivariate latent change score models to test the level–change and change–change transactions and mediations. The findings partly supported our hypotheses: Couple members with interpersonal vulnerabilities had lower average levels (but not higher within-person variability) of the relationship components, and less satisfied couple members had lower average levels and higher within-person variability of these components. The lower average levels but not the variability mediated between a lower level of relationship satisfaction and an increase in avoidant attachment. No other mediations were observed. We discuss the importance of studying daily relationship components for better understanding reciprocal transactions in couples. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The connection between social cohesion and personality: A multilevel study in the Kyrgyz Republic

As the discourse around societal cohesion grows and policy makers increasingly turn their attention towards improving cohesion, understanding its role for the lives of individuals becomes ever more important. Our study examines whether the social cohesion of the immediate living context is related to the strength of Big Five personality traits among individuals. Using data from a community survey of 6252 adults living in 30 rural sub-districts in the Kyrgyz Republic, where social cohesion is a sizable policy concern, we conduct a multilevel analysis of the relationship between sub-district cohesion and individual personality. Results indicate that higher levels of cohesion are significantly related to higher individual levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness. However, no relationship is found with extraversion or neuroticism. Thus, where a social entity has higher cohesion, this entity will also have inhabitants with a greater prosocial and communal orientation towards others, greater conscientiousness and more openness to experience. These findings imply that social cohesion may be one geographical social indicator related to variation in personality traits. Moreover, the findings suggest that understanding social cohesion requires both macro- and micro-perspectives and that its connection to these particular personality traits should be taken into consideration.     

Causation in terms of production

Philosophical Studies - In this paper, we analyse actual causation in terms of production. The latter concept is made precise by a strengthened Ramsey Test semantics of conditionals: $$A \gg C$$...