Online prediction of others' actions: the contribution of the target object, action context and movement kinematics

Previous research investigated the contributions of target objects, situational context and movement kinematics to action prediction separately. The current study addresses how these three factors combine in the prediction of observed actions. Participants observed an actor whose movements were constrained by the situational context or not, and object-directed or not. After several steps, participants had to indicate how the action would continue. Experiment 1 shows that predictions were most accurate when the action was constrained and object-directed. Experiments 2A and 2B investigated whether these predictions relied more on the presence of a target object or cues in the actor's movement kinematics. The target object was artificially moved to another location or occluded. Results suggest a crucial role for kinematics. In sum, observers predict actions based on target objects and situational constraints, and they exploit subtle movement cues of the observed actor rather than the direct visual information about target objects and context.     

China,Gender Issues,Medical Philosophy and Measurement Scales

Journal of Religion and Health - In this fourth issue of the Journal of Religion and Health for 2022, four key themes are explored: (1) religious and spiritual issues in China, (2) gender-related...     

From Essence to Metaphysical Modality?

Axiomathes - How can we acquire knowledge of metaphysical modality? How can someone come to know that he could have been elsewhere right now, or an accountant rather than a philosophy teacher, but...     

Attitudes of Muslim Physicians and Nurses Toward Religious Issues

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests a positive role for religious involvement in physical and mental health. Studies have shown that attitudes of physicians toward religion affect their relationship with patients and their medical decisions, and in this way may ultimately affect treatment outcomes. Attitudes of nurses toward religion could also influence whether or not they address patients’ unmet spiritual needs. To assess attitudes of physicians and nurses toward religion and how these attitudes vary by education level and demographic characteristics, a total of 800 physicians, medical students, and nurses from some of the largest hospitals in Tehran, Iran, were approached, of whom 720 completed questionnaires (148 nurses, 572 medical students and physicians). The survey questionnaire included the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), Hoge Intrinsic Religiosity Scale, a brief measure of Negative Religious Coping (NRCOPE), and the brief Trust/Mistrust in God Scale. Religious attitudes and practices were compared between physicians (medical students and physicians) and nurses. Regression analysis revealed that except for intrinsic religiosity, physicians were not less religious than nurses on any other dimension of religiosity. Training level (year of training) was a predictor of religiosity, with those having less training being the most religious. The findings suggest that there are few religious differences between nurses and physicians in Iran. However, religiosity may become less as the training level increases. Lack of emphasis in training on the important role that religion plays in health care may result in a decrease in religious involvement and the development of negative attitudes toward religion over time (displaced by a focus on the technological aspects of health care).     

EINSTEIN AND MYSTICISM

Albert Einstein deliberately and repeatedly expressed his general religious views. But what were his views of mysticism? His statements on the subject were few, relatively obscure, and often misunderstood. A coherent answer requires setting those statements in historical, cultural, and theological context, as well as examining Einstein's philosophical and religious views. Though the Einstein that emerges clearly rejected supernatural mysticism, his views of “essential” mysticism were—though largely implicit—more nuanced, more subtle, and ultimately more sympathetic than “mere appearance” suggests.     

BY ITS FRUITS? MYSTICAL AND VISIONARY STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS OCCASIONED BY ENTHEOGENS

A new era has emerged in research on entheogens largely due to clinical trials conducted at Johns Hopkins University and similar studies sponsored by the Council for Spiritual Practices. In these notes and queries, I reflect on implications of these developments for psychological studies of religion and on what this research may mean for Christian churches in the United States. I conclude that the aims and methods of this research fit well within Jamesian efforts of contemporary psychology of religion to assess religious practices by their fruits for life. Furthermore, some communitarian religious concerns that religious experiences occasioned by entheogens pose risks to the integrity of religious community are shown to be largely unfounded. However, it is suggested that certain risks for religious life posed by all investigations/interventions by knowledge experts—in particular, the colonization of the religious life world and the commodification of its practices—also attend these developments for Christian churches. Additionally, risks of individual harm in the use of entheogens appear to be significant and, therefore, warrant earnest ethical study.     

Toward a New Attrition Screening Paradigm: Latest Army Advances

Managing and reducing attrition during the first term of enlistment is a continuing priority for the services. Over the past decade, attrition rates in the Army have averaged between 25% and 30% during first-term periods of enlistment. Historically, the services have relied on education credentials, with special emphasis on possessing a high school diploma, as a primary indicator of completion rates after enlistment and as a proxy for the ability to adapt to a military lifestyle. A primary purpose of this paper is to describe Army research to develop new indicators of adaptability to augment the current system based on education credentials. This work has focused primarily on noncognitive, personality measures and how such measures can be combined with other existing measures for attrition screening during enlistment processing. These advances represent a new paradigm that relies less heavily on education credentials and can provide a more comprehensive and inclusive approach. This new approach incorporates advances in testing methodology to make it more viable for use in large-scale, high-stakes testing applications.     

‘Good Impression’ as a Moderator in Employment‐related Assessment

There is widespread agreement that response bias variables, such as good impression, have little relevance, either as moderators or suppressors, in efforts to improve the accuracy of employment‐related predictions based on personality test scores. However, a recent review found that there were relatively few methodologically sound real‐life studies of the moderator function. Reported here are four such studies involving the prediction of job performance. As hypothesized, a significant moderator effect was shown in the two studies that utilized ‘transparent’ job‐related predictors, with useful prediction only at the lower levels of good impression, but not in the two studies that utilized personality variables as predictors. These results confirm that validity when using transparent items to predict employment‐related success can be affected by the operation of good‐impression response bias. Further research is needed to delineate other relevant effects of good impression in such situations.