Psychoticism as a dimension of personality: a multivariate genetic test of Eysenck and Eysenck's psychoticism construct

In this study, we applied multivariate genetic analysis, a generalization of factor analysis and behavior genetic analysis, to responses to items of the Psychoticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire by 2,903 adult same-sex Australian twin pairs. Item loadings on genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental common and specific factors were estimated. The genetic factor structure differed considerably from the environmental structures, particularly in men. The genetic correlation between suspiciousness items and items reflecting unconventional or tough-minded attitudes or hostility to others was negative, but the environmental correlation was positive. Thus, conventional behavior genetic studies that have reported significant heritability of psychoticism, on the basis of analyses of scale scores, are misleading as to what trait is being inherited.     

On the Social Psychology of Agency Relationships: Lay Theories of Motivation Overemphasize Extrinsic Incentives

Three laboratory studies and one field study show that people generally hold lay theories which contain an extrinsic incentives bias-people predict that others are more motivated than themselves by extrinsic incentives (job security, pay) and less motivated by intrinsic incentives (learning new things). The extrinsic incentives bias can be separated from a self-serving bias and it provides an empirical counterexample to the traditional actor-observer effect in social psychology (although its theoretical explanation is similar). This kind of bias may hinder organizations from organizing because people who act as principals may use improper lay theories to offer inappropriate deals to agents. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.     

Explicating the Key Notions of Copresence and Verification in Relation to Husserl’s Use of the Term Direct to Describe Empathy

Zahavi and Gallagher’s contemporary direct perception model of intersubjectivity has its roots in the phenomenological project of Edmund Husserl. Some authors (Smith in Philos Phenomenol Res 81(3):731–748, 2010; Krueger in Phenomenol Cogn Sci 11:149–173, 2012; Bohl and Gangopadhyay in Philos Explor 17(2):203–222, 2014) have utilised, and criticised, Husserl’s model of direct empathic perception. This essay seeks to correct certain misunderstandings of Husserl notion of direct empathic perception and thus, by proxy, clarify the contemporary direct perception model, through an exegesis of Husserlian texts. In the first half of this essay I clarify the analogy between the directness of regular material object perception and the directness of empathic perception via a clarification of Husserl’s notion of co-presence. I argue that contemporary renditions of Husserl’s account which stress the dis-analogy between these two types of perception (Smith 2010; Krueger 2012) are based on a superficial and incorrect rendering of Husserl’s notion of co-presence. In the second half of this essay I clarify the notion of verification. I argue that, for Husserl, behaviour does not verify mental life. Instead, empathic verification occurs via the relation between concepts and intuitions. In my conclusions I show how contemporary authors misunderstand the fundamental nature of Husserl’s account of empathy because of the downgraded status of psychic life within contemporary cognitive science.     

The susceptibility of mental accounting principles to evaluation mode effects

The present research shows that the predictions and outcomes of mental‐accounting tests depend on whether preferences are measured separately (one at a time) or jointly (comparatively). Across five studies, we show that joint evaluation weakens some decision biases (the theater ticket problem, the calculator and jacket problem), but exacerbates others (the basketball game problem). Joint evaluations serve as a check on whether people think the answers they give in separate evaluations make sense or require adjustment. We discuss how the findings impact (1) tests of mental accounting predictions (between vs. within subjects designs), and (2) the normative status of mental accounting. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synchrony and Cooperation

ABSTRACT— Armies, churches, organizations, and communities often engage in activities—for example, marching, singing, and dancing—that lead group members to act in synchrony with each other. Anthropologists and sociologists have speculated that rituals involving synchronous activity may produce positive emotions that weaken the psychological boundaries between the self and the group. This article explores whether synchronous activity may serve as a partial solution to the free-rider problem facing groups that need to motivate their members to contribute toward the collective good. Across three experiments, people acting in synchrony with others cooperated more in subsequent group economic exercises, even in situations requiring personal sacrifice. Our results also showed that positive emotions need not be generated for synchrony to foster cooperation. In total, the results suggest that acting in synchrony with others can increase cooperation by strengthening social attachment among group members.     

The Role of Harsh Discipline in Explaining Sex Differences in Conduct Disorder: a Study of Opposite-Sex Twin Pairs

In the current study, two hypotheses about the role of harsh discipline (HD) in explaining the sex difference in the prevalence of conduct disorder (CD) were evaluated: that boys exhibit more CD than girls because (1) they are exposed to more HD and/or (2) there is a greater association between HD and CD in boys. These hypotheses were evaluated in a sample of male and female adult twins from different families (N = 3,502) as well as a sample of adult twin brothers and sisters (N = 655) in order to examine the extent to which sex differences remained after controlling for between-family differences. Retrospective reports of HD experienced between ages 6–13 and DSM-IV CD symptoms experienced before age 18 were obtained via structured psychiatric telephone interviews. Boys reported higher mean levels of HD and CD than girls, both between and within families, and the results of model-fitting analyses suggested that differences in the use of harsh disciplinary practices for sons versus daughters may partially explain the sex difference in the prevalence of CD. Between families, the relation between HD and CD was greater for girls than boys, but within families, there was no evidence of a sex difference in the relation between HD and CD. Inconsistent between-family and within-family results suggest that factors that differ between families are confounded with sex differences in the relation between HD and CD. A more stringent test of sex differences involves eliminating these between-family differences by studying boys and girls within the same family.     

The repetition-break plot structure: a cognitive influence on selection in the marketplace of ideas

Using research into learning from sequences of examples, we generate predictions about what cultural products become widely distributed in the social marketplace of ideas. We investigate what we term the Repetition-Break plot structure: the use of repetition among obviously similar items to establish a pattern, and then a final contrasting item that breaks with the pattern to generate surprise. Two corpus studies show that this structure arises in about a third of folktales and story jokes. An experiment shows that jokes with this structure are more interesting than those without the initial repetition. Thus, we document evidence for how a cognitive factor influences the cultural products that are selected in the marketplace of ideas.     

Failing to Suspect Collusion in Price‐Matching Guarantees: Consumer Limitations in Game‐Theoretic Reasoning

Marketers often commit to matching competitors’ prices by offering price‐matching guarantees (PMGs). Theory, however, shows that PMGs can either foster price competition and lower market prices or facilitate price collusion and raise market prices. In 3 experiments, we tested if consumers suspect collusion in such tactics and if this suspicion in turn affects their preferences for PMGs. Experiment 1 showed that consumers prefer markets where sellers offer PMGs over those that do not, suggesting little or no suspicion of collusion. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and extended them by showing that although most consumers prefer PMG markets, consumers higher in need for cognition (NFC) do, consistent with the greater suspicion hypothesized, prefer PMG markets more weakly. However, this weakened preference emerged from concerns over lower product quality in PMG markets more so than expectations of unduly high prices. Experiment 3 then tested the collusive potential of PMGs by placing participants in the role of a government regulator charged with finding collusion in various markets. Regardless of explicit primes and NFC, participants perceived PMGs as competitive devices that reduce prices rather than collusive devices that raise them. In contrast to the assumptions underlying game‐theoretic models, consumers often lack the strategic sophistication necessary to detect the collusive potential of PMGs, a limitation that implicates legislation to moderate the use of such devices.