Framing Political Risks: Individual Differences and Loss Aversion in Personal and Political Situations

People are motivated to avoid losses. In the context of politics, studies consistently show that the threat of losses increases support for risky public policies more than the promise of gains. Here, we predict that this loss aversion is calibrated by individual differences related to one’s ability to accommodate resource loss, and we investigate how these individual differences moderate reactions to the threat of losses and the promise of gains. Results from large-N experiments consistently demonstrate that this moderation effect crucially depends on whether the resource loss relates to oneself or one’s group—whether the setting is personal or political. Consistent with classic assumptions, individuals with inferior abilities to cope with resource loss are more loss averse in personal settings. In political settings where group resources are threatened, effects reverse: Individuals with superior resources and a more central position within the group consistently respond more to the prospect of loss. As discussed, these findings have important implications for our understanding of why and for whom the threat of loss motivates risky personal and political choices. By consequence, the findings also shed novel light on the psychological underpinnings of recent risky political events.      

When views about alternative medicine,nature and god come in the way of people's vaccination intentions

In spite of the safety and efficiency of the COVID-19 vaccines and the many promotion efforts of political and expert authorities, a fair portion of the population remained hesitant if not opposed to vaccination. Public debate and the available literature point to the possible role of people's attitudes towards medical institutions as well as their preference for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on their motivations and intentions to be vaccinated. Other potential ideological factors are beliefs about environmental laissez-faire and divine providence insofar as they encourage people to let the pandemic unfold without human interference. In three cross-sectional samples (total N = 8214), collected at successive moments during the Belgian vaccination campaign, the present research examines the distal role of these psychological and ideological factors on vaccination intentions via motivational processes. Study 1 gauges the relation between trust in medical institutions and preference for CAM on intentions to get vaccinated via motivations. Study 2 examined the role of beliefs in the desirability of letting nature take its course (‘environmental laissez-faire beliefs’) on vaccination intention via motivations. Study 3 tests whether people's adherence to environmental laissez-faire and beliefs about divine providence are linked to their motivations for vaccination via trust in the medical institutions and CAM. Results show that adherence to CAM has a deleterious effect on vaccination intentions, whereas trust in medical institutions has a positive effect. Both ideological factors pertaining to external control are only moderately related, with environmental laissez-faire beliefs having stronger effects on CAM, medical trust and vaccination motivations. We discuss the importance of this set of results in light of the growing interest in CAM and the increasing presence of messages appealing to the environment.     

Instability Of Ex Post Aggregation In The Bolker–Jeffrey Framework And Related Instability Phenomena

Suppose n Bayesian agents need to make a decision as a group. The groupas a whole is also supposed to be a Bayesian agent whose probabilities andutilities are derived or aggregated in reasonable ways from the probabilitiesand utilities of the group members. The aggregation could beex ante, i.e., interms of expected utilities, or it could be ex post, i.e., in terms of utilitiesonly, or in terms of utilities and probabilities separately. This study exploresthe ex post approach. Using the Bolker/Jeffrey framework, we show thatex post aggregation is subject to an instability phenomenon. That is, it mayhappen that the group preference between actions ``flips back and forth' dependingon the level of detail in which the decision problem is described. Structurally verysimilar phenomena also occur elsewhere in social choice theory, in statistics (Simpson'sParadox), and in voting theory (Ostrogorski's Paradox).     

Once More about Boesch’s Ontological Predication in Focus

In this article I address some more aspects regarding Boesch’s ontological predication aiming to clarify mistaken comprehensions as appeared in Perez-Campos” (2017) detailed work on my former paper about this issue (Simão 2016b). With this purpose, the following three aspects will be approached: the philosophical roots of my former proposal; the place of Boesch’s symbolic action theory in that proposal and the relevance of this discussion for the relationship between ontology and psychology.     

Immediate and delayed memory tasks: A computerized behavioral measure of memory, attention, and impulsivity

The Immediate and Delayed Memory Task (IMT/DMT), a variant of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), is a new software package designed to be a flexible research tool for the study of attention, memory, and impulsivity. This package allows researchers to determine the design to be used during a testing session and to manipulate many of the parameters. It features two components: the IMT and the DMT, both of which present sequential 2- to 7-digit stimuli with variable presentation rates and intertrial intervals. Subjects respond to identically matched stimuli presented consecutively, spanning a brief period of time (IMT), or to stimuli spanning a greater period of time (during which intervening stimuli to be ignored appear; DMT). Task complexity can be adjusted to suit applications for both children and adults. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that these laboratory tasks are sensitive to group differences, produce stable baselines of performance, and are sensitive to drug-induced performance decrements.     

Implicit memory bias for eating- and body appearance-related sentences in eating disorders: an application of Jacoby's white noise task

Jacoby's white noise task and an explicit recognition task were used to investigate whether individuals with eating disorders demonstrate implicit memory bias and explicit memory bias, respectively, for information related to eating and body appearance. Included were 33 women with eating disorders (seven with anorexia nervosa and 26 with bulimia nervosa), 29 with nonclinical eating disorder-related concerns, and 36 healthy controls. Results showed partial support for implicit memory bias but no support for explicit memory bias. These findings suggest that eating disorders may be characterized by relative initial automatic bias for eating disorder-relevant information but not by bias at later stages of information processing. However, previous studies have demonstrated explicit memory bias in eating disorders, which is inconsistent with this interpretation. Future research is required to clarify the precise cognitive biases associated with eating disorders.     

Scham und Schuld – Sein und Tun

Shame and guilt are affective experiential dimensions regulating the different forms of being and behaving in a social context. Constructive or even pathologic feelings of guilt are to be distinguished from real guilt. Shame refers to the judgment of ?So-sein” even if being often manifests itself in action. Shame is generated by the ideal ego. Guilt and feelings of guilt are dimensions of acting, real guilt requires the recognition of guilt, guilt is generated by the superego (conscience). The implications of familiar as well as extreme traumatisation for shame and feelings of guilt are discussed. The most frequent wish for a therapy nowadays that offers perspectives of changes by action can be considered as a defence against processing of the being in psychoanalytical therapy.     

Personality judgment and personality pathology: self-other agreement in adolescents with conduct disorder

We examine two issues linking personality pathology and judgment of traits within the Five-Factor Model of personality. We hypothesize that pathology moderates self-other agreement--"target" participants with pathology should be less judgable than participants without pathology. In addition, we hypothesize that pathology could partially produce agreement across a variety of traits, particularly those traits fundamental to the pathology. In an adolescent sample including a group with Conduct Disorder (CD) and a Control group, we examine agreement between adolescents' self-reports and their mothers' informant reports. Using trait-centered and person-centered perspectives, we find support for both hypotheses. Results have implications for understanding the processes affecting personality judgment, for increasing integration of traditional personality research and personality pathology, and for personality assessment.