Prospective cognitions in anxiety and depression: Replication and methodological extension

The present study presents a replication and methodological extension of MacLeod, Tata, Kentish, and Jacobsen (1997) with a nonclinical sample, using future-directed imagery to assess prospective cognitions. Results showed that only anxiety (but not depression) was related to enhanced imagery for future negative events. Both anxiety and depression showed significant zero-order correlations with reduced imagery for future positive events. However, when the overlap between anxiety and depression was controlled for, only depression (but not anxiety) showed a unique association with reduced imagery for positive events. Implications of these findings for cognitive models of anxiety and depression are discussed.     

Social game theory: Preferences,perceptions, and choices

ABSTRACT

Building on classic game theory, psychologists have explored the effects of social preferences and expectations on strategic behaviour. Ordinary social perceivers are sensitive to additional contextual factors not addressed by game theory and its recent psychological extensions. We review the results of a research programme exploring how observers judge “players” (i.e., individuals making strategic decisions in social dilemmas) on the dimensions of competence and morality. We explore social perception in several well-known dilemmas, including the prisoner’s dilemma, the volunteer’s dilemma, and the trust dilemma. We also introduce a novel self-presentational dilemma. In research conducted over a decade and a half, we have found that judgements of competence are sensitive to both players’ choices and the dilemma’s (expected and actual) outcomes. In contrast, judgements of morality respond strongly to players’ behaviour and little else. We discuss how these social-perceptual patterns might affect expectations, preferences, and strategic choices.     

Motivation and Performance Following Failure: The Effortful Pursuit of Self-defining Goals

In this paper, I summarise theory and research, highlighting the role of self-defining goals in how individuals react to and try to cope with failure outcomes. I propose that three factors are fundamental to the understanding of whether failure stimulates or impairs motivated behaviour: the relevance of failure to a self-definition, the substitutability of tasks in the service of striving for a self-definition, and a person's commitment to pursuing the respective self-definition. Focusing on students' occupationally directed self-definitions, I first review research showing how the interplay among these factors is reflected in varied measures of achievement behaviour and then discuss practical implications of the theory.     

Territorial Loss as a Challenge for World Governance

Abstract

National governments have failed spectacularly to mitigate anthropogenic climate change and a sustainable approach to mitigation remains out of sight. This circumstance alone demonstrates the need for institutional reform. However, climate change is causing and will continue to cause large-scale loss and damage. Perhaps the most striking kind of that loss is territorial. Climate change induced sea level rise threatens not only vast coastal areas but also entire states. Therefore, mitigation is no longer sufficient. From the collective failure to mitigate climate change arises the collective duty to compensate. Compensating for territorial loss puts the spotlight on institutional deficiencies—which is why I explore them here. Specifically, I argue that (i) providing compensation for territorial loss is both morally required and politically advantageous and that (ii) it cannot be implemented effectively or efficiently without creating a global institution in charge of coordinating the process. Further, I (iii) make design recommendations for creating a global compensatory climate fund, (iv) situate my proposal within the debate on ideal and non-ideal theory, and (v) contend that the proposed institution would be a tool of world governance rather than a form of world government.