Social value orientation and intelligence: A test of the goal prescribes rationality principle

The present study examines the influence of pre-existing individual differences in social value orentations, or preferences for certain patterns of outcomes to oneself and others (McClintock, 1978), on perceptions of rationality in a social dilemma. In Experiment 1 conducted in Groningen (the Netherlands), it was found that people with pro-social orientations expected more cooperation from another described as intelligent than from another described as unintelligent, whereas individualists and competitors expected relatively more cooperation from another described as unintelligent. The cross-cultural generalizability of this finding was examined and supported in Experiment 2 which was conducted in Santa Barbara (U.S.A.). Results from both studies are consistent with the Goal Prescribes Rationality Principle (Van Lange, Liebrand and Kuhlman, 1990) which assumes that people with pro-social (cooperative) orientations would perceive rationality in social dilemmas primarily from the collective perspective, whereas individualists and competitors would take a strong egocentric perspective on rationality. In addition, we found a strong relationship between expectations of other's cooperation and own cooperative behaviour when the other was described as intelligent. The strength of this relationship was reduced, particularly for individualists and competitors, when the other person was described as unintelligent.     

Risky decision making and cognitive flexibility among online sports bettors in Nigeria

Online sports betting is a popular recreational activity in Nigeria. Like other forms of gambling, risk of pathological progression exists for gamblers who continue betting despite severe financial and psychosocial consequences. In the present study, we examined whether this population of gamblers shows deficits in decision making and cognitive flexibility that have been documented in Western gambling populations. Thirty-six online sports bettors and 42 non-gambling participants completed a version of the Iowa gambling task (IGT) and an established set-shifting task for the assessment of cognitive flexibility. The two groups did not differ significantly in the selection of disadvantageous decks on the IGT. In contrast, sports bettors committed significantly more errors on the set-shifting task than non-gambling control participants. As this performance deficit was not specific to trials requiring a set shift, it most likely resulted from gambling-related changes in general cognitive or motivational abilities that are required to successfully complete challenging mental tasks. While our results illustrate that findings from Western populations cannot automatically be generalised to other contexts, it should be noted that we focused on only one particular type of gambling and included mostly participants with mild gambling-related problems.     

Other-Sacrificing Options*

I argue that you can be permitted to discount the interests of your adversaries even though doing so would be impartially suboptimal. This means that, in addition to the kinds of moral options that the literature traditionally recognises, there exist what I call other-sacrificing options. I explore the idea that you cannot discount the interests of your adversaries as much as you can favour the interests of your intimates; if this is correct, then there is an asymmetry between negative partiality toward your adversaries and positive partiality toward your intimates.     

Activation of multiple phoneme associates of graphemes in visual word recognition

One general issue in the domain of visual word recognition is to delineate the nature of readers' knowledge of the print-sound mapping. A more specific question is to determine whether multiple grapheme-phoneme associations are available and activated during the phonological transcoding of a letter string. Evidence for the activation of irregular associations during print-to-sound transcoding, independently from lexical influences, was assessed in a letter detection task by examining performance on target-absent pseudowords. We contrasted two types of pseudowords that could be considered homophone with a real word by application of either grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules or of multiple phonemic activation. Performance on both types of homophones was compared to nonhomophone control pseudowords, strictly equivalent in terms of orthographic similarity to the base words. The finding of a homophony disadvantage for the homophones by multiple activation was interpreted as evidence for multiple phonemic activation in the print-to-sound conversion system.     

Effects of methylphenidate on kinematic aspects of handwriting in hyperactive boys

Poor handwriting in hyperactive children often contributes to academic failure. Beneficial effects of methylphenidate on the quality of handwriting have been shown. Using a digitizing tablet, the handwriting of 21 hyperactive boys was examined both during methylphenidate treatment and following withdrawal of the drug. Half of the hyperactive boys were tested first on methylphenidate and then following withdrawal of the drug and the remaining hyperactive boys were examined in the reverse order. Twenty-one control boys underwent the same examination. Velocity and acceleration of handwriting movements were measured. Furthermore, every writing specimen was independently rated by four examiners regarding the quality of handwriting. Following withdrawal of the drug, the quality of handwriting specimens of hyperactive boys was poorer than during treatment with methylphenidate. Statistical comparison of writing movements of hyperactive boys on and off methylphenidate revealed that the medication resulted in a deterioration in handwriting fluency. The results showed that following withdrawal of medication, hyperactive children did not differ from control boys in handwriting movements. The improvement in hyperactive behavior through methylphenidate was associated with increased legibility and greater accuracy of handwriting. The intention to write neatly may interfere with the fluent writing process.     

Nice wor_ if you can get the wor_: subliminal semantic and form priming in fragment completion

Two experiments investigated subliminal semantic and form priming in a word-completion task. Visual gap-words with a dominant and a subordinate solution were preceded by form-related or by semantically related words, which were briefly presented and sandwich-masked. Priming of the subordinate solution was assessed in Experiment 1, relative to a neutral condition. Both solutions were primed in Experiment 2. In the absence of conscious prime recognition, both semantic and form primes reliably increased the probability with which the primed solution was given. With our variant of fragment-completion, response priming can be ruled out as explanation. Moreover, effects were already present at first presentation, excluding an interpretation in terms of partial awareness due to massive repetition. The data demonstrate automatic activation at both form and semantic levels in the absence of conscious awareness.     

E-mailed standardized cognitive behavioural treatment of work-related stress: a randomized controlled trial

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a 7-week standardized cognitive behavioural treatment of work-related stress conducted via e-mail. A total of 342 people applied for treatment in reaction to a newspaper article. Initial screening reduced the sample to a heterogeneous (sub)clinical group of 239 participants. Participants were assigned randomly to a waiting list condition (n = 62), or to immediate treatment (n = 177). A follow-up was conducted 3 years after inception of the treatment. The outcome measures used were the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42) and the Emotional Exhaustion scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS). Fifty participants (21%) dropped out. Both groups showed statistically significant improvements. Intention-to-treat analysis of covariance (ANCOVAs) revealed that participants in the treatment condition improved significantly more than those in the waiting control condition (0.001

or = d > or = 0.5 (anxiety)). The between-group effects ranged from d = 0.6 (stress) to d = 0.1 (anxiety). At follow-up, the effects were more pronounced, but this result requires replication in view of high attrition at follow-up. The results warrant further research on Internet-driven standardized cognitive behavioural therapy for work-related stress. Such research should include the direct comparison of this treatment with face-to-face treatment, and should address the optimal level of therapist contact in Internet-driven treatment.     

We can work it out: Group decision‐making builds social identity and enhances the cognitive performance of care residents

Group‐based interventions have been argued to slow the cognitive decline of older people residing in care by building social identification and thereby increasing motivation and engagement. The present study explored the identity–cognition association further by investigating the impact of a group decision‐making intervention on cognition. Thirty‐six care home residents were assigned to one of three conditions: an Intervention in which they made decisions about lounge refurbishment as a group, a Comparison condition in which staff made these decisions, or a no‐treatment Control. Cognitive function, social identification, home satisfaction, and lounge use were measured before and after the intervention. Participants in the Intervention condition showed significant increases on all measures, and greater improvement than participants in both Comparison and Control conditions. Consistent with social identity theorizing, these findings point to the role of group activity and social identification in promoting cognitive integrity and well‐being among care residents.     

‘I want to be a hope champion!’ – Research as hope intervention with rural South African children

This study explored how visual participatory research-as-intervention enabled a strengthening of hope among a group of South African primary school children. Twelve learners aged 9–13 years from a rural village in the QwaQwa region of South Africa participated in the study. Data on the children’s experiences of hope were co-constructed with them, applying various visual participatory approaches, while data on their engagement in the research itself was generated using group discussion, individual interviews, and notes captured in a research journal. Thematic analysis of the data revealed a strengthening of the children’s hope on personal, relational, and collective levels from engaging in hope-oriented visual participatory processes. The findings suggest that research-as-intervention has hope-enhancing value for rural South African children.     

Reputation,Gossip, and Human Cooperation

Why do people cooperate? We address this classic question by analyzing and discussing the role of reputation: people cooperate to maintain a positive reputation in their social environment. Reputation is a key element fueling a system of indirect reciprocity, where cooperators establish a good reputation and are thus more likely to receive future benefits from third parties. The tendencies to monitor, spread, and manage each other's reputation help explain the abundance of human cooperation with unrelated strangers. We review research on the phenomenon of reputation‐based cooperation in the domains of how people manage their reputation in response to varying cues of reputation, when reputation can promote cooperation, and individual differences in reputation management. We also propose three directions for future research: group stability and reputation‐based cooperation, solutions to cope with noise and biased reputation, and the relative efficiency of positive versus negative reputation systems.