Aging ebbs the flow of thought: Adult age differences in mind wandering,executive control,and self-evaluation

Two experiments examined the relations among adult aging, mind wandering, and executive-task performance, following from surprising laboratory findings that older adults report fewer task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) than do younger adults (e.g., Giambra, 1989, Jackson and Balota, 2012). Because older adults may experience more ability- and performance-related worry during cognitive tasks in the laboratory, and because these evaluative thoughts (known as task-related interference, “TRI”) might be sometimes misclassified by subjects as task-related, we asked subjects to distinguish task-related thoughts from TRI and TUTs when probed during ongoing tasks. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults completed either a go/no-go or a vigilance version of a sustained attention to response task (SART). Older adults reported more TRI and fewer TUTs than did younger adults while also performing more accurately. In Experiment 2, subjects completed either a 1- or a 2-back version of the n-back task. Older adults again reported more TRI and fewer TUTs than younger adults in both versions, while performing better than younger adults in the 1-back and worse in the 2-back. Across experiments, older adults' reduced TUT rates were independent of performance relative to younger adults. And, although older adults consistently reported more TRI and less mind wandering than did younger adults, overall they reported more on-task thoughts. TRI cannot, therefore, account completely for prior reports of decreasing TUTs with aging. We discuss the implications of these results for various theoretical approaches to mind-wandering.     

The Roots of Patriotism Across Political Contexts

Why do some Americans feel more patriotic than others? We argue that feelings of national pride are reinforced by cues from people's political and social environments. When Americans reside in contexts that align with their values, traits, and civic orientations, they are more likely to express pride in their country. We consider both civic and ethnic pathways to patriotism. We expect that minorities and those who particularly value political equality will feel increasingly patriotic as the racial and ethnic diversity of their state climbs. For those who see politics through a partisan lens, we expect that environments defined by political competition will enhance feelings of national pride. We test our theory using data from the 2012 American National Election Studies (ANES). We find that Americans are more likely to say that they feel love for their country when they reside in political contexts congruent with their values and approach to citizenship.     

Psychological Care Provided by the Church: Perceptions of Christian Church Members

Spirituality and religion are integral parts of a person's belief system and support network. Although there are many avenues a person can take when seeking mental health care, conservative Protestant clients have a tendency to seek assistance through their church. There is a paucity of literature about conservative Protestant church members’ perceptions of mental health care. The authors used phenomenology to understand participants’ perceptions of mental health care provided by the church. Themes found within participants’ stories included the importance of the relationship when seeking care, the use of knowledgeable practitioners, and the use of religious practices in counseling.     

THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT INFLUENCE STRATEGIES:

In this study, we assessed the generalizability of the Western preference for direct versus indirect influence strategies and its relation to participant sex, perceptions of participant power, and concerns for politeness among a sample of 138 American, 41 Japanese, and 44 Korean female and male college students. Regardless of cultural group or participant sex, direct strategies were reported as first choice strategies, whereas indirect strategies were cited as strategies of last resort. Participant power, not participant sex, was predictive of the students'reported strategy use. Although the American, Japanese, and Korean students were more similar than different on measures of perceived power and frequency of strategy use, concerns for politeness were reflected in the Japanese and Korean students'less confrontational strategy style.     

Actual vs. Counterfactual Dispositional Metasemantics: A Reply to Andow

Philosophia - In previous work (Johnson & Nado 2014) we proposed a sketch of a disposition-based metasemantictheory, which has recently been criticized by James Andow (2016). Andow claims,...     

A child's story: Recovering through creativity

Journal of Child and Family Studies -