Bending perception to desire: Effects of task demands,motivation, and cognitive resources

Determinants of motivated judgments were examined in this research. Three experiments investigated how dominant motivation, biasing difficulty and mental resources combine to produce motivationally congruent judgments. Studies 1 and 2 showed that where a biasing motivation is dominant the presence of resources can augment a motivational bias in judgment. Study 3 replicated that result and showed that resources contribute to the formation of biased judgments only where biasing is difficult to accomplish, but not where it is relatively easy to accomplish. In addition, Study 3 showed that where the accuracy motivation is dominant and biasing is the easy default, unbiased judgments will occur only in the presence (vs. absence) of resources. In contrast, where unbiased judgments are easy to come by, such judgments occur irrespective of resources.     

Inhibitory control gains from higher-order cognitive strategy training

The present study examined the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control. Middle school students enrolled in a comprehension- and reasoning-focused cognitive strategy training program and passive controls participated. The training program taught students a set of steps for inferring essential gist or themes from materials. Both before and after training or a comparable duration in the case of the passive controls, participants completed a semantically cued Go/No-Go task that was designed to assess the effects of depth of semantic processing on response inhibition and components of event-related potentials (ERP) related to response inhibition. Depth of semantic processing was manipulated by varying the level of semantic categorization required for response selection and inhibition. The SMART-trained group showed inhibitory control gains and changes in fronto-central P3 ERP amplitudes on inhibition trials; whereas, the control group did not. The results provide evidence of the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control and modulation of ERPs associated with semantically cued inhibitory control. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for cognitive strategy training, models of cognitive abilities, and education.     

A big fish or a small pond? Framing effects in percentages

This paper presents three studies that demonstrate people’s preference for a large percentage of a small subset over a small percentage of a large subset, when the net overall quantity is equated. Because the division of a set into subsets is often arbitrary, this preference represents a framing effect. The framing effect is particularly pronounced for large percentages. We propose that the effect has two causes: A partial neglect of the subset information, and a non-linear shaped function in the way people perceive percentages.     

Hierarchical structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory in a large population sample: Goldberg’s trait-tier mapping procedure

The structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) is poorly understood, and applications have mostly been confined to the broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales. Using a hierarchical factoring procedure, we mapped the sequential differentiation of EPI scales from broad, molar factors to more specific, molecular factors, in a UK population sample of over 6500 persons. Replicable facets at the lowest tier of Neuroticism included oversensitivity, mood lability, nervous tension and rumination. The lowest order set of replicable Extraversion facets consisted of social dynamism, sociotropy, haste, jocularity, communalism and impulsivity. The Lie scale consisted of an interpersonal virtue and a behavioral diligence facet. Users of the EPI may be well served in some circumstances by considering its broad Neuroticism, Extraversion and Lie scales as multifactorial, a feature that was explicitly incorporated into subsequent Eysenck inventories and is consistent with other hierarchical trait structures.     

A Pain to Practice: Attitudes of Medical Family Therapists Working With Patients With Opioid Use Disorder

ABSTRACT

The prevalence of patients with opioid misuse in medical settings continues to rise, and it is unknown how much exposure medical family therapists (MedFTs) have in treating this issue. This study explored the attitudes of MedFTs (n = 58) when working with patients struggling with opioid use disorder in clinical practice. Results revealed that 43% of MedFTs had a low comfort level in working with this population and preferred to make referrals to primary care providers. Given that opioid use disorder cases are rising in healthcare settings, emerging mental health professionals would benefit from additional training to effectively treat this population.     

Comparing implementation intention interventions in relation to young adults’ intake of fruit and vegetables

This study tests whether the effectiveness of implementation intention-based interventions to increase fruit and vegetable intake in a young adult population can be enhanced using additional pre-intervention instructions and alternative formats; namely, an ‘if-then’ implementation intention versus a more general, ‘global’ plan that does not explicitly link a situational cue with a goal-directed response. Participants (N?=?557) completed pre-test measures of planning, motivation and behaviour with respect to increasing their fruit and vegetable intake before being randomised to a 3 (intervention format: control vs. ‘if-then’ vs. ‘global’ implementation intentions)?×?2 (pre-intervention instruction vs. no pre-intervention instruction) between-participants design. Results revealed a significant intervention format by time interaction, such that intake significantly increased by 0.50 portions in the if-then format condition compared with 0.31 in the global format and 0.01 in the control condition. These results suggest that ‘if-then’ manipulations are superior in promoting behaviour change in an applied setting. The use of pre-intervention instructions had no additional effect on behaviour, providing evidence for the efficacy of implementation intentions even when experimenter demand is reduced. Evidence is also presented to suggest that reported increases in intake are not related to demand characteristics.     

The Effect of Masculinity on Community Reintegration Following TBI in Military Veterans

The present study examined the effect of level of traditional masculine gender role norms as well as the moderating effect of cognitive flexibility on community reintegration outcomes in a sample of 60 male military veterans who had sustained a traumatic brain injury during deployment. Data were collected through self-report measures and cognitive tests. Results suggested that greater endorsement of traditional masculine gender role beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors was significantly inversely related to the community integration domains of relationships and living skills and not significantly related to work and leisure. The effect of masculinity on healthy living skills was moderated by cognitive flexibility; the protective effect of low masculinity on living skills was only present if the veteran also had high cognitive flexibility skills. Results are discussed in the context of gender role strain, potential limiting aspects of stereotypy on recovery and reintegration, and the importance of cognitive flexibility in the recovery/reintegration process.     

Target–target similarity and the attentional blink: Task-relevance matters!

Studies of the attentional blink (AB) indicate that similarity modulates the magnitude of the impairment in reporting the second of two masked targets. The present experiments tested whether similarity-based modulations of the AB are determined by all object dimensions or by task-relevant dimensions only. Similarity between target faces was manipulated on two dimensions, only one of which was task relevant. The results indicated that similarity on the task-relevant dimension modulated the AB, whereas similarity on task-irrelevant dimension did not. These results suggest that selection during the AB can occur on the level of task-relevant dimensions.     

Bonhoeffer and Universal Health Care as a Human Right

Bonhoeffer gave a theocentric basis for human rights, as God is the ground of ethics. In our earthly world, the “ultimate” must be prepared by what is “penultimate.” That includes humanity’s natural life and bodily wholeness, leading to human duties crafted by human reason. Nowadays, biblical texts should not be used as partisan weapons attacking government provision of health care, since all Scripture (even the Law) is seen as a Christ-centered focus on human redemption. Thus, Bonhoeffer implies a right to universal health care, but leaves entirely open which practical structures may best provide it.