Analysis in terms of frequencies of differences

A technique of analysis utilizing frequencies of differences is described and applied to a hypothetical experiment involving two methods of instruction. A nomograph is provided for computing the chi-square values applicable to the method.     

Adoption and maintenance of physical activity: Planning interventions in young, middle-aged, and older adults

Young, middle-aged, and older adults in orthopaedic outpatient rehabilitation (N?=?373) were randomly assigned to either an interviewer-assisted or a standard-care self-administered planning intervention. Physical activity planning consisted of specifying action plans to facilitate action initiation, and coping plans to overcome barriers. The interviewer-assisted condition led to more complete action plans and a longer duration of physical activities up to six months after discharge. Regarding coping planning, older and middle-aged adults benefited more from interviewer-assisted planning while younger adults benefited more from self-administered planning. Planning as such was found to be an effective tool for enactment irrespective of chronological age. The delayed effect of coping planning on enactment suggests that coping planning is important for long-term maintenance.     

Enhanced old–new recognition and source memory for faces of cooperators and defectors in a social-dilemma game

A popular assumption in evolutionary psychology is that the human mind comprises specialized cognitive modules for social exchange, including a module that serves to enhance memory for faces of cheaters. In the present study, participants played a trust game with computerized opponents, who either defected or cooperated. In a control condition, no interaction took place. In a surprise memory test, old–new recognition for faces and source memory for the associated cooperative or non-cooperative behavior were assessed. A multinomial model was used to measure old–new discrimination, source memory, and guessing biases separately. Inconsistent with the assumption of a memory mechanism that focuses exclusively on cheating, the present study showed enhanced old–new discrimination and source memory for both cooperators and defectors. Rarity of the behavior strategies within the experiment modulated source memory, but only when the differences in base rates were extreme. The findings can be attributed to a mechanism that focuses on exchange-relevant information and flexibly adapts to take into account the relative significance of this information in the encoding context, which may be more beneficial than focusing exclusively on cheaters.     

From Religious to Consumption‐Related Routine Activities? Analyzing Ireland's Economic Boom and the Decline in Church Attendance

Using Ireland, which experienced an economic boom in the mid 1990s, as a case study, the negative association between economic growth and religious practice is examined by testing two competing hypotheses. Secularization theory argues that the cultural changes that accompany economic growth lead to a decline in religious values. As religious values diminish, so does attendance at religious services. An alternative explanation is that economic growth increases individual purchasing power and therefore consumption‐related behavior. Consumption supplants religion by providing alternative intermediaries (symbols, infrastructures, and practices) for social behavior, but only marginally affects religious values. Using data from the 1988 to 2005 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), analyses show that the economic boom in Ireland was clearly associated with a decline in religious attendance, while religious values remained stable. Thus, in Ireland the consequences of economic growth deviate from the predictions of secularization theory and therefore support the consumption argument.     

Tasting the divine: the aesthetics of religious emotion in Indian Christianity

The category of rasa (emotional ‘tastes’) in Indian Christian theology and art offers a useful theoretical lens for the academic study of religious emotion. In this article, two Bharata Nā?yam dance ministries provide a case study in the practical applicability of a rasa theology that is emerging within contemporary Indian Christianity. The Christian choreographers have significantly altered the emotions of love and peace in comparison with classical rasa theory and its traditional use in Hindu devotion. Indian Christian artists and theologians have also begun to explore and invent additional aesthetic emotions, giving unique shape to their ‘emotional community.’ Important challenges attend the dance ministries as they are currently configured, yet rasa is a capacious analytical category that can shed new light on Indian Christianity and the study of emotion in religion.     

Affective and health-related outcome expectancies for physical activity in older adults

This study tests the effects of affective and health-related outcome expectancies on physical exercise, assuming stronger direct and indirect (via intention) effects from affective outcome expectancy to physical exercise than from health-related outcome expectancy to exercise. Physical exercise and social cognitive variables were assessed at baseline, and 6- and 12-month follow-up in 335 older adults (60–95 years of age). Applying structural equation modelling, there was a direct effect from affective, but not from health-related outcome expectancy on intentions and behaviour. Also, the indirect effect from self-efficacy on physical exercise via affective outcome expectancy was significant, whereas the mediation via health-related outcome expectancy was not. These findings emphasise the relative importance of affective versus health-related outcome expectancies in predicting intentions and physical exercise in older adults and highlight the importance to separate these facets at a conceptual level to enhance both theory development and health promotion.     

Seriousness checks are useful to improve data validity in online research

Nonserious answering behavior increases noise and reduces experimental power; it is therefore one of the most important threats to the validity of online research. A simple way to address the problem is to ask respondents about the seriousness of their participation and to exclude self-declared nonserious participants from analysis. To validate this approach, a survey was conducted in the week prior to the German 2009 federal election to the Bundestag. Serious participants answered a number of attitudinal and behavioral questions in a more consistent and predictively valid manner than did nonserious participants. We therefore recommend routinely employing seriousness checks in online surveys to improve data validity.     

Blindness to response-compatible stimuli in the psychological refractory period paradigm

This study investigated the conditions under which the processing in a speeded response task interferes with concurrent processing in a visual encoding task. Three experiments used a dual-task paradigm, in which a speeded left or right response to at one was combined with the identification of a masked left-or right pointing arrow following the tone with variable SOA. Two additional experiments tested the impact of the presentation of pure tone on visual encoding.There were four major findings. First, an unspecific decrease in identification accuracy was observed with decreasing SOA. Second, a blindness to response-compatible stimuli was observed with speeded responses. Third, a specific interference was found between low- and high-pitched tones and left- or right-pointing arrows. Fourth, the specific tone-arrow interference modulated the specific responsearrow interference when the task allowed both to occur simultaneously. The present findings, which suggest both procedural and structural interference between response preparation and stimulus encoding, are discussed in terms of a two-stage model of action planning.     

Comparing mislocalizations with moving stimuli: The Fröhlich effect,the flash-lag,and representational momentum

When observers are asked to localize the onset or the offset position of a moving target, they typically make localization errors in the direction of movement. Similarly, when observers judge a moving target that is presented in alignment with a flash, the target appears to lead the flash. These errors are known as the Fröhlich effect, representational momentum, and flash-lag effect, respectively. This study compared the size of the three mislocalization errors. In Experiment 1, a flash appeared either simultaneously with the onset, the mid-position, or the offset of the moving target. Observers then judged the position where the moving target was located when the flash appeared. Experiments 2 and 3 are exclusively concerned with localizing the onset and the offset of the moving target. When observers localized the position with respect to the point in time when the flash was presented, a clear mislocalization in the direction of movement was observed at the initial position and the mid-position. In contrast, a mislocalization opposite to movement direction occurred at the final position. When observers were asked to ignore the flash (or when no flash was presented at all), a reduced error (or no error) was observed at the initial position and only a minor error in the direction of the movement occurred at the final position. An integrative model is proposed, which suggests a common underlying mechanism, but emphasizes the specific processing components of the Fröhlich effect, flash-lag effect, and representational momentum.