The role of motivation and volition in economic decisions: Evidence from eye movements and pupillometry

Economic decisions usually involve high stakes, real consequences, and some degree of personal risk. This article explores the impact of motivational and volitional states on economic decision processes in an incentivized lottery choice task. We investigated the patterns of decision time, choice, information search, and pupil dilation dependent on an experimental manipulation of motivation and volition, that is, the deliberative and the implemental mindset. The results indicated that choice preferences in economic decisions were robust and remained unaffected by motivational and volitional states, but decision processes were notably impacted. Decision makers in a deliberative state of mind searched for information more extensively and made slower decisions than the baseline. The implemental mindset was associated with more attention paid to the probability attributes of the gambles relative to the deliberative mindset. Furthermore, we observed that gamble outcomes that entailed no win at all (i.e., zero outcomes) played an important role for information search. These outcomes were largely disregarded in terms of predecisional information search but elicited pupillary responses similar to very high outcome lotteries. These results inform the current debate about the zero effect in risky choice. We also discuss the potential of eye-tracking studies of risky choice to dissolve ambiguities concerning the contributions of effort and arousal to modulating pupillary response. Implications for theoretical advances in decision research are discussed.     

Comparative Mental Development

To reconstruct the evolution of human cognitive development we are studying its comparative ontogeny in primate phylogeny (i.e., two monkey species, two chimpanzee species, and humans). The research has discovered primate conceptual universals including logical (e.g., classifying), arithmetic (e.g., quantitative substituting), and physical (e.g., causal) cognitions. But the ontogenetic covariation between these conceptual universals is progressively displaced or heterochronic in primate phylogeny. Heterochronic evolution produced the most synchronic and widest ontogenetic window for progressive cognitive development in humans.     

Finite Cardinals in Quasi-set Theory

Quasi-set theory is a ZFU-like axiomatic set theory, which deals with two kinds of ur-elements: M-atoms, objects like the atoms of ZFU, and m-atoms, items for which the usual identity relation is not defined. One of the motivations to advance such a theory is to deal properly with collections of items like particles in non-relativistic quantum mechanics when these are understood as being non-individuals in the sense that they may be indistinguishable although identity does not apply to them. According to some authors, this is the best way to understand quantum objects. The fact that identity is not defined for m-atoms raises a technical difficulty: it seems impossible to follow the usual procedures to define the cardinal of collections involving these items. In this paper we propose a definition of finite cardinals in quasi-set theory which works for collections involving m-atoms.     

Reactance,the self,and its group: When threats to freedom come from the ingroup versus the outgroup

We investigated the assumption that independent versus interdependent self‐construals yield different manifestations of psychological reactance in different group contexts. We expected collectivists (interdependent) to value the collective freedom of an ingroup more in face of an outgroup threat than individualists (independent) who should be protective of their individual freedom especially within an ingroup. In Study 1, we showed that collectivists (Taiwanese students) did not show reactance when a threat to their freedom of choice originated in the ingroup, but they did show reactance when it originated in an outgroup. In Study 2, Austrian students showed more reactance the more interdependent their self‐construal was when confronted with an outgroup restriction. However, the more independent Austrian students' self‐construal was, the more reactance they showed when the threat came from the ingroup. Priming an independent (versus interdependent) self‐construal in Study 3, we again observed more reactance when freedom was restricted by the ingroup. The findings underline the importance of understanding psychological reactance as a socially situated phenomenon. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flirting With Disaster: Short‐Term Mating Orientation and Hostile Sexism Predict Different Types of Sexual Harassment

We combine evolutionary and sociocultural accounts of sexual harassment, proposing that sexuality‐related and hostility‐related motives lead to different types of harassment. Specifically, men's short‐term mating orientation (STMO) was hypothesized to predict only unwanted sexual attention but not gender harassment, whereas men's hostile sexism (HS) was hypothesized to predict both unwanted sexual attention and gender harassment. As part of an alleged computer‐chat task, 100 male students could send sexualized personal remarks (representing unwanted sexual attention), sexist jokes (representing gender harassment), or nonharassing material to an attractive female target. Independently, participants’ STMO, HS, and sexual harassment myth acceptance (SHMA) were assessed. Correlational and path analyses revealed that STMO specifically predicted unwanted sexual attention, whereas HS predicted both unwanted sexual attention and gender harassment. Furthermore, SHMA fully mediated the effect of HS on gender harassment, but did not mediate effects of STMO or HS on unwanted sexual attention. Results are discussed in relation to motivational explanations for sexual harassment and antiharassment interventions. Aggr. Behav. 38:521‐531, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effects of a flexible work-time design on employee- and company-related aims

This article addresses the effects of flexible work-time designs on employee- and company-related aims. Using objective and self-reported quantitative and qualitative data the current study examines the effects of a flexible work-time design that was introduced in a service company in Germany. Building on the learning hypothesis of the job demands?–?control model, we predicted that a highly flexible work-time design that provides employees with high demands but at the same time also with a high degree of autonomy, and self-determination over their working time leads to positive effects on employee's personal development and learning opportunities. The results supported this hypothesis. However, in addition to employee-related benefits the results also suggested benefits for the company, such as an increase in adherence to company goals. Moreover, the objective data showed a lower degree of absenteeism and higher work quality compared to the control group working with the traditional work-time design. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

And all your problems are gone: religious coping strategies among Philippine migrant workers in Hong Kong

This paper provides an ethnographic account of both hardships and religious coping strategies of Philippine migrant workers in Hong Kong. It will argue that intensified coping needs that arise from the migration process may lead to a reorientation towards more charismatic religious groups, which in turn seem to promote coping strategies specifically tailored towards the (relatively homogenous) experiences of these migrants. It will also argue that, while the “disempowering” implications of religious coping rest ambiguous, it may assist the toleration of exploitative patterns in migration by reducing their emotional cost.     

G. E. Moore on goodness and reasons

Several proponents of the ‘buck-passing’ account of value have recently attributed to G. E. Moore the implausible view that goodness is reason-providing. I argue that this attribution is unjustified. In addition to its historical significance, the discussion has an important implication for the contemporary value-theoretical debate: the plausible observation that goodness is not reason-providing does not give decisive support to the buck-passing account over its Moorean rivals. The final section of the paper is a survey of what can be said for and against the buck-passing account and Moore's views about goodness and reasons.