From individual preference construction to group decisions: Framing effects and group processes

Two choice tasks known to produce framing effects in individual decisions were used to test group sensitivity to framing, relative to that of individuals, and to examine the effect of prior, individual consideration of a decision on group choice. Written post-decision reasons and pre-decision group discussions were analyzed to investigate process explanations of choices made by preexisting, naturalistic groups. For a risky choice problem, a similar framing effect was observed for groups and individuals. For an intertemporal choice task where consumption was either delayed or accelerated, naïve groups (whose members had not preconsidered the decision) showed a framing effect, less discounting in the delay frame, opposite to that observed in individuals. Predecided groups showed a non-significant effect in the other, expected direction. In all cases, process measures better explained variability in choices across conditions than frame alone. Implications for group decision research and design considerations for committee decisions are addressed.     

Adult brains don't fully overcome biases that lead to incorrect performance during cognitive development: an fMRI study in young adults completing a Piaget‐like task

A current issue in developmental science is that greater continuity in cognition between children and adults may exist than is usually appreciated in Piaget‐like (stages or ‘staircase’) models. This phenomenon has been demonstrated at the behavioural level, but never at the brain level. Here we show with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for the first time, that adult brains do not fully overcome the biases of childhood. More specifically, the aim of this fMRI study was to evaluate whether the perceptual bias that leads to incorrect performance during cognitive development in a Piaget‐like task is still a bias in the adult brain and hence requires an executive network to overcome it. Here, we compared two numerical‐judgment tasks, one being a Piaget‐like task with number–length interference (called ‘INT’) and the other being a control task with number–length covariation (‘COV’). We also used a colour‐detection task to control for stimuli numerosity, spatial distribution, and frequency. Our behavioural results confirmed that INT remains a difficult task for young adults. Indeed, response times were significantly higher in INT than in COV. Moreover, we observed that only in INT did response times increase linearly as a function of the number of items. The fMRI results indicate that the brain network common to INT and COV shows a large rightward functional asymmetry, emphasizing the visuospatial nature of these two tasks. When INT was compared with COV, activations were found within a right frontal network, including the pre‐supplementary motor area, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the middle frontal gyrus, which probably reflect detection of the number/length conflict and inhibition of the ‘length‐equals‐number’ response strategy. Finally, activations related to visuospatial and quantitative processing, enhanced or specifically recruited in the Piaget‐like task, were found in bilateral posterior areas.     

Math in actions: Actor mode reveals the true arithmetic abilities of French-speaking 2-year-olds in a magic task

Our previous studies provide some evidence of between-language effects on arithmetic performance in 2-year-olds. French-speaking children were especially biased by the use of the word un as a cardinal value and as an article in the singular/plural opposition (1 vs. the set 2, 3, …). Here we evaluated the ability of a new action-based assessment method to avoid this bias. A total of 80 French-speaking 2- and 3-year-olds were confronted with impossible (1 + 1 = 1 or 1 + 1 = 3) and possible (1 + 1 = 2) addition problems that triggered the bias. The problems were either presented to the children by the experimenter (onlooker mode) or realized by themselves (actor mode). The 2-year-olds performed better in the actor mode than in the onlooker mode. A subtraction control with no language ambiguity (2-1 = 2 or 1) was conducted with 80 other children; both modes elicited comparable performances regardless of age. These data indicate that the actor mode is effective for assessing arithmetic ability in French-speaking 2-year-olds.     

A longitudinal examination of early communicative development: Evidence from a parent‐report questionnaire

The present research employed a longitudinal design to assess the verbal and non‐verbal communicative abilities of a sample of 104 children, using two different parent‐report instruments: the Questionnaire for Communication and Early Language (QCEL) development at 12, 16, and 20 months, and the Italian adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Gestures at 23 months. The results supported and extended previous data about the validity of the QCEL, by showing that: (1) both verbal and non‐verbal variables predicted the level of language development at 23 months; (2) children classified as at‐risk with the QCEL had reduced vocabulary size and a lower number of sentences at 23 months; (3) early individual differences in the use of words and gestures were associated with later differences in linguistic abilities. It is concluded that the longitudinal use of the QCEL questionnaire can provide useful information about language development.     

Statistical power of articles published in three health psychology-related journals.

Power was calculated for 8,266 statistical tests in 187 journal articles published in the 1997 volumes of Health Psychology (HP), Addictive Behaviors (AB), and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol (JSA). Power to detect small, medium, and large effects was .34. .74. and .92 for HP; .34, .75, and .90 for AB; and .41, .81. and .92 for JSA. Mean power estimates are .36, .77, and .91, giving a good estimation for the field of health psychology. J. Cohen (1988) recommended that power to detect effects should be approximately .80. Using this criterion, the articles in these journals have adequate power to detect medium and large effects. Intervention studies have much less power to detect effects than nonintervention studies do. Results are encouraging for this field, although studies examining small effects are still very much underpowered. This issue is important, because most intervention effects in health psychology are small.     

Integrating psychopathology and personality disorders conceptualized by the MMPI-2-RF and the MCMI-III: a structural validity study

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008 ) Restructured Clinical scales and Higher Order scales were linked to the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (Millon, Millon, Davis, & Grossman, 2009 ) personality disorder scales and clinical syndrome scales in a Flemish/Dutch sample of psychiatric inpatients and outpatients, substance abuse patients, correctional inmates, and forensic psychiatric patients (N = 968). Structural validity of psychopathology and personality disorders as conceptualized by both instruments was investigated by means of principal component analysis. Results reveal a higher order structure with 4 dimensions (internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, paranoid ideation/thought disturbance, and pathological introversion) that parallels earlier research on pathological personality dimensions as well as research linking pathological personality traits with mental disorders. Theoretical and clinical implications are considered.     

Quality of life of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The aim of this study is to evaluate the correlation between different measures of quality of life (QoL), functional status and mood status in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A sample of 40 patients with ALS was recruited and scales for the evaluation of health-related QoL (SF36), patient-centered QoL (SEIQoL), functional status (ALSFRS) and depression (ZDS) have been administered to them. All the correlations (Pearson's r) between the scores have been considered and the t-test was performed in order to compare male with female patients. No correlation emerged between the different measures of QoL and functional status, apart from the scores of the Physical Functioning subscale of the SF36 which resulted positively correlated (p?相似文献   

Beliefs about the "hot hand" in basketball across the adult life span

Many people believe in streaks. In basketball, belief in the "hot hand" occurs when people think a player is more likely to make a shot if they have made previous shots. However, research has shown that players' successive shots are independent events. To determine how age would impact belief in the hot hand, we examined this effect across the adult life span. Older adults were more likely to believe in the hot hand, relative to younger and middle-aged adults, suggesting that older adults use heuristics and potentially adaptive processing based on highly accessible information to predict future events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).