Memory accessibility shapes explanation: Testing key claims of the inherence heuristic account

People understand the world by constructing explanations for what they observe. It is thus important to identify the cognitive processes underlying these judgments. According to a recent proposal, everyday explanations are often constructed heuristically: Because people need to generate explanations on a moment-by-moment basis, they cannot perform an exhaustive search through the space of possible reasons, but may instead use the information that is most easily accessible in memory (Cimpian & Salomon 2014a, b). In the present research, we tested two key claims of this proposal that have so far not been investigated. First, we tested whether—as previously hypothesized—the information about an entity that is most accessible in memory tends to consist of inherent or intrinsic facts about that entity, rather than extrinsic (contextual, historical, etc.) facts about it (Studies 1 and 2). Second, we tested the implications of this difference in the memory accessibility of inherent versus extrinsic facts for the process of generating explanations: Does the fact that inherent facts are more accessible than relevant extrinsic facts give rise to an inherence bias in the content of the explanations generated (Studies 3 and 4)? The findings supported the proposal that everyday explanations are generated in part via a heuristic process that relies on easily accessible—and often inherent—information from memory.     

Shame and Depressive Symptoms: Self-compassion and Contingent Self-worth as Mediators?

Research has identified the experience of shame as a relevant predictor of depressive symptoms. Building upon resilience theory, this is the first study to investigate if self-compassion and/or contingent self-worth (i.e., family support and God’s love) mediate the link between shame and depressive symptoms. Participants were 109 African Americans, within the age range of 18 and 64, who sought service following a suicide attempt from a public hospital that serves mostly low-income patients. Findings suggest that shame was related to depressive symptoms through self-compassion but not through contingent self-worth, underscoring the significant role that self-compassion plays in ameliorating the aggravating effect of shame on depressive symptoms. Results highlight the value of incorporating self-compassion training into interventions for suicidal African Americans in an effort to reduce the impact of shame on their depressive symptoms and ultimately their suicidal behavior and as a result enhance their capacity for resilience.     

Investigating the origins of political views: biases in explanation predict conservative attitudes in children and adults

We tested the hypothesis that political attitudes are influenced by an information‐processing factor – namely, a bias in the content of everyday explanations. Because many societal phenomena are enormously complex, people's understanding of them often relies on heuristic shortcuts. For instance, when generating explanations for such phenomena (e.g., why does this group have low status?), people often rely on facts that they can retrieve easily from memory – facts that are skewed toward inherent or intrinsic features (e.g., this group is unintelligent). We hypothesized that this bias in the content of heuristic explanations leads to a tendency to (1) view socioeconomic stratification as acceptable and (2) prefer current societal arrangements to alternative ones, two hallmarks of conservative ideology. Moreover, since the inherence bias in explanation is present across development, we expected it to shape children's proto‐political judgments as well. Three studies with adults and 4‐ to 8‐year‐old children (N = 784) provided support for these predictions: Not only did individual differences in reliance on inherent explanations uniquely predict endorsement of conservative views (particularly the stratification‐supporting component; Study 1), but manipulations of this explanatory bias also had downstream consequences for political attitudes in both children and adults (Studies 2 and 3). This work contributes to our understanding of the origins of political attitudes.     

Projective Beth Property in Extensions of Grzegorczyk Logic

All extensions of the modal Grzegorczyk logic Grz possessing projective Beth's property PB2 are described. It is proved that there are exactly 13 logics over Grz with PB2. All of them are finitely axiomatizable and have the finite model property. It is shown that PB2 is strongly decidable over Grz, i.e. there is an algorithm which, for any finite system Rul of additional axiom schemes and rules of inference, decides if the calculus Grz+Rul has the projective Beth property. Dedicated to the memory of Willem Johannes Blok     

On variable separation in modal and superintuitionistic logics

In this paper we find an algebraic equivalent of the Hallden property in modal logics, namely, we prove that the Hallden-completeness in any normal modal logic is equivalent to the so-called super-embedding property of a suitable class of modal algebras. The joint embedding property of a class of algebras is equivalent to the Pseudo-Relevance Property. We consider connections of the above-mentioned properties with interpolation and amalgamation. Also an algebraic equivalent of of the principle of variable separation in superintuitionistic logics will be found.     

Definability and Interpolation in Non-Classical Logics

Algebraic approach to study of classical and non-classical logical calculi was developed and systematically presented by Helena Rasiowa in [48], [47]. It is very fruitful in investigation of non-classical logics because it makes possible to study large families of logics in an uniform way. In such research one can replace logics with suitable classes of algebras and apply powerful machinery of universal algebra. In this paper we present an overview of results on interpolation and definability in modal and positive logics,and also in extensions of Johansson's minimal logic. All these logics are strongly complete under algebraic semantics. It allows to combine syntactic methods with studying varieties of algebras and to flnd algebraic equivalents for interpolation and related properties. Moreover, we give exhaustive solution to interpolation and some related problems for many families of propositional logics and calculi. This paper is a version of the invited talk given by the author at the conference Trends in Logic III, dedicated to the memory of A. MOSTOWSKI, H. RASIOWA and C. RAUSZER, and held in Warsaw and Ruciane-Nida from 23rd to 25th September 2005. Presented by Jacek Malinowski     

On maximal intermediate logics with the disjunction property

For intermediate logics, there is obtained in the paper an algebraic equivalent of the disjunction propertyDP. It is proved that the logic of finite binary trees is not maximal among intermediate logics withDP. Introduced is a logicND, which has the only maximal extension withDP, namely, the logicML of finite problems.     

Definability theorems in normal extensions of the probability logic

Three variants of Beth's definability theorem are considered. Let L be any normal extension of the provability logic G. It is proved that the first variant B1 holds in L iff L possesses Craig's interpolation property. If L is consistent, then the statement B2 holds in L iff L = G + {0}. Finally, the variant B3 holds in any normal extension of G.To the memory of Jerzy Supecki     

Antecedent stimulus control: using orienting cues to facilitate first-word acquisition for nonresponders with autism

Although considerable progress has been made in improving the acquisition of expressive verbal communication in children with autism, research has documented that a subpopulation of children still fail to acquire speech even with intensive intervention. One variable that might be important in facilitating responding for this nonverbal subgroup of children is the use of antecedent orienting cues. Using a multiple baseline design, this study examined whether individualized orienting cues could be identified, and whether their presentation would result in the production of verbal expressive words. The results showed that this antecedent stimulus control procedure produced improvements in responding to verbal models in all of the children, and subsequent gains in speech for some of the children. Theoretical and applied implications of orienting cues as they relate to antecedent stimulus control for children with autism are discussed.