The Dark Triad and risk behavior

The Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—are theorized to facilitate short-term, exploitative social tactics. Thus, the Dark Triad traits should be positively related to (a) similar short-term-focused traits such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking, and (b) risky behaviors. In two studies (N > 1400), we examined the relationships among the Dark Triad traits and impulsivity and sensation-seeking. In Study 2, we incorporated risk behaviors, including blackjack betting and temporal discounting of money. Both studies showed positive relationships among the Dark Triad traits and impulsivity and sensation-seeking. Study 2 showed positive relationships among the Dark Triad traits, blackjack betting, and steeper temporal discounting. An experimentally manipulated ego threat in Study 2 marginally moderated the narcissism–discounting relationship; ego-threatened participants had a significantly positive relationship, whereas those who were not threatened showed no relationship. We discuss implications of the Dark Triad traits for understanding risk behavior.     

Coparenting Negotiation During the Transition to Parenthood: A Qualitative Study of Couples’ Experiences as New Parents

Abstract

Coparenting – how couples relate to one another in their joint roles as parents – is predictive of a wide variety of family and child outcomes. The current study used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to understand how couples negotiate the coparenting relationship during the transition to parenthood. The principal researcher interviewed 16 men and women of eight heterosexual, dual-earning, new parent couples. Themes emerged which were both conducive to successful coparenting and inhibitive of successful coparenting. Gender distinctions emerged between men and woman in their experiences of coparenting negotiation. Clinical implications of the themes are discussed.     

Procesos deductivos e implicaturas conversacionales: Una aproximación experimental

Resumen

Sperber y Wilson (1986, 1987) ban propuesto un modelo psicológico que incorpora las implicaturas en los procesos pragmáticos de comprensión del lenguaje.

Los objetivos del trabajo eran: 1) Determinar empíricamente la realidad psicológica de las implicaturas conversacionales mediante un paradigma experimental nuevo; 2) Contrastar la hipótesis de Sperber y Wilson de que intervienen procesos lógicos en la comprensión no natural de interacciones lingüísticas.

A 120 sujetos se les presentaron dos conjuntos de estímulos lingüísticos: 32 interacciones conversacionales de pregunta-respuesta indirecta y 32 implicaturas que correspondían a las proposiciones lógicas a las que, supuestamente, deberían acceder para comprender las interacciones. Se medía el tiempo (en centésimas de segundo) que empleaban los sujetos en dar una respuesta de aceptación/rechazo a las interacciones y en verificar la veracidad o falsedad de las implicaturas.

Los resultados son favorables a la hipótesis de la realidad psicológica de las implicaturas conversacionales en la comprensión de las interacciones lingüísticas de carácter indirecto. Además, son compatibles con la hipótesis de que en tales procesos se efectúan funciones cognitivas de verificación, lo que constituye un apoyo empírico favorable al modelo de Sperber y Wilson (1986, 1987).     

The Extreme Claim,Psychological Continuity and the Person Life View

Marya Schechtman has raised a series of worries for the Psychological Continuity Theory of personal identity (PCT) stemming from what Derek Parfit called the ‘Extreme Claim’. This is roughly the claim that theories like it are unable to explain the importance we attach to personal identity. In her recent Staying Alive (2014), she presents further arguments related to this and sets out a new narrative theory, the Person Life View (PLV), which she sees as solving the problems as well as bringing other advantages over the PCT. I look over some of her earlier arguments and responses to them as a way in to the new issues and theory. I will argue that the problems for the PCT and advantages that the PLV brings are all merely apparent, and present no reason for giving up the former for the latter.     

The role of disgust propensity in blood-injection-injury phobia: Comparisons between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting the potential role of disgust propensity in blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia. The current study examined associations between disgust propensity and BII phobia symptom severity in Caucasian Americans (n=310) and Asian Americans (n=223). Asian Americans typically scored higher than Caucasian Americans on the BII and disgust measures. The present study also examined the structural relations between gender, cultural background, disgust propensity, and BII phobia symptom severity. According to the structural equation model, disgust propensity was significantly related to levels of BII phobia symptom severity and fully mediated the relationships between BII phobia symptom severity and the demographic variables of gender and cultural background. The implications of the results for cultural refinements to our understanding of disgust propensity and BII phobia are discussed.     

WORD EXPOSURE CONDITIONS AND PRESCHOOLERS' NOVEL WORD LEARNING DURING SHARED STORYBOOK READING

In this experiment, 23 preschool children participated in two adult-child shared storybook reading sessions over a 1-week period. The objective was to characterize the influence of various conditions of word exposure upon children's receptive and expressive learning of novel words occurring within storybook reading interactions. Specifically, the effects of two contrasting conditions were examined: (a) adults' questioning versus labeling of novel words, and (b) adults' use of perceptual versus conceptual questions about novel words. Results suggested that adults' labeling of novel words facilitated children's receptive word learning more so than questioning; however, this effect was not observed for expressive word learning. Results also suggested no difference in receptive or expressive word learning as a result of conceptual versus perceptual questions. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Aristotle's Metaphysics: Form,Matter and Identity

ABSTRACT

The example of the Spanish poet’s amnesia, mentioned by Spinoza in the scholium of proposition 39 of part IV of the Ethics in order to elucidate his conception of death, has given rise to many controversies in the scholarly interpretations, which in most cases maintain that the poet dies and that Spinoza himself thought this way. However, the matter is more complex than it at first appears and in this article I take a different path by reconstructing this scholium anew and providing an alternative interpretation. The comparison with selected passages of part V highlights the presence of a bi-conditional between the ratio of motion and rest that a body possesses, and its aptitude to be affected and affect in many more ways. In particular, the latter allows us to acknowledge the continuity of the poet’s individuality, expressed in his mind–body union grounded by the parallelism theory. As a result, the poet case has a crucial explanatory role for Spinoza’s theory of the eternity of the human mind and if one misunderstands the former, the latter is also misconceived.     

Adaptive memory: enhanced source memory for animate entities

ABSTRACT

The animacy effect refers to enhanced memory for animate over inanimate items. In two studies, we examined whether this memory advantage generalises to source memory. A multinomial processing tree model was used to disentangle item recognition, source memory, and guessing processes. In Study 1, animate and inanimate words were presented at different spatial locations on the screen. Animacy was associated with enhanced source memory for the spatial locations of the items. In Study 2, pseudowords were associated with animate and inanimate properties. Replicating previous results, the pseudowords were better remembered when they were associated with animate properties than when they were associated with inanimate properties. What is more, participants had enhanced source memory for the association between the pseudowords and the animate properties. The results strengthen the idea that animate items are associated with richer mnemonic representations than inanimate items.     

Changing target trajectories influences tracking performance

People have the ability to attentively select and successfully track several moving objects, a process known as multiple-object tracking (MOT; Pylyshyn & Storm Spatial Vision 3: 179–197, 1988). Various factors have been known to influence MOT performance, such as speed, number of distractors, and proximity, while recent work has suggested that object trajectories may also be a factor (Fencsik, Kleiger, & Horowitz Perception and Psychophysics 69: 567–577, 2007). Meanwhile, unexpected changes in motion information have been demonstrated to be a critical facet for attracting attention Howard & Holcombe Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 72: 2087–2095, (2010). Therefore, we suggest that unexpected changes in target trajectories are an important factor in tracking performance. The research presented here controlled for spatial proximity while manipulating the number of instances in which an object changed trajectory. We found that spatial proximity had no effect on tracking performance but, rather, as the number of trajectory changes increased, tracking performance suffered. Results imply that the ability to track multiple moving objects is limited by unexpected changes in direction.     

Suppressed semantic information accelerates analytic problem solving

The present study investigated the limits of semantic processing without awareness, during continuous flash suppression (CFS). We used compound remote associate word problems, in which three seemingly unrelated words (e.g., pine, crab, sauce) form a common compound with a single solution word (e.g., apple). During the first 3 s of each trial, the three problem words or three irrelevant words (control condition) were suppressed from awareness, using CFS. The words then became visible, and participants attempted to solve the word problem. Once the participants solved the problem, they indicated whether they had solved it by insight or analytically. Overall, the compound remote associate word problems were solved significantly faster after the problem words, as compared with irrelevant words, were presented during the suppression period. However this facilitation occurred only when people solved with analysis, not with insight. These results demonstrate that semantic processing, but not necessarily semantic integration, may occur without awareness.