Populism and religion: On the politics of fear

Our societies of fear go along with an increase of populist movements in politics. This article explains the basics of populism and shows how easily it joins highly likely political friend‐enemy patterns. Anthropologically, we have to deal with parochial altruism undergirded by a static type of religion. A further step deals with the relationship between politics and fear by referring to terror management theory and its insight into the relationship between mortality and fear. The concluding part addresses ways out of fear and in what way a dynamic type of religion helps to avoid scapegoating and political enmity.     

Psychophysiological Synchrony During Verbal Interaction in Romantic Relationships

Previous studies about romantic relationships have shown that the reciprocal influence between partners occurs not only at the behavioral and socio‐emotional levels, but also at the psychophysiological level. This reciprocal influence is expressed in a pattern of physiological synchrony between partners (i.e., coordinated dynamics of the physiological time series). The main aim of the present study was to explore the presence of a pattern of physiological synchrony in electrodermal activity (EDA) during a couple interaction task. A second objective was to compare the synchrony levels during a negative interaction condition versus a positive interaction condition. Finally, we analyzed the association between synchrony and self‐perception of empathy, dyadic empathy, and relationship satisfaction. Thirty‐two couples (64 individuals) participated in this study. Each couple performed a structured interaction task while the EDA of both partners was being registered. The quantification of synchrony was based on the cross‐correlation of both members' EDA time‐series. In order to control for coincidental synchrony, surrogate datasets were created by repeatedly shuffling the original data of spouses X and Y of a dyad and computing synchronies on the basis of the shuffled data (pseudosynchrony values). Our results confirmed the presence of significant EDA synchrony during the interaction. We also found that synchrony was higher during the negative interactions relative to the positive interactions. Additionally, physiological synchrony during positive interaction was higher for those couples in which males scored higher in dyadic empathy. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Production blocking and idea generation: Does blocking interfere with cognitive processes?

Production blocking (group members must take turns expressing their ideas) is an important cause of productivity loss in brainstorming groups. However, it is not yet clear why production blocking has this detrimental effect. We hypothesized that delays between the generation and articulation of ideas, arising when group members wait for their turns, interfere with the cognitive process of generating ideas. In three experiments, production blocking was simulated for individuals working at computer terminals. Production blocking interfered with idea generation in two ways. First, it disrupted the organization of idea generation when delays were relatively long. Second, it reduced the flexibility of idea generation when delays were unpredictable. Implications for group information processing are discussed.     

When hearing turns into playing: Movement induction by auditory stimuli in pianists

In this study, pianists were tested for learned associations between actions (movements on the piano) and their perceivable sensory effects (piano tones). Actions were examined that required the playing of two-tone sequences (intervals) in a four-choice paradigm. In Experiment 1, the intervals to be played were denoted by visual note stimuli. Concurrently with these imperative stimuli, task-irrelevant auditory distractor intervals were presented (“potential” action effects, congruent or incongruent). In Experiment 2, imperative stimuli were coloured squares, in order to exclude possible influences of spatial relationships of notes, responses, and auditory stimuli. In both experiments responses in the incongruent conditions were slower than those in the congruent conditions. Also, heard intervals actually “induced” false responses. The reaction time effects were more pronounced in Experiment 2. In nonmusicians (Experiment 3), no evidence for interference could be observed. Thus, our results show that in expert pianists potential action effects are able to induce corresponding actions, which demonstrates the existence of acquired action-effect associations in pianists.     

Nachtrag zu dem kritischen Referat «Gestalt und Kontrast»

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Versuch einer gemeinsamen Theorie der Phänomene Fröhlichs und Hazelhoffs und Kritik ihrer Verfahren zur Messung der Empfindungszeit

Zusammenfassung Es wird eine neue, gemeinsame Theorie des Fröhlich-Phänomens und des Hazelhoff-Phänomens zur Diskussion gestellt. Und zwar werden beide Erscheinungen als Sonderfälle des Heßschen Phänomens erklärt. Sie sind beide durch die Annahme erklärbar, da eine Stoerregung, und damit auch der Einsatz einer stationären Erregung, eine längere E.Z. oder Verarbeitungszeit hat als die stationäre Erregung in ihrem späteren Verlauf. Den funktionalen Charakter einer stationären Erregung haben, wenn unsere Erklärung richtig ist, auch solche Vorgänge, bei denen jede einzelne Nervenendigung nur von einem Storeiz getroffen wird, aber derart, daß diese Stoßreize benachbarte Nervenendigungen unmittelbar nacheinander (der Reihe nach) treffen. Von der Auffassung aus, daß die Erregungen in benachbarten Nerven bis zuletzt streng isoliert verlaufen, sind solche Verhältnisse nicht zu verstehen. Sie sind aber selbstverständlich für die Auffassung (die in der Gestalttheorie schon seit Jahren vertreten wird und die sich auf Grund eigener langjähriger Versuche kürzlich auch Lashley zu eigen gemacht hat), da die funktionalen physiologischen Einheilen nicht mit den anatomischen Einheiten des Nervensystems zusammenfallen und nicht an sie gebunden sind.Die Benützung der erörterten Phänomene zur Berechnung der absoluten Empfindungszeit beruht in beiden Fällen auf der irrtümlichen Voraussetzung, daß es Wahrnehmungen gebe, deren E.Z. Null ist. G. E. Müllers, Wirths und Rubins Kritik an dem Verfahren Fröhlichs gilt also in sinngemäßer Übertragung auch für das Verfahren Hazelhoffs. Es gibt nach wie vor kein Verfahren, die absolute Empfindungszeit zu bestimmen.