Moving beyond Kučera and Francis: A critical evaluation of current word frequency norms and the introduction of a new and improved word frequency measure for American English

Word frequency is the most important variable in research on word processing and memory. Yet, the main criterion for selecting word frequency norms has been the availability of the measure, rather than its quality. As a result, much research is still based on the old Kučera and Francis frequency norms. By using the lexical decision times of recently published megastudies, we show how bad this measure is and what must be done to improve it. In particular, we investigated the size of the corpus, the language register on which the corpus is based, and the definition of the frequency measure. We observed that corpus size is of practical importance for small sizes (depending on the frequency of the word), but not for sizes above 16–30 million words. As for the language register, we found that frequencies based on television and film subtitles are better than frequencies based on written sources, certainly for the monosyllabic and bisyllabic words used in psycholinguistic research. Finally, we found that lemma frequencies are not superior to word form frequencies in English and that a measure of contextual diversity is better than a measure based on raw frequency of occurrence. Part of the superiority of the latter is due to the words that are frequently used as names. Assembling a new frequency norm on the basis of these considerations turned out to predict word processing times much better than did the existing norms (including Kučera & Francis and Celex). The new SUBTL frequency norms from the SUBTLEXUS corpus are freely available for research purposes from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental, as well as from the University of Ghent and Lexique Web sites.     

The Impact of Culture on Loss Aversion

Based on the literature on the relationship between culture, emotion, and loss aversion, we derive that culture can influence the degree of loss aversion. To test our hypotheses, we conduct a standardized survey in 53 countries worldwide that includes the questions from the Hofstede survey on cultural dimensions as well as lottery questions on loss aversion. The results show that individualism, power distance, and masculinity increase loss aversion as predicted, whereas the impact of uncertainty avoidance is less significant. Moreover, we also find a relation between the distribution of major religions in a country and loss aversion. In comparison, the connection of loss aversion to macroeconomic variables seems to be much smaller. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Avengers,assemble the literature! A multi-study review of consumption,environmental values,and planetary health research

Mother Earth is dying. Humanity needs to step up. Otherwise, the planet we call home will soon be uninhabitable. The destiny of our planet inarguably depends on consumers, as their choices have the power to turn them into eco-superheroes (sustainable consumption) or eco-villains (unsustainable consumption). This article aims to review the current progress of consumption research and propose strategies to inspire consumers to embrace their inner eco-warrior spirit, fostering sustainable behavior that protects the environment and supports human well-being. To achieve this, this article employs an integrative approach, merging a meta-perspective on theoretical development with a multi-study methodological approach. Harnessing the power of scientometrics, this article delivers meta-insights from a multi-study analysis on consumption trends in relation to environmental values (micro-perspective; Study 1) and planetary health (macro-perspective; Study 2). These findings pave the way for future research and intervention strategies designed to nurture ecological sustainability and unleash the eco-warrior in every consumer.     

Sit Down and Play: A Preventive Primary Care-Based Program to Enhance Parenting Practices

The primary care office offers an ideal setting to encourage parenting behaviors that promote early childhood development. We conducted a pilot study to establish feasibility and acceptability of Sit Down and Play (SDP), a brief primary care-based program to facilitate positive parenting behaviors through take-home play activities. A prospective 1-month study was conducted in an urban primary care clinic. SDP was administered to 30 caregivers of 6–12 month-old children while they waited for their well-child appointment. Caregivers completed baseline and 4-week follow-up surveys. Open-ended interview questions regarding acceptability and usefulness of SDP were administered and analyzed using content analysis. Parenting practices related to child development were measured with standardized measures and changes analyzed using paired t-test and linear mixed effects models. Most caregivers were mothers (90?%) and non-white (97?%); the majority of children received Medicaid (87?%). There were significant increases in parental reports of practices related to child development (p?<?0.001), including families who reported low incomes (i.e. <$25,000) and received a high-school education or less (p?=?0.001). Four main themes emerged from the open-ended interview data: (1) importance of play, (2) noticing a change in their child, (3) reinforcing existing positive parenting behaviors, and (4) satisfaction with the program. This preliminary study suggests that SDP is a feasible and potentially beneficial program that can be delivered during pediatric well-child visits. Further studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of SDP on parenting behaviors and developmental outcomes.     

Using the dual‐criteria methods to supplement visual inspection: An analysis of nonsimulated data

The purpose of our study was to examine the probability of observing false positives in nonsimulated data using the dual‐criteria methods. We extracted data from published studies to produce a series of 16,927 datasets and then assessed the proportion of false positives for various phase lengths. Our results indicate that collecting at least three data points in the first phase (Phase A) and at least five data points in the second phase (Phase B) is generally sufficient to produce acceptable levels of false positives.     

Armchair Disagreement

A commonly neglected feature of the so‐called Equal Weight View, according to which we should give our peers’ opinions the same weight we give our own, is its prima facie incompatibility with the common picture of philosophy as an armchair activity: an intellectual effort to seek a priori knowledge. This view seems to imply that our beliefs are more likely to be true if we leave our armchair in order to find out whether there actually are peers who, by disagreeing with us, force us to revise our beliefs. This article argues that the Equal Weight View should be spelled out in such a way that not only actual peer disagreement requires us to revise our beliefs, but also merely possible peer disagreement. This result is not a reductio ad absurdum of the view. Quite the opposite: it shows that the view is, contrary to appearance, compatible with our common way of doing philosophy.     

Expanding Perspectives on Evangelicalism: How Non-evangelical Students Appreciate Evangelical Christianity

Evangelical students pose a distinctive set of challenges to higher education professionals. These students, though advantaged to some degree because of their Christian identity, commonly report feeling marginalized and silenced on college campuses. In light of these tensions, the purpose of this study was to examine how non-evangelical students come to an appreciative understanding of evangelical Christianity. Specifically, the research focused on the specific campus conditions and experiences that influence non-evangelical students’ appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals. Findings reveal distinct demographic, institution type, and academic major differences in those students’ perspectives toward their evangelical peers. Additionally, the results suggest that appreciative attitudes toward evangelicals are associated with non-evangelical students’ interfaith experiences, albeit to differing degrees based on self-identified worldview. Recognizing that the work of helping non-evangelical students develop an appreciative understanding of evangelicals is as complicated as it is challenging, especially in the collegiate context, the authors conclude with a discussion of implications for research and practice.     

Non-Violent Communication and Marital Relationship: Efficacy of ‘Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program Among Filipino Couples

Non-Violent Communication (NVC), developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, fosters intra- and interpersonal relationship through empathetic and compassionate communication. It has been used and proven effective in a variety of settings like schools, health care centers, jails, and in restorative and rehabilitative institutions. However, the use of NVC in the field of marital relationship is found to be relatively few. The present study aimed at investigating the efficacy of the intervention program, Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program (EFCCP) in a Filipino setting. EFCCP which is an intervention program developed by the researchers based on the constructs of NVC has already been proven to be effective in a previous study involving couples in an Indian setting. This present study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of the program’s shortened version in the Filipino setting and to test whether the program is culturally suited for Filipino married couples. Relational Communication Scale and Locke–Wallace Marital Adjustment Test were used to measure the level of communication and marital satisfaction among the couples. The EFCCP-Shortened Version was administered to a group of 12 couples for a period of 3 weeks, and the results revealed a significant difference in the level of couples’ communication and marital satisfaction among the participants. These results provided ample indications to the efficacy of the EFCCP-Shortened Version in enhancing communication and enriching marriage quality among couples across diverse settings.     

Individual differences in executive function partially explain the socioeconomic gradient in middle‐school academic achievement

Children from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) earn lower grades, perform worse on achievement tests, and attain less education on average than their peers from higher‐SES families. We evaluated neurocognitive mediators of SES disparities in achievement in a diverse sample of youth whose data were linked to administrative records of performance on school‐administered tests of 7th grade reading and math proficiency (N = 203). We used structural equation modeling to evaluate whether associations between SES (measured at ages 8–9) and achievement (measured at age 13) are mediated by verbal ability and executive function (measured at age 10), a suite of top‐down mental processes that facilitate control of thinking and behavior. Children from relatively higher‐SES families performed better than their lower‐SES peers on all neurocognitive and achievement measures, and SES disparities in both reading and math achievement were partially mediated by variation in executive function, but not verbal ability. SES disparities in executive function explained approximately 37% of the SES gap in math achievement and 17% of the SES gap in reading achievement. Exploratory modeling suggests that SES‐related variation in working memory may play a particularly prominent role in mediation. We discuss potential implications of these findings for research, intervention programming, and classroom practice.     

The phenomenology and cognitive neuroscience of experienced temporality

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - We discuss the three dominant models of the phenomenological literature pertaining to temporal consciousness, namely the cinematic, the retentional, and...