Recognising faces seen alone or with others: why are two heads worse than one?

The ability to identify an unfamiliar target face from an identity lineup declines when the target is accompanied by a second face during visual encoding. This two-face disadvantage is still little studied and its basis remains poorly understood. We investigated several possible explanations for this phenomenon. Experiments 1 and 2 varied the number of potential targets (1 or 2) and the number of faces in a lineup (5 or 10) to explore if this effect arises from the number of identity comparisons that need to be made to detect a target in a lineup. We also explored if this effect arises from an uncertainty concerning which is the to-be-identified target in two-face displays, by cueing the relevant face during encoding. In experiment 3 we then examined whether the two-face disadvantage reflects the depth of face encoding or a memory effect. The results show that this effect arises from the additional comparisons that are necessary to compare two potential targets to an identity lineup when memory demands are minimised (experiment 1), but it reflects a difficulty in remembering several faces when targets and lineups cannot be viewed simultaneously (experiments 2 and 3). However, in both cases the two-face disadvantage could not be eliminated fully by cueing the target. This hints at a further possible locus for this effect, which might reflect perceptual interference during the initial encoding of the target. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Increasing perceived variability reduces prejudice and discrimination

We examined whether increasing individuals' perceived variability of an out-group reduces prejudice and discrimination toward its members. In a series of 4 laboratory and field experiments, we attracted participants' attention to either the homogeneity or the heterogeneity of members of an out-group, and then measured their attitudes or behaviors. Perceived variability was manipulated by making subgroups salient, by portraying the out-group members as having diverse opinions, by making salient that out-group members have different characteristics, or by asking participants to think about differences among out-group members. Prejudice and discrimination were measured in terms of self-reported attitudes, distribution of rewards, helping an out-group confederate, and evaluation of an out-group candidate in a simulated hiring decision. In all experiments, perceived variability decreased prejudice and discrimination. This effect may be due to the fact that perceived variability decreases the role of group membership in the production of attitudes and behaviors toward other individuals.     

Interobject spacing explains the attentional bias toward interacting objects

Spatio-temporal interactions between simple geometrical shapes typically elicit strong impressions of intentionality. Recent research has started to explore the link between attentional processes and the detection of interacting objects. Here, we asked whether visual attention is biased toward such interactions. We investigated probe discrimination performance in algorithmically generated animations that involved two chasing objects and two randomly moving objects. In Experiment 1, we observed a pronounced attention capture effect for chasing objects. Because reduced interobject spacing is an inherent feature of interacting objects, in Experiment 2 we designed randomly moving objects that were matched to the chasing objects with respect to interobject spacing at probe onset. In this experiment, the capture effect attenuated completely. Therefore, we argue that reduced interobject spacing reflects an efficient cue to guide visual attention toward objects that interact intentionally.     

An empirically feasible approach to the epistemology of arithmetic

Recent years have seen an explosion of empirical data concerning arithmetical cognition. In this paper that data is taken to be philosophically important and an outline for an empirically feasible epistemological theory of arithmetic is presented. The epistemological theory is based on the empirically well-supported hypothesis that our arithmetical ability is built on a protoarithmetical ability to categorize observations in terms of quantities that we have already as infants and share with many nonhuman animals. It is argued here that arithmetical knowledge developed in such a way cannot be totally conceptual in the sense relevant to the philosophy of arithmetic, but neither can arithmetic understood to be empirical. Rather, we need to develop a contextual a priori notion of arithmetical knowledge that preserves the special mathematical characteristics without ignoring the roots of arithmetical cognition. Such a contextual a priori theory is shown not to require any ontologically problematic assumptions, in addition to fitting well within a standard framework of general epistemology.     

Are Multicultural Courses Addressing Disparities? Exploring Multicultural and Affirmative Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Competencies of Counseling and Psychology Students

Clinical training and counselor competency are essential for ethical practice when working with multiethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB), and transgender clients. In this study, the author examined how multicultural courses related to students' (N = 286) LGB and multicultural competencies. Self‐reported multicultural and LGB competencies varied significantly depending on the number and types of diversity education reported. Multicultural courses significantly predicted students' multicultural, but not LGB counselor competency. Political conservatism was the strongest predictor for both multicultural and sexual orientation competencies. La formación y competencias multiculturales afirmativas hacia individuos gays, lesbianas y bisexuales (LGB, por sus siglas en inglés) de consejeros son esenciales para una práctica clínica ética. En este estudio, el autor examinó cómo los cursos multiculturales se relacionaron con las competencias multiculturales de un grupo de estudiantes (N = 286). Las competencias multiculturales y sobre LGB autorreportadas variaron significativamente dependiendo del número y tipos de educación sobre diversidad reportados. Los cursos multiculturales predijeron de forma significativa la competencia multicultural de los estudiantes, pero no la competencia sobre LGB en consejería. La ideología política conservadora fue el predictor más fuerte de las competencias multiculturales y sobre orientación sexual.     

Affirmative Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Counselor Education and Religious Beliefs: How Do We Bridge the Gap?

The position held by the American Counseling Association, reflecting acceptance, affirmation, and nondiscrimination of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, has created conflicts for some trainees who hold conservative religious beliefs about sexual orientation. This article explores the counseling profession's evolution regarding LGB‐affirmative counseling and examines the potential conflict this evolution can create for counselor educators who are training students with conservative religious viewpoints about sexual orientation. Recommendations for counselor educators to manage this dilemma are offered.     

Hypothetical identities: Explanatory problems for the explanatory argument

Recently, several philosophers have defended an explanatory argument that supposedly provides novel empirical grounds for accepting the type identity theory of phenomenal consciousness. They claim that we are justified in believing that the type identity thesis is true because it provides the best explanation for the correlations between physical properties and phenomenal properties. In this paper, I examine the actual role identities play in science and point out crucial shortcomings in the explanatory argument. I show that the supporters of the argument have failed to show that the identity thesis provides a satisfactory explanation for the correlations between physical and phenomenal properties. Hence, the explanatory argument, as it stands, does not provide new grounds for accepting the type identity theory.     

Ensemble coding of faces occurs in children and develops dissociably from coding of individual faces

Ensemble coding allows adults to access useful information about average properties of groups, sometimes even in the absence of detailed representations of individual group members. This form of coding may emerge early in development with initial reports of ensemble coding for simple properties (size, numerosity) in young children and even infants. Here we demonstrate that ensemble coding of faces, which provides information about average properties of social groups, is already present in 6–8‐year‐old children. This access to average information increases with age from 6 to 18 years and its development is dissociable from age‐related improvements in the coding of individual face identities. This dissociation provides the first direct evidence that distinct processes underlie ensemble and individual coding of face identity, evidence that has been lacking from adult studies. More generally, our results add to the emerging evidence for impressively mature sensitivity to statistical properties of the visual environment in children. They indicate that children have access to gist information about social groups that may facilitate adaptive social behaviour.     

Oculomotion mediates attentional guidance toward temporarily close objects

Previous research has identified multiple features of individual objects that are capable of guiding visual attention. However, in dynamic multi-element displays not only individual object features but also changing spatial relations between two or more objects might signal relevance. Here we report a series of experiments that investigated the hypothesis that reduced inter-object spacing guides visual attention toward the corresponding objects. Our participants discriminated between different probes that appeared on moving objects while we manipulated spatial proximity between the objects at the moment of probe onset. Indeed, our results confirm that there is a bias toward temporarily close objects, which persists even when such a bias is harmful for the actual task (Experiments 1a and 1b). Remarkably, this bias is mediated by oculomotor processes. Controlling for eye-movements reverses the pattern of results (Experiment 2a), whereas the location of the gaze tends toward the temporarily close objects under free viewing conditions (Experiment 2b). Taken together, our results provide insights into the interplay of attentional and oculomotor processes during dynamic scene processing. Thereby, they also add to the growing body of evidence showing that within dynamic perception, attentional and oculomotor processes act conjointly and are hardly separable.     

Does Exposure to Stereotype‐Disconfirming Politicians Reduce the Effect of Stereotypes on Voting? Evidence From Seven Plagiarism Scandals in Germany

We examine whether exposure to several salient counterexamples reduces the effect of stereotypes on voting. By taking advantage of a series of seven plagiarism scandals in Germany—a country with high regard for academic credentials where academic titles (Dr. and Prof.) get printed on ballot papers—we test whether the tendency to vote for candidates with a doctor's title decreased in the wake of the scandals. Using cross‐sectional and longitudinal estimators and controlling for a large range of potential confounders, we find that the electoral advantage of candidates with a doctor's title shrinks from a good half of a percentage point before the scandals down to a third after the scandals. In line with a subtyping hypothesis, the reduction is stronger for candidates from traditional middle‐class parties (i.e., the parties of the politicians who were implicated in the scandals). Neither of these effects turns out to be strong enough to reach statistical significance, however. We conclude that seven negative examples in one legislative term had no noticeable effect on the tendency to select candidates based on academic titles. Our study provides a rare opportunity to test the effect of stereotype‐disconfirming information on electoral behavior. Our results contribute to a literature demonstrating the resilience of stereotypes to disconfirming information. They also suggest that plagiarism affairs are unlikely to reduce electoral incentives for politicians to obtain a fake doctorate.