Using memories to motivate future behaviour: An experimental exercise intervention

This study tested a novel memory-based experimental intervention to increase exercise activity. Undergraduate students completed a two-part online survey ostensibly regarding college activity choices. At Time 1, they completed questionnaires that included assessments of exercise-related attitudes, motivation and self-reported behaviours. Next, they described a memory of a positive or negative experience that would increase their motivation to exercise; students in a control condition did not receive a memory prompt. Finally, they rated their intentions to exercise in the future. Eight days following Time 1, students received a Time 2 survey that included an assessment of their self-reported exercise during the prior week. Students in the positive memory condition reported higher levels of subsequent exercise than those in the control condition; students in the negative memory condition reported intermediate levels of exercise. Activating a positive motivational memory had a significant effect on students' self-reported exercise activity even after controlling for prior attitudes, motivation and exercise activity.     

Towards a Marine Mindset: Visiting an Aquarium Can Improve Attitudes and Intentions Regarding Marine Sustainability

ABSTRACT

The oceans are crucial for human survival, yet they are under serious threat from humans, for example through overfishing and poor waste management. We investigated two questions. First, does a leisure visit to an aquarium improve visitor attitudes and intentions towards marine sustainability, specifically regarding overfishing and pollution? Second, does an information booklet handed out in addition to the visit have additional measurable impact? Aquarium visitors (n = 104) completed a questionnaire on marine sustainability attitudes and behavioral intentions before and after their visit. Half of the visitors also were given informational materials that offered behavioral solutions to the problem of overfishing. The aquarium visit significantly improved visitors’ overall attitudes and intentions. The information booklet additionally improved intentions significantly, but not attitudes. These findings show that a visit to an aquarium can help individuals develop what we term a marine mindset, a state of readiness to address marine sustainability issues. Implications, limitations, and ideas for further research are discussed.     

Challenging ‘Belief’ and the Evangelical Bias: Student Christianity in English Universities

Abstract

Popular and academic accounts of university-based religion tend to privilege evangelical Christianity, presented as a morally conservative, conversionist movement at odds with university contexts, which are widely assumed to be vehicles for a progressive Western modernity. This is especially the case in the UK, given the association of higher education with secularisation, yet virtually no research has studied this interface by examining the lives of students. This article discusses findings from the three-year project “Christianity and the University Experience in Contemporary England”, including a nation-wide survey of undergraduate students, in examining how the experience of university shapes on-campus expressions of Christian identity. We argue that a sizeable constituency of undergraduates self-identify as ‘Christian’, but evangelicals emerge not as the dominant majority, but as a vocal minority. The emerging internal complexity is masked by a public discourse that conceives of religion in terms of propositional belief and presents evangelicalism as its pre-eminent form.     

Emotional intelligence influences on the work performance of early career academics: An exploratory study

We aimed to investigate emotional intelligence (EI) influences on the work performance of early career academic (ECA) staff. Participants were 220 early career academic staff at a rural South African university (female = 56.8%, 77.7% aged between 20 and 40 years, black = 89.1%). They completed an emotional intelligence scale as well as a measure of work performance. Results, following structural equation modelling, indicated that perception and regulation of emotion aspects of EI to significantly, positively influence the ECA’s job, interpersonal, non-organisational and hierarchical success. ECA staff high on EI perceived to relate better with others, and to be proactive in their adaptive behaviours when change manifests. The ways in which ECA staff appraise and respond to emotionally charged workplace communication appear to influence their likelihood to succeed in the work adjustment.     

Book Notes

Abstract

Identification of Book Reviewers for this Number. Samuel J. Brandenburg is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics in Clark University. James B. Hedges is Assistant Professor of American History in Clark University. George Humphrey is Professor of Philosophy in Queen's University, Ontario.

The Normal Mind: an Introduction to Mental Hygiene and the Hygiene of School Instruction. By William H. Burnham, Ph.D., New York, Appleton, 1924.

The Mentality of Apes. By Wolfgang Köhler. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., Inc., 1925. pp. 342.

The Growth of the Mind. By Kurt Koffka. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, Inc., 1924. pp. 383.

The Mental Growth of the Pre-School Child. By Arnold Gesell. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1925. pp. 447.

Instinct, Intelligence and Character. By Godfrey H. Thomson. New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1925. pp. 282.

Mental Growth of Children in Relation to the Rate of Growth in Bodily Development. By Buford Johnson. New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1925. pp. 160.

Vocational Self-Guidance. By Douglas Fryer. Philadelphia, J. P. Lippincott Co, 1925. pp. 385.

The Story of Human Progress. By Leon C. Marshall. New York, Macmillan Company, 1925. pp. 548.

Educating for Freedom. By Edward O. Sisson. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1925. pp. x, 225.     

Exploring metacognitive accuracy in visual search

For decades, researchers have examined visual search. Much of this work has focused on the factors (e.g., movement, set size, luminance, distractor features and proximity) that influence search speed. However, no research has explored whether people are aware of the influence of these factors. For instance, increases in set size will typically slow down target detection; yet no research has measured participants' metacognitive awareness of this phenomenon. The present research explores this area by integrating a visual search task with a metacognitive monitoring paradigm. All of the explored factors influenced search latency. However, all of the factors except target presence influenced ratings. Saliency and suppression are discussed as two possible explanations for the results. Future directions for extending the theory and the practical benefits of this research are also outlined.     

The Emerging Church in Transatlantic Perspective

Is the Emerging Church movement (ECM) a single transnational movement? Or is it a series of parallel religious orientations framed by nationally specific contexts? Cross‐national comparisons of the many manifestations of the ECM remain scarce, especially as the development of the ECM across the globe (e.g., in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand) is most certainly affected by divergent histories and socioreligious landscapes. Focusing on a comparative analysis of the United Kingdom and the United States, I trace how these different cultural contexts determine variant patterns of ECM identity formation. Overall, a global perspective on the ECM calls for a theorization of the national development of religious movements and takes seriously the cultural and historical experiences that shape both its emergence in particular nations and the differentiated development of distinctive manifestations of ECM identity.     

A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of the Effects of Police Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) on Response-to-Resistance in a Large Metropolitan Police Department

The current study provides a statistically rigorous program evaluation of the impact of police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on police response-to-resistance (e.g., use of force). Results indicate that BWC officers’ mean frequency of response-to-resistance decreased by 8.4% from the 12 months pre-BWC implementation to the 12 months post-BWC implementation compared with a 3.4% increase observed for the matched sample of non-BWC officers. Police departments should consider adopting BWCs alongside other strategies to reduce police response-to-resistance, and to improve transparency and accountability. Study limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.     

LOYALTY AND THE ART OF WISE LIVING: THE INFLUENCE OF PLATO ON THE MORAL PHILOSOPHY OF JOSIAH ROYCE

This essay investigates Josiah Royce's sustained interest in the Platonic dialogues by focusing not only on Royce's explicit commentary on Socrates and Plato but also on significant philosophical connections between Royce and these figures. In section 1, we explain the nature of loyalty according to Royce and how Socratic loyalty exemplifies Royce's ideas in both evident and surprising ways. In section 2, we claim that Royce's treatment of “lost causes” (particularly truth as a lost cause) relates to Socrates' dedication to the logos; the Platonic dialogues are reinvestigated in order to make this point. In section 3, we explain the nature of “cause” both in Royce's thought and in the Platonic dialogues in order to see how loyalty to a cause culminates in the art of wise living—Socrates' philosophical practice.     

The police officer's terrorist dilemma: trust resilience following fatal errors

Suicide attacks have raised the stakes for officers deciding whether or not to shoot a suspect (‘Police Officer's Terrorist Dilemma’). Despite high‐profile errors we know little about how trust in the police is affected by their response to the terrorist threat. Building on a conceptualisation of lay observers as intuitive signal detection theorists, a general population sample (N = 1153) were presented with scenarios manipulated in terms of suspect status (Armed/Unarmed), officer decision (Shoot/Not Shoot) and outcome severity (e.g. suspect armed with Bomb/Knife; police shoot suspect/suspect plus child bystander). Supporting predictions, people showed higher trust in officers who made correct decisions, reflecting good discrimination ability and who decided to shoot, reflecting an ‘appropriate’ response bias given the relative costs and benefits. This latter effect was moderated by (a) outcome severity, suggesting it did not simply reflect a preference for a particular type of action, and (b) preferences for a tough stance towards terrorism indexed by Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). Despite loss of civilian life, failure to prevent minor terror attacks resulted in no loss of trust amongst people low in RWA, whereas among people high in RWA trust was positive when police erroneously shot an unarmed suspect. Relations to alternative definitions of trust and procedural justice research are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.