Experimentelle Untersuchungen über die Erfassung des handschriftlichen Ausdrucks durch Laien

Ohne ZusammenfassungHerrn Prof. Dr. Blumenfeld und Herrn Prof. Dr. Peters danke ich für Beratung und Förderung meiner Arbeit.     

Neuroticism, extraversion, goals, and subjective well-being: Exploring the relations in young, middle-aged, and older adults

The positive association between intrinsic, as opposed to extrinsic, goal importance and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) is well-documented. However, less is known whether these associations are consistent across age groups and when simultaneously considering personality traits. Structural equation models conducted with young, middle-aged, and older adults indicated that neuroticism was negatively related to SWB across age groups, while extraversion and intrinsic goal importance held age-differential associations: Extraversion was related to SWB in the two younger age groups, whereas in older adults only an indirect effect emerged via intrinsic goal importance. Intrinsic goal importance was related to SWB among young and older adults but not among middle-aged adults. These results underscore the importance of age-differential associations in determinants of SWB.     

The Rumsfeld effect: the unknown unknown

A set of studies tested whether people can use awareness of ignorance to provide enhanced test consistency over time if they are allowed to place uncertain items into a "don't know" category. For factual knowledge this did occur, but for a range of other forms of knowledge relating to conceptual knowledge and personal identity, no such effect was seen. Known unknowns would appear to be largely restricted to factual kinds of knowledge.     

Ocular tracking of biological and nonbiological motion: The effect of instructed agency

Recent findings suggest that visuomotor performance is modulated by people’s beliefs about the agency (e.g., animate vs. inanimate) behind the events they perceive. This study investigated the effect of instructed agency on ocular tracking of point-light motions with biological and nonbiological velocity profiles. The motions followed either a relatively simple (ellipse) or a more complex (scribble) trajectory, and agency was manipulated by informing the participants that the motions they saw were either human or computer generated. In line with previous findings, tracking performance was better for biological than for nonbiological motions, and this effect was particularly pronounced for the simpler (elliptical) motions. The biological advantage was also larger for the human than for the computer instruction condition, but only for a measure that captured the predictive component of smooth pursuit. These results suggest that ocular tracking is influenced by the internal forward model people choose to adopt.     

Peers, Parents and Pornography: Exploring Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material and Its Developmental Correlates

On the basis of an online survey of 352 teenagers aged between 16 and 19, the use of pornographic video clips and films was investigated along with the connection between this use and indicators of adolescents?? perceived autonomy, peer group influences, and notions of sexuality. We found that many adolescents regularly use pornographic video clips or films. Respondents who regard themselves as less independent of their environment, especially their parents, use pornography more frequently themselves. For girls, this also applies if they assess the use within their peer group as particularly extensive, and for boys, if they frequently discuss pornography within their peer group. A high level of consumption of sexually explicit media also goes hand in hand with the assumption that people generally have sexual intercourse earlier in life and that people generally favor more varied sexual techniques.     

CAML—Maximum likelihood consensus analysis

Consensus analysis enables estimation of individual differences in competencies and response tendencies when answer keys to dichotomous forced-choice questions are unknown. CAML, a set of functions written in R, implements maximum likelihood estimation for the general Condorcet model that underlies consensus analysis. CAML avoids problems of alternative approaches that have often rendered consensus analysis impractical or unfeasible in the past. It provides (1) measures of model fit, (2) a measure of consensus, (3) point and interval estimates of competencies and response tendencies, and (4) an estimate of the unknown answer key. The present article describes the general Condorcet model, the CAML algorithms, and the handling of the software. In addition, the validity of CAML results is tested in a recognition memory study using selective experimental manipulations of the parameters. The results show that CAML works very well in practice and provides valid estimates of competencies, response tendencies, and answer keys.     

Pro‐Diversity Beliefs and Everyday Ethnic Discrimination on Grounds of Foreign Names

The paper examined the effect of positive beliefs about the value of ethnic diversity (i.e. diversity beliefs) on discrimination due to foreign sounding names. It was hypothesized that pro‐diversity beliefs reduce discrimination. Results from two studies (N = 29 and N = 104) confirmed this hypothesis. Practical implications of our results are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Benefits and Interindividual Differences in Children's Responses to Extended and Intensified Relaxation Training

The present study investigates whether extended and intensified systematic relaxation training techniques lead to increased short-term and prolonged effects in settings of stress prevention. One hundred and twenty-eight fourth- and sixth-graders (aged 9.6 and 11.6 years, respectively) participated in Imagination or Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). Extension consisted of a varying number of training sessions (five versus ten), while intensified training contained additional training elements to enhance the transfer to the children's daily life (yes versus no). Age, gender, anxiety, activity level and suggestibility were included as additional variables that were assumed to moderate the effects of the training. Dependent variables indicating short-term training effects included physiological parameters (heart rate, skin conductance level, skin temperature) as well as subjective ratings (mood, physical well-being, training evaluations). Medium-term training effects, measured 1 week and 2 months after the training, were related to stress experiences, somatic stress symptoms, and coping strategies reported by the children. The results do not show considerable short- or medium-term effects of extended or intensified training. In addition, no clear moderator effects were found in the present sample.     

拓展经验：论舒斯特曼在当前实用主义中的地位

作者在本文中梳理了当代实用主义史,通过把实用主义区分为语言实用主义和身体实用主义,指出舒斯特曼在目前身体实用主义中所处的地位。他通过研究舒斯特曼的实用主义关学,在参照实用主义整体视野的前提下,得出了舒斯特曼的实用主义是对古典实用主义者,特别是杜威等人的经验概念的继承和发展的思想。他认为,舒斯特曼的实用主义美学,着意强调身体美学之“经验”的基础地位,他的实用主义是把经验和实践中的至善论相结合的身体实用主义。     

Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective

Behavioral research has revealed that some cognitive features may be similar between creative and psychotic/schizophrenic-like thoughts. In this study, we addressed the potential link between creativity and schizotypy at the level of the brain by investigating functional patterns of brain activity (using functional magnetic resonance imaging) during creative cognition in preselected groups with low versus high psychometrically determined schizotypy. Our findings revealed an association between the originality component of creativity and reduced deactivation of right parietal brain regions and the precuneus during creative cognition, congruent with the idea that more-creative people may include many more events/stimuli in their mental processes than do less-creative people. Similarly, the high-schizotypy group showed weaker deactivation of the right precuneus during creative cognition. The fact that originality and schizotypy show similar functional brain activity patterns during creative ideation (i.e., reduced deactivation of the right precuneus) strongly supports the contention that similar mental processes may be implicated in creativity and in psychosis proneness.