What do humans feel with mistreated humans,animals, robots,and objects? Exploring the role of cognitive empathy

Motivation and Emotion - The aim of this paper is to present a study in which we compare the degree of empathy that a convenience sample of university students expressed with humans, animals,...     

Serial dependence promotes the stability of perceived emotional expression depending on face similarity

Individuals can quickly and effortlessly recognize facial expressions, which is critical for social perception and emotion regulation. This sensitivity to even slight facial changes could result in unstable percepts of an individual’s expression over time. The visual system must therefore balance accuracy with maintaining perceptual stability. However, previous research has focused on our sensitivity to changing expressions, and the mechanism behind expression stability remains an open question. Recent results demonstrate that perception of facial identity is systematically biased toward recently seen visual input. This positive perceptual pull, or serial dependence, may help stabilize perceived expression. To test this, observers judged random facial expression morphs ranging from happy to sad to angry. We found a pull in perceived expression toward previously seen expressions, but only when the 1-back and current face had similar identities. Our results are consistent with the existence of the continuity field for expression, a specialized mechanism that promotes the stability of emotion perception, which could help facilitate social interactions and emotion regulation.     

Instructions for Climbing the Ladder (The Minimalism of Wittgenstein's Tractatus)

I aim to present a solution to the apparent paradox of the Tractatus by means of a minimalist reading grounded in the idea that the correct logical symbolism alone “finally solves” in essentials the philosophical problems. I argue that although the sentences of the Tractatus are nonsensical, rules presented in its symbolism are not. The symbolism itself expresses only a priori rules of logic through schematic variables that do not say anything. I argue that this reading correctly expresses the ladder structure of the book, and that it can account for Wittgenstein's critique of the Tractatus in Some Remarks on Logical Form.     

Getting stuck or stepping back: Effects of obstacles and construal level in the negotiation of creative solutions

Difficult issues in negotiation act as interfering forces but their effects on negotiation processes and outcomes are unclear. Perhaps facing such obstacles leads individuals to take a step back, attend to the big picture and, therefore, to be able to craft creative, mutually beneficial solutions. Alternatively, facing obstacles may lead negotiators to focus narrowly on the obstacle issue, so that they no longer consider issues simultaneously, and forego the possibility to reach high quality, integrative agreements. Three experiments involving face-to-face negotiation support the “getting stuck” hypothesis, but only when negotiators are in a local processing mode and not when they are in a global processing mode. Implications for the art and science of negotiation, and for construal level theory, are discussed.     

Weight Bias Internalization Scale Discriminates Obese and Overweight Patients with Different Severity Levels of Depression: the Italian Version of the WBIS

We have investigated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the weight bias internalization scale (WBIS) in overweight and obese patients who were attending weight loss programs. Participants were 386 overweight and obese patients admitted in two medical centers specializing in the treatment of obesity. All the patients were administered the WBIS, and measures of binge eating, depression, self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis failed to confirm the fit of the original 11-item unidimensional model. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis indicated that 9 items included in the original measure (the items 1 and 9 were excluded because low item-total correlations) formed a reliable unidimensional measure of internalized weight bias (WBIS-9). The WBIS-9 was significantly correlated with convergent measures and was able to categorize individuals with different severity levels of depression (sensitivity of 0.72 and specificity of 0.70). The WBIS-9 may be useful in clinical practice to discriminate patients with more severe psychopathology, comorbid disordered eating patterns, and risk for poor outcomes.     

The effectiveness of university counselling for improving academic outcomes and well-being

The work discusses the effectiveness of the counselling treatment to enhance student academic success. The participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (66 students who had completed counselling treatment) or a wait-list comparison group (44 students). The Adult Self Report (ASR) by Achenbach and Rescorla [2003. Manual for the ASEBA adult forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families, University of Vermont] and the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) by Lambert and Hill [1994. Assessing psychotherapy outcomes and processes. In A. E. Bergin & S. L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (pp. 72–113). New York: John Wiley] were applied before and after the counselling sessions. Data show statistically significant decrease in the ASR clinical scales for both internalising and externalising problems after counselling as well as in the OQ-45 scores for distress symptoms and relationship difficulties. Compared with the control group, the students who received counselling exhibited a significant recovery regarding their progress with their studies.     

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...     

Exercise commitment and proneness to eating disorders in a group of physical education teachers

The study examined the association of exercise commitment with proneness to eating disorders in 50 physical education teachers who had been practicing various aerobic sports at least three times a week for at least 5 years. Significant coefficients were found between Commitment to Exercise Scale scores, the number of weekly training sessions, and scores on the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 scales measuring Maturity Fears, Social Insecurity, Perfectionism, and Asceticism. However, no relationship was found between the Commitment to Exercise Scale and the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 variables measuring anorexic tendencies (such as Drive for Thinness, Body Dissatisfaction, and Bulimia). Findings suggest the presence of some psychological factors common to both anorexic tendencies and excessive exercising but not complete overlap, so a rather more complex pattern of relationships appears to be mediated by sex and personality characteristics.     

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): attachment styles and parental bonding

The attachment styles and parental bonding by 64 patients (M age = 43.2 yr., SD = 13.3) with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) were compared with those of 64 patients (M age = 42.2 yr., SD = 13.5) with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and 126 Healthy participants (M age = 42.2 yr., SD = 12.1). Analysis of scores on the Attachment Style Questionnaire indicated insecure attachment in both the patient and control groups. The Parental Bonding scores indicated perceptions of Affectionless Control by parents in both patient groups. In particular, the mean Father-Protection subscale scores were significantly higher for in the GERD group than in the Healthy and IBD groups.