Retrieval experience in prospective memory: strategic monitoring and spontaneous retrieval

According to the multi-process model of prospective memory (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000), performance in a prospective memory task may be due to spontaneous retrieval processes or due to strategic monitoring. Spontaneous retrieval is typically accompanied by a pop up experience and strategic monitoring by a search experience. In this study we report two experiments with young adults in which we systematically investigated whether retrieval experience differed across experimental conditions. In Experiment 1 some prospective memory targets were preceded by associated primes. We expected that presenting primes would enhance performance by an automatic activation of the intention and hence lead to an increase in pop up experiences. In Experiment 2 half of the participants received instructions containing information about the specific context in which the prospective memory task would occur, whereas the other half of the participants received no such information. We expected that specific context instructions would enhance performance by legitimate anticipation of the prospective memory task and hence would lead to an increase in search experiences. The results confirmed these expectations. They indicate that the assessment of retrieval experience can provide valuable insights into the processes underlying prospective memory performance. They also suggest that retrieval experience can vary systematically across experimental situations as predicted by the multi-process model.     

What shields some can shackle others: the approach‐related consequences of threat categorisations vary by agreeableness

It is common to think that threat categorisation tendencies (TCTs) should undermine a person's subjective well‐being. However, recent research has suggested that the hedonic impact of such tendencies varies considerably according to a person's traits. The present research seeks to extend such a perspective by considering potential interactions between TCTs and the trait of agreeableness. TCTs were measured through the use of choice reaction time tasks contrasting the threat and non‐threat categories. As expected, TCTs were not correlated with the trait of agreeableness, but interacted with this trait in predicting the dependent measures. Within three studies involving 184 undergraduates, TCTs were associated with the higher levels of approach‐related behaviour and positive emotion among disagreeable individuals, but lower levels of these same variables among agreeable individuals. The authors suggest that threat categorisation tendencies psychologically protect or burden the individual, depending on the levels of agreeableness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Illegitimate tasks as assessed by incumbents and supervisors: converging only modestly but predicting strain as assessed by incumbents,supervisors, and partners

ABSTRACT

Illegitimate tasks are tasks that violate norms about what an employee can reasonably be expected to do. Representing a relatively recent stressor concept, illegitimate tasks have been linked to strain, but so far have been assessed only by self-report. The current multisource study investigates to what extent supervisors’ assessments of illegitimate tasks converge with incumbents’ self-reports of illegitimate tasks and predict three kinds of strain, namely psychological strain (incumbent report of exhaustion), behavioural strain (supervisors report of incivility), and family strain (partner report of work-family conflict). Low convergence between assessments was expected due to idiosyncratic appraisals but also to differing perspectives of supervisors and incumbents due to their roles, as described by the newly developed roles-as-perspectives theory proposed in this paper. Data from 166 triads were analysed by structural equation modelling and Relative Weight Analysis. Results showed that convergence between incumbent and supervisor reports of illegitimate tasks was rather low; it was higher when the supervisor had a limited span of control. Illegitimate tasks were associated with all three types of strain for both self- and supervisor reports of illegitimate tasks, indicating that the detrimental effects of illegitimate tasks cannot be explained by common method biases alone and that incumbents and supervisors have overlapping but not identical concepts of illegitimate tasks.     

Translating the Human Right to Water and Sanitation into Public Policy Reform

The development of a human right to water and sanitation under international law has created an imperative to implement human rights in water and sanitation policy. Through forty-three interviews with informants in international institutions, national governments, and non-governmental organizations, this research examines interpretations of this new human right in global governance, national policy, and local practice. Exploring obstacles to the implementation of rights-based water and sanitation policy, the authors analyze the limitations of translating international human rights into local water and sanitation practice, concluding that system operators, utilities, and management boards remain largely unaffected by the changing public policy landscape for human rights realization. To understand the relevance of human rights standards to water and sanitation practitioners, this article frames a research agenda to ensure that human rights aspirations lead to public policy reforms and public health outcomes.     

Structural packaging in the input to language learning: Contributions of prosodic and morphological marking of phrases to the acquisition of language

The linguistic input to language learning is usually thought to consist of simple strings of words. We argue that input must also include information about how words group into syntactic phrases. Natural languages regularly incorporate correlated cues to phrase structure, such as prosody, function words, and concord morphology. The claim that such cues are necessary for successful acquisition of syntax was tested in a series of miniature language learning experiments with adult subjects. In each experiment, when input included some cue marking the phrase structure of sentences, subjects were entirely successful in learning syntax; in contrast, when input lacked such a cue (but was otherwise identical), subjects failed to learn significant portions of syntax. Cues to phrase structure appear to facilitate learning by indicating to the learner those domains within which distributional analyses may be most efficiently pursued, thereby reducing the amount and complexity of required input data. More complex target systems place greater premiums on efficient analysis; hence, such cues may be even more crucial for acquisition of natural language syntax. We suggest that the finding that phrase structure cues are a necessary aspect of language input reflects the limited capacities of human language learners; languages may incorporate structural cues in part to circumvent such limitations and ensure successful acquisition.     

Extraversion, threat categorizations, and negative affect: a reaction time approach to avoidance motivation

The authors sought to measure a component of the avoidance self-regulation system, specifically one related to object appraisal functions. Participants performed a choice reaction time task (Studies 1 & 2) or a go/no go task (Study 3) in which they were asked to categorize words (e.g., knife) as threatening in nature. In a series of three studies involving 236 undergraduates, the authors found that introverts who were skilled at categorizing events as threatening (vs. introverts slow to do so) experienced more negative affect in their daily lives. Among extraverts, threat categorization performance did not predict negative affect. The authors suggest that implicit threat categorizations render individuals vulnerable to negative affect but that high levels of Extraversion are capable of inhibiting such affective consequences. The authors discuss implications of the findings for extant views of Extraversion, avoidance motivation, and self-regulation.     

Does quick to blame mean quick to anger? The role of agreeableness in dissociating blame and anger

Two studies investigated agreeableness, the accessibility of blame, and their potential interactive effects on anger. To measure the chronic accessibility of blame, a choice reaction time task was created that required participants to classify words as blameworthy or not. It was found that for individuals low in agreeableness, blame accessibility was positively related to anger and arguments during the course of daily life, hostile feelings during the course of a semester, and anger in response to a short video involving a blameworthy action. This same straightforward relationship between the accessibility of blame and anger did not characterize those high in agreeableness. The results suggest that agreeableness plays an important role in facilitating (low agreeableness) or inhibiting (high agreeableness) the link between accessible blame and anger.     

Why the sunny side is up: association between affect and vertical position

Abstract— Metaphors linking spatial location and affect (e.g., feeling up or down) may have subtle, but pervasive, effects on evaluation. In three studies, participants evaluated words presented on a computer. In Study 1, evaluations of positive words were faster when words were in the up rather than the down position, whereas evaluations of negative words were faster when words were in the down rather than the up position. In Study 2, positive evaluations activated higher areas of visual space, whereas negative evaluations activated lower areas of visual space. Study 3 revealed that, although evaluations activate areas of visual space, spatial positions do not activate evaluations. The studies suggest that affect has a surprisingly physical basis.     

Competition between automatic and controlled processes

We investigated the competition between automatic and controlled processes in a word stem completion task. Prime-display duration and the prime-target interval were manipulated. On each trial a masked prime was displayed briefly, followed either immediately or after a delay by a word stem. The subjects were required to complete each stem with the first word that came to mind, to report any prime they could identify, and not to give as completion any identified prime. By the assumption that automatic processes require less stimulus input and can be completed faster than consciously controlled processes we expected a stronger performance contribution from automatic processes with the shorter prime-display durations and in the immediate stems condition. The results confirmed this expectation. The findings highlight that consciously controlled processes require more time to run their course than unconscious automatic processes.