Relevance-driven information search in "pseudodiagnostic" reasoning

When faced with two competing hypotheses, people sometimes prefer to look at multiple sources of information in support of one hypothesis rather than to establish the diagnostic value of a single piece of information for the two hypotheses. This is termed pseudodiagnostic reasoning and has often been understood to reflect, among other things, poor information search strategies. Past research suggests that diagnostic reasoning may be more easily fostered when participants seek data to help in the selection of one of two competing courses of action as opposed to situations where they seek data to help infer which of two competing hypotheses is true. In the experiment reported here, we provide the first empirical evidence demonstrating that manipulating the relevance of the feature for which participants initially receive information determines whether they will make a nominally diagnostic or pseudodiagnostic selection. The discussion of these findings focuses on implications for the ability to engage in diagnostic hypothesis testing.     

Change‐oriented organizational citizenship behaviour: An interactive product of openness to change values,work unit identification,and sense of power

Due to the increased frequency of organizational changes, predicting employees’ voluntary involvement in the development of organizational practices and individual work is of particular importance in organizational psychology. This study focused upon change‐oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) as an expression of openness to change values, and also upon psychological factors that can moderate the value–behaviour relationship. We propose that personal values, group identification, and a sense of power interact in predicting change‐oriented OCB of employees. One hundred and eighty‐four employees rated their values, their identification with the work unit and their sense of power. In line with our predictions, the results showed that openness to change values and work unit identification interacted positively in predicting supervisor‐rated change‐oriented OCB in workers with a high sense of power, but not in workers with a low sense of power. This finding suggests that workers who have a high sense of power and are highly identified with the work unit tend to pursue their openness to change values in a way that contributes to the organization. The authors further conclude that an interactive approach, rather than one of direct effect, is advantageous when studying values as antecedents to change‐oriented OCB.     

Expression of nonconscious knowledge via ideomotor actions

Ideomotor actions are behaviours that are unconsciously initiated and express a thought rather than a response to a sensory stimulus. The question examined here is whether ideomotor actions can also express nonconscious knowledge. We investigated this via the use of implicit long-term semantic memory, which is not available to conscious recall. We compared accuracy of answers to yes/no questions using both volitional report and ideomotor response (Ouija board response). Results show that when participants believed they knew the answer, responses in the two modalities were similar. But when they believed they were guessing, accuracy was at chance for volitional report (50%), but significantly higher for Ouija response (65%). These results indicate that implicit semantic memory can be expressed through ideomotor actions. They also suggest that this approach can provide an interesting new methodology for studying implicit processes in cognition.     

Values as Predictors of Anticipated Socio‐cultural Adaptation Among Potential Migrants from Russia to Finland

This study examined the role of value patterns of potential migrants from Russia to Finland (N = 229) in predicting expectations of post‐migration socio‐cultural adaptation. Furthermore, the fit between migrants' personal values and the values they expect to encounter in the new home country (i.e. perceived value congruence) was hypothesized to predict anticipated socio‐cultural adaptation (ASCA). The study took into account perceived cultural distance variables as well as socio‐demographic controls traditionally related to adaptation outcomes among migrants. According to the results, familiarity with the host country (i.e., the number of Finnish friends/relatives in Finland), the openness to change value and perceived value congruence significantly predicted potential migrants' ASCA. When using four sub‐scales (interpersonal relations, cognitive understanding, impersonal perils and bureaucracy) of the ASCA‐scale, a more complex picture emerged. The results suggest that future work should include values, particularly perceived value congruence, in the analysis of the cultural fit hypothesis, as well as find better means of supporting immigrant adjustment starting at the pre‐migration stage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

State and Trait Anxiety Levels of Adolescents in a Changing Society, Kirikkale City, Turkey

Adolescents face rapidly changing challenges. Psychosocial health problems during adolescence are relatively common in all cultures. This study was designed to evaluate the state and trait anxiety status and influencing sociodemographic and other factors, thought to pertain to youth, on anxiety among school children in Kirikkale. It was carried out at three public primary and two high schools representative of two different socioeconomic statuses. 430 Turkish school children (246 girls, 184 boys) were asked voluntarily to answer a set of questionnaires in their classrooms at the beginning of a training programme. Then the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children was administered. Mean age of the students was 14.16 ± 1.87 years. The mean total STAI-CS and STAI-CT scores were 40.24 ± 11.64, and 44.71 ± 9.64, respectively. There were no differences in STAI-CS and STAI-CT scores between boys and girls in both schools and in all age groups. Among girls, a positive body image had a significant effect on state anxiety scores. There was a positive correlation between age and anxiety scores (r = .17, F:12.176, p < .001). Students identifying their families SES as bad and/or moderate scored significantly higher in comparison to the other groups (p < .05). STAI-CS scores were higher for lower educational grade, higher body weight and sleep problems. In Kirikkale, a city faced with substantial changes in cultural and traditional norms, adolescents could be expected to be under stress and appear to be responding to stress with anxiety.     

Domestic violence and woman's reproductive health: a review of the literature

This paper outlines the current literature on the effect of violence on women's reproductive health. Domestic violence is considered worldwide to be a social health problem which particularly affects women. It is generally categorized in five groups as physical, sexual, verbal, economic, and emotional violence. Domestic violence against women also includes sterilization and abortion by force, forcing women to use contraceptives against their will, or withholding contraceptives from those who wish to use them, genital mutilation, killing female children, and choosing gender in the prenatal period. A woman infected with a sexually transmitted disease by her partner or husband, and having a partner or husband having sexual intercourse with another woman also falls within the sexual violence parameters. Domestic violence has significant effects on both the general and reproductive health of the women, and may cause serious complications and may end with death. The studies show that women exposed to violence have worse health conditions and benefit less from health services than others. Therefore, health care personnel have important responsibilities to define domestic violence and intervene when necessary. These personnel must also be educated in matters of domestic violence, effective policy and protocols must be put in place. And, very importantly, health personnel must be supported by their managers when they try to deal with matters relating to domestic violence.     

Hope and Social Support in High School Students from Urban and Rural Areas of Ankara, Turkey

The aim of present study was to investigate the role of specific dimensions of perceived social support from family, gender, and geographic area of residence in predicting hope levels of high school students. Additionally, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was reexamined due to controversial findings in Turkish literature. The sample was composed of 737 students (407 female, 330 male) from two high schools in rural and urban areas of Ankara, Turkey. Data were collected by administering the Hope Scale (Snyder et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 60:570–585, 1991), the Perceived Social Support from Family Questionnaire (Güng?r 1996), and a demographic information form. The role of independent variables in prediction of hope was investigated via Multiple Regression Analysis. Due to presence of some suppressor variables in the full model, two separate regression analyses were conducted for rural and urban areas. In the regression analysis for rural area students, informational support was the only predictor of hope levels. On the other hand, urban area students’ hope levels were predicted by love- and esteem-related support, instrumental support, and gender. Lastly, the factor structure of Turkish Version of the Hope Scale was examined through conducting a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test how well two-factor model fit to current data. Results of the CFA indicated that two-factor model was confirmed.     

Hand preference and its flexibility according to the position of the object: a study in cercopithecines examining spontaneous behaviour and an experimental task (the Bishop QHP task)

The extant literature on manual laterality in non-human primates is inconclusive, plagued by inconsistent or contradictory findings and by disturbing methodological issues (e.g. uncontrolled influential factors, comparability issues). The present study examined hand preference and its flexibility in 15 red-capped mangabeys (C. t. torquatus) and 13 Campbell's monkeys (C. c. campbelli), two species that differ in their degree of arboreality. We investigated the influence of the spatial position of the object on hand preference for reaching. We considered spontaneous behaviour (reaching for food during daily feeding) and an experimental task: the QHP task. The QHP is a task that is used in humans. This is a simple reaching task that involves high spatial constraints on hand use. In our study, the subject had to reach for items that were placed on a semi-circle in front of it on five positions, including in the centre position, in the ipsilateral space and in the contralateral space. We assessed hand preference for reaching in front (baseline condition), and we examined how this preference changed when reaching in lateral positions. For reaching in front, about half of the subjects were lateralized and no group-level bias occurred, for both spontaneous and experimental conditions. When considering reaching in the lateral positions, we observed that the position of the object influenced hand use: individuals used the hand that was closest to the object. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings in humans and in non-human primates and regarding theories on handedness and flexibility of hand preference.