The Confounding Role of Basic Needs Satisfaction Between Self-Determined Motivation and Well-Being

In this study three different theories grounded on Self-determination macro-theory (Basic Psychological Needs Theory, Organismic Integration Theory, and Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation) were combined into a single structural model to evaluate its goodness-of-fit to empirical data. It consisted on a model where basic psychological needs satisfaction was associated directly to well-being, and indirectly through the mediation of self-determined motivation. Since in this model the satisfaction of basic psychological needs would predict positively both self-determined motivation and well-being, basic psychological needs is considered to function as a confounding variable. The participants of the study consisted of 673 Spanish secondary education students (334 girls and 339 boys) with a mean age of 14.0 years (SD = 1.4). The model was confirmed partially. Direct associations between basic psychological needs satisfaction and psychological consequences were found and in the expected directionality. On the contrary, indirect associations between basic psychological needs satisfaction and psychological consequences were found, but generally with the opposite expected directionality. The sign of these indirect associations depended on whether components involved on the associations (basic psychological needs satisfaction, self-determined motivation and psychological consequences) were measured at the same or at different levels. Finally, the results found evidence of the confounding role of basic psychological needs between self-determined motivation and psychological consequences. Implications of these results for Basic Psychological Needs Theory, Organismic Integration Theory, and Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation are discussed.     

An evaluation of a visual–visual successive matching‐to‐sample procedure to establish equivalence classes in adults

Traditionally, behavior analysts have studied stimulus equivalence using a matching‐to‐sample (MTS) preparation. Although researchers have shown the utility of MTS to yield equivalence classes, the procedure requires several prerequisite skills for a learner to accurately respond. Previous research with humans and nonhumans has shown that relational responding can be produced via compound stimulus discrimination and successive matching‐to‐sample (S‐MTS). We conducted four experiments with college students to further evaluate the effectiveness of S‐MTS in the establishment of stimulus relations. S‐MTS trials consisted of the presentation of a single sample stimulus followed by one comparison in a fixed location on a computer screen. Depending upon the sample–comparison relation, participants touched (i.e., go) or did not touch (i.e., no‐go) the comparison stimulus. Following training of the baseline relations (AB/BC), we assessed the emergence of symmetry, transitivity, and equivalence performances (i.e., BA/CB and AC/CA). Results support the utility of the S‐MTS procedure as a possible alternative to traditional MTS. This study has direct implications for participants for whom traditional three‐array MTS procedures may be challenging.     

FEMALE SEXUALITY,NATIONALISM AND LARGE GROUP IDENTITY

Nationalist movements are emerging today everywhere in the world. Many of them display a high level of aggression and a negative attitude toward sexuality and especially female sexuality. Along with this, erotic fiction with a sadomasochistic orientation has achieved great success and has hundreds of millions of readers in the world. This collective fantasy allows some integration of aggression in sexual life while questioning liberal morality and its equality in gender roles and conservative morality and its idea of control over passion. Both phenomena may represent different responses to the appearance of a new female sexuality threatening the social structure we know.     

Antiegalitarians for affirmative action? When social dominance orientation is positively related to support for egalitarian social policies

Previous research has found that people high in social dominance orientation (i.e., antiegalitarians) generally oppose affirmative action policies. We propose that antiegalitarians may be less opposed to strong affirmative action policies because such policies may be perceived to ultimately strengthen racial hierarchies. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that antiegalitarian individuals are less opposed to affirmative action policies, as compared to egalitarian individuals, when such policies strongly weigh minority status in selection decisions. Study 3 provides evidence that antiegalitarians lessen their opposition to strong policies only when such policies are believed to enhance racial hierarchies through the recruitment of minorities that remain at the bottom of organizational hierarchies. Theoretical, political, and organizational implications are discussed.     

Stuck in the middle: the psychophysics of goal pursuit

The classic goal-gradient hypothesis posits that motivation to reach a goal increases monotonically with proximity to the desired end state. However, we argue that this is not always the case. In this article, we show that motivation to engage in goal-consistent behavior can be higher when people are either far from or close to the end state and lower when they are about halfway to the end state. We propose a psychophysical explanation for this tendency to get "stuck in the middle." Building on the assumption that motivation is influenced by the perceived marginal value of progress toward the goal, we show that the shape of the goal gradient varies depending on whether an individual monitors progress in terms of distance from the initial state or from the desired end state. Our psychophysical model of goal pursuit predicts a previously undiscovered nonmonotonic gradient, as well as two monotonic gradients.     

Amygdala or hippocampus inactivation after retrieval induces temporary memory deficit

The hypothesis that memory is stored through a single stage of consolidation that results in a stable and lasting long-term memory has been challenged by the proposition that reactivation of a memory induces reconsolidation of the memory. The reconsolidation hypothesis is supported by evidence that, under some conditions, post-retrieval treatments affecting amygdala and hippocampus functioning impair subsequent retention performance. We now report that repeated retention testing attenuates the performance impairment induced by post-retrieval reversible inactivation of the amygdala and hippocampus of rats induced by tetrodotoxin. These findings challenge the reconsolidation hypothesis and suggest that the post-retrieval retention performance impairment is best explained as due to temporary retrieval failure.     

Predicting the near and distant future

Four studies investigated individuals' confidence in predicting near future and distant future outcomes. Study 1 found that participants were more confident in theory-based predictions of psychological experiments when these experiments were expected to take place in the more distant future. Studies 2-4 examined participants' confidence in predicting their performance on near and distant future tests. These studies found that in predicting their more distant future performance, participants disregarded the format of the questions (e.g., multiple choice vs. open ended) and relied, instead, on their perceived general knowledge (e.g., history knowledge). Together, the present studies demonstrate that predictions of the more distant future are based on relatively abstract information. Individuals feel more confident in predicting the distant future than the near future when the predictions concern outcomes that are implied by relatively abstract information.     

A new model of sportive cooperation and its evaluation by means a questionnaire

We present in this paper the sportive cooperation as a theoretical framework for the teams' dynamics, and as an alternative to others theories, specially the sportive cohesion. This theory has a double basis: 1) The rational and utilitarist decision taking upon the personal cooperation or not, with the team's goal, based on the internal teammates interaction, and the environmental stimuli; and 2) A personal, and more stable, disposition to cooperate, despite the possibility of obtain any counterparts for this behavior. From this framework, we have build--in a three phase process--a questionnaire addressed to evaluate the sportive cooperation. The final version--composed of 15 items with standard psychometric propierties--shows two kinds of factors. First, we have two dispositional, traitlike, factors: The Conditional cooperation, and the Unconditional cooperation. Second, we have three situational factors: the Cooperation with the Coach, with the teammates, and the Cooperation outside the game and the training. Lastly, we discuss the maining of this theory respect to the sportive team's dynamics, and its relevance for the applied psychology, both for the evaluation and the interventions on the teams.     

Instrumental and vocal music effects on EEG and EKG in neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers

Neonates (M age = 16 days) born to depressed and non-depressed mothers were randomly assigned to hear an audiotaped lullaby of instrumental music with vocals or without vocals. Neonatal EEG and EKG were recorded for 2 min (baseline) of silence and for 2 min of one or the other music presentation. Neonates of non-depressed mothers showed greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to both types of music, suggesting a withdrawal response. Neonates of depressed mothers on the other hand showed greater relative left frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental without vocal segment, suggesting an approach response, and greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental with vocal segment, suggesting a withdrawal response. Heart rate decelerations occurred following the music onset for both groups of infants, however, compared to infants of non-depressed mothers, infants of depressed mothers showed a delayed heart rate deceleration, suggesting slower processing and/or delayed attention. These findings suggest that neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers show different EKG and EEG responses to instrumental music with versus without vocals.