Virtues and vices in scientific practice

Synthese - The role intellectual virtues play in scientific inquiry has raised significant discussions in the recent literature. A number of authors have recently explored the link between virtue...     

A combined planning and self-efficacy intervention to promote physical activity: a multiple mediation analysis

Many individuals are motivated to improve their physical activity levels, but often fail to act upon their intention. Interventions fostering volitional strategies, such as action planning, coping planning, and self-efficacy beliefs, can help to translate intentions into behavior. This study examines the effectiveness and the mechanisms of a combined planning and self-efficacy intervention to promote physical activity among motivated individuals. Participants (N = 883) were randomly assigned to the intervention or to a waiting-list control condition. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the intervention resulted in significantly more physical activity, higher levels of action planning, coping planning, and volitional self-efficacy beliefs (p < 0.01). In addition, multiple mediation analysis showed that action planning, coping planning, and volitional self-efficacy mediate between the intervention and physical activity. The study shows that the intervention successfully fostered physical activity and unfolds the underlying self-regulatory mechanisms of the intervention's effectiveness.     

Feature synchrony-asynchrony and rate of change in visual search

ABSTRACT

Attention is known to be sensitive to the temporal structure of scenes. We initially tested whether feature synchrony, an attribute with potential special status because of its association with objecthood, is something which draws attention. Search items were surrounded by colours which periodically changed either in synchrony or out-of synchrony with periodic changes in their shape. Search for a target was notably faster when the target location contained a unique synchronous feature change amongst asynchronous changes. However, the reverse situation produced no search advantage. A second experiment showed that this effect of unique synchrony was actually a consequence of the lower rate of perceived flicker in the synchronous compared to the asynchronous items, not the synchrony itself. In our displays it seems that attention is drawn towards a location which has a relatively low rate of change. Overall, the pattern of results suggested the attentional bias we find is for relative temporal stability. Results stand in contrast to other work which has found high and low flicker rates to both draw attention equally [Cass, J., Van der Burg, E., & Alais, D. (2011). Finding flicker: Critical differences in temporal frequency capture attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 320]. Further work needs to determine the exact conditions under which this bias is and is not found when searching in complex dynamically-changing displays.     

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) coordinate their actions in a problem-solving task

Cooperative hunting is a cognitively challenging activity since individuals have to coordinate movements with a partner and at the same time react to the prey. Domestic dogs evolved from wolves, who engage in cooperative hunting regularly, but it is not clear whether dogs have kept their cooperative hunting skills. We presented pairs of dogs with a reward behind a fence with two openings in it. A sliding door operated by the experimenter could block one opening but not both simultaneously. The dogs needed to coordinate their actions, so that each was in front of a different opening, if one of them was to cross through and get food. All 24 dog pairs solved the problem. In study 1, we demonstrated that dogs understood how the apparatus worked. In study 2, we found that, although the performance of the pairs did not depend on the divisibility of the reward, pairs were quicker at coordinating their actions when both anticipated rewards. However, the dogs did not monitor one another, suggesting that their solutions were achieved by each individual attempting to maximize for itself.     

Early adolescents' willingness to intervene: What roles do attributions,affect, coping,and self-reported victimization play?

Limited research has sought to understand early adolescents' willingness to intervene in peer victimization as a function of their own responding to being victimized. The present study examined whether early adolescents' attributions, affect, and coping responses to a victimization vignette were related to their willingness to intervene, and whether self-reported victimization moderated the aforementioned associations. Participants were 653 5th- to 8th-grade students (50.4% girls, 58.5% Caucasian, 34.5% Hispanic) who completed a self-report survey that included a vignette asking students to imagine that they were victimized in school. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. Although attributions and affect showed no significant associations with students' willingness to intervene, seeking social support coping was associated with greater willingness to intervene for both boys and girls, and problem-focused coping was associated with willingness to intervene for girls only. Unexpectedly, self-reported victimization was associated positively with both boys' and girls' willingness to intervene. Findings also revealed two unexpected two-way interactions between peer victimization and boys' characterological self-blame and girls' wishful thinking coping. Overall, study findings highlight the need for future research and anti-bullying programs to address how victimization could either motivate or discourage a student's willingness to intervene.     

Increased skills usage statistically mediates symptom reduction in self-guided internet-delivered cognitive–behavioural therapy for depression and anxiety: a randomised controlled trial

Cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for clinical and subclinical symptoms of depression and general anxiety, and increases life satisfaction. Patients’ usage of CBT skills is a core aspect of treatment but there is insufficient empirical evidence suggesting that skills usage behaviours are a mechanism of clinical change. This study investigated if an internet-delivered CBT (iCBT) intervention increased the frequency of CBT skills usage behaviours and if this statistically mediated reductions in symptoms and increased life satisfaction. A two-group randomised controlled trial was conducted comparing internet-delivered CBT (n = 65) with a waitlist control group (n = 75). Participants were individuals experiencing clinically significant symptoms of depression or general anxiety. Mixed-linear models analyses revealed that the treatment group reported a significantly higher frequency of skills usage, lower symptoms, and higher life satisfaction by the end of treatment compared with the control group. Results from bootstrapping mediation analyses revealed that the increased skills usage behaviours statistically mediated symptom reductions and increased life satisfaction. Although skills usage and symptom outcomes were assessed concurrently, these findings support the notion that iCBT increases the frequency of skills usage behaviours and suggest that this may be an important mechanism of change.     

Schizotypy and pathological personality profile in siblings of patients with psychosis

Schizotypy has been proposed to be the expression of the genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. Schizotypal features have been associated with personality dimensions found in patients with psychosis. In this study, we compared the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology - Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ) scores of patients with psychosis, siblings scoring higher on schizotypy (SSHS), and siblings scoring lower (SSLS). The SSHSs displayed a DAPP-BQ profile characterized by high scores in the dimensions of affective lability, anxiousness, submissiveness, social avoidance, identity problems, oppositionality, narcissism, and restricted expression, distinguishing them from the SSLS. Due to these dimensions, SSHSs are more similar to the patients' DAPP-BQ profile. The results suggest that this pathological personality profile might contribute to increase the risk of developing psychosis in siblings who have more schizotypal features.     

What gives victims satisfaction when they seek revenge?

The present paper aims to elucidate under what conditions victims of injustice who seek revenge feel satisfied and perceive that everybody got what he or she deserved. Two hypotheses are discussed: The comparative suffering hypothesis states that seeing the offender suffer from fate is sufficient for evoking satisfaction and perceptions of deservingness among victims. The understanding hypothesis states that revenge can only be satisfactory when the offender understands it as a response to his or her prior behavior. These hypotheses were tested in three experimental studies. The comparative suffering hypothesis received only weak support. The understanding hypothesis, on the other hand, received much stronger support: When the offender understood revenge as punishment, revenge led to satisfaction and deservingness among victims. These findings are discussed with regard to the question why people take revenge. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.