The role of moral identity in the aftermath of dishonesty

People lie on a regular basis. However, lying can pose a threat to the self-view of being an honest and moral person. How do people respond to their previous dishonest acts? A way to deal with psychological discomfort arisen for previous lying is reconfirming oneself to be an honest and moral person, for example, by showing subsequent moral behavior. We hypothesize that people engage in this reconfirmation depending on whether their moral identity is central to their self-concept. This was supported in three studies in which, compared to low moral identifiers, high moral identifiers engaged in more efforts to uphold a moral self-image and were more likely to show a compensatory reaction rather than a consistency reaction to their previous dishonesty. Implications for the topics of moral self-regulation and compensatory ethics and for the concept of moral identity are discussed.     

Coordination Between Arm and Leg Movements During Locomotion

To evaluate the contrasting dynamical and biomechanical interpretations of the 2:1 frequency coordination between arm and leg movements that occurs at low walking velocities and the 1:1 frequency coordination that occurs at higher walking velocities, the authors conducted an experiment in which they quantified the effect of walking velocity on the stability of the frequency and phase coordination between the individual limb movements. Spectral analyses revealed the presence of 2:1 frequency coordination as a consistent feature of the data in only 3 out of 8 participants at walking velocities ranging from 1.0 to 2.0 km/h, in spite of the fact that the eigenfrequencies of the arms were rather similar across participants. The degree of interlimb coupling, as indexed by weighted coherence and variability of relative phase, was lower for the arm movements and for ipsilateral and diagonal combinations of arm and leg movements than for the leg movements. Furthermore, the coupling between all pairs of limb movements was found to increase with walking velocity, whereas no clear signs were observed that the switches from 2:1 to 1:1 frequency coordination and vice versa were preceded by loss of stability. Therefore, neither a purely biomechanical nor a purely dynamical model is optimally suited to explain these results. Instead, an integrative model involving elements of both approaches seems to be required.     

Psychosocial correlates of immune status and disease progression in HIV-1 infected homosexual men: Review of preliminary findings,and commentary

Abstract

Behavioral factors may have an effect on the course of infection in HIV-1 infected individuals. These effects can be mediated by the immune system of the host, which, based on psychoneuroimmunologic findings, can be affected by some psychosocial factors. We present a short review of some putative psychoneuroimmunologic pathways and their possible implications for HIV-1 infected individuals. We next summarize the findings of recent psychoimmunological work with HIV-1 seropositives and discuss the methodological problems in studying the psychoneuroimmunologic aspects of HIV-1 infection. Psychoneuroimmunologic research in HIV-1 seropositives is a rapidly developing field, yielding contradictory findings so far, but which in the long run could provide important knowledge for psychoimmunologic interventions, targeted at improving or preserving immune status and retarding disease progression, as well as optimizing psychosocial functioning.     

The neural basis of updating: Distinguishing substitution processes from other concurrent processes

Sörqvist, P. & Sætrevik, B. (2010). The neural basis of updating: Distinguishing substitution processes from other concurrent processes. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 357–362. Most previous studies of updating processes have not been able to contrast processes of substituting items in memory with other concurrent processes. In the present investigation, we used a new task called “number updating” and an fMRI protocol to contrast the activation of trials that require item substitution (adding a new item to the working memory representation and suppressing an old item) with trials that involve no substitution (discarding the new item). Trials that require item substitution activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior medial frontal cortex and the parietal lobes, areas typically seen activated for working memory tasks in general. Trials that do not require substitution activated the anterior medial frontal cortex. Studies examining executive functions have associated this area with cognitive conflict, and may represent suppression of the substitution processes.     

Personality Characteristics of BASE Jumpers

BASE jumping is an extreme sport, which is associated with significant risk of injury and death. We aimed to determine whether BASE jumpers have different personality characteristics to an age-matched, normal control population. An international population of BASE jumpers was examined using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Mean age was thirty-four years; fifty-nine (87%) jumpers were male; twenty-eight (41%) jumpers had sustained a significant injury. A substantial proportion of the BASE jumpers presented extremely low scores in the temperament measure of Harm Avoidance (p < 0.001); the extent of which has not been reported in any other population.     

Circular interpretation of regression coefficients

The interpretation of the effect of predictors in projected normal regression models is not straight-forward. The main aim of this paper is to make this interpretation easier such that these models can be employed more readily by social scientific researchers. We introduce three new measures: the slope at the inflection point (b_c), average slope (AS) and slope at mean (SAM) that help us assess the marginal effect of a predictor in a Bayesian projected normal regression model. The SAM or AS are preferably used in situations where the data for a specific predictor do not lie close to the inflection point of a circular regression curve. In this case b_c is an unstable and extrapolated effect. In addition, we outline how the projected normal regression model allows us to distinguish between an effect on the mean and spread of a circular outcome variable. We call these types of effects location and accuracy effects, respectively. The performance of the three new measures and of the methods to distinguish between location and accuracy effects is investigated in a simulation study. We conclude that the new measures and methods to distinguish between accuracy and location effects work well in situations with a clear location effect. In situations where the location effect is not clearly distinguishable from an accuracy effect not all measures work equally well and we recommend the use of the SAM.     

The Kosovar sponsoring experience in Northern Alberta

We examine the experiences of sponsors who assisted Kosovar refugees in Northern Alberta. Although the sponsors of the Kosovars did not provide basic financial support to the refugees, many found their role to be onerous, particularly in terms of emotional investment and demands on their time. They would have liked more opportunity to debrief and to have contact with other experienced sponsors. Some of the sponsors' initial expectations of the Kosovars were at odds with reality; conversely, many sponsors felt that the refugees had unrealistic expectations of them and of life in Canada. Recommendations are made for future sponsoring arrangements.     

Active tuberculosis detection by pouched rats in 2014: More than 2,000 new patients found in two countries

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major problem in poor countries because sensitive diagnostic tools are unavailable. In 2014, our pouched rats evaluated sputum from 21,600 Tanzanians and 9,048 Mozambicans whose sputum had previously been evaluated by microscopy, the standard diagnostic for TB. Evaluation by the rats revealed 1,412 new patients with active TB in Tanzania and 645 new patients in Mozambique, increases of 39% and 53%, respectively, when compared to detections by microscopy alone. These results provide further support for the applied use of scent‐detecting rats.     

One after the other: Effects of sequence patterns of breached and overfulfilled obligations

To date, the study of psychological contracts has primarily centred on the question how retrospective evaluations of the psychological contract impact employee attitudes and behaviours, and/or focus on individual coping processes in explaining responses to breached or overfulfilled obligations. In this study, we aim to assess the extent to which sequences of breached and overfulfilled obligations impact job satisfaction and citizenship behaviour intentions. By integrating psychological contract research and theories on cognitive information processing, we formulate competing hypotheses on how sequences of breached and/or overfulfilled obligations lead to patterns of job satisfaction and citizenship behaviour intentions. These competing hypotheses were tested using a vignette study and an experiment. A Bayesian approach was used to test these pattern hypotheses directly against each other. The results show that breached obligations have an immediate negative impact on our outcome variables. Moreover, sequentially breached obligations lead to a continuous decline of job satisfaction and citizenship behaviour intentions. Overfulfilled obligations do little to compensate this negative impact. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.