Transfer of physical understanding in a non-tool-using parrot

Physical cognition has generally been assessed in tool-using species that possess a relatively large brain size, such as corvids and apes. Parrots, like corvids and apes, also have large relative brain sizes, yet although parrots rarely use tools in the wild, growing evidence suggests comparable performances on physical cognition tasks. It is, however, unclear whether success on such tasks is facilitated by previous experience and training procedures. We therefore investigated physical comprehension of object relationships in two non-tool-using species of captive neotropical parrots on a new means-end paradigm, the Trap-Gaps task, using unfamiliar materials and modified training procedures that precluded procedural cues. Red-shouldered macaws (Diopsittaca nobilis) and black-headed caiques (Pionites melanocephala) were presented with an initial task that required them to discriminate between pulling food trays through gaps while attending to the respective width of the gaps and size of the trays. Subjects were then presented with a novel, but functionally equivalent, transfer task. Six of eight birds solved the initial task through trial-and-error learning. Four of these six birds solved the transfer task, with one caique demonstrating spontaneous comprehension. These findings suggest that non-tool-using parrots may possess capacities for sophisticated physical cognition by generalising previously learned rules across novel problems.     

One Desire Too Many1

I defend the widely-held view that acting with moral worth does not require a desire for rightness as such. Some have recently come to reject this view, arguing that desires for rightness as such are necessary for avoiding a certain kind of luck thought incompatible with morally worthy action. I show that those who defend desires for rightness as such on the basis of this argument misunderstand the relationship between moral worth and the kind of luck that their argument employs. Consequently, the argument provides no reason to doubt the popular view that a desire for rightness as such is no part of virtue. I conclude by suggesting that a family of worries about merely accidentally right action presuppose one side of the recent debate about objectivism and perspectivism concerning moral rightness.     

Subjective quality of life of surgically treated glioma patients undergoing polychemotherapy

25 patients with glioma were questioned as to how they apprehended and appreciated their state of health and their psychosocial situation 1 1/2 years (s = 4 months) after the start of their postoperative polychemotherapy. In their opinion, their health was relatively good, that is, they claimed to suffer little pain, few complaints, little feeling of inadequacy, few fears for the future. They regarded the mode of treatment as being somewhat more inconvenient. Such an unexpectedly positive response, in view of the poor prospect, raises the question as to its provenance. A significant cause is seen in the organic psycho-syndrome, and its significance is made the subject of the concluding discussion, with reference to adaptation mechanisms and specifics of the illness.     

The relationship between mental vitality and cardiovascular health

Past measurement of vitality has included both emotional and physical components. Since aspects of physical vitality such as fatigue can be indicative of physical illness, the usefulness of existing measures of vitality to predict health is limited. This research was designed to examine the psychometric properties of a new Mental Vitality Scale and to test its associations with measures of cardiovascular health over the course of 2 years. The measure of mental vitality was administered in a two-part study using three different samples. In part 1, the reliability and validity of the scale was assessed with a student and a clinic sample. In part 2, medical data on mental and physical health were abstracted over a two-year period from 1041 patient records from a multi-specialty medical practice, and mental vitality assessed through a mailed questionnaire. The findings indicate that the Mental Vitality Scale is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring this construct. Mental vitality was also associated with reduced odds of several cardiovascular outcomes and prospective analyses suggest that mental vitality may serve a protective function in the development of cardiovascular disease. The results lend support for the importance of mental vitality as a construct that may be relevant for considering resilience in relation to cardiovascular disease.     

To know where the bodies are buried: The use of the cognitive interview in an environmental scale spatial memory retrieval task

Missing body homicide cases have gained public interest globally due to some high-profile cases. In many of these cases, the task of locating the victim's remains relies on the information investigators can gain through the interviewing of willing suspects. To date, investigative interviewing research has largely focused on the retrieval of episodic memory (events) without focusing on spatial memory, a prominent cognitive task required in locating a victim's remains. The current experiment tests the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI) against a free recall strategy in a mock homicide scenario where participants are required to hide and retrieve an object in a natural bushland setting. The results showed that those in the ECI condition produced more coarse- and fine-grained details of landmarks and their actions at and journeying to the deposition site. This demonstrates the value of using the ECI in generating more valuable information to assist in successive search attempts.     

A Cross-Lagged Panel Approach to Understanding Social Support and Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Veterans: Assessment Modality Matters

Although there is a strong and consistent association between social support and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the directionality of this association has been debated, with some research indicating that social support protects against PTSD symptoms, whereas other research suggests that PTSD symptoms erode social support. The majority of studies in the literature have been cross-sectional, rendering directionality impossible to determine. Cross-lagged panel models overcome many previous limitations; however, findings from the few studies employing these designs have been mixed, possibly due to methodological differences including self-report versus clinician-administered assessment. The current study used a cross-lagged panel structural equation model to explore the relationship between social support and chronic PTSD symptoms over a 1-year period in a sample of 264 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans assessed several years after trauma exposure. Approximately a third of the sample met criteria for PTSD at the baseline assessment, with veterans’ trauma occurring an average of 6 years prior to baseline. Two separate models were run, with one using PTSD symptoms assessed via self-report and the other using clinician-assessed PTSD symptoms. Excellent model fit was found for both models. Results indicated that the relationship between social support and PTSD symptoms was affected by assessment modality. Whereas the self-report model indicated a bidirectional relationship between social support and PTSD symptoms over time, the clinician-assessed model indicated only that baseline PTSD symptoms predicted social support 1 year later. Results highlight that assessment modality is one factor that likely impacts disparate findings across previous studies. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed, with suggestions for the growing body of literature utilizing these designs to dismantle this complex association.     

Accidents happen: Psychological empowerment as a moderator of accident involvement and its outcomes

Research in the occupational safety realm has tended to develop and test models aimed at predicting accident involvement in the workplace, with studies treating accident involvement as the starting point and examining its outcomes being more rare. In this study, we examine the relationship between accident involvement and a series of outcomes drawing upon a learned helplessness theory perspective. Specifically, we predicted that psychological empowerment would moderate the relationship between prior accident involvement and outcomes. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 392 employees and their 66 supervisors working in an iron and steel manufacturing firm in Southern Turkey, using data collected from employees and their supervisors via four separate surveys. Results suggest that accident involvement was positively related to supervisor‐rated employee withdrawal, production deviance, and sabotage only when psychological empowerment was low. The results illustrate that workplace accidents have indirect costs in the form of higher withdrawal and maladaptive behaviors, and organizations may inoculate employees against some of these outcomes via higher psychological empowerment.     

Deeds that Help and Words that Hurt: Helping and Gossip as Moderators of the Relationship Between Leader–Member Exchange and Advice Network Centrality

We examine the relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and advice network centrality using multisource data from a sample of 250 retail employees and their respective managers in Turkey to test our hypothesized model of value and costs of being sought out for advice. Drawing upon the tenets of network generation theory (Nebus, 2006 ), we predict that the tendency of focal actors to help others and their own tendency to gossip would be behavioral moderators of the relationship between LMX quality and their advice network centrality. Consistent with network generation theory, our results reveal that LMX quality is positively related to centrality only for those actors with a high tendency to help coworkers and a low tendency to gossip about coworkers, suggesting that behaviors indicating helpfulness and discretion are necessary for high LMX members to maintain a central position in their work group's advice network. Implications and future research directions are discussed.