Sex and cross-cultural differences in the estimated multi-faceted intelligence quotient score for self, parents and siblings

Over four hundred young people from Britain, Hawaii and Singapore estimated their own, their parents and their siblings IQ score on each of Gardner (1983) fundamental human intelligences: verbal (linguistic), logical (mathematical), spatial, musical, body-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. They also answered six simple questions concerning intelligence tests. There were both cultural and sex differences in the estimation of overall own intelligence score. Males gave higher scores than females (109 vs 107) while the British gave the highest score (109) compared with the Singaporeans (106) and Hawaiians (104). Factor analysis of the seven dimensions yielded either a two or three factor solution, the latter being verbal (verbal, inter-intrapersonal), mathematical (mathematical and spatial), and musical (musical, body-kinesthetic). There were consistent sex differences in the estimations of the three factors for self, but not of parents, and only marginally of sisters. Males more than females, and the British more than the other groups, were more likely to believe in sex and race difference in intelligence.     

Self-reflection and the temporal focus of the wandering mind

Current accounts suggest that self-referential thought serves a pivotal function in the human ability to simulate the future during mind-wandering. Using experience sampling, this hypothesis was tested in two studies that explored the extent to which self-reflection impacts both retrospection and prospection during mind-wandering. Study 1 demonstrated that a brief period of self-reflection yielded a prospective bias during mind-wandering such that participants’ engaged more frequently in spontaneous future than past thought. In Study 2, individual differences in the strength of self-referential thought — as indexed by the memorial advantage for self rather than other-encoded items — was shown to vary with future thinking during mind-wandering. Together these results confirm that self-reflection is a core component of future thinking during mind-wandering and provide novel evidence that a key function of the autobiographical memory system may be to mentally simulate events in the future.     

The perceptual determinants of person construal: reopening the social-cognitive toolbox

Guided by a heuristic account of social-cognitive functioning, researchers have attempted to identify the cognitive benefits that derive from a categorical approach to person construal. While revealing, this work has overlooked the fact that, prior to the application of categorical thinking as an economizing mental tool, perceivers must first extract category-triggering information from available stimulus cues. It is possible, therefore, that basic perceptual processes may also contribute to people's propensity to view others in a category-based manner. This possibility was explored in 3 experiments in which the authors investigated the ease with which perceivers can extract categorical and identity-based knowledge from faces under both optimal and suboptimal (i.e., inverted faces, blurred faces, rapidly presented faces) processing conditions. The results confirmed that categorical knowledge is extracted from faces more efficiently than identity-related knowledge, a finding that underscores the importance of perceptual operations in the generation of categorical thinking.     

The<Emphasis Type="Italic">remember</Emphasis> response: Subject to bias,graded, and not a process-pure indicator of recollection

Recognition memory judgments have long been assumed to depend on the contributions of two underlying processes: recollection and familiarity. We measured recollection with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) data and remember-know judgments. Under standard remember-know instructions, the two estimates of recollection diverged. When subjects were told they might need to justify theirremember responses to the experimenter, the two estimates were more likely to agree. The data support the conclusion thatremember responses are generally based on a continuous underlying process but that specific task instructions can produce data that appear consistent with a high-threshold recollective process. Models based on signal detection theory provide a better account of these data than does the dual-process model (Yonelinas, 1994) or process-pure interpretations.     

Statistical Bias and Endorsement of Conspiracy Theories

Previous research proposes that endorsement of anomalous beliefs is associated with proneness to conjunction error. This supposition ignores important differences between belief types. Correspondingly, the present study examined the degree to which components of statistical bias predicted conspiratorial ideation and belief in the paranormal. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling revealed that conjunction error was associated with conspiratorial ideation, whilst perception of randomness most strongly predicted belief in the paranormal. These findings opposed the notion that anomalous beliefs, by virtue of possession of common characteristics, relate similarly to conjunction error. With regard to conspiracy, conjunction‐framing manipulations produced only minor variations in relationship strength. This supported the notion that conspiratorial ideation was associated with a domain‐general susceptibility to conjunction error. Framing, however, did influence the relationship between belief in the paranormal and conjunction; whilst paranormal conjunctions were generally easier to solve, performance declined as level of paranormal belief increased.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing a model for online support group use, empowering processes and psychosocial outcomes for individuals living with HIV/AIDS

This study examined the mechanism through which online support group (OSG) participation may promote patient empowerment among 340 individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Results from structural equation modelling revealed that greater use of OSGs was associated with more frequent occurrence of the empowering processes as measured by receiving useful information, receiving social support, finding positive meaning and helping others. Receiving useful information and finding positive meaning were related to higher levels of adaptive coping and lower levels of maladaptive coping, while receiving social support and helping others were related to higher levels of self-care self-efficacy, which in turn was related to higher levels of adaptive coping, and lower levels of maladaptive coping. Finally, higher levels of maladaptive coping were related to poorer quality of life, while higher levels of adaptive coping were related to better quality of life. Results suggest that OSG participation may offer some benefits for those living with HIV/AIDS.     

Patterns of theorizing about chess skill – Commentary on Linhares and Freitas (2010) and Lane and Gobet (2011)

Although Linhares and Freitas (2010) have failed to characterize earlier experimental work in chess skill accurately, their conceptual approach of “experience-recognition”-driven problem solving points to the need to incorporate analogical reasoning mechanisms into explanations of how chess players choose the best move in chess. The Lane and Gobet (2011) commentary and the cognitive simulation models that they espouse consist of plausible mechanisms to support choosing a good move, but need additional development to incorporate abstract/semantic information. One possible avenue for future exploration will be to produce hybrid models that use both “piece-on-square” chunk and template representations and abstract high-level representations to guide search in chess.     

The reciprocal relationship between psychological contract fulfilment and employee performance and the moderating role of perceived organizational support and tenure

This study investigated the reciprocal relationship between perceptions of psychological contract fulfilment and employee performance (sales made and sales targets), and whether this was moderated by the quality and length of the social exchange relationship captured, respectively, through perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational tenure. We used a sample of 146 sales advisors and a four‐point longitudinal design and found support for reciprocal links where performance predicted subsequent psychological contract fulfilment and vice versa. The strength of the relationship between performance and psychological contract fulfilment increased over time. The quality of the social exchange relationship (i.e., POS) moderated reciprocal links between sales made and sales targets met and perceptions of psychological contract fulfilment at earlier, but not later, time points. One way to interpret the findings is the changing nature of the unfolding relationship between support, psychological contract fulfilment, and performance, where a supportive relationship buffers failing to deliver at earlier time points, but at later time points employee performance and psychological contract fulfilment associate more strongly as both parties prioritize delivery.