Greasing the palm: can collectivism promote bribery?

Why are there national differences in the propensity to bribe? To investigate this question, we conducted a correlational study with cross-national data and a laboratory experiment. We found a significant effect of the degree of collectivism versus individualism present in a national culture on the propensity to offer bribes to international business partners. Furthermore, the effect was mediated by individuals' sense of responsibility for their actions. Together, these results suggest that collectivism promotes bribery through lower perceived responsibility for one's actions.     

Evidenzbasierte Psychotherapie der Panikst?rung mit und ohne Agoraphobie

From the evidence reported in the recent guidelines [Heinrichs et al. (2009) Evidenzbasierte Leitlinie zur Psychotherapie der Panikst?rung mit und ohne Agoraphobie. Hogrefe, G?ttingen] the following conclusions can be drawn with respect to the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, as well as for agoraphobia without panic disorder:

1. Every psychotherapy should be preceded by suitable diagnostics and a case formulation.
2. The effectiveness of every psychotherapy should be evaluated with well established measures.
3. For the treatment of panic disorder without agoraphobia, cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) and applied relaxation have been shown to be effective (evidence grade 1).
4. For panic disorder with agoraphobia, CBT, combination treatment (CBT plus medication), as well as panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy in the outpatient setting have shown short-term effectiveness (evidence grade 1). Longer lasting effects have been documented for CBT (evidence grade 1).
5. For agoraphobia without panic disorder, CBT with a focus on situational exposure can be recommended (evidence grade 1).

     

Conduction aphasia, sensory-motor integration, and phonological short-term memory - an aggregate analysis of lesion and fMRI data

Conduction aphasia is a language disorder characterized by frequent speech errors, impaired verbatim repetition, a deficit in phonological short-term memory, and naming difficulties in the presence of otherwise fluent and grammatical speech output. While traditional models of conduction aphasia have typically implicated white matter pathways, recent advances in lesions reconstruction methodology applied to groups of patients have implicated left temporoparietal zones. Parallel work using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has pinpointed a region in the posterior most portion of the left planum temporale, area Spt, which is critical for phonological working memory. Here we show that the region of maximal lesion overlap in a sample of 14 patients with conduction aphasia perfectly circumscribes area Spt, as defined in an aggregate fMRI analysis of 105 subjects performing a phonological working memory task. We provide a review of the evidence supporting the idea that Spt is an interface site for the integration of sensory and vocal tract-related motor representations of complex sound sequences, such as speech and music and show how the symptoms of conduction aphasia can be explained by damage to this system.     

Reconceptualizing difficult groups and difficult members

Group leaders can expect to encounter group and member behaviors and attitudes that are usually termed as difficult. This article presents a different perspective that focuses on how the group leader can better understand and make visible what the troubling behavior is communicating about unspoken or unconscious needs, fantasies and desires. Suggestions for more effective interventions are proposed.     

Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)

Mindfulness, a concept originally derived from Buddhist psychology, is essential for some well-known clinical interventions. Therefore an instrument for measuring mindfulness is useful. We report here on two studies constructing and validating the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) including a short form. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed through expert interviews and extensive literature analysis and tested in 115 subjects attending mindfulness meditation retreats. This psychometrically sound 30-item scale with an internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .93 was able to significantly demonstrate the increase in mindfulness after the retreat and to discriminate between experienced and novice meditators. In a second study we broadened the scope of the concept to 86 subjects without meditation experience, 117 subjects with clinical problems, and 54 participants from retreats. Reducing the scale to a short form with 14 items resulted in a semantically robust and psychometrically stable (alpha = .86) form. Correlation with other relevant constructs (self-awareness, dissociation, global severity index, meditation experience in years) was significant in the medium to low range of correlations and lends construct validity to the scale. Principal Component Analysis suggests one common factor. This short scale is sensitive to change and can be used also with subjects without previous meditation experience.     

Truth-Tracking by Belief Revision

Studia Logica - We study the learning power of iterated belief revision methods. Successful learning is understood as convergence to correct, i.e., true, beliefs. We focus on the issue of...