Category-bounded emotional enhancement: spillover effects in the valuation of public goods

ABSTRACT

We examined whether enhancing (vs. not enhancing) the emotionality of a referent public good influences the subsequent valuation of a target public good. We predicted that it would and that the directionality of its impact would depend on a fundamental cognitive process – categorisation. If the target and referent goods belong to the same domain, we expected that the effect on the target would be in the same direction as the emotional enhancement of the referent (assimilation effect). However, if the target and referent goods belong to different domains, we expected that the effect on the target would be either negligible or in the opposite direction to that of the emotional enhancement of the referent (null or contrast effect). In Experiment 1 we examined the impact of emotionally enhancing a referent public good on feelings towards a target public good, whereas in Experiment 2 on the willingness to contribute towards a target public good. The results support the predicted interaction, which was driven by an assimilation effect for same-domain goods and a null effect for different-domain goods. In doing so, the present findings highlight the interplay between cognition and emotion in the valuation of public goods. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

Memory Deficits Among Alcoholics: Performance on a Selective Reminding Task

ABSTRACT

This article compared alcoholics and healthy controls on the Buschke Selective Reminding Task. Alcoholics demonstrated deficits in memory and learning when compared to healthy controls, even when controlling for age. Examination of the alcoholic sample initially showed that age predicted memory deficits; however, age was no longer a significant predictor once the number of years of heavy drinking was entered into the regression equation. Findings suggest a direct link or mechanism of action between alcohol use and memory impairments, above and beyond effects of age or education.     

Process analytic models of creative capacities

Although a number of factors condition the success of creative efforts, most investigators recognize the fundamental importance of novel problem solutions. As a result, a number of systems intending to describe the processes contributing to the generation of innovative problem solutions have been proposed. In the present article, earlier models describing the processes contributing to creative problem solutions are reviewed. The common themes appearing in these models are then considered in relation to the use of extant information structures. Certain implications of cognitive information processing for understanding the nature and ontogeny of the creative act are then discussed, along with their potential contributions to the identification and development of creative potential.     

Is Fear of Crime Mainly Social and Economic Insecurity in Disguise? A Multilevel Multinational Analysis

Using the 2006 Eurobarometer data (representative sample of the European population, N = 16 306, 27 countries), we performed a multilevel analysis aimed at predicting fear of crime. A significant proportion of the variation in fear of crime was at country level. Of the individual predictors included, being a woman, being poorly educated, being unemployed, and being an urban dweller showed positive relations with fear of crime. Fear was highest among people who considered themselves to be socially marginal, among people with negative expectations regarding themselves and their country's future, and among people who considered their nation's welfare system to be unsatisfactory. Among the ecological predictors we took into consideration, nations' degree of economic inequality and low expenditure on education and on social protection showed a positive association with fear of crime, whereas the crime, immigration, and employment rates did not. Implications and limitations of this research are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Jung's Affinity for Buddhism: Misunderstandings and Clarifications

Much of the West's understanding of Jung's thinking about Buddhism comes from reading his essays on Tibetan and Zen Buddhism, in which his commentary focuses upon particular doctrinal teachings of these two forms of Mahayana Buddhism. However, his writings about the figure of the Buddha and the Buddha's earliest sermons, as they are collected in the Pali Canon, are less well known. By looking closely at what Jung had to say about the Buddha, his early discourses, and his comments in other works that have a correspondence with these discourses, we can clarify some common misconceptions about Jung's thinking in this area. Such an examination offers a better understanding of Jung's depth of feeling for the essential teachings of the Buddha. In order to accomplish these aims, the article begins with a discussion of the historical and cultural background in which Jung was writing and his concerns about the West's infatuation with Eastern ideas. Moving from this discussion to an examination of Jung's reflections on Buddhism, taken directly from Jung's writings, conclusions are drawn regarding Jung's hermeneutic method of approaching the Buddhist canon.     

A Puzzle About the Agnostic Response to Peer Disagreement

The paper argues that the view to the effect that one should suspend judgment in the face of a disagreement with a recognised epistemic peer results in a puzzle when applied to disagreements in which one party is agnostic. The puzzle is this: either the agnostic party retains her suspension of judgment, or she suspends it. The former option is discarded by proponents of the agnostic response; the latter leads the agnostic response to undermine itself.     

The Effects of Self-generated Cues on Recall of the Paragraphs of a Text

A self-generated list of short indications of the paragraphs of a text was shown to subjects to facilitate the retrieval of the text's contents during recall. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that a substantial number of potentially accessible paragraphs failed to be retrieved under ordinary conditions of free recall. Access to some paragraphs appears to have been inhibited progressively by previous, more or less complete, retrieval of the contents of other paragraphs. In Experiment 2, repetition of recall provided access to a significant number of supplementary paragraphs. A significant number of paragraphs initially reproduced, however, was omitted during secondary recall. In both experiments, the completeness of recalled paragraphs was a negative function of their serial position of output. In Experiment 3, inspection of a self-generated list of short indications of paragraphs and experimenter-provided verbal embellishment of half of the paragraphs affected recall independently.     

Sad Kids,Sad Media? Applying Mood Management Theory to Depressed Adolescents' Use of Media

Mood management studies typically have found that adults will select media that enhance positive moods and reduce negative moods. In this study, adolescents diagnosed with major depressive disorder and control adolescents without psychiatric disorders were called on customized cell phones up to 4 times a day and asked about their current mood state and media use for five extended weekends across an 8-week period. Mood effects on subsequent media use, mood during media consumption, and media effects on subsequent mood were examined. Results indicated that adolescents who consumed fun media tended to do so in a way that sustained, rather than enhanced their prior positive mood levels during and after consumption-if they turned to media. Adolescents in more negative moods did not often use media to improve their moods. When they did, boys were more likely than girls to use media that ultimately reduced negative mood levels. Findings are discussed in light of the literature on mood management, adolescence, and depression.     

Situational and dispositional factors as antecedents of ingratiatory behaviors in organizational settings

This study examined both situational and dispositional antecedents of four ingratiatory behaviors: other-enhancing, opinion conformity, favor rendering, and self-promotion. The two situational variables (i.e., role ambiguity and leader-member exchange) and the four dispositional variables (i.e., self-esteem, need for power, job involvement, and shyness) were considered as antecedents to each of the ingratiatory behaviors. Results from a sample of 136 full-time employees suggested that each of the ingratiatory behaviors had a unique set of antecedents and that the dispositional variables explained significant additional variance beyond the variance explained by the situational variables.