Predicting intention and behaviour following participation in a theory-based intervention to improve gluten free diet adherence in coeliac disease

Objective: To determine whether changes in theory of planned behaviour (TPB) constructs could predict intention and gluten-free diet (GFD) adherence following participation in an online theory-based intervention designed to improve adherence in coeliac disease.

Design: Theory-based process evaluation of the mechanisms of change over the course of a six-week online intervention. Measures of GFD adherence and TPB variables were administered at baseline and follow-up (immediate post-intervention: n = 74; three-month: n = 68; six-month: n = 65). Hierarchical regression analyses using residualised change scores were conducted at each time point (dependent variables: intention and adherence).

Results: Baseline intention and GFD adherence were the strongest predictors of follow-up intention and adherence, respectively. Change in attitude accounted for significant variance in intention. Change in intention accounted for significant variance in GFD adherence immediately post-intervention; by the six-month follow-up change in perceived behavioural control was the stronger predictor.

Conclusions: Partial support for the hypotheses suggests that, for certain behaviours, the TPB may be relevant in explaining the mechanism of action responsible for changes in intention and behaviour following participation in a behaviour change intervention. Additional predictive pathways are also likely to exist and, in the area of GFD adherence, may include habit strength and actual behavioural control.     

Names, Fictional Names, And 'Really': R.M. Sainsbury

Evans argued that most ordinary proper names were Russellian: to suppose that they have no bearer is to suppose that they have no meaning. The first part of this paper addresses Evans's arguments, and finds them wanting. Evans also claimed that the logical form of some negative existential sentences involves 'really' (e.g. 'Hamlet didn't really exist'). One might be tempted by the view, even if one did not accept its Russellian motivation. However, I suggest that Evans gives no adequate account of 'really', and I point to unclarities in Wiggins's similar, but distinct, attempt to use 'really' in the logical form of true negative existentials.     

Attentional set in pure- versus mixed-lists in a dichotic listening paradigm

An experiment was designed to assess the contribution of attentional set to performance on a forced choice recognition task in dichotic listening. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: speech sounds composed of stop consonants, emotional nonspeech sounds, or a random combination of both. In the groups exposed to a single class of stimuli (pure-list), a REA (right ear advantage) emerged for the speech sounds, and a LE (left ear advantage) for the nonspeech sounds. Under mixed conditions using both classes of stimuli, no significant ear advantage was apparent, either globally or individually for the speech and nonspeech sounds. However, performance was more accurate for the left ear on nonspeech sounds and for the right ear for speech sounds, regardless of pure versus mixed placement. The results suggest that under divided attention conditions, attentional set influences the direction of the laterality effect.