The effect of question expectedness and experience on lying about intentions

In recent years researchers have started to focus on lying about intentions (Granhag, 2010). In the present experiment participants were interviewed about their forthcoming trip. We tested the hypothesis that liars (N=43) compared to truth tellers (N=43) would give fewer details to unexpected questions about planning, transportation and the core event, but an equal amount or more detail to expected questions about the purpose of the trip. We also tested the hypothesis that participants who had previously experienced the intention (i.e., they had made such a trip before) would give more detail than those who had never experienced the intended action. The unexpected question hypothesis was supported, whereas the previous experience effect only emerged in interactions. The benefit of using different types of questions for lie detection purposes is discussed.     

Telephone-based guided self-help for adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome: A non-randomised cohort study

The aim of this study was to gain preliminary evidence about the efficacy of a new telephone-based guided self-help intervention, based on cognitive-behavioural principles, which aimed to reduce fatigue and improve school attendance in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). A non-randomised cohort design was used, with a two-month baseline period. Sixty-three 11–18 year-old participants recruited from a specialist CFS unit received the intervention. Participants received six half-hour fortnightly telephone sessions and two follow-up sessions. Fatigue and school attendance were the main outcomes and the main time point for assessing outcome was 6 months post-treatment. Using multi-level modelling, a significant decrease in fatigue was found between pre-treatment and 6 month follow-up, treatment effect estimate = – 5.68 (?7.63, ?3.72), a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.79). The decrease in fatigue between pre and post-treatment was significantly larger than between baseline and pre-treatment. A significant increase in school attendance was found between pre-treatment and 6 month follow-up, effect estimate = 1.38 (0.76, 2.00), a medium effect size (d = ?0.48). Univariate logistic regression found baseline perfectionism to be associated with poorer school attendance at six-month follow-up. In conclusion, telephone-based guided self-help is an acceptable minimal intervention which is efficacious in reducing fatigue in adolescents with CFS.     

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wind? Origins of Severe Weather Phobia

Natural Environment phobia include fears cued by events such as severe weather. Given the limited research in this area, the present study sought to assess the prevalence and learning history origins of these fears, as well as their relation to anxiety sensitivity (AS). Study One participants included 533 (66%F) undergraduates who completed the Weather Experiences Questionnaire. Overall, 42?% reported exposure to a severe weather event (e.g., hurricanes); 16?% reported high- and 44?% low-fear about weather. Thirty-three from each group participated in Study Two, wherein one high-fear participant approximated the diagnostic criteria for severe weather phobia. High-fear participants cited direct conditioning (43?%) followed by vicarious conditioning (39?%) as the most common learning pathways. The remaining18% could not recall the source of their fear and none identified operant conditioning. One-third cited mothers (versus 8?% fathers) as sharing similar fears. Most had not witnessed parents hurt, frightened, or distressed by severe weather but claimed parents had warned them about severe weather. High- (vs. low-) fear participants revealed more AS-somatic versus AS-cognitive or AS-social concerns. The importance of such research in light of the increasing frequency of severe weather events is discussed.     

Childhood maltreatment and maltreatment‐specific inferences: A test of Rose and Abramson's (1992) extension of the hopelessness theory

In extending the etiological chain of the hopelessness theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989), Rose and Abramson (1992) proposed a developmental model by which childhood maltreatment may contribute to the development of a negative inferential style. Once developed, this negative inferential style leaves the individual vulnerable to developing hopelessness and symptoms of hopelessness depression. In the current cross‐sectional study, reports of childhood emotional, but not physical or sexual, maltreatment were significantly related to undergraduates' inferential styles. In addition, results from path analyses indicated that inferences about specific experiences of childhood emotional maltreatment mediated this relationship. Testing Rose and Abramson's entire model, results from path analyses supported a partial, but not full, mediation model.     

The Effects of Hippocampal and Area Parahippocampalis Lesions in Pigeons: II. Concurrent Discrimination and Spatial Memory

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of bilateral hippocampus (Hp) and area parahippocampalis (APH) lesions in pigeons on the acquisition of a visual and spatial task. In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained on three successive six-pair concurrent discrimination tasks, each using a novel set of stimuli. There was no difference between control unoperated pigeons and Hp-APH pigeons in terms of the number of sessions required to learn either the first, second, or third concurrent discrimination task. In Experiment 2, the same pigeons were trained on an open-field spatial task similar in many ways to the radial-arm maze task used with rats. In contrast to the absence of impairments on the visual concurrent discrimination task, pigeons with Hp-APH lesions were severely impaired on the acquisition of the spatial task. These findings support the view that the Hp-APH in pigeons is important for the processing of spatial, rather than visual information.     

Toward a new transcendental aesthetic: Merleau-Ponty’s appraisal of Kant’s philosophical method

ABSTRACT

In light of the central role scientific research plays in Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, the question has arisen whether his phenomenology involves some sort of commitment to naturalism or whether it is better understood along transcendental lines. In order to make headway on this issue, I focus specifically on Merleau-Ponty’s method and its relationship to Kant’s transcendental method. On the one hand, I argue that Merleau-Ponty rejects Kant’s method, the ‘method-without-which’, which seeks the a priori conditions of the possibility of experience. On the other hand, I show that this does not amount to a methodological rejection of the transcendental altogether. To the contrary, I claim that Merleau-Ponty offers a new account of the transcendental and a priori that he takes to be the proper subject matter of his phenomenological method, the method of ‘radical reflection’. And I submit that this method has important affinities with aesthetic themes in Kant’s philosophy.     

Charting directions for a new research era: addressing gaps and advancing scholarship in the study of psychological contracts

ABSTRACT

The nature of work and the contexts in which firms operate have changed significantly in the many decades since the study of psychological contracts (PCs) at work began in earnest. These changes have altered the contours of the traditional employer-employee relationship and are key motivators of this Special Issue. We seek to chart new directions for PC research over the next decade by widening the theoretical and methodological lenses used to explore PC processes. In the introductory editorial we briefly outline the PC construct, overview the collected papers, and discuss the next exciting wave of PC research (exploring PC dynamics, PC counterparties, and the PC context) inspired by this collection.     

Elementary Students’ Motivation to Read and Genre Preferences

Abstract

This study examines the psychometric properties of a reading motivation measure with a sample of upper elementary students in the United States (n?=?195). The research explores upper elementary students’ motivation to read, the amount/frequency of their reading in general, and their preferences for different text genres. Factor analyses support the validity and reliability of the SRQ-RM for upper elementary students in the United States, a tool not previously used with this population. This study also included a nuanced assessment of students’ genre preferences, which has implications for reading motivation and effective classroom instruction.