Inducing a Rule in Wason's 2-4-6 Task: A Test of the Information-Quantity and Goal-Complementarity Hypotheses

In the standard 2-4-6 induction task, subjects are instructed to discover the rule generating sequences of three numbers by inventing number triples for which they receive immediate feedback. The rule is “ascending numbers”. Performance is greatly aided with Dual Goal (DG) instructions that ask subjects to discover two rules, one that generates “Dax” triples (equivalent to “yes” instances with Single Goal [SG] instructions) and another that generates “Med” triples (equivalent to “no” instances). The present study eliminates two explanations for this effect suggested by Wharton, Cheng, and Wickens (1993). Experiment 1 tested their Information-Quantity hypothesis that the effect results simply from the DG subjects testing more triples prior to proposing a rule. Our DG subjects were more likely to solve the problem and produced more “negative” triples than SG subjects when both groups generated exactly 15 triples. Two further groups received feedback only after generating all 15 triples, and again DG subjects were more likely to solve the problem and to generate more “negative” triples. Experiment 2 tested Wharton et al.'s Goal-Complementarity hypothesis that success under DG instructions hinges on preserving the complementary representation of the two rules. We compared SG instructions with three types of DG instructions that suggested different types of triples (Dax, Med, both Dax and Med, neither Dax nor Med). DG instructions were more effective in promoting successful rule discovery regardless of differences in rule complementarity. Our analysis of the heterogeneity of the examplars generated with DG instructions in both experiments suggest that success on the 2-4-6 task is as much a consequence of the breadth of hypotheses that subjects entertain as it is a consequence of the testing strategy.     

Off-task Behaviours and Outcomes: An Exploratory Investigation of a Neglected Domain in Organisational Behaviour

Bien que les travailleurs s'adonnent à la fois à nombre de tâches formelles et informelles, les recherches centrées sur le comportement organisationnel s'intéressent préférentiellement aux conduites formelles et à leur produit. Quand l'attention se porte sur les comportements informels, c'est généralement pour les atténuer ou les éliminer. On soutient dans cet article que les comportements informels doivent être pris en considération même si c'est la tâche à accomplir qui est l'objet de la problématique. On a, dans deux recherches exploitant des échantillons de 133 et 137 individus, relevé une série de comportements informels et étudié la relation entre leur fréquence d'apparition et la satisfaction. Les implications des comportements informels sont analysées du point de vue de la nature changeante du travail.
Although people at work engage in a number of on-task and off-task behaviours, the preponderance of behavioural research in organisations is directed towards on-task behaviours and the outcomes resulting from them. When attention is paid to off-task behaviours, it is usually directed at decreasing or eliminating such behaviours. The position taken here is that off-task behaviours must be understood even if our concern is with task behaviour. Two studies, with samples of 137 and 133 persons, identified a subset of off-task behaviours and explored the relationship of their reported occurrence to job satisfaction. Implications of off-task behaviour at work are discussed with respect to the changing nature of work.     

Dynamic Relational Group Psychotherapy: A Neurobiologically Informed Model of Change

In this article, we introduce a preliminary, neurobiologically informed model of group therapy that links the timing and nature of specific group interventions with hypothesized changing neurobiological needs of the group. We suggest that the observed phases of group development reflect an underlying reorganization of neuronal circuitry that occurs as members progress through a hierarchically organized treatment, and that this reorganization involves the integration and homeostatic rebalancing of subcortical and neural networks. Our preliminary Dynamic Relational Model suggests that an understanding of the neurobiological processes involved in group development may help inform and direct effective group-based psychotherapy interventions.     

A longitudinal study of psychosocial distress in breast cancer: prevalence and risk factors

This longitudinal study was conducted among 102 women with non-metastasic breast cancer to identify the time evolution and prevalence of distress at specific times through diagnosis and treatment of disease: preliminary diagnosis, surgery, definitive diagnosis and chemotherapy. Additionally, the study aimed to examine the role of demographic, medical and psychosocial factors on distress. The results indicated that prevalence of distress was higher at initial diagnosis (25%) than the following time points (approximately 17%). The differences inter-individuals in the levels of distress were observed over the four assessments. No relation between distress and demographic and medical factors was found. However, psychosocial aspects were significant risk factors. Patterns of emotional suppression and specific coping responses like helplessness/hopelessness, anxious preoccupation, cognitive avoidance and fatalism were positively related to distress, whereas fighting spirit and perceived social support showed a protective role. Moreover, helplessness/hopelessness and anxious preoccupation jointly predicted 75% of cases and 98% non-cases of distress. Finally, a mediational model between emotional suppression and distress through helplessness/hopelessness was tested. Results support the necessity of routine distress screening all through the illness. Implications of data for psychosocial interventions with breast cancer patients are highlighted.     

Maternal Depression and Family Media Use: A Questionnaire and Diary Analysis

We describe the association between postpartum depression and the quantity and content of infant media use. Households with depressed mothers viewed twice as much television as households with non-depressed mothers did, and depressed mothers appeared to derive comparatively greater pleasure from television viewing. Maternal depression was associated with an increased exposure to child-directed content by 6–9-month-old infants, although it was not associated with an increased exposure to adult-directed programming. Depressed mothers also reported being less likely to sit and talk with their children during television use or to consult outside sources of information about media. This increase in television exposure without corresponding parental involvement could negatively affect developmental outcomes.     

Improving the quality of medical care: the normativity of evidence-based performance standards

Poor quality medical care is sometimes attributed to physicians?? unwillingness to act on evidence about what works best. Evidence-based performance standards (EBPSs) are one response to this problem, and they are increasingly employed by health care regulators and payers. Evidence in this instance is judged according to the precepts of evidence-based medicine (EBM); it is probabilistic, and the randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the gold standard. This means that EBPSs suffer all the infirmities of EBM generally??well rehearsed problems with the external validity of research findings as well as the inferential leap from study results in the aggregate to individual patient care. These theoretical weaknesses promise to have a practical impact on the care of patients. To avoid this, EBPSs should be understood as guidelines indicative of average effectiveness rather than standards to be applied in every case.     

Executive function in Parkinson’s disease: contributions of the dorsal frontostriatal pathways to action and motivation

Disruption of the dorsal frontostriatal pathways in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with impairments in motivation, as well as in executive function. The goal of this study was to investigate whether these impairments are related and, if so, whether the disruption of frontostriatal pathways compromises the ability to process the motivational aspects of feedback in such tasks. In Experiment 1, informative feedback improved the performance of young, healthy participants in a task-switching paradigm. This task-switching paradigm was then used in Experiment 2 to test whether feedback would improve the performance of 17 PD patients and age-matched controls. The PD group benefitted from feedback to the same degree as control participants; however, depression scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were significantly related to feedback usage, especially when response selection demands were high. Regardless of feedback, PD patients were more impaired when response demands were high than in an equally difficult condition with low action demands. These results suggest that response selection is a core impairment of insufficient dopamine to the dorsal frontal striatal pathways.     

Emotional regulation of fertility decision making: What is the nature and structure of "baby fever"?

Baby fever-a visceral physical and emotional desire to have a baby-is well known in popular culture, but has not been empirically studied in psychology. Different theoretical perspectives suggest that desire for a baby is either superfluous to biological sex drives and maternal instincts, a sociocultural phenomenon unrelated to biological or evolutionary forces, or an evolved adpatation for regulating birth timing, proceptive behavior, and life history trajectories. A series of studies (involving 337 undergraduate participants and 853 participants from a general population Internet sample) found that: (a) a simple scale measure could elicit ratings of desire frequency; (b) these ratings exhibited significant sex differences; (c) this sex difference was distinct from a general desire for sexual activity; and (d) these findings generalize to a more diverse online population. Factor analyses of ratings for desire elicitors/inhibitors identified three primary factors underlying baby fever. Baby fever appears to be a real phenomenon, with an underlying multifactorial structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The influence of emotional labour and emotional work on the occupational health and wellbeing of South Australian hospital nurses

Nursing is an emotionally complex occupation, requiring performance of both emotional labour (for the benefit of the organisation and professional role) and emotional work (for the benefit of the nurse-patient relationship). According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, such processes can have a significant effect on psychological wellbeing and occupational stress, although little is known about the factors that moderate their effects. This exploratory study investigated the relationship between emotional labour and emotional work on psychological wellbeing and occupational stress in 239 nurses sampled from a South Australian hospital. The multi-component questionnaire study focused on the emotional labour elements of emotion expression and suppression, as well as surface acting and deep acting, and examined the companionship, help, and regulation elements of emotional work. In a multivariate model, emotional work was found to be less strongly predictive of negative psychological outcomes than was emotional labour, but was more strongly predictive of positive outcomes. Social support may moderate or be an antecedent to the performance of emotional labour and emotional work. The findings support the Conservation of Resources Theory with emotional work, rather than emotional labour, enabling the uptake of resources and leading to positive occupational health and wellbeing.