Dividing attention during a witnessed event increases eyewitness suggestibility

Real‐life witnesses often encounter complex situations that may prevent them from devoting their full attention to encoding forensically‐relevant information about the event. Although prior research has demonstrated that divided attention can impair aspects of event memory, the current study examined the effect of attention during encoding of the event on participants' memory for the source of post‐event misleading information. Participants first viewed a slide sequence depicting a theft under full or divided attention conditions. Subsequently, they answered questions about the event that included misleading information, and finally received a source test. Results revealed that Divided Attention participants showed poorer memory for event items and were more likely to misattribute post‐event misinformation to the event than were Full Attention participants. The findings suggest that typical laboratory conditions (which allow full deployment of attentional resources during encoding) may underestimate the suggestibility of witnesses. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

当代世界中的宗教与政治

一 本文将首先描述马克思的宗教理论,然后以此探究宗教在当代政治中所起的作用。近来,这种作用已达到空前的水平。马克思的著作如何才能帮助我们理解这点并对此作出回应呢？     

Salomon Maimon’s Attempt at a New Presentation of the Principle of Morality and a New Deduction of Its Reality1

This essay is a translation of one of Salomon Maimon’s ethical writings, accompanied by a brief introduction. In it, Maimon proposes a correction of the Kantian moral principle of duty, as it is articulated both by Kant’s Groundwork for a Metaphysics of Morals and his Critique of Practical Reason. In particular, Maimon’s essay reveals the influence of Reinhold’s critique of Kant’s moral philosophy, especially regarding the role of incentives behind moral action. It reveals as well Maimon’s commitment to the primacy of the theoretical over the practical, drawn from his reading of Maimonides and Spinoza. The essay, therefore, marks an important moment in the development of Maimon’s assimilation of Kantian philosophy, one often neglected in scholarship on his work.     

Transformational leadership,diversity climate,and job satisfaction in selected South African companies

This study investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, diversity climate, and job satisfaction in a selection of South African companies. Participants were a convenience sample of 263 employees from the Gauteng Province (white?=?69.3%). They completed measures for transformational leadership, diversity climate, and job satisfaction. Structural Equation Modelling analysis revealed transformational leadership to directly predict job satisfaction and diversity climate, and to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and job satisfaction. Moreover, transformational leadership directly and positively predicted quality of workplace diversity climate. Future leaders and managers should leverage an organisation’s diversity climate for job satisfaction applying transformational leadership strategies.     

What Makes Hypocrisy? Folk Definitions,Attitude/Behavior Combinations,Attitude Strength,and Private/Public Distinctions

Past research has rarely examined what makes behaviors appear more or less hypocritical. This work expands our understanding, identifying and exploring factors contributing to perception of hypocrisy. An initial study surveyed participants’ definitions of the concept. Experiments 2a/2b then demonstrate that attitude–behavior inconsistency is viewed as most hypocritical, followed by attitude-attitude and behavior-behavior inconsistency. Experiments 3 and 4 examined how perception of hypocrisy depends on attitude strength, communication method, and whether attitudes/behaviors are privately or publicly held/enacted. We conclude that hypocrisy is perceived as strongest when attitudes are publicly imposed on others in an attempt to appear morally superior.     

Considering the role of early discrimination experiences and the parent–child relationship in the development of disruptive behaviors in adolescence

Discrimination has been shown to be related to diminished psychological adjustment and greater risk for substance use when personally experienced by adolescents and when their caregivers experience discrimination. Our research considers the impact of primary caregiver experiences of racial- and socioeconomic-based discrimination in early (age 3–5 years) and late childhood (age 9½) on adolescent disruptive behaviors (age 14) with a large sample of diverse caregiver–child dyads (N = 634). In addition, we examine the potential protective effects of parent–child relationship quality in early and late childhood in buffering the effects of caregiver discrimination on adolescent disruptive behaviors. We also explore possible gender differences in children's vulnerability to engage in disruptive behaviors in the context of caregiver experiences of discrimination. The findings from this study indicate that at trend level, early childhood experiences of primary caregiver discrimination (ages 3–5) predicted adolescent disruptive behaviors, accounting for the effects of more recent (age 9½) caregiver discrimination. In addition, parent–child relationship quality at age 9½ years was found to buffer the effects of late childhood (age 9½) primary caregiver discrimination on adolescent disruptive behaviors for both male and female youth. The findings highlight the need for prevention and intervention techniques that foster healthy and positive primary caregiver–child relationships.     

Evaluative conditioning effects are modulated by the nature of contextual pairings

Across two studies participants completed a learning phase comprised of two types of trials: context pairing trials in which two (valenced or non-valenced) words were identical or opposite to one another and evaluative conditioning (EC) trials in which a CS was paired with a US. Based on the idea that EC occurs because CS-US pairings function as a symbolic cue about the relation between the CS and the US, we hypothesised that the nature of context pairings (identical or opposite) might moderate EC effects. Results indicate that identity-based context pairs led to typical assimilative explicit and implicit effects whereas opposition-based pairs led to attenuated effects. Implications and different accounts of our findings are discussed.     

Aging and perception of visual form from temporal structure

In this study, the authors examined age-related changes in participants' ability to perceive global spatial structure defined by temporal fine structure among elements undergoing rapid, irregular change. Participants were also tested on a task involving form recognition from luminance contrast and on a task dependent on perception of 3-dimensional shape from motion. Compared with young adults, older individuals were less sensitive to spatial form defined by temporal structure. In contrast, older observers performed as well as young adults on the other two tasks that were not dependent on temporal sensitivity, ruling out nonsensory factors as the cause of the deficits on the temporal structure task. This selective deficit may reveal reduced sensitivity within the temporal impulse response of the aging visual system, a deficit that could be related to reduced effectiveness of neural inhibition.     

Examining the testing effect with open‐ and closed‐book tests

Two experiments examined the testing effect with open‐book tests, in which students view notes and textbooks while taking the test, and closed‐book tests, in which students take the test without viewing notes or textbooks. Subjects studied prose passages and then restudied or took an open‐ or closed‐book test. Taking either kind of test, with feedback, enhanced long‐term retention relative to conditions in which subjects restudied material or took a test without feedback. Open‐book testing led to better initial performance than closed‐book testing, but this benefit did not persist and both types of testing produced equivalent retention on a delayed test. Subjects predicted they would recall more after repeated studying, even though testing enhanced long‐term retention more than restudying. These experiments demonstrate that the testing effect occurs with both open‐ and closed‐book tests, and that subjects fail to predict the effectiveness of testing relative to studying in enhancing later recall. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.