Postactional goal pursuit: Consequences of task completion for thought content,affect, and behavioral intentions

Postactional goal pursuit remains an underexplored area of the mindset theory of action phases. According to the theory, individuals enter a postactional phase following the completion of an intention. This phase focuses on evaluating goal outcomes, answering questions such as: Was the goal completed successfully? Was it worth the effort? Contrasting postactional phase with predecisional and actional goal pursuit, the present research examines differences in cognitive orientation, affective responses to feedback, and functional benefits for adapting subsequent goal pursuit. Five experiments show that postactional goal pursuit engenders outcome-focused deliberation, more intense affect in reaction to the current state of goal pursuit, and increased readiness to adapt subsequent goal pursuit to experienced outcomes. Moving beyond conceptual arguments, the present work provides initial evidence that postactional goal pursuit provokes a mindset-like shift suitable for a phase-specific task of outcome evaluation.     

Psychological and neurological predictors of abusive supervision

Although the negative effects of abusive supervision are well documented, less is known about the individual differences that drive supervisors to be abusive. We use a self‐control perspective to understand the unique roles of both psychological and neurological characteristics of supervisors in the prediction of abusive behavior. Specifically, we find a positive relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision, whereas political skill and intrinsic neurological connectivity in executive control regions of the brain negatively relate to abusive supervision. Our results further show that the relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision diminishes for those who are strong in terms of political skill. In addition, neurological executive control moderates the relationship between political skill and abusive behavior. When connectivity in executive control regions of the brain is lower, political skill becomes a more important factor in reducing the display of abusive behavior. Overall, we demonstrate how combinations of characteristics (both psychological and neurological) can provide a more in‐depth understanding of the emergence of abusive supervision.     

Cross-species referential signalling events in domestic dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis familiaris</Emphasis>)

Referential gestures are used by a signaller to draw a recipient’s attention to a specific object, individual or event in the environment. These gestures have received much research attention in relation to human and non-human primates with great apes being shown to possess impressive gestural repertoires. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) meanwhile provide an ideal non-primate candidate for investigating referential signalling due to their unique relationship with humans that centres on non-verbal communication with frequent interaction. Here we observed 37 pet dogs in their own homes. Owners recorded 242 videos containing 47 potential referential gesture events. We analysed those recordings to reveal evidence of 19 referential gestures performed by domestic dogs during everyday communicative bouts with humans, showing that the gestures conform to the five features of referential signalling. Our study exposes impressive gesturing abilities in a non-primate mammal; especially when viewed in the context of the cross-species rather than intraspecific communication.     

Meditation buffers medical student compassion from the deleterious effects of depression

Increasing data suggest that for medical school students the stress of academic and psychological demands can impair social emotions that are a core aspect of compassion and ultimately physician competence. Few interventions have proven successful for enhancing physician compassion in ways that persist in the face of suffering and that enable sustained caretaker well-being. To address this issue, the current study was designed to (1) investigate the feasibility of cognitively-based compassion training (CBCT) for second-year medical students, and (2) test whether CBCT decreases depression, enhances compassion, and improves daily functioning in medical students. Compared to the wait-list group, students randomized to CBCT reported increased compassion, and decreased loneliness and depression. Changes in compassion were most robust in individuals reporting high levels of depression at baseline, suggesting that CBCT may benefit those most in need by breaking the link between personal suffering and a concomitant drop in compassion.     

The effects of behavioral history on response acquisition with immediate and delayed reinforcement

Effects of prior exposure to the experimental chamber with levers present or absent and variable-time (VT) 60-s water deliveries arranged during one, five, or no 1-hr sessions were examined in rats during a 6-hr response-acquisition session in which presses on one lever produced water delivery immediately or after a 15-s resetting delay, and presses on the other lever canceled scheduled water deliveries. Response acquisition was (a) slower to occur when water deliveries were delayed, (b) most consistent in groups that had received five VT sessions, and (c) impaired by the presence of levers only when there had been five VT sessions and water deliveries were delayed during the acquisition session.     

The Galileo bias: a naive conceptual belief that influences people's perceptions and performance in a ball-dropping task

This research introduces a new naive physics belief, the Galileo bias, whereby people ignore air resistance and falsely believe that all objects fall at the same rate. Survey results revealed that this bias is held by many and is surprisingly strongest for those with formal physics instruction. In 2 experiments, 98 participants dropped ball pairs varying in volume and/or mass from a height of 10 m, with the goal of both balls hitting the ground simultaneously. The majority of participants in both experiments adopted a single strategy consistent with the Galileo bias, showing no improvement across trials. Yet, for participants reporting intentions of dropping both balls at the same time, the differences between release points were significantly greater than 0 ms. These findings support separate but interacting cognition and perception-action systems.     

“One-thousand<Emphasis Type="Italic">one</Emphasis> … one-thousand<Emphasis Type="Italic">two</Emphasis> …”: Chronometric counting violates the scalar property in interval timing

Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Weber’s law applied to interval timing is called thescalar property. A hallmark of timing in the secondsto-minutes range, the scalar property is characterized by proportionality between the standard deviation of a response distribution and the duration being timed. In this temporal reproduction study, we assessed whether the scalar property was upheld when participants chronometrically counted three visually presented durations (8, 16, and 24 sec) as compared with explicitly timing durations without counting. Accuracy for timing and accuracy for counting were similar. However, whereas timing variability showed the scalar property, counting variability did not. Counting variability across intervals was accurately modeled by summing a random variable representing an individual count. A second experiment replicated the first and demonstrated that task differences were not due to presentation order or practice effects. The distinct psychophysical properties of counting and timing behaviors argue for greater attention to participant strategies in timing studies.     

The association of irritability and impulsivity with suicidal ideation among 15- to 20-year-old males

Information on the association of impulsivity and measures of aggression with suicidal ideation in adolescents and young adults is limited. Data were gathered from a community sample of 625 adolescent and young adult males. Analyses were based on multivariate generalized estimating equations. Impulsivity and irritability were associated strongly with suicidal ideation after accounting for alcohol dependence and other aggression-related constructs including psychopathy. Given that irritable, impulsive adolescent males appear to contemplate suicidal behavior, their heightened suicide risk may be anticipated and mitigated.