Test of the Ratio Judgment Hypothesis

The hypothesis that we are capable of judging ratios of subjective intensities is widely used in psychology. Here, experimental results are reported that more stringently verify prior findings that people respond to sensory intensity differences while they execute the task of judging sensory intensity ratios. This verification was made on brightness and heaviness and for verbal and matching responses, suggesting that the results may be general for both sensory intensive dimensions and response systems. The results have implications for the comparisons of scores on evaluation scales based on ratio judgment.     

“Scaffolding” and “affordance” as integrative concepts in the cognitive sciences

There are (at least) two ways to think of the differences in basic concepts and typologies that one can find in the different scientific practices that constitute a research tradition. One is the fundamentalist view: the fewer the better. The other is a non-fundamentalist view of science whereby the integration of different concepts into the right abstraction grounds an explanation that is not grounded as the sum of the explanations supported by the parts. Integrative concepts are often associated with idealizations that can successfully set the stage for different phenomena to be compared or for explanations of different phenomena to be considered as jointly increasing our understanding of reality beyond that which each explanation provides separately. In this paper, our aim is to argue for the importance of the notions of an “affordance” and “scaffolding” as integrative concepts in the cognitive sciences. The integrational role of the concept of affordance is closely related with the capacity of affordances to generate the scaffoldings leading to the integration. The capacities of affordances that turn them into (stable) scaffoldings explain why such notions are often used interchangeably (as we shall see). On this basis, we aim to show that the concepts of affordance and scaffolding provide the sort of epistemic perspective that can overcome common complaints about the limits and unity of the cognitive sciences once claims about extended cognition are taken seriously.     

Therapeutic activities and the assimilation model: A preliminary exploratory study on the Insight stage

The assimilation model describes the process of change assuming that the self is enriched when there is a dialogue between nondominant voices or problematic experiences and the dominant voices. This dialogue is best seen in the Insight stage. The aim of this paper is to study the Insight stage during the assimilation process in relation to the main therapeutic activities performed by the therapist. All the Insights from the assimilation process of a patient, María, were analysed. In assimilation terms, María could be described through the nondominant voices of “dizziness,” “tiredness,” and “inability to cope with daily demands,” and through the dominant voices of “control,” “overcome and solve,” and “why something is happening.” María showed a successful assimilation of her problematic experiences. The therapeutic context was the Linguistic Therapy of Evaluation (LTE), a kind of cognitive therapy based on the theory of General Semantics. María was considered a good outcome case in the LTE sample. Results showed that there were some general therapeutic activities related to these Insights. A high percentage of activities pointed to one of the main issues of LTE: the development of an extensional orientation. At the same time, some of these activities were related to María’s voices. Results are discussed in relation to the relevance of the development of an extensional orientation for the assimilation process; how voices are recognized or challenged in therapy, and to the importance of considering relationship issues during the assimilation process.     

Polydrug use trajectories and differences in impulsivity among adolescentsTrayectorias de policonsumo y diferencias en impulsividad entre adolescentes

Background/Objective: Although alcohol, tobacco and cannabis are the most widely consumed drugs, sparse data exist regarding polydrug use in adolescents and its relationship with impulsivity. This study aims to identify trajectories of polydrug use and analyze differences in impulsivity between them. Method: A total of 1,565 adolescents (54.4% males; mean age = 13.02, SD = 0.57) were annually assessed over three years using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Zuckerman Impulsive Sensation Seeking Scale, a Stroop Test and a Delay Discounting Task. Frequency of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use, intoxication episodes and problem drinking were also assessed. Polydrug trajectories were identified using latent class mixed modelling. To examine differences in self-reported and behavioral impulsivity two mixed multivariate analyses of covariance were used. Results: Three trajectories of substance use were found. The ‘Experimental use’ and the ‘Early use’ trajectories presented the lowest and highest impulsivity, respectively. Substance use increases in the ‘Telescoped used’ trajectory were associated with parallel increases in impulsivity. Conclusions: individuals with divergent patterns of substance use during adolescence differ in their impulsiveness, primarily in general impulsivity and sensation seeking. Present findings suggest the relevance of these facets as possible targets for interventions preventing the onset and escalation of substance use.     

Correction to: From aesthetics to ethics: Testing the link between an emotional experience of awe and the motive of quixoteism on (un)ethical behaviour

Motivation and Emotion -     

Explaining Police Corruption among Mexican Police Officers through a Social Learning Perspective

This study examines the causes of corruption among Mexican police officers through the lens of social learning theory. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather information about behavior of corruption, economic situation, job dissatisfaction, lack of commitment, and definitions and reinforcement favorable to corruption among a sample of Mexican police officers. Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis was used to determine whether differential reinforcement and definitions help to explain levels of corruption among sampled police officers. Results show that positive definitions and reinforcement towards corruption are significant predictors of police corruption, and partially mediate the effect of job dissatisfaction on corruption.     

Does g variance change in adulthood? Testing the age de-differentiation hypothesis across sex

In the last decade, changes in the structure of intelligence across the life-span has become a central topic in the research on human intelligence. One of the main hypotheses that has arisen to account for such changes has been the age de-differentiation hypothesis [Balinsky, Genetic Psychology Monographs 23 1941, 191]. It predicts an increase in the importance of g, and a decrease in the number and importance of the lower-order abilities from early maturity to senescence. Despite of the research effort to test this hypothesis, no study has ever been conducted controlling by sex. For that purpose, males and females of the Spanish standardisation sample of the WAIS-III were analysed separately. Results show that the importance of g does not change with age irrespective of sex. Thus, the age de-differentiation hypothesis is rejected for both males and females. The indifferentiation hypothesis is supported as a more appropriate view of the changes in the structure of intelligence across adulthood.     

Why and when cognitive job insecurity relates to affective job insecurity? A three-study exploration of negative rumination and the tendency to negative gossip

ABSTRACT

The job insecurity literature distinguishes between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity where cognitive job insecurity reflects perceptions regarding the likelihood of total job loss or job features loss and affective job insecurity refers to emotional reactions to that potential loss. Indeed, affective job insecurity is demonstrated to be an affective reaction to cognitive job insecurity. However, the relationship between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity may be neither direct nor unconditional. Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory, this research takes a nuanced approach to exploring the mediating role of negative work rumination and the moderating role of the tendency to negative gossip in the relationship between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity. We examined our hypotheses using three time-lagged survey studies with employees recruited from the U.S. and China. These studies found that negative work rumination mediated the relation between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity (Studies 1–3) and the tendency to negative gossip attenuated the positive relation between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity (Studies 1 and 2). Thus, this research advances the job insecurity literature by identifying a mediator and a moderator in the process of how employees may experience job insecurity.