Interaction of labyrinthine and somatoreceptor inputs as determinants of the subjective vertical

Summary Subjects were investigated in a bed rotatable about two axes. With the head erect and the body in a standing, semi-prone or prone position (= pitch) the subject was tilted to the right to one of eight positions between 0° and 150° of roll. During eight minutes the subject aligned a luminous line with the subjective vertical (SV). Differences in the SV between the pitch positions of body were significant for roll tilts above 90°. Individuals differed in the way the SV changed between 90° and 150°, in the scatter in the settings from repeated experiments, and in the degree of influence of pitch positions (= somatoreceptor stimulation). The SV exhibited a distinct time-dependence which was different at tilts below 70° and above. It is concluded that from the two determinants of the SV one (somatoreceptors) loses effectiveness in time because of adaptive processes, while the other (labyrinth) loses effectiveness with increasing deviation of head position from the normal upright; their relative weighting differs from individual to individual.     

Collective guilt,moral outrage,and support for helping the poor: A matter of system versus in‐group responsibility framing

We examined how the framing of responsibility for reducing socio‐economic inequality affects individuals' emotional reactions towards the poor and the willingness to engage in prosocial actions. Attribution of responsibility to either the system (government and institutions), the less deprived in‐group, or the disadvantaged out‐group (poor) was measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Study 2). Consistent with our hypotheses, moral outrage was higher than collective guilt when system responsibility for inequalities was put forth, but collective guilt arose to reach the level of moral outrage when in‐group responsibility was emphasized. Moreover, distinguishing between collective guilt for action and for inaction, we found guilt for inaction more difficult and thus less likely to arise, unless responsibility was put on the in‐group. Collective emotions were also found to be negatively linked to system justification motivation illustrating the palliative function of legitimization processes. Finally, moral outrage predicted the willingness to act upon socio‐economic inequalities both when the system's and in‐group's responsibility was emphasized, whereas collective guilt for action (but not for inaction) predicted support for prosocial actions only when the in‐group's responsibility was engaged. These findings suggest that the specific group‐based emotions in response to poverty depend on whether the system or the in‐group is held responsible and differentially predict individuals' commitment to act.     

Being proven wrong elicits learning in children – but only in those with higher executive function skills

This study investigated whether prompting children to generate predictions about an outcome facilitates activation of prior knowledge and improves belief revision. 51 children aged 9–12 were tested on two experimental tasks in which generating a prediction was compared to closely matched control conditions, as well as on a test of executive functions (EF). In Experiment 1, we showed that children exhibited a pupillary surprise response to events that they had predicted incorrectly, hypothesized to reflect the transient release of noradrenaline in response to cognitive conflict. However, children's surprise response was not associated with better belief revision, in contrast to a previous study involving adults. Experiment 2 revealed that, while generating predictions helped children activate their prior knowledge, only those with better inhibitory control skills learned from incorrectly predicted outcomes. Together, these results suggest that good inhibitory control skills are needed for learning through cognitive conflict. Thus, generating predictions benefits learning – but only among children with sufficient EF capacities to harness surprise for revising their beliefs.     

A Psychometric Network Perspective on the Validity and Validation of Personality Trait Questionnaires

This article reviews the causal implications of latent variable and psychometric network models for the validation of personality trait questionnaires. These models imply different data generating mechanisms that have important consequences for the validity and validation of questionnaires. From this review, we formalize a framework for assessing the evidence for the validity of questionnaires from the psychometric network perspective. We focus specifically on the structural phase of validation, where items are assessed for redundancy, dimensionality, and internal structure. In this discussion, we underline the importance of identifying unique personality components (i.e. an item or set of items that share a unique common cause) and representing the breadth of each trait's domain in personality networks. After, we argue that psychometric network models have measures that are statistically equivalent to factor models but we suggest that their substantive interpretations differ. Finally, we provide a novel measure of structural consistency, which provides complementary information to internal consistency measures. We close with future directions for how external validation can be executed using psychometric network models. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The development of the memorability-based strategy: insight from a training study

We investigated whether the memorability-based strategy, a process supporting the rejection of nonexperienced event occurrence, could be promoted through training. The performance of children who received memorability-based training was compared with that of (a) children who received source-monitoring training and (b) children who did not receive any specific training but were instructed to be as accurate as possible. Participants (142 6- to 10-year-olds) enacted common and bizarre actions. Eighteen days later, participants received misinformation about the first session. Five days after being misinformed, children were questioned about the first session. Compared with children in the no training condition, those in both training conditions reported significantly more true events, but only older children who received the memorability-based training were more likely to reject bizarre suggested events. Age interacted with action type when metacognitive assessments about false event rejection were examined, consistent with the idea that the use of the memorability-based strategy develops late during the elementary school years.     

Attention in athletes of high and low experience engaged in different open skill sports

In this study were examined differences in attentional style of athletes engaged in two open skill sports requiring high reactivity (karate and volleyball) in groups with high or low experience. 42 healthy men, 24 volleyball players, 12 of High Experience (first division Italian League players whose M age was 28 yr. (SD=5) and 12 of Low Experience (prejunior Italian team athletes whose M age was 19 yr. (SD= 2). and 18 karateka, 9 of High Experience (3rd and 4th dan black belt athletes whose M age was 31 yr., SD=5) and 9 of Low Experience (1st and 2nd dan black belt karateka whose M age was 32 yr., SD=5). Tests involved different types of attention: Alert, Go/No-Go, Divided Attention, and Working Memory. For each one, the reaction time (RT), variability, change in RT, and number of errors were analysed. Karateka of High Experience reacted faster than those of Low Experience on the simple RT test, Alert (M RT: 204 vs 237 msec., p< .01), while on the Divided Attention test, the High Experience subjects performed more poorly and committed more errors (M errors: 4.89 vs 1.44, p <.003). Young volleyball players of Low Experience reacted faster than colleagues of High Experience on the Alert (M RT: 187 vs 210 msec., p<.01) and Divided Attention tests (M RT: 590 vs 688 msec., p<.001) but committed more errors (Divided Attention test, M errors: 6.50 vs 3.08, p<.007). For the Divided Attention and Working Memory tests, correlations were positive among errors, RT, and RT variability but only for volleyball athletes of High Experience, suggesting they showed higher attention and stability in complex reactions than the group with Low Experience. No significant correlations were noted for either group of karateka on complex reactions. Results suggested that the attentional resources were engaged in different ways in the two groups of athletes and, in each group, there were differences between persons of High and Low Experience.     

A pragmatic guideline for evaluation of social intervention

Considering the many theoretical and methodological viewpoints in the field of evaluation, a guideline was established to facilitate the evaluation of social intervention programs. For this purpose, the goals of the evaluation were taken into account: (a) planning interventions, (b) learning and continuous improvement of interventions, (c) programming policies, and (d) transformation of society. These goals will determine the perspective of the analysis selected (focusing on the evaluand or the context) and the strategies for change employed (focusing on processes or results). The elements that, according to Shadish, Cook, and Levinton (1991), constitute the theory of evaluation (evaluand, value, building of knowledge, and uses) have also been considered. The analysis of all these components led to the elaboration of a guideline to orient the practice of evaluation from a pragmatic perspective, in accordance with the demands and needs of a certain social context.     

Regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity in response to cognitive therapy in patients with generalized anxiety disorder

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), as it would be reflected through both psychological and psychoneuroendocrinological parameters. For this purpose, a group of outpatients with GAD were treated with CT for up to a maximum of 24 sessions. In order to assess psychological and biological changes, anxiety-related symptoms were evaluated according to the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function was determined through assessment of circulating cortisol levels. A significant decrease in the HAM-A scores, along with significant changes in plasma cortisol levels, were observed after completion of treatment with CT. These observations contribute to demonstrate that the effect of certain psychotherapeutic approaches, such as CT, may be observed at both psychological and biological levels.     

Nothing or the opposite: intersecting terror management and objective self‐awareness

The human capacity for self‐awareness allows people to envision their eventual death and thus creates the potential for debilitating anxiety. Terror management research has shown that self‐awareness exacerbates the experience of mortality salience. I suggest that self‐awareness alone can induce mortality salience through dialectical thinking. If constructs include a concept and its opposite, then focusing on one aspect should also increase awareness of the opposite. Focusing on the existing object self should thus lead to the recognition of the non‐existent self that is implied. In study 1, participants experienced one of two self‐awareness manipulations (exposure to a mirror, perceiving the self as distinctive) or no manipulation; mortality salience was measured using a death‐relevant word completion task. Both self‐awareness conditions reported significantly higher mortality salience than the control condition. In study 2, participants exposed to their reflection reported increased death salience and life salience (as measured by death‐ and life‐relevant word completion tasks) than a control group, which directly suggests that self‐awareness leads people to dialectically consider opposing facets of the self. Terror management and objective self‐awareness theories might thus be more intimately tied than was previously thought. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.