Predicting and understanding behavioral volitions: the interplay between goals and behaviors

In traditional attitude research behavioral volitions have been usually considered in isolation from the broader context that justify their formation. Most behaviors are functional to goal achievement and can be better understood and predicted by considering relevant constructs at the goal level. The interplay between behaviors and goals is the focus of this study. Constructs specified by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) are examined together with constructs proposed by the Model of Goal‐directed Behavior (MGB) and two further goal constructs (goal desires and goal perceived feasibility). These theoretical ideas are tested on a sample of 104 students having a goal for body weight regulation or for studying effort. The results indicate that the inclusion of distal goal‐related constructs significantly improve the prediction of behavioral volitions, over and above the prediction based on behavior‐related constructs. The MGB and an extended model outperform the TPB and show substantial predictive power. The implications of the findings for research on behaviors and goals are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Die tiefe Hirnstimulation

psychopraxis. neuropraxis - Die tiefe Hirnstimulation (THS) ist ein Behandlungsverfahren, bei dem über implantierte Stimulationselektroden im Nervengewebe von tiefer gelegenen Strukturen des...     

Freud’s Jaw and Other Lost Objects: Fractured Subjectivity in the Face of Cancer,by Lana Lin,Fordham University Press,New York, 2017, 224 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

On the Possibility of Presentism with Occurrents

Philosophia - This paper defends the possibility of admitting occurrents in a presentist ontology. Two ways of doing so are proposed, the first one involves Meinongian presentism. By using the...     

Economic Predictors of Differences in Interview Faking Between Countries: Economic Inequality Matters,Not the State of Economy

Many companies recruit employees from different parts of the globe, and faking behavior by potential employees is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It seems that applicants from some countries are more prone to faking compared to others, but the reasons for these differences are largely unexplored. This study relates country-level economic variables to faking behavior in hiring processes. In a cross-national study across 20 countries, participants (N = 3,839) reported their faking behavior in their last job interview. This study used the random response technique (RRT) to ensure participants’ anonymity and to foster honest answers regarding faking behavior. Results indicate that general economic indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP] and unemployment rate) show negligible correlations with faking across the countries, whereas economic inequality is positively related to the extent of applicant faking to a substantial extent. These findings imply that people are sensitive to inequality within countries and that inequality relates to faking, because inequality might actuate other psychological processes (e.g., envy) which in turn increase the probability for unethical behavior in many forms.     

Visual Attention in Real-World Conversation: Gaze Patterns Are Modulated by Communication and Group Size

Gaze behavior both initiates and maintains conversations, playing a crucial role in real-world collaboration. Hitherto, most findings on social attention stem from research using pictures of faces in the laboratory, however, attention operates differently in the real world. Thus, we know little of how gaze behavior operates in naturalistic interactions. To bridge this gap, we applied mobile eye-tracking to investigate the gaze patterns present in naturalistic conversations. Specifically, we examined gaze behavior of participants in a group of two or five, either sitting together in silence, or engaging in a conversation, in which they took turns either listening or speaking to each other. Results show that participants looked more frequently towards others when the group was communicating compared to when remaining silent, and that they looked at others more frequently when listening compared to when speaking. Furthermore, being part of a dyad led to more social attention being afforded during conversation compared to the group situation, regardless of whether subjects were listening or speaking. Meanwhile, when sitting in silence subjects showed less social gazing in a dyad than in a group of five. Our results provide qualitative and quantitative insights into the patterns of visual attention during dynamic naturalistic conversations.     

The consequence argument ungrounded

Peter van Inwagen’s original formulation of the Consequence Argument employed an inference rule (rule beta) that was shown to be invalid given van Inwagen’s interpretation of the modal operators in the Consequence Argument (McKay and Johnson in Philos Top 24:113–122, 1996). In response, van Inwagen (Metaphysics. The big questions, Blackwell, Oxford, 2008a, Harv Rev Philos 22:16–30, 2015) recently suggested a revised interpretation of his modal operators. Following up on a debate between Blum (Dialectica 57:423–429, 2003) and Schnieder (Synthese 162:101–115, 2008), I analyze van Inwagen’s revised interpretation in terms of explanatory notions and I argue that van Inwagen faces a dilemma: he either has to admit that beta entails fatalism, or he has to admit that a new counterexample invalidates beta. Either way, it seems reasonable to reject beta and to conclude that the Consequence Argument fails. Further, I argue that Widerker’s (Analysis 47:37–41, 1987) well-known substitute for rule beta is faced with a similar dilemma and, therefore, is bound to fail as well. I conclude that, if the modal operators are interpreted in terms of explanatory notions, neither van Inwagen’s nor Widerker’s rule of inference turns out to be valid.