Individual differences in using geometric and featural cues to maintain spatial orientation: Cue quantity and cue ambiguity are more important than cue type

Two experiments explored the role of environmental cues in maintaining spatial orientation (sense of selflocation and direction) during locomotion. Of particular interest was the importance of geometric cues (provided by environmental surfaces) and featural cues (nongeometric properties provided by striped walls) in maintaining spatial orientation. Participants performed a spatial updating task within virtual environments containing geometric or featural cues that were ambiguous or unambiguous indicators of self-location and direction. Cue type (geometric or featural) did not affect performance, but the number and ambiguity of environmental cues did. Gender differences, interpreted as a proxy for individual differences in spatial ability and/or experience, highlight the interaction between cue quantity and ambiguity. When environmental cues were ambiguous, men stayed oriented with either one or two cues, whereas women stayed oriented only with two. When environmental cues were unambiguous, women stayed oriented with one cue.     

Hope versus optimism in Singaporean adolescents: Contributions to depression and life satisfaction

This study explored the discriminant validity of optimism and hope in accounting for unique variance in depression and life satisfaction for 334 secondary school students from Singapore. Correlational analysis showed that optimism and hope were significantly correlated with each other. Hierarchical multiple regression findings indicated that both optimism and hope significantly predicted depression and life satisfaction even after controlling for hope and optimism, respectively. However, the incremental unique variance accounted for in depression by optimism is 6% more than that accounted for by hope in terms of R² Change values. Simultaneous multiple regression analyses using the subscale scores found that only agency, optimism, and pessimism contributed uniquely to the variance in depression and life satisfaction. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Luther in Context: With Illustrations

The author explores his work on the first volume of The Annotated Luther detailing Luther's commitment to humanism's “good letters” and his developing theology of preaching law and gospel, especially indicated by the Ninety‐five Theses and Freedom of a Christian.     

Syntax response–space biases for hands,not feet

A number of studies have shown a relationship between comprehending transitive sentences and spatial processing (e.g., Chatterjee, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(2), 55–61, 2001), in which there is an advantage for responding to images that depict the agent of an action to the left of the patient. Boiteau and Almor (Cognitive Science, 2016) demonstrated that a similar effect is found for pure linguistic information, such that after reading a sentence, identifying a word that had appeared earlier as the agent is faster on the left than on the right, but only for left-hand responses. In this study, we examined the role of lateralized manual motor processes in this effect and found that such spatial effects occur even when only the responses, but not the stimuli, have a spatial dimension. In support of the specific role of manual motor processes, we found a response-space effect with manual but not with pedal responses. Our results support an effector-specific (as opposed to an effector-general) hypothesis: Manual responses showed spatial effects compatible with those in previous research, whereas pedal responses did not. This is consistent with theoretical and empirical work arguing that the hands are generally involved with, and perhaps more sensitive to, linguistic information.     

The relation of lightness and stereoscopic depth in a simple viewing situation

The effect of stereoscopic depth on perceived lightness was studied using a simple, achromatic stimulus arrangement. In Experiment 1, depth/lightness interactions were sought between a single test field and a single induction field. In Experiment 2, depth/lightness interactions were looked for between a single test field and two induction fields. Stimuli were presented on a computer screen and viewed with a stereoscope. The subjects reported perceived lightness of the achromatic test field by rating its apparent blackness along a dimension of 0%–100%. In Experiment 1, they reported lightness judgments of the test field across 13 perceived depth levels and 8 contrast levels. In Experiment 2, they gave lightness judgments of the test field across 7 perceived depth levels and 16 contrast levels. We were particularly interested in observing the generality of Gilchrist’s coplanar ratio hypothesis. The results showed that when stereopsis and contrast levels are the available cues, depth and lightness percepts are independent, and it is retinal ratios, not coplanar ratios, that dictate lightness perception. We conclude that before the relative depth location of an object is determined, its lightness value is known through sensory-level processes.     

What underlies the deficit in reported recollective experience in old age?

In recognition memory, older adults report fewer occasions on which recognition is accompanied by recollection of the original encoding context. This study asks why this occurs. Two main hypotheses were tested: (1) Older adults fail to encode the items sufficiently when first they experience them. (2) Older adults have a retrieval deficit that prevents efficient reintegration of target and context. In addition, the hypothesis that frontal lobe integrity is essential for recollective experience was examined. Twenty older (mean age 70.7 years) and 20 younger (mean age 22.9 years) adults were asked to study a list of items and to verbalize the strategies they were using to remember. A further 20 older adults (mean age 70.0 years) were tested without the think-aloud protocol. Subsequently, subjects completed a battery of psychometric tests before completing a recognition test. As expected, older adults showed less recollective experience. They differed from the young in how they encoded the material, and once this difference was accounted for, no age differences in recollective experience remained. There was little evidence to support the hypothesis that frontal lobe integrity plays a role in the reduction of recollective experience with age.     

Liberals, moderates and jihadists: protesting Danish cartoons in Indonesia

Muslim liberals, moderates, and radical “jihadists,” together with the Indonesian government, condemned Danish caricatures of Prophet Muhammad as insulting and hateful. However, the form of protest of these diverse segments of Indonesian Muslims was shaped by their ideological frameworks and political agendas. The “mainstream” of Indonesia’s increasingly radical “moderate” Muslim community, as represented by Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah, and the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), squarely condemned the images within their particular perspectives, while distancing themselves from the “anarchist” radical demonstrators. The Liberal Islam Network (JIL), dedicated to fighting against “fundamentalists,” pointed out the role of detrimental fundamentalisms around the world. Several small radical groups, MMI, FPI and HTI actively staged street demonstrations fitting this case into their ideological framework of jihad, defending Islam, and/or striving for an Islamic state. These varied responses are better understood as integral to ongoing processes of radicalization, liberalization, and cultural and politico-jural Islamization.

Aggression and Fire: Antisocial Behavior in Firesetting and Nonfiresetting Juvenile Offenders

This study examined the association between firesetting and antisocial behavior in 219 juvenile offenders. The study showed, through a series of a priori model comparisons using confirmatory factor analysis, that reliable data on both firesetting (n = 85) and nonfiresetting (n = 134) juvenile offenders best fit a 3-factor model composed of aggressive, nonaggressive, and oppositional antisocial behavior. Although the same general structure of antisocial behavior best fit the data for both groups, the firesetting group exhibited a significantly higher variety and frequency of aggressive and total antisocial acts and an earlier age of index arrest. It is argued that results from this study support a conceptualization of firesetting as accompanying serious and versatile antisocial behavior. Consistency with an early starter pattern of antisocial behavior among firesetting offenders is noted, and evidence suggesting that firesetting is indicative of developmentally advanced, serious, and varied antisocial behavior among troubled youth is discussed.     

Are measures of self-esteem,neuroticism, locus of control,and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct?

The authors present results of 4 studies that seek to determine the discriminant and incremental validity of the 3 most widely studied traits in psychology-self-esteem, neuroticism, and locus of control-along with a 4th, closely related trait-generalized self-efficacy. Meta-analytic results indicated that measures of the 4 traits were strongly related. Results also demonstrated that a single factor explained the relationships among measures of the 4 traits. The 4 trait measures display relatively poor discriminant validity, and each accounted for little incremental variance in predicting external criteria relative to the higher order construct. In light of these results, the authors suggest that measures purporting to assess self-esteem, locus of control, neuroticism, and generalized self-efficacy may be markers of the same higher order concept.