Dyadic judgments based on conflicting samples: The failure to ignore invalid input

The present research demonstrates a so far unrecognized impediment of group performance, metacognitive myopia (Fiedler, 2012). Judges and decision-makers follow the given samples of information uncritically and neglect the metacognitive assessment of the samples' validity. Applying this notion to dyadic judgments, we instructed dyads to jointly estimate conditional probabilities p (Win|A) and p (Win|B) of Lotteries A and B. One person per dyad experienced a valid sample (winning rates conditional on lotteries). The other person experienced an invalid, reverse sample (lotteries conditional on winning). Whereas valid samples provide unbiased estimates of lotteries' winning probabilities, invalid samples can greatly misrepresent the association of winning and lotteries (depending on lottery base rates). Across three experiments, metacognitive myopia—both at the individual and at the dyadic group level—prevented participants from discriminating valid and invalid samples. Group judgments were biased toward erroneous implications of invalid samples, reflecting an equality bias among unequal group members.     

Kant's Pragmatism

This article offers a definition of the term ‘pragmatic’, as it is used in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. The definition offered does not make any reference to the affinities between Kant's pragmatism and the philosophies of the American or other pragmatists but draws its definiens entirely from the Kantian conceptual framework. It states that the term ‘pragmatic’ denotes imperatives, laws and beliefs of a specific type: an imperative is pragmatic if and only if it is concerned with the choice of means to individual or universal happiness; a law is pragmatic if and only if our willingness to presuppose it results from our obedience to a pragmatic imperative; and a belief is pragmatic if and only if it relates to the objective validity of pragmatic laws. This article also discusses two rival definitions of the term ‘pragmatic’ (as used by Kant) that have been brought forward by Sidney Axinn and Nicholas Rescher.     

Symptomattributionsstile bei Hypochondrie

Background

Somatic symptom attributions are of central importance in cognitive-behavioral models of the development, maintenance and treatment of hypochondriasis. However, the mode of symptom attribution has rarely been systematically investigated in these patients. Is a somatic mode of symptom attribution indeed specific for hypochondriasis and furthermore, how strongly is it associated with “doctor shopping”, a typical behavioral consequence of hypochondriasis?

Patients and methods

In this study 88 hypochondriacal, 52 depressive and 52 healthy persons were asked to complete the symptom interpretations questionnaire and several standardized symptom questionnaires. They also took part in two structured clinical interviews for the diagnosis of hypochondriasis and various other psychological disorders according to DSM-IV.

Results

Somatic symptom attributions were associated specifically with hypochondriasis, while normalizing attributions characterized persons with low health anxiety. When examined as predictors in multiple regression models, in particular somatic attributions and the total of somatoform complaints predicted the intensity of health anxiety (R ²?=?0.69) and “doctor shopping” (R ²?=?0.48).

Conclusion

In the cognitive-behavioral treatment of hypochondriasis, patients should be encouraged to test normalizing explanations as alternatives to habitual somatic attributions of somatic disturbances.     

Relevant dimensions of cyberbullying — Results from two experimental studies

Cyberbullying is a prevalent problem of adolescents. However, several conceptual and measurement questions, regarding its defining characteristics and relevant dimensions in comparison to conventional bullying, remain unanswered. To this end we conducted two studies with experimental methods. Study I shows that power imbalance in terms of perceived popularity is relevant for the affective, cognitive, and behavioral experience of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying by a popular bully is more distressing than cyberbullying by an unpopular bully. Study II shows that factors unique to cyberbullying are also relevant for the experience of cyberbullying, namely the media and the type of cyberbullying. For example, different types of cyberbullying are related to different patterns of relevant coping strategies. Therefore, cyberbullying seems both a unique phenomenon and closely related to conventional bullying.     

Boosting One's Social Identity: Effects of Social Exclusion on Ethnocentrism

The present research examined the effects of social exclusion on ethnocentrism. It was reasoned that expressions of ethnocentrism boost one's social identity, which can serve as a buffer to the thwarted need to belong. In fact, Study 1 revealed that social exclusion, relative to a neutral control condition, increased participant's expressions of ethnocentrism. A second study replicated this finding and showed that social exclusion experiences also increase ethnocentrism relative to a social acceptance and a negative, non-rejection condition. These findings suggest that the effects of social exclusion on ethnocentrism are specific to the thwarted need to belong.     

Failing to Establish Evaluative Conditioning Effects for Indirect Intergroup Contact on Facebook

On Facebook, connections between users are published within “friends” lists. Therefore, ties between in- and outgroup members may be easily observed. We simulated this novel form of indirect intergroup contact through an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure and tested if intergroup attitudes may be influenced positively. To be specific, we presented outgroup members as conditioned stimuli (CSs) and mutual friendship as positively valenced unconditioned stimulus (US). To test our hypotheses, we carried out eight studies measuring explicit and implicit attitudes as well as prosocial intentions toward a target outgroup. However, results demonstrate consistently that the EC procedure did not improve attitudes.     

How the ventral pathway got lost: and what its recovery might mean

Textbooks dealing with the anatomical representation of language in the human brain display two language-related zones, Broca's area and Wernicke's area, connected by a single dorsal fiber tract, the arcuate fascicle. This classical model is incomplete. Modern imaging techniques have identified a second long association tract between the temporal and prefrontal language zones, taking a ventral course along the extreme capsule. This newly identified ventral tract connects brain regions needed for language comprehension, while the well-known arcuate fascicle is used for "sensorimotor mapping" during speech production. More than 130 years ago, Carl Wernicke already described a ventral connection for language, almost identical to the present results, but during scientific debate in the following decades either its function or its existence were rejected. This article tells the story of how this knowledge was lost and how the ventral connection, and in consequence the dual system, fits into current hypotheses and how language relates to other systems.     

Why People Try to Actively Change Unchangeable Situations: The Role of Anticipated Affect

Past research revealed that people were prone to persist with losing courses of action. However, in these studies, it was unclear in advance whether discontinuation of the course of action was not too early. The present research showed that participants tried to actively change a troubling situation (primary control) even if they were aware that the situation was not amenable to change. It was further examined why people use primary control in unchangeable situations. It was hypothesized and found that unchangeable (relative to changeable) situations give rise to extreme anticipated affect, which in turn is associated with the use of primary control strategies. Thus, it appears that anticipated affects (partly) underlie people’s tendency to cling to losing courses of action.