Automatic motor activation by mere instruction

Previous behavioral studies have shown that instructions about stimulus–response (S-R) mappings can influence task performance even when these instructions are irrelevant for the current task. In the present study, we tested whether automatic effects of S–R instructions occur because the instructed stimuli automatically activate their corresponding responses. We registered the lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) that were evoked by the instructed stimuli while participants were performing a task for which those mappings were irrelevant. Instructed S–R mappings clearly affected task performance in electrophysiological and behavioral measures. The LRP was found to deflect in the direction of the response tendency that corresponded with the instructed S–R mapping. Early activation of the instructed response was observed but occurred predominantly on slow trials. In contrast, response conflict evoked by instructed S–R mappings did not modulate the N2 amplitude. The results strongly suggest that, like experienced S–R mappings, instructed S–R mappings can lead to automatic response activation, but possibly via a different route.     

The Religious Context of Welfare Attitudes

This article examines the influence of three dimensions of religion—belonging (faith tradition membership), behaving (frequency of service attendance), and context (one's relationship to aggregate population characteristics)—on attitudes toward multiple forms of state‐provided social protection, or welfare attitudes. To do so, this article uses data from 17 countries surveyed in the 2006 “Role of Government” wave of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Results from mixed effects regression show that contextual effects are highly predictive of welfare attitudes. Nations that are more religiously heterogeneous are less supportive of state protection, while nations that are more homogeneous, particularly Catholic nations, are more supportive. Results hold net of fractionalization, political institutional measures, and economic characteristics. At the individual level, all three dimensions of religiosity are predictive of welfare attitudes. These patterns suggest that in rich Western democracies, religion continues to play an important role in structuring the moral economies.     

Co-Authoring “We-ness” and Stories of Intimacy

Drawing from narrative ideas and practices, we consider how individuals, couples, and couples with therapists co-author and co-edit stories of “we-ness,” a kind of relational consciousness, and intimacy in the context of research interviews. Adapting the “small story” narrative approach of Michael Bamberg, and recognizing researcher reflexivity, we present details from two separate studies into: (1) how cohabitating couples co-authored stories of “we-ness” in and beyond a research interview; and (2) how young married couples co-authored stories of “we-ness” by describing how they made significant decisions together through difficult yet successful conversations. Inviting such stories of “we-ness” can talk this intimacy into being. We relate the processes and outcomes of these studies to using a narrative approach to help individuals and couples with concerns about intimacy within the context of therapy.     

The subject in transmission: the phantomic origins of (dual) unity and the birth of the self

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - Abraham and Torok’s clinical concept of the phantom can be rethought in extended terms to account for the challenges inherent in giving birth to...     

Phenomenology and Artificial Life: Toward a Technological Supplementation of Phenomenological Methodology

The invention of the computer has revolutionized science. With respect to finding the essential structures of life, for example, it has enabled scientists not only to investigate empirical examples, but also to create and study novel hypothetical variations by means of simulation: ‘life as it could be’. We argue that this kind of research in the field of artificial life, namely the specification, implementation and evaluation of artificial systems, is akin to Husserl’s method of free imaginative variation as applied to the specific regional ontology of biology. Thus, at a time when the clarification of the essence of our biological embodiment is of growing interest for phenomenology, we suggest that artificial life should be seen as a method of externalizing some of the insurmountable complexity of imaginatively varying the phenomenon of life.     

Quality at the Point of Service: Profiles of Practice in After-School Settings

A unique observational data set was used to explore quality at the point of service in after-school programs. Staff practices in after-school settings were represented on a series of unidimensional scales closely indexed to staff behavior. In order to account for heterogeneity of staff performances, pattern-centered methods were used to construct profiles of common staff practices. Results revealed six pedagogy profiles that were classified in terms of three broad types of performances delivered by after-school staff: (1) positive youth development, (2) staff-centered, and (3) low-quality. Staff membership in these profiles was not related to youth-staff ratio. However, results revealed significant differences between the profiles on the content of the offering and the age of youth in the setting.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Perceived Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence

This longitudinal study examined bidirectional paths between perceived parent-adolescent relationship quality and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating role of sex, age, and personality type. 1313 Dutch adolescents (51% girls) from two cohorts (923 12-year olds and 390 16-year olds at Wave 1) reported on their personality, depressive symptoms, and perceived relationship quality to parents in four waves. Consistent with a relationship erosion perspective, depressive symptoms negatively predicted perceived relationship quality with parents. Relationship quality to mothers predicted depressive symptoms for boys and girls, but relationship quality to fathers predicted depressive symptoms only for boys. Personality type only moderated initial associations between relationship quality with mothers and depressive symptoms, which were stronger for Overcontrollers and Undercontrollers than for Resilients. Results thus reveal a pattern of mutual influence between perceived relationship quality and depressive symptoms that is moderated by the interplay among parent and adolescent sex and adolescent personality type.     

Career trajectories of Dutch pop musicians: A longitudinal study

Systematic studies of artistic careers are scarce and this is the first large-scale study on the career development of pop musicians. Using a prospective longitudinal approach we followed a sample of aspiring pop musicians in the Netherlands (N = 369) over a three-year period. First we identified four groups of pop musicians with different career patterns, that is, upward careers, downward careers, stable successful careers and stable unsuccessful careers. By means of a multigroup growth mixture model we examined how career success was influenced by social support, professional attitude and professional network. Results showed that successful pop musicians experience more social support, have a stronger professional attitude and a more extensive professional network. Moreover, our study shows that these findings were consistent both between and within the different career pattern groups.