Explanation and Understanding: Action as “Historical Structure”

The first part of this essay is basically historical. It introduces the explanation–understanding divide, focusing in particular on the general–unique distinction. The second part is more philosophical and it presents two different claims on action. In the first place, I will try to say what it means to understand an action. Secondly, we will focus on the explanation of action as it is seen in some explanatory sciences. I will try to argue that in some cases these sciences commit what I call an “external contradiction”.

Measurement invariance of the Phubbing Scale across 20 countries

Mobile phone addiction is a robust phenomenon observed throughout the world. The social aspect of mobile phone use is crucial; therefore, phubbing is a part of the mobile phone addiction phenomenon. Phubbing is defined as ignoring an interlocutor by glancing at one's mobile phone during a face-to-face conversation. The main aim of this study was to investigate how the Phubbing Scale (containing 10 items) might vary across countries, and between genders. Data were collected in 20 countries: Belarus, Brazil, China, Croatia, Ecuador, India, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA. The mean age across the sample (N = 7696, 65.8% women, 34.2% men) was 25.32 years (SD = 9.50). The cross-cultural invariance of the scale was investigated using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) as well as the invariance analyses. Additionally, data from each country were assessed individually via confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs). We obtained two factors, based on only eight of the items: (a) communication disturbances and (b) phone obsession. The 8 items Phubbing Scale.     

The influence of rule availability and item similarity on metacognitive monitoring during categorisation

In four experiments, we examined the sources of metacognitive judgments during the categorisation of new items after the learning of old items was completed. In the rule condition, the categorisation rule was explicitly given to the participants during learning, while in the no-rule condition participants relied on feedback to infer category membership. In the transfer phase, two types of novel items were used: good and bad transfer items. Transfer items also differed in the level of similarity to their training pairs. In the rule condition, all types of transfer items were classified with high accuracy and confidence. In the no-rule condition, a dissociation between accuracy and confidence was revealed. Good transfer items were classified more accurately than bad transfer items, whereas similar items were classified with higher confidence than dissimilar items. The obtained results suggest the utilisation of two potential cues for metacognitive judgments: declarative knowledge if the correct rule is explicitly available, and item similarity if it is difficult to infer the correct rule from feedback.     

The impact of pre-sleep arousal state and strategy to control unwanted thoughts on sleep quality

Objective: It has been questioned whether elevated pre-sleep cognitive arousal contributes to poor sleep or whether it is the use of maladaptive thought control strategies, used to manage this cognitive arousal, that are responsible. The study aimed to examine how these factors – cognitive arousal (with and without anxiety) and maladaptive thought control strategies contribute to perceived sleep quality (SQ). Design: 129 “healthy adults” (46 males, 83 females) were exposed to picture-stimuli eliciting either anxious cognitive arousal or non-anxious cognitive arousal at bedtime. The groups were then randomly split and briefed to use either a cognitive distraction or cognitive suppression thought control strategy or no instructions were given (controls). Subjective SQ was measured immediately on waking. Results: Induced anxious cognitive arousal was associated with lower SQ compared to non-anxious cognitive arousal. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between arousal and the strategies used to control unwanted thoughts on SQ. When experiencing anxious cognitive arousal, the strategy of distraction was associated with poorer sleep outcomes. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the efficacy of differing thought control strategies vary depending upon whether cognitive arousal elicits anxiety or not. With that in mind, clinical implications in terms of augmenting the treatment of insomnia are discussed.     

Individual Learning Styles and Creativity

Business schools are in need of developing creative graduates. This article explores how creativity among business students can be stimulated. Because a considerable amount of knowledge is required for creative ideas to emerge, the learning process has a significant impact on creativity. This, in turn, indicates that learning style is important for creative performance. In addition to exploring the relationship between learning styles and creativity, the research reported here tested self-efficacy and enjoyment as mediators. One hundred and fifty students participated in this study. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that independent and collaborative learning styles were associated with higher creativity. Although the independent learning style-creativity relationship was mediated by self-efficacy, the collaborative learning style-creativity relationship was partially mediated by enjoyment of the learning process. Implications for business education are discussed.     

Impacts of Flooding on the Quality of Life in Rural Regions of Southern Slovakia

Human activity has significantly influenced energy flows in the landscape. Physical and geographical features of an area in the context of natural processes highlight their influence on the human lives in the affected regions of Slovakia. The paper aimed on the influence of the extraordinary flooding impact in June 2013 on the quality of life in Slovak rural regions. We have investigated the impact of the resulting damage on human activities in the rural municipality of Ch?aba. The case study of southern Slovakia can provide a more realistic view at regularly flooded areas in Slovak geographical conditions. The target of our research was to map and monitor the situation during the floods and shortly after them and to draw proposals leading to a more operative approach in the context of comprehensive flood protection in Slovakia. The added value of the research is a creation of such graphical supporting documents, which could be served as a basis for creating the plan of flood prevention management in rural territories, as a part of negative impacts of floods reduction on human activities.     

Why should we try to think like scientists? Scientific reasoning and susceptibility to epistemically suspect beliefs and cognitive biases

This paper examines whether scientific reasoning skills predict people's susceptibility to epistemically suspect beliefs and cognitive biases. We used the recently developed Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS) because it measures the ability to read and evaluate scientific evidence. Alongside the SRS, 317 participants aged 18–30 years completed measures of thinking dispositions and cognitive ability to ascertain whether the SRS contributes specifically to susceptibility to epistemically suspect beliefs and cognitive biases. Scientific reasoning correlated positively with dispositions towards analytic thinking and cognitive ability and negatively with dogmatism, epistemically suspect beliefs, and susceptibility to cognitive biases. Most importantly, it emerged as a significant predictor, contributing to susceptibility to both cognitive biases and epistemically suspect beliefs over and above the other cognitive predictors. These results provide the first empirical evidence that scientific reasoning ability is an important factor in protecting against epistemically suspect beliefs and in aiding better decision making among the non-scientific population.     

Music therapy with hospitalized infants—the art and science of communicative musicality

Infants seek contingent, companionable interactions with others. Infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), while receiving care that optimizes their chances of survival, often do not have the kind of interactions that are optimal for their social development. Live music therapy (MT) with infants is an intervention that aims for contingent, social interaction between therapist and infant. This study, with a limited numbers of infants, examined the effectiveness of an MT intervention in the NICU at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Two groups of late pre‐term and full‐term infants were recruited to the study; one was given MT and the other was not. A healthy group of infants not given MT served as an additional control. The effect of MT was indexed using two measures reflecting infant social engagement: the Neurobehavioral Assessment of the Preterm Infant (NAPI) and the Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB). Results suggest that the MT intervention used at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne supports infants' neurobehavioral development. In particular, hospitalized infants who received MT were better able to maintain self‐regulation during social interaction with an adult, were less irritable and cried less, and were more positive in their response to adult handling, when compared with infants who did not receive the intervention. These are important prerequisites for social interaction and development. Further and larger scale research using MT with this population is indicated.     

Differentiation of Psychotic From Nonpsychotic Psychiatric Inpatients: The Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index

The aim of the study was to investigate the validity of the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) to detect psychotic perceptual and thought disturbance in a sample of Slovene psychiatric inpatients. Using a sample of 275 adult psychiatric inpatients of both sexes, we examined the differences between patients with psychosis (PP) and patients with no psychotic features (NP) from various diagnostic groups on the global PTI and its subcomponent variables. PPs obtained significantly higher PTI scores, indicating more disturbed perception and more thinking disturbance, than NPs. No differences were found for diagnostic differences within the PP and NP groups. Results are in accordance with previous studies of the PTI as a valid cross-cultural index of perceptual and thinking disturbance.