Inferences under time pressure: how opportunity costs affect strategy selection

Do the inference strategies people select depend on the magnitude of time pressure? Is this dependency modified by the type of time pressure? These questions are addressed in three experimental studies in which participants made inferences after having searched for information on a computerized information board. In Study 1, time pressure was induced indirectly by imposing opportunity costs of being slow, a form of time pressure that is common in daily life but that has rarely been examined in the literature. A simple lexicographic heuristic (LEX) achieved the best fit in predicting participants' inferences. Studies 2 and 3 induced high time pressure either indirectly by imposing opportunity costs in terms of time or directly by limiting the time for each choice. Regardless of how time pressure was induced, under high time pressure the inferences could be best predicted with LEX, whereas under low time pressure a weighted linear model that integrates all available information predicted the inferences best. We conclude that people select strategies adaptively depending on characteristics of the situation.     

Cognitive resources, valence, and memory retrieval of emotional events in older adults

In 2 studies with older adults, the authors investigated the effect of executive attention resources on the retrieval of emotional public events. Participants completed a battery of working memory tasks, as a measure of executive attention, and a battery of tasks assessing memory, as well as subjective experiences associated with the retrieval of remote public events. Participants also rated the valence of each public event story. The group-rated valence of the public event stories predicted retrieval and the quality of experiences associated with them, such that emotionally arousing events elicited the highest memory rates and the richest experiences. Furthermore, positive public events elicited the highest memory rates. Executive attention moderated only the relationship between event valence and how participants' associated memories are experienced at retrieval, such that superior executive attention resources predicted richer experiences associated with positive relative to neutral and negative stories. The current results extend previous findings on the effects of aging on emotion regulation, suggesting that cognitive control resources modulate subjective experiences associated with retrieved memories for remote real life events, but not memory retrieval itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

The use of heuristics in intuitive mathematical judgment

Anecdotal evidence points to the use of beauty as an indication of truth in mathematical problem solving. In the two experiments of the present study, we examined the use of heuristics and tested the assumption that participants use symmetry as a cue for correctness in an arithmetic verification task. We manipulated the symmetry of sets of dot pattern addition equations. Speeded decisions about the correctness of these equations led to higher endorsements for both correct and incorrect equations when the addend and sum dot patterns were symmetrical. Therefore, this effect is not due to the fact that symmetry facilitates calculation or estimation. We found systematic evidence for the use of heuristics in solving mathematical tasks, and we discuss how these findings relate to a processing-fluency account of intuition in mathematical judgment.     

Intrapersonal variation in consumer susceptibility to normative influence: toward a better understanding of brand choice decisions

The authors examined intrapersonal variation in consumer susceptibility to normative influence as a key mediator of wine brand choice. On the basis of a consumer sample, the authors found that individual values and social identity complexity affect consumer susceptibility to normative influence with downstream effects on (a) which brand benefits consumers desire in wine and (b) choice. Individuals higher on internal values and with more complex social identities were less susceptible to normative influence and placed less emphasis on social brand benefits. Separate examinations of consumption scenarios with and without salient reference groups showed that reference group salience interacts with personal values and social identity complexity in affecting consumer susceptibility to normative influence, which in turn affects which brand benefits consumers desire and consequently choice.     

A typology of religious attitudes among young people in Germany

Issues like faith and Church, religion and religiousness are not valued particularly highly among the young. At the same time a search for the meaning of life and an orientation in one’s own behaviour still seem to be significant and transcendent focal points are being sought to deal with these issues. This article questions the value that religion, faith and the Church have for young people on the basis of empirical data. Five types of religious orientation of young people are identified: a churchly Christian type, an autonomously Christian type, a conventionally religious type, an autonomously religious type and, finally, a non‐religious type. The empirical data are taken from a study of about 800 pupils in the Grade 11 (age 16–17 years) from grammar schools (Gymnasien) in Germany.     

Fibromyalgie und Leistungseinschränkung

Interdisciplinary guidelines allowed for new quality standards in pain appraisal. Simultaneously, the scientific notion of fibromyalgia changed from a subjectively overvalued malaise to a central disturbance of coping with stress, which is neurobiologically determined. Therefore, in this article a psychosomatics-based guide is given for the socio-medical appraisal of fibromyalgia with reference to the new International Classification for Functioning and Disability (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO). As illustration a case study is presented.     

Investigating a computerised test of the Stroop effect extended by inclusion of a third, more difficult task

A validation study of a computerised test recently developed involving the Stroop effect, extended here by inclusion of a third, more difficult test series, is presented. Three groups of men belonging to the Swedish armed forces and adjudged to differ in their qualifications (20, 32, and 19 men of levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and a fourth group of 18 men convicted of serious crimes of violence were given this test, termed the Stress Strategy Test. Discriminant analysis of the test's 12 variables (four for each of the three test series) yielded a discriminant power of 65% for the total group, highest for the level 1 group (80%) and for the nonmilitary group (72%), results substantially better than obtained for the original version of the test with use of similar subject groups.     

The other way around: does health predict perceived support?

The aim in this study was to identify predictors of perceived social support before and after cataract surgery. We hypothesized that physical (comorbidity and visual acuity) and mental (depressive symptoms) health indicators would be directly and indirectly (through actually received support) associated with perceived support. One hundred and thirty-six cataract patients (69% women; mean age = 71.6 years) completed questionnaires before and after cataract surgery. Results showed that received support partially mediated the association between depressive symptoms and perceived support. However, mental and physical health variables were also directly associated with perceived support. We conclude that health status might feedback to perceptions of available support.     

Effects of route guidance variable message signs (VMS) on driver behaviour

Effects of route guidance Variable Message Signs (VMS) on speed and route choice were investigated in a field study on two sites on motorways. Two VMS were used in the study, which displayed information about a closed road section downstream on the motorways and recommendations for alternative routes. Route choice, speed and braking behaviour were compared between vehicles approaching the VMS while they displayed messages and while they were left blank without message. There was high compliance with the messages on the VMS. About every fifth vehicle changed route choice according to the recommendation, and almost none drove as far as the closed road section. Speed measurements of 3342 vehicles showed large speed reductions, and video observations showed that large proportions of vehicles braked while approaching the VMS. The speed reductions and braking manoeuvres can partly be attributed to attention overload or distraction due to the information on the VMS. However, a proportion of the speed reductions was due to chain reactions where one vehicle braked and forced the following vehicles to brake or change lanes in order to avoid collisions. Safety problems may result directly from distraction, or indirectly from the reactions of the drivers to the distraction.