Safety in Numbers: A Policy‐Capturing Study of the Alibi Assessment Process

A policy‐capturing analysis of alibi assessments was conducted. University students (N = 65), law enforcement students (N = 21), and police officers (N = 11) were provided with 32 statements from individuals supporting a suspect's alibi (i.e., alibi corroborators) and asked to assess the believability of the alibi, the suspect's guilt, and whether they would arrest the suspect. Each statement was composed of five binary features (i.e., relationship between corroborator and accused, age of corroborator, amount of available corroborators, alibi corroborator's confidence in their account, and memorability of the target event). Results showed that there was much parity in the type of information used to assess alibis across the samples. Specifically, we found that 90% of participants' decision policies included the amount of corroborators. Participants also relied upon, albeit to a lesser extent, the suspect–corroborator relationship and the age of the corroborator when assessing the alibi. The potential implications of these findings for understanding how people assess alibi corroborators are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collateral Reports and Cross-Informant Agreement about Adult Psychopathology in 14 Societies

To advance international mental health assessment, instruments that have been internationally validated are needed. To this end, we analyzed ratings from 14 societies on the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), a collateral-report form parallel to the Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) for ages 18 to 59. Both the ABCL and the ASR assess problems, personal strengths, and adaptive functioning. For a sample of 8322 see note below collaterals, we found strong consistency across societies regarding which ABCL problem items tended to obtain relatively low, medium, or high ratings. Most societal effect sizes (ESs) for problem scale scores were small to medium (< 13.9 %), but the ES for the ABCL Personal Strengths scale was 25 %. For most of the same participants (N = 8,302), we analyzed cross-informant agreement between self-reports on the ASR and collateral reports on the ABCL. Cross-informant correlations for problem scale scores averaged .47, with considerable societal variation. Problem score means were higher on the ASR than the ABCL in every society, but the size of the difference varied across societies. Mean item ratings on the ABCL and ASR were highly correlated within every society (mean r = .92), but within-dyad item rating agreement varied widely in every society (mean r = .39). In all societies, non-corroboration of self-reported deviance and of collateral-reported deviance was common. Overall findings indicated considerable similarity but also some important differences in collateral-reported problems and adaptive functioning across 14 societies.     

A Probabilistic Model of Criticality in a Sequential Public Good Dilemma

A public good (PG) is a commodity or service made available to all members of a group: its provision depends on the voluntary contribution of its members. Once provided, all members can enjoy the benefits of the PG, regardless of whether they contributed or not; hence, there is a temptation to “free-ride” in the hope that others will contribute. Rapoport (1987) showed that an important factor that affects cooperation (contribution) in a PG dilemma is the extent to which a group member is critical in providing it. Erev and Rapoport (1990) tested a game-theoretic model that yields deterministic predictions about the effects of criticality on cooperation in public good dilemmas. Based on research by Chen, Au, and Komorita (1996), we propose a probabilistic model of criticality. The model is tested and found to fit empirical data. Extensions of the model to situations with uncertain group size or provision point are discussed.     

Cognitive adaptation and its consequences: a test of cognitive continuum theory

Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT) is an adaptive theory of human judgement and posits a continuum of cognitive modes anchored by intuition and analysis. The theory specifies surface and depth task characteristics that are likely to induce cognitive modes at different points along the cognitive continuum. The current study manipulated both the surface (information representation) and depth (task structure) characteristics of a multiple‐cue integration threat assessment task. The surface manipulation influenced cognitive mode in the predicted direction with an iconic information display inducing a more intuitive mode than a numeric information display. The depth manipulation influenced cognitive mode in a pattern not predicted by CCT. Results indicate this difference was due to a combination of task complexity and participant satisfacing. As predicted, analysis produced a more leptokurtic error distribution than intuition. Task achievement was a function of the extent to which participants demonstrated an analytic cognitive mode index, and not a function of correspondence, as predicted. This difference was likely due to the quantitative nature of the task manipulations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From Wittgenstein’s N-operator to a New Notation for Some Decidable Modal Logics

Wittgenstein’s N-operator is a ‘primitive sign’ which shows every complex proposition is the result of the truth-functional combination of a finite number of component propositions, and thus provides a mechanical method to determine logical truth. The N-operator can be interpreted as a generalized Sheffer stroke. In this paper, I introduce a new ‘primitive sign’ that is a hybrid of generalized Sheffer stroke and modality, and give a uniform expression for modal formulas. The general form of modal formula in the new notation is [A₀···A_n?1; B₀···B_m?1], which is semantically equivalent to ¬A₀∨···∨¬ A_n?1∨? (¬B₀∨···∨¬B_m?1). Based on this new notation, I propose several analytic axiomatic systems for some decidable modal logics. Every axiom of these analytic systems is an ‘Atomic-Sheffer’, which is the result of the combination of a finite number of component propositions. The inferential rules are analytic in that the set of elementary propositions that are combined in the premiss overlaps the set of elementary propositions combined in the conclusion, in virtue of which every complex proposition can be reduced to an ‘Atomic-Sheffer’ at the ultimate level. The analytic modal systems have the same classical inferential rules. Different modal systems can be built by adding special modal inferential rules. In an analytic system for modal logic L, valid formulas on L-models can be proved by a purely mechanical method.     

The effect of shame on anger at others: awareness of the emotion-causing events matters

Numerous studies have found that shame increases individuals’ anger at others. However, according to recent theories about the social function of shame and anger at others, it is possible that shame controls individuals’ anger at others in specific conditions. We replicated previous findings that shame increased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were not aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. We also found for the first time that shame controlled or even decreased individuals’ anger at others’ unfairness, when others were aware of the individual’s experience of shameful events. The results were consistent when shame was induced by either a recall paradigm or an imagination paradigm, and in either the ultimatum game or the dictator game. This suggests that shame strategically controls individuals’ anger at others to demonstrate that they are willing to benefit others, when facing the risk of social exclusion. Our findings highlight the interpersonal function of shame and deepen the understanding of the relationship between shame and anger at others.     

基于因果报应观念的认知调查与厚黑行为抑制效果分析

因果报应是中国传统文化的一个重要观念,至今仍然影响着当下社会大众。研究通过问卷调查来了解社会大众对因果报应的认知与理解,并进一步通过启动实验考察因果报应启动对厚黑行为的抑制效果,研究结果表明:(1)社会大众对因果报应的认知与接纳是一种客观存在,55.83%的被试知晓因果报应,33.81%的被试表示相信因果报应的存在,10.09%的被试表示因果报应很灵验,23.67%的被试表示因果报应影响自己的行为处世,22.96%的被试表示会用因果报应提示教育身边的亲友。(2)因果报应材料的启动能显著地抑制厚黑行为,中性材料的启动不能抑制厚黑行为,因果报应启动的内容与厚黑人格对厚黑行为具有交互效应,因果报应启动能更显著地抑制高厚黑人格被试的厚黑行为。基于社会治理的视角,社会公众对因果报应的接纳成就了其参与社会治理的可能性,因果报应内蕴的道德自律、匡扶正义、累德向善等价值内核成就了其参与社会治理的效用性,因果报应观念应建设性发掘和创造性地转化为当下的社会治理所用。     

气象因素如何影响消费行为?基于情境营销理论的气象营销机制

从个体情绪波动到社会经济兴衰, 越来越多的研究开始关注气象因素对人类行为的重要影响。本研究提出大数据时代下, 基于情境营销理论的气象营销新概念。通过识别动态气象环境中对消费者心理和行为有影响的气象因素, 提出和验证“气象因素-消费心理-消费行为”这一逻辑链条的影响机制。研究主要围绕情境营销的气象因素影响、气象因素对消费心理和行为的影响机制、气象因素影响消费者行为机制下的营销策略三个主要问题展开讨论。预期研究成果将进一步延伸和丰富现有情境营销理论, 同时对环境消费心理学也是有益的补充。     

Unconscious integration of pointing relation between two masked arrows

In the present study, by using a briefly masked prime display paradigm, we investigated whether the pointing relation (same or different) between two unconsciously perceived arrows in the prime could be processed. Since only motor response priming can reflect unconscious processing of two arrows’ pointing-direction relation (i.e., a relational integration), we could distinguish the motor response priming from the visual priming in this study which in other studies were not separated. We also manipulated the prime-to-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) by using a 70?ms and a 180?ms SOA. In this experiment, two masked arrow signs pointing in the same or different directions (> > or > <) were simultaneously presented in the prime, followed by two arrow symbols also pointing in the same or different directions in the target. The participants were asked to decide whether the two arrows in the target were pointing in the same or different directions. The results did not show any visual priming effect, but did show that the unconsciously perceived pointing relation in the prime elicited a positive motor response priming effect in RT under the 70?ms SOA condition, and a negative motor response priming effect in accuracy under the 180?ms SOA condition. The results were discussed in terms of self-motor-inhibition (or mask-triggered inhibition) and attention mechanisms. Overall, this study indicated that the pointing relation between the two subliminal arrows in the prime could influence the subsequent responses to the target and suggested that people can integrate unconsciously perceived information.