Eye movements reveal the time-course of anticipating behaviour based on complex, conflicting desires

The time-course of representing others’ perspectives is inconclusive across the currently available models of ToM processing. We report two visual-world studies investigating how knowledge about a character’s basic preferences (e.g. Tom’s favourite colour is pink) and higher-order desires (his wish to keep this preference secret) compete to influence online expectations about subsequent behaviour. Participants’ eye movements around a visual scene were tracked while they listened to auditory narratives. While clear differences in anticipatory visual biases emerged between conditions in Experiment 1, post-hoc analyses testing the strength of the relevant biases suggested a discrepancy in the time-course of predicting appropriate referents within the different contexts. Specifically, predictions to the target emerged very early when there was no conflict between the character’s basic preferences and higher-order desires, but appeared to be relatively delayed when comprehenders were provided with conflicting information about that character’s desire to keep a secret. However, a second experiment demonstrated that this apparent ‘cognitive cost’ in inferring behaviour based on higher-order desires was in fact driven by low-level features between the context sentence and visual scene. Taken together, these results suggest that healthy adults are able to make complex higher-order ToM inferences without the need to call on costly cognitive processes. Results are discussed relative to previous accounts of ToM and language processing.     

What makes people cooperate? Individual differences in BAS/BIS predict strategic reciprocation in a public goods game

Heterogeneity in contribution levels within public goods games (PGGs) is indicative of individual self- or other-regarding preferences. Reward and punishment mechanisms have been demonstrated to affect contributions in the PGGs. This paper examines whether dispositional sensitivities to rewards and punishments (BIS and BAS) explain some behavioural heterogeneity in PGGs. Seventy-two participants took part in a sequential PGG, in which, prior to making a decision about contributing, participants received information about how much their co-players had donated, which was manipulated either as high or low. They also completed the Carver and White BIS/BAS scales. Participants contributed more when other members of their group contributed a high proportion of the initial endowment and less when others gave a low amount. When participants knew that their group members had contributed a high amount, BAS Reward Responsiveness was significantly negatively correlated with the contribution levels, while BIS-anxiety was positively related to a lower proportion of zero contributions. The findings are interpreted in relation to strategic responding in the PGGs. Motivational traits, such as those conceptualized in Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, are proposed to underlie pro-social behavioural preferences.     

A single exposure to the American flag shifts support toward Republicanism up to 8 months later

There is scant evidence that incidental cues in the environment significantly alter people's political judgments and behavior in a durable way. We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants' Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.     

Publication bias in psychological science: prevalence, methods for identifying and controlling, and implications for the use of meta-analyses

The issue of publication bias in psychological science is one that has remained difficult to address despite decades of discussion and debate. The current article examines a sample of 91 recent meta-analyses published in American Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science journals and the methods used in these analyses to identify and control for publication bias. Of the 91 studies analyzed, 64 (70%) made some effort to analyze publication bias, and 26 (41%) reported finding evidence of bias. Approaches to controlling publication bias were heterogeneous among studies. Of these studies, 57 (63%) attempted to find unpublished studies to control for publication bias. Nonetheless, those studies that included unpublished studies were just as likely to find evidence for publication bias as those that did not. Furthermore, authors of meta-analyses themselves were overrepresented in unpublished studies acquired, as compared with published studies, suggesting that searches for unpublished studies may increase rather than decrease some sources of bias. A subset of 48 meta-analyses for which study sample sizes and effect sizes were available was further analyzed with a conservative and newly developed tandem procedure of assessing publication bias. Results indicated that publication bias was worrisome in about 25% of meta-analyses. Meta-analyses that included unpublished studies were more likely to show bias than those that did not, likely due to selection bias in unpublished literature searches. Sources of publication bias and implications for the use of meta-analysis are discussed.     

Kant on Duty in the Groundwork

Barbara Herman offers an interpretation of Kant??s Groundwork on which an action has moral worth if the primary motive for the action is the motive of duty. She offers this approach in place of Richard Henson??s sufficiency-based interpretation, according to which an action has moral worth when the motive of duty is sufficient by itself to generate the action. Noa Latham criticizes Herman??s account and argues that we cannot make sense of the position that an agent can hold multiple motives for action and yet be motivated by only one of them, concluding that we must accept a face-value interpretation of the Groundwork where morally worthy actions obtain only when the agent??s sole motive is the motive of duty. This paper has two goals, one broad and one more constrained. The broader objective is to argue that interpretations of moral worth, as it is presented in the Groundwork, depend on interpretations of Kant??s theory of freedom. I show that whether we can make sense of the inclusion of nonmoral motives in morally worthy actions depends on whether the ??always causal framework?? is consistent with Kant??s theory of freedom. The narrow goal is to show that if we adopt an ??always causal?? framework for moral motivation, then Herman??s position and her critique of the sufficiency-based approach fail. Furthermore, within this framework I will specify a criterion for judging whether an action is determined by the motive of duty, even in the presence of nonmoral motives. Thus, I argue Latham??s conclusion that we must accept a face-value interpretation is incorrect.     

Paradigm change in aggression research: The time has come to retire the General Aggression Model

As Kuhn (1970) has noted, most scientific fields go through processes of paradigm change, painful periods in which old theories no longer fit available data and are placed by new theories. Such periods typically create strife and debate as ideological differences emerged between proponents of old and new theoretical approaches. In the current paper, we argue that such a period has been reached within the field of aggression research. Over the past half-century, social cognitive and social learning paradigms of aggression, exemplified in the General Aggression Model (GAM) have retained dominance, particularly in areas such as media violence. We contend that data to support the GAM and social cognitive approaches to aggression have never been conclusive, and newer evidence increasingly suggests that the GAM and social cognitive theories of aggression more generally are not adequate to explain aggressive phenomena. We discuss weaknesses and problematic, sometimes hidden assumptions of the GAM and how these reduce the utility of this paradigm. Current evidence suggests that the GAM and the social cognitive paradigm of aggression should be retired, and approaches which focus on diathesis-stress hold greater promise.     

Using efficacy information to manipulate proxy efficacy in novice exercisers

ObjectivesTo examine whether proxy efficacy could be increased through an intervention targeting the four sources of efficacy using a written message.DesignPhase 1 (N = 33) tested the stimulus materials to ensure that the intervention message contained significantly more sources of efficacy than the controls. Phase 2 (N = 86) was an intervention assessing the effectiveness of the stimulus materials in increasing proxy efficacy.MethodIn Phase 1, female novice exercisers were randomly assigned to read either an attention control (AC) or proxy efficacy-enhancing (PEE) message about an exercise class leader. Participants completed manipulation checks assessing content, readability, and inclusion of the sources of efficacy. In Phase 2, participants were randomly assigned to AC or PEE groups and read the stimulus materials tested in Phase 1. In order to establish baseline efficacy, all participants read an AC message at Time 1. At Time 2 one week later, the PEE group read the PEE message while the AC group read a second AC message. Participants' proxy efficacy was assessed at both time points in Phase 2.ResultsIn Phase 1, results revealed that the participants who read the PEE message agreed that their stimulus material contained significantly more efficacy-enhancing information than did participants who read the AC messages. In Phase 2, MANCOVA revealed that, after controlling for Time 1 proxy efficacy, the PEE group had significantly greater proxy efficacy at Time 2 than the AC group.ConclusionsResults suggest that proxy efficacy can be increased through targeted written messages.     

Weight-related actual and ideal self-states,discrepancies, and shame,guilt, and pride: Examining associations within the process model of self-conscious emotions

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between women's actual:ideal weight-related self-discrepancies and experiences of weight-related shame, guilt, and authentic pride using self-discrepancy (Higgins, 1987) and self-conscious emotion (Tracy & Robins, 2004) theories as guiding frameworks. Participants (N = 398) completed self-report questionnaires. Main analyses involved polynomial regressions, followed by the computation and evaluation of response surface values. Actual and ideal weight self-states were related to shame (R² = .35), guilt (R² = .25), and authentic pride (R² = .08). When the discrepancy between actual and ideal weights increased, shame and guilt also increased, while authentic pride decreased. Findings provide partial support for self-discrepancy theory and the process model of self-conscious emotions. Experiencing weight-related self-discrepancies may be important cognitive appraisals related to shame, guilt, and authentic pride. Further research is needed exploring the relations between self-discrepancies and a range of weight-related self-conscious emotions.     

An Investigation of the Associations Between Contingent Self-Worth and Aspirations Among Iranian University Students

This study investigated the novel associations between intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations and internal and external domains of contingent self-worth among a sample of 502 Iranian university students. We found a meaningful pattern showing that intrinsic aspirations were positively associated with internal domains, whereas extrinsic aspirations were positively associated with external domains. Our survey data also suggested that the factor structure of the Aspiration Index, as well as the factor structure of the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale in our Iranian sample were consistent with factor structures of foreign samples. Finally, the types of aspirations and domains of contingencies of self-worth meaningfully predicted variables related to well-being, confirming previous research. We discuss the nature of the associations between the aspirations and the domains of contingent self-worth.     

Extensions of Priest-da Costa Logic

In this paper, we look at applying the techniques from analyzing superintuitionistic logics to extensions of the cointuitionistic Priest-da Costa logic daC (introduced by Graham Priest as “da Costa logic”). The relationship between the superintuitionistic axioms- definable in daC- and extensions of Priest-da Costa logic (sdc-logics) is analyzed and applied to exploring the gap between the maximal si-logic SmL and classical logic in the class of sdc-logics. A sequence of strengthenings of Priest-da Costa logic is examined and employed to pinpoint the maximal non-classical extension of both daC and Heyting-Brouwer logic HB . Finally, the relationship between daC and Logics of Formal Inconsistency is examined.