Erroneous Perceptions in Generating Sequences of Random Events1

This paper reports the results of 2 studies that examine the perceptions of individuals attempting to generate random sequences. It was hypothesized that erroneous perceptions dominate probability judgment. The first study demonstrated that subjects verbalized significantly more erroneous than accurate perceptions when generating sequences of random binary events. The second study was designed both to replicate these data and to assess the role of motivation on the frequency of misconceptions. Results showed that the total number of erroneous perceptions again outnumbered accurate perceptions but, motivation did not increase the number of misconceptions. A basic error concerned subjects' inability to consider events as being independent of each other. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed in relation to the psychology of gambling.     

Early Termination from Couple Therapy in a Naturalistic Setting: The Role of Therapeutic Mandates and Romantic Attachment

Drawing on a series of 141 couple therapy cases, the main goal of the present study was to determine whether romantic attachment, pre-treatment relationship distress and therapeutic mandates (i.e., reduction of couple distress or ambivalence resolution) are prognostic indicators of early termination. Couples completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier 1976) and the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (Brennan et al. 1998) at intake, whereas therapists filled in the Classification of Therapeutic Mandates (Poitras-Wright and St-Père 2004) after the 4th session. Results showed that an ambivalence resolution mandate, elevated couple distress and higher levels of attachment anxiety were associated with early termination. The implications of these findings to further understand early termination in couple therapy are discussed.     

The real deal: What judgments of really reveal about how people think about artifacts

It is widely assumed that artifacts fall into distinct kinds. These kinds are generally identified by appeal to words—chair versus stool versus bowl versus vase, and so on. But contextual and cross-linguistic variation in what artifacts are grouped together by name raise questions about whether artifacts indeed do fall into fixed kinds. Can judgments of what artifacts really are reveal a true kind membership, distinct from what the objects are called in communicative contexts? In two experiments, we examined what drives judgments of what an artifact really is and what these judgments can tell us about how people think about artifacts. In both experiments, we found that people failed to treat artifacts as having a definitive kind membership in their judgments of what the artifacts really were. Instead, really judgments reflected the typicality of objects with respect to the things normally called by the queried name. If these judgments are taken as direct evidence about the existence of artifact kinds, the outcome argues against such kinds. Alternatively, really judgments themselves may be fundamentally linguistic in nature, and so unable to tap into underlying kind memberships. In either case, if such kinds exist, they remain to be found. A more likely reality may be that intuitions about the existence of artifact kinds reflect the partial clustering of objects in similarity space, plus the fact that each language provides names for some constellations of objects in that space.     

Assessment of Personality Organization in Couple Relationships: Factorial Structure of the Inventory of Personality Organization and Incremental Validity Over Neuroticism

Summary: Creative thinking was explored from several approaches to further understanding of the interrelationship of perception, personality, and cognition. College students (N = 45) were administered the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), the Remote Associates Test (RAT), a questionnaire concerning RAT strategy, and two self-report scales. Field independent subjects were found to be significantly (p < .001) more creative than field dependents. Correlations between the RAT and GEFT and the self-report measures of conformity and creativity, while largely nonsignificant, were in the predicted directions. Results demonstrated that advanced strategy levels and insightful responses were significantly related to high performance on the RAT. Theoretical links between cognitive style and Piagetian concepts were discussed in regard to creative thought. Overall, these findings support the contention that the creative processes should be studied, not as isolated structures, but with relational and multifaceted emphasis.     

On the Role of Passion for Work in Burnout: A Process Model

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present research was to test a model on the role of passion for work in professional burnout. This model posits that obsessive passion produces conflict between work and other life activities because the person cannot let go of the work activity. Conversely, harmonious passion is expected to prevent conflict while positively contributing to work satisfaction. Finally, conflict is expected to contribute to burnout, whereas work satisfaction should prevent its occurrence. This model was tested in 2 studies with nurses in 2 cultures. Using a cross-sectional design, Study 1 ( n =97) provided support for the model with nurses from France. In Study 2 ( n =258), a prospective design was used to further test the model with nurses from the Province of Quebec over a 6-month period. Results provided support for the model. Specifically, harmonious passion predicted an increase in work satisfaction and a decrease in conflict. Conversely, obsessive passion predicted an increase of conflict. In turn, work satisfaction and conflict predicted decreases and increases in burnout changes that took place over time. The results have important implications for theory and research on passion as well as burnout.     

Cattle discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics by using only head visual cues

Faces have features characteristic of the identity, age and sex of an individual. In the context of social communication and social recognition in various animal species, facial information is relevant for discriminating between familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Here, we present two experiments aimed at testing the ability of cattle (Bos taurus) to visually discriminate between heads (including face views) of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics represented as 2D images. In the first experiment, we observed the spontaneous behaviour of heifers when images of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics were simultaneously presented. Our results show that heifers were more attracted towards the image of a familiar conspecific (i.e., it was chosen first, explored more, and given more attention) than towards the image of an unfamiliar one. In the second experiment, the ability to discriminate between images of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics was tested using a food-rewarded instrumental conditioning procedure. Eight out of the nine heifers succeeded in discriminating between images of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics and in generalizing on the first trial to a new pair of images of familiar and unfamiliar conspecifics, suggesting a categorization process of familiar versus unfamiliar conspecifics in cattle. Results of the first experiment and the observation of ear postures during the learning process, which was used as an index of the emotional state, provided information on picture processing in cattle and lead us to conclude that images of conspecifics were treated as representations of real individuals.     

Citoyenneté, nationalité et laïcité: Le débat sur la France multiculturelle depuis les années 80

Family reunification programs in the mid-1970s, the emergence of second generation immigrants in the early 1980s (rodéos des Minguettes in 1981, the march against racism in 1983) and the new position granted immigrants in French public and cultural life beyond economic and social frameworks, have provoked a series of reactions in public opinion. The realization that France is becoming a multicultural country aroused passions and stirred up concerns within French society as of the early 1980s. The debate moved logically towards a questioning of the very foundations of national identity and over ten years, structured itself around three republican values: citizenship, nationality, and secularity. The French felt threatened by the cumbersome presence of immigrants. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the evolution of the enfranchisement issue brought discussions of citizenship to the fore. The debate on the reform of the code on nationality between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s highlighted the notion of nationality. Lastly, since 1989, the uncertainties and concerns surrounding the wearing of veils in schools have challenged the issue of secularity.     

Evaluation of a French parent-training program in young children with autism spectrum disorder

Parent training programs (PTs) in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are known to reduce parenting stress and improve child's behavior and parent-child interactions. Few PTs are available to French speaking families. In order to provide them with this type of intervention, we developed a French parent-training program of 12 bimonthly sessions and three individual home visits based on applied behavior analysis. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the social validity and efficacy of this new PT on eighteen parents who have a child with ASD and developmental delay. For 16 parents, the PT was considered effective, the objectives targeted important and the strategies learned acceptable for use with children. They have significantly improved their knowledge in ASD and behavioral intervention strategies and their children's socialization skills, and reduce their parental stress. This new French PT program seems to be a promising intervention.     

On the Risks of Recycling Because of Guilt: An Examination of the Consequences of Introjection1

The present study sought to examine the influence of introjected beliefs on individuals’ vulnerability to counterattitudinal arguments. University students’ reasons for engaging in proenvironmental behaviors were assessed prior to their reading excerpts from a counterattitudinal article. The excerpts were written by a personally attractive or unattractive author and contained either weak or strong arguments against recycling. Our results show that individuals who were highly introjected about recycling (e.g., “I recycle because I would feel guilty if I didn't”) were influenced by the personal attractiveness of the source but not by the strength of the specific arguments. Specifically, a thought‐listing procedure revealed that introjection was associated with generating more favorable thoughts and fewer counterarguments about the anti‐recycling message when the author was personally attractive than when he was unattractive.