Modulation of taxonomic (versus thematic) similarity judgments and product choices by inducing local and global processing

Perceived similarity is influenced by both taxonomic and thematic relations. Assessing taxonomic relations requires comparing individual features of objects whereas assessing thematic relations requires exploring how objects functionally interact. These processes appear to relate to different thinking styles: abstract thinking and a global focus may be required to explore functional interactions whereas attention to detail and a local focus may be required to compare specific features. In four experiments we explored this idea by assessing whether a preference for taxonomic or thematic relations could be created by inducing a local or global perceptual processing style. Experiments 1–3 primed processing style via a perceptual task and used a choice task to examine preference for taxonomic (versus thematic) relations. Experiment 4 induced processing style and examined the effect on similarity ratings for pairs of taxonomic and thematically related items. In all cases processing style influenced preference for taxonomic/thematic relations.     

Spiritual Interventions in Veterans with PTSD: A Systematic Review

Journal of Religion and Health - This article reports the results of a systematic review on the effectiveness of religious/spiritually (R/S)-based interventions in veterans with post-traumatic...     

Symptoms of executive dysfunction are endemic to secondary psychopathy: an examination in criminal offenders and noninstitutionalized young adults

Psychopathy is a heterogeneous personality disorder exhibiting deficits in passive avoidance, emotional processing, and arousal. In a mixed-gender group (N = 293) of undergraduates and prisoners, we examined the relationship of multiple indices of primary and secondary psychopathy to components of executive dysfunction as measured by the Frontal Systems and Behavior Scale (FrSBe; Grace & Malloy, 2001). After controlling for demographic variables, we found strong associations between psychopathy and components of executive dysfunction (Rs = .55 to .70). Primary psychopathy was negatively, whereas secondary psychopathy was positively, predictive of symptoms indicative of executive dysfunction. When indices of primary and secondary psychopathy and indices of executive functioning were jointly included in a factor analysis, a two-factor solution was obtained. Secondary psychopathy and all subscales of the FrSBe loaded on a single factor, whereas indices of primary psychopathy loaded solely on a second factor. These findings underscore the role of prefrontal circuitry in psychopathy, and specifically implicate executive dysfunction in secondary psychopathy.     

Shifting Loyalties: Reconsidering Psychology’s Subject Matter

Schwarz (IPBS: Integrative Psychology & Behavioral Science 43:3, 2009) cogently demonstrates that in conjunction with scientific conventionalism psychology has developed a rather deficient view of their subject matter: the human being. Psychology based on an impoverished notion of empirical has rendered subjectivity or ‘the measuring apparatus man’ invisible. As his story implicitly demonstrates, psychologists supported by a positivistic view of science (in part to be empirical) and notion of ‘objectivity’ have learned to trust their ‘rigorous’ methods instead of their participants as capable of revealing important and interesting phenomena. If we are going to take subjectivity and experience seriously there should be a cultivation of a new attitude or orientation regarding psychology’s subject matter (i.e., the human being) and science. This commentary discusses Mark Freeman’s (2007) argument that the first requirement of science should be ‘fidelity to the phenomena’ and elaborates on the implications for psychology grounded in this view of science.     

Valuing the contribution of ultra-light buyers

Ultra-light buyers, those who, on average, buy a brand once a year or less, are important by number and their contribution to brand purchase occasions. The initial research, however, was limited in scope and did not measure the contribution of these buyers to sales volume or value. By examining over 850 brands in almost 60 categories, we identify that ultra-lights make up 62% of a brand's buyer base over 5 years and contribute 32% of purchase occasions and 31% of sales volume and value. In line with previous findings that brands with higher loyalty exhibit more repeat purchases and thus fewer ultra-light buyers and private label brands often exhibit higher than expected loyalty for their market share—we find the prevalence of ultra-light buyers is higher for national brands than private labels, likely reflecting the higher loyalty often observed for private labels. We also find no difference in ultra-light buyers' contribution between high and low-price brands, indicating that price is not a significant factor affecting the contribution of ultra-light buyers. Finally, we find that both growing and declining brands have fewer ultra-lights than stable brands. As growth occurs via increasing penetration and loyalty, for growing brands, new buyers may be more ‘light’ than ‘ultra-light’ in terms of their loyalty; while for declines, these findings imply that there are not enough ultra-light buyers to maintain brand sales. A failure to recruit ultra-light buyers may be very dangerous for brand health.     

KIERKEGAARD AND EVANS ON THE PROBLEM OF ABRAHAM

A significant challenge faces any ethic that endorses the view that divine commands are sufficient to impose moral obligations; in this paper, I focus on Kierkegaard's ethic, in particular. The challenge to be addressed is the “modernized” problem of Abraham, popularized especially by Fear and Trembling: the dilemma that an agent faces when a being claiming to be God issues a command to the agent that, by the agent's own lights, seems not to be the kind of command that a loving God would issue. Against a solution to this problem proposed by C. Stephen Evans in Kierkegaard's Ethic of Love, I argue that Kierkegaard regards this scenario as never actually resulting in a fully responsible agent's performance of some horrendous action on account of her non‐culpable misinterpretation of God's will and/or failure to discern correctly whether a perceived moral imperative truly is divine in origin.     

Connecting Data to Action: How the Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project Contributes to Better Outcomes for Youth

Community indicator projects have the potential to deliver new knowledge about the quality of life in local communities and drive actions to improve them (Phillips 2003; Holden Social Indicators Research 92:429–448, 2009; Memon and Johnstone 2008). However, the connection between the information produced by community indicator projects and the actions taken to improve conditions in communities remains under-researched (Holden Social Indicators Research 92:429–448, 2009; Hezri and Dovers Ecological Economics 60:86–99, 2006). This is because community indicator projects have mainly been conceptualized as producing information for action rather than as part of an action process (Memon and Johnstone 2008). This paper provides a case study of a community indicator project with an explicit plan to move beyond the data and into action. A review of one of the oldest community indicator projects in the United States, the Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project (CAP) demonstrates how an action oriented community improvement cycle has contributed to measurable improvements for children and youth in one California County. The paper identifies key elements that were important for turning CAP data into local actions and concludes with lessons for community indicator practitioners and questions for future research.     

Negative cognitive styles, dysfunctional attitudes, and the remitted depression paradigm: a search for the elusive cognitive vulnerability to depression factor among remitted depressives

Results from studies using a behavioral high-risk design and approximations to it generally have corroborated the cognitive vulnerability hypothesis of depression, whereas results from remitted depression studies typically have not. Suspecting that design features of previously conducted remitted designs likely precluded them from detecting maladaptive cognitive patterns, the authors conducted a study featuring the remitted design that has been successful in studies of a biological vulnerability for depression. Participants' current depressive symptoms, negative cognitive styles (hopelessness theory), dysfunctional attitudes (Beck's theory), and lifetime prevalence of clinically significant depression were assessed. Participants who had remitted from an episode of clinically significant depression had more negative cognitive styles, but not greater levels of dysfunctional attitudes, than did never depressed individuals.