Methodological vs. strategic control in artificial grammar learning: A commentary on Norman, Price and Jones (2011)

Norman et al. (2011) reported that participants exposed in succession to two artificial grammars could be able to learn implicitly about them, and could apply their knowledge strategically to select which string corresponds to one of these two grammars. In this commentary, I identify an artifact that could account for the learning obtained not only in this study, but also in some previous studies using the same procedures. I claim that more methodological control is needed before jumping to conclusions on the kind of strategic control that could be achieved unconsciously.     

The impact of maternal control on children’s anxious cognitions, behaviours and affect: An experimental study

Controlling parenting is associated with child anxiety however the direction of effects remains unclear. The present study implemented a Latin-square experimental design to assess the impact of parental control on children’s anxious affect, cognitions and behaviour. A non-clinical sample of 24 mothers of children aged 4-5 years were trained to engage in (a) controlling and (b) autonomy-granting behaviours in interaction with their child during the preparation of a speech. When mothers engaged in controlling parenting behaviours, children made more negative predictions about their performance prior to delivering their speech and reported feeling less happy about the task, and this was moderated by child trait anxiety. In addition, children with higher trait anxiety displayed a significant increase in observed child anxiety in the controlling condition. The pattern of results was maintained when differences in mothers’ levels of negativity and habitual levels of control were accounted for. These findings are consistent with theories that suggest that controlling parenting is a risk factor in the development of childhood anxiety.     

When choices give in to temptations: Explaining the disagreement among importance measures

Respondents’ overt statements of relative importance rarely correspond to weights derived from a regression analysis of their decisions. This paper conjectures that differential effects of high-level goals on importance beliefs and choices can explain these discrepancies. It is argued that the goal to justify decisions influences importance beliefs more than choices whereas the goal to assess preferences accurately affects choices more than importance beliefs. It is also argued that differential effects of high-level goals on importance statements and choices vary as a function of whether decision-maker controls the information flow and the extent of prior knowledge and experiences with choice options. These predictions were tested within the context of a contraceptive decision-making task. Choices among contraceptives made the justification goal salient to subjects by requiring tradeoffs between attributes that are either considered rational or tempting in making such decisions (e.g., health risks vs. pleasure/convenience). As predicted, subjects assigned larger importance weights to rational attributes in their subjective evaluations than in their choices whereas the impact of tempting attributes was stronger for choices than for subjective importance evaluations. Moreover, these observed discrepancies between importance measures were reduced in favor of rational attributes when subjects controlled the information flow and could not access their prior experiences. Overall, the results suggest that, although tempting attributes affect choices, decision makers appear to be unwilling to acknowledge the impact of tempting attributes on their decisions in judging attribute importance.     

Influence of target uncertainty on reaching movements while standing in stroke

Stroke individuals frequently have balance problems and impaired arm movements that affect their daily activities. We investigated the influence of target uncertainty and the side of the brain lesion on the performance of arm movements and postural adjustments during reaching in a standing position by stroke individuals. Participants stood on force plates and reached a target displayed on the center of a monitor screen under conditions differentiated by the prior knowledge of the target location at the beginning of the movement. Individuals who had a stroke in the right side of the brain performed the tasks with the ipsilesional, right upper limb while the individuals with a left stroke performed with the ipsilesional, left upper limb. Healthy individuals performed with right and left limbs, which data were later averaged for statistical analysis. Kinematic analysis of the arm and lower limb joints and displacements of the center of pressure of each lower limb were compared between target conditions and groups. Stroke individuals showed larger center of pressure displacements of the contralesional compared to the ipsilesional limb while these displacements were symmetrical between lower limbs for the healthy individuals, regardless of the target condition. The target uncertainty affected both the characteristics of the arm movements and postural adjustments before movement onset. Right stroke individuals used more ankle joint movements under the uncertain compared to the certain condition. The uncertainty in target location affects the arm reaching in upright standing, but the effects depend on the side of the brain lesion.     

Supersize My Chances: Promotional Lotteries Impact Product Size Choices

Promotional lotteries offer consumers a chance to win one of many prizes along with their purchase. Critically, as is often the case, these campaigns not only include an assortment of prizes but also an assortment of offerings that one can buy to enter the lottery—such as a small or an extra‐large coffee. While companies regularly advertise that the objective odds of winning do not vary by the size of their product offerings, recent anecdotal evidence suggest that consumers behave as if it does. The net result is that consumers seem to be supersizing during promotional lotteries, and thus purchasing larger sized items. Eight studies (four core and four supplementary in Supporting information ) and a single‐paper meta‐analysis confirm that the supersizing phenomenon is indeed real and provides evidence that this behavior is the manifestation of consumers elevating their sense of control. Specifically, supersizing serves to gain psychological control over the pursuit of a desirable, but seemingly unobtainable, outcome.     

On the malleability of emotional encoding

The encoding of emotional events has sometimes been regarded as automatic, because the processing involved can occur outside awareness. However, this does not mean that emotional encoding cannot be controlled, although it may often be the case that people are unaware of how to do so, or even that such control is possible. Evidence is presented to show that the neural activation associated with fear-related stimuli can be modified by top-down control, and that related instructions can modify emotional vulnerability to stressful events. However, it is further argued that such effortful control is resource limited, and that more robust control might be achieved via repeated practice in accessing positive representations that inhibit competing negative meanings. Studies of attentional and interpretative encoding biases induced by practice show that they have causal effects on emotional vulnerability, by influencing how threatening events are encoded. Experimental investigations are beginning to reveal the critical processes underlying these changes in emotional vulnerability, and it is argued that the same approach is likely to be helpful in addressing questions relevant to therapeutic change.     

Two different types of obsession: autogenous obsessions and reactive obsessions

We propose that obsessions are categorized into two subtypes, i.e. autogenous obsessions and reactive obsessions, which are different in terms of identifiability of their evoking stimuli, subjective experiences, contents, and subsequent cognitive processes. Autogenous obsessions tend to come abruptly into consciousness without identifiable evoking stimuli, which are perceived as ego-dystonic and aversive enough to be repelled, and include sexual, aggressive, and immoral thoughts or impulses. On the other hand, reactive obsessions are evoked by identifiable external stimuli, which are perceived as relatively realistic and rational enough to do something toward the stimuli, and include thoughts about contamination, mistake, accident, asymmetry, loss, etc. Through three empirical studies, we confirmed the differences between the two types of obsessional intrusion in their frequency, subjective experiences, subsequent appraisal and control strategy. In particular, autogenous obsessions led to high appraisal on 'control over thought' and 'importance of thought' and frequent use of 'avoidant control strategies', while reactive obsessions linked with high appraisal on 'responsibility' and frequent use of 'confrontational control strategies'. These findings are expected to provide a basis for classifying and explaining the heterogeneous phenomena of obsessive-compulsive disorder.     

Motivation beliefs,emotions, leisure time physical activity,and sedentary behavior in university students: A full longitudinal model of mediation

Discrete emotions produce predictable response tendencies, yet there is limited understanding about their potential to mediate relations between motivation beliefs and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary behavior. The current study investigates self-reported moderate LTPA, vigorous LTPA, and sedentary behavior as measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire using control – value theory of achievement emotions (CVTAE) with a full longitudinal mediation design. A total of 586 young adults (Mage = 19.44, SD = 1.43) completed 1485 time-specific reports of LTPA, sedentary behavior, PA enjoyment, LTPA boredom, and control and value beliefs toward PA across three waves of data collection. Structural equation modeling was used to systematically disentangle direct and indirect relations over time. Neither enjoyment nor boredom mediated relations between participants’ control and value beliefs and moderate LTPA, vigorous LTPA, or sedentary behavior; however, boredom did negatively predict vigorous LTPA. There were reciprocal relations between control beliefs and moderate LTPA as well as value beliefs and PA enjoyment. The final model did not support relationships posited by CVTAE for LTPA or sedentary behavior. However, theoretically grounded CVTAE constructs explained substantive amounts of variance in moderate and vigorous LTPA but not sedentary behavior.     

Physiologic and self-report comparisons between tension headache sufferers and nonheadache controls

Tension headache sufferers and nonheadache controls were compared with respect to (1) frontal EMG during both baseline and presentation of an imagined stressor, (2) trait anxiety, (3) locus of control expectancies for health related behaviors, and (4) exposure to stressful life events. Tension headache sufferers displayed higher resting muscle tension levels than did nonheadache controls. However, both groups responded similarly to the imagined stress stimulus and displayed significant muscle tension elevations of similar magnitude. While tension headache sufferers reported higher levels of trait anxiety, no differences were found between the two groups for locus of control expectancies and exposure to stressful life events. The diagnostic and treatment implications of these findings are discussed.     

Person-environment congruence and employee job satisfaction: a test of Holland's theory

Person-environment congruence as assessed by Holland's model of vocational preference was tested in a sample of 362 employees from five environmental typologies (Realistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). Employees were classified as having congruent or incongruent person/environment pairings according to their occupation and their responses to Holland's Self-Directed Search. It was hypothesized that congruent employees would be significantly more satisfied with their jobs than incongruent employees. The results indicated that congruent employees were significantly more satisfied with the job facet satisfaction measures of work, pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers as well as overall satisfaction compared to incongruent employees. In addition, the results revealed several Environment × Congruence interactions, indicating that the effects of person-environment congruence vary across different environmental typologies. The results are discussed in the context of establishing a fit between individual attributes and organizational environments.