To err is human: How regulatory focus and action orientation predict performance following errors

In the current study, we hypothesize that post-error performance is influenced by individual differences in action orientation and situationally induced regulatory focus. Two experiments employing a time-pressured flanker-like task, measured participants’ dispositional action orientation and manipulated regulatory focus. As expected, accuracy of the responses following errors was reduced for all participants except for action-oriented participants in a promotion focus. The latter participants are assumed to down-regulate error-related negative affect, thereby saving resources for subsequent performance. A promotion focus is assumed to facilitate the optimal use of these resources.     

The cultural congruency effect: Culture, regulatory focus, and the effectiveness of gain- vs. loss-framed health messages

The present study contributes a cultural analysis to the literature on the persuasive effects of matching message frame to individuals’ motivational orientations. One experiment examines how members of cultural groups that are likely to differ in their regulatory focus respond to health messages focusing on either the benefits of flossing or the costs of not flossing. White British participants, who had a stronger promotion focus, were more persuaded by the gain-framed message, whereas East-Asian participants, who had a stronger prevention focus, were more persuaded by the loss-framed message. This cultural difference in persuasion was mediated by an interaction between individuals’ self-regulatory focus and type of health message. Thus health messages framed to be culturally congruent led participants to have more positive attitudes and stronger intentions to perform the health behaviors, and the interaction between self-regulatory focus and message frame emerged as the pathway through which the observed cultural difference occurs. Discussion focuses on the integration of individual difference, socio-cultural, and situational factors into models of health persuasion.     

The evidence for relativism

The aim of this paper is to examine the kind of evidence that might be adduced in support of relativist semantics of a kind that have recently been proposed for predicates of personal taste, for epistemic modals, for knowledge attributions and for other cases. I shall concentrate on the case of taste predicates, but what I have to say is easily transposed to the other cases just mentioned. I shall begin by considering in general the question of what kind of evidence can be offered in favour of some semantic theory or framework of semantic theorizing. In other words, I shall begin with the difficult question of the empirical significance of semantic theorizing. In Sect. 2, I outline a relativist semantic theory, and in Sect. 3, I review four types of evidence that might be offered in favour of a relativistic framework. I show that the evidence is not conclusive because a sophisticated form of contextualism (or indexical relativism) can stand up to the evidence. However, the evidence can be taken to support the view that either relativism or the sophisticated form of contextualism is correct.     

Can heterosexual counsellors or generic agencies help same‐sex couples? An exploratory study

Gay men and women were interviewed in single‐sex focus groups in order to learn more about the therapeutic help that could be offered to people in same‐sex relationships. Interviews were analysed using the constant comparative method. Among the various themes that emerged was the need to have their relationships valued and accepted and the damaging effects of living in a heterosexist and homophobic society. The need for men, in particular, to identify a set of developmental stages for gay relationships was important. Difficulties in seeking help from mainstream organisations are discussed and recommendations made for both counsellors and agencies.     

Planning, personality, and prediction: The role of future focus in optimistic time predictions

The present studies examined cognitive processes underlying the tendency to underestimate project completion times. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that people generate overly optimistic predictions, in part, because they focus narrowly on their future plans for the target task and thus neglect other useful sources of information. Consistent with the hypothesis, instructing participants to adopt a “future focus”—in which they generated concrete, specific plans for the task at hand—led them to make more optimistic predictions about when they would complete their intended Christmas shopping (Study 1) and major school assignments (Study 2). The future focus manipulation did not have a corresponding effect on actual completion times, and thus increased the degree of optimistic bias in prediction. The studies also demonstrated that the optimistic prediction bias generalized across different task domains, relevant individual differences (i.e., trait optimism and procrastination), and other contextual variations.     

Need for Family Therapy Services for Middle-Class Families in India

This qualitative study explored the needs of Indian middle-class families for family therapy services. Four focus group interviews were conducted with middle-class parents in Madras, India. Participants were introduced to the concept and practice of family therapy and were encouraged to take a more active role in supporting the services they suggested. Participants identified problems faced by Madras middle class families and five different types of services that they were aware of. Three categories of need for family therapy were identified from the narratives of the participants. Several themes fit in each of the three categories. Implications for clinical application are discussed.     

问责能否抑制个体非伦理行为？——调节定向和自我损耗的作用机制

根据以往研究,问责对于非伦理行为的影响可能产生混淆的结论,它既可能降低,也可能促进非伦理行为的产生,即出现“问责失灵”的情况。鉴于此,本文通过实验研究来探究问责失灵的理论边界和内在机制。结果发现：（1）促进定向启动下的个体,问责对于非伦理行为有促进作用;预防定向下的个体,问责对于非伦理行为有抑制作用;（2）促进定向启动下,问责通过增加个体的自我损耗增强了其非伦理行为,即促进定向下个体的自我损耗中介了问责与非伦理行为的关系。     

Understanding the weapon focus effect: The role of threat,unusualness, exposure duration,and scene complexity

We examined the role of exposure duration and scene complexity on the weapon focus effect (WFE). Memory for the mock crime was affected more by a weapon than an unusual but nonthreatening object. Threat reduced correct identifications when the event was short but not long; duration of the event did not interact with unusualness. Additionally, we found a WFE for target‐absent lineup decisions, but only for the accomplice lineup, not the object‐wielding perpetrator's lineup. We discuss the implications of these results for illuminating the mechanisms that elicit the WFE.     

解释框架对文化混搭产品评价的影响——比较焦点和解释策略的调节效应

文化混搭产品因涉及到不同国家的文化符号的同时呈现, 可能导致母国文化的完整性与生命力受到威胁, 引发外国文化入侵母国文化的感知进而降低消费者的产品评价。本研究从文化混搭产品的营销传播视角出发, 基于前人的研究基础之上, 探讨了不同信息表述框架策略的采用会如何影响消费者的文化入侵感知进而影响他们对文化混搭产品的评价, 并重点探究了它可能存在的两个边界条件, 即消费者的比较焦点和企业的不同解释策略。两个实验的结果不仅再一次验证了前人所得出的研究结论, 即文化混搭产品采用“外国文化-母国文化”的框架策略时, 会使消费者产生外国文化改变了母国文化的感知, 导致消费者对产品的评价要显著低于采用“母国文化-外国文化”的框架策略, 其中感知文化入侵起着完全中介的作用。更重要的是, 深入揭示出上述的这种不同文化混搭框架效应只有在启动的是消费者的差异性聚焦以及企业采用的是属性解释策略时才存在, 而当启动的是消费者的相似性聚焦以及企业采用关系解释策略时, 这一效应将会消失。本研究不仅深入剖析出了引发消费者对文化混搭现象产生排斥性反应的内在机理, 拓展了前人研究结论的普适性, 也为企业的文化混搭产品的营销推广提供了有用的实践启示。