Agents,objects, and their powers in Suarez and Hobbes

The paper examines the place of power in the action theories of Francisco Suarez and Thomas Hobbes. Power is the capacity to produce or determine outcomes. Two cases of power are examined. The first is freedom or the power of agents to determine for themselves what they do. The second is motivation, which involves a power to which agents are subject, and by which they are moved to pursue a goal. Suarez, in the Metaphysical Disputations, uses Aristotelian causation to model these two forms of power. Freedom is efficient causation, but in a special form that I explain as involving something that ordinary causation does not – the contingent determination of outcomes. Motivating power is final causation, which Suarez characterizes as the power of a goal or end to move us to attain it through its goodness or desirability. Suarez regards these two forms of power as consistent – we can be moved by the goodness of a goal freely to determine for ourselves that we act in order to attain it. Hobbes denied the existence of all forms of power beyond ordinary causation, the power of one motion in matter to determine another. So he denied the very existence both of freedom and of any form of motivating power beyond the ordinary causal power of desires as materially based psychological states to produce actions. The goodness itself of a goal never moves us, whether to desire the goal in the first place or to act in order to attain it. The paper examines Hobbes’s arguments and their consequence – establishing the foundations for Hume’s scepticism about practical reason.     

控制感剥夺激发状态毅力：趋近动机的中介作用

采用概念判断任务,通过两个递进式实验探索控制感剥夺对状态毅力的影响并考察趋近动机在其中的作用。实验1主观报告结果显示：短时条件下,控制感剥夺组的状态毅力显著高于控制感维持组,尤其表现在努力持续性维度;长时条件下,两组差异不显著。实验2在此基础上加入行为指标结果显示：短时控制感剥夺通过高趋近动机对状态毅力产生影响。结果表明毅力是可塑的,突出表现在努力持续性上,该效应出现在个体经历短时控制感剥夺后。     

The basis of behavioral momentum in the nonlinearity of strength

The persistence of operant responding in the context of distractors and opposing forces is of central importance to the success of behavioral interventions. It has been successfully analyzed with Behavioral Momentum Theory. Key data from the research inspired by that theory are reanalyzed in terms of more molecular behavioral mechanisms: the demotivational effects of disruptors, and their differential impacts on the target response and other responses that interact with them. Behavioral momentum is regrounded as a nonlinear effect of motivation and reinforcement rate on response probability and persistence. When response probabilities are high, more energy is required to further increase or to decrease them than when they are low. Classic Behavioral Momentum Theory effects are reproduced with this account. Finally, it is shown how the new account involving motivation and competition is closely related to the metaphor of force and action that is at the core of Behavioral Momentum Theory.     

Are Decisions Made by Group Representatives More Risk Averse? The Effect of Sense of Responsibility

We tested the hypothesis that a sense of responsibility drives group representatives' decisions to be more risk averse compared with decisions made by individuals. The hypothesis was supported when the monetary considerations (i.e., payoff inequality and the magnitude effect) were controlled for in the potential gain domain as well as in the potential loss domain. Evidence showed that this is because the group representatives were concerned about how they would view themselves (e.g., guilt and self‐blame) and also how they would be viewed by others (i.e., to avoid being blamed and looked down upon by others). This study provided new insights into understanding group representatives' decision making under risk. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental test to reveal negative side-effects of high treatability information on preventative health behaviour

Objectives: When the course of a disease can be positively changed by health professionals the disease can be indicated as ‘highly treatable’. This ‘high treatability information’ (HTI) may have negative side-effects on people’s preventative motivation. This study examined the effects of HTI regarding skin cancer on preventative motivation.

Design: This study employed a 2 (high treatability (HTI) versus low treatability (LTI)) × 2 (high versus low susceptibility)?experiment with a hanging control group. (family) History and self-efficacy were assessed as moderators. Participants (N = 309) were randomly assigned to one of the five conditions.

Main outcome measures: The main outcome was intention to engage in preventative actions regarding skin cancer.

Results: HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to LTI, under the condition of high susceptibility in people with low self-efficacy. In addition, in people with a (family) history of skin cancer, HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to the no-information group.

Conclusion: HTI regarding skin cancer can cause a drop in the preventative motivation. The effects can be conceptualised as negative side-effects of HTI. As substantial proportions of the general population have a (family) history of skin cancer or low self-efficacy, the side-effects may be widespread, possibly increasing the incidence of skin cancer.     

Personality and substance use in Japanese adolescents: The Japanese version of Substance Use Risk Profile Scale

Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS; Conrod & Woicik, 2002) measures four risk personality dimensions related to substance use; anxiety sensitivity (AS), hopelessness (H), sensation seeking (SS), impulsivity (IMP). The aim of this study is to develop the Japanese version of Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS-J) and to probe the reliability and validity of this scale to the Japanese context. This study consists of the test of the factor analysis (Study 1; N = 462), the reliability (Study 2; N = 64), and the validity (Study 3; N = 182). Our findings are as below; Study 1 showed the conformed factorial structure of SURPS-J and Study 2 revealed the good test–retest reliability. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated the adequate validity of SURPS-J and its sensitivity in identifying risky drinking motivations and lifetime tobacco and alcohol use. Results showed that high H individuals are likely to experience smoking under the personal and collective situations, while high SS and IMP individuals are prone to drink alcohol under the collective situation. Additionally, high AS individuals are prone to drink by virtue of negative reinforcement motives and high SS and IMP drink by reason of all drinking reinforcement motives.     

Achievement motivation and attributional style as mediators between perfectionism and subjective well-being in Chinese university students

This study examined both the mediation effects of achievement motivation and attributional style on the relationship between perfectionism and subjective well-being in a sample of Chinese university students. Four hundred ninety-three participants with an age range of 18–24 (206 males and 287 females) completed the Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (HMPS), the Achievement Motivation Scale (AMS), the Multidimensional–Multiattributional Causality Scale (MMCS) and the General Well-Being Schedule (GWB). Correlation analysis indicated that perfectionism was positively correlated with subjective well-being. Structural equation modeling exhibited the partial mediation effects of attributional style and achievement motivation on the relationship between perfectionism and subjective well-being. Moreover, a multi-group analysis indicated that the mediation model was not moderated by gender. These findings contribute to the complex nature of the association between perfectionism and subjective well-being. This study’s implications for future research and limitations of the present findings are discussed.     

Investing Even in Uneven Contests: Effects of Asymmetry on Investment in Contests

Many competitions, such as political campaigns, innovative endeavors, sports, or courting rituals, require investment of nonrefundable resources: One contestant wins the prize for the invested amount, whereas all others lose their investments without receiving compensation. Frequently, contests are asymmetric, because of differing resources or prize valuations. Does asymmetry discourage the weaker contestants from investing? Do stronger contestants take this into account and also invest less? Or does the desire to win abolish these differences? Two experiments explored the effects of asymmetry between the contestants—arising from their resources or prizes—on nonrefundable investments. Subjects repeatedly competed in both symmetric and asymmetric contests, enabling within‐subject comparisons. We observed an effect of asymmetry only when it concerned resources: Subjects overall invested less when their resources were unequal, whereas inequality in the prizes did not influence investments. This pattern suggests that winning itself is motivating. The changes between consecutive investments can be explained by reactions to the previous outcome (win or loss): Across all contests, investment decreased following a win and increased following a loss. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.