Cognitive Load and the Equality Heuristic: A Two-Stage Model of Resource Overconsumption in Small Groups

Two studies were conducted to test a two-stage model of the psychological mechanisms underlying the overconsumption of scarce resources in small groups. The model proposes that members of groups sharing resources first anchor their consumption choices on an “equal-division” heuristic and then, given sufficient cognitive capacity, adjust their choices in a self-serving direction. The results from both studies support the model. The first study found that when faced with a common resource pool almost all group members expressed thoughts regarding equality; however, individuals with sufficient cognitive capacity requested more from the pool and expressed more task-relevant thoughts than individuals lacking the necessary cognitive resources. The second study provided additional support for the two-stage model by demonstrating that group members' cognitions occur in the order predicted by the model and by demonstrating that an individual difference, social value orientation, affects thought processes only when individuals are not experiencing high cognitive loads. Implications are discussed.     

关于自闭症的临床、实验心理学的研究

最近,国际上的临床心理学、实验心理学对自闭症的诊断、分类、发生率以及教育与治疗等,从各个角度展示了许多新的研究结果。实验心理学的调查结果表明,自闭症儿童的注意力异常,对视、听、触等感觉反应处理样式,不同于弱智儿童和正常儿童。语言障碍是自闭症儿童发展障碍中的核心症侯,这与自闭症在社会性和人际关系上存在障碍有着密切的关系。进入９０年代以后,对自闭症“心的理论”的各种实验研究,引起各国研究者的注目和争论     

Ethics and the Science of Animal Minds

Ethicists have commonly appealed to science to bolster their arguments for elevating the moral status of nonhuman animals. I describe a framework within which I take many ethicists to be making such appeals. I focus on an apparent gap in this framework between those properties of animals that are part of the scientific consensus, and those to which ethicists typically appeal in their arguments. I will describe two different ways of diminishing the appearance of the gap, and argue that both of them present challenges to ethicists seeking a firm scientific basis for their claims about the moral status of animals. I argue that more clarity about the role of appeals to science by applied ethicists leads to questions about the effectiveness of such appeals, and that these questions might best be pursued empirically.     

Social cognitive theory of posttraumatic recovery: the role of perceived self-efficacy

The present article integrates findings from diverse studies on the generalized role of perceived coping self-efficacy in recovery from different types of traumatic experiences. They include natural disasters, technological catastrophes, terrorist attacks, military combat, and sexual and criminal assaults. The various studies apply multiple controls for diverse sets of potential contributors to posttraumatic recovery. In these different multivariate analyses, perceived coping self-efficacy emerges as a focal mediator of posttraumatic recovery. Verification of its independent contribution to posttraumatic recovery across a wide range of traumas lends support to the centrality of the enabling and protective function of belief in one's capability to exercise some measure of control over traumatic adversity.     

Integrating Cognitive and Existential Treatment Strategies in Psychotherapy With Dependent Patients

A dependent personality orientation is associated with increased risk for a broad array of Axis I and Axis II disorders. Although traditional treatment interventions have modest ameliorative effects on problematic dependency, the multifaceted nature of dependency suggests that integrated treatment strategies may hold more promise than traditional treatment approaches. This article outlines one potentially useful integrated treatment strategy, combining elements of cognitive and existential therapy to alter dependency-related thought, behavior, and emotional responding. Procedures for implementing an integrated cognitive-existential treatment model are outlined, and challenges in use of the model are discussed.     

Assessment of parental sensitivity towards pre-school children born with very low birth weight

The article introduces the Parental Sensitivity Assessment Scale (PSAS) and examines the influence of the PSAS score and other factors on the general cognitive level in pre-school children born with very low birth weight (VLBW). McCarthy general cognitive index (GCI) was obtained for 102 VLBW and 92 normal birth weight (NBW) control children in Denmark in the mid-1980s. The mean ages of the two groups were 52.4 vs. 53.1 months. Parental sensitivity was assessed using PSAS. There was no significant difference in the mean PSAS score between the two birth weight groups (p > 0.3). Birth weight group (p < 0.001) and mother's schooling (p= 0.026) significantly correlated with GCI in the children. The PSAS score was highly significantly correlated to the variance of the GCI (p < 0.001), which was not explained by VLBW and mother's schooling. We found no interactional effect between parental sensitivity and birth weight group (p > 0.5) - the prematurely born children were not more affected by low parental sensitivity than were the control children.     

Naming our concerns about neuroscience: a review of Bennett and Hacker's philosophical foundations of neuroscience

Bennett and Hacker use conceptual analysis to appraise the theoretical language of modern cognitive neuroscientists, and conclude that neuroscientific theory is largely dualistic despite the fact that neuroscientists equate mind with the operations of the brain. The central error of cognitive neuroscientists is to commit the mereological fallacy, the tendency to ascribe to the brain psychological concepts that only make sense when ascribed to whole animals. The authors review how the mereological fallacy is committed in theories of memory, perception, thinking, imagery, belief, consciousness, and other psychological processes studied by neuroscientists, and the consequences that fallacious reasoning have for our understanding of how the brain participates in cognition and behavior. Several behavior-analytic concepts may themselves be nonsense based on thorough conceptual analyses in which the criteria for sense and nonsense are found in the ways the concepts are used in ordinary language. Nevertheless, the authors' nondualistic approach and their consistent focus on behavioral criteria for the application of psychological concepts make Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience an important contribution to cognitive neuroscience.     

Vulnerability schemas of individuals in couples relationships: a cognitive perspective

The professional literature has recently given attention to addressing individual schemas in couples relationships, with particular emphasis on the fact that individual vulnerability has a significant impact on couples relationships. This article addresses how this vulnerability can be restructured during the course of couples therapy. Case vignettes are used to illustrate how the model can be applied. Some of the implications of this model are considered in the discussion section.Authors note: Portions of this article were published in Norwegian by the first author and appear in Nordby, T.T. (2002): Kognitiv parterapi. En tilnærming som ivaretar betydningen av den individuelle sårbarheten i samspillet. Reprinted by permission of Fokus på familien 30, 46–60.     

Free Will and Therapeutic Change

Much of psychology has minimized, or disregarded, the notion of free will. However, it remains a critical construct in most theories of behavioral and religious change. This paper briefly examines the free will/determinism debate and the construct of free will from the perspective of postmodern/narrative psychology, as well as integrating recent developments in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Finally, the implications of this analysis on personal responsibility in pastoral psychology are discussed.     

Cultural Values Underlying Psychometric Cognitive Testing

It is proposed that culture (values, beliefs, styles of behavior) can affect neuropsychological testing.Cognitive testing represents a social situation that-as any social situation, it is one governed by implicit cultural rules. At least eight different culture-dependent values underlie cognitive testing: (1)One-to-one relationship, (2) Background authority, (3) Best performance, (4)Isolated environment (5) Special type of communication, (6) Speed, (7) Internal or subjective issues, and (8) The use of specific testing elements and strategies. In addition, it is proposed that“the distance” (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity) between the examiner and the examinee may potentiallyimpact the testing situation. A special analysis regarding the function of instruction in cognitive tests is also presented emphasizing that test instruction interpretation is also culture-dependent. Some potential avenues of research are finally proposed.