Category theory,logic and formal linguistics: Some connections,old and new

We seize the opportunity of the publication of selected papers from the Logic, categories, semantics workshop to survey some current trends in logic, namely intuitionistic and linear type theories, that interweave categorical, geometrical and computational considerations. We thereafter present how these rich logical frameworks can model the way language conveys meaning.     

A model of type theory in simplicial sets: A brief introduction to Voevodsky's homotopy type theory

We describe how to interpret constructive type theory in the topos of simplicial sets where types appear as Kan complexes and families of types as Kan fibrations. Since Kan complexes may be understood as weak higher-dimensional groupoids this model generalizes and extends the (ordinary) groupoid model which was introduced by M. Hofmann and the author about 20 years ago. Finally, we discuss Voevodsky's Univalence Axiom which has been shown to hold in this model. This axiom roughly states that isomorphic types are equal. The type theoretic notion of isomorphism provided by this model coincides with homotopy equivalence of Kan complexes. For this reason it has become common to refer to it as Homotopy Type Theory.     

工作投入如何影响员工建言：认知灵活性和权力动机的作用

员工建言日益成为组织创新和变革的推动力,在学术界它也引起了广泛关注.以往研究多从社会交换的视角来探索建言的发生机制,而从社会认知的视角的研究则较为缺乏,本研究将弥补该不足.采用问卷调查法,从苏南地区企业单位选取368份有效配对样本,研究探索了员工的工作投入对其建言行为的影响机制,及认知灵活性和权力动机的调节作用.结果表明,工作投入对建言行为具有显著的正向影响,建言效能感在其中起着中介作用;认知灵活性正向调节工作投入与建言效能感之间的关系,权力动机负向调节建言效能感对工作投入和建言行为的中介作用.文章最后讨论了研究存在的局限,并对建言行为的未来研究做了展望.     

The anger–distress model of temper tantrums: associations with emotional reactivity and emotional competence

The goals of this investigation were (a) to assess the structural validity of the anger–distress model of temper tantrums, and (b) to examine the associations among temper tantrums, emotional reactivity and emotional competence in a community sample of preschoolers. A parent‐report measure, the Temper Tantrum Grid, was used to measure the frequency of common tantrum behaviours. Laboratory and parent‐report measures of emotional reactivity and emotional competence were administered. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposal that anger and distress are separate but overlapping tantrum processes. Correlation analyses showed that temper tantrum anger and distress were related to emotional reactivity and emotional competence. There was no evidence to support the notion that emotional competence moderated the effect of emotional reactivity on temper tantrums. In contrast, emotional competence was a significant mediator of the association between emotional reactivity and temper tantrums. Overall, the results support the anger–distress model of temper tantrums. The findings suggest that children's temper tantrums are systematically related to the overall organization of emotion and behaviour in preschool children. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Maternal Behavior and Children's Early Emotion Regulation Skills Differentially Predict Development of Children's Reactive Control and Later Effortful Control

The role of maternal behavior and children's early emotion regulation skills in the development of children's reactive control, specifically behavioral impulsivity, and later effortful control was examined in a sample of 435 children. HLM analyses indicated significant growth in reactive control across the toddlerhood to early childhood period. Emotion regulation at age-2 positively predicted initial levels of children's reactive control abilities while maternal overcontrol/intrusiveness predicted lower levels of reactive control growth. Maternal behaviors at age-2 predicted children's effortful control abilities at age-5.5. Emotion regulation did not predict effortful control abilities. Maternal behavior and children's early emotion regulation skills may differentially facilitate the development of reactive and effortful control abilities.     

Statistical modelling in the investigation of stranger rape

A sample of stranger rape offences (n = 271) registered in the Dutch Violence Crime Linkage Analysis System database in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2007 was studied with the objective of developing statistical models, which give an indication of the probability of basic offender characteristics. Observable crime characteristics concerning the modus operandi, interaction between the offender and the victim, violence, precautionary measures, and sexual behaviours were selected in the dataset. Offender characteristics were selected based on their usefulness for the police organisation in narrowing the scope of a criminal investigation. Spatial behaviour, criminal history, and living situation of the offender were selected. From the predictive models, four out of five achieved a correct rate of over 70%, and all models predicted better than the best guess method. The proposed models for distance and prior convictions for violence seem particularly promising. Both these models show an improvement of correctly predicted offender characteristics of more than 20 percentile points compared with that which could have been estimated based on the average in the total sample. The predictive value of the models needs to be tested further with ‘new offences’, which were not used to construct the model. In general, the current study supports the finding that crime characteristics can be used to get an indication of the probability of certain offender characteristics. Nevertheless, for an understanding of the relationship between the crime characteristics and offender characteristics, a further development of a theoretical framework is urgently necessary. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How evaluation and need for structure affect motivation and creativity

Research has shown that evaluation can have negative effects when it is perceived as controlling rather than informational. We hypothesized that Personal Need for Structure (PNS) would moderate the effects of (perceptions of) evaluative situations. Specifically, we expected that informational evaluative situations would be associated with higher motivation and higher creative performance than controlling evaluative situations, but only when PNS is low. In a field study (N = 53) and an experiment (N = 72), we showed consistently across samples, methods, and outcomes that the positive effects ofinformational evaluation only existed for individuals who were low in PNS. These findings support the reasoning that high PNS individuals tend to welcome any type of feedback because of its disambiguating potential.     

A stitch in time saves nine: Behavioural decision-making explanations for time management problems

Time management problems such as choosing urgent instead of important tasks are prevalent but so far they lack a theoretical explanation. The authors argue that time management implies a choice about the use of time. Therefore rational choice theory as a normative theory of choice is relevant to time management, and so is behavioural decision-making research focusing on biases and heuristics that make people deviate from the prediction of rational choice theory. The authors show how these biases and heuristics lead to non-efficient time management. In particular, steep and hyperbolic time discounting is explained and its implications for time management as well as for time management training are presented. Several propositions about the importance of individual and situational variables are also put forward.     

From mental strain to burnout

This study examines the relationships between burnout and short-term consequences of mental strain within and outside human services professions, at the same time contributing to the understanding of the development of burnout as a long-term effect of impairing work and job design. A total of 294 German employees working in human services (N=149) and industrial production (N=145) completed the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and four scales measuring short-term consequences of mental strain. Results of factor analyses confirmed that the elements of the OLBI's two-factor structure-exhaustion and disengagement-are distinct from a range of impairing short-term consequences of mental strain. In addition, structural equation modelling showed that each burnout dimension is differentially related to specific short-term consequences of strain: Exhaustion is primarily related to mental fatigue, whereas disengagement is primarily related to satiation and the experience of monotony. The findings did not differ substantially for the two occupational groups. Burnout, as a long-term consequence of impairing mental strain, is distinct from and presumably temporally-causally related to specific impairing short-term consequences of mental strain, which, in turn, can be attributed to inadequate job design.     

Organizational identification and perceived organizational support as mediators of the procedural justice–citizenship behaviour relationship: A cross-cultural constructive replication

This study examined the psychological processes that might underlie the relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behaviour using an integrative approach. In doing so, we focused on the mediating effects of perceived organizational support and organizational identification in the relationship simultaneously. Framed as an integrated test of social exchange and social identity predictions, the hypotheses were tested using two cross-cultural samples (i.e., South Korea and the United States) as well as different operationalizations of the constructs of interest, which meets the criterion of a constructive replication (Lykken, 1968 Lykken, D. 1968. Statistical significance in psychological research. Psychological Bulletin, 70: 151–159. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by two samples (N = 130, 135). Interestingly, the results showed convergence in support of the mediating role of organizational identification, but not perceived organizational support, when the two mediators were included in the model concurrently. These findings indicate that social identity may be the dominant psychological mechanism underlying the relationship between procedural justice and organizational citizenship behaviour in workplaces.