Behaving Optimistically: How the (Un)Desirability of an Outcome Can Bias People's Preparations for It

Past research on the desirability bias and on bracing for bad news has focused on the potential influence of outcome desirability on people's stated expectations. The present studies examined its influence on behavior—that is, what is done in anticipation of, or preparation for, an uncertain outcome. In five studies, the desirability of possible outcomes for an event, which was uncertain and uncontrollable by the participant, was manipulated, and preparation behavior was measured. Study 1 used a hypothetical‐events paradigm. Studies 2 and 3 involved a computer activity in which behavior was tracked on a trial‐by‐trial basis. In Studies 4 and 5, the uncertain event was the ending of a videotaped basketball game. Rather than exhibiting bracing or a reluctance to tempt fate, participants tended to behave in a manner consistent with an optimistic desirability bias. In a subset of studies, predictions and likelihood judgments were also solicited; the differential effects of outcome desirability on these measures are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of age-relevant goals on future thinking in younger and older adults

This study investigated how personal goals influence age differences in episodic future thinking. Research suggests that personal goals change with age and like autobiographical memory, future thinking is thought to be organised and impacted by personal goals. It was hypothesised that cueing older adults with age-relevant goals should modulate age differences in episodic details and may also influence phenomenological characteristics of imagined scenarios. Healthy younger and older adults completed the Future Thinking Interview [Addis, D. R., Wong, A. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2008). Age-related changes in the episodic simulation of future events. Psychological Science, 19(1), 33–41. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02043.x] adapted to activate age-appropriate goals. Narratives were scored with an established protocol to obtain objective measures of episodic and semantic details. Subjective features such as emotionality and personal significance showed age differences as a function of goal domain while other features (e.g., vividness) were unaffected. However, consistent with prior reports, older adults produced fewer episodic details than younger adults and this was not modulated by goal domain. The results do not indicate that goal activation affects level of episodic detail. With respect to phenomenological aspects of future thinking, however, younger adults show more sensitivity to goal activation, compared with older adults.     

Psychological Teaching-Learning Contracts: Academic Integrity and Moral Psychology

The psychological teaching–learning contract model of academic integrity, presented herein, features a social contract-based mechanism for moral judgment that is hypothesized to underlie the “belief–behavior incongruity,” that is, the noted frequency with which students who believe cheating is immoral still cheat. High school students (N = 493) from 11 international schools in 9 countries participated in the study. Results suggest that students often regard the cheating they do within a given context to be justifiable, that is, not immoral, implying that such behavior is not incongruous with their moral beliefs.     

Does goal relevant episodic future thinking amplify the effect on delay discounting?

Delay discounting (DD) is the preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards. Research shows episodic future thinking (EFT), or mentally simulating future experiences, reframes the choice between small immediate and larger delayed rewards, and can reduce DD. Only general EFT has been studied, whereby people reframe decisions in terms of non-goal related future events. Since future thinking is often goal-oriented and leads to greater activation of brain regions involved in prospection, goal-oriented EFT may be associated with greater reductions in DD than general goal-unrelated EFT. The present study (n = 104, M_age = 22.25, SD = 3.42; 50% Female) used a between-subjects 2 × 2 factorial design with type of episodic thinking (Goal, General) and temporal perspective (Episodic future versus recent thinking; EFT vs ERT) as between factors. Results showed a significant reduction in DD for EFT groups (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d effect size = 0.89), and goal-EFT was more effective than general-EFT on reducing DD (p = 0.03, d = 0.64).     

Exploring the experience of episodic past,future, and counterfactual thinking in younger and older adults: A study of a Colombian sample

Although extant evidence suggests that many neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying episodic past, future, and counterfactual thinking overlap, recent results have uncovered differences among these three processes. However, the extent to which there may be age-related differences in the phenomenological characteristics associated with episodic past, future and counterfactual thinking remains unclear. This study used adapted versions of the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire and the Autobiographical Interview in younger and older adults to investigate the subjective experience of episodic past, future and counterfactual thinking. The results suggest that, across all conditions, younger adults generated more internal details than older adults. However, older adults generated more external details for episodic future and counterfactual thinking than younger adults. Additionally, younger and older adults generated more internal details, and gave higher sensory and contextual ratings, for memories rather than future and counterfactual thoughts. Methodological and theoretical consequences for extant theories of mental simulation are discussed.     

师生关系对小学生创造性的作用:一个有调节的中介模型

以658名儿童为被试,采用测验法和问卷法考察师生关系与小学生创造性思维的关系,同时探析创新自我效能感的中介作用,以及该作用是否受到开放性人格的调节。结果发现:(1)师生关系对小学生创造性思维、创新效能感均有显著的正向预测作用;(2)创新效能感在师生关系与小学生创造性思维总分、流畅性和独特性得分之间起完全中介作用;(3)开放性可以调节创新效能感对小学生创造性思维的作用,开放性高时效能感的中介效应显著,而开放性低时该效应不显著。这些结果对于综合解释教育过程中环境与个体因素对创造性的作用路径与机制具有重要意义。     

关于临床决策问题

医生在临床工作中做出明确诊断,并据此给予有效的处理均属于决策过程。制定决策的整个过程,同时也是进行决策思维的过程。近年来高新技术的迅猛发展以及医疗费用急剧增加,使制定决策更加复杂。如何进行正确的决策思维,做出最切实可行的和最佳的决策,对避免决策的盲目性、局限性及惰性具有重要的现实意义。     

中西医结合若干问题的比较思考

讨论中西医结合对西医临床思维的影响。对于慢性病中医注意病人的主观症状,与病人就医的缘由一致;西医重视客观的功能和结构异常,其判断结果有时未必能被病人接受。近年来西医开始重视病人的生活质量,其实中医的辨证指标有很多就是针对病人的生活质量。中医的整体观念同样体现在急性感染的治疗中,现代研究显示,清热解毒法除祛邪外也兼顾扶正。中西医结合促进了中西药合用,但须注意合理应用,避免合用的不良效果。     

Evald Il’enkov and World Philosophy

To ascertain the context of Il’enkov’s philosophy, the author delves into the history of philosophy since the Sophists and Plato. For Il’enkov, philosophy is not an abstract science “about everything,” but a study of ideas – forms which are identical for thinking and being. These objective and universal forms of thought are explained as products and schemes of human activity creating the world of culture and reified in its “smart” things.     

从"炸药"到"伟哥"创新历程的启示--科学创新思维中的逻辑与直觉

国家的经济发展需要科学创新的成果,而创新的成果源自创新的思维.法国数学家彭加勒在谈到创新性的思维时说过:"逻辑用于论证,直觉用于发明",并提出了创造性的科学思维活动的"三段式"理论.从"炸药"到"伟哥"科学创新的百年历程中,去验证和探究彭加勒的科学哲学思维,以及这个理论中包含的逻辑与直觉的关系.