Are trait self-control and self-control resources mediators of relations between executive functions and health behaviors?

This study investigated associations between executive functions (i.e., inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) and individual differences in self-control and health behaviors. We examined whether executive functions predict physical activity, sedentary activity, and healthy and unhealthy diets, and whether trait self-control and self-control resources mediate these associations. Three hundred and eighty-five participants completed a questionnaire assessing trait self-control and self-control resources, physical activity, sedentary activity, and healthy and unhealthy diets. They also performed three randomly ordered cognitive tasks, a stop-signal task (i.e., inhibition), a letter memory task (i.e., updating), and a number-letter task (i.e., switching). Structural equation modeling revealed that self-control resources predicted positively physical activity (R² = 0.08), negatively sedentary activity (R² = 0.03) and positively healthy diet (R² = 10). Moreover, trait self-control predicted positively healthy diet (R² = 0.10) and negatively unhealthy diet (R² = 0.19). Moreover, analyses revealed that switching significantly predicted self-control resources, and highlighted three totally mediated relations between this executive function and physical activity, sedentary activity and healthy diet. However, no evidence was found supporting associations between inhibition and updating, and health behaviors, or relations mediated by self-control for these executive functions. The findings suggest the importance of trait self-control and self-control resources for health behavior adoption and pave the way for studies exploring the role of the executive functions in an affective context. Open materials [https://osf.io/hpsjw/].     

Western and Russian Traditions of Big History: A Philosophical Insight

Summary  Big History – an integral conception of the past since the Big Bang until today – is a novel subject of cross-disciplinary interest. The concept was construed in the 1980–1990s simultaneously in different countries, after relevant premises had matured in the sciences and humanities.Various versions and traditions of Big History are considered in the article. Particularly, most of the Western authors emphasize the idea of equilibrium, and thus reduce cosmic, biological, and social evolution to the mass-energy processes; the informational parameter involving all mental and spiritual aspects are seen as epiphenomena of material structures” complication that do not play their own role in evolution. In Russian tradition ascending to A. Bogdanov, E. Bauer, I. Prigogine, and E. Jantsch, sustainable non-equilibrium patterns are used. This implies attention to the pan-material sources and evolution of mental capacities and spiritual culture (as basic anti-entropy instruments) and humans” growing intervention in the material processes on Earth and outside it.The non-equilibrium approach in the context of modern control and self-organization theories, alters the portrayal of the past, and still more dramatically, estimation of the civilization’s potential perspectives.     

Global Economy,Justice and Sustainability

Although this paper attends to some extent to the question whether the global economy promotes or impedes either justice or sustainability, its main focus is on the relationship between justice and sustainability. Whilst sustainability itself as a normative goal is about sustaining inter alia justice, justice itself requires intergenerationally the sustaining of the conditions of a good life for all. At the heart of this is a conception of justice as realising the basic rights of all–in contrast to a more demanding distributive principle or a less demanding principle of not violating the liberty rights or other basic rights of others. Although Pogge’s analysis that the global economy causes harm by failing to realise basic rights is seen as a useful challenge to common libertarian assumptions, the acceptance of other positive correlative duties, following Shue, is advocated. Insofar as the global economy fails to realise basic justice, the question is ‘how far can it realistically be changed?’ and this is a function partly of the moral attitudes of individuals at large.     

Choice in a "self-control" paradigm: effects of a fading procedure

Pigeons chose between an immediate 2-second reinforcer (access to grain) and a 6-second reinforcer delayed 6 seconds. The four pigeons in the control group were exposed to this condition initially. The four experimental subjects first received a condition where both reinforcers were delayed 6 seconds. The small reinforcer delay was then gradually reduced to zero over more than 11,000 trials. Control subjects almost never chose the large delayed reinforcer. Experimental subjects chose the large delayed reinforcer significantly more often. Two experimental subjects showed preference for the large reinforcer even when the consequences for pecking the two keys were switched. The results indicate that fading procedures can lead to increased “self-control” in pigeons in a choice between a large delayed reinforcer and a small immediate reinforcer.     

Effects of expectancy of outcome on the reactivity of self-monitoring

The present study investigated the effects of subjects' outcome expectancy on self-monitoring of a clinically relevant behavior, overeating. In conjunction with self-monitoring of eating habits, subjects received either a positive expectancy of behavior change or no expectancy regarding change. While both self-monitoring groups achieved significantly greater weight loss than controls, subjects in the expectancy group demonstrated significantly greater weight loss than no-expectancy subjects. Possible factors accounting for the disparity in findings between this and previous self-monitoring investigations are discussed.     

Self-control techniques of famous novelists

A statement by a famous contemporary novelist is presented that indicates how he and others, independently of formal behaviorism, used behavioristic methods-specifically, self-recording charts and regularly scheduled daily work hours-to accelerate and maintain their writing outputs. On the basis of his statement and an analysis of his self-recorded data, it is argued that a meaningful and useful analogy can be drawn between writing a novel and emitting a simple operant response on a fixed-ratio schedule.     

An analysis of self-management

We discuss topics related to a theoretical analysis of self-management, including theories of self-management, self-reinforcement and self-management, antecedent stimuli for self-management, teaching of self-management behaviors, and applications of self-management. Our analysis indicates that self-management's roots in behavioral explanations of phenomena are solid, but that there are important issues yet to be examined in developing a thorough understanding of self-management. We argue that self-management behaviors almost certainly must be examined in relation to the contexts in which they occur and the consequences that they produce.     

“Shame: The Misplaced Debt of Structural Sin”

Although sexual violence and economic distress are often understood and responded to as individual problems, they are rooted in and must be understood within the social systems of patriarchy and advanced global capitalism, both of which normalize these traumas. The problem is that social systems divert guilt for structural sin onto individuals in the form of shame, which I argue is the misplaced debt of structural sin. Through narrative and analysis, I demonstrate the problems of silence, judgement, and death associated with the misplaced debt of shame in structural sin. Preliminarily, I suggest that the theology of the cross enables Christians to name structural sin for what it actually is; judge who or what is truly guilty; and remove shame and guilt from survivors to foster flourishing.     

Testing Measurement Invariance of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen in a Belgian Adult Sample

The Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) is a frequently used concise version of the Dark Triad to measure three socially aversive personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism. The present study has examined measurement invariance in a sample of Belgian adults. The present study aims to assess measurement invariance of the Dutch version of the Dirty Dozen measure across gender in a large city-based representative adult sample in Belgium (N = 1587). Multi-group first-order confirmatory factor analysis for categorical indicators was utilized. In addition, unique associations between Dirty Dozen traits, trait self-control and, acceptance of illegitimate norms were examined in a series of structural equation models. Results indicated that the internal consistency of the Dirty Dozen subscales was good for Machiavellianism (α = 0.80) and narcissism (α = 0.80), but modest for psychopathy (α = 0.64). The hypothesized three correlated factors model with separate factors for Machiavellianism, psychopathy and, narcissism provided a poor fit for men and women. Invariance testing across gender showed evidence for weak invariance only, indicating that the underlying latent factors are measured the same way with the same metric in the two populations. However, we were not able to establish strong measurement invariance. Observed group differences should be interpreted with caution. Furthermore, Machiavellianism and psychopathy were strongly associated with trait self-control in both men and women. Strong correlations were found between acceptance of illegitimate norms and Dirty Dozen traits, Machiavellianism and, psychopathy, but not with narcissism.     

The International Significance of Human Rights

A comparative examination of four alternative ways of understandingwhat human rights are supports an institutional understanding assuggested by Article 28 of the Universal Declaration: Human rightsare weighty moral claims on any coercively imposed institutionalorder, national or international (as Article 28 confirms). Any suchorder must afford the persons on whom it is imposed secure accessto the objects of their human rights. This understanding of humanrights is broadly sharable across cultures and narrows the philosophical and practical differences between the friends ofcivil and political and the champions of social, economic, andcultural human rights. When applied to the global institutionalorder, it provides a new argument for conceiving human rights asuniversal – and a new basis for criticizing this order as tooencouraging of oppression, corruption, and poverty in the developing countries: We have a negative duty not to cooperatein the imposition of this global order if feasible reforms ofit would significantly improve the realization of human rights.