Sticking to common values: Neighbourhood social cohesion moderates the effect of value congruence on life satisfaction

This article aims to explicate the role of social cohesion in the relationship between adherence to common values and life satisfaction. Shared values are often assumed to be a constitutive element of social cohesion and are used in measurement of the concept. However, sociopsychological theory of values sees social cohesion rather as a moderator of the link between value congruence and life satisfaction, not as a constituent of value congruence. Based on a representative survey of the city of Bremen, Germany (N = 2605), we predict life satisfaction from person‐group value congruence and neighbourhood social cohesion. We find no relationship between value congruence and social cohesion, but a significant positive moderating effect of social cohesion on the relationship between value congruence and life satisfaction. The findings suggest that sticking to common values does not increase social cohesion, but that positive effects of value congruence are more pronounced in high‐cohesion neighbourhoods.     

Moderating Loss Aversion: Loss Aversion Has Moderators,But Reports of its Death are Greatly Exaggerated

Loss aversion, the principle that losses impact decision making more than equivalent gains, is a fundamental idea in consumer behavior and decision making, though its existence has recently been called into question. Across five unique samples (N_total = 17,720), we tested several moderators of loss aversion, which supported a preference construction account. Across studies, more domain knowledge and experience were associated with lower loss aversion, though people of all knowledge and experience levels were loss averse. Among car buyers, those who knew more about a particular car attribute (e.g., fuel economy) were less loss averse for that attribute but not other attributes (e.g., comfort), consistent with the idea that people with less attribute knowledge are more likely to construct preferences, thereby increasing loss aversion. Additionally, older consumers were more loss averse across different loss aversion measures and studies. We discuss implications for several accounts of loss aversion, including accounts rooted in status quo bias, emotion, or ownership. In addition to discovering loss aversion moderators, we cast doubt on recent claims that loss aversion is a fallacy or is fully explained by status quo bias, risk aversion, or the educated laboratory samples often used to study loss aversion.     

Online implementation of an event history calendar with formr: A tutorial

Event history calendars (EHCs) are popular tools for retrospective data collection. Originally conceptualized as face‐to‐face interviews, EHCs contain various questions about the respondents' autobiography in order to use their experiences as cues to facilitate remembering. For relationship researchers, EHCs are particularly valuable when trying to reconstruct the relational past of individuals. However, although many studies are conducted online nowadays, no freely available online adaptation of the EHC is available yet. In this tutorial, detailed instructions are provided on how to implement an online EHC for the reconstruction of romantic relationship histories within the open‐source framework formr. Ways to customize the online EHC and provide a template for researchers to adapt the tool for their own purposes are showcased.     

Attachment and resource sharing

In three studies we examined the associations between resource sharing (RS) and attachment, and the enhancement of RS using attachment security primes. In Study 1, we showed that attachment avoidance was negatively associated with RS. We also identified differences and similarities between RS and pro‐sociality. In Studies 2 and 3, we showed that research participants were more likely to share their monetary resources after they were primed with attachment security. Study 3 further revealed that security priming affected mainly people low on state attachment anxiety. Our findings extend previous work on pro‐sociality into the specific realm of RS, provide behavioral evidence, and tie attachment and close relationships in with game theory and research on economic decision making.     

L’affaire Lambert et la Convention internationale relative aux droits des personnes handicapées (CIDPH)

While the Conseil d’État once again confirmed the legality of the medical decision to stop treatment of Vincent Lambert, the Cour de Cassation held that the French State is not required to suspend the execution of the said decision pending the opinion of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a United Nations’ body. Nevertheless, the High jurisdiction does not directly pronounce itself on the question of the binding force of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its additional protocol, nor on the scope of these texts.     

The sociocultural movement in psychology,the role of theories in sociocultural inquiries,and the theory of sociocultural models

This special issue presents the theory of sociocultural models (TSCM) and its applications in diverse areas of psychology, including education, health care, clinical practice, gender relations, and general research. As many theories already exist in the social sciences, some readers may ask: “Why do cross‐cultural, cultural, and indigenous psychologists need another theory?” This question is comprised of two aspects: culture/cultural and theory/theoretical. Therefore, to answer it, it is important to clarify both issues. The first relates to cultural and its relation to psychological. The second, theory, considers its relation to cultural and psychological. These issues have long‐range implications for all culture and psychology disciplines as they pose many questions: What role does culture play in the mental functioning of people? How is culture constituted? Is cultural related to social? Does people’s mental functioning exert reciprocal influences on their cultural and social functioning? While working toward answering these questions, researchers quickly determine that more questions arise: What role should theories play in answering these questions? What constitutes theory in culture and psychology disciplines? How should such a theory (or such theories) address the triad of cultural, social, and mental? Consequently, in an effort to provide an overview of the TSCM and to begin to answer these questions, this introduction consists of two parts. The first part addresses the sociocultural turn in modern psychology; this part discusses its implications for research in culture and psychology disciplines. The second segment examines the topic of the theoretical backgrounds of cultural and cross‐cultural research and connects the philosophical paradigms of interpretivism and realism with the theory of sociocultural models. This introduction concludes with a brief overview of the articles included in this issue.     

The TROCA Project: An autonomous transportation robot controlled by a cognitive architecture

Autonomous mobile robots emerged as an important kind of transportation system in warehouses and factories. In this work, we present the use of MECA cognitive architecture in the development of an artificial mind for an autonomous robot responsible for multiple tasks, including transportation of packages along a factory floor, environment exploration, warehouse inventory, its internal energy management, self-monitoring and dealing with human operators and other robots. The present text provides a detailed specification for the architecture and its software implementation. Future work will present the simulation results under different configurations, together with a detailed analysis of the architecture performance and its generalization for autonomous robot control.     

« Conciliation vie privée vie professionnelle » : plusieurs termes pour une même réalité ? Proposition de modélisation à travers l’usage français

The aim of this paper is to define the vocabulary used about interactions between people's work and their private lives. Several terms exist and are used as synonyms despite of their slightly different meanings are different: balance, conflict, interaction, enrichment; personal life, family life… Based on an analysis of 45 French articles in psychology, management and human resources, we notice that the terms used are rarely defined. In a thematic analysis of these articles, we suggest a model which defines all words usually used.     

Why do they do it? Differences in high-intensity exercise-affect between those with higher and lower intensity preference and tolerance

Evidence suggests high-intensity exercise results in a more negative affective response when compared to moderate- or low-intensity exercise. However, a large number of individuals continue participating in high-intensity exercise, in spite of these supposed declines in affective state.PurposeDetermine whether trait differences influence variability in exercise-affect for those with higher versus lower exercise intensity preference and/or tolerance, and determine the mediating relationship between traits, exercise behavior, and affective states.MethodsUndergraduates (N = 245, 20.3 ± 1.7 yrs, BMI = 23.7 ± 3.8, 60.8% female, 82% regular exercisers) completed the Preference for and Tolerance of the Intensity of Exercise Questionnaire. They then completed a 15-min high-intensity body-weight circuit (HIC), a walk, and a reading condition, where valence (via Feeling Scale), perceived physiological activation (via Felt Arousal Scale), and ratings of perceived exertion were taken prior to, every 3-min during, and 20-min post (P20) condition, while activity enjoyment was assessed immediately post.ResultsMultivariate ANOVAs revealed significant differences (p_s < 0.05) in valence between those with high versus low intensity preferences during HIC at minutes 3 (d = 0.615), 6 (d = 0.772), 9 (d = 0.659), 12 (d = 0.625), 15 (d = 0.632), and at P20 (d = 0.554), and for enjoyment following HIC (d = 0.545), but not for walking or reading conditions.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the intensity-preference trait influences how an individual feels during high-intensity exercise, but has less influence on affect during moderate/lower intensity activities. These differences may be predictive of whether an individual will continue high-intensity exercise programming.     

Achievement motive,autonomous motivation,and attendance at fitness center: A longitudinal prospective study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to test whether achievement motive, autonomous forms of exercise motivation (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation), and controlled forms of exercise motivation (introjected regulation, external regulation) would predict gym attendance over 30 consecutive weeks in a sample of new gym members.DesignA longitudinal prospective study with four distinct measurement occasions was employed. Psychological variables and gym attendance were assessed in the first, fourth, 15th, and 30th week after starting the membership.MethodParticipants were 229 new gym members. The implicit achievement motive was measured using the Picture Story Exercise. The explicit achievement motive and exercise motivations were measured with questionnaires. Gym attendance was obtained via self-reports and also recorded electronically. Multilevel growth modeling was used as the main analysis method.ResultsParticipants overestimated their self-reported gym attendance; the overall gap between self-reported and actual attendance was 39%. The achievement motive did not predict participants’ gym attendance over the 30-week period, neither for self-reported nor for actual. The effect of autonomous motivation was mixed. Intrinsic motivation predicted self-reported, but not actual, gym attendance over the 30-week period, whereas the evolution of intrinsic motivation was unrelated to gym attendance. Identified regulation was unrelated to gym attendance, but the increase in identified motivation over time positively predicted both self-reported and actual gym attendance. Controlled motivation was unrelated to gym attendance.ConclusionsContinuous and regular participation in an exercise program is more likely when individuals enjoy the program and consider it personally important.