Power, stability of power, and creativity

Power hierarchies are an essential aspect of social organization, create stability and social order, and provide individuals with incentives to climb the hierarchical ladder. Extending previous work on power and creativity, we put forward that this relationship critically depends on both the stability of the power hierarchy and the relevance of creative efforts to power. Across three experiments, we show that when power positions are unstable, low power individuals are more flexible thinkers, are less avoidant and process information more globally. Consequently, they achieve more creative insights, especially when being creative is relevant to power. As such, when the power hierarchy is unstable, those lacking power hold the power to creativity.     

Evidence against an occasion setting account of avoidance learning

Earlier studies on human avoidance learning showed that an avoidance response reduces the expectancy that a warning stimulus (WS) will be followed by an unconditioned stimulus (US). This modulation can transfer to WSs with which the avoidance response did not occur in the past. Recent studies suggest that transfer of modulation is selective in that it is stronger for WSs that previously went together with other avoidance responses than for WSs that never went together with an avoidance response. This finding has been interpreted as providing unique support for an occasion setting account of avoidance learning. We put forward alternative explanations of selective transfer of modulation in terms of the rate with which a WS was reinforced in the absence an avoidance response. In support of the alternative explanations, we found that transfer of modulation depended not on whether a WS previously went together with another avoidance response but on the rate with which the WS was reinforced in the past. We conclude that selective transfer of modulation in avoidance learning does not provide (unique) support for the occasion setting account. Our findings are in line with a revised expectancy model of avoidance learning.     

发展地看待知识内隐性的判别方法：内隐与外显学习区分的新途径

知识内隐性的判别一直是内隐学习研究领域的研究重点之一,恰当的区分内隐被试和外显被试对于该类研究有着至关重要的意义。本文介绍知识内隐性判别问题的研究历史,由最初的主观标准和客观标准到后来改进的研究方法,指出了随着对待内隐和外显学习两者关系的理论的发展,研究方法有必要与时俱进,并提出了新的区分内隐被试和外显被试的新方法。相对于传统研究方法,新方法从内隐知识和外显知识互为补充、＂任何一种学习即存在内隐学习,也存在外显学习＂的理论指导下,通过被试的猜测水平来判断其内隐水平,并确定＂纯的＂内隐被试的标准。该方法发展地看待内隐学习及其与外显学习的关系,有助于研究者更加深入、精确地研究内隐学习的相关问题。     

Mediating between international knowledge and local knowledge: The critical role of local field officers in an HIV prevention intervention

The outcomes of health interventions are co‐constructed through negotiation between the competing knowledges of different stakeholders. In such a context, local implementing partners – who mediate between international donors/programme managers and local beneficiary communities – have a critical ‘knowledge brokering’ role to play. With appropriate support, they can facilitate integration of internationally established knowledge with local beliefs and practices in ways that support health‐enhancing behaviour change. This paper focuses on the local field officers of an HIV prevention programme with Cambodian military couples. The paper asks: (1) what are the outcomes of knowledge encounters between international organizations and local field officers, as expressed in field officers' interpretation of programme goals, strategies and messages? (2) To what extent does the intervention context support the field officers' knowledge brokering efforts? Data collected includes semi‐structured interviews, observations of programme meetings and activities, and textual materials. The findings demonstrate that field officers privilege international knowledge, particularly in interactions with international manager–partners. However, in the field, they both hybridize programme messages and struggle to resolve dilemmas provoked by conflicting international and local knowledges. Material and symbolic asymmetries within the intervention context are shown to undermine their knowledge brokering efforts, as field officers attempt to claim identities and futures as health development professionals. Implications for programme practices and accountability systems are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Detecting conscious awareness from involuntary autonomic responses

Can conscious awareness be ascertained from physiological responses alone? We evaluate a novel learning-based procedure permitting detection of conscious awareness without reliance on language comprehension or behavioural responses. The method exploits a situation whereby only consciously detected violations of an expectation alter skin conductance responses (SCRs). Thirty participants listened to sequences of piano notes that, without their being told, predicted a pleasant fanfare or an aversive noise according to an abstract rule. Stimuli were presented without distraction (attended), or while distracted by a visual task to remove awareness of the rule (unattended). A test phase included occasional violations of the rule. Only participants attending the sounds reported awareness of violations and only they showed significantly greater SCR for noise occurring in violation, vs. accordance, with the rule. Our results establish theoretically significant dissociations between conscious and unconscious processing and furnish new opportunities for clinical assessment of residual consciousness in patient populations.     

Modeling the Impact of Control on the Attractiveness of Risk in a Prospect Theory Framework

Many decisions involve a degree of personal control over event outcomes, which is exerted through one's knowledge or skill. In three experiments we investigated differences in decision making between prospects based on a) the outcome of random events and b) the outcome of events characterized by control. In Experiment 1, participants estimated certainty equivalents (CEs) for bets based on either random events or the correctness of their answers to U.S. state population questions across the probability spectrum. In Experiment 2, participants estimated CEs for bets based on random events, answers to U.S. state population questions, or answers to questions about 2007 NCAA football game results. Experiment 3 extended the same procedure as Experiment 1 using a within-subjects design. We modeled data from all experiments in a prospect theory framework to establish psychological mechanisms underlying decision behavior. Participants weighted the probabilities associated with bets characterized by control so as to reflect greater risk attractiveness relative to bets based on random events, as evidenced by more elevated weighting functions under conditions of control. This research elucidates possible cognitive mechanisms behind increased risk taking for decisions characterized by control, and implications for various literatures are discussed.     

Early orthographic influences on phonemic awareness tasks: Evidence from a preschool training study

Experienced readers show influences of orthographic knowledge on tasks ostensibly tapping phonemic awareness. Here we draw on data from an experimental training study to demonstrate that even preschoolers show influences of their emerging orthographic abilities in such tasks. A total of 40 children were taught some letter-sound correspondences but not others. A selective effect of this training was found on their phonemic awareness task performance for the trained items. These findings point to the multidetermined nature of performance on tasks normally considered as measuring phonemic awareness and have implications for theories of the role of phonemic awareness in reading acquisition.     

Career-choice readiness in adolescence: Developmental trajectories and individual differences

Developing career-choice readiness is an important task in adolescence, but current theory and research has provided a rather static view of the phenomenon. The present study investigated the development of career-choice readiness among a group of 325 Swiss students assessed four times every 5 months from seventh through eighth grade. A variable-centered approach applying latent curve modeling showed not only a linear increase of readiness over time but also significant inter-individual differences in the level and development of readiness. Higher levels were predicted by more self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy and fewer perceived barriers while increase in readiness was predicted by increase in occupational information. A person-centered approach applying latent class-growth analysis identified four distinct developmental trajectories: high-increasing (42%), high-decreasing (5%), moderate-increasing (42%), and constantly low (11%). Students with different trajectories showed significant differences in core self-evaluations, occupational knowledge, and barriers. The results suggest that environmental demands promote a developmental trend in readiness development that overrules individual differences for the majority of students. Individual differences affect the level of readiness to a greater extent than the process of its development. Career information seems pivotal for readiness increase.     

The role of idiosyncratic attribute evaluation in mass customization

The growing use of mass customization necessitates an understanding of consumers' evaluations of mass customization platforms. We hypothesize that consumers' objective and subjective knowledge of the customized product moderate the influence of idiosyncratically evaluated (i.e., personalizable) attributes on satisfaction with a customization platform. Consistent with our theoretical framework, results from three experiments show that offering greater variety in idiosyncratically evaluated attribute options increases consumers' satisfaction to a greater extent for: (1) novices than experts (2) consumers with more subjective knowledge, and (3) miscalibrated consumers whose subjective knowledge does not match their objective knowledge, than calibrated consumers whose subjective and objective knowledge match.     

Something more than the 'Something more than interpretation' is needed: A comment on the paper by the Process of Change Study Group

A critique is offered of the paper on non-interpretive mechanisms in psychoanalytic therapy by the Process of Change Study Group (Stern et al., 1998a). The attention paid to procedural learning and to the need to attend to implicit relational knowledge is welcomed but a number of the group's assumptions are questioned. In particular, it is argued that the differences between mother-infant and therapist-patient relationships are inadequately considered, that the polarisation of non-symbolic and verbal memory is unhelpful and that the separation of the therapy relationship into three strands is problematic. The assumption that pursuing the goal of intersubjective understanding is in itself therapeutic is questioned. It is suggested that the recognition of the importance of implicit relational knowledge calls for a wider reappraisal of important aspects of theory and practice and that direct means of making such knowledge explicit should be considered.