The impact of monetary stimuli on object-based attention

Previous research has implied that monetary reward to target location (a reward for spatial properties) can affect object-based attention, but no study has directly investigated the influence of monetary objects (a reward for object properties) on object-based attention. Thus, it is unclear whether and how monetary objects can affect object-based attention. To experimentally investigate this problem, this study adapted the well-established two-rectangle paradigm. In Experiment 1, either two 100-yuan notes or two 1-yuan notes were presented to participants. We found an object-based effect with faster responses to targets at an uncued position on the cued object compared to those at an equidistant position on the uncued object; the effect was similar in 100-yuan and 1-yuan note trials. In Experiment 2, two notes (one 100-yuan and one 1-yuan) were simultaneously presented to participants, and cue location (100-yuan, 1-yuan) was manipulated. We found a greater object-based effect when the cue appeared on the 100-yuan note than on the 1-yuan note. These results suggest that the rewarding property of objects can affect object-based attention by means of altering object salience.     

Financial aspirations,financial success,and overall life satisfaction: who? and how?

Nickerson et al. (2003, Psychological Science 14, pp. 531–536) demonstrated in a longitudinal study that the negative relation between aspirations for financial success and subjective well-being found by other researchers was mitigated by high household income. The present study first refined the analysis in Nickerson et al. (2003) and then explored two additional issues: (a) who aspires to financial success? and (b) how is financial success achieved? Analysis indicated that individuals with strong financial aspirations are socially inclined, confident, ambitious, politically conservative, traditional, conventional, and relatively less able academically, but not psychologically distressed. Financial success is achieved via the job and, for women only, via marriage. Financial aspirations influence job income both by influencing choice of occupation and by influencing job income within occupation; however, achieving financial success depends on having the personal resources to do so. Women with strong financial aspirations tend to marry for money (or money-making potential) regardless of their work status; men with strong financial aspirations do not.     

Reward Influence on the Heart: Cardiovascular Response as a Function of Incentive Value at Five Levels of Task Demand

This study examined cardiovascular effects of incentive value in men and women confronted with cognitive challenges that were more and less difficult to meet. Participants performed computer memory tasks varying in difficulty from low to high, with instructions that they could earn chances toward a $100 prize or $10 prize by attaining a 90% success rate. Analysis of cardiovascular responses assessed during work revealed an interaction between difficulty and incentive value for heart rate. Participants' heart rate responses were proportional to task difficulty and unaffected by incentive value in all conditions except for the most difficult one. Where difficulty was greatest, $100 participants showed relatively high heart rate responsiveness, whereas $10 participants showed low heart rate responsiveness. This heart rate finding corroborates and extends cardiovascular results from previous experiments, and lends further support to the view that cardiovascular responses will be proportional to incentive value only under some task conditions.     

金钱激励在社会排斥影响不确定性决策中的调节作用

研究从金钱补偿的视角考察社会排斥对不确定性决策的影响以及金钱激励的调节作用。实验发现,有金钱激励时,被排斥者在爱荷华赌博任务(Iowa gambling task,IGT)中的行为分数(组块2和3的选牌净分数和总的盈利分数)显著高于社会接纳者,表现为风险规避; 在无金钱激励时,被排斥者在IGT任务中的行为分数(组块4和5的选牌净分数和总的盈利分数)显著低于被接纳者,表现为风险寻求。实验结果表明社会排斥对不确定性决策的影响受到金钱激励的调制。     

奖赏预期对面孔情绪加工的影响：一项事件相关电位研究

采用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术考察了奖赏预期对人类面孔情绪识别的影响。实验采用线索-目标范式, 分别记录了被试在奖赏预期条件下以及无奖赏预期条件下对正性、中性和负性面孔进行情绪辨别任务的ERP数据。行为结果显示, 被试在奖赏预期条件下的反应时快于无奖赏预期条件下的反应时, 对情绪面孔的反应时快于对中性面孔的反应时。ERPs数据显示, 奖赏线索比无奖赏线索诱发了更正的P1、P2和P300成分。目标刺激诱发的P1、N170波幅以及N300均受到奖赏预期的调节, 在奖赏预期条件下目标诱发了更正的ERPs。P1、N170、VPP等成分没有受到面孔情绪的影响, 而额中央位置的N300波幅显示情绪(正性与负性)面孔与中性面孔加工的差异。重要的是, N300波幅出现奖赏预期与情绪的交互作用, 正、负情绪加工效应以及负性偏向效应受奖赏预期的差异性影响。正性情绪加工效应不受奖赏预期的影响, 而负性情绪加工效应和负性偏向效应在奖赏预期条件下显著大于无奖赏预期条件下。这些结果说明, 奖赏预期能够调节对面孔情绪的加工, 且不同加工进程中奖赏对情绪加工的调节作用不同。动机性信息调节注意资源的分配, 促进了个体在加工面孔情绪时的负性偏向。     

金钱概念启动对亲社会行为的影响及其决策机制

金钱是一种重要的资源, 也是人们日常生活中非常熟悉的概念。国内外有关实证研究发现, 启动金钱概念会诱发自足感、经济型心理定势、自由市场的价值观以及利己自我图式(社会认知模型), 从而导致亲社会行为减少。文章探讨了金钱概念启动对利他性亲社会行为、遵规与公益性亲社会行为、关系性亲社会行为和特质性亲社会行为的影响。未来的研究应该进一步关注：(1)金钱概念启动在组织管理中的研究; (2)贫富差异在金钱概念启动与亲社会行为关系中的调节效应; (3)深化时间概念启动影响亲社会行为的研究; (4)金钱概念启动影响亲社会行为的神经机制研究。     

On the Relation between Institutional Statuses and Technical Artifacts: A Proposed Taxonomy of Social Kinds

Technical artifacts do not seem particularly continuous with institutional statuses. If statuses are defined in terms of their constitutive rules, as Searle maintains, then disassociation is always possible – someone or something can satisfy those rules without being able to realize the functional effects that are associated with that status. The gap between technical artifacts and Searlean statuses suggests the possibility of an additional social kind, which I call, following Muhammad Ali Khalidi, a ‘real social kind’. However, the placement of real social kinds between technical artifacts and statuses recommends a reconfiguration of Khalidi’s most abstract characterization of the notion. This reconfiguration also lends support to his surprising claim that money is a real social kind.     

Construal‐level Mindsets Enhance Behavioral Persistence in Response to Incentive Valence

In this research, we find that incentive valence and construal‐level mindsets can interact to influence behavioral persistence on challenging tasks. An abstract mindset improves persistence in response to positively framed incentives whereas a concrete mindset improves persistence in response to negatively framed incentives. This interaction effect can be observed even when the cues inducing construal‐level mindsets are not related to the incentives or the incentivized tasks. Participants in our studies were either positively or negatively incentivized to solve a set of difficult anagrams, and were primed with an abstract or a concrete mindset using spatial (Study 1) and social (Study 2) cues. The participants persisted longer in response to the positively framed incentive when primed with spatially or socially remote cues. In contrast, for the negatively framed incentive, participants persisted longer when primed with spatially or socially proximal cues. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

More Eagerness,More Suffering from Search Bias: Accuracy Incentives and Need for Cognition Exacerbate the Detrimental Effects of Excessive Searching in Finding Romantic Partners Online

The systematic use of Web search tools to browse and evaluate recommendations is widespread. Such tools may be crucial for users to truly benefit from the enormous selection of options available online. However, a recent study demonstrated that a greater number of search options triggered excessive searching and led to inferior decisions (i.e., the more‐means‐worse effect; Wu & Chiou, 2009 ). Given that individuals who are motivated to make accurate choices (the accuracy incentive) tend to engage in broader and more exhaustive searches, Experiment 1 examined how the accuracy incentive influenced the search process. The findings indicated that the accuracy incentive led to excessive searching and poorer choices. Moreover, the search ratio, an indicator of excessive searching, mediated the negative effect of the accuracy incentive on choice quality. Experiment 2 investigated the role of the need for cognition (NFC) in the more‐means‐worse effect. High‐NFC participants demonstrated an increased tendency toward excessive searching and exhibited poorer selectivity than did low‐NFC participants. The current research indicated that the accuracy incentive of online searchers may serve as a determinant of excessive searching and that online searchers characterized by high NFC may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of excessive searching. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Axes of Debt: A Preface to Three Essays

This is a preface to three essays on different aspects of ontological and economic debt as themes in religious ethics. It frames their contribution by arguing that debt is central to traditions of philosophical and religious ethics yet is woefully neglected as a thematic problem and problematic in contemporary iterations of these traditions. In order to situate debt as a central moral concern, it is argued that any consideration of debt must wrestle with how debt exists on two axes. One is the axis of ontological and economic debt. The other is the axis of debt as an expression of mutuality and debt as a mode of domination. These axes generate deep ambiguities regarding the moral status of debt. But contemporary religious and philosophical ethics struggles to articulate, let alone address, this ambiguity due to being wedded to modern conceptions of the autonomous subject. The essay closes by setting out the themes of the three essays, the connections between them, and how they can be a catalyst for further reflection on this vital but under‐researched topic.