Rapid decisions from experience

In many everyday decisions, people quickly integrate noisy samples of information to form a preference among alternatives that offer uncertain rewards. Here, we investigated this decision process using the Flash Gambling Task (FGT), in which participants made a series of choices between a certain payoff and an uncertain alternative that produced a normal distribution of payoffs. For each choice, participants experienced the distribution of payoffs via rapid samples updated every 50 ms. We show that people can make these rapid decisions from experience and that the decision process is consistent with a sequential sampling process. Results also reveal a dissociation between these preferential decisions and equivalent perceptual decisions where participants had to determine which alternatives contained more dots on average. To account for this dissociation, we developed a sequential sampling rank-dependent utility model, which showed that participants in the FGT attended more to larger potential payoffs than participants in the perceptual task despite being given equivalent information. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of computational models of preferential choice and a more complete understanding of experience-based decision making.     

Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep

Smartphones have become a prevalent technology as they provide employees with instant access to work-related information and communications outside of the office. Despite these advantages, there may be some costs of smartphone use for work at night. Drawing from ego depletion theory, we examined whether smartphone use depletes employees’ regulatory resources and impairs their engagement at work the following day. Across two studies using experience sampling methodology, we found that smartphone use for work at night increased depletion the next morning via its effects on sleep. Morning depletion in turn diminished daily work engagement. The indirect effects of smartphone use on depletion and engagement the next day were incremental to the effects of other electronic devices (e.g., computer, tablet, and television use). We also found some support that the negative effects of morning depletion on daily work engagement may be buffered by job control, such that depletion impairs work engagement only for employees who experience low job control.     

The Role of Students’ Attitudes and Test-Taking Motivation on the Validity of College Institutional Accountability Tests: A Path Analytic Model

Given worldwide prevalence of low-stakes testing for monitoring educational quality and students’ progress through school (e.g., Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Program for International Student Assessment), interpretability of resulting test scores is of global concern. The nonconsequential nature of low-stakes tests can undermine students’ test-taking motivation, artificially deflating performance and thus jeopardizing validity of test-based inferences, whether they pertain to programs, institutions, or nations (Eklöf, 2007, 2010; Stanat & Lüdtke, 2013; Wise & DeMars, 2005). Moreover, students in countries such as the United States, where academic progress over the course of K–12 (kindergarten through Grade 12) is systematically assessed, are likely to develop antagonistic attitudes toward low-stakes testing by the time they enter college. The relationship between such attitudes, test-taking motivation, and performance on a low-stakes university accountability test was modeled via path analysis. Results indicated the effects of attitudes were indirect (via test-taking motivation) and minimal, suggesting the influence of attitudes on test performance is negligible, further supporting the validity of inferences made from such low-stakes tests. Implications for international assessment are discussed.     

Psychological Help‐Seeking Intention Among College Students Across Three Problem Areas

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to understand psychological help‐seeking intention for 3 common concerns: anxiety or depression, career choice concerns, and alcohol or drug use. Eight hundred eighty‐nine university students completed surveys for the TPB variables plus belief in personal efficacy and control to solve the problems. Path analysis demonstrated path invariance, indicating that the importance of TPB variables do not vary based on concern in the decision‐making process.     

Conceptualising Decadent Technology: A Case Study of Path Dependence in Radiotherapy

Abstract

Large-scale investments in health technologies often have limited evidence for effectiveness when first introduced. Nevertheless, professional and public discourses often present the advantages of such investments, with unknown risks, as necessary and entailing significant improvement. Such discourses are evident with the introduction of the Linac Adapted Conebeam Imager (LACI), introduced to improve the accuracy of radiotherapy treatments. From one perspective, the introduction of such technologies can be considered to be decadent since there is limited, if any, evidence of improvement of current standards and procedures, yet they are promoted as the latest and best technologies for solving societal problems. Connecting the concepts of decadence to those of path dependence, through the case of the LACI, enables the exploration of the ‘technical interrelatedness’ of technological changes. Building on the concept of path dependence, it is possible to demonstrate how introducing a closely related technology does not only become a low-risk course of action. Rather change is demanded (but not determined) as well as potential alternative systems being obscured. With decadent technologies, any future changes are not only dependent upon past introductions; but also they create a need for future changes. Such a view demonstrates how these technologies may not necessarily offer any improvements, but rather contribute to the creation of ongoing demand for unproven technologies. As a result they may encourage the introduction of increasingly complex technologies.     

General or specific? The memory–experience gap for individuals diagnosed with a major depressive disorder or a social phobia diagnosis,and individuals without such diagnoses

ABSTRACT

Psychological treatment and assessment necessarily rely on patients’ recall. Yet several empirical studies have documented a gap between memory and real-life experience (i.e., memory–experience gap; MeG). We investigated and compared the MeG of sadness, social anxiety, happiness, and physical activity for participants diagnosed with a major depressive disorder (MDD), a social phobia (SP), and participants without such diagnoses (CG). The study included 118 participants diagnosed with a MDD, 47 with a SP, and 119 CG. Using event-sampling methods (ESM), participants were asked via smartphone to report their experiences throughout a week and then to recall those again retrospectively at the end of the study week. Results indicate significant differences in the MeG with respect to the experience that was salient to them (e.g., MDD group – sadness; SP group – social anxiety; CG group – happiness). Furthermore, all groups showed a MeG for physical activity and, the results indicate significant group differences in the magnitude of the MeGs.

This study demonstrated the presence of a MeG in individuals in a MDD, SP, and CG group and in positive and negative affective experiences. Differential patterns across the samples contribute to a better understanding of this gap and its implications.     

Retrieval process of overgeneral memory and the capture and executive control hypothesis: using Autobiographical Memory Test with thought sampling

ABSTRACT

The retrieval process for underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory remains unclear. In this study, we identified what leads to self-referential and categoric thoughts and examined the influence error-monitoring ability has on the reporting of categoric memories. We also examined whether cue self-relevance and/or executive control task performance are related to the number of specific memories reported. Using thought sampling, 94 college students completed the Autobiographical Memory Test, as well as a verbal fluency task and a depression scale. The results indicated that depressive symptoms and negative highly self-relevant cues were associated with self-referential/categoric thoughts during memory retrieval. Further, preceding self-referential/categoric thoughts and low error-monitoring ability predicted immediate after-reporting of categoric memories. Simultaneously, highly self-relevant cues and executive control task performance predicted the reporting of many specific memories. Subdividing the retrieval process and examining the process involved in depression are essential.     

Relationship beliefs and illness appraisals are differentially associated with specific ways of coping in spouses of patients with type 2 diabetes

Using data from 117 spouses of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and multiple-group path analysis, the current study explored the association of four relationship beliefs (satisfaction, sacrifice, confidence and instability) and four diabetes appraisals (consequences, distress, control and efficacy) with illness-specific coping behaviour: active engagement, protective buffering and overprotection. The potential moderating effect of gender was also tested. Results indicated gender did moderate the associations among the variables in the model, with the association of relationship satisfaction and active engagement being significantly stronger for men, while diabetes control was more strongly related to protective buffering for women. The only variables associated with active engagement were three relationship-specific cognitions: higher levels of relationship satisfaction (for men only), satisfaction with sacrifice and relationship confidence were all related to higher active engagement. The diabetes appraisals were the only variables associated with protective buffering and overprotection. Higher diabetes distress and diabetes control (for women only) and lower diabetes efficacy were predictive of greater protective buffering. Lower diabetes efficacy and higher diabetes control were associated with greater overprotection. Implications for theory, research and practice are discussed.     

The indirect effect of contextual factors on the emotional distress of infertile couples

Few studies were dedicated to study the role of contextual factors, such as the socioeconomic status and urban or rural residence in emotional distress of infertile couples. This study aimed to explore the impact of contextual factors on emotional distress, either directly or by affecting the importance of parenthood in one's life, which in turn affects emotional distress. In this cross-sectional study, 70 couples recruited during hormonal stimulation phase prior to in vitro fertilisation completed clinical and sociodemographic forms and self-report questionnaires assessing representations about the importance of parenthood and emotional distress. Path analysis using structural equation modelling was used to examine direct and indirect effects among variables. Results indicated that socioeconomic status and place of residence had an impact in emotional distress by affecting the representations about the importance of parenthood in one's life. Gender differences were found regarding model paths, suggesting that the social context may have a stronger influence on women's emotional distress than on their partners’ distress. When delineating psychological interventions, health care providers should consider that cultural values about children and parenthood contribute to shape the infertility experience.     

A note on Rodinson's Mohammed

Smith, D. Howard, Confucius (makers of new world sseries), London, Temple Smith, 1973, pp. 240, £3.20.

Christian, William A., Jnr., Person and God in a Spanish Valley, New York and London: Seminar Press, 1973, pp. xiii+215, £4.25.

Spiro, M. E. Buddhism and society. London: Allen &; Unwin, 1971, pp. xiv + 519, £7.25.