How to identify the take-over criticality in conditionally automated driving? An examination using drivers’ physiological parameters and situational factors

Autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance technology are growing exponentially, and vehicles equipped with conditional automation, which has features like Traffic Jam Pilot and Highway Assist, are already available in the market. And this could expose the driver to a stressful driving condition during the takeover mission. To identify stressful takeover situations and better interact with automated systems, the relationship and effect between drivers’ physiological responses, situational factors (e.g., takeover request [TOR] lead time, takeover frequencies, and scenario types), and takeover criticality were investigated.34 participants were involved in a series of takeover events in a simulated driving environment, which are varied by different TOR lead time conditions and driving scenes. The situational factors, drivers’ skin conductance (SC), heart rate (HR), gaze behaviors, and takeover criticality ratings were collected and analyzed. The results indicated that drivers had a higher takeover criticality rating when they experienced a shorter TOR lead time level or at first to fourth take-overs. Besides, drivers who encountered a dynamic obstacle reported higher takeover criticality ratings when they were at the same Time to collision (TTC). We also observed that the takeover situations of higher criticality have larger driver’s maximum HR, mean pupil size, and maximum change in the SC (relative to the initial value of a takeover stage). Those findings of situational factors and physiological responses can provide additional support for the designing of adaptive alert systems and environmental soothing technology in conditionally automated driving, which will improve the takeover performances and drivers’ experience.     

The Value of Sacrifices

ABSTRACT

Most authors who discuss the normative impact of sacrifices do so with regards to the impact that a sacrifice can have on the practical reasons of the agent who makes it. A different and underappreciated phenomenon of sacrifices is their other-regarding normative impact: the sacrifice of person A can have an impact on the practical reasons of person B, either by generating practical reasons for B to act in certain ways or by intensifying existing reasons of B for specific courses of action. This paper asks when and why sacrifices have such other-regarding normative impact and argues that sacrifices can have other-regarding normative impact because sacrifices can be intrinsically good. The intrinsic value of sacrifices is explained by the recursive account of value: sacrifices are intrinsically good if and because they are appropriate responses to intrinsic values, and appropriate responses to intrinsic values are themselves intrinsically good. Furthermore, sacrifices are difficult to make, and successful pursuit in difficult activities can also be intrinsically good.     

心理资本在工作压力源和压力反应问的作用：调节还是中介？

谊研宛采用工作压力源量表、压力反应量表以及积极心理资本问卷对天津市某企业230名员工进行了调查。分析了心理资本与工作压力源和压力反应的关系及其作用机制。结果发现：（1）工作压力源对压力反应有显著的正向预洲作用;（2）心理资本对压力反应有显著的负向预测作用;（3）心理资本在工作压力源与压力反应之间起部分中介作用而不是调节作用,其中中介效应占总效应的比例为16％;（4）心理资本在各种工作压力源与压力反应问均起到中介作用,中介效应和直接效应的比值介于17．4％-26．1％之间。     

How the disadvantaged appraise group-based exclusion: The path from legitimacy to illegitimacy

Although many forms of differential treatment based on group membership are perceived to be legitimate, disadvantaged group members’ responses to discrimination have been studied primarily in contexts in which such treatment is appraised as illegitimate. This has resulted in an impoverished understanding of differential group-based treatment and a failure to illuminate the processes by which discrimination can shift from being seen as legitimate to being viewed as illegitimate. We discuss the determinants of disadvantaged group members’ legitimacy appraisals and the de-legitimisation process, whereby forms of discrimination appraised as legitimate come to be increasingly perceived as illegitimate. Whether group-based exclusion is addressed collectively or individually depends on socio-structural factors such as the pervasiveness of discrimination, impermeability of intergroup boundaries, and the availability of cognitive alternatives to the status quo. We conclude that understanding the antecedents and consequences of legitimacy appraisals is necessary to develop a comprehensive account of disadvantaged group members’ experiences of group-based discrimination.     

Parental Attitudes,Beliefs, and Responses to Childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: The Parental Attitudes and Behaviors Scale

ABSTRACT

This paper documents preliminary examination of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Parental Attitudes and Behaviors Scale (PABS), an OCD-specific measure of parental attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral strategies related to childhood OCD. Employing a sample of 123 youth (mean age = 11.7; 59% male, 79% Caucasian) diagnosed with OCD in an outpatient child anxiety clinic, we used exploratory factor analysis to produce a 3-factor solution representing the following domains of parental responses to childhood OCD: accommodation, empowerment, and hostility/blame. These scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency and concurrent validity, providing preliminary evidence for the psychometric integrity of the PABS.     

Quitting smoking: The importance of non-smoker identity in predicting smoking behaviour and responses to a smoking ban

Objective: We examined how ‘smoker’ and ‘non-smoker’ self- and group-identities and socio-economic status (SES) may predict smoking behaviour and responses to antismoking measures (i.e. the Dutch smoking ban in hospitality venues). We validated a measure of responses to the smoking ban.

Design: Longitudinal online survey study with one-year follow-up (N = 623 at T1 in 2011; N = 188 at T2 in 2012) among daily smokers.

Main outcome measures: Intention to quit, quit attempts and ‘rejecting’, ‘victimizing’, ‘socially conscious smoking’ and ‘active quitting’ responses to the smoking ban.

Results: Non-smoker identities are more important than smoker identities in predicting intention to quit, quit attempts and responses to the smoking ban, even when controlling for other important predictors such as nicotine dependence. Smokers with stronger non-smoker identities had stronger intentions to quit, were more likely to attempt to quit between measurements, and showed less negative and more positive responses to the smoking ban. The association between non-smoker self-identity and intention to quit was stronger among smokers with lower than higher SES.

Conclusion: Antismoking measures might be more effective if they would focus also on the identity of smokers, and help smokers to increase identification with non-smoking and non-smokers.     

The effect of stress on the suppression of erroneous competing responses

Abstract

Evidence exists that the intention to perform certain cognitive tasks activates, unintentionally, competing responses and computations that intrude on the performance of the intended tasks. For the intended task to be performed effectively, such intrusions must be controlled. Two experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that stress heightens the difficulty of exercising effective control over erroneous competing responses, a possible explanation of decrements in the performance of cognitive tasks under stress. Participants performed four tasks, which contained features that could potentially prime or activate erroneous responses. The results demonstrated that the interference of these features with performance was more pronounced among stressed than among less-stressed participants. The need for a more comprehensive theory of the effects of stress on information processing is discussed.     

Individual response differences in spider phobia: Comparing phobic and non-phobic women of different reactivity levels

Abstract

In contrast to previous stress research, studies concerning phobic disorders have never systematically investigated individual response differences between phobic participants integrating numerous different response measures. The aim of this article is to clarify the existence of significant individual response differences in psychophysiological responses (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance responses (SCR), corrugator, cortisol), subjective ratings (e.g., valence, arousal), and avoidance behavior in 46 spider phobic and 44 non-phobic women when exposed to 20 phobic and 20 neutral pictures. Previous studies that did not attend to individual response differences showed that, during phobic stimulation, phobic individuals have increased psychophysiological responses (heart rate, SCR, and corrugator responses), more negative valence rating, and more subjective arousal than non-phobic individuals. These results were confirmed by our data. With regard to individual response uniqueness, 1/3–2/3 of spider-phobic women with low responsiveness in heart rate, cortisol, and avoidance behavior were indistinguishable from non-phobic women during phobic stimulation. With SCR, corrugator EMG, and subjective ratings, no individual response uniqueness was found. Based on the findings, exposure therapy might be improved by tailoring interventions to individuals with a therapeutic focus on those psychophysiological measures that show the highest individual responsivity.     

Protective effect of supportive family relationships and the influence of stressful life events on adolescent adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the occurrence of stressful life events and internalizing and externalizing problems, and to analyze longitudinally buffering effects of supportive family relationships. To this end, 100 Spanish adolescents were studied twice, when they were in mid-adolescence (15–16 years) and two years later. They completed questionnaires regarding stressful life events, family relationships, and adolescent adjustment. Results showed that high quality parent-adolescent relationships protected boys and girls against the negative consequences of stressful life events on externalizing, but not internalizing, symptoms. The adolescents who enjoyed good relationships with their parents in mid-adolescence did not increase their externalizing problems in late adolescence as consequence of the occurrence of stressful events. However, these stressors did lead to an increase in the number of externalizing problems when the family relationships were of a middle or low quality. These results highlight the important role that supportive family relationships play in the behavioral adjustment of adolescents, protecting them against some negative consequences of stressful life events, and suggest the relevance of supporting parents through resources such as parent education in order to help them to improve their relationships with their adolescents.