Authoritarianism,Cognitive Rigidity,and the Processing of Ambiguous Visual Information

Intolerance of ambiguity and cognitive rigidity are unifying aspects of authoritarianism as defined by Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford (1982/1950), who hypothesized that authoritarians view the world in absolute terms (e.g., good or evil). Past studies have documented the relationship between authoritarianism and intolerance of ambiguity and rigidity. Frenkel-Brunswik (1949) hypothesized that this desire for absolutism was rooted in perceptual processes. We present a study with three samples that directly tests the relationship between right wing authoritarianism (RWA) and the processing of ideologically neutral but ambiguous visual stimuli. As hypothesized, in all three samples we found that RWA was related to the slower processing of visual information that required participants to recategorize objects. In a fourth sample, RWA was unrelated to speed of processing visual information that did not require recategorization. Overall, results suggest a relationship between RWA and rigidity in categorization.     

Out of Sight,Out of Time? A Meta‐analytic Investigation of Procrastination and Time Perspective

Recent theory suggests that trait procrastination is a form of temporal self‐regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between the present and future self. Yet research to date is sparse and inconsistent regarding the nature of the associations of procrastination with time perspective. The current study aimed to meta‐analytically summarize the evidence to date to address the question of how procrastination is linked to future and present time perspective, and to test whether stress and positive affect explained the link between procrastination and future time perspective. A search of the available literature yielded six published studies and three unpublished studies, which were combined with five unpublished data sets for a total of 14 samples with 4312 participants. The meta‐analysis revealed that procrastination had a moderate and significant negative association with future time perspective, and a small but significant positive association with present time perspective. Mediation analyses across two of the samples found that high stress and low positive affect explained in part the association between procrastination and future time perspective. Overall, these findings support the notion that procrastinators focus less on the future and highlight the dynamic interrelations of affect and cognition that underlie procrastinators' intertemporal choices. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

No Time to Waste: Restricting Life‐Span Temporal Horizons Decreases the Sunk‐Cost Fallacy

In three studies, we examined the influence of restricted and expansive temporal horizons on the sunk‐cost fallacy. The sunk‐cost fallacy occurs when prior investments instead of future returns influence decisions about future investments. When making decisions about future investments, rational decision makers base decisions on future consequences, not already‐invested costs that are “sunk” and cannot be recovered. In Study 1, we restricted young adult college students' temporal horizons by instructing them to imagine that they did not have much longer to live; this manipulation decreased the sunk‐cost fallacy. In Study 2, we replicated Study 1 and also found that the consequences of manipulating temporal horizons were most pronounced for prior investments of time and that prior investments of time and money had different implications for the sunk‐cost fallacy, depending on the social or nonsocial decision domain. In Study 3, we manipulated temporal horizons by instructing students to imagine their time as a college student was coming to an end. Results were mostly similar to Study 2 but also suggested that focusing on one's mortality may have unique consequences. Implications of the three studies for understanding age differences in sunk‐cost decisions, interventions to improve sunk‐cost decisions, and the situations in which interventions might be most needed are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

议程与习惯性反应对学习时间分配的影响：来自眼动的证据

采用眼动记录技术,操作三种词对位置,探讨议程与习惯性反应对学习时间分配的影响。实验一设置无时间限制条件,结果发现,20名大学生被试均优先选择左边的项目,项目的自定步调学习时间不存在词对位置效应。结果表明,被试的习惯性反应影响项目选择,不影响自定步调学习时间。实验二设置有时间限制条件,结果发现,20名大学生被试均优先选择容易项目并分配更多的时间学习容易项目,且容易项目的选择存在词对位置效应。结果表明,议程驱动主导被试的项目选择和自定步调学习时间,但不能完全消除习惯性反应对项目选择的影响。     

从科学的时空观看现代临床医学的局限性

时空是世间万物存在的载体,也是万物运行的物质基础。在一定意义上讲空间和时间都是无限的。然而,我们所经历的时空又都是有限的。本文从时空的维度论证现代临床医学的局限性和有限性。从时间的维度上看,无论在门诊还是住院期间我们对疾病的认识仅仅看到疾病过程中的中段或极期,而没有观察到疾病的潜伏期或前驱期,更没有观察到疾病的康复期。从空间的维度上看,现代临床医学分科过细使我们无法从整体上完整地理解疾病的全貌和本质,以及各个脏器的结构和功能变化之间的内在联系。     

Editorial to the special issue Neuronus

Did you visit the Neuronus conferences in the years 2012 and 2013 in Kraków? If not, then you certainly should have a close examination of this special issue including this introduction to at least have a glimpse of an idea of the highly interesting topics in the field of cognitive neuroscience that were presented at these conferences. If you were there, it is for sure a good choice to focus on this special issue as well, first to refresh your minds (we know our memories are far from perfect), but especially to see what happened with research of the presenters at these conferences.