Linking perceived market competition threat to moral disengagement: The roles of fear of failure and moral relativism

Current Psychology - Drawing on moral disengagement theory, this study examined the interplay of perceived market competition threat, fear of failure, moral relativism, and moral disengagement....     

Do you "want" to play? Distinguishing between conflicted shyness and social disinterest in early childhood

This study attempted to distinguish two types of social withdrawal in early childhood: (a) one based on social fear and anxiety despite a desire to interact socially (conflicted shyness) and (b) one based on the lack of a strong motivation to engage in social interaction (social disinterest). Two samples of preschoolers (n = 119 and n = 127) 3-5 years of age participated. Their mothers completed the newly developed Child Social Preference Scale, which was designed to assess conflicted shyness and social disinterest. Maternal ratings of child temperament, parenting style, and social goals, teacher ratings of child social adjustment, observations of child free-play behaviors, and child interview assessments of perceived competence and preference for playing with peers were also collected. Distinct patterns of associations were found between conflicted shyness and social disinterest and outcome variables. Implications for the motivational underpinnings and adjustment outcomes of shyness and social disinterest are explored.     

When opportunity knocks: bottom-up priming of goals by means and its effects on self-regulation

Four studies using general attribute goals or specific task goals revealed that attainment means cognitively activate the goals they are perceived to serve. A range of means replicated this effect including goal-directed activities, specific behavioral strategies, or opportunities, assumed to afford effective goal pursuit. The increased accessibility of a currently pursued goal due to "bottom-up" priming by its attainment means improved task persistence and performance, whereas a similarly increased accessibility of a competing goal impeded task persistence and performance.     

The irrelevant sound effect under articulatory suppression is a suffix effect even with five-item lists

The relationship between the suffix effect and the effect of irrelevant sound on serial recall of auditorily presented lists is investigated in this study. Contrary to the predictions of the phonological loop model, Hanley and Hayes (2012) reported that the irrelevant sound effect was abolished under articulatory suppression when a spoken suffix was added at the end of the list. The experiment reported in this paper uses a shorter list length (five items per list) than that employed by Hanley and Hayes. This is because it cannot realistically be argued that participants will abandon the use of phonological codes to retain the list items with sequences as short as this. Results replicated those of Hanley and Hayes (2012). There was a significant effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression when the list items were followed by an auditory tone. Crucially, however, the effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression was abolished when the list items were followed by a spoken suffix.     

The role of individual differences in cognitive training and transfer

Working memory (WM) training has recently become a topic of intense interest and controversy. Although several recent studies have reported near- and far-transfer effects as a result of training WM-related skills, others have failed to show far transfer, suggesting that generalization effects are elusive. Also, many of the earlier intervention attempts have been criticized on methodological grounds. The present study resolves some of the methodological limitations of previous studies and also considers individual differences as potential explanations for the differing transfer effects across studies. We recruited intrinsically motivated participants and assessed their need for cognition (NFC; Cacioppo & Petty Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 42:116–131, 1982) and their implicit theories of intelligence (Dweck, 1999) prior to training. We assessed the efficacy of two WM interventions by comparing participants’ improvements on a battery of fluid intelligence tests against those of an active control group. We observed that transfer to a composite measure of fluid reasoning resulted from both WM interventions. In addition, we uncovered factors that contributed to training success, including motivation, need for cognition, preexisting ability, and implicit theories about intelligence.     

REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THEOLOGICAL RESPONSES IN CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM

Reproductive medical technology has revolutionized the natural order of human procreation. Accordingly, some have celebrated its advent as a new and liberating determinant of kinship at the global level and advocate it as a right to reproductive health while others have frowned upon it as a vehicle for “guiltless exchange of sexual fluid” and commodification of human gametes. Religious voices from both Christianity and Islam range from unthinking adoption to restrictive use. While utilizing this technology to enable the married couple to have children through the use of their own sexual material is welcome, the use of third party, surrogacy, and reproductive cloning are not in keeping with the sacrosanct principles of kinship, procreation through licit sexual intercourse, and social cohesiveness for building a cohesive family as uphold by both Christianity and Islam. To examine such larger issues emanating from these new ways of human procreation, beyond the question of legality, is a point which legal scholars in both Christianity and Islam, when issuing religious decrees, have not anticipated sufficiently. The article proposes to be an attempt to that end through a qualitative critical content analysis of selected literature written on the subject.     

Ability Emotional Intelligence Predicts Quality of Life beyond Personality,Affectivity, and Cognitive Intelligence

The current study explored the incremental validity of the ability emotional intelligence test to predict suicidal ideation (a subjective indicator of Quality of Life) beyond the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions, affectivity, and general cognitive ability in a sample of 184 university students (mean age 29.50 years). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for demographic variables, the Big Five personality traits, affectivity, and the cognitive intelligence, the block of ability emotional intelligence scores explained a statistically significant increment of variance in suicidal ideation. It is noteworthy that the predictive power of the ability emotional intelligence appeared to be mostly due to the contribution of its two branch scores–regulation of emotion and understanding of emotion. Findings are discussed with reference to emotional intelligence theory and suicidal behaviors.