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Psychology Literature (psychology + literature)
Selected AbstractsAn evolutionist approach to information bipolarity: Representations and affects in human cognitionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2008Eric Raufaste This paper investigates the psychological plausibility of the bipolarity concept, i.e., that positive and negative kinds of information are treated differently. Sections 2 and 3 review relevant investigations of the representational and affective systems in the experimental psychology literature. Section 4 provides new data supporting the idea that even when considering how affective changes occur, a certain level of independence exists between the positive and negative sides of affect. Together the studies reported here strongly support the psychological plausibility of bipolarity: Positive and negative kinds of information are not processed in the same way whichever domain is considered, preferences (affect) or beliefs (mental categories). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals Inc. [source] Ranking institutional settings based on publications in community psychology journalsJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007Leonard A. Jason Two primary outlets for community psychology research, the American Journal of Community Psychology and the Journal of Community Psychology, were assessed to rank institutions based on publication frequency and scientific influence of publications over a 32-year period. Three specific periods were assessed (1973,1983, 1984,1994, 1995,2004). Findings indicate that there were a large group of institutions that published articles during these periods. Those academic institutions that had the most published articles as well as the largest influence, based on citations by other authors, were identified. Using archival data from the community psychology literature represents one approach for identifying those settings that made substantial contributions to the development and growth of the field. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 967,979, 2007. [source] The Limitations of Heuristics for Political ElitesPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Kristina C. Miler Despite the extensive literature on citizens' use of cognitive heuristics in political settings, far less is known about how political elites use these shortcuts. Legislative elites benefit from the efficiency of the accessibility heuristic, but their judgments can also be flawed if accessible information is incomplete or unrepresentative. Using personal interviews and a quasi-experimental design, this paper examines the use of the accessibility heuristic by professional legislative staff when assessing the importance of natural resources issues to their constituents. Staff members recall only a small subset of the relevant constituents in the district, and this subset is biased in favor of active and resource-rich constituents over other, equally relevant constituents. This paper provides a new application of cognitive psychology to political elites and addresses important normative questions about the importance of information processing for political representation. By drawing on the psychology literature on heuristics, this paper identifies the cognitive mechanisms of congressional representation and provides new evidence of old biases. [source] Income Support and Stigma Effects for Young AustraliansTHE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2007Wang-Sheng Lee The central research question addressed in this article is how receipt of income support payments affects the well-being of youths. Using 1997,2004 panel data from a nationally representative survey of Australian youths, we attempt to estimate the size of the welfare stigma faced by Australian youths, where stigma is defined as the effect of welfare receipt on reported happiness levels. In analysing the determinants of happiness, we argue that it is important to control for dynamics and initial conditions. The latter arguably measures an initial setpoint of happiness which the psychology literature has found strong support for. In contrast to the general findings of the existence of a welfare stigma for adults, based on our results using dynamic panel probit models, our findings suggest that for Australian youths there is a small negative, but not statistically significant, stigma associated with welfare receipt. [source] Stereotype Threat and Race of Interviewer Effects in a Survey on Political KnowledgeAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003Darren W. Davis Social desirability is generally thought to underlie the propensity for survey respondents to tailor their answers to what they think would satisfy or please the interviewer. While this may in fact be the underlying motivation, especially on attitudinal and opinion questions, social desirability does not seem to be an adequate explanation for interviewer effects on factual questions. Borrowing from the social psychology literature on stereotype threat, we test an alternative account of the race-of-interviewer effects. Stereotype threat maintains that the pressure to disconfirm and to avoid being judged by negative and potentially degrading stereotypes interferes with the processing of information. We argue that the survey context contains many parallels to a testing environment in which stereotype threat might alter responses to factual questions. Through a series of framing experiments in a public opinion survey and the reliance on the sensitivity to the race of the interviewer, our results are consistent with expectations based on a theory of "stereotype threat." African American respondents to a battery of questions about political knowledge get fewer answers right when interviewed by a white interviewer than when interviewed by an African American interviewer. The observed differences in performance on the political knowledge questions cannot be accounted for by differences in the educational background or gender of the respondents. [source] Stemming the tide: Cognitive aging theories and their implications for continuing education in the health professionsTHE JOURNAL OF CONTINUING EDUCATION IN THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS, Issue 3 2003Dr. Kevin W. Eva PhD Assistant Professor Abstract As demographic drift among health care providers mimics that of the larger population, it becomes increasingly clear that theory pertaining to the impact of aging on cognitive processing should inform the continuing education efforts designed for health care professionals. The purpose of this article is to offer a critical review of the major theories in this area and outline a sample of the implications that can be derived from these views. Research articles examining the relationship between age and physician performance were identified using MEDLINE, PsychLit, and ERIC. In addition, the psychology literature on age-related changes in cognitive processing was reviewed. Evidence from the medical education literature and psychological theory suggest the importance of increased environmental supports, decreased time demands, and peer review programs as barriers against the impact of aging. The implications of these findings include the potential to tailor continuing education (and physician remediation) efforts toward the age-related abilities/deficiencies of individual physicians. [source] Behavioural Central Bank Loss Functions, Skewed Risks and Certainty EquivalenceTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 2003Ali Al-Nowaihi We set out to investigate the role of additive uncertainty under behaviourally plausible non-standard central bank loss functions on future inflation. Building on a substantial body of evidence in the economic psychology literature, we propose (i) period-by-period loss functions that are non-convex, i.e. displaying diminishing or non-increasing sensitivity to losses, and (ii) non-linear weighting of probabilities, hence departing from the expected utility paradigm. The main conclusion of the study is that if the additive uncertainty is caused by a non-normal distributed additive shock, for instance if the probability distribution of the shock is skewed, then with these departures from the quadratic function the principle of certainty equivalence does not hold anymore. [source] Industrial and Organisation Research on Self-Regulation: From Constructs to ApplicationsAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2005Jeffrey B. Vancouver L'autorégulation rencontre actuellement du succès en psychologie industrielle et organisationnelle. Les travaux théoriques et empiriques englobent des processus allant de l'entrée dans l'organisation à la sortie et à la réembauche. Les interventions et les concepts clés de l'autorégulation dans le monde du travail sont recensés en insistant sur la validité interne et de construction. Quelques concepts comme l'efficacité personnelle et l'implication ont bénéficié d'un grand intérêt de la part des psychométriciens et semblent constituer des cibles de premier ordre lors des interventions. Néanmoins, ces concepts restent entachés d'hypothèses dont la validité n'est pas garantie. D'autres concepts, en particulier la rétroaction et la divergence, souffrent de significations sensiblement différentes dans la littérature sur l'autorégulation, ce qui nuit à la compréhension et à la communication entre les universitaires et les praticiens. On a lancé des interventions relevant des principes de l'autorégulation; celles-ei ont ensuite étéévaluées avec sérieux: il est apparu qu'elles avaient un impact sur un ensemble de variables pertinentes du point de vue organisationnel comme l'amélioration des performances et la réduction de l'absentéisme. Malheureusement, les interventions sont rarement étudiées de façon détaúllée et systématique, ce qui ne permet pas de tirer des conclusions sur les aspects de l'intervention qui sont pertinents du point de vue de la causalité. La discussion insiste sur les lacunes dans la connaissance et l'appréhension des processus de l'autorégulation dans les contextes organisationnels, ainsi que sur la façon dont la discipline pourrait tenter de combler ces lacunes. The self-regulation perspective is currently well received in the industrial and organisational psychology literature. Theoretical and empirical work span processes ranging from organisation entry to exit and reentry. Key self-regulation constructs and interventions in work contexts are reviewed with a focus on construct and internal validity. Some constructs, such as self-efficacy and goal commitment, have received substantial psychometric attention and seem important targets for interventions. Nonetheless, potentially unwarranted assumptions remain regarding these constructs. Other constructs, particularly feedback and discrepancy, have acquired substantially different meanings within the self-regulation literature that inhibit understanding and communication among scholars and practitioners. Interventions based on self-regulatory principles have been developed, and rigorous tests of these interventions have been conducted. These interventions were found to influence a range of organisationally relevant outcomes such as increasing performance and reducing absenteeism. Unfortunately, studies of comprehensive interventions are rare and often lacked controls, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding what aspects of the interventions are causally relevant. Discussion focuses on the gaps in the field's knowledge and understanding regarding self-regulatory processes in organisational settings and how the field might attempt to fill those gaps. [source] Teacher's PETS: a new observational measure of experiential training interactionsCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 3 2002Derek Milne Government policy now stresses the importance of staff training in fostering evidence-based practice, but what is done in the name of training is rarely reported and there are few instruments with which to analyse training. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop a new measure of training processes and mini-outcomes, and to provide a case study illustration. A single subject (N = 1) withdrawal design was used to assess the empirical validity of the measure. The measure (Teacher's PETS) was derived from the applied psychology literature in order to operationalize Kolb's (1984) integrative theory of experiential learning. Reliability and validity assessments were conducted. During the intervention phase of the case study baseline data from PETS were fed back to the trainer. The effectiveness of this intervention was assessed structurally and functionally, in relation to the learners, i.e. mental health staff (N = 31) receiving training in evidence-based practice (psychosocial interventions in severe mental illness). PETS was found to have very good inter-rater reliability (K = 0.84) and promising content, empirical and concurrent validity. The case study illustrated that, at baseline, the training did not correspond to a ,training workshop'. However, the intervention of feedback and modelling resulted in more appropriate training processes and outcomes, which were maintained at a 1-month follow-up assessment. It is concluded that PETS shows promise as an instrument and has the advantage of affording detailed, transactional information to improve the efficiency of training. It may also be useful in relation to clinical supervision. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Bibliometric Analyses on the Emergence and Present Growth of Positive PsychologyAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, Issue 1 2010Gabriel Schui Bibliometric results on the emergence and recent developmental trends of publications on positive psychology are presented within an outline of its precursors (i.e. humanistic psychology) and its special features in reference to humanistic psychology, health psychology, and developmental psychology. Terminological confusions (e.g. positivism in differential psychology vs. in epistemology; positive psychology) in psychological databases are described and resolved in bibliometric analyses for the time period between 2000 and 2008. The present results include findings reporting the incidence of multiple authorships, authors' national institutional affiliations, the semantic network of publications on positive psychology, selected citation rates, and methodological classifications of the literature on positive psychology. With reference to PsycINFO, analyses show that publications on positive psychology increased markedly. Yet in comparison to other psychological subdisciplines and areas, literature output remains rather low. However, results on publication types and media point at a broad-range impact of positive psychology on various applied and basic psychological subdisciplines. Together with the solid empirical foundation of positive psychology's literature, this leads to a positive prognosis for the further development of positive psychology. [source] | ||||||||||||||||