Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Words Have A Weight: Language As A Source Of Inner Grounding And Flexibility In Abstract Concepts, Guy Dove, Laura Barca, Luca Tummolini, Anna M. Borghi

Faculty Scholarship

The role played by language in our cognitive lives is a topic at the centre of contemporary debates in cognitive (neuro)science. In this paper we illustrate and compare two theories that offer embodied explanations of this role: the WAT (Words As social Tools) and the LENS (Language is an Embodied Neuroenhancement and Scaffold) theories. WAT and LENS differ from other current proposals because they connect the impact of the neurologically realized language system on our cognition to the ways in which language shapes our interaction with the physical and social environment. Examining these theories together, their tenets and supporting evidence, …

Detention As Deterrence, Emily Ryo

Faculty Scholarship

Does immigration detention deter unauthorized migration? This is a pressing question with critical policy implications given that the U.S. government has detained tens of thousands of migrants in reliance on this deterrence rationale. Briefly described, the federal government has argued that “one particular individual may be civilly detained for the sake of sending a message” to others “who may be considering immigration. In recent times, the potential migrants to whom the federal government has sought to send such a message are, by and large, from Mexico and Central America. Emerging empirical research, however, provides little to no evidence that detention …

Nashbots: How Political Scientists Have Underestimated Human Rationality, And How To Fix It, Daniel Enemark, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Mark Turner

Faculty Scholarship

Political scientists use experiments to test the predictions of game-theoretic models. In a typical experiment, each subject makes choices that determine her own earnings and the earnings of other subjects, with payments corresponding to the utility payoffs of a theoretical game. But social preferences distort the correspondence between a subject’s cash earnings and her subjective utility, and since social preferences vary, anonymously matched subjects cannot know their opponents’ preferences between outcomes, turning many laboratory tasks into games of incomplete information. We reduce the distortion of social preferences by pitting subjects against algorithmic agents (“Nashbots”). Across 11 experimental tasks, subjects facing …

Comparing Different Sequential Mediational Interpretations Of Beck’S Depression Model In Adolescents., Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

Depression is a developmental phenomenon with significantly increasing rates during adolescence. As Beck’s cognitive model of depression has been commonly accepted to explain the development and maintenance of depression, it is crucial to understand how and when cognitive vulnerabilities predicted in this model begin to interact. Three sequential interpretations of this model were compared. The causal mediational interpretation identifies dysfunctional attitudes as most distal to depressive symptoms, followed by cognitive errors, cognitive triad, and negative automatic thoughts, with each construct successively more proximal to depressive symptoms. In the symptom model the causal chain is reversed, with depressive symptoms as the …

How To Go Beyond The Body: An Introduction, Guy Dove

Faculty Scholarship

Embodied cognition represents one of most important theoretical developments in contemporary cognitive science. Many cognitive processes appear to be influenced by body morphology, emotions, and sensorimotor systems. This perspective is supported by an ever increasing collection of empirical studies that fall into two broad classes: one consisting of experiments that implicate action, emotion, and perception systems in seemingly abstract cognitive tasks and the other consisting of experiments that demonstrate the contribution of bodily interaction with the external environment to the performance of such tasks.

Now that embodied cognition is fairly well established, the time seems right for assessing its further …

Against Game Theory, Gale M. Lucas, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Mark Turner

Faculty Scholarship

People make choices. Often, the outcome depends on choices other people make. What mental steps do people go through when making such choices? Game theory, the most influential model of choice in economics and the social sciences, offers an answer, one based on games of strategy such as chess and checkers: the chooser considers the choices that others will make and makes a choice that will lead to a better outcome for the chooser, given all those choices by other people. It is universally established in the social sciences that classical game theory (even when heavily modified) is bad at …

Engaging Youth In Bullying Prevention Through Community-Based Participatory Research, Jen Gibson, Paul D. Flaspohler, Vanessa Watts

Faculty Scholarship

Few studies that engage youth in community-based participatory research (CBPR) focus on issues of safety/violence, include elementary school-aged youth, or quantitatively assess outcomes of the CBPR process. This article expands understanding of CBPR with youth by describing and evaluating the outcomes of a project that engaged fifth-grade students at 3 schools in bullying-focused CBPR. Results suggest that the project was associated with decreases in fear of bullying and increases in peer and teacher intervention to stop bullying. We conclude with implications for the engagement of elementary school-aged youth in CBPR to address bullying and other youth issues.

School Mental Health Early Interventions And Academic Outcomes For At-Risk High School Students: A Review Of The Research, Aidyn L. Iachini, Elizabeth Levine Brown, Annahita Ball, Jen Gibson, Steven E. Lize

Faculty Scholarship

The current educational policy context in the United States necessitates that school-based programs prioritize students’ academic outcomes. This review examined the quantitative research on school mental health (SMH) early interventions and academic outcomes for at risk high school students. Seven articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. All articles were examined according to study design and demographics, early intervention characteristics, and outcomes. Of the studies included, most were conducted in urban settings, involved the implementation of group-based early intervention strategies, and monitored GPA as a distal academic outcome. Counselors were frequent implementers of these early interventions. A meta-analysis found …

Evaluating An Abbreviated Version Of The Paths Curriculum Implemented By School Mental Health Clinicians, Jen Gibson, Shelby Werner, Andrew Sweeny

Faculty Scholarship

When evidence-based prevention programs are implemented in schools, adaptations are common. It is important to understand which adaptations can be made while maintaining positive outcomes for students. This preliminary study evaluated an abbreviated version of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Curriculum implemented by school-based mental health clinicians in preschool/kindergarten classrooms. Results suggest that students (N = 80) demonstrated increases in emotional understanding and prosocial behavior. Children with low initial levels of problem behavior demonstrated large and continual increases in prosocial behavior over the entire course of the intervention, whereas children with high initial levels of problem behavior only demonstrated …

Integrating Beck’S Cognitive Model And The Response Style Theory In An Adolescent Sample., Stephanie Winkeljohn Black, Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

Depression becomes more prevalent as individuals progress from childhood to adulthood. Thus, empirically supported and popular cognitive vulnerability theories to explain depression in adulthood have begun to be tested in younger age groups, particularly adolescence, a time of significant cognitive development. Beck’s cognitive theory and the response style theory are well known, empirically supported theories of depression. The current, two-wave longitudinal study (N = 462; mean age = 16.01 years; SD = 0.69; 63.9 % female) tested various proposed integrative models of Beck’s cognitive theory and the response style theory, as well as the original theories themselves, to determine if …

Are Individuals Fickle-Minded?, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Mark Turner

Faculty Scholarship

Game theory has been used to model large-scale social events — such as constitutional law, democratic stability, standard setting, gender roles, social movements, communication, markets, the selection of officials by means of elections, coalition formation, resource allocation, distribution of goods, and war — as the aggregate result of individual choices in interdependent decision-making. Game theory in this way assumes methodological individualism. The widespread observation that game theory predictions do not in general match observation has led to many attempts to repair game theory by creating behavioral game theory, which adds corrective terms to the game theoretic predictions in the hope …

The Costs Of Changing Our Minds, Nita A. Farahany

Faculty Scholarship

This isn’t quite a draft yet – it’s a concept paper. You’ll see after the first 10 pages a good bit of text in brackets, which are primarily notes for me, but it’ll give you a sense of the content of those sections. I’d like to talk through the concept – the “duty” to mitigate emotional distress damages and how courts have struggled with it, as a foray into a broader dichotomy that I see in a number of areas of law that suggest an implicit value in “cognitive liberty.” This is a smaller version of a broader book project …

Testing Three Different Sequential Mediational Interpretations Of Beck's Cognitive Model For The Development Of Depression., Patrick Pössel, Stephanie Winkeljohn Black

Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: This study tested and compared three sequential interpretations of Beck’s cognitive model of the development of depression (1996). The causal mediational interpretation identifies dysfunctional attitudes as most distal to depressive symptoms, followed by cognitive distortions, cognitive triad, and negative automatic thoughts, with each construct successively more proximal to depressive symptoms. By contrast, the symptom model reverses the causal chain with negative automatic thoughts as the most proximal consequence and dysfunctional attitudes as the most distal consequence of depression. The bidirectional model merges both interpretations into one model. Previous studies on sequential interpretations of Beck’s model have not included cognitive …

Can We Build Behavioral Game Theory?, Gale M. Lucas, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Mark Turner

Faculty Scholarship

The way economists and other social scientists model how people make interdependent decisions is through the theory of games. Psychologists and behavioral economists, however, have established many deviations from the predictions of game theory. In response to these findings, a broad movement has arisen to salvage the core of game theory. Extant models of interdependent decision-making try to improve their explanatory domain by adding some corrective terms or limits. We will make the argument that this approach is misguided. For this approach to work, the deviations would have to be consistent. Drawing in part on our experimental results, we will …

Short Communication: Powerless And Jobless? Comparing The Effects Of Powerless Speech And Speech Disorders On An Applicant’S Employability, Christian M. End, Katherine Saunders

Faculty Scholarship

The present study examines the impact of a speech disorder (a lateral lisp) and powerless speech on an applicant’s hireability. College students (N = 113) reviewed an applicant’s resume, as well as a description of two occupations/job openings that varied in regard to necessitating speech. Participants listened to one of three interviews (speech disorder vs. powerless speech vs. control), indicated their willingness to hire the applicant, and then completed hire-ability and employability scales for both positions, as well as an impressions ratings form. Contrary to the hypotheses, few differences between the “employers” responses to the control and speech disorder applicants …

Bridging The Gaps : An Attempt To Integrate Three Major Cognitive Depression Models., Patrick Pössel, Kerstin Knopf

Faculty Scholarship

There are obvious similarities between the cognitive constructs of Beck’s cognitive theory, the hopelessness model, and the response styles theory. No single comprehensive model has yet integrated the core cognitive concepts of these theories, however. In order to develop such an integrative cognitive model, we conducted two independent studies with 588 and 606 participants, respectively, from a university population. Both studies support the idea that all cognitive constructs of the three models are distinct from each other. Furthermore, both studies provide evidence for the possibility an integration of the constructs in one cognitive model. If future studies replicate these findings, …

Cognitive Triad As Mediator In The Hopelessness Model? : A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study., Patrick Pössel, S. Denise Thomas

Faculty Scholarship

Several authors proposed that all elements of Beck’s cognitive triad (1976) mediate the associations between inference style as described in the hopelessness model (Abramson, Alloy, & Metalsky, 1989) and depressive symptoms. Results of a 3-wave longitudinal study indicate only a partial mediation model with all elements of the cognitive triad being associated with all inference styles, with depressive symptoms fitting the data best. Controlling for direct and indirect effects, no individual element of the cognitive triad mediates the association between inference styles and depressive symptoms. The partial mediation model is not stable across sex or clinical vs subclinical samples. In …

Bidirectional Relations Of Religious Orientation And Depressive Symptoms In Adolescents : A Short-Term Longitudinal Study., Patrick Pössel, Nina C. Martin, Judy Garber, Aaron W. Banister, Natalie K. Pickering, Martin Hautzinger

Faculty Scholarship

Religious orientation can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic: intrinsically oriented individuals “live their religion,” whereas extrinsically oriented individuals practice religion mainly to gain external benefits. In adults, depression has been found to correlate negatively with intrinsic religious orientation and positively with extrinsic orientation. Studies of the relation between religiosity and depression typically have not been longitudinal, conducted with adolescents, controlled for the influence of other factors associated with depression (i.e., negative cognitions), or examined the reverse relation of depression predicting religious orientation. Our four-month longitudinal study of 273 ninth-grade students addressed these issues. Results showed that higher intrinsic religious …

Ten Lectures On Mind And Language, Mark Bernard Turner

Faculty Scholarship

Ten Lectures on Mind and Language By Mark Turner
马克·特纳 心智与语言十讲
Copyright © Mark Turner 2009
These lectures were delivered by Mark Turner in May 2009, when he was the forum speaker for the Seventh China International Forum on Cognitive Linguistics. They were originally published as a book in the Eminent Linguists Lecture Series, 世界著名语言学家系列讲座。It includes the slideshows and handouts from the talks.

Contents 目录
Summaries of the lectures in Chinese 汉语导读
Lecture One: Human Meaning 人类的意义
Lecture Two: Conceptual Integration 概念整合
Lecture Three: Double-Scope Cognition 双域认知
Lecture Four: Mental Packing and Unpacking 心理打包和解包
Lecture Five: Big Ideas 纵思千古
Lecture …

Can An Ethical Person Be An Ethical Prosecutor? A Social Cognitive Approach To Systemic Reform, Lawton P. Cummings

Faculty Scholarship

This Article argues that certain key structural factors within the prosecutorial system in the United States lead to prosecutorial misconduct by systematically encouraging 'moral disengagement' in prosecutors. 'Moral disengagement' refers to the social cognition theory developed by Albert Bandura and others, which identifies the mechanisms that operate to disengage an individual’s moral self-sanctions that would otherwise inhibit the individual from engaging in injurious conduct. Empirical studies have shown that a person’s level of moral disengagement, as a dispositional trait, is an accurate predictor of the person’s level of aggression and anti-social behavior, and that an individual’s level of moral disengagement …

Validating Kreiner And Ashforth’S Organizational Identification Measure In An Engineering Context, Morrie Mullins, Christian M. End, L. Carlin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Differential Deficit In Time- Versus Event-Based Prospective Memory In Parkinson's Disease, Sarah Raskin, Stephen Paul Woods, Amelia Poquette, April Mctaggart, Jim Sethna, Rebecca Williams, Alexander Troster

Faculty Scholarship

Objective: The aim of the current study was to clarify the nature and extent of impairment in time- versus
event-based prospective memory in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Prospective memory is thought to involve
cognitive processes that are mediated by prefrontal systems and are executive in nature. Given that
individuals with PD frequently show executive dysfunction, it is important to determine whether these
individuals may have deficits in prospective memory that could impact daily functions, such as taking
medications. Although it has been reported that individuals with PD evidence impairment in prospective
memory, it is still unclear whether they show a greater …

Cognitive Error Questionnaire (Ceq) : Psychometric Properties And Factor Structure Of The German Translation., Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

A central component of Beck et al.’s (1979) cognitive theory of depression is faulty information processing reflected by so-called cognitive errors. These cognitive errors are the reason why depressed individuals systematically misinterpret the significance of events in a negative way. They are usually assessed with the application of the Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CEQ). This study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the German version of the CEQ in a sample of 796 volunteers at a German university. Results confirmed that the German CEQ has satisfactory to very good psychometric properties, like the American original. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated …

Cognitive Triad Inventory (Cti) : Psychometric Properties And Factor Structure Of The German Translation., Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

A central component of Beck, A. T., Rush, J., & Shaw, B. F. [(1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press] cognitive theory of depression is the cognitive triad (negative view of self, world, and future) measurable with the Cognitive Triad Inventory (CTI). This study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of the German CTI in a sample of 796 German volunteers. The study provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the German CTI and of independent positive and negative elements of the cognitive triad. Furthermore, results emphasize methodological above conceptual problems in Beck et al.'s (1979) …

Verhaltensdiagnostik Aus Der Perspektive Der Kognitiven Therapie Analyse Automatischer Gedanken Und Grundüberzeugungen (Behavioral Diagnostics From The View Of The Cognitive Therapy : Identification Of Automatic Thoughts And Attitudes)., Patrick Pössel, Martin Hautzinger

Faculty Scholarship

Die Veränderung von mit psychischen Problemen verbundenen negativen automatischen Gedanken und Grundüberzeugungen ist zentraler Bestandteil jeder Kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie. Daher ist die Aufdeckung dieser dem Bewusstsein oft nur wenig zugänglichen kognitiven Prozessen von entscheidender Bedeutung für den Erfolg einer Psychotherapie. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden neben dem ABCDE-Protokoll, welches die Standardmethode zur Identifikation und Veränderung negativer automatischer Gedanken ist, unterschiedliche Methoden zur Exploration von Grundüberzeugungen (Beispielsituationen sammeln, Imaginationsmethode, Pfeil-abwärts-Technik) detailliert dargestellt. Hierbei wird das eher induktive Vorgehen zur Aufdeckung von Grundüberzeugungen von Albert Ellis mit den mehr deduktiven Strategien von Aaron Beck und den Weiterentwicklungen von Judith Beck verglichen.

The modification of …

Evaluation Eines Deutschsprachigen Instrumentes Zur Erfassung Positiver Und Negativer Automatischer Gedanken Bei Kindern Und Jugendlichen (Evaluation Of A German-Language Tool For Measuring Positive And Negative Automatic Thoughts In Children And Adolescents)., Silke Huffziger, Thomas D. Meyer, Simone Seemann, Andrea B. Horn, Gunter Groen, Patrick Pössel

Faculty Scholarship

Theoretischer Hintergrund: Negative automatische Gedanken stellen nach Beck eine wichtige Ursache für depressive Störungen dar. Fragestellung: Überprüfung der psychometrischen Gütekriterien des deutschen „Fragebogens für negative und positive automatische Gedanken” (FAG) bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Methode: Der Fragebogen wurde an einer unselektierten Stichprobe aus der Allgemeinbevölkerung (n = 952) zwischen 11 und 16 Jahren untersucht. Die Stichprobe wurde in die beiden Gruppen ≤ 13 Jahre und > 13 Jahre aufgeteilt. Ergebnisse: In der Gruppe ≤ 13 Jahre wurden die Skalen „negative Selbstaussagen” und „positive Selbstaussagen”, in der Gruppe > 13 Jahre die Skalen „negative Selbstaussagen”, „Selbstvertrauen” und „Wohlbefinden” faktorenanalytisch extrahiert. Die internen …

The Co-Mentoring Project: Overview And Outcomes, Renee A. Zucchero

Faculty Scholarship

The Co-mentoring Project matched developmental psychology students with older adult volunteers for an intergenerational learning experience. Students conducted a biopsychosocial life review to increase understanding of older adult development and the continuity in lifespan development. Each student developed a summary paper containing the older adult's life history, a developmental analysis, and personal reflection. A project description, including the scholarship of teaching and learning, and an overview of its outcomes are presented. The project goal was accomplished; students positively evaluated learning outcomes and displayed a significant increase in knowledge about older adults and aging. Implications for college instructors are discussed. (Contains …

Vergleich Zweier Schulbasierter Programme Zur Prävention Depressiver Symptome Bei Jugendlichen (Comparison Of Two School Based Depression Prevention Programs For Adolescents)., Patrick Pössel, Andrea B. Horn, Martin Hautzinger

Faculty Scholarship

Theoretischer Hintergrund: Depressive Störungen im Jugendalter sind ein weitverbreitetes Problem mit weitreichenden psychosozialen Folgen. Um beidem vorzubeugen wurde ein kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutisches und ein auf dem Paradigma des Expressiven Schreibens beruhendes universales schulbasiertes Präventionsprogramm entwickelt. Fragestellung: Haben die beiden Präventionsprogramme positive Wirkung auf depressive Symptomatik und Lebenszufriedenheit Jugendlicher? Methode: Es wurde eine randomisierte Kontrollgruppenstudie mit 3-Monats Follow-up an 579 Realschülern und -schülerinnen der 8. Klasse durchgeführt. Ergebnisse: Das kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutische Programm wirkt in Abhängigkeit der Ausgangssymptomatik kurz- bzw. mittelfristig auf die depressive Symptomatik, während das Schreibprogramm unabhängig von der Ausgangssymptomatik kurz- und mittelfristig positiv auf die Lebenszufriedenheit wirkt. Schlussfolgerungen: Trotz Einschränkungen in Bezug …

Influence Of General Self-Efficacy On The Effects Of A School-Based Universal Primary Prevention Program Of Depressive Symptoms In Adolescents : A Randomized And Controlled Follow-Up Study., Patrick Pössel, Christiane Baldus, Andrea B. Horn, Gunter Groen, Martin Hautzinger

Faculty Scholarship

Background:  Depressive disorders in adolescents are a widespread and increasing problem. Prevention seems a promising and feasible approach.

Methods:  We designed a cognitive-behavioral school-based universal primary prevention program and followed 347 eighth-grade students participating in a randomized controlled trial for three months.

Results:  In line with our hypothesis, participants in the prevention program remained on a low level of depressive symptoms, having strong social networks. The control group showed increasing depressive symptoms and a reduced social network. Contrary to our expectations, students low in self-efficacy benefited more from the program than high self-efficient students. Social network did not mediate the …

Universelle, Schulbasierte Prävention Der Depression Im Jugendalter : Ergebnisse Einer Follow-Up-Studie (Universal, School-Based Prevention Of Depression In Adolescence : Results Of A Follow-Up Study)., Gunter Groen, Patrick Pössel, Susanne Al-Wiswasi, Franz Petermann

Faculty Scholarship

Zahlreiche internationale empirische Befunde belegen heute, dass depressive Symptome und Störungen im Jugendalter ein weit verbreitetes, oftmals folgenreiches und ernst zu nehmendes Gesundheitsproblem darstellen. Depressive Jugendliche zeigen in vielen Fällen erhebliche Alltagsbeeinträchtigungen und verschiedene komorbide psychische Probleme. Sie tragen ein deutliches Risiko, auch in ihrer weiteren Entwicklung – bis in das Erwachsenenalter – unter anhaltenden oder wiederkehrenden depressiven Episoden, anderen psychischen Störungen und psychosozialen Beeinträchtigungen zu leiden (vgl. Groen & Petermann, 2002). Neben der persönlichen Leidensgeschichte der Betroffenen ist davon auszugehen, dass bereits depressive Störungen im Jugendalter mit hohen und längerfristigen öffentlichen Kosten zusammenhängen, die etwa durch notwendige Behandlungsmaßnahmen oder …