Perspectives on Psychological Science最新文献

In the present age of unprecedented access to information, it is important to understand how and why people avoid information. Multiple definitions of "information avoidance" exist, and key aspects of these definitions deserve attention, such as distinguishing information avoidance from (lack of) information seeking, considering the intentionality and temporal nature of information avoidance, and considering the personal relevance of the information. In this review, we provide a cross-disciplinary historical account of theories and empirical research on information avoidance and seeking, drawing from research in multiple fields. We provide a framework of antecedents of information avoidance, categorized into beliefs about the information (e.g., risk perceptions), beliefs about oneself (e.g., coping resources), and social and situational factors (e.g., social norms), noting that constructs across categories overlap and are intertwined. We suggest that research is needed on both positive and negative consequences of information avoidance and on interventions to reduce information avoidance (when appropriate). Research is also needed to better understand temporal dynamics of information avoidance and how it manifests in everyday life. Finally, comprehensive theoretical models are needed that differentiate avoidance from seeking. Research on information avoidance is quickly expanding, and the topic will only grow in importance.

Many new technologies, such as smartphones, computers, or public-access systems (like ticket-vending machines), are a challenge for older adults. One feature that these technologies have in common is that they involve underlying, partially observable, structures (state spaces) that determine the actions that are necessary to reach a certain goal (e.g., to move from one menu to another, to change a function, or to activate a new service). In this work we provide a theoretical, neurocomputational account to explain these behavioral difficulties in older adults. Based on recent findings from age-comparative computational- and cognitive-neuroscience studies, we propose that age-related impairments in complex goal-directed behavior result from an underlying deficit in the representation of state spaces of cognitive tasks. Furthermore, we suggest that these age-related deficits in adaptive decision-making are due to impoverished neural representations in the orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampus.

Research on aggression usually aims at gaining a better understanding of its more negative aspects, such as the role and effects of aversive social interactions, hostile cognitions, or negative affect. However, there are conditions under which an act of aggression can elicit a positive affective response, even among the most nonviolent of individuals. One might experience the "sweetness of revenge" on reacting aggressively to a betrayal or social rejection. A soldier may feel elated after "shooting to kill" in the name of the flag. There are many factors that contribute to the appeal of aggression, but despite growing interest in researching these phenomena, there is still no unitary framework that organizes existing theories and empirical findings and can be applied to a model to generate testable hypotheses. This article presents a narrative review of the literature on positive-affect-related forms of aggression and explores the role of aggression in eliciting positive affect across diverse social situations and relational contexts. An integrative model that unifies existing theories and findings is proposed, with the objective to inspire and inform future research.

Psychologists address social-justice problems in their research and applied work, and their scholarly efforts have been influenced by assumptions, constructs, and hypotheses from the political left. Recently, some psychologists have called for increased intellectual and political diversity in psychology, particularly as such diversity may lead to improved problem-solving. As an attempt to increase intellectual diversity in psychology, we review here the scholarship of Thomas Sowell. His work represents a rich source of hypotheses for psychologists' future research. We focus on his views on the importance of freedom; the extent to which reforms can reduce freedom; the importance of free markets to human flourishing; the role of free markets in producing costs for discrimination; the way spontaneously ordered systems can contain knowledge that can be overlooked in reforms; and the importance of culture and cultural capital. We will also discuss Sowell's more thoroughgoing economic analyses of problems and solutions and his analyses of contingencies operating on politicians and reformers, as well as his views on conflicts in fundamental visions about human nature and the pivotal role of improvements in minority education.

In this article, I argue for a number of important changes to the conceptual foundations of construct validity theory. I begin by suggesting that construct validity theorists should shift their attention from the validation of constructs to the process of evaluating scientific theories. This shift in focus is facilitated by distinguishing construct validation (understood as theory evaluation) from test validation, thereby freeing it from its long-standing focus on psychological measurement. In repositioning construct validity theory in this way, researchers should jettison the outmoded but superficially popular notion that theories are nomological networks in favor of a more plausible pragmatic view of their natures, such as the idea that theories are explanatorily coherent networks. Consistent with this shift in understanding the nature of theories, my recommendation is that construct validation should embrace an explanationist perspective on the theory evaluation process to complement its focus on hypothetico-deductive theory testing. On this view, abductive research methods have an important role to play. The revisionist perspective on construct validity proposed here is discussed in light of relevant developments in scientific methodology and is applied to an influential account of the validation process that has shaped research practice.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. The symptoms invariably appear in early childhood and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, and other important functions. Various abnormalities in the genetic, neurological, and endocrine systems of patients with autism spectrum disorder have been reported as the etiology; however, no clear factor leading to the onset of the disease has been identified. Additionally, higher order cognitive dysfunctions, which are represented by a lack of theory of mind, sensorimotor disorders, and memory-related disorders (e.g., flashbacks), have been reported in recent years, but no theoretical framework has been proposed to explain these behavioral abnormalities. In this study, we extended Hebb's biopsychology theory to provide a theoretical framework that comprehensively explains the various behavioral abnormalities observed in autism spectrum disorder. Specifically, we propose that a wide range of symptoms in autism spectrum disorder may be caused by the formation of a rigid-autonomous phase sequence (RAPS) in the brain. Using the RAPS formation theory, we propose a biopsychological mechanism that could be a target for the treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

Much of the information people encounter in everyday life is not factual; it originates from fictional sources, such as movies, novels, and video games, and from direct experience such as pretense, role-playing, and everyday conversation. Despite the recent increase in research on fiction, there is no theoretical account of how memory of fictional information is related to other types of memory or of which mechanisms allow people to separate fact and fiction in memory. We present a theoretical framework that places memory of fiction in relation to other cognitive phenomena as a distinct construct and argue that it is an essential component for any general theory of human memory. We show how fictionality can be integrated in an existing memory model by extending Rubin's dimensional conceptual memory model. By this means, our model can account for explicit and implicit memory of fictional information of events, places, characters, and objects. Further, we propose a set of mechanisms involving various degrees of complexity and levels of conscious processing that mostly keep fact and fiction separated but also allow information from fiction to influence real-world attitudes and beliefs: content-based reasoning, source monitoring, and an associative link from the memory to the concept of fiction.

Understanding language requires readers and listeners to cull meaning from fast-unfolding messages that often contain conflicting cues pointing to incompatible ways of interpreting the input (e.g., "The cat was chased by the mouse"). This article reviews mounting evidence from multiple methods demonstrating that cognitive control plays an essential role in resolving conflict during language comprehension. How does cognitive control accomplish this task? Psycholinguistic proposals have conspicuously failed to address this question. We introduce an account in which cognitive control aids language processing when cues conflict by sending top-down biasing signals that strengthen the interpretation supported by the most reliable evidence available. We also provide a computationally plausible model that solves the critical problem of how cognitive control "knows" which way to direct its biasing signal by allowing linguistic knowledge itself to issue crucial guidance. Such a mental architecture can explain a range of experimental findings, including how moment-to-moment shifts in cognitive-control state-its level of activity within a person-directly impact how quickly and successfully language comprehension is achieved.

Loneliness is an important health risk, which is why it is important to understand what can cause persistent or severe loneliness. Previous research has identified numerous personal or relational risk factors for loneliness. Cultural predictors, however, have been considered less. The new framework of norm deviations and loneliness (NoDeL) proposes that social norms, which are defining features of culture, can help explain loneliness within and across cultural contexts. Specifically, people who deviate from social norms are suggested to be at an increased risk for feeling lonely because they are more likely to experience alienation, inauthenticity, lower self-worth, social rejection, relationship dissatisfaction, and/or unfulfilled relational needs. Given that social norms vary by social, geographical, and temporal context, they can furthermore be considered cultural moderators between individual-level risk factors and loneliness: Personal or relational characteristics, such as shyness or being single, may increase the risk for loneliness particularly if they do not fit social norms in a specific environment. Integrating previous quantitative and qualitative findings, I hence offer a framework (NoDeL) to predict loneliness and cultural differences in risk factors for it. Thus, the NoDeL framework may help prepare culture-sensitive interventions against loneliness.