Magic is an art form that has fascinated humans for centuries. Recently, the techniques used by magicians to make their audience experience the impossible have attracted the attention of psychologists, who, in just a couple of decades, have produced a large amount of research regarding how these effects operate, focusing on the blind spots in perception and roadblocks in cognition that magic techniques exploit. Most recently, this investigation has given a pathway to a new line of research that uses magic effects to explore the cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals. This new branch of the scientific study of magic has already yielded new evidence illustrating the power of magic effects as a psychological tool for nonhuman animals. This review aims to give a thorough overview of the research on both the human and nonhuman perception of magic effects by critically illustrating the most prominent works of both fields of inquiry.
People are fundamentally motivated to be included in social connections that feel safe, connections where they are consistently cared for and protected, not hurt or exploited. Romantic relationships have long played a crucial role in satisfying this fundamental need. This article reconceptualizes the risk-regulation model to argue that people draw on experiences from inside and outside their romantic relationships to satisfy their fundamental need to feel safe depending on others. We first review the direct relational cues (i.e., a partner's affectionate touch, responsive versus unresponsive behavior, and relative power) and indirect cues (i.e., bodily sensations, collective value in the eyes of others, and living conditions) that signal the current safety of social connection and motivate people to connect to others or protect themselves against them. We then review how people's chronic capacity to trust in others controls their sensitivity and reactivity to the safety cues. The article concludes with future research directions.
Research in cultural psychology over the last three decades has revealed the profound influence of culture on cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes shaping individuals into active agents. This article aims to show cultural psychology's promise in three key steps. First, we review four notable cultural dimensions believed to underlie cultural variations: independent versus interdependent self, individualism versus collectivism, tightness versus looseness of social norms, and relational mobility. Second, we examine how ecology and geography shape human activities and give rise to organized systems of cultural practices and meanings, called eco-cultural complexes. In turn, the eco-cultural complex of each zone is instrumental in shaping a wide range of psychological processes, revealing a psychological diversity that extends beyond the scope of the current East-West literature. Finally, we examine some of the non-Western cultural zones present today, including Arab, East Asian, Latin American, and South Asian zones, and discuss how they may have contributed, to varying degrees, to the formation of the contemporary Western cultural zone.
Knowledge transfer-the extent to which one unit learns from or is affected by the experience of another-has the potential to improve the performance of organizations. Through knowledge transfer, developments made in one unit of an organization can benefit others. Studies have found, however, considerable variation in the extent to which knowledge transfers across organizational units. In some cases, knowledge transfers seamlessly, whereas in others, knowledge transfer is far from complete. This article reviews research with the aim of explaining the variation observed in knowledge transfer. Key factors identified as explaining the variation include knowledge transfer opportunities, knowledge characteristics, mechanisms for knowledge transfer, motivation for transfer, and the depth of consideration of knowledge. These factors are integrated into a theoretical framework that predicts when knowledge transfer will be successful. The article concludes with a discussion of directions for future research to increase our understanding of knowledge transfer in organizations.
Psychological flexibility is a model of human performance and well-being. It essentially entails an approach to life circumstances that includes openness, awareness, and engagement. It has roots in behavior analysis, and it is linked to a philosophy of science called functional contextualism and to a specific therapy approach called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. One of the earliest and most developed research areas in which this model and therapy have been applied is chronic pain. This review describes psychological flexibility and its facets in more detail, sets them in a context of relevant psychological models, and examines related assessment and treatment methods. It also examines evidence, current challenges, and future directions. It is proposed that psychological flexibility, or an expanded model very much like it, could provide a basis for integrating current research and treatment approaches in chronic pain and health generally. This, in turn, could produce improved treatments for people with chronic pain and other conditions.
The relation between attention and memory has long been deemed important for understanding cognition, and it was heavily researched even in the first experimental psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues. Since then, the importance of the relation between attention and memory has been explored in myriad subdisciplines of psychology, and we incorporate a wide range of these diverse fields. Here, we examine some of the practical consequences of this relation and summarize work with various methodologies relating attention to memory in the fields of working memory, long-term memory, individual differences, life-span development, typical brain function, and neuropsychological conditions. We point out strengths and unanswered questions for our own embedded processes view of information processing, which is used to organize a large body of evidence. Last, we briefly consider the relation of the evidence to a range of other theoretical views before drawing conclusions about the state of the field.