1,720,974 research outputs found
The negative feelings that people want to avoid: Cultural differences and consequences for compassion
Full text linkPrevious research has documented cultural differences in the positive states that people desire. Less research, however, has examined whether cultural differences exist in the negative states that people want to avoid feeling ( avoided negative affect ). Using a multimethod approach, we examined cultural differences between Americans and Germans in avoided negative affect and whether they are related to different responses to suffering, or compassion. In Study 1, using survey methods, we assessed whether avoided negative affect differs from related constructs, and based on an existing literature, tested our hypothesis that Americans want to avoid negative affect more than do Germans. As predicted, avoided negative affect is distinct from actual negative affect (the negative states people actually feel) and from ideal negative affect (the negative states people ideally want to feel) and European Americans wanted to avoid negative states more than did Germans. In Study 2, we compared the emotional content of American and German sympathy cards to examine cultural differences in responses to suffering. As predicted, American cards contained more positive and less negative content than did German cards. In Study 3, using survey methods, we examined whether cultural differences in responses to suffering were due to cultural differences in avoided negative affect. As predicted, Americans felt less comfortable sending sympathy cards that contained primarily negative content (e.g., words will not lighten a heavy heart ) than did Germans, and these differences were mediated by cultural differences in avoided negative affect. Finally, in a series of experiments, American and German participants were randomly assigned to either avoid negative affect or approach negative affect conditions. Overall, participants in the avoid negative affect conditions preferred sympathy cards with negative content less than those in the approach negative affect conditions. These findings suggest that differences in avoided negative affect at least partially drive different responses to suffering (i.e., compassion)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Focusing on the negative: Cultural differences in expressions of sympathy
Full text linkFeeling concern about the suffering of others is considered a basic human response, and yet we know surprisingly little about the cultural factors that shape how people respond to the suffering of another person. To this end, we conducted 4 studies that tested the hypothesis that American expressions of sympathy focus on the negative less and positive more than German expressions of sympathy, in part because Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 1, we demonstrate that American sympathy cards contain less negative and more positive content than German sympathy cards. In Study 2, we show that European Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 3, we demonstrate that these cultural differences in “avoided negative affect” mediate cultural differences in how comfortable Americans and Germans feel focusing on the negative (vs. positive) when expressing sympathy for the hypothetical death of an acquaintance’s father. To examine whether greater avoided negative affect results in lesser focus on the negative and greater focus on the positive when responding to another person’s suffering, in Study 4, American and German participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) to “push negative images away” (i.e., increasing desire to avoid negative affect) from or (b) to “pull negative images closer” (i.e., decreasing desire to avoid negative affect) to themselves. Participants were then asked to pick a card to send to an acquaintance whose father had hypothetically just died. Across cultures, participants in the “push negative away” condition were less likely to choose sympathy cards with negative (vs. positive) content than were those in the “pull negative closer” condition. Together, these studies suggest that cultures differ in their desire to avoid negative affect and that these differences influence the degree to which expressions of sympathy focus on the negative (vs. positive). We discuss the implications of these findings for current models of sympathy, compassion, and helping
Improving reverse correlation analysis of faces: Diagnostics of order effects, runs, rater agreement, and image pairs
No full textExaminations of the reliability and validity of classification images of faces using the reverse correlation approach remain rare. In the present paper, we focus on order effects of trials, compliance, and reliability effects, as well as the degree of contextual contrast of image pairs. We present different diagnostic methods to examine these three aspects using data from 12 reverse correlation studies conducted both in-lab and online with diverse samples (i.e., from Burkina Faso, China, the Netherlands, the U.S., and an international sample) using five different base faces (i.e., female black, female Asian, female and gender-neutral white, and black/white/female/male morphed composite). For each of the 12 studies, we compare the individual CIs of subgroups of likely non-complier respondents and trials with non-contrastful image pairs to individual CIs of likely compliers and contrastful image pairs. In an appendix, we also examine the effects of filtering out data from individual participants and trials on the signal-to-noise ratio of group CIs. R scripts are publicly available for easy implementation of our suggestions in related research
Individual and cultural differences in compassion, noticing suffering, and well-being: Consequences of wanting to avoid feeling negative
No full textAlthough people across the globe experience suffering, some individuals find it difficult to respond to others\u27 distress because they might not know what would be most helpful to that person in that particular situation. For instance, would a response that focuses on the silver lining or one that acknowledges the suffering of the other person be more compassionate and helpful? In this paper, we demonstrate that the construct of avoided negative affect (ANA), the degree to which people want to avoid feeling negative, can predict individual differences and explain cultural variations in several aspects of compassion. Because ANA is a relatively new construct, we review research that focuses on concepts that are related to, but differ from ANA. Then, we summarize individual and cultural differences in ANA and their consequences for expressions of sympathy and compassion, conceptualizations of compassion, noticing suffering (including acknowledging suffering such as systemic racism), and well-being. Across many studies conducted in various cultural contexts including Ecuador, Mexico, China, Japan, Germany, and the United States, ANA can partly explain cultural differences in different aspects of compassion. This work has important implications for cross-cultural counseling, anti-racism trainings, and conflict resolution. Noticing others\u27 suffering and understanding what compassion entails for different people in different settings can result in treating others the way they want to be treated
Verbal Labels Affect Holistic and Analytic Thinking Styles in Native English Speakers
Full text linkHolistic and analytic thinking styles are well-documented in cultural psychology. However, recent studies suggest that language potentially mediates the influence of culture on thinking styles. The overarching goal of this study is to examine how verbal labels impact people’s thinking styles. Study 1 sought to examine whether thinking styles in a classic triad task could depend on verbal or pictorial formats. Although we observed a significant correlation between performance in verbal and picture triad tasks, more participants were classified as holistic thinkers with a verbal compared to a picture triad task. In Study 2, we examined whether participants could shift their thinking styles in the verbal triad task after being primed to focus on categorical associations. We found that females were influenced by this prime and displayed more analytic thinking. Our results suggest that language can influence thinking styles and that thinking styles are context-dependent
Working Memory
No full textThe work of memory researchers Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch is a prime example of the ways in which good critical thinkers approach questions and the problems they raise.
In the 1960s, researchers into human memory began to understand memory as comprising not one, but two systems. The first was a short-term system handling information for mere seconds. The second was a long-term system capable of managing information indefinitely. They also discovered, however, that short-term memory was not simply a ‘filing cabinet,’ as many had thought, but was actively working on cognitive – or mental – tasks. This is how the phrase “working memory” developed. The hypothesis remained unproven, however, presenting Baddeley and Hitch with the problem of working out how to produce definitive evidence that short term memory was a working system that actively manipulated and processed information.
They responded by designing a series of ten experiments aimed at showing just this – presenting the results in their 1974 article, ‘Working memory.’ The research was a masterpiece of problem-solving that proved revelatory. The authors not only generated new solutions and made sound decisions between alternative possibilities – they also showed that short-term memory is indeed an active system responsible for information processing and managing, while also influencing attention, reasoning, reading comprehension and learning.
While their work has since been refined by others, Baddeley and Hitch’s problem-solving approach helped to create the dominant understanding of working memory that underpins psychological research throughout the world today.https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/faculty_books/1349/thumbnail.jp
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