The role of contextual factors in eliciting creativity: primes, cognitive load and expectation of performance feedback

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.

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The role of cognitive load in modulating social looking: a mobile eye tracking study

Cognitive Research Principles and Implications ◽

10.1186/s41235-020-00242-5 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Laura J. Bianchi ◽

Alan Kingstone ◽

Evan F. Risko

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Load ◽

Load Condition ◽

Social Situation ◽

Lower Proportion ◽

Eye Tracker ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Subject Design ◽

Video Experiment ◽

Back Task

Abstract The effect of cognitive load on social attention was examined across three experiments in a live pedestrian passing scenario (Experiments 1 and 2) and with the same scenario presented as a video (Experiment 3). In all three experiments, the load was manipulated using an auditory 2-back task. While the participant was wearing a mobile eye-tracker, the participant’s fixation behavior toward a confederate was recorded and analyzed based on temporal proximity from the confederate (near or far) and the specific regions of the confederate being observed (i.e., head or body). In Experiment 1 we demonstrated an effect of cognitive load such that there was a lower proportion of fixations and time spent fixating toward the confederate in the load condition. A similar pattern of results was found in Experiment 2 when a within-subject design was used. In Experiment 3, which employed a less authentic social situation (i.e., video), a similar effect of cognitive load was observed. Collectively, these results suggest attentional resources play a central role in social attentional behaviors in both authentic (real-world) and less authentic (video recorded) situations.

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Innovation performance feedback and technological alliance portfolio diversity: The moderating role of firms’ R&D intensity

Research Policy ◽

10.1016/j.respol.2021.104321 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 50 (9) ◽

pp. 104321

Author(s):

Andrea Martínez-Noya ◽

Esteban García-Canal

Keyword(s):

Performance Feedback ◽

Innovation Performance ◽

Alliance Portfolio ◽

Moderating Role

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Perceptual salience influences food choices independently of health and taste preferences

Cognitive Research Principles and Implications ◽

10.1186/s41235-019-0203-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jane Dai ◽

Jeremy Cone ◽

Jeff Moher

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Load ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Food Choice ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Taste Preference ◽

Food Choices ◽

Health Issues ◽

Perceptual Salience ◽

Choice Tests

Abstract Background Making decisions about food is a critical part of everyday life and a principal concern for a number of public health issues. Yet, the mechanisms involved in how people decide what to eat are not yet fully understood. Here, we examined the role of visual attention in healthy eating intentions and choices. We conducted two-alternative forced choice tests of competing food stimuli that paired healthy and unhealthy foods that varied in taste preference. We manipulated their perceptual salience such that, in some cases, one food item was more perceptually salient than the other. In addition, we manipulated the cognitive load and time pressure to test the generalizability of the salience effect. Results Manipulating salience had a powerful effect on choice in all situations; even when an unhealthy but tastier food was presented as an alternative, healthy food options were selected more often when they were perceptually salient. Moreover, in a second experiment, food choices on one trial impacted food choices on subsequent trials; when a participant chose the healthy option, they were more likely to choose a healthy option again on the next trial. Furthermore, robust effects of salience on food choice were observed across situations of high cognitive load and time pressure. Conclusions These results have implications both for understanding the mechanisms of food-related decision-making and for implementing interventions that might make it easier for people to make healthy eating choices.

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The Role of Performance Feedback and Job Autonomy in Mitigating the Negative Effect of Role Ambiguity on Employee Satisfaction

Public Performance & Management Review ◽

10.1080/15309576.2015.1137771 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 (4) ◽

pp. 814-834 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jaehee Jong

Keyword(s):

Performance Feedback ◽

Employee Satisfaction ◽

Role Ambiguity ◽

Job Autonomy ◽

Negative Effect

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The Role of Dimensional Distinctiveness in Children's and Adults' Artifact Categorization

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00794.x ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 137-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Rubi Hammer ◽

Gil Diesendruck

Keyword(s):

Preschool Children ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

A Priori ◽

Functional Similarity ◽

Second Stage ◽

Functional Dimension

There are conflicting results as to whether preschool children categorize artifacts on the basis of physical or functional similarity. The present study investigated the effect of the relative distinctiveness of these dimensions in children's categorization. In a physical-distinctive condition, preschool children and adults were initially asked to categorize computer-animated artifacts whose physical appearances were more distinctive than their functions. In a function-distinctive condition, the functional dimension of objects was more distinctive than their physical appearances. Both conditions included a second stage of categorization in which both dimensions were equally distinctive. Participants in a control condition performed only this stage of categorization. Adults in all conditions and stages consistently categorized by functional similarity. In contrast, children's categorization was affected by the relative distinctiveness of the dimensions. Children may not have a priori specific beliefs about how to categorize novel artifacts, and thus may be more susceptible to contextual factors.

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