scholarly journals Does Temporal Distance Influence Abstraction? A Large Pre-Registered Experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 352-365
Author(s):  
Amber M. Sánchez ◽  
Christopher W. Coleman ◽  
Alison Ledgerwood

Construal level theory has been extraordinarily generative both within and beyond social psychology, yet the individual effects that form the empirical foundation of the theory have yet to be carefully probed and precisely estimated using large samples and preregistered analysis plans. In a highly powered and preregistered study, we tested the effect of temporal distance on abstraction, using one of the most common operationalizations of temporal distance (thinking about a future point in time that is one day vs. one year from today) and one of the most common operationalizations of abstraction (preference for more abstract vs. concrete action representations, as assessed by the Behavioral Identification Form). Participants preferred significantly more abstract action representations in the distant (vs. near) future condition, with an effect size of d = .276, 95% CI [.097, .455]. We discuss implications, future directions, and constraints on the generality of these results.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber Sanchez ◽  
Christopher Coleman ◽  
Alison Ledgerwood

Construal level theory has been extraordinarily generative both within and beyond social psychology, yet the individual effects that form the empirical foundation of the theory have yet to be carefully probed and precisely estimated using large samples and preregistered analysis plans. In a highly powered and preregistered study, we tested the effect of temporal distance on abstraction, using one of the most common operationalizations of temporal distance (thinking about a future point in time that is one day vs. one year from today) and one of the most common operationalizations of abstraction (preference for more abstract vs. concrete action representations, as assessed by the Behavioral Identification Form). Participants preferred significantly more abstract action representations in the distant (vs. near) future condition, with an effect size of d = .276, 95% CI [.097, .455]. We discuss implications, future directions, and constraints on the generality of these results.


1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Magnusson

A description of two cases from my time as a school psychologist in the middle of the 1950s forms the background to the following question: Has anything important happened since then in psychological research to help us to a better understanding of how and why individuals think, feel, act, and react as they do in real life and how they develop over time? The studies serve as a background for some general propositions about the nature of the phenomena that concerns us in developmental research, for a summary description of the developments in psychological research over the last 40 years as I see them, and for some suggestions about future directions.


Author(s):  
Kalin Z. Salinas ◽  
Amanda Venta

The current study proposed to determine whether adolescent emotion regulation is predictive of the amount and type of crime committed by adolescent juvenile offenders. Despite evidence in the literature linking emotion regulation to behaviour problems and aggression across the lifespan, there is no prior longitudinal research examining the predictive role of emotion regulation on adolescent recidivism, nor data regarding how emotion regulation relates to the occurrence of specific types of crimes. Our primary hypothesis was that poor emotion regulation would positively and significantly predict re-offending among adolescents. We tested our hypothesis within a binary logistic framework utilizing the Pathways to Desistance longitudinal data. Exploratory bivariate analyses were conducted regarding emotion regulation and type of crime in the service of future hypothesis generation. Though the findings did not indicate a statistically significant relation between emotion regulation and reoffending, exploratory findings suggest that some types of crime may be more linked to emotion regulation than others. In sum, the present study aimed to examine a hypothesized relation between emotion regulation and juvenile delinquency by identifying how the individual factor of dysregulated emotion regulation may have played a role. This study’s findings did not provide evidence that emotion regulation was a significant predictor of recidivism over time but did suggest that emotion regulation is related to participation in certain types of crime one year later. Directions for future research that build upon the current study were described. Indeed, identifying emotion regulation as a predictor of adolescent crime has the potential to enhance current crime prevention efforts and clinical treatments for juvenile offenders; this is based on the large amount of treatment literature, which documents that emotion regulation is malleable through treatment and prevention programming.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Ninareh Mehrabi ◽  
Fred Morstatter ◽  
Nripsuta Saxena ◽  
Kristina Lerman ◽  
Aram Galstyan

With the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and applications in our everyday lives, accounting for fairness has gained significant importance in designing and engineering of such systems. AI systems can be used in many sensitive environments to make important and life-changing decisions; thus, it is crucial to ensure that these decisions do not reflect discriminatory behavior toward certain groups or populations. More recently some work has been developed in traditional machine learning and deep learning that address such challenges in different subdomains. With the commercialization of these systems, researchers are becoming more aware of the biases that these applications can contain and are attempting to address them. In this survey, we investigated different real-world applications that have shown biases in various ways, and we listed different sources of biases that can affect AI applications. We then created a taxonomy for fairness definitions that machine learning researchers have defined to avoid the existing bias in AI systems. In addition to that, we examined different domains and subdomains in AI showing what researchers have observed with regard to unfair outcomes in the state-of-the-art methods and ways they have tried to address them. There are still many future directions and solutions that can be taken to mitigate the problem of bias in AI systems. We are hoping that this survey will motivate researchers to tackle these issues in the near future by observing existing work in their respective fields.


2013 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 703-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Attané ◽  
Zhang Qunlin ◽  
Li Shuzhuo ◽  
Yang Xueyan ◽  
Christophe Z. Guilmoto

AbstractTraditionally, marriage is a near universality in China. However, in the coming decades, owing to the growing sex imbalance, millions of men will be unable to marry. As a consequence, bachelorhood is becoming a new demographic concern, particularly affecting men from the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups. In China's cultural context today, heterosexual marriage remains a prerequisite for family formation and, in rural society particularly, the legitimate setting for sexual activity. Under such circumstances, bachelorhood is likely to produce privations on various fronts, the consequences of which for both the individual and the community are still largely unknown. This article focuses on the opinions and sexual behaviour of bachelors, and highlights significant variations from those of married men. It is based on the findings of an exploratory survey conducted in 2008 in selected villages in a rural county in Anhui province, referred to here as JC county. The survey provides insights into the more general situation of rural men unable to marry in a context of female shortage, and indicates the conditions a growing number of Chinese men will face in the near future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S68-S68
Author(s):  
H. Blasco-Fontecilla

Objectiveto explore future directions on the assessment of the risk of suicidal behavior (SB).Methodsnarrative review of current and future methods to improving the assessment of the risk of suicidal behavior (SB).ResultsPredicting future SB is a long-standing goal. Currently, the identification of individuals at risk of SB is based on clinician's subjective reports. Unfortunately, most individuals at risk of SB often do not disclose their suicidal thoughts. In the near future, predicting the risk of SB will be enhanced by: (1) introducing objective, reliable measures – i.e. biomarkers – of suicide risk; (2) selecting the most discriminant variables, and developing more accurate measures – i.e. questionnaires – and models for suicide prediction; (3) incorporating new sources of information – i.e. facebook, online monitoring; (4) applying novel methodological instruments such as data mining, or computer adaptive testing; and, (5) most importantly, combining predictors from different domains (clinical, neurobiological and cognitive).ConclusionsGiven the multi-determined nature of SB, a combination of clinical, neuropsychological, biological, and neuroimaging factors, among other might help overcome current limitations in the prediction of SB. Furthermore, given the complexity of prediction of future SB, currently our efforts should be focused on the prevention of SB.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1953-1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Dils ◽  
M. De Mazière ◽  
J. F. Müller ◽  
T. Blumenstock ◽  
M. Buchwitz ◽  
...  

Abstract. Total column amounts of CO, CH4, CO2 and N2O retrieved from SCIAMACHY nadir observations in its near-infrared channels have been compared to data from a ground-based quasi-global network of Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers. The SCIAMACHY data considered here have been produced by three different retrieval algorithms, WFM-DOAS (version 0.5 for CO and CH4 and version 0.4 for CO2 and N2O), IMAP-DOAS (version 1.1 and 0.9 (for CO)) and IMLM (version 6.3) and cover the January to December 2003 time period. Comparisons have been made for individual data, as well as for monthly averages. To maximize the number of reliable coincidences that satisfy the temporal and spatial collocation criteria, the SCIAMACHY data have been compared with a temporal 3rd order polynomial interpolation of the ground-based data. Particular attention has been given to the question whether SCIAMACHY observes correctly the seasonal and latitudinal variability of the target species. The present results indicate that the individual SCIAMACHY data obtained with the actual versions of the algorithms have been significantly improved, but that the quality requirements, for estimating emissions on regional scales, are not yet met. Nevertheless, possible directions for further algorithm upgrades have been identified which should result in more reliable data products in a near future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Stefan Hartmann

Abstract This paper investigates the alternation between two competing German future constructions, the werden + Infinitive construction and the futurate present, from a usage-based perspective. Two lines of evidence are combined: On the one hand, a pilot corpus study indicates that werden + Infinitive is more likely to be used for referring to distant-future events than to near-future events. However, syntactic factors seem to be at least as decisive as semantic ones for speakers’ choice between the two constructions. On the other hand, an experimental study taps into language users’ interpretation of sentences framed in one of the two constructions. It can be shown that the grammatical framing does not significantly affect participants’ estimates of the temporal distance of the events to which the stimuli sentences refer. This suggests that the meaning differences between the two constructions be more nuanced, e.g. pertaining to discourse-pragmatic functions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Calefato ◽  
Marco Aurelio Gerosa ◽  
Giuseppe Iaffaldano ◽  
Filippo Lanubile ◽  
Igor Fabio Steinmacher

Abstract Several Open-Source Software (OSS) projects depend on the continuity of their development communities to remain sustainable. Understanding how developers become inactive or why they take breaks can help communities prevent abandonment and incentivize developers to come back. In this paper, we propose a novel method to identify developers’ inactive periods by analyzing the individual rhythm of contributions to the projects. Using this method, we quantitatively analyze the inactivity of core developers in 18 OSS organizations hosted on GitHub. We also survey core developers to receive their feedback about the identified breaks and transitions. Our results show that our method was effective for identifying developers’ breaks. About 94% of the surveyed core developers agreed with our state model of inactivity; 71% and 79% of them acknowledged their breaks and state transition, respectively. We also show that all core developers take breaks (at least once) and about a half of them (~ 45%) have completely disengaged from a project for at least one year. We also analyzed the probability of transitions to/from inactivity and found that developers who pause their activity have a ~ 35 to ~ 55% chance to return to an active state; yet, if the break lasts for a year or longer, then the probability of resuming activities drops to ~ 21–26%, with a ~ 54% chance of complete disengagement. These results may support the creation of policies and mechanisms to make OSS community managers aware of breaks and potential project abandonment.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 188-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gethin Morgan ◽  
Carole Buckley ◽  
Mike Nowers

The clinical assessment and management of suicide risk depends primarily on face to face contact with the individual who presents the risk, and aims to predict behaviour in the very near future. Whether or not clinical intervention prevents suicide depends a great deal on the clinician's skill in reaching out to the individual patient. This poses a dilemma, because much of what has been written about predicting suicide has been based on averaged data concerning long-term outcome in large cohorts of patients.


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