Cognitive Profile of Optimistic Offender Drivers Affected by Psychological Interventions for a Sustainable and Safer Driving’s Behavior

An empirically verified fact is that the majority of traffic accidents occur as a result of risky behaviours that drivers assume, more or less, voluntarily. Drivers are not aware of the perception of risk and the subjective perception of control that we believe we have. We have delimitated the characteristics of a group of optimistic offender drivers, which reveal, on the hand, a great lack of understanding of the true impact that external factors can have on driving and; on the other hand, they tend to overestimate their abilities and overconfident in their ability to avoid accidents. In addition, these drivers do not usually experience negative emotions when they fail. All this, together is what increases the probability of suffering an accident. The consideration of the different cognitive profiles in the perception of the risk or challenge when facing potential traffic situations may provide us with a better understanding of the true nature of offending drivers. The need to carry out experimental studies using new assessment instruments (i.e. Eye tracking, Bio-Feedback, evoked potentials, etc.) can facilitate a better understanding of the cognitive processes that explain the attitudes and behaviors of drivers; and therefore, achieve a lower rate of car accidents.

Metaphors of migration over time

This paper aims to cast light on contemporary migration rhetoric by integrating historical discourse analysis. I focus on continuity and change in conventionalised metaphorical framings of emigration and immigration in the UK-based Times newspaper from 1800 to 2018. The findings show that some metaphors persist throughout the 200-year time period (liquid, object), some are more recent in conventionalised form (animals, invader, weight) while others dropped out of conventionalised use before returning (commodity, guest). Furthermore, we see that the spread of metaphor use goes beyond correlation with migrant naming choices with both emigrants and immigrants occupying similar metaphorical frames historically. However, the analysis also shows that continuity in metaphor use cannot be assumed to correspond to stasis in framing and evaluation as the liquid metaphor is shown to have been more favourable in the past. A dominant frame throughout the period is migrants as an economic resource and the evaluation is determined by the speaker’s perception of control of this resource.

Dark and Bright Patterns in Cookie Consent Requests

Dark patterns are (evil) design nudges that steer people’s behaviour through persuasive interface design. Increasingly found in cookie consent requests, they possibly undermine principles of EU privacy law. In two preregistered online experiments we investigated the effects of three common design nudges (default, aesthetic manipulation, obstruction) on users’ consent decisions and their perception of control over their personal data in these situations. In the first experiment (N = 228) we explored the effects of design nudges towards the privacy-unfriendly option (dark patterns). The experiment revealed that most participants agreed to all consent requests regardless of dark design nudges. Unexpectedly, despite generally low levels of perceived control, obstructing the privacy-friendly option led to more rather than less perceived control. In the second experiment (N = 255) we reversed the direction of the design nudges towards the privacy-friendly option, which we title “bright patterns”. This time the obstruction and default nudges swayed people effectively towards the privacy-friendly option, while the result regarding perceived control stayed the same compared to Experiment 1. Overall, our findings suggest that many current implementations of cookie consent requests do not enable meaningful choices by internet users, and are thus not in line with the intention of the EU policymakers. We also explore how policymakers could address the problem.

Witnessed Incivility and Perceptions of Patients and Visitors in Hospitals

Research has examined instances of incivility witnessed by physicians, nurses, or employees in hospitals. Although patients and visitors are members in hospitals, witnessed incivility from their perspective has rarely been empirically investigated. The aims of the current study are 2-fold: (1) to investigate the forms of incivility patients/visitors witness in hospitals and (2) to examine whether these patients/visitors believe these incivilities impact the target’s sense of perceived control. An integration of interpretative phenomenological analysis and thematic analysis was used to code qualitative data (N = 77). Eight themes of witnessed incivility and 3 themes for impact on perceived control were identified. The results illuminate patterns of incivility targeted at marginalized groups, historically underrepresented in hospital-focused incivility research (eg, homeless individuals, incarcerated individuals, the elderly individuals). The majority of witnesses believed the incident of incivility would negatively impact the target’s perception of control, possibly affecting their experience and health. The current study demonstrates that empirically investigating witnessed incivility from the patient/visitor perspective provides critical information about the unique patterns of mistreatment occurring within hospital contexts.

Is ‘persistent postural perceptual dizziness’ a helpful diagnostic label? A qualitative exploratory study

BACKGROUND: Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD) is a recently defined functional syndrome. In other functional disorders there has been concern that the label itself can have negative effects, but research on patient views of PPPD is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To understand patient views of the PPPD label METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 people with PPPD and thematically analysed. RESULTS: Four themes were identified. Theme 1 reflects reassurance and validation received through a ‘label’. Theme 2 reflects re-evaluation of illness-beliefs, with the diagnosis giving greater perception of control but also perception of having serious consequences. Theme 3 reflects difficulty understanding terminology. Participants rarely understood “persistent”, “perceptual” and “postural”. They did not tend to use the term “PPPD” to others or themselves. Some interpreted “persistent” as meaning “poor prognosis”. Theme 4 reflects lack of psychological attribution, since participants normalised the experience of distress, but did not view this as part of PPPD. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the relevance of PPPD beyond simply classification. However patients found the components of the term itself confusing and did not tend to adopt it when relating their condition to others or themselves. Simplifying the nomenclature could facilitate shared understanding and management, even potentially influencing outcome.