Intertemporal Decision Making After Brain Injury: Amount-Dependent Steeper Discounting after Frontal Cortex Damage

Traumatic brain injuries to the frontal lobes are associated with many maladaptive forms of behavior. We investigated the association between brain damage and impulsivity, as measured by the rate of delay discounting (i.e., the extent to which future outcomes are devalued in time). The main aim of this study was to test the hypothesis of steeper discounting of different amounts in a group of patients with frontal lobe damage. We used a delay discounting task in the form of a structured interview. A total of 117 participants were divided into five groups: three neurological groups and two groups without brain damage. Our analyses showed that patients with focal damage to the frontal lobes demonstrated steeper delay discounting than other participants. Other clinical groups demonstrated similar discounting rates. The data pattern related to the magnitude effect on the group level suggested that the magnitude effect is absent in the group of patients with damage to the frontal lobes; however, results were less consistent on an individual level. Amount-dependent discounting was observed in only two groups, the healthy control group and the neurological group with other cortical areas damaged.

English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Anxiety and Interlocutors’ Status and Familiarity: An Idiodynamic Perspective

Foreign language learning anxiety has been the target of many studies in the field of applied linguistics, but, with the dynamics turn in the field, attempts have been recently made to uncover the dynamics of anxiety English as a foreign language (EFL) learners go through, especially within the moments of their conversational interactions. Within these interactions, dynamics of anxiety might emerge in different patterns under the influence of the status of the participants’ interlocutors and their familiarity with them. This study explores the dynamics of EFL learners’ anxiety while interacting with different interlocutors from an idiodynamic perspective. The participants of this case study were two female freshman students, taking a speaking and listening university course, who were interviewed by four interlocutors with different status and level of familiarity. Following an idiodynamic method, they self-rated their anxiety fluctuations under the influence of each interlocutor throughout each conversation followed by stimulated recall interviews regarding the explanations of the changes in their anxiety during the conversations. The results showed both change and stability in the participants’ anxiety under the influence of the interlocutors’ familiarity with the participants and their status as well their verbal and nonverbal feedback. The explanation of these changes based on the main properties of complex dynamic system theory is discussed.

Higher Behavioral Profile of Mindfulness and Psychological Flexibility is Related to Reduced Impulsivity in Smokers, and Reduced Risk Aversion Regardless of Smoking Status

Empirical evidence suggests that mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and addiction are interrelated in decision making. In our study, we investigated the relationship of the behavioral profile, composed of mindfulness and psychological flexibility, and smoking status on delay and probability discounting. We demonstrated the interaction of the behavioral profile of mindfulness and psychological flexibility (lower or higher) and smoking status on delay discounting. We found that individuals who smoked and displayed higher mindfulness and psychological flexibility devalued rewards at a slower rate, compared to smokers with a lower profile. Importantly, in those with a higher profile, smokers discounted rewards no differently than nonsmokers. Smokers with a lower profile did display, however, increased impulsivity, compared to nonsmokers. These results suggest that behavioral interventions aiming to modify the behavioral profile with regard to mindfulness and psychological flexibility can indeed support the regulation of elevated impulsivity in smokers to equate with that of nonsmokers. In probability discounting, we observed that individuals with a higher profile displayed lower discounting rates, i.e., were less risk-averse, with no other significant main effect or interaction.

Delayed discounting of pain with and without monetary reward

We investigated the effect of monetary rewards on the rate of pain discounting. Our aim, also, was to understand the effect of previous painful dental experiences on the rate of discounting pain. Two groups (N = 148) completed a discounting task. In the first group, delayed pain was weaker than immediate pain, and in the second group delayed pain was stronger than immediate pain. Two conditions were studied: pain was either accompanied by a monetary reward or not. We found that people preferred immediate pain when it was weaker than delayed pain; however, when delayed pain was stronger than immediate pain, there was no clear preference. In both groups the preference for immediate pain was higher when pain was accompanied by a monetary reward. Previous painful experiences were not related to the rate of discounting. It was concluded that the preference for delayed pain depends on the intensity of pain, and it can be modified by rewards that accompany pain.

Overlapping defaults. The case of intertemporal choices

People make different choices depending on which decision is the default option. In intertemporal choices, the default option is typically imposed externally. For example, people expect more for delaying the gain (default in the present) than are willing to pay for accelerating the future gain over the same period (default in the future). We claim that apart from the external default, people’s choices are also influenced by the internal (natural) default such as the time perspective resulting in the reference point in the present. By manipulating the congruency between the internal and external defaults, we show that incongruence between defaults decreases the strength of discounting of gains, but not of losses.

What do students do in their free time and why?

Numerous studies have explored what people do in their free time, but only a few of them have tried to explain why. In Study 1 we therefore aimed to obtain a detailed picture of the ways in which students spend their free time, but also we wanted to investigate their motivation for engaging in a specific activity that they consider to be their favourite. We found that the highest percentage of 585 students, who participated in Study 1, spend most of their free time on social interactions, reading and leisure with family. However, although they did not spend much time on physical activities, participants reported them as their favourite ones. An analysis of variance showed no differences in hedonic motives for free time activities, while eudaimonic motives did differ. In Study 2, we investigated intrinsic motivation for physical exercise on a new sample of 202 students, and found that recreational athletes have significantly higher intrinsic motivation compared to physically less active participants.

Shortening of psychological tests – assumptions, methods and doubts

In this article, on the basis of questionnaire data collected for other purposes, the Authors want to show the consequences of various methods of shortening of tests and what may result from such an action for diagnosticians, researchers and examined individuals. The research aim of the work is to show the best method of shortening of the scale of questionnaires. Will shortening of a questionnaire according to different statistical techniques bring the same results? Will the quality of shortened scales be comparable? Is any of statistical techniques better for shortening of the scale of a questionnaire? The obtained results suggest a poorly controlable effect of the methods of questionnaire shortening. Moreover creating a short version on the basis of the results collected with the use of the full version leads to obtaining a tool with unknown diagnostic and psychometric properties.

Measurement issues of the social class in social psychology of education: Is it a category mistake?

The present article discusses the measurement of social class in the social psychology of education research. It was evident that social class experiences are conflated with the socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and the subjective measure of the class context was underrepresented. However, this was discussed in Rubin et al (2014) about the intersectional nature of social class taking into account both objective and subjective indicators. The derivation of the social class experience from the objective and subjective measures were critically discussed. An effort was made to understand whether these translations are category mistake or not. Three trajectories will be utilized to address the category mistake, that is, 1) subjectivity and objectivity debate in the measurement of social class in social psychology of education, 2) debates encircling around the position of social psychology and its underutilized concept such as social class as scientifically objective facets in social sciences and 3) operationalism of social class and category mistake.