Department of Psychology
http://hdl.handle.net/10106/1260
2024-03-29T07:35:31ZFail to Plan, Plan to Fail: The Effects of Forecasting Valence on Creativity
http://hdl.handle.net/10106/31744
Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail: The Effects of Forecasting Valence on Creativity
Forecasting is a central component of evaluating creative ideas for their success. Little is known, however, about variables that influence the effectiveness of predicting outcomes while evaluating creative ideas. Previous literature has shown that forecasting prior to implementation improves the creativity of final solutions and vision statements (e.g., Byrne, Shipman, & Mumford, 2010; Dailey & Mumford, 2006; Lonergan, Scott, & Mumford, 2004). The present effort empirically addresses how individuals forecast and why it leads to better creative performance. A total of 146 participants were asked to forecast positive or negative outcomes and subsequently develop an implementation plan for a creative idea. The impact of predicting positive and negative outcomes on creative performance is addressed by considering the attributes of forecasting and how it affects factors considered during implementation planning. Findings revealed that a combination of positive and negative forecasting led to more extensive forecasting, whereas forecasting only positive outcomes decreased its extensiveness. Positive forecasting also resulted in implementation plans that were less extensive – notably, positive forecasts were less focused on competitors and obstacles. The implications of these findings are discussed to understand better the degree forecasting valence affects the focus of certain factors while planning for implementation.
2023-08-16T00:00:00ZAddressing the Information Crisis: Understanding the Relationships Between Information Choices and Health and Academic Outcomes
http://hdl.handle.net/10106/31728
Addressing the Information Crisis: Understanding the Relationships Between Information Choices and Health and Academic Outcomes
In today’s society, the prevalence of the “share first, question later” mentality has become a norm. However, this approach to information can have severe consequences when it comes to information seeking behaviors, and health and academic outcomes. Previous research has already illustrated that people are not very good at evaluating information, they prefer to surround themselves with confirming viewpoints, and accepting health misinformation can adversely affect one’s health. Building upon this knowledge, the current study aimed to investigate whether people have preferences in the information they use and their potential implications for health and academic outcomes. Specifically, it was examined how these preferences relate to and potentially shape the impact of prior beliefs and behaviors regarding information searching and evaluation. Although the study did not establish a direct link between these preferences and health and academic outcomes, it did reveal that individuals do exhibit preferences for certain information traits, influencing their engagement with and acceptance of information. Furthermore, the findings emphasized the contextual nature of information preferences, suggesting that strategies for information dissemination and evaluation need to be tailored to specific topics or domains to effectively engage people. The findings also further substantiated the importance of developing information literacy skills to improve health outcomes and academic success and addressing biases in information seeking behaviors.
2023-08-10T00:00:00ZA CULTURAL CONSENSUS ANALYSIS OF TYPE II DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION
http://hdl.handle.net/10106/31662
A CULTURAL CONSENSUS ANALYSIS OF TYPE II DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION
There has been a dearth of information that explains group beliefs about chronic diseases. The overall aim of this study was to use both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand consensus in illness beliefs among diabetic and hypertensive patients. The cultural consensus and common-sense model of self-regulation were used to provide a theoretical framework for the findings. Older diabetic and hypertensive adults recruited from the community took part in a semi-structured interview and answered questionnaires. Results indicated that all participants shared a single cultural belief regarding these chronic illnesses. Contrary to expectations, there were no differences in cohesive beliefs between members of different socioeconomic statuses in each illness condition, nor were there differences between the two conditions. Qualitative data revealed that diabetic and hypertensive participants spent most of the interviews discussing their medical treatments; subjects focused on their prescribed medications as well as their diet and exercise regimes (or lack thereof). Many of the interviews also focused on the complications and symptoms that the participants experienced or had heard about, and only a small number of the interviews focused on the actual causes of their conditions. These results highlight the lived experience of the participants, focusing primarily on their daily actions and the consequences of having a chronic illness. In conclusion, via the qualitative data, the current study was able to shed light on participants’ beliefs and experiences of having a chronic condition, furthering research in this area. Future directions should focus on other factors, such as level of education, which may better explain differences in cultural beliefs among diabetic and hypertensive patients.
Spaced Retrieval Improves Retention And Transfer Of Foreign Vocabulary
http://hdl.handle.net/10106/31392
Spaced Retrieval Improves Retention And Transfer Of Foreign Vocabulary
One strategy that has been shown to promote long-term retention is spaced retrieval practice. In this study, we used standard and dropout procedures of spaced retrieval training to examine whether they produce superior retention and transfer relative to repeated restudy in novel vocabulary learning. Across three sessions spaced two days apart, participants learned 30 Swahili words with their English definitions via spaced testing or by restudying. Definitions were the same (fixed) across days in Experiment 1 and different each day (variable) in Experiment 2. A week later, all participants were tested using either the same (repetition) or new (transfer) definitions from study. It was found that standard spaced retrieval practice improved recall of repetition and transfer items compared to repeated restudy with both fixed and variable learning. We also found that although the dropout procedure takes less time, standard spaced retrieval results in more transfer. These findings have important implications for choosing learning techniques to achieve the best outcomes.
2022-05-18T00:00:00Z