Not all features are created equal: Processing asymmetries between location and object features

Previous research has shown spontaneous location processing when location is not a task relevant feature and when a target is presented together with distractors. The present study investigates whether such processing can occur in the absence of distractor inhibition, and whether there is a processing asymmetry between location and an object feature. The results show that not all features are created equal. Whereas attending to an object’s color or texture led to the involuntary processing of that object’s location, attending to an object’s location did not necessarily result in the encoding of its color or texture when these nonspatial properties were not task relevant. These results add to the body of evidence demonstrating the special role of location in attentional selection. They also provide a clearer picture of the interactions among location, object features, and participants’ behavioral goals

Size matters: fishing less and yielding more in smaller-scale fisheries

Several factors influence catches and the sustainability of fisheries, and such factors might be different depending on the scale on which fisheries work. We investigated the existence of possible subdivisions within small-scale fisheries (SSF) themselves, regarding their economic performance and relative social and environmental impacts to understand which categories of these two types of fleets are best positioned to support sustainability. By doing so, we investigated if it is a good strategy for SSF to aim to grow towards larger scales. We obtained economic and ecological data from landing samplings and information on technological efficiency of this fleet, using a northeastern Brazilian state as a case study. We defined a cut-off point to separate the SSF into two categories of boats, according to their size and gear. We compared their cpue and the factors affecting it within each category; we also compared economic (number of boats, number of landings, jobs, gears, catch, travel time and total time of the fishery, revenues, costs, profits, revenue per unit of effort, and profit per unit of effort) and ecological factors (vulnerability of species caught) between the two categories. We found that small boats spent less time fishing and employed comparatively more people per landed value and catch. The cpue and profits of small boats were also higher. Both large and small boats exploit species with the same overall vulnerability. Therefore, being smaller, even within the SSF category, seems to be a more advantageous social and economic strategy for guaranteeing higher catches and more employment opportunities per catch. These findings need to be taken into account when defining new policies, such as the distribution of subsidies that support or not the sustainable use of fishery resources

Affecting qualitative health psychology

The ‘affective turn’ is a contemporary movement within the humanities, social science and psychology to investigate affect, emotion and feeling as hybrid phenomena jointly constituted from both biological and social influences. Health and illness are themselves jointly constituted in this way, and many of the topics, concerns and methods of health psychology are strongly permeated by affective phenomena. Qualitative research in health psychology might therefore benefit by engaging with this work. This paper describes some features of the affective turn, and suggests theories, terminology and methods that might be useful

Affective Guide with Attitude

The Affective Guide System is a mobile context-aware and spatial-aware system, offering the user with an affective multimodal interaction interface. The system takes advantage of the current mobile and wireless technologies. It includes an ‘affective guide with attitude’ that links its memories and visitor’s interest to the spatial location so that stories are relevant to what can be immediately seen. This paper presents a review of related work, the system in detail, challenges and the future work to be carried out

Making things happen : a model of proactive motivation

Being proactive is about making things happen, anticipating and preventing problems, and seizing opportunities. It involves self-initiated efforts to bring about change in the work environment and/or oneself to achieve a different future. The authors develop existing perspectives on this topic by identifying proactivity as a goal-driven process involving both the setting of a proactive goal (proactive goal generation) and striving to achieve that proactive goal (proactive goal striving). The authors identify a range of proactive goals that individuals can pursue in organizations. These vary on two dimensions: the future they aim to bring about (achieving a better personal fit within one’s work environment, improving the organization’s internal functioning, or enhancing the organization’s strategic fit with its environment) and whether the self or situation is being changed. The authors then identify “can do,” “reason to,” and “energized to” motivational states that prompt proactive goal generation and sustain goal striving. Can do motivation arises from perceptions of self-efficacy, control, and (low) cost. Reason to motivation relates to why someone is proactive, including reasons flowing from intrinsic, integrated, and identified motivation. Energized to motivation refers to activated positive affective states that prompt proactive goal processes. The authors suggest more distal antecedents, including individual differences (e.g., personality, values, knowledge and ability) as well as contextual variations in leadership, work design, and interpersonal climate, that influence the proactive motivational states and thereby boost or inhibit proactive goal processes. Finally, the authors summarize priorities for future researc

Neuroimaging and Responsibility Assessments

Could neuroimaging evidence help us to assess the degree of a person’s responsibility for a crime which we know that they committed? This essay defends an affirmative answer to this question. A range of standard objections to this high-tech approach to assessing people’s responsibility is considered and then set aside, but I also bring to light and then reject a novel objection—an objection which is only encountered when functional (rather than structural) neuroimaging is used to assess people’s responsibility

Affect, Relationality and the 'Problem of Personality'

This peer-reviewed journal article sets out an argument regarding the importance of genealogical work for understanding concepts such as affect and suggestion

Moral courage in the workplace: moving to and from the desire and decision to act

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72135/1/j.1467-8608.2007.00484.x.pd