Creative or Not? Hierarchical Diffusion Modeling of the Creative Evaluation Process

When producing creative ideas (i.e., ideas that are original and useful) two main processes occur: ideation, where people brainstorm ideas, and evaluation, where they decide if the ideas are creative or not. While much is known about the ideation phase, the cognitive processes involved in creativity evaluation are less clear. In this article, we present a novel modeling approach for the evaluation phase of creativity. We apply the drift diffusion model (DDM) to the Creative-or-Not task (CON-task) to study the cognitive basis of evaluation and to examine individual differences in the extent to which people take originality and utility into account when evaluating creative ideas. The CON-task is a timed decision-making task where participants indicate whether they find uses for certain objects creative or not (e.g., using a book as a buoy). The different uses vary on the two creativity dimensions “originality” and “utility.” In two studies (n = 293, 17,806 trials; n = 152, 9,291 trials), we found that stimulus originality was strongly related to participants’ drift rates but found only weak evidence for an association between stimulus utility and the drift rate. However, participants differed substantially in the effects of originality and utility. Furthermore, the implicit weights assigned to originality and utility on the CON-task were associated with self-reported importance ratings of originality and utility and with divergent thinking performance in the Alternative Uses task (AUT). This research provides a cognitive modeling approach to creativity evaluation and underlines the importance of communicating rating criteria in divergent thinking tasks to ensure a fair assessment of creative ability.</p

No effects of 1 Hz offline TMS on performance in the stop-signal game

Stopping an already initiated action is crucial for human everyday behavior and empirical evidence points toward the prefrontal cortex playing a key role in response inhibition. Two regions that have been consistently implicated in response inhibition are the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the more superior region of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The present study investigated the effect of offline 1 Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right IFG and DLPFC on performance in a gamified stop-signal task (SSG). We hypothesized that perturbing each area would decrease performance in the SSG, albeit with a quantitative difference in the performance decrease after stimulation. After offline TMS, functional short-term reorganization is possible, and the domain-general area (i.e., the right DLPFC) might be able to compensate for the perturbation of the domain-specific area (i.e., the right IFG). Results showed that 1 Hz offline TMS over the right DLPFC and the right IFG at 110% intensity of the resting motor threshold had no effect on performance in the SSG. In fact, evidence in favor of the null hypothesis was found. One intriguing interpretation of this result is that within-network compensation was triggered, canceling out the potential TMS effects as has been suggested in recent theorizing on TMS effects, although the presented results do not unambiguously identify such compensatory mechanisms. Future studies may result in further support for this hypothesis, which is especially important when studying reactive response in complex environments

Qualität und Evaluation - Implizite Wirkungsattribute und methodische Herausforderungen

Der Beitrag fokussiert das normative Spannungsfeld von Qualität und Evaluation vor dem Hintergrund bildungspolitischer Steuerungsabsichten und methodischer Wirkungsansprüche. Qualität übernimmt im Bildungssystem in der gegenwärtigen Akzentuierung die Funktion einer präskriptiven Kategorie, die sowohl für das Bildungssystem als auch die einzelne Bildungsinstitution handlungsrelevant ist. Als Ziel- und Programmkategorie stützt sich Qualität dabei auf ein normatives Fundament, welches auf einer allgemeinen begrifflichen Ebene zunächst nicht weiter expliziert wird und den Qualitätskonzepten inhärent ist. Am Beispiel des nationalen Projekts «Zertifizierung von berufsbildenden Schulen» wird aufgezeigt, dass ein wenig expliziertes Qualitätsverständnis zu Wirkungseinschätzungen führt, die unspezifisch gehalten sind, von impliziten, kontextimmanenten Faktoren gesteuert werden und nur beschränkt nutzbringende Erkenntnisse über tiefer liegende Wirkungsmechanismen sowie Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten liefern. (DIPF/Orig.)The article focuses on the normative conflict between quality and assessment at the basis of measures of political-educational control and methodological demands of performance. In its current accentuation, the quality of the educational system assumes the function of an extremely important prescriptive category, both for the teaching sector and for single scholastic institutions. As a specific and programmatic category, quality rests on a normative basis which, at first, is not explicated at the general conceptual level and regards the concepts of quality. The example of the national project «certification of schools for vocational training» shows, how poor understanding of the quality concept inevitably leads to quite unspecific performance assessments, as they are controlled by implicit and immanent factors at the contextual level and thus can only provide notions of scant relevance about the most intrinsic dynamics and possible solutions. (DIPF/Orig.

Leader–Member Exchange Fosters Beneficial and Prevents Detrimental Workplace Behavior: Organizational Identification as the Linking Pin

Discretionary behaviors, such as counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), directly refer to an organization’s normative expectations. As such, employees engaging in these behaviors violate or exceed organizational norms, respectively. An employee’s relationship quality with his or her supervisor [i.e., leader–member exchange (LMX)] has been found to be a prominent antecedent of employees’ workplace behavior. However, the actual mechanisms that link LMX and discretionary behaviors (i.e., CWB and OCB) are not yet well understood. Integrating social exchange as well as the social identity theory, we present an employee’s organizational identification (OI) as a mechanism that sheds light on why LMX leads to employees’ subsequent discretionary behavior. Across four empirical studies employing complementary study designs, we demonstrate that LMX is positively associated with OI, which, in turn, curbs CWB and fosters OCB. Specifically, this pattern of findings is consistent across (1) a cross-sectional study with 188 Swiss employees, (2) a time-lagged study with 502 Swiss employees, (3) an online recall experiment with 131 US participants, and (4) an online vignette experiment with 139 US participants. In sum, we present an integrative theoretical model and respective empirical support to shed light on OI as a pivotal mechanism that can explain why the relationship quality with one’s supervisor can simultaneously serve as a deterrent for CWB and foster OCB

A methodology to compare specialized and mixed farming systems. Case studies, in the Netherlands and France.

This master thesis was carried out at Plant Research International in Wageningen, the Netherlands, within the framework of the double degree in Agroecology between ISARA-Lyon in France and UMB in Norway. The study was part of the CANTOGETHER project. Standing for Crops and ANimals TOGETHER, this European project aims at promoting innovative mixed farming systems in several case studies of Europe. In this thesis, the aim was to create a methodology, composed of a set of economic, social and environmental indicators, in order to compare mixed and specialized farming system and to test the methodology in two case studies in the Netherlands and in France. The analysis relies on two farm typologies based on the concepts of representative and typical farms. Accordingly, the two-scale methodology uses the farm accountancy data network (FADN) to compare farming systems over large areas and agri-environmental data collected on-farm to design innovative farming systems. The results are a first step towards understanding up scaling procedure of innovative mixed farming systems at district level. While the municipality of Winterswijk shows a higher potential to develop between-farm mixing, the Ribéracois however presents better possibilities to develop diversified on-farm mixing. Very heterogeneous areas of Europe render difficult to set up a harmonized methodology. The data heterogeneity of case studies and the importance to make good use of existing information and specificities of each case study prevails on harmonizing the set of indicators. The scientific soundness and efficacy of the methodology is empirically verified but further study is needed to validate all indicators. Additionally, a selection of a primary set of information that is required by all work packages and all case studies is necessary to have a common basis for work

Gestion des frais de la publication en Open Access à un niveau institutionnel: proposition de stratégie et de plan d’action à l’intention de la BCU et de l’Université de Fribourg

A l’heure de la conclusion des premiers accords de type «Read&Publish» au niveau national en Suisse, la question de la gestion des frais de la publication nativement Open Access est un sujet d’actualité brûlant pour les hautes écoles helvétiques et leurs bibliothèques. C’est dans ce contexte que la Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire de Fribourg et l’Université de Fribourg ont souhaité la réalisation d’un travail de Master en Sciences de l’Information sur cette thématique. Ce travail suit le mandat confié en réalisant tout d’abord une importante revue de la littérature visant à comprendre les différentes forces régissant les relations actuelles entre le marché de l’édition scientifique et les bibliothèques. Un état de l’art au sein de la double institution fribourgeoise est ensuite réalisé afin de comprendre dans quelle mesure les frais de la publication en Open Access sont déjà pris en charge au niveau local ou non. Enfin, le travail débouche sur des propositions d’orientations stratégiques tenant compte du travail d’analyse réalisé, dans l’espoir de permettre aux décideurs de mettre en place une politique déterminée et éclairée et, le cas échéant, de se donner les moyens de parvenir aux objectifs qui auront été fixés. Les caractéristiques particulières de l’écosystème institutionnel fribourgeois –université «complète»et bilingue, volume de publication relativement faible, fonctionnement décentralisé, ressources humaines limitées–appellent à un regard critique et lucide sur l’évolution des contratsconclus avec les éditeurset à une approchelocalepragmatique face àdes objectifs nationaux ambitieux