Free will, temptation, and self-control: We must believe in free will. We have no choice (Isaac B. Singer).

Baumeister, Sparks, Stillman, and Vohs (2007), sketch a theory of free will as the human ability to exert self-control. Self-control can produce goal-directed behavior, which free will conceptualized as random behavior cannot. We question whether consumer psychology can shed light on the ontological question of whether free will exists. We suggest that it is more fruitful for consumer psychology to examine consumer's belief in free will. Specifically, we propose that this belief arises from customers' phenomenological experience of exercising self-control in the face of moral or intertemporal conflicts of will. Based on extant literature in philosophy, psychology, and economics, we offer both a narrower conceptualization of the nature of self-control problems and a more general conceptualization of self-control strategies, involving not only willpower but also precommitment. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of consumer's belief in free will.Research; Theory; Self-control; Behavior; IT; Experience; philosophy; Economics; Problems; Strategy;

Haben Tiere Gedanken?

Ich werde eine Definition von Gedanken vorstellen und erläutern, die Gedanken unabhängig von Sprachfähigkeit charakterisiert. Die interdisziplinäre Anwendbarkeit dieser Definition wird anhand von verschiedenen Beispielen aus dem Tierreich kritisch diskutiert. Obwohl die Definition eine Schwachstelle aufweist, die weiter präzisiert werden muss, zeigt sich zum einen, dass die Definition geeignet ist, auf Tierkognition angewendet zu werden, und zum anderen, dass Tiere Gedanken haben können

Free will, temptation, and self-control: We must believe in free will, we have no choice (Isaac B. Singer).

Baumeister, Sparks, Stillman, and Vohs (2007) sketch a theory of free will as the humanability to exert self-control. Self-control can produce goal-directed behavior, which free will conceptualized as random behavior cannot. We question whether consumer psychology can shed light on the ontological question of whether free will exists. We suggest that it is more fruitful for consumer psychology to examine consumers' belief in freewill. Specifically, we propose that this belief arises from consumers' phenomenological experience of exercising self-control in the face of moral or intertemporal conflicts of will. Based on extant literature in philosophy, psychology, and economics, we offer both a narrower conceptualization of the nature of self-control problems and a more general conceptualization of self-control strategies, involving not only will power but also precommitment. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of consumers' belief in free will.

Pilot Study to Investigate the Influence of the Timing of Student Clinical Experiences and Student Characteristics in the Hiring of New Graduates

Background and Purpose: Clinical experiences provide the student with the opportunity to practice technical skills as well as soft skills. This opportunity may benefit the student in future employment at the clinical facility. As the clinical experiences are at various time periods throughout the coursework, many students feel that the later sessions of clinical experiences may be more beneficial in employment opportunities upon graduation. Students also feel that grade point average plays an important role in potential employment opportunities. Methods: A survey was developed to identify the influence clinical experience session times and student characteristics that support future employment with the clinical site. The survey was sent to 148 potential participants from 20 different states. Scores were tabulated from the survey; age, gender and practice setting were cross-tabulated with overall results to determine any trends in responses. Participants: Sixty-six clinical instructors, CCCE\u27s and clinic managers from sixteen different states responded to the survey. The participants were from various physical therapy clinics including, pediatric, inpatient acute, inpatient rehab, outpatient ambulatory care, home health, rural and private practice. There were 20 (31.7%) males and 43 (68.3%) females who participated in the survey. Results: There were no differences in responses about the timing of clinical experiences and the influence on future employment with the facility. Both clinical experience sessions (midway or later in the program) provide an equal opportunity for future employment with the clinical site. Grade point average was not an important factor when considering a recent graduate for employment. Personality traits or soft skills, play an important role in considering a recent graduate for employment with clinical experience site. Communication, interpersonal skills and professionalism are the most important soft skills a recent graduate can obtain to support future employment opportunities. Discussion: Evidence from this study can support current physical therapy students and other healthcare professional students in the decision-making aspects of clinical experiences with the intent of future employment at clinical experience facility. Also, physical therapy students will be better informed about the importance of enhancing soft skills during physical therapy coursework to provide increased employment opportunities

The explanatory role of concepts

Machery (Doing without concepts, Oxford University Press, New York, 2009) and Weiskopf (Synthese 169:145–173, 2009) argue that the kind concept is a natural kind if and only if it plays an explanatory role in cognitive scientific explanations. In this paper, we argue against this explanationist approach to determining the natural kind-hood of concept. We first demonstrate that hybrid, pluralist, and eliminativist theories of concepts afford the kind concept different explanatory roles. Then, we argue that we cannot decide between hybrid, pluralist, and eliminativist theories of concepts, because each endorses a different, but equally viable, specification of the explananda of cognitive science. It follows that an explanationist approach to determining the natural kind-hood of concept fails, because there is no consensus about whether or not concept should be afforded an explanatory role in our best cognitive scientific explanations. We conclude by considering what our critique of explanationism could imply for further discussions about the explanatory role of concepts in cognitive science

I move, therefore I am: A new theoretical framework to investigate agency and ownership

The neurocognitive structure of the acting self has recently been widely studied, yet is still perplexing and remains an often confounded issue in cognitive neuroscience, psychopathology and philosophy. We provide a new systematic account of two of its main features, the sense of agency and the sense of ownership, demonstrating that although both features appear as phenomenally uniform, they each in fact are complex crossmodal phenomena of largely heterogeneous functional and representational levels. These levels can be arranged within a gradually evolving, onto- and phylogenetically plausible framework which proceeds from basic non-conceptual sensorimotor processes to more complex conceptual and meta-representational processes of agency and ownership, respectively. In particular, three fundamental levels of agency and ownership processing have to be distinguished: The level of feeling, thinking and social interaction. This naturalistic account will not only allow to “ground the self in action”, but also provide an empirically testable taxonomy for cognitive neuroscience and a new tool for disentangling agency and ownership disturbances in psychopathology

Bragging Through an Intermediary

The use of an intermediary to convey positive information about a target person is received more favorably and is more effective than direct self -promotion by the target person . These effects persist irrespective of whether the intermediary is motivated by self-interest . However, intermediation may carry image costs for the intermediary

The sedimentology and depositional environments of the Bastians Dal and Muslingebjerg formations: evidence for the earliest phases of Jurassic rifting in North-East Greenland

The aim of this study is to elucidate the character of the earliest phases of Jurassic rifting in North-East Greenland. To achieve this, detailed sedimentological analysis and geological mapping were undertaken on the outcrops of central Kuhn Ø (74°53’55’’N,20°20’56”W). In this region the basement is overlain by the fluvial Bastians Dal Formation (Middle Jurassic) which is, in turn, overlain by the coal-bearing Muslingebjerg Formation. A maximum thickness of 140 m is calculated for the Bastians Dal Formation and mapping of stratal geometries demonstrates thinning to both the north and south, confirming that these deposits infill a palaeovalley. Predominantly south-westward palaeocurrent orientations are observed and likely reflect the orientation of the palaeovalley (NE–SW). The overlying Muslingebjerg Formation displays significant lateral variations in thickness as well as facies, thickening from a 5-m-thick coal seam in the north to 50 m in the south. Southern outcrops include two intervals of fine-grained sandstones displaying low-angle and trough cross-bedding some of which contain suggestions of tidal bundling. The arrangement of facies suggests that coal formation occurred in both fluvial- and shallow-marine (tidal?) environments. Coals are similar to those described elsewhere from the Muslingebjerg Formation and display subtle differences consistent with variable degrees of marine influence. Mapping demonstrates the presence of an NE–SW-oriented bounding fault in the south of the region into which the Muslingebjerg Formation thickens. This likely also controlled the orientation of the underlying NE–SW-aligned palaeovalley and is oblique to the proposed overall N–S orientation of faulting related to rifting through the Mid to Late Jurassic. Instead, these alignments resemble those that define pre-Jurassic phases of rifting and may therefore indicate a transitional phase of tectonism. Faulting on a similar alignment can be traced SW, cutting Lindeman Fjord and following the valleys east of the A. P. Olsen Land plateau