Whom to trust? Inferred source credibility and response borrowing in a memory task

We investigated whether people can discriminate between sources of information that are either credible or respond at random, based only on their own knowledge and the responses provided by these sources. In three experiments, participants were asked to judge the validity of trivia statements. Some statements were accompanied by true/false responses provided by either a credible source or a source whose responses were random. In Experiment 1, participants first saw a set of easy questions, which provided the basis for assessing the relative credibility of the sources, before responding to a set of difficult questions, where response borrowing was assessed. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants solved a test composed of difficult questions only, but only after studying the correct responses to all these questions. In Experiment 2, there was no delay between the study and test phases, whereas in Experiment 3, the delay was 24 hours. In all experiments, more participants explicitly identified the more credible source in the postexperimental questionnaire than misidentified the noninformative source as credible. However, differentiated response borrowing—borrowing more responses from the credible than the noninformative source—emerged only in Experiment 2. Therefore, people can often explicitly infer source credibility from the responses the sources provide. However, using these inferences to regulate response borrowing is relatively less likely and happens only under specific, favorable circumstances

Does it ever make sense to stop learning earlier? : Factors determining learning termination and its consequences

Learning termination is an example of exercising metamemory control. In experiments described in the thesis, a new experimental paradigm of Murayama et al. (2016) was used. Participants learn a long list(s) of words. In control conditions, they are presented with the entire list, in stop conditions they can stop learning early if they think that this would help them remember more words. In all experiments, participants who terminated learning performed worse in memory tests than those who did not stop. Some individual differences did not influence learning termination – young and older adults decided to stop learning similarly (Chapter 3) – however, there were others that did modify learning termination – people who believed that intelligence is fixed were more reluctant to terminate learning than those who believed that intelligence can be developed by effort (Chapter 7). There were also conditions that intensified the tendency to stop – almost all participants decided to do so in a difficult associative learning task (Chapter 6). However, in some other contexts, the tendency to terminate learning declined: when participants needed to wait for the memory test (Chapter 4) and when participants had a chance to repeat to-be-remembered materials (Chapter 5). In hypothetical studies – where participants predicted whether they would terminate learning based on a task description – some of their predictions were accurate (Chapter 3) but often participants overestimated their tendency to stop (Chapter 4) or underestimated it (Chapter 6). Participants’ decisions to stop can mostly be explained by beliefs that this is a beneficial learning strategy, but the role of effort and a feeling of disfluency during learning cannot be neglected. The results of experiments described in the thesis not only broaden our knowledge about one of the most consequential learning decisions but also have practical implications for educational domains

The role of time delay, self-esteem and directiveness in memory conformity

Konformizm pamięciowy to zjawisko polegające na tym, że relacja pamięciowa jednej osoby wpływa na to, co później przypomni sobie inna. Wzajemne oddziaływanie na siebie osób występuje przede wszystkim w dialogu. Wpływ jednej osoby na drugą, w zależności od pewnych czynników, może mieć różną siłę i czasami niesie za sobą negatywne konsekwencje, na przykład kiedy w rozmowie dwóch osób pojawiają się błędne informacje.W badaniu testowany był wpływ odstępu czasu między rozmową o zdarzeniu a późniejszym jego przypominaniem na siłę konformizmu pamięciowego. Okazało się, że efekt konformizmu pamięciowego był porównywalnie duży, niezależnie od tego, czy testowanie pamięci zdarzenia miało miejsce kilka minut, czy tydzień po obytej rozmowie. Za efekt ten w obu przypadkach były odpowiedzialne mechanizmy związane z funkcjonowaniem pamięci. Być może z tego powodu nie udało się zaobserwować związku takich charakterystyk rozmówców, jak dyrektywność i samoocena z konformizmem pamięciowym.Memory conformity is a phenomenon consisting in one person’s memory report’s influence on what another person will recall later. Persons’ mutual influence occurs mostly in a dialogue. Dependently of certain factors, one person’s influence on another can be of various size and is sometimes connected with negative consequences. For instance, when in two people’s conversation incorrect information appear.The study focuses on an influence of time delay between a conversation about a certain event and its later recall on size of the memory conformity effect. It was shown that the effect of memory conformity was relatively strong independently of whether the memory test took place several minutes or a week after the conversation. In both of these cases, the effect was caused by memory mechanisms. Perhaps this is the reason why a connection between the memory conformity effect and personal characteristics of the interlocutor such as directiveness and self-esteem was not observed

Earthly or heavenly? : visions of love in Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Søren Kierkegaard

The article is devoted to the analysis of conceptions of love created by two nineteenth century thinkers: Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Soren Kierkegaard. Although their attitude to love has not been widely compared, the authors believe that it is important to point out similarities. Both the Polish writer and the Danish philosopher are focused on engagement and marriage, which are thought to be conventional ways of expressing the feeling. They criticise the imperfection of "love profane". Their goal is to emphasize the spiritual aspect of love, which is connected with Christian thought.Søren Kierkegaard i Cyprian Kamil Norwid nie należą do często zestawianych ze sobą twórców. Jednak ich wizje miłości mają wiele wspólnych cech. Odwołują się do konwencjonalnych przejawów tego uczucia: aktu zaręczyn i małżeństwa. Krytykują złudność i niedoskonałość "miłości ziemskiej". Wskazują na duchowy wymiar tego uczucia oraz możliwość miłości przy dążeniu ku boskiemu wymiarowi

Earthly or Heavenly? Visions of love in Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard i Cyprian Kamil Norwid nie należą do często zestawianych ze sobą twórców. Jednak ich wizje miłości mają wiele wspólnych cech. Odwołują się do konwencjonalnych przejawów tego uczucia: aktu zaręczyn i małżeństwa. Krytykują złudność i niedoskonałość „miłości ziemskiej”. Wskazują na duchowy wymiar tego uczucia oraz możliwość miłości przy dążeniu ku boskiemu wymiarowi.The article is devoted to the analysis of conceptions of love created by two nineteenth century thinkers: Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Søren Kierkegaard. Although their att itude to love has not been widely compared, the authors believe that it is important to point out similarities. Both the Polish writer and the Danish philosopher are focused on engagement and marriage, which are thought to be conventional ways of expressing the feeling. They criticise the imperfection of “love profane”. Their goal is to emphasize the spiritual aspect of love, which is connected with Christian thought

The role of time delay in memory conformity

Konformizm pamięciowy pojawia się, gdy relacja pamięciowa jednej osoby wpływa na późniejszą relację innej osoby dotyczącą tego samego zdarzenia. W badaniu sprawdzano, czy wraz z wydłużającym się czasem między dyskusją o zdarzeniu a jego przypominaniem wzrośnie liczba błędów wskazujących na konformizm pamięciowy. Okazało się, że było ich porównywalnie dużo - zarówno kilka minut po obytej rozmowie, jak i tydzień po niej. Za efekt ten w obu przypadkach były odpowiedzialne mechanizmy pamięciowe.Memory conformity occurs when one person’s memory report influences another person’s subsequent report concerning the same event. In the study, we tested whether an increase in the time between a discussion of the event and its recall would be accompanied by an increase in the number of errors suggesting memory conformity. It turned out that their number was comparable, both a few minutes and a week after the conversation. In both cases, this effect was due to memory mechanisms

Motivational and cognitive distortions of memory : memory of education

Jedno z obserwowanych w literaturze naukowej zniekształceń dotyczy pamiętania osiągnięć edukacyjnych. Zauważono, że wśród uczniów i studentów występuje tendencja do podawania wyniku lepszego niż ten, który otrzymali. Przeprowadzone przez nas badania miały sprawdzić, czy tendencja do podawania wyników lepszych niż w rzeczywistości będzie się wiązała z postrzeganiem sytuacji ich otrzymania na wymiarze: sprzyjająca – niesprzyjająca w ujawnieniu się indywidulanej wiedzy i zdolności. Uzyskane przez nas wyniki, nie dały jednak jednoznacznych rezultatów i wskazują na potrzebę dalszych badań.One memory distortion described in the scientifi c literature concerns educational achievements. It was observed that pupils and students tend to over-report their marks. We have conducted research to verify if the tendency to over-report marks is connected with the perception of the situation when the students received the marks. The situation was evaluated on the basis of a chance to reveal ones knowledge and abilities. The results did not confi rm some hypotheses, and the research ought to be continued in the future

Fever as the Only First Sign of Crohn’s Disease—Difficulties in Diagnosis during the COVID-19 Pandemic

We present a case of a nine-year-old girl with Crohn’s disease whose only first manifestation was fever. The patient was treated with antibiotics for six weeks by her general practitioner via teleconsultations during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, no significant improvement was observed. Only the appearance of loose stools after six weeks of observation and the lack of effect of previous treatment allowed for targeting of the diagnostic process and an unequivocal recognition of Crohn’s disease. Our aim is to emphasize the difficulties in diagnosis related to the atypical course of the disease, especially in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The described course of Crohn’s disease occurs in a minority of patients; however, this disease should not be overlooked in the differential diagnosis of fever in paediatric patients