When groups are more competitive than individuals: The domain of the discontinuity effect.

The related goals of the research were to delineate the domain of discontinuity, 1st by demonstrating its occurrence in a nonmatrix situation and, 2nd, by establishing the antecedent outcome conditions necessary for producing a discontinuity effect. The 1st goal was met by designing a mixed motive situation involving the production of origami products. Under these conditions, the magnitude of the discontinuity effect did not significantly differ from that in a matrix-only condition. The 2nd goal was met by a separate experiment that used H. H. Kelley and J. W. Thibaut's (1978) analysis of degree of noncorrespondence of outcomes. This experiment demonstrated that as noncorrespondence increased, so did the rate of competitive responding by groups but not by individuals. This pattern was qualified by an interaction with gender such that competitiveness was more markedly affected by noncorrespondence for groups of women than for groups of men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond the group mind: A quantitative review of the interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect.

This quantitative review of 130 comparisons of interindividual and intergroup interactions in the context of mixed-motive situations reveals that intergroup interactions are generally more competitive than interindividual interactions. The authors identify 4 moderators of this interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect, each based on the theoretical perspective that the discontinuity effect flows from greater fear and greed in intergroup relative to interindividual interactions. Results reveal that each moderator shares a unique association with the magnitude of the discontinuity effect. The discontinuity effect is larger when (a) participants interact with an opponent whose behavior is unconstrained by the experimenter or constrained by the experimenter to be cooperative rather than constrained by the experimenter to be reciprocal, (b) group members make a group decision rather than individual decisions, (c) unconstrained communication between participants is present rather than absent, and (d) conflict of interest is severe rather than mild. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dealing with Uncertainties in Fresh Water Supply: Experiences in the Netherlands

Developing fresh water supply strategies for the long term needs to take into account the fact that the future is deeply uncertain. Not only the extent of climate change and the extent and nature of its impacts are unknown, also socio-economic conditions may change in unpredictable ways, as well as social preferences. Often, it is not possible to find solid ground for estimating probabilities for the relevant range of imaginable possible future developments. Yet, some of these may have profound impacts and consequences for society which could be reduced by timely proactive adaptation. In response to these and similar challenges, various approaches, methods and techniques have been proposed and are being developed to specifically address long-term strategy development under so-called deep uncertainty. This paper, first, offers a brief overview of developments in the field of planning under (deep) uncertainty. Next, we illustrate application of three different approaches to fresh water provision planning under uncertainty in case studies in the Netherlands: a resilience approach, oriented to (re) designing fresh water systems in such a way that they will be less vulnerable, resp. will be able to recover easily from future disturbances; a robustness approach, oriented to quantitative assessment of system performance for various system configurations (adaptation options) under a range of external disturbances, and an exploratory modeling approach, developed to explore policy effectiveness and system operation under a very wide set of assumptions about future conditions.     

Nostalgia as a repository of social connectedness: The role of attachment-related avoidance.

Individuals who are low (compared with high) in attachment-related avoidance rely on social bonds to regulate distress, and the authors hypothesized that nostalgia can be a repository of such social connectedness. Studies 1–3 showed a positive association between loneliness and nostalgia when attachment-related avoidance was low, but not when it was high. Study 4 revealed that low-avoidance individuals derived more social connectedness from nostalgia than did high-avoidance individuals. Study 5 extended these findings and demonstrated that, in addition to being a source of social connectedness, nostalgia increased participants’ perceived capacity to provide emotional support to others. As in the case of social connectedness, this beneficial effect of nostalgia was significantly stronger when attachment-related avoidance was low (compared with high). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interindividual–intergroup discontinuity reduction through the anticipation of future interaction.

Consistent with the role of a long-term perspective in reducing the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive than interindividual relations in the context of noncorrespondent outcomes, an experiment demonstrated that anticipated future interaction reduced intergroup but not interindividual competitiveness. Further results indicated that the effect was present only for groups composed of members high in abstractness (Openness–Intellect on the Big 5 Inventory and Intuition on the Myers–Briggs Type Inventory) who trusted their opponents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Music-evoked nostalgia: Affect, memory, and personality.

Participants listened to randomly selected excerpts of popular music and rated how nostalgic each song made them feel. Nostalgia was stronger to the extent that a song was autobiographically salient, arousing, familiar, and elicited a greater number of positive, negative, and mixed emotions. These effects were moderated by individual differences (nostalgia proneness, mood state, dimensions of the Affective Neurosciences Personality Scale, and factors of the Big Five Inventory). Nostalgia proneness predicted stronger nostalgic experiences, even after controlling for other individual difference measures. Nostalgia proneness was predicted by the Sadness dimension of the Affective Neurosciences Personality Scale and Neuroticism of the Big Five Inventory. Nostalgia was associated with both joy and sadness, whereas nonnostalgic and nonautobiographical experiences were associated with irritation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interindividual-Intergroup Discontinuity as a Function of Trust and Categorization: The Paradox of Expected Cooperation.

Two experiments used a 3-choice variation of the prisoner's dilemma game to explore the paradoxical implications of expected cooperation of other groups and individuals for competitiveness and cooperativeness. Experiment 1 found that an experimental manipulation of opponent trustworthiness influenced the tendency of both groups and individuals to cooperate but had no significant effect on the tendency of groups and individuals to compete-possibly because of the perceived unfairness of competing with a trustworthy other. Experiment 2 found that an experimental manipulation of categorization increased the tendency of same-category groups and individuals to cooperate (as in Experiment 1) and also increased the tendency of same-category groups, but not individuals, to compete (unlike in Experiment 1). It was further found that the tendency of same-category groups to compete more than same-category individuals was relatively stronger for participants high in guilt proneness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived superiority in close relationships: Why it exists and persists.

Two studies used a thought-listing technique to examine perceived superiority, or the inclination to regard one's own relationship as better than (and not as bad as) others' relationships. Consistent with the claim that this is a motivated phenomenon, and motivated in part by strong commitment, Study 1 revealed that (a) tendencies toward perceived superiority and (b) the commitment-superiority link are both strongest given psychologically threatening instructions and weakest given accuracy instructions (control instructions are intermediate). Consistent with the claim that this phenomenon serves a functional purpose, Study 2 revealed that earlier perceived superiority predicts later relationship status (persisted vs. ended) and increases over time in dyadic adjustment. Also, commitment accounts for unique variance in perceived superiority beyond self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Valorisation of Jatropha curcas L. plant parts: Nut shell conversion to fast pyrolysis oil

The biorefinery concept is a very powerful concept to optimise the conversion of biomass resources to value-added products with a minimum loss of energy and mass and a maximum overall value of the production chain. We here report our activities on the application of this concept to valorise the Jatropha curcas L. (JCL) shrub, a (sub)-tropical plant producing a high quality plant oil that may be converted to biodiesel in good yields. Within a research consortium of Dutch and Indonesian researchers, we are exploring high added value outlets for byproducts of the JCL plant (leaves, latex) and seed processing units (press cake). As an example, we here report fast pyrolysis experiments to convert the nut shells to fast pyrolysis oil, a promising second generation biofuel. The fast pyrolysis experiments were carried out in a continuous bench scale pyrolyser at a throughput of 2.27 kg/h at 480 °C and atmospheric pressure. The nut shell pyrolysis oil was obtained in 50 wt.% yield, the remainder being char (23 wt.%), gas (17 wt.%) and ash. Relevant product properties of the oil were determined and indicate that the oil is inhomogeneous in nature.