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The purpose of the present study was to establish evidence for the suggested integration of the theories of connectionism and leadership. Recent theoretical writings in the field of leadership have suggested that the dynamic representations generated by the connectionist perspective is an appropriate approach to understanding how we perceive leaders. Similarly, implicit leadership theory (ILT) explains that our cognitive understandings of leaders are based on a cognitive structure that we use as a means of understanding and categorizing the behaviors of individuals we believe to be leaders. It was predicted that when asked to select a leader from a group of potential leaders, individuals select the leader based on personal belief alignment when the context of the leader selection is personally relevant, or based on cognitive expectations when the context is low in personal relevance. In addition, when experiencing moments of greater personal relevance, individuals will experience a more dynamic cognitive representation of a leader that those experiencing the moment as less personally relevant. Sixty-seven individuals provided usable data from a repeated measures design that asked participants to record their cognitive representations of a leader, participate in a leader selection task, and provide information about their cognitive representations of a leader after the selection task. The results of the study provide support the expectations of the experimenter and the suggestions of the connectionist perspective. / Master of Science

Biomolecular Modeling is playing an important role in many practical applications such as biotechnology and structure-based drug design. One of the essential requirements of Biomolecular modeling is an accurate description of the solvent (water). The challenge is to make this description computationally facile that is reasonably fast, simple, robust and easy to incorporate into existing software packages. The most rigorous procedure to model the effect of aqueous solvent is to explicitly model every water molecule in the system. For many practical applications, this approach is computationally too intense, as the number of required water atoms is on average one order of magnitude larger than the number of atoms of the molecule of interest. Implicit solvent models, in which solvent molecules are represented by a continuum function, have become a popular alternative to explicit solvent methods as they are computationally more efficient. The Generalized Born (GB) implicit solvent has become quite popular due to its relative simplicity and computational efficiency. However, recent studies showed serious deficiencies of many GB variants when applied to Biomolecular Modeling such as an over- stabilization of alpha helical secondary structures and salt bridges. In this dissertation we present two new GB models aimed at computing solvation properties with a reasonable compromise between accuracy and speed. The first GB model, called NSR6, is based on a numerically surface integration over the standard molecular surface. When applied to a set of small drug-like molecules, NSR6 produced an accuracy, with respect to experiments, that is essentially at the same level as that of the expensive explicit solvent treatment. Furthermore, we developed an analytic GB model, called AR6, based on an approximation of the volume integral over the standard molecular volume. The accuracy of the AR6 model is tested relative to the numerically exact NSR6. Overall AR6 produces a good accuracy and is suitable for Molecular Dynamics simulations which is the main intended application. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how implicit processes determine individual and organisational behaviour in the context of business to business (B2B) decision making. A broad literature review suggests that implicit cognition has a significantly more powerful influence than therefore assumed. The author calls for further research into the motivations driving professional behaviour in B2B situations as new study challenges the classical economic theory of the homo economicus, and focuses on the role of implicit motives as a possible driver. As a first objective, the study attempts to reveal a typical structure of implicit motives based on hierarchy and gender. The second objective is to delineate the interplay between the implicit motives and the decision making process in B2B. The third objective is to examine the consequences and implications for business to business marketing. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary mixed method approach. To address the gaps in existing knowledge, an experiment and a survey (n=175) in different sectors were conducted. For the analysis, a variety of techniques such as operant motive tests, cluster- and multivariate analysis were employed to analyse the empirical response. Semi-structured qualitative in-depth interviews (n=8) were carried out to detect the consequences and the implications of the new findings for practice. The findings of the research indicate that marketing is much more a selective communication as assumed. The impact of marketing communication is not always consciously perceived by customers and the most part is implicit. In conclusion, there seems to be an interplay between implicit motives and the B2B decision making process. Hypotheses about the interplay of implicit motives and business to business decision making were confirmed in personal, management and group decision experiments. As a contribution to existing theory on the subject, it can be postulated that rational choice in B2B decision making may play a limited role. In addition marketing experts from various industry sectors emphasise the importance and the potential impacts for future B2B marketing. Experts stress the need to reveal the real motivational drivers in marketing communication.

While evidence suggests stereotype threat effects invade conscious levels of processing, less is known about the role that implicit processes play in stereotype threat. Results from four studies indicate that implicit attitudes and stereotypes play a unique role in motivation and performance in stereotype threatening contexts. Women trained to have positive implicit math attitudes exhibited increased math motivation in general (Study 1). This effect was magnified among stereotype threatened women when negative stereotypes had either been primed subtly (Study 2) or implicitly reinforced (Study 3). Implicit attitudes had no effect on working memory capacity or performance however. Conversely, after retraining women to associate their gender with being good at math, they exhibited increased working memory capacity (Studies 3 and 4) and increased math performance (Study 4) in stereotype threatening situations. The enhanced performance that resulted from the positive stereotype reinforcement was mediated by the increased working memory capacity. Thus while implicit attitudes appear important for motivating stigmatized individuals to engage with stigmatized domains, stereotypes play a key role in undermining cognitive capacity that is critical for success in the domain.

Cross-group paired individuals were administered an intervention to measure impacts of inmate interactions and friendships on anxiety and implicit bias among participants. Researchers predicted the intervention would decrease levels of racial anxiety, implicitness, prejudice, and racial color-blindness among entering freshmen in the College of Agriculture, Food & Environment at the University of Kentucky. Results indicated that the control group had no change in implicitness. The treatment group yielded no change in implicitness on four out of five experimental measures with the exception of decrease in communal orientation, thus altering the implicit bias of participants.

Tidigare studier har påvisat att språkliga förmågor har ett nära samband med Theory of Mind (ToM). På senare tid har studier med hjälp av ögonrörelseteknik kunnat undersöka ToMförmåga implicit och fynden tyder på att barn redan i tvåårsåldern verkar ha en välutvecklad implicit ToM-förmåga. Resultaten från en av dessa studier har funnit att språkutvecklingen kan spela en avgörande roll i tillägnandet av ToM och tyder på att det kan finnas ett orsakssamband mellan språk och ToM. En viktig aspekt för att närmare förstå ToMutvecklingen är att undersöka vilken betydelse den språkliga förmågan har i tillägnandet av ToM. Det är fortfarande oklart om specifika delar av språket har mer betydelse för ToMutvecklingen än andra och hur sambandet mellan språkliga förmågor och ToM ser ut. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur ToM-förmåga och False Beliefförståelse förhåller sig till språkliga förmågor hos typiskt utvecklade barn i treårsåldern samt om dessa förmågor påverkas av barnens demografiska faktorer. Studien inkluderade sammanlagt 21 treåringar. Den språkliga förmågan undersöktes med mått på impressiv och expressiv grammatik samt med mått på expressivt ordförråd, som en del av den semantiska förmågan. För att undersöka ToM-förmågan som helhet användes mått på olika delförmågor av ToM. Vidare undersöktes False Belief-förståelse explicit, med klassiska FB-uppgifter, och implicit, med hjälp av ögonrörelseteknik.Studiens resultat påvisar att språkliga förmågor och ToM-förmåga har ett mycket nära samband, och att den semantiska förmågan är den del av språkförmågan som har den enskilt starkaste påverkan på ToM-förmågan. Resultaten visar även att den impressiva grammatiska förmågan är mer betydande specifikt för FB-förståelse än för ToM-förmågan som helhet. Ingen påverkan på språklig förmåga, ToM-förmåga och FB-förståelse hittades vad gäller barnens demografiska faktorer. Resultaten av det implicita FB-testet visar att majoriteten av de deltagande barnen inte har förstått vad testet går ut på och därför kan inga slutsatser dras vad gäller barnens implicita FB-förståelse. Detta resultat motsäger den tidigare forskningen med yngre barn. Många frågetecken kvarstår kring implicita test, vilket visar på vikten av mer forskning inom området. I den aktuella studien diskuteras även komplexiteten i förhållandet mellan språkliga förmågor och ToM. / Previous studies have shown that linguistic abilities are closely linked with Theory of Mind (ToM). Recently, studies using eyetracking technology have been able to investigate ToM understanding with implicit measures. The findings suggest that children as young as two years old appear to have a well-developed implicit ToM understanding. Results from one of these studies have found that language development could play a crucial role in the acquisition of ToM, suggesting that there may be a causal link between language and ToM. An important aspect to further understand ToM development is to investigate the impact of language in the acquisition of ToM understanding. It remains unclear whether specific aspects of language are more relevant to ToM development than others and how language abilities and ToM are interconnected. The aim of the present study was to investigate how ToM ability and False Belief understanding relates to linguistic abilities of typically developing three-year-olds and if childrens´ demographic factors affect these abilities. The study included a total of 21 children.  Language competence was assessed with measures of reception and production of syntax and a measure of vocabulary production, as part of the semantic ability. In order to investigate ToM ability, measures of different types of mental-state understandings were included. False Belief understanding was assessed with explicit measures, using standard FB tasks, and with implicit measures, using eyetracking technology. The results obtained in the present study confirm that linguistic abilities and ToM ability are strongly related, and that semantic ability is the part of language that has the strongest influence on ToM understanding. The results also indicate that receptive syntax is more important to specifically FB understanding, than to ToM ability in general. The childrens´ demographic factors were not found to affect their language ability, ToM ability or FB understanding. Regarding children's implicit FB understanding the results of the implicit measures reveal that the majority of the participating children did not understand the purpose of the test and therefore no conclusions of their implicit understanding could be drawn. This finding contradicts previous research including younger children. Questions remain concerning implicit measures, indicating the importance of further research in this field. The present study also discusses the complexity of the relationship between linguistic abilities and ToM.

The current study examined the utility of an idiographic configuration of the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) as a measure of psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is the overarching outcome variable of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and may be defined as the ability to make full contact with the present moment and persist in behavior that serves valued ends (Hayes, 2004). One hundred six participants first completed questionnaires assessing individual valued activities and distressing private events. These data were utilized to populate the IRAP. Depending on the administration order, the subjects either continued with the IRAP or with a series of self-report measures evaluating psychological functioning and ACT processes. Results indicated that IRAP scores modestly correlated with some self-reports of psychological flexibility and were also able to significantly predict symptomology. However, the study revealed inadequate internal consistency of the IRAP, which constitutes a limitation to the validity of the measure. This study represents one step in a long line of research examining a variety of procedural and contextual variables influencing the reliability of the IRAP, offering preliminary support for the utility of an idiographic IRAP as an implicit measure of psychological flexibility. Future additions to IRAP research similar to the current study will continue to enhance the field’s understanding of implicit cognitions and the effectiveness of the IRAP in psychological research.

In this thesis, we will explore direct and indirect measures of learning in a visual search task commonly called contextual cueing. In the first part, we present a review of the scientific literature on contextual cueing, in order to give the readers of this thesis a better general idea of existing evidence and open questions within this relatively new research field. The aims of our own experimental studies presented in the succeeding chapters are the following ones: (1) to replicate and extend the findings described in the various papers by Marvin Chun and various colleagues on contextual cueing of visual attention; (2) to explore the nature of memory representations underlying the observed learning effects, especially whether learning is actually implicit and whether memory representations are distinctive, episodic and instance-based or rather distributed, continuous and graded; (3) to extend the study of contextual cueing to more realistic visual stimuli, in order to test its robustness across various situations and validate its adaptive value in ecologically sound conditions;<p>and (4) to investigate whether such knowledge about the association between visual contexts and “meaningful” locations can be (automatically) transferred to other tasks, namely a change detection task.<p><p>In a first series of four experiments, we tried to replicate the documented contextual cueing effect using a wide range of various direct measures of learning (tasks that are supposed to be related to explicit knowledge) and we systematically varied the distinctiveness of context configurations to study its effect on both direct and indirect measures of learning. <p><p>We also ran a series of neural network simulations (briefly described in the general discussion of this thesis), based on a very simple association-learning mechanism, that not only account for the observed contextual cueing effect, but also yield rather specific predictions about future experimental data: contextual cueing effects should also be observed when repetitions of context configurations are not perfect, i.e. the networks were able to react to slightly distorted versions of repeating contexts in a similar way than they did to completely identical contexts. Human participants, we conjectured, should therefore (if the simple connectionist model captures some relevant aspects of the contextual cueing effect) become faster at detecting targets surrounded by context configurations that are only partially identical from trial to trial compared to those trials where the context configurations were randomly generated. These predictions were tested in a second series of experiments using pseudo-repeated context configurations, where some distractor items were either displaced from trial to trial or their orientation changed, while conserving their global layout. <p><p>In a third series of experiments, we used more realistic images of natural landscapes as background contexts to establish the robustness of the contextual cueing effect as well as its ecological relevance claimed by Chun and colleagues. We furthermore added a second task to these experiments to study whether the acquired knowledge about the background-target location associations would (automatically) transfer to another visual search task, namely a change detection task. If participants have learned that certain locations of the repeated images are “important”, since they contain the target item to look for, then changes occurring at those specific locations should lead to less “change blindness” than changes occurring at other irrelevant locations. We used two different types of instructions to introduce this second task after the visual search task, where we either stressed the link between the two tasks, i.e. telling them that remembering the “important” locations for each image could be used to find the changes faster, or we simply told them to perform the second task without any reference to the first one. <p><p>We will close this thesis with a general discussion, combining findings based on our review of the existing research literature and findings based on our own experimental explorations of the contextual cueing effect. By this we will discuss the implications of our empirical studies for the scientific investigation of contextual cueing and implicit learning, in terms of theoretical, empirical and methodological issues. / Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This paper is about sacramentality and dispensationalism in the Swedish Pentecostal movement. The object of study is the movement's book of hymns, Segertoner, from 1988. With a hermeneutic method I have tried to show the songs' explicit and implicit theology as well as their teleology.