General Inattention Research Articles

Review: The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930: Cityscapes, Photographs, Debates, edited by Idurre Alonso and Maristella Casciato

Review: <i>The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930: Cityscapes, Photographs, Debates</i>, edited by Idurre Alonso and Maristella Casciato

Differential Adaptation to Adversity: A Latent Profile Analysis of Youth Engagement With Resilience-Enabling Cultural Resources and Mental Health Outcomes in a Stressed Canadian and South African Community

Using person-centered latent profile analyses, this article reports two distinct sub-groups—nominal versus robust cultural allegiance—that characterize how a sample of 14- to 24-year-olds from stressed environments in South Africa ( n = 576, nfemales = 314, nmales = 257) and Canada ( n =V481; nfemales = 270, nmales = 211) engage with four cultural resources (spirituality, religiosity, family tradition, and community tradition). It considers how nominal versus robust cultural allegiance is associated with youths’ self-reported symptoms of depression and conduct disorder, age-group, and gender. In doing so, the article addresses pre-existing resilience studies’ general inattention to patterns of differential adaptation in how specific groups of youth adjust to adversity, and the role of cultural resources in youth mental health. The results draw attention to the importance of understanding resilience in sociocultural context and urge mental health practitioners and other resilience champions to be circumspect in their work with at-risk youth about which cultural resources they leverage for which mental health outcomes.

Оперативные и технологические предпосылки победы Азербайджана в Нагорном Карабахе

In the autumn of 2020, during the Six-Week War in Nagorno-Karabakh, the main attention of most Russian and Western experts was focused on the topic of gaining air supremacy achieved by Azerbaijan with the help of Israeli and Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles. The author of the article does not dispute the high effectiveness of the combat use of the Bayraktar TB 2. He seeks to draw attention to other reasons for the defeat of the Armenian armed forces. First of all, they were not ready for mobilization deployment. The degradation of the mobilization apparatus and the general inattention of the Armenian leadership to the problem of strategic concentration is difficult to explain only by the systematic underfunding of the army caused by economic difficulties. In recent years, Armenian generals and politicians have been recklessly resting on the laurels of the last victory and did not believe in the seriousness of Azerbaijan’s intentions to retake Nagorno-Karabakh.

Managerial Talk of Trust and Takeover Performance

The current study investigates the usage of virtuous language in the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section of SEC filings (10-K Form) and the prognostic power of such language for takeover performance. The sample under study, obtained from Bloomberg, is comprised of a large number of M&A deals from the United States that took place between January 2000 and October 2016. The empirical results, based on textual analysis, reveal that trust is negatively associated with long-term takeover performance, suggesting that managerial virtuous talk is, in practicality, an indication of lower post-acquisition gains for the acquirers in the long run. Furthermore, takeover returns are found to reflect textual information on trust with a delay, owing to general inattention and inability of investors to process soft cues inherent in textual content and to managers purposefully lulling investors to keep them from paying attention and identifying managerial misconduct. Quite interestingly, the significance of virtuous talk becomes more evident in the post-crisis period due to relatively higher uncertainty linked with evaluating such kind of deals on the basis of hard information alone. Finally, an inflated virtuous talk when coupled with pessimistic tone, the ability of managerial ‘good talk’ to create a trustworthy image and to distract investors reduces and the predictive power of managerial trust talk increases even more. Overall, it is concluded that managerial virtuous talk should not be regarded as a ‘cheap talk’. It is, in fact, very pertinent for predicting future takeover returns in the long run.

Why Suffering Matters!

Despite Peter Frost’s (1999, p. 128) call for organizational scholars and practitioners to “find suffering as a significant aspect of organizational life,” both have largely remained silent about it. This silence misrepresents the fact that suffering is a pervasive, inescapable, and costly organizational reality. Suffering matters, and a recognition of our general inattention to it exposes an under-appreciated shortcoming of established theories and approaches to management. We must acknowledge, account for, and explicitly investigate suffering if we are to truly understand the full humanity of organizational life. Accordingly, this paper outlines promising areas for future research on suffering in organizations.

Short-term cognitive fatigue effect on auditory temporal order judgments

Fatigue is a core symptom in many psychological disorders and it can strongly influence everyday productivity. As fatigue effects have been typically demonstrated after long hours of time on task, it was surprising that in a previous study, we accidentally found a decline of temporal order judgment (TOJ) performance within 5–8 min. After replicating prior relevant findings we tested whether pauses and/or feedback relating the participant’s performance to some “standard” can eliminate or reduce this short-term performance decline. We also assessed whether the performance decline is specific to the processes evoked by the TOJ task or it is a product of either general inattentiveness or the lack of willingness to thoroughly follow the task instructions. We found that both feedback and introducing pauses between successive measurements can largely reduce the performance decline, and that these two manipulations likely mobilize overlapping capacities. Performance decline was not present in a similar task when controlling for the TOJ threshold and it was not a result of uncooperative behavior. Therefore, we conclude that the TOJ threshold decline is either specific to temporal processing in general or to the TOJ task employed in the study. Overall, the results are compatible with the notion that the decline of TOJ threshold with repeated measures represents a short-term cognitive fatigue effect. This objective fatigue measure did not correlate with subjective fatigue. The latter was rather related to perceived difficulty/effort, the reduction of positive affectivity, heightened sensitivity to criticism, and the best TOJ threshold.

The Predictive Power of Managerial Tone: A Text-Based Analysis of Takeover Performance

We analyze the use of positive and negative language in financial disclosures and the ability of such language to predict long-term gains to the acquirers. In order to predict long-term takeover performance, we apply textual analysis to the MD&A Section of SEC filings for M&A deals taking place in the United States, between 2000 and 2016. Our overall findings reveal that a negative managerial tone has a strong negative association with takeover performance, whereas a positive managerial tone indicates managerial confidence in merger success, and hence reflects an enhanced takeover performance over an extended period. The evidence clearly rejects the hypothesis that a positive managerial tone is interpreted as managerial ‘overconfidence’ in a merger’s success. Our findings also affirm that the predictive power of a negative tone is far more pronounced than that of a positive tone and of any other sentiment word lists. Moreover, stock returns do not adjust to the textual description immediately due to investors’ general inattentiveness and inability to process subtle textual information more accurately. We also observe that the significance of predictive power of a negative managerial tone gains strength in the post-crisis period and for cross-border and for riskier deals due to the comparatively higher uncertainty associated with evaluating such deals on the basis of ‘hard information’.

A Christian Case for Farmed Animal Welfare.

It is now common to blame Christianity for broader society's general inattention to the needs and comfort of animals in general, and farmed animals in particular. This critique of Christianity claims that certain biblical themes and particular biblical passages form the foundation for an anti-animal position that Christianity has imposed on Christians and on wider Western society. This article concedes that Christianity has often been used to justify exploitation of animals, but argues that it is a mistake to consider Christianity inevitably opposed to concern for animals. After reviewing the views of critics such as Lynn White Jr., Peter Singer, and Tom Regan, the article demonstrates the complexity of interpreting biblical passages and the possibility of readings that affirm the importance of treating animals well. It shows that Christians have indeed been advocates for animals, notably in relation to the first legislation against animal cruelty in the early nineteenth century and the formation of the RSPCA. Finally, it proposes a constructive framework for a Christian ethics of farmed animal welfare that could provide the basis for Christian action to reduce consumption of animals and shift to higher welfare sources of animal products.

“A Remarkable Gathering”: The Conference on Living Religions within the British Empire (1924) and Its Historical Significance

This article provides the first significant scholarly treatment of “The Conference on Some Living Religions within the British Empire,” which took place between September 22 and October 2, 1924, in conjunction with the British Empire Exhibition of 1924. An unprecedented event in Britain’s history, the conference brought numerous scholars and “holy men of the Empire” to London. As a catalyst for the modern study of religion, the conference merits comparison to the better-known Parliament of the World’s Religions that met in Chicago in 1893. Based on extensive archival research in the United Kingdom and on contemporary newspaper reportage, the article argues that knowledge of this conference helps redress general inattention to the history of interreligious dialogue. What is more, it contributes to the rich literature on “religion and empire” that has emerged in recent years, not least in the pages of JAAR. Finally, it argues that an analysis of this conference partly confirms and partly contests “orientalism” as a helpful category for understanding Western engagement with non-Western religions and cultures.

Practices and People

A perennial issue in social thought is the relationship of people to enveloping social phenomena such as structures, institutions, and systems. The present essay explores this relationship through the lens of practice theory. Theories of practice have said much about practices, a type of enveloping social phenomena, but relatively little about people. This general inattention probably has something to do with the fact that theorists of practice deny that they are individualists. The neglect is nonetheless surprising, for people are everywhere in the plenum of practices. The present essay aims to help address this situation, offering a way of thinking about practices and people according to which these two phenomena are equally real while mutually dependent and co-responsible for social life.

Auditory spatial attention to speech and complex non-speech sounds in children with autism spectrum disorder.

One of the earliest observable impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a failure to orient to speech and other social stimuli. Auditory spatial attention, a key component of orienting to sounds in the environment, has been shown to be impaired in adults with ASD. Additionally, specific deficits in orienting to social sounds could be related to increased acoustic complexity of speech. We aimed to characterize auditory spatial attention in children with ASD and neurotypical controls, and to determine the effect of auditory stimulus complexity on spatial attention. In a spatial attention task, target and distractor sounds were played randomly in rapid succession from speakers in a free-field array. Participants attended to a central or peripheral location, and were instructed to respond to target sounds at the attended location while ignoring nearby sounds. Stimulus-specific blocks evaluated spatial attention for simple non-speech tones, speech sounds (vowels), and complex non-speech sounds matched to vowels on key acoustic properties. Children with ASD had significantly more diffuse auditory spatial attention than neurotypical children when attending front, indicated by increased responding to sounds at adjacent non-target locations. No significant differences in spatial attention emerged based on stimulus complexity. Additionally, in the ASD group, more diffuse spatial attention was associated with more severe ASD symptoms but not with general inattention symptoms. Spatial attention deficits have important implications for understanding social orienting deficits and atypical attentional processes that contribute to core deficits of ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1405-1416. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

General inattentiveness is a long-term reliable trait independently predictive of psychological health: Danish validation studies of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale.

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) measures perceived degree of inattentiveness in different contexts and is often used as a reversed indicator of mindfulness. MAAS is hypothesized to reflect a psychological trait or disposition when used outside attentional training contexts, but the long-term test-retest reliability of MAAS scores is virtually untested. It is unknown whether MAAS predicts psychological health after controlling for standardized socioeconomic status classifications. First, MAAS translated to Danish was validated psychometrically within a randomly invited healthy adult community sample (N = 490). Factor analysis confirmed that MAAS scores quantified a unifactorial construct of excellent composite reliability and consistent convergent validity. Structural equation modeling revealed that MAAS scores contributed independently to predicting psychological distress and mental health, after controlling for age, gender, income, socioeconomic occupational class, stressful life events, and social desirability (β = 0.32-.42, ps < .001). Second, MAAS scores showed satisfactory short-term test-retest reliability in 100 retested healthy university students. Finally, MAAS sample mean scores as well as individuals' scores demonstrated satisfactory test-retest reliability across a 6 months interval in the adult community (retested N = 407), intraclass correlations ≥ .74. MAAS scores displayed significantly stronger long-term test-retest reliability than scores measuring psychological distress (z = 2.78, p = .005). Test-retest reliability estimates did not differ within demographic and socioeconomic strata. Scores on the Danish MAAS were psychometrically validated in healthy adults. MAAS's inattentiveness scores reflected a unidimensional construct, long-term reliable disposition, and a factor of independent significance for predicting psychological health. (PsycINFO Database Record

Supplemental Material for General Inattentiveness Is a Long-Term Reliable Trait Independently Predictive of Psychological Health: Danish Validation Studies of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale

Supplemental Material for General Inattentiveness Is a Long-Term Reliable Trait Independently Predictive of Psychological Health: Danish Validation Studies of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale

Still at Issue after All These Years: The Beckettian Text, Printed and Performed

Since Samuel Beckett lamented to his official biographer, James Knowlson, that his ‘texts are in a terrible mess’, much attention has been paid to the issues of textual accuracy and fidelity, much written about textual variance in the Beckett canon, and many attempts made and considerable money spent to remedy such variation and publishing inconsistencies, many the result of simultaneous but separate publishing processes and leavened by publishers’ eagerness to publish Beckett's new work, especially for the theatre, even as he was still developing the piece in rehearsals. Add to such creative issues something of a general slovenliness, inattention, oversights, and blunders by everyone involved in the process of publication, and we have the current state of the Beckett texts, still apparently ‘a terrible mess’. For those of us involved with such issues these past 40 (or so) years, an unacceptable level of textual variance persists even as concurrent and persistent calls for an adherence or return to the Beckettian text are sounded. This essay surveys the practical problems that exist among Beckett's texts, even in a single language, as it also cites instances where progress has been made in developing scholarly editions. The essay finally accepts the fact that uniform Beckett texts, or “the Beckett text,” even if such a goal were desirable, is not only unattainable but perhaps even contrary to what we might loosely call Beckettian aesthetics.

Using factor analytic models to examine the association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and health-related outcomes in a representative population survey

The objective of the study was to examine the factor structure of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in a representative population survey of adults and the association of these factors with health outcomes. Hierarchical and correlated factor analysis models were compared, and regression analyses with these models were used to determine the associations with psychological distress and substance use problems. A total of 1449 adults 18-65years of age participated in a cross-sectional survey over the phone. ADHD symptom data came from an ADHD screener (10 items), and health outcomes were assessed using a questionnaire measuring psychological distress and two measures of substance use problems. The hierarchical general factor models with specific factors best represented the structure of ADHD in this representative population survey. The general factor and residual inattention factor were significantly associated with psychological distress, and the general factor was associated with substance use problems. From the correlated factor models, the inattention factor was associated with psychological distress and the hyperactivity factor was related to substance use problems. The hierarchical and correlated factor models explained similar levels of variance in outcomes. The results replicate previous studies indicating that a model of ADHD symptoms with a unitary dimension and separable dimensions of residual inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity demonstrates a better fit than correlated factor models. The ADHD general factor was consistently significantly related to outcomes.

The Moral Meanings of Miscarriage

The Moral Meanings of Miscarriage

Evaluating the outcomes of payments for ecosystem services programmes using a capital asset framework

There is a limited understanding of the conditions under which payments for ecosystem services (PES) programmes achieve improvements in ecosystem service (ES) flows, enhance natural resource sustainability or foster sustainable livelihoods. We used a capital asset framework to evaluate PES programmes in terms of their social, environmental, economic and institutional outcomes, focusing on efficiency, effectiveness and equity trade-offs. We found that PES schemes can provide positive conservation and development outcomes with respect to livelihoods, land-use change, household and community incomes, and governance. However, programmes differ with regards to contract agreements, payment modes, and compliance, and have diverse cross-sector institutional arrangements that remain primarily state-structured and external donor-financed. There is a consistent lack of focus on evaluating and fostering human, social and institutional capital. This reflects general inattention to how PES programmes consider the causal links between ES and outcomes. To enhance ES production and PES scheme accessibility and participation, we recommend strengthening the linkages between ES production and land-use practices, boosting private and voluntary sector involvement, encouraging property rights and tenure reform, improving financial viability, and adequately accounting for the distribution of programme costs and benefits among participants.

Surveying the Temporal Structure of Sounds Used in Music Perception

Recent work from our lab illustrates amplitude envelope’s crucial role in both perceptual (Schutz, 2009) and cognitive (Schutz &amp; Stefanucci, 2010) processing. Consequently, we surveyed the amplitude envelopes of sounds used in Music Perception, categorizing them as either flat (i.e., trapezoidal shape), percussive (aka “damped” or “decaying”), other, or undefined. Curiously, the undefined category represented the largest percentage of sounds observed, with 35% lacking definition of this important property (approximately 27% were percussive, 27% flat, and 11% other). This omission of relevant information was not indicative of general inattention to methodological detail. Studies using tones with undefined amplitude envelopes generally defined other properties such as spectral structure (85%), duration (80%), and even model of headphones/speakers (65%) at high rates. Consequently, this targeted omission is intriguing, and suggests amplitude envelope is an area ripe for future research.

Political Science and the Study of Indigenous Politics

The discipline of political science does not take indigenous politics seriously. To be sure, there are political scientists who have made important contributions to the study of indigenous politics. However, the bulk of the discipline either does not place indigenous politics in its field of vision or it analyzes it through frameworks that forestall adequate analysis. The worst offender in this regard is American political science, both in the sense of the sub-field that studies the United States and the scholarship and institutions (i.e. political science departments, associations, journals) of the country. A good deal of my discussion will thus focus on American political science. But my focus will not be exclusively on the U.S. context, as I see the invisibility and distortion of indigenous politics to be a problem one can locate in other liberal-democracies built upon a foundation of settler-colonialism and across the sub-fields of political science. While there are a number of viable routes one can take to address this matter, I focus on two active and increasingly prevalent topics of study in political science scholarship; that is, first, work on sovereignty and the state and, second, work on race and ethnicity politics. As it concerns both areas, I reveal the predispositions within that shield or distract scholars from seeing the value and importance of indigenous politics. These predispositions are: i) the emphasis on sovereignty as an exclusive characteristic of the state; ii) the inability of much of the scholarship on the politics of race and ethnicity to account for or understand the political identity and politics of indigenous people. In my discussions of both areas and predispositions, there will be consistent reference to the role of settler-colonialism as a historical and persistent structuring force in political life. As such, my analysis of these topic areas and their predispositions is, among other things, an effort to refuse the general inattention to settler-colonialism in much of the political science discipline. In short, I claim that taking indigenous politics seriously means taking settler-colonialism seriously, and vice versa.

Analysis of Large Truck Rollover Crashes

Objectives: Close to a tenth of all large truck crashes result from rolling over during some maneuver. The aim of this study was to identify causes of these serious events as well as preventive measures that could be taken to reduce their number. Methods: Detailed descriptions of 231 rollovers provided by field investigators were analyzed to identify causes. The descriptions addressed crash location, the nature of the crash, effect upon the vehicles involved, injuries and treatment, and contributing conditions. Causes were inferred from the nature of the crash. Results: Almost half of the rollover crashes resulted from failing to adjust speed to curves, loads, brake condition, road surfaces, and intersections. A second major contributor involved lack of attention, including general inattention, misdirected attention, falling asleep, and distraction. The third major factor involved control errors, including oversteering, understeering, overcorrecting for errors, and minor control errors. The remainder were not driving errors and included those of other drivers, those occurring before the truck took to the road, and the condition of the vehicle before it was driven. Conclusions: Although they account for but a tenth of all large truck crashes, rollovers result from causes that are relatively unique to the vehicle and where it is driven. Programs could improve safety through the use of video to expose truck drivers to the situations causing rollovers, along with simulation allowing drivers to experience the consequences of errors without the harmful results of actual rollovers.