Sign- and goal-tracking are classically conditioned behaviors which represent differences in the likelihood of attributing incentive motivation to reward-associated cues. Although historically demonstrated in rodents, they have been implicated in several psychiatric conditions and maladaptive behaviors, particularly addiction, and as such attempts to assess them in humans are increasing. Despite this, there is no research on these phenotypes in adolescence in humans, a critical period in development of psychiatric illness, and no studies have considered how sign trackers (ST) may differ from goal trackers (GT) in terms of temperament, despite evidence linking specific temperaments, including novelty-seeking and persistence, to addiction. The present study categorizes 27 adolescents (aged 11-21 years) as ST or GT using a virtual Pavlovian Conditioning Approach Task and compares their temperament using the four dimensions assessed in the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory. GT were found to exhibit higher levels of persistence compared to ST, partially in line with previous literature, suggesting a steadier temperament (i.e., one associated with low novelty seeking and high persistence) and reduced risk of addiction in GT.
Gamification’s educational effectiveness depends on learner attitudes, yet no existing instrument captures attitudes toward gamified learning as a unified construct. This paper reports the development and validation of the Attitudes Towards Gamification Scale (GAMA) scale, a 9-item measure grounded in nine core gamification functions across two independent studies. Study 1 (N = 1,835) identified a single-factor structure explaining 69.91% of variance (α = .95). Positive attitudes correlated with self-regulated learning (r = .35, p .001), perceived ease of use (r = .79, p .001), and subjective norms (r = .72, p .001), but not with recreational gaming hours (r = .02, p=.22), establishing attitudes towards gamification as distinct from general gaming engagement. Study 2 (N = 158) used a pre-post design to test a serial mediation model: gamified exposure increased perceived utility, which drove positive attitude change, in turn predicting greater intention to use gamification and perceived learning benefits. All indirect effects were significant, and the scale demonstrated both sensitivity to change and temporal stability. The GAMA scale offers a psychometrically sound tool for diagnosing learner receptiveness and evaluating the impact of gamified instruction.
This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study examines the psychological dynamics of artificial intelligence adoption among participants in educational contexts in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The qualitative phase identified four interrelated psychological constructs: utilitarian motivation, professional vulnerability, cognitive dissonance, and adaptive reorientation. The subsequent quantitative phase (N = 411), analyzed using PLS-SEM, validated the structural relationships among these constructs. The results showed that utilitarian motivation and professional vulnerability significantly predicted adaptive reorientation, which emerged as the strongest predictor of AI adoption behavior. Cognitive dissonance functioned as both a barrier and a catalyst, although its overall effect size was comparatively modest. Adaptive reorientation emerged as the mediating mechanism linking the three psychological predictor constructs to AI adoption behavior. These findings should be interpreted in light of the study’s contextual scope and exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, which prioritizes interpretive depth over broad generalization. Overall, the findings provide a context-sensitive extension of the Technology Acceptance Model by integrating emotional ambivalence and epistemic concern and proposing a framework that emphasizes human-centered AI literacy, ethical governance, and professional learning in collectivistic educational contexts.
This bibliometric review research intends to find out the emerging trends in implementing Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT) and identifying the psychosocial well-being of patients with cancer as well as other chronic illnesses. To achieve the study objective, the researchers found 204 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database within the timeline ranges from 2004 to 2023. Further, the data were utilized for bibliometric analysis using the advanced version of CiteSpace (6.2.R5; 64-bit) for carrying out Document Co-citation Analysis (DCA), Author Co-citation Analysis (ACA), Country analysis, Institution-based analysis, and Keyword analysis. The results showed a consistent increase in studies related to this domain over the specified period, particularly in the recent five years (2017-2023). Developed countries, particularly the United States, England, Sweden, Australia, and Scotland, have made the greatest contributions to research on the implementation of ACT in cancer care. The United States has more than 31% of the studies in this field. Author Wetherell, JL was the most productive author with 9 publications. Further, based DCA, combined ACT and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventional studies are much warranted to reduce chronic pain and improve the psychosocial well-being of cancer patients.
Police officers frequently operate in environments where risk and uncertainty coexist and true uncertainty dominates, requiring rapid decisions despite limited time, information, or computational capacity. In these contexts, decision-making depends not only on rational analysis but also on fast-and-frugal heuristics, simple cognitive rules that align with the structure of the environment to deliver robust solutions quickly. Building on Knight’s classic distinction between risk and uncertainty and Simon’s notion of bounded rationality, this narrative review explores how heuristics such as recognition, take-the-best, satisficing, and gaze shape police judgments and actions. Research across decision domains suggests that some heuristics can outperform more complex models under specific conditions, although direct comparative evidence in policing remains limited. However, priming and availability-related effects can distort heuristic use, highlighting the need for training and policies that strengthen ecological rationality while minimizing predictable errors. Scenario-based training, simple allocation rules, and frameworks that integrate reflection-in-action may help officers calibrate when to rely on heuristics and when to seek additional verification. At the same time, acknowledging how heuristics interact with organizational cultures, dispatch information, and community expectations remains essential for maintaining public trust and accountability. A deeper understanding of these cognitive tools, their limits, and their fit with operational realities provides a realistic path for balancing speed, accuracy, and fairness in police decision-making under conditions of fundamental uncertainty.
