Visuospatial or verbal-spatial codes? The different effect of two secondary tasks on the power-space associations during a semantic categorizing task.

The power-space associations have been extensively studied as a possible way to reveal the nature of concept representations, while the visuospatial and verbal-spatial codes are two primary explanations for the phenomenon. In two experiments, we imposed either a visuospatial or a verbal secondary task during the semantic categorizing of power words to examine their respective roles. The results showed that retaining a letter but not a location concurrently interfered with the power-space association. The results suggested that the verbal-spatial codes might play a more fundamental role than the visuospatial codes in the power-space associations during the semantic categorizing of power words.

The interactive effect between economic uncertainty and life history strategy on corrupt intentions: a life history theory approach.

Introduction: Why do some people show more corruption when facing uncertain environment? The present study aimed to give a plausible answer from an evolutionary perspective: this might be rooted in people's different life history strategies (slow vs. fast). Methods: The present study measured the participants' corrupt intentions by a hypothetical scenario and primed the feeling of economic environmental uncertainty by requiring the participants to read economic uncertainty (vs. neutral) materials. Results: It is revealed that the participants with fast life history strategies had stronger corrupt intentions after reading materials about economic uncertainty than reading neutral materials. In addition, the desire for power mediated the interactive effect between life history strategy and economic uncertainty on corrupt intentions for fast life history strategists. Discussion: This finding was discussed for its theoretical and practical implications from the perspective of life history theory.