Children's preference for novelty in selective learning: Developmental stability or change?

Data relating novelty preference to age for normal children are inconsistent, although a current theory predicts a developmental shift from novelty to familiarity preference in selective learning (D. Zeaman, 1976, in T. J. Tighe & R. N. Leaton (Eds.), Habituation: Perspectives from child development, animal behavior, and neurophysiology (pp. 297–320), Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum). Support for this theory, however, has been derived primarily from studies of retardate learning. Normal children's novelty preference was examined within a modified Moss-Harlow (E. Moss & H. F. Harlow, 1947, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 40, 333–342) design to compare Zeaman's model with that of S. L. Witryol and W. Wanich (1983, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 143, 3–8). Each of 16 problems, consisting of three single-stimulus demonstration trials and one two-choice test, was administered to 180 children (mean CA 4, 5.5, and 7 years) in three reward conditions. Novelty was manipulated by varying stimulus familiarization in the demonstration trials. Experiment 1 showed strong preferences for novel over familiar (demonstrated) stimuli at each age. Experiment 2 revealed novelty preference across age levels, two levels of reward contrast, and two levels of task difficulty. It was reasoned that Moss-Harlow tasks designed for normal children typically present a much higher level of difficulty than that intended by researchers. Furthermore, developmental decreases in novelty preference by retardates may derive from (a) transfer of training from prior experiments and (b) specific, repetitive instructions which may have directed attention away from stimulus novelty.     

The Last Time: Commentary on Paper by Stuart A. Pizer

Pizer presents poetic details of his patient's complex therapy and analysis. This commentary examines one moment in the treatment that may have violated the potential in potential space. The question is raised as to the impact of such a moment.     

Drops of Light into the Darkness: Migration,Immigration, and Human Rights

This essay is structured like a mosaic with a sequential passage from piece to piece. The author begins with observations on the documentary film 4.1 Miles about refugees smuggled across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the island of Lesbos in Greece. A discussion about migrant dislocation and dispossession follows along with the implications of the “other.” What about the other? This leads to explorations in human rights and psychoanalysis and how the personal became political for the author.     

Orthodox Christian Healthcare Ministry amidst the Tensions of Ecumenism

The paradoxes of globalization and the efforts toward the establishmentof a consolidated healthcare ministry have caused tensions whileaffording the possibility for true ecumenical dialogue. As today'ssocieties become more pluralistic, Orthodox Christian healthcareministry finds itself amongst these paradoxes and tensions.The content of Orthodox healthcare chaplaincy, which is centeredin its Eucharistic expression, maintains a sense of catholicityand unity. This though differs from a "psychological" understandingof pastoral care, which has developed. Therefore, there is aquestion of the chaplain's identity, a crisis of theology andecclesiology, which must be faced so that true unity can beattained. This article explains the content of Orthodox healthcarechaplaincy and addresses the issues of pastoral identity, theologyand psychology, together with the crisis of ecclesiology. Itis written with a true agony for unity.     

Applying the concept of lifestyle in association with aggression and violence in Greek cohabitating couples

The current study investigated the role of lifestyle as a significant factor related to the aggression and violence between cohabitating partners. Based on previous research, lifestyle was defined as a special reflection of socialization into society and working life, where different lifestyles should also be able to produce different patterns of socialization into people's roles as partners. It was found that gender and years of cohabitating were significantly related to Emotional aggression and Sexual violence; lifestyle patterns were associated with specific forms of violence. More specifically, the lifestyles of Pleasure & Elegance and the one of Culture-Intellectualism were found to promote Emotional aggression. Also, the lifestyle of Yuppies/Workaholic and that of Physical activities stimulated the appearance of Sexual violence between partners. Moreover, individuals with Tradition-Religiousness lifestyle were more likely to show lower levels of Physical & Sexual violence while the adherents of the Substance abuse lifestyle pattern appeared to have an inclination towards Physical & Sexual Violence. Finally, the occurrence of one form of violent behaviour was likely to be related to the other forms of violent behaviour.     

Clinton and the Empty Self

I detest the man who is the object of your study: as far as a single individual can be responsible for the misery of this part of the world, he surely is [Freud on Woodrow Wilson, 1920].     

Progression and Verification of Situation Calculus Agents with Bounded Beliefs

We investigate agents that have incomplete information and make decisions based on their beliefs expressed as situation calculus bounded action theories. Such theories have an infinite object domain, but the number of objects that belong to fluents at each time point is bounded by a given constant. Recently, it has been shown that verifying temporal properties over such theories is decidable. We take a first-person view and use the theory to capture what the agent believes about the domain of interest and the actions affecting it. In this paper, we study verification of temporal properties over online executions. These are executions resulting from agents performing only actions that are feasible according to their beliefs. To do so, we first examine progression, which captures belief state update resulting from actions in the situation calculus. We show that, for bounded action theories, progression, and hence belief states, can always be represented as a bounded first-order logic theory. Then, based on this result, we prove decidability of temporal verification over online executions for bounded action theories.     

The paradox of happiness: towards an alternative explanation

There is a common empirical finding in many countries that substantial increases in real per capita income do not correspond to equivalent increases of individual happiness. These findings have puzzled many economists that some have called the “paradox of happiness”. There have been a number of explanations regarding this paradox. This paper attempts to tackle the paradox of happiness by employing the idea of hierarchical choice. The hierarchical approach implies that there are some basic human needs which must be satisfied before non-basic needs come into the picture. The paper argues that the hierarchical structure of needs implies that the satisfaction of basic needs provides substantial increases to individual happiness compared to the subsequent satisfaction of secondary needs. This might also be an alternative explanation of empirical findings showing a positive relationship between income and happiness up to certain level of income. It can also be combined with existing explanations of the paradox and thus enhance our understanding of the issue.

Depression mit und ohne Konflikt

To begin with the psychoanalytic models of depression worked out in the 20th century are described. They are presented in three categories depending on whether object loss, aggression inhibition or a severe impairment of the self-regulation are the main pathogenic factors. Subsequently, an integrative model is presented based on the depressive affect as an indicator and signal for a severe impairment of the self and its possibilities of experience and development. Such an impairment occurs by a defensive pseudo-solution of the basic conflict between self-related and object-related tendencies and interests (in disfavor of the self) or in other cases by a serious but conflict-free object loss (including the loss of parts of the body, of working and professional perspectives, of idealized models, of groups, nations etc.). This grave impairment of the depressive affect of the self may be temporarily denied (mania) or somatized (e.g. bulimia, adipositas etc.). In those cases no manifest depression occurs. The collateral neurobiological processes can be integrated into this model and are compatible with the other aspects. For example, stress leads by the above mentioned serious impairment to lack of serotonin which can be temporarily resolved with the help of medicaments. But this cannot be an adequate treatment in the long run. A treatment of depression only with medicaments without psychotherapy is, therefore, to be considered as malpractice.