The concept of Lichnost’ in criminal law theory, 1860s–1900s

This essay discusses criminal law theories in late Imperial Russia. It argues that, although the political climate of Reform and Counter Reform effectively undermined attempts to implement new legislation premised on the idea of the ‘rights-enabled person’ (pravovaya lichnost’), paradoxically, it fostered the growth of juridical scholarship. Russian criminal law theorists engaged critically with Western juridical science, which, beginning in the 1870s, witnessed a shift away from absolutist theories inspired by the classics of philosophical idealism towards various strains of positivism arguing for the restoration of the person as a concrete, physiological being. However, while Russian scholars were drawn to these new trends of criminal anthropology and the sociology of crime, they were also obliged to take stock of an indigenous legal culture that scarcely differentiated between pravo and zakon, together with a long tradition of customary practices that equated crime and punishment with sin and redemption.     

Explanations of interindividual – intergroup discontinuity: A review of the evidence

The authors review and evaluate various explanations for the tendency of intergroup relations to be more competitive, or less cooperative, than interindividual relations (the discontinuity effect). They distinguish between two general perspectives, each comprising a set of explanations for the discontinuity effect. The fear and greed perspective assumes that intergroup relations are characterised by greater fear and greed than are interindividual relations. The group decision-making perspective assumes a crucial role for group discussion in facilitating rational comprehension of mixed-motive situations. In general, explanations from the fear and greed perspective were found to be more consistent with the empirical record than explanations from the group decision-making perspective. The authors propose that a complete understanding of the discontinuity effect is yet to be achieved.     

The reach of systems theory: A clinician's retrospective, 1984–1993

One of the early family therapists provides a review and analysis of his work in the recent decade (1984–1993), providing also a structure and perspective that connects it with his earliest work in the early 1960s. His work describing the blaming process as a common source of pathogenic relating resulted in a key article in 1984, from which two streams of work and one tributary emerged. A 1984–1989 stream defined a conflict cycle by which therapists might sort out the countless conflicts heard in family interviews, thus aiding diagnosis and treatment. A 1989–1992 stream defined another form of pathogenic relating, learning to be possessed, a learned means of skillfully avoiding blame for wrongdoing which is roughly but usefully defined as The Devil made me do it. The writer concluded that if one became very good at it, learning to be possessed was excellent training for the development of delusional thinking in adolescence and afterwards. Piaget's work suggested that a case could be made for a good match between adult delusional and the problem-solving difficulties of six-to-eight year-old children. During 1992–1993, the author returned to a topic he believes he was the first to introduce and seriously address in family therapy: The problem of defining phases of family therapy (which he wrote about in the early 1970s). Rejecting the traditional beginning-middle-ending model in psychotherapy, he substituted a series of four-interview units, beginning with the engagement series and ending with termination. The early work concentrated on engagement, the recent on termination.Three decades ago family therapy hardly existed, but today it is firmly established among the major psychotherapies. There are tens of thousands of mental health workers familiar with the basic concepts and techniques of the field; and of these, there are several thousand highly skilled practitioners. The field has been both blessed and cursed by the absence of a single father. The blessing has been a rich diversity of viewpoints powerfully enunciated by quite gifted individuals and their disciples. The curse has been factionalism that at times has reached an unusual level of personal vindictiveness, and has encouraged ideologues intent on subordinating the originality and creativeness of the field.Exponents of major viewpoints in the field have, it seems to me, an obligation to continue to enunciate them clearly, to add depth and breadth to those viewpoints whenever possible. As one of the early family therapists, I believe I have such an obligation. In this article I propose to summarize, review, and analyze my work of the past decade, 1984–1993; to add a perspective whenever that may be possible; to relate the work of the recent decade to the work of past decades, whenever possible; to propose a structure for the work of the past decade, and whenever possible to relate that structure to those of previous decades. I am not a writer of books in the ordinary sense, but a writer of articles enunciating particular ideas; and often it has taken several articles to enunciate an idea to my satisfaction. In this article I will attempt to enunciate two streams which flowed from a common source, and also a tributary. It incorporates seven previously published articles.During the preparation of this article I learned of the death in October 1992 of Ernest A. Haggard, who was my chief mentor while I was a graduate student many decades ago at the University of Chicago. Thoughts about Ernie do not seem to leave me. I would like to dedicate this article to his memory.     

Marburg ca. 1900–1925: The Treffpunkt of Theology,Philosophy, and New Testament

ABSTRACT

Many of the intellectual giants in the areas of theology, philosophy, and New Testament were faculty members at the Philips University of Marburg during the early decades of the twentieth century. This article chronicles briefly the careers of faculty members of Marburg and their contributions in the fields of theology (Wilhelm Herrmann, Rudolf Otto, Paul Tillich), philosophy (the Neo-Kantians Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, and Martin Heidegger), and New Testament (Rudolf Bultmann) during that period of time.     

Visual perspective taking by dogs (Canis familiaris) in a Guesser–Knower task: evidence for a canine theory of mind?

We tested domestic dogs (N = 16) in a Guesser–Knower task in which they chose between possible locations for hidden food indicated by human informants. In four experiments, the perceptual access of the Guesser and Knower to the hidden food baiting was manipulated. When informants had differing perceptual access to the baiting, dogs preferred the location indicated by the Knower from the start of testing (Experiment 1), even when baiting was done by a third experimenter (Experiments 2–3). However, when there was no difference in perceptual access and both informants either knew or did not know the food location, dogs had no preference between the informants (Experiment 4). Controls ruled out alternative explanations in terms of associative learning, unintentional and olfactory cues. Analysis of individual data showed no significant heterogeneity across dogs, and results were not correlated with age or sex. Dogs’ performances were superior to those of nonhuman primates in previous studies. Although a mentalistic explanation is not required, results add to evidence that dogs have a remarkable sensitivity to cues related to humans’ attentional state, which enables them to respond as if they had a functional theory of mind in the Guesser–Knower task with human informants.     

Display-wide influences on figure–ground perception: The case of symmetry

Past research has demonstrated that convex regions are increasingly likely to be perceived as figures as the number of alternating convex and concave regions in test displays increases. This region-number effect depends on both a small preexisting preference for convex over concave objects and the presence of scene characteristics (i.e., uniform fill) that allow the integration of the concave regions into a background object/surface. These factors work together to enable the percept of convex objects in front of a background. We investigated whether region-number effects generalize to another property, symmetry, whose effectiveness as a figure property has been debated. Observers reported which regions they perceived as figures in black-and-white displays with alternating symmetric/asymmetric regions. In Experiments 1 and 2, the displays had articulated outer borders that preserved the symmetry/asymmetry of the outermost regions. Region-number effects were not observed, although symmetric regions were perceived as figures more often than chance. We hypothesized that the articulated outer borders prevented fitting a background interpretation to the asymmetric regions. In Experiment 3, we used straight-edge framelike outer borders and observed region-number effects for symmetry equivalent to those observed for convexity. These results (1) show that display-wide information affects figure assignment at a border, (2) extend the evidence indicating that the ability to fit background as well as foreground interpretations is critical in figure assignment, (3) reveal that symmetry and convexity are equally effective figure cues and, (4) demonstrate that symmetry serves as a figural property only when it is close to fixation.     

The role of emotion in bridging the intention–behaviour gap: The case of sports participation

ProblemPsychological models of sports participation frequently draw on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in order to predict health-behaviour-related intentions. While these models commonly show high predictive power with respect to intention, they often fall short in the prediction of behaviour (the ‘intention–behaviour gap’). The present study contends that integrating emotional processes into TPB can substantially improve the model's predictive power over and above traditional cognitive predictors.MethodIn a longitudinal study structural equation modelling was employed to test a traditional model (based on TPB) and an extended model including emotion associated with the intention to exercise as a mediator variable. A community sample (N = 237) completed a questionnaire measuring the components of a traditional TPB model. Prior to each of 16 expected exercise sessions (over 8 weeks) intention to exercise and emotion associated with the intention were measured.ResultsResults confirmed a substantial increase of 17% in explained variance of exercise frequency and 20% in exercise duration for the extended model. Emotional appraisal of the intention to exercise thus appears to mediate the traditional intention–behaviour relationship, suggesting that emotionally based interventions aimed at increasing sports participation may be helpful.ConclusionIt is concluded that emotion variables should be added to traditional TPB models in order to predict health behaviour more fully.     

Informational affordances: evidence of acquired perception–action sequences for information extraction

Visual objects can automatically prime actions allowing efficient interaction with them. The present study examined whether object perception can automatically prime actions leading to efficient information extraction. Participants in Experiment 1 learned to rotate a cube in a specific way with the end goal of efficiently revealing object-identifying information. In Experiments 2 and 3, the end goal of obtaining object-identifying information was removed, but the stimulus-response associations were preserved. Only object views associated with actions learned in the context of obtaining identifying information caused response interference and benefits in a subsequent test phase where the object was irrelevant. These results demonstrate the existence of informational affordances: perception-action sequences acquired with the goal of information extraction that are automatically primed during later exposure to the object. Perceptual priming of actions for efficient information extraction is an important component of expert performance and its use of action systems to optimally deal with the world.     

The power within: Mass media,scientific entertainment,and the introduction of psychical research into China, 1900–1920

How did a new science initially promoted by only a few individuals eventually become a widespread cultural phenomenon practiced and known by thousands of people? Following a transnational approach, this article traces the introduction of psychical research into China during the first two decades of the 20th century. Known in the Republican period (1912–1949) as Spiritual Science (xinling kexue or xinling yanjiu), psychical research flourished between the 1920s and 1930s, playing a key role in the popularization of applied psychology and mind-cure across China. This article takes a step back from the heyday of Spiritual Science by looking at the period that immediately preceded and helped define it. Focused on wide-circulation newspapers, popular manuals, and stage performances, it teases out the ways in which Chinese popular culture translated European, American, and Japanese psychical research to local Chinese audiences in the midst of China's search for modernity. By naturalizing the reality of psychic powers, spiritual scientists blurred the boundaries between science and superstition in a period when these were posited as diametrically opposed.     

Inhibitory guidance in visual search: The case of movement–form conjunctions

We used a probe-dot procedure to examine the roles of excitatory attentional guidance and distractor suppression in search for movement-form conjunctions. Participants in Experiment?1 completed a conjunction (moving X amongst moving Os and static Xs) and two single-feature (moving X amongst moving Os, and static X amongst static Os) conditions. "Active" participants searched for the target, whereas "passive" participants viewed the displays without responding. Subsequently, both groups located (left or right) a probe dot appearing in either an occupied or an unoccupied location. In the conjunction condition, the active group located probes presented on static distractors more slowly than probes presented on moving distractors, reversing the direction of the difference found within the passive group. This disadvantage for probes on static items was much stronger in conjunction than in single-feature search. The same pattern of results was replicated in Experiment?2, which used a go/no-go procedure. Experiment?3 extended the go/no-go procedure to the case of search for a static target and revealed increased probe localisation times as a consequence of active search, primarily for probes on moving distractor items. The results demonstrated attentional guidance by inhibition of distractors in conjunction search.     

The influence of verbal labeling on the perception of odors: evidence for olfactory illusions?

Using the definition that an illusion is observed when a stimulus is invariant but context alters its perception, we examined whether verbal context could produce olfactory illusions. To test this effect, we chose five odors with minimally fixed sources and that could be interpreted with various hedonic connotations. The odors were violet leaf, patchouli, pine oil, menthol, and a 1:1 mixture of isovaleric and butyric acids. Subjects individually sniffed each odor at two different sessions separated by one week. At each session an odor was given a different verbal label (either positive or negative) and subjects rated the odors on several hedonic scales and provided perceptual and interpretative responses to them. Results showed that the perception of an odor could be significantly influenced by the label provided for it. We propose that the cases where verbal labels inverted odor perception are the first empirical demonstrations of olfactory illusions.     

The curious incident of wisdom in the thought of Feng Qi (1915–1995): comparative philosophy,historical materialism,and metaphysics

After some introductory remarks on the work of the modern Chinese philosopher Feng Qi, I begin this article by providing some observations concerning the ambiguous notion of ‘wisdom’ in Orientalist representations of non-Western thought and in comparative philosophy, as well as on the peculiar form of subjectivity ascribed to the ‘wise’ subject. I then proceed by offering an account of Feng’s philosophical universalism and historical materialist outlook, outlining the identification of wisdom with metaphysics in his early work and exploring the status and function of wisdom in his mature writings. In doing so, I analyze the tension in Feng’s work between the theoretical rationality and systematicity of ‘metaphysics’ on the one hand and the existential and transformative orientation of ‘wisdom’ on the other.     

The motivations for Walter Burley’s theory of the proposition

Walter Burley (born c. 1275; died. c. 1344) claims throughout his career that the mind can make a statement (propositio) out of things. Since things include entities that exist outside of the mind, Burley appears to be claiming that the mind can form a statement out of things that exist outside of it. Most scholars of Burley offer a deflationary reading of this claim, arguing that it confuses two distinct but closely related philosophical issues: the nature of propositional content, on the one hand, and the role of facts in a compelling account of truth, on the other. But I argue that Burley means exactly what he says: that the mind can, quite literally, form statements out of things that exist outside of it. In Burley’s account, statements of this sort function as the propositional contents of our thoughts and written or uttered sentences. This account of propositional content is motivated by three more fundamental theses to which Burley is committed: referentialism, compositionality, and a claim about truth-conditionality I call intellectualism.     

The formation of Soviet cultural theory of music (1917–1948)

This article explores the continuities and discontinuities of pre-Revolutionary intellectual traditions in 1920s Soviet culture and the Stalin-era cultural revolution. Through examination of the pre-revolutionary philosophical legacy underpinning Soviet musicological theory, I demonstrate that there are decisive features, such as Soviet Prometheanism, that characterize the musicology of the 1920s that both underline and differ from the pre-revolutionary philosophy of music and the musicology of the 1930s. I offer the basic outlines of a Soviet cultural theory of music formulated by Russian music critic, historian, composer and musicologist Boris Asafiev (1884–1949) in the 1920s. Explaining and describing what I mean by a particular cultural theory of music in the Soviet context forms the core issue of my article.

     

A caveat on the Savage–Dickey density ratio: The case of computing Bayes factors for regression parameters

The Savage–Dickey density ratio is a simple method for computing the Bayes factor for an equality constraint on one or more parameters of a statistical model. In regression analysis, this includes the important scenario of testing whether one or more of the covariates have an effect on the dependent variable. However, the Savage–Dickey ratio only provides the correct Bayes factor if the prior distribution of the nuisance parameters under the nested model is identical to the conditional prior under the full model given the equality constraint. This condition is violated for multiple regression models with a Jeffreys–Zellner–Siow prior, which is often used as a default prior in psychology. Besides linear regression models, the limitation of the Savage–Dickey ratio is especially relevant when analytical solutions for the Bayes factor are not available. This is the case for generalized linear models, non-linear models, or cognitive process models with regression extensions. As a remedy, the correct Bayes factor can be computed using a generalized version of the Savage–Dickey density ratio.