How surprising is a simple pattern? Quantifying "Eureka!"

Simple patterns are compelling. When all the observed facts fit into a simple theory or "story," we are intuitively convinced that the pattern must be real rather than random. But how surprising is a simple pattern, really? That is, given a pattern of featural data, such as the properties of a set of objects, how unlikely would the pattern be if they were actually generated at random? In conventional statistics dealing with patterns of numbers, this type of question would be answered by reference to a null distribution such as the t distribution. This paper gives the analogous answer in the realm of concept learning, that is, the formation of generalizations from patterns of featural data. Using a formal but psychologically valid definition of complexity, I derive and exhibit the distribution of subjective complexity under the hypothesis of no pattern. This leads directly to a number of applications, including a statistical test indicating whether an observed pattern is sufficiently simple that it is not likely to have been an accident: literally, the "significance of simplicity."     

冥钞也"现代化"了!

三年前,在天津肿瘤医院附近的一个市场上,笔者信步闲逛,远远地发现一位年轻女子在秘密销售假币,出于好奇悄悄前去观看,仔细一瞧才知不是假币而是冥钞。那时候推销冥钞尚处于偷偷摸摸的阶段,可到了2001年12月初,曾几何时,一些地方却已出现了冥钞市场,推销商公开摆摊,明目张胆甚至大张旗鼓地营销大批冥钞。冥钞设计巧妙,印刷精美,     

孙敬修和上帝"拜拜!"

孙敬修,我国20世纪著名的儿童教育家、儿童故事艺术家。 孙敬修的故事艺术,有它突出的风格和特点。他以一颗真诚的爱孩子的心,以他那雄浑、醇厚、慈祥的声调.以民族化的风格、像一个老爷爷在月     

"北京奥运"我为您加油!

奥运圣火在全球传递,在中华大地传递;在我们心中点燃着激情! 我爱好体育,关注了历届的"奥运";我爱我的祖国,更关注今年的"北京奥运".     

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Gender Stereotype!: Longitudinal Associations Between Superhero Viewing and Gender Stereotyped Play

Although content analyses have found that superhero programs in the media portray strong gender stereotypes of masculinity, little research has examined the effects of viewing such programs. In the current study, 134 mothers of preschool children (from the Western and Northwestern United States) reported their child’s superhero exposure in the media, male-stereotyped play, weapon play, and parental active mediation of the media at two time points (1 year apart). Results revealed that boys viewed superhero programs more frequently than girls, with nearly a quarter of boys viewing superhero programs at least weekly. Analyses revealed that superhero exposure was related to higher levels of male-stereotyped play for boys and higher levels of weapon play for both boys and girls from Time 1 to Time 2, even after controlling for initial levels. Parental active mediation did not negate these effects, and even served to strengthen one finding for girls. Specifically, among girls with high superhero exposure, weapon play was highest for girls who received frequent active mediation. Implications of the results are discussed with a focus on whether such programs are developmentally appropriate for preschool children.     

"疼爱儿子的,随时管教!"

中国人在重视子女教育的时候,过去注重.棍棒之下出孝子"的理念,强调责罚的重要性;现代家庭大多在对独生子女的教育中,又时兴一种完全反对责罚,提倡"赏识教育"的观念来.     

"人性的,还是人性的!"

尼采在《人性的,太人性的》的序言中写道:“我的书已被称为怀疑学派……”正如尼采所预料和所希望的那样,怀疑时代似乎的确是刻画那个刚结束的世纪的最好标签之一。作为征兆,几十年以后,在法国怀疑时代被用来刻画作家们对作为文学体裁的小说的质问。他们质问小说的技巧与手法、随便的决定论以及小说家过度的造物主式的权力。是否有必要提醒大家回想一下,纳塔莉·萨罗特写于20世纪30年代的新小说的先导其实就是以《怀疑时代》为名?无论怎么强调这种哲学探究与美学质问之间的紧密的一致性———特别是思考知识与政治复兴不可缺少的先锋(avant …     

Is a "Phoenician" reading style superior to a "Chinese" reading style? Evidence from fourth graders

This study compared normally achieving fourth-grade "Phoenician" readers, who identify nonwords significantly more accurately than they do exception words, with "Chinese" readers, who show the reverse pattern. Phoenician readers scored lower than Chinese readers on word identification, exception word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, and verbal ability. When compared with normally achieving children who read nonwords and exception words equally well, Chinese readers scored as well as these children on word identification, regular word reading, orthographic choice, spelling, reading comprehension, phonological sensitivity, and verbal ability and scored better on exception word reading. Chinese readers also used rhyme-based analogies to read nonwords derived from high-frequency exception words just as often as did these children. As predicted, Phoenician and Chinese readers adopted somewhat different strategies in reading ambiguous nonwords constructed by analogy to high-frequency exception words. Phoenician readers were more likely than Chinese readers to read ambiguous monosyllabic nonwords via context-free grapheme-phoneme correspondences and were less likely to read disyllabic nonwords by analogy to high-frequency analogues. Although the Chinese reading style was more common than the Phoenician style in normally achieving fourth graders, there were similar numbers of poor readers with phonological dyslexia (identifying nonwords significantly more accurately than exception words) and surface dyslexia (showing the reverse pattern), although surface dyslexia was more common in the severely disabled readers. However, few of the poor readers showed pure patterns of phonological or surface dyslexia.     

"不为什么——只因你是我的女儿!"

2021年年初,许多观众被春节上映的电影《你好,李焕英》感动.这部电影是贾玲为了纪念她因意外去世的母亲而创作的.在影片中,贾玲饰演的女儿贾晓玲,从小到大没有给妈妈李焕英"长过脸",总是闯祸.为了让妈妈高兴,高考结束后,贾晓玲拜托朋友伪造了一张录取通知书,没想到在庆功宴上被揭穿.在妈妈出车祸后,贾晓玲穿越时空回到了妈妈年轻的时候.她认为自己的出生给妈妈带来了很多不幸,一心想改变妈妈的命运,希望妈妈能够幸福.但当贾晓玲哭着自责自己没有出息时,妈妈却温柔地对她说:"我未来的女儿啊,我就想让她健康快乐就行了."     

还是得拿出证据来!--"历史学大地震"质疑

最近在网上看了《中国青年报》编辑李方写的涉及“地外文明”的两篇文章《历史学大地震就要来临?》和《科学,警惕有人假汝之名》,也想谈谈自己的看法。 李方在文章中写道:“我本能地恐惧,害怕那种棍棒齐下的做法昔日重来,甚至把一个为科学正名的话题泛政治化。必须承认,再荒谬的观点下面,剔除那些别有用心的蛊惑成分,总还有一些人是抱着求知的态度,出于一种怀疑精神。他的思     

Fostering a “Group Ethos”: Truth or Dare!

A group ethos permeates the two Special Issues of Group dedicated to the future of group psychotherapy in the 21st century. This ethos is elaborated through a parable, an integration of authors' conclusions, and a brief exploration of the myths and basic assumptions about group leadership and followership that characterized the 20th century. A new basic assumption is proposed for the 21st. BaC suggests that members are drawn to groups for the unconscious collaboration necessary to discover something between them, as yet untold—something that may hold the key to their own fates and to the human condition.     

Are today's Millennials splintering into a new generational cohort? Maybe!

A new generational cohort is emerging from the Millennial market segment as a result of cataclysmic events that have occurred since 2008. Interviews with college upperclassmen in the United States identified significant events influencing their values, the values arising from these events, and new values not associated with older Millennials. The most important events identified included the Great Recession, 9/11, and the election of the first African-American president. Values of Millennials were assessed in online surveys of college juniors and seniors in the United States in the fall of 2009 and 2010 and among older Millennials, aged 27–31, during the summer of 2010. The values most strongly differentiating the younger and older Millennials were “piety” and “thrift.” Younger Millennials in the United States are less thrifty and more secular and sexually permissive than older Millennials. They are also less patriotic and less concerned about politics, sustainability, saving, and making mistakes in life. This suggests a splintering of the Millennials cohort as a result of the Great Recession and the potential emergence of a younger “entitlement” cohort. It also suggests further investigation of cross-national value shifts among younger Millennials, prompted by the Great Recession. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aging: I don’t want to be a cyborg!

Examination is made of a range of cyborg solutions to bodily problems due to damage, but here with particular reference to aging. Both technological and animal implants, transplants and prosthetic devices are phenomenologically analyzed. The resultant trade-off phenomena are compared to popular culture technofantasies and desires and finally to human attitudes toward mortality and contingency. The parallelism of resistance to contingent existence and to becoming a cyborg is noted.