What we can do

Philosophical Studies - Plural first-person pronouns have often been ignored in the literature on indexicals and pronouns. The assumption seems to be that we is just the plural of I. So, we can...     

One for all: What representing a group may do to us

Collective bargaining, business alliances, diplomacy between nations — interactions between group representatives include topics that may have some of the greatest impact on our lives. Nevertheless, the nature of such interactions is poorly understood. How do representatives approach such interactions? What goals do they pursue, and what expectations do they have of their counterpart? In the present research, we advance a theoretical framework with which to understand the mindset that is activated by the role of representative. In two studies, we measure what goals (Study 1) and expectations (Study 2) become salient in this role, compared with the related roles of individual or group member. Our findings reveal that representatives may display a more competitive mindset, consisting of more competitive goals and expectations of others. As competition can be harmful, rather than beneficial to the group, care should be taken when relying on representatives, so that we may exploit their strengths while curtailing their weaknesses.     

Examination anxiety: What the student counsellor can do

The student counsellor can help to minimise the impact of examination anxiety on students by running prophylactic groups aimed at helping students cope with and utilise their arousal in examination settings. In order to do this effectively, the counsellor must consider: (a) forming a working alliance with academic staff and (b) training paraprofessional staff to act as group leaders. A self-instructional programme is described, and counsellors are urged to keep up-to-date with theoretical and research developments in the area of examination anxiety.     

What analytic metaphysics can do for scientific metaphysics

The apparent chasm between two camps in metaphysics, analytic metaphysics and scientific metaphysics, is well recognized. I argue that the relationship between them is not necessarily a rivalry; a division of labour that resembles the relationship between pure mathematics and science is possible. As a case study, I look into the metaphysical underdetermination argument for ontic structural realism, a well-known position in scientific metaphysics, together with an argument for the position in analytic metaphysics known as ontological nihilism. I argue that we can ascribe the same schema to both arguments, which indicates that analytic metaphysics can offer an abstract model that scientific metaphysics may find useful.     

What the classical aphasia categories can't do for us, and why

A good deal of activity in contemporary aphasia research goes under the label "neurolinguistics." What characterizes this enterprise is, among other things, its goal of identifying neurally realized computational subsystems that support language processing. In this essay the thesis is put forward that this goal will not be served by the continued exploitation of the classical (Wernicke-Lichtheim) taxonomic categories. These categories, it is argued, cannot by virtue of their "polytypic" structure support the relevant neurolinguistic generalizations.     

What children can tell us about living in danger

Developmental challenges faced by children growing up in situations of chronic danger linked to community violence and communal conflict are reviewed. The concept of post-traumatic stress disorder is expanded to include situations of chronic and on-going traumatic stress associated with dangerous environments--war zones and inner city neighborhoods plagued by violence and crime. Of particular importance is the impact of chronic stress and danger on the child's world view, the child's social map, and the child's moral development. On the basis of field work in 5 war zones, the article points to the importance of adult-led "processing" of the young child's experience to his or her psychological coping and moral development. Some of the contradictions operating in such environments are explored--for example, that "fanatical" ideology may provide short-term support for adults and children but also may serve to prolong communal conflict, impede the necessary processing of experience, and increase vulnerability in the long run.     

What studying genetically-based disorders can tell us about ourselves

Bridging cognition, brain and genes: evidence from genetically-based syndromes, Fifth Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, 5-7 April 1998, San Francisco, CA, USA.     

信念归因的机制:fMRI能告诉我们什么

发展心理学研究表明信念归因与抑制性控制和语言(特别是补充句法,complement syntax)有着密切的联系,儿童抑制性控制能力和补充句法能力与其错误信念任务的表现有较高的相关。但是抑制性控制能力和补充句法能力对于信念归因是不是必须的在发展心理学中并没有得到解决。脑成像研究表明,信念归因与抑制性控制和补充句法有着不同的神经机制,从而在一定程度上表明,至少对于大人,在完成错误信念归因任务过程中可能并不需要抑制性控制和补充句法。     

What mediation analysis can (not) do

The present article is concerned with a common misunderstanding in the interpretation of statistical mediation analyses. These procedures can be sensibly used to examine the degree to which a third variable (Z) accounts for the influence of an independent (X) on a dependent variable (Y) conditional on the assumption that Z actually is a mediator. However, conversely, a significant mediation analysis result does not prove that Z is a mediator. This obvious but often neglected insight is substantiated in a simulation study. Using different causal models for generating Z (genuine mediator, spurious mediator, correlate of the dependent measure, manipulation check) it is shown that significant mediation tests do not allow researchers to identify unique mediators, or to distinguish between alternative causal models. This basic insight, although well understood by experts in statistics, is persistently ignored in the empirical literature and in the reviewing process of even the most selective journals.     

What neuroimaging and brain localization can do, cannot do and should not do for social psychology

Interest in bridging social psychology and neuroscience has seen a significant upsurge. Much of this interest has centered on brain localization--the attempt to relate psychological events to locations of brain events. Although many articles have sought to localize brain activity that supports social behavior, scant attention has been paid to the specific methods to be used in integrating brain localization data into psychological theory. The authors describe 4 strategies psychologists can use to integrate brain localization data and psychological theory, and they consider whether social psychology presents special considerations in the use of these strategies. They conclude that brain localization offers a useful tool for some but not all problems in social psychology, and they discuss the types of problems for which it may and may not prove useful.     

What simulation can do to the statistics and design course

The increasing appearance of an integrated statistics and research design course is noted, and the use of computer simulation in such a course is discussed. Four different kinds of courses are suggested: the problem set course, the demonstration labs course, the design-your-own course, and the “research community” course. Example simulations are discussed for each course.     

What "mice trap" tells us about the mental lexicon

Level ordering has proven inadequate as a morphological theory, leaving unexplained the experimental results taken to support it as a component of innate grammar-young children's acceptance of irregular plurals in English compounds. The present study demonstrates that these results can be explained by slower access to the grammatically preferred singulars of irregular nouns when compounds are created on-line from plural stimuli. Experiments on English noun-noun compound production and on production of either singular or plural forms from the same or opposite form confirmed that more irregular than regular plurals were used in compounds, and showed that producing irregular singulars from plurals was slower than producing regular singulars. Plural responses were also slower when cue and required response number differed.