The downside of categories

One of the primary uses of categories is to draw inferences about novel objects based on their category membership. In a recent study, Lagnado and Shanks show that people make different inferences about an object depending on whether they first categorize the object at a general or specific level. Indeed, their inference changes even though they have been given no information about the object. This finding reveals limitations of category-based induction.     

The hubris hypothesis: The downside of comparative optimism displays

According to the hubris hypothesis, observers respond more unfavorably to individuals who express their positive self-views comparatively than to those who express their positive self-views non-comparatively, because observers infer that the former hold a more disparaging view of others and particularly of observers. Two experiments extended the hubris hypothesis in the domain of optimism. Observers attributed less warmth (but not less competence) to, and showed less interest in affiliating with, an individual displaying comparative optimism (the belief that one’s future will be better than others’ future) than with an individual displaying absolute optimism (the belief that one’s future will be good). Observers responded differently to individuals displaying comparative versus absolute optimism, because they inferred that the former held a gloomier view of the observers’ future. Consistent with previous research, observers still attributed more positive traits to a comparative or absolute optimist than to a comparative or absolute pessimist.     

Laboratory strength measures of talented and less talented Greek children ages 9 to 10 years

The purpose was twofold: (1) to assess whether laboratory tests can distinguish talented groups and less talented groups of children identified by their total scores in a battery of field tests and (2) to evaluate whether scores in field and laboratory tests are correlated. 36 children (ages 9 to 10 years) were divided into groups of higher and lower total scores on standing long jump, medicine ball throw, and sprint. Both groups were tested for maximum isometric force, force produced at the initial 100 msec., reactive force index, drop jump height, squat jump height, and maximum pedaling rate. Analysis showed the talented group had significantly (p < or = .05) higher scores on maximum isometric force, force produced in the initial 100 msec., and drop jump height than less talented children. Moderate to high correlations were found among scores for field performance tests with maximum pedaling rate. In conclusion, the laboratory tests distinguished the talented and less talented children in maximal isometric force, the force produced at the initial 100 msec., the reactive force index, and the drop jump height.     

The value of being imitated

Theories and research on the topics of attraction, conformity, and imitation support the view that the relational stimulus arising from being imitated serves a reinforcing function. To examine this possibility, 48 preschool children performed a task in which some neutral stimuli were repeatedly associated with an adult's matching the behavior of the subject, and other neutral stimuli were associated with the same adult's mismatching the behavior of the subject. Preference for the stimuli associated with being matched was greater at the end of training than earlier, and the overall preference for the matched stimuli exceeded chance. The results are considered in terms of the thesis that similarity arising from being imitated served a reinforcing function and the thesis that response strategies were adopted by the children.     

The unimportance of being random

This note fleshes in and generalizes an argument suggested by W. Salmon to the effect that the addition of a requirement of mathematical randomness to his requirement of physical homogeneity is unimportant for his ontic account of objective homogeneity. I consider an argument from measure theory as a plausible justification of Salmon's skepticism concerning the possibility that a physically homogeneous sequence might nonetheless be recursive and show that this argument does not succeed. However, I state a principle (the Generalized Salmon Thesis) that is intuitively plausible and reflects this skepticism. The principle entails that one should be just as certain that the limit of such an infinite sequence is irrational as one is certain that the sequence is not computable. But I claim that this consequence is acceptable.     

此在的先验本质:圣言的倾听者

卡尔·拉纳在<圣言的倾听者--论一种宗教哲学的基础>中把自己的宗教哲学规定为"关于对启示之顺从能力的本体论".事实上,这是对于作为真正形而上学根基的基督教神学认识论的经典阐释.在毕竟在之在和此在之在的生存论关联中,拉纳把此在规定为上帝圣言的必然倾听者.在的本质乃是在的照亮状态--作为普遍必然的上帝观念,此在对于上帝之在的在先把握是抽象的先验条件,是纯粹理性的根据,同时是此在精神对于上帝之临在的先验经验.上帝在绝对的自由中向此在发出可能来临的启示话语--此在在自由的爱中伫立在可能发出启示的上帝面前,在自己的历史中仰望并期待着那位在人的形而上学中以完全未知者的形像.出现的上帝可能发出的启示.上帝的启示一旦来临,便在人的历史中并作为历史的最高现实以言辞形式发生--此在必然在自己的历史中倾听着可能以人的言辞形式来临的历史性的上帝启示.作为上帝圣言的倾听者,此在在自由的爱中实现着自己的先验本质.     

The consciousness of being conscious

Starting with the therapeutic advantage gained when insight acquires consciousness, an investigation of the nature and function of consciousness is undertaken. Consciousness is a state of awareness, having a range of higher mental functions serving a regulatory, controlling, and integrating role in mental activity. There are high levels of thinking, reality testing, experiencing, judging, anticipating; self-awareness and self-reflection enter into these controlling activities. Psychoanalysis has rightly been a science that studies the workings and contents of the unconscious portions of the mind. It has perhaps overlooked the important role that consciousness plays in ordinary life and in providing the levels of control and self-awareness individuals both experience and require. That pathology and disturbances of function may accompany normal states of consciousness as well as altered states of consciousness is a common clinical phenomenon. Psychoanalysis as a therapy widens the scope of the conscious control systems.     

The importance of being in earnest

Certain remarks in the Tractatus, taken together with a passage in a letter Wittgenstein wrote to Russell, suggest that at one time Wittgenstein inclined toward a psychologistic theory of language. But textual considerations with regard to the former and a special interpretation of the latter allow us to interpret these statements in a way that is consistent with Wittgenstein's later views.     

The psychology of being a beginner

Beginners are plagued with overconfidence. They perform the worst on tests of knowledge or skill and yet are the most overconfident. One would expect that learning would better calibrate beginners and lead to better quality decisions. However, learning can instead produce overconfidence. In this article I discuss how being beginner can lead to errors in self-assessments and riskier decisions. I review differences in beginner overconfidence in several places in the literature. First, the Dunning–Kruger Effect, which finds those with the least knowledge are the most overconfident. To be sure, beginners can range from rank beginners, those who have acquired no knowledge, to experienced beginners, beginners who having gained some but not vast knowledge. Next, I discuss the beginner's bubble that follows the trajectory of confidence and overconfidence as people transition from rank to experienced beginners. The beginner's bubble pattern finds rank beginners have insight into their poor abilities. However, with some learning there is a surge of confidence and overconfidence. Lastly, I explore differences in confidence and overconfidence as learners transition from rank to experienced beginners in other places in the literature.     

Diagnosing The English Patient: schizoid fantasies of being skinless and of being buried alive

The psychological world of The English Patient is explored to deepen the understanding of schizoid states. The protagonist, Almásy, is a remote desert explorer whose triangular sadomasochistic affair with the married Katharine destroys them all. His damaged skin is understood as a symbolic representation of his psychological condition. For the schizoid, love consumes and leads to obliteration of the self, represented by the loss of identifying features, and to traumatic permeability (i.e., the loss of boundaries between self and other, and between the ego and repressed desires). Other schizoid themes are the animation of the inanimate, as in the depiction of the desert as a woman; hidden or buried identities; the digital and destructive experience of emotion represented by the conundrum of the bomb defuser; the sense that everything good is imaginary and might suddenly explode; and the moral unevenness of the characters. Almásy collaborates with the Nazis so he can retrieve Katharine's three-year-old corpse, with which he has necrophilic contact in a cave. Fantasies of the lost object buried within the self, of being buried alive, and of being skinned alive are related to the schizoid condition. Hyperpermeability is proposed as a core schizoid state, underlying schizoid withdrawal.     

The experience of being a woman student

The experiences of a group of young women students at a large northern, inner-city university were investigated. The results give cause for concern for the achievements, gender effects, financial and personal security, housing and emotional health of these women.