Frankfurt versus Frankfurt: a new anti-causalist dawn

There is an important anomaly to the causalist/compatibilist paradigm in the philosophy of action and free will. This anomaly, which to my knowledge has gone unnoticed so far, can be found in the philosophy of Harry Frankfurt. Two of his most important contributions to the field – his influential counterexample to the Principle of Alternate Possibilities and his ‘guidance’ view of action – are incompatible. Frankfurt's counterexample to the Principle works only if we do not understand action as Frankfurt does in his guidance account. If, on the other hand, we understand agency in terms of the agent's guidance, then his counterexample to the Principle fails because, then, counterfactual scenarios of Frankfurt-type counterexamples are such that what happens does not count as the relevant agent's action. So Frankfurt-type counterexamples do not show that the agent could not have avoided acting as she did: so they fail to offer a scenario in which the agent is intuitively responsible even though she could not have avoided acting as she did. Therefore, Frankfurt-type counterexamples do not challenge the Principle, according to which ‘a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise’. The importance of this inconsistency goes far beyond the issue of coherence within Frankfurt's philosophy. I shall argue that this inconsistency represents an important anomaly within the causalist/compatibilist framework; so that we should start to seriously consider having to move on from the established paradigm.     

A humanistic psychology for the new millennium

In this article, it is contended that for the past century psychology has not lived up to its mandate as a trusted guide for the establishment of a well-functioning society. Ten responsibilities of an enlightened psychology for the new millennium that are based on humanistic values are discussed.     

Mental lexicon research in the new millennium

This article presents an overview of current research on the mental lexicon, as it is represented by articles in the spring 2002 Special Issue of Brain and Language. We examine current findings in terms of language, task, and population effects associated with how words are presented and processed in the mind. We discuss how such mental representations may be linked to neurological instantiations and address the issue of ecological validity in the field. These discussions are organized in order to both provide an overview of the issues and to enable the reader to locate specific articles that bear on these issues. Finally, we present an organizational framework for the characterization of mental lexicon research within which challenges for advancement are isolated.     

Issues in comparative psychology at the dawn of the 20th century

Comparative psychology emerged as part of the "new psychology" that took hold in the United States around 1900. Many of the issues that have occupied comparative psychologists throughout the 20th century were developed as research problems during this period. In some respects, comparative psychology was then an integral and widely respected part of psychology at large; in others, it was already marginalized. Issues emerging during this critical period set the program for the upcoming century and included those of methodology in the conduct of experiments and conceptual issues related to evolution, development, intelligence, and higher processes.     

Psychological applications on the internet: A discipline on the threshold of a new millennium

The rapid developments in computers and information technology over the past decade has had an impact on psychology, which has moved in this context from local computer applications to network applications that take advantage of the Internet. This article critically reviews various psychological applications in use on the Internet, with special emphasis given to their promises and advantages as well as to their shortcomings and problems. Specifically, 10 types of psychological Internet applications are reviewed: information resources on psychological concepts and issues; self-help guides; psychological testing and assessment; help in deciding to undergo therapy; information about specific psychological services; single-session psychological advice through e-mail or c-bulletin boards; ongoing personal counseling and therapy through e-mail; real-time counseling through chat, web telephony, and videoconferencing; synchronous and asynchronous support groups, discussion groups, and group counseling; and psychological and social research. Following a discussion of ethical and related concerns, a call is voiced for intensive research and international brainstorming.     

Acoustic resonance at the dawn of life: musical fundamentals of the psychoanalytic relationship

This paper uses a case vignette to show how musical elements of speech are a crucial source of information regarding the patient's emotional states and associated memory systems that are activated at a given moment in the analytic field. There are specific psychoacoustic markers associated with different memory systems which indicate whether a patient is immersed in a state of creative intersubjective relatedness related to autobiographical memory, or has been triggered into a traumatic memory system. When a patient feels immersed in an atmosphere of intersubjective mutuality, dialogue features a rhythmical and tuneful form of speech featuring improvized reciprocal imitation, theme and variation. When the patient is catapulted into a traumatic memory system, speech becomes monotone and disjointed. Awareness of such acoustic features of the traumatic memory system helps to alert the analyst that such a shift has taken place informing appropriate responses and interventions. Communicative musicality (Malloch & Trevarthen 2009) originates in the earliest non‐verbal vocal communication between infant and care‐giver, states of primary intersubjectivity. Such musicality continues to be the primary vehicle for transmitting emotional meaning and for integrating right and left hemispheres. This enables communication that expresses emotional significance, personal value as well as conceptual reasoning.     

Families and family psychology at the millennium. Intersecting crossroads

This introduction to the International Perspectives section presents a global overview of various issues and trends that families and family psychologists confront at the beginning of the 21st century. These are presented in broad strokes so that a kaleidoscopic intermingling of pieces emerges. Some predictions are included about new and expanding directions the field of family psychology is likely to take in coming decades. The need for additional research to field test criteria sets for emerging relational diagnosis and to evaluate which are the most efficacious therapeutic interventions is highlighted (F. W. Kaslow, 1987, 1995b). This section also includes 3 other articles on various aspects of family psychology by leading psychologists from 3 diverse countries and continents--the Virgin Islands (R. Dudley-Grant, 2001), Israel (E. Halpern, 2001), and Japan (K. Kameguchi, 2001). Each is representative of the larger region in which each author teaches and practices. These articles are intended to present a collage of some of the problems families are experiencing, future trends, and a call to action for psychologists to intervene to prevent and ameliorate family distress. Each author describes the history and current status of family psychology in his or her country and relates key dilemmas to what is happening on the world scene.     

Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research.

The field of organizational justice continues to be marked by several important research questions, including the size of relationships among justice dimensions, the relative importance of different justice criteria, and the unique effects of justice dimensions on key outcomes. To address such questions, the authors conducted a meta-analytic review of 183 justice studies. The results suggest that although different justice dimensions are moderately to highly related, they contribute incremental variance explained in fairness perceptions. The results also illustrate the overall and unique relationships among distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice and several organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, evaluation of authority, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal, performance). These findings are reviewed in terms of their implications for future research on organizational justice.     

That "vision thing": the state of theory in social and personality psychology at the edge of the new millennium.

Social psychololgy's status as a theoretical discipline is assessed. Whereas it has excelled as an experimental science, the field has generally eschewed broad theorizing and tended to limit its conceptualizations to relatively narrow, "mid-range" notions closely linked to the operational level of analysis. Such "theory shyness" may have spawned several negative consequences, including the tendency to invent new names for old concepts, fragmentation of the field, and isolation from the general cultural dialogue. Recently, steps have been taken to encourage greater theoretical activity by social psychologists, and there are now several major outlets for theoretical contributions. Further initiatives are needed, however, to instigate theoretical creativity, including ways of overcoming disciplinary risk aversion and the training of young social psychologists in ways and means of theory construction.