The origin of conditional logic: does a cheater detection module exist?

The domain-specific hypothesis of L. Cosmides (1989) and L. Cosmides and J. Tooby (1989, 1992) positing that conditional logic has its origin in the evolution of social exchange and in the detection of potential cheaters was tested against a more domain-general hypothesis positing that adult reasoning is logical and that errors in conditional reasoning arise from misunderstandings, not from a lack of logicality. The results of 5 experiments with undergraduate students (n = 682 for Experiments 1-4; n = 188 for Experiment 5), which involved a series of selection tasks that yielded specific predictions about participant performance, were not consistent with the cheater detection hypothesis. Findings supported the misunderstandings hypothesis and imply that adults possess general-purpose logical competence versus domain-specific modules.     

Does heart rate differentiate neurotic from normal people in a conditional reflex test?

This study is to compare heart reactivity between normals and anxiety neurotic patients. Five male and five female patients with anxiety neurosis and four male and five female normal persons were submitted to classic delayed conditional reflexes with different probabilities of reinforcement (shock), to a defensive instrumental conditional reflex, and to a neutral nonreinforced stimulus. The basal heart frequency was higher in neurotics and in women than in normals and men. The conditional stimulus (CS) associated with a shock generally produced a bradycardia in normal individuals and in neurotic men, but a tachycardia in neurotic women (effects most pronounced in cases with 100% shock probability). The instrumental CS caused a tachycardia in all of the groups, with highest values in neurotic women. The neutral stimulus produced bradycardia in all persons. The aftereffect of the light stimulus depended on whether a shock was administered and on the CS. The differences between neurotics and normals are explained as caused by the heightened excitatory level of the CNS of the neurotic group, produced by the unspecific activating effect of chronic anxiety, and differences of plastic processes in both groups, resulting in different effects of phasic anxiety on the heart. Complex inhibitory-excitatory interactions of the sympathetic and the vagal system underlying the heart rate changes may be assumed. Possible mechanisms leading to sex differences are discussed.     

Is everyday experience dysfunctional for the development of conditional reasoning?

According to “Comprehension theory” improved performance on invalid conditional syllogisms is a function of the ability to dissociate from a biconditional interpretation. Given that biconditional interpretation is typically used in inferring from everyday conditionals (i.e., circumstantial conditionals), the accumulation of everyday experience should reinforce its usage rather than weaken it and, hence, be dysfunctional in solving invalid conditional syllogisms. This study examines the hypothesis that certain kinds of experiences that are unique to schooling account for improved performance on invalid problems with age. The study estimated the independent effects of age and schooling in Grades 5 and 6 on scores obtained on invalid conditional and class syllogisms. The results point to a negative, albeit very small effect of out-of-school experience and to a considerable positive effect of schooling. Hence, contrary to other cognitive tasks in which schooling operates in the same direction as out-of-school experience, in this case, it apparently breaks daily-life interpretational habits and therefore is crucial for the developmental process.     

The boundaries of minimization as a technique for improving affect: good for the goose but not for the gander?

Research on minimization as a coping strategy suggests that it alleviates negative affect following threats. In contrast, research on minimization as a support‐giving strategy suggests that it does more harm than good. Does this mean that minimization works when it is self‐generated, but does not when it is offered by others? The present study examined the effect of self‐ and externally‐ generated minimizations on people with high and low self‐esteem following a self‐threat. Results suggest that externally‐generated minimizations do not alleviate negative affect when they occur before the recipient has had time to cope. Discussion centers around the implications of these findings for past research, as well as distinctions between how people with low versus high self‐esteem cope with negative events.     

What makes us believe a conditional? The roles of covariation and causality

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the roles of covariation and of causality in people's readiness to believe a conditional. The experiments used a probabilistic truth-table task (Oberauer & Wilhelm, 2003 Oberauer, K. and Wilhelm, O. 2003. The meaning(s) of conditionals: Conditional probabilities, mental models, and personal utilities. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 29: 680–693. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in which people estimated the probability of a conditional given information about the frequency distribution of truth-table cases. For one group of people, belief in the conditional was determined by the conditional probability of the consequent, given the antecedent, whereas for another group it depended on the probability of the conjunction of antecedent and consequent. There was little evidence that covariation, expressed as the probabilistic contrast or as the pCI rule (White, 2003 White, P. A. 2003. Making causal judgements from the proportion of confirming instances: The pCI rule. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29: 710–727.  [Google Scholar]), influences belief in the conditional. The explicit presence of a causal link between antecedent and consequent in a context story had a weak positive effect on belief in a conditional when the frequency distribution of relevant cases was held constant.     

The Biomedical Paradigm and the Nobel Prize: Is It Time for a Change?

An examination of the early history of Nobel Committee deliberations, coupled with a survey of discoveries for which prizes have been awarded to date – and, equally revealing, discoveries for which prizes have not been awarded – reveals a pattern. This pattern suggests that Committee members may have internalized the received, biomedical model and conferred awards in accord with the physicalistic premises that ground this model. I consider the prospect of a paradigm change in medical science and the possible repercussions of such a change on the distribution of Nobel prizes within the domain of physiology or medicine. For expository purposes, I contrast a model based on a science of pathophysiology with one based on a science of pathopsychophysiology. I propose a means whereby members might minimize the potentially blinding effects of model-dependence and come to evaluate medical discoveries from an inter-model rather than an exclusively intra-model perspective. By bringing to light questions rarely asked and proposing answers, I seek to open a dialogue and furnish a vehicle by which the putative delimiting effects of model-dependence might be overcome.     

The neural substrate for dreaming: is it a subsystem of the default network?

Building on the content, developmental, and neurological evidence that there are numerous parallels between waking cognition and dreaming, this article argues that the likely neural substrate that supports dreaming, which was discovered through converging lesion and neuroimaging studies, may be a subsystem of the waking default network, which is active during mind wandering, daydreaming, and simulation. Support for this hypothesis would strengthen the case for a more general neurocognitive theory of dreaming that starts with established findings and concepts derived from studies of waking cognition and neurocognition. If this theory is correct, then dreaming may be the quintessential cognitive simulation because it is often highly complex, often includes a vivid sensory environment, unfolds over a duration of a few minutes to a half hour, and is usually experienced as real while it is happening.     

The Church and the World: Are There Theological Resources for a Common Conversation?

Abortion is an especially salient issue for considering thegeneral problematic of religiously based conversation in thepublic square. It remains deeply divisive, fully thirty-fouryears after Roe v. Wade. Such divisiveness cannot be interpretedas merely an expression of profound differences between "secular"and "religious" voices, because differences also emerge amongChristian denominations, reflecting different sources of moralauthority, different accounts of moral discernment, and differentjudgments about the appropriate relations between law and moralityin the context of pluralism. As this paper explores, however,despite those differences, a generally identifiable "Christian"position concerning the moral status of abortion can be distinguishedfrom secular philosophical judgments on the issue, which isimportant for Christian engagement with public policy debate.     

Children's understanding of the relation between delayed video representation and current reality: a test for self-awareness?

This study investigated whether children's ability to recognize themselves in delayed video feedback indicates changes in self-awareness (Povinelli, Landau, & Perilloux, 1996, Child Development, 67, 1540-1554). Children were presented with 3-min-old videos of themselves to test whether they would investigate the current state of affairs upon seeing a surprising element in the video. In one condition, a sticker had been covertly placed into the child's hair, and in another an object had been hidden in a box. Both conditions proved equally difficult and performance correlated. Four-year-olds performed better than 3-year-olds, and children who failed the tasks retrieved the "surprise" item when presented with a mirror. There was no evidence to suggest that children's difficulties were due to immature metarepresentational thinking, lack of experience, problems with the questions, or problems appreciating the correspondence between image and referent. Yet, the parallel results in both conditions and the likelihood of false positives and false negatives indicate that the video test in its present form may not be a valid measure of differences in self-awareness.     

The Rorschach: projective technique or psychometric test?

Various approaches to the Rorschach Technique are described in terms of the idiographic-nomothetic axis and the perceptual-content axis. It is suggested that it is most productive to view the Rorschach as a projective tool, with perceptual scoring a secondary factor. Current efforts at objectification of the Rorschach are not seen as useful as efforts to enhance its projective qualities. Some possible ways are discussed in which the projective value of the instrument can be maximized.     

The Sustainable Development Goals: a plan for building a better world?

Despite some clear positives, the draft text of the Sustainable Development Goals does not fulfill its self-proclaimed purpose of inspiring and guiding a concerted international effort to eradicate severe poverty everywhere in all of its forms. We offer some critical comments on the proposed agreement and suggest 10 ways to embolden the goals and amplify their appeal and moral power. While it may well be true that the world's poor are better off today than their predecessors were decades or centuries ago, to judge whether this is moral progress, we must bring into view what was possible then and what is possible now. We may well find that there have never been so many people avoidably subjected to life-threatening deprivations as there are today, and if this is the case, we should insist that our governments end this oppression immediately through appropriate institutional reforms to be prominently outlined in their post-2015 agenda.     

Sea for the landlocked: a sustainable development goal?

Outside Europe landlocked states are poor: 16 are extremely poor and another 16 very poor. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognise their lack of sea-access as a major cause of their reduced chances of escaping poverty and reaching the stated goals. This paper proposes including corridors to the sea and other forms of sea-access among the SDGs. It also discusses objections to doing so that appeal to the rejection of global egalitarian arguments, to the possibility of compensating those countries for their disadvantage rather than removing it, and to the territorial rights of the coastal countries. The paper concludes that none of these objections to the corridors, and a fortiori to the less ambitious remedies of the Almaty and Vienna Programmes, withstands scrutiny.     

Negation as a means for emotion regulation? Startle reflex modulation during processing of negated emotional words

This study investigated startle reflex modulation in 33 healthy student participants during the processing of negated emotional items. To build upon previous research, our particular interest was to find out whether processing of negated emotional items modulates emotional responding in line with the logical meaning of the negated expression, or instead leads to paradox emotional effects that point in the direction opposite the one logically implied by the negation. Startle reflex modulation was assessed during silent reading of pleasant and unpleasant nouns. The nouns were either paired with the possessive pronoun my or with the negation word no. The startle eyeblink amplitude was enhanced during processing of the unpleasant pronoun–noun phrases and attenuated during processing of the pleasant phrases. Negation attenuated the startle eyeblink for negated unpleasant nouns and enhanced it for negated pleasant nouns. In line with this finding, negation decreased arousal ratings for unpleasant nouns and reversed the valence ratings for pleasant nouns. Our results are the first to show an effect of negation on both peripheral physiological and subjective indices of affective responding. Our results suggest that negation may be an effective strategy for spontaneous down-regulation of emotional responses to unpleasant, but not to pleasant, stimuli.     

Wrestling with the future: should we test children for adult-onset genetic conditions?

Genetics professionals have been reluctant to test children for adult-onset conditions because they believe this would create psychosocial harm to children not counterbalanced by significant benefits. An additional concern they express is that such testing would violate the autonomy of these children as adults. Yet weighing the harms and benefits of such testing results in a draw, with no substantial harms proven. Moreover, such testing can enhance, rather than violate the adult autonomy of these children. In deciding whether to proceed with predictive testing of children, parents, mature children, and health care professionals should consider a complex of factors relevant to the particular child. The importance of these factors will vary depending on the condition at issue, the age and stage of development of the child, family dynamics, and the concerns, values, and objectives of the parents and mature child. The final decision whether to test a child for an adult-onset condition should rest with the parents and the mature child.     

Is the matching familiar figures test a measure of cognitive style? A warning for users

A probabilistic model of reflection-impulsivity as measured by the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) is presented and tested on 77 fourth graders. In testing the model two groups emerged, a random response group (n = 22) and a cognitive response group (n = 55), who use the evaluation process. Correlations among latencies, total errors, initial errors, school-scores, and IQs were compared for our total sample and the two groups. The correlation of MFFT latencies and errors disappeared for the random-response group and new correlations with errors appeared while the cognitive response group kept a statistically significant correlation of latencies with errors and no other error correlation was shown. This last group was classified by Kagan's median-split procedure showing that most reflective subjects kept their classification. Preliminary results suggest a reinterpretation of reflection-impulsivity literature, especially as related to the impulsive style.     

The self: Your own worst enemy? A test of the self-invoking trigger hypothesis

The self-invoking trigger hypothesis was proposed by Wulf and Lewthwaite [Wulf, G., & Lewthwaite, R. (2010). Effortless motor learning? An external focus of attention enhances movement effectiveness and efficiency. In B. Bruya (Ed.), Effortless attention: A new perspective in attention and action (pp. 75–101). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press] as a mechanism underlying the robust effect of attentional focus on motor learning and performance. One component of this hypothesis, relevant beyond the attentional focus effect, suggests that causing individuals to access their self-schema will negatively impact their learning and performance of a motor skill. The purpose of the present two studies was to provide an initial test of the performance and learning aspects of the self-invoking trigger hypothesis by asking participants in one group to think about themselves between trial blocks—presumably activating their self-schema—to compare their performance and learning to that of a control group. In Experiment 1, participants performed 2 blocks of 10 trials on a throwing task. In one condition, participants were asked between blocks to think about their past throwing experience. While a control group maintained their performance across blocks, the self group's performance was degraded on the second block. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to practice a wiffleball hitting task on two separate days. Participants returned on a third day to perform retention and transfer tests without the self-activating manipulation. Results indicated that the self group learned the hitting task less effectively than the control group. The findings reported here provide initial support for the self-invoking trigger hypothesis.     

The optimal structure for psychoanalytic education today: a feasible proposal?

Our psychoanalytic training system, close to a century old, has been subjected to increasing criticism, starting shortly after its creation, for failing to properly fulfill its avowed purposes. The most intense critiques have centered around the authoritarian power lodged in a self-selected training analyst elite, the inadequate development of a psychoanalytic research tradition, and the isolation of our educational structure from cognate disciplines concerned with human mental life, owing to its private and part-time nature, apart from the university with its spectrum of biological and human sciences. Efforts to reform this system, including the establishment of psychoanalytic institutes within medical school departments of psychiatry, and the further call for their autonomous placement within the university at large, with full-time students and faculty, have been only partially successful and have not become widespread. The values of the newly emerging multifaceted psychoanalytic center as the best currently achievable fundamental reform are presented.     

Self-analysis: a fool for a patient?

In this paper I first reviewed the scanty publications on the subject of self-analysis. Although it was recommended by Freud as early as 1910 for every analyst, self-analysis turns out to have many pitfalls and to be quite a complicated and controversial procedure. There is no agreement on the proper technique of self-analysis in the literature, nor is there any discussion of the determinants of the particular choice of technique of self-analysis that is employed, nor even of the reasons why some analysts do not engage in it at all. Using clinical data gathered from written material of many years of self-analysis following the termination of a successful training psychoanalysis, I have attempted to elucidate some of the problems posed by this procedure. These problems are in some ways similar to formal psychoanalysis, but are in some ways contingent on the fact that it is basically a different technique. It is a solitary occupation and therefore suffers from the dangers of disintegration into autism, narcissism, and obsessional rumination. There is no living presence of an analyst to serve either as a transference figure or to make interpretations and stimulate the production of material. The identification with the analyst's analyzing function is far from simple in self-analysis because of the complex nature of the various internalizations of the analyst that take place over years of a formal training analysis. Thus, Ticho (1967) is correct when she claimed that self-analysis is a skill that the analysand has to acquire by himself or herself. An important phase of the beginning of self-analysis involves the working through of the separation from the psychoanalyst and the re-evaluation of the analyst and the analytic process. This results in a heightened sense of independence and autonomy, increased cohesion of the self, and maturation--which is manifested by greater autonomous ego functioning, a more mature sense of identity, and continued transformations of narcissism which highly valuable goals, on the basis of the data I have presented, can be approached through the process of self-analysis. Above all this stands the most important goal of self-analysis, the understanding of one's countertransference reactions. This is especially important in the treatment of seriously disturbed patients who become disruptive, and thus get labeled borderline, often as a response to unconscious countertransference manifestations from the analyst which are then experienced in the self-object transference as failures in empathy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)