A masking approach to the problem of form perception

The effects of deletion of certain components of a dotted triangle are studied, using a masking technique. Masking interference is achieved by varying the density of randomly placed dots within which stimulus triangles must be detected. The results of the study indicate that deletion of the dots composing the corners of the triangles decreases performance no more than deletion of an equivalent number of randomly chosen dots. However, the detectability of the line of dots composing the sides is functionally related to the recognition of the orientation of the triangle. The results suggest that the relationship of the parts of such a stimulus figure may be more important than the specific parts themselves.     

A critique of the microcounselling approach to problem understanding

Microcounselling approaches involve teaching the component behaviours of effective counselling or interviewing within a problem-solving framework. Egan, Ivey and Carkhuff, as proponents of this view, stress that later action stages of the problem-solving cycle should be based on an adequate understanding of the client's problem. The relationship between the skills which comprise the microcounselling approach and the goal of problem understanding is examined. It is argued that the approach lacks any explanation of how problem understanding is reached, and that it concentrates instead on the communication techniques involved in the discovery and modification of the client's understanding. This omission leaves counsellors without a rationale for the modification of their clients' views and without a means to regulate their use of the various microskills. Information theory and recent research on complex problem-solving are introduced to explain the skills involved in reaching a high-quality understanding of a client's problem. Given that these complex cognitive processes are not addressed in the microcounselling approach, suggestions are made for its modification.     

A set-theoretical approach to the problem of hierarchical clustering

A set-theoretical formalization is developed for the problem of generating hierarchically organized collections of subsets, or to use a phrase common in the applied substantive literature, for the problem of hierarchical clustering. A number of terms are introduced to characterize those clustering methods that attempt to limit the size of the overlap between each pair of subsets constructed at a specific “compactness” level. Several examples, motivated primarily by graph theory, are discussed briefly to illustrate the various set-theoretical concepts presented.     

A new solution to the problem of luck

The issue of whether and how we have the control necessary for freedom and moral responsibility is central to all control accounts of freedom and moral responsibility. The problem of luck for libertarians aims to show that indeterministic agents are ill-equipped with the control required for freedom and moral responsibility. In view of this, we must either endorse scepticism about the possibility of free and morally responsible agents, or make some form of, possibly revisionary, compatibilism work. In this paper, I shall offer a new solution to the problem of luck for libertarians. After outlining the problem of luck, I shall argue that, given a particular approach to mental causation, indeterminism can be viewed as an essential requirement of free and morally responsible action. After this, I shall distinguish between different types of inability and show how this provides us with a solution to the problem of luck. Finally, I shall consider some advantages and objections to the proposed solution.     

A new approach to explain aggression

Two separate experiments are reported. They show the methodological difficulties and subsequent conceptual complications in Berkowitz's modified frustration-aggression theory and Zillman's theory of aggression. There was a marginally significant difference in the verbal measure of aggression favouring subjects aroused by frustration over subjects aroused by exercise, but not on the behavioral measure of aggression. Exp. II was conducted to test an alternative hypothesis, deduced from Fraisse's theory of emotion, which states that subjects respond more aggressively when confronted with unexpected than with expected annoyance. All six measures of aggression confirmed the hypothesis. The results of these two experiments indicate conceptual and methodological difficulties inherent in Berkowitz's modified frustration-aggression theory and Zillman's theory of aggression; they also suggest that Fraisse's theory of emotion presents a better model of aggression.     

A new approach to pastoral counseling

Pastoral Psychology -     

A new approach to manipulation arguments

There are several argumentative strategies for advancing the thesis that moral responsibility is incompatible with causal determinism. One prominent such strategy is to argue that agents who meet compatibilist conditions for moral responsibility can nevertheless be subject to responsibility-undermining manipulation. In this paper, I argue that incompatibilists advancing manipulation arguments against compatibilism have been shouldering an unnecessarily heavy dialectical burden. Traditional manipulation arguments present cases in which manipulated agents meet all compatibilist conditions for moral responsibility, but are (allegedly) not responsible for their behavior. I argue, however, that incompatibilists can make do with the more modest (and harder to resist) claim that the manipulation in question is mitigating with respect to moral responsibility. The focus solely on whether a manipulated agent is or is not morally responsible has, I believe, masked the full force of manipulation-style arguments against compatibilism. Here, I aim to unveil their real power.     

A semantics-based approach to the "no negative evidence" problem

Previous studies have shown that children retreat from argument-structure overgeneralization errors (e.g., * Don't giggle me ) by inferring that frequently encountered verbs are unlikely to be grammatical in unattested constructions, and by making use of syntax-semantics correspondences (e.g., verbs denoting internally caused actions such as giggling cannot normally be used causatively). The present study tested a new account based on a unitary learning mechanism that combines both of these processes. Seventy-two participants (ages 5–6, 9–10, and adults) rated overgeneralization errors with higher (* The funny man's joke giggled Bart ) and lower (* The funny man giggled Bart ) degrees of direct external causation. The errors with more-direct causation were rated as less unacceptable than those with less-direct causation. This finding is consistent with the new account, under which children acquire—in an incremental and probabilistic fashion—the meaning of particular constructions (e.g., transitive causative = direct external causation) and particular verbs, rejecting generalizations where the incompatibility between the two is too great.     

A new semantical approach to the logic of preference

A possible world semantics for preference is developed. The remainder operator () is used to give precision to the notion that two states of the world are as similar as possible, given a specified difference between them. A general structure is introduced for preference relations between states of affairs, and three types of such preference relations are defined. It is argued that one of them, actual preference, corresponds closely to the concept of preference in informal discourse. Its logical properties are studied and shown to be plausible.     

An approach to the problem of differential prediction

A procedure for maximizing selective efficiency is developed for application to situations in which it is desired to select from a single group of applicants for several possible assignments. The problem of comparable units for the several criteria whose values must be compared to each other for differential assignment purposes is discussed. It is demonstrated that, assuming linear regressions, maximal selection is obtained if individuals in any given assignment are differentiated from those rejected according to critical rejection scores on the multiple weighted sum of the predictors and from another possible assignment by critical difference scores which are merely the differences between the two critical rejection scores. Since the relationships just indicated give no way of determining the magnitude of the critical scores required to select the required number of persons for each assignment, a successive approximation procedure for accomplishing this purpose has been devised and a computational example is worked out.The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not to be construed as official or as those of the War Department.     

A new argument for the phenomenal approach to personal persistence

Philosophical Studies - When it comes to personal identity, two approaches have long ruled the roost. The first is the psychological approach, which has it that our persistence through time...     

A new cognitive behavioural approach to the treatment of obesity

While behavioural approaches to the management of obesity are often successful in achieving clinically significant weight loss, the weight lost is generally regained. The great majority of patients return to their pre-treatment weight within 3 years. There have been attempts to improve the long-term effectiveness of behavioural treatment but the results have been disappointing. In this paper we suggest that, among other factors, this is because of the neglect of the contribution of cognitive factors to weight regain, and because there is often ambiguity over the goals of treatment. We present a cognitive behavioural analysis of the processes involved in weight regain, and we describe a new cognitive behavioural treatment derived from it. This treatment is designed to minimise the problem of weight regain by addressing psychological obstacles to the acquisition of, and long-term adherence to, effective weight-control behaviour.