The Mosaic Test as a Diagnostic Instrument and as a Technique for Illustrating Intellectual Disorganization

The present study presents a new, unit-weight scoring system for the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). One hundred thirty-one college students completed the DEQ, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The revised DEQ scales were shown to have substantial levels of internal consistency. The three subscales, of the revised DEQ were significantly correlated with the BSRI masculinity and femininity scales but not with gender. Significant correlations were also obtained between DEQ anaclitic. DEQ introjective scales and the BDI.     

The Turing Test as Interactive Proof

In 1950, Alan Turing proposed his eponymous test based on indistinguishability of verbal behavior as a replacement for the question “Can machines think?” Since then, two mutually contradictory but well‐founded attitudes towards the Turing Test have arisen in the philosophical literature. On the one hand is the attitude that has become philosophical conventional wisdom, viz., that the Turing Test is hopelessly flawed as a sufficient condition for intelligence, while on the other hand is the overwhelming sense that were a machine to pass a real live full‐fledged Turing Test, it would be a sign of nothing but our orneriness to deny it the attribution of intelligence. The arguments against the sufficiency of the Turing Test for determining intelligence rely on showing that some extra conditions are logically necessary for intelligence beyond the behavioral properties exhibited by an agent under a Turing Test. Therefore, it cannot follow logically from passing a Turing Test that the agent is intelligent. I argue that these extra conditions can be revealed by the Turing Test, so long as we allow a very slight weakening of the criterion from one of logical proof to one of statistical proof under weak realizability assumptions. The argument depends on the notion of interactive proof developed in theoretical computer science, along with some simple physical facts that constrain the information capacity of agents. Crucially, the weakening is so slight as to make no conceivable difference from a practical standpoint. Thus, the Gordian knot between the two opposing views of the sufficiency of the Turing Test can be cut.     

Coherence as a Test for Truth

This paper sets out to demonstrate that a contrast can be drawn between coherentism as an account of the structure of justification, and coherentism as a method of inquiry. Whereas the former position aims to offer an answer to the 'regress of justification' problem, the latter position claims that coherence plays a vital and indispensable role as a criterion of truth, given the fallibility of cognitive methods such as perception and memory. It is argued that 'early' coherentists like Bradley and Blanshard were coherentists of the latter kind, and that this sort of coherentism is not open to certain sorts of standard objection that can be raised against justificatory coherentism.     

The House-Tree-Person Test as a measure of intelligence and creativity.

The House-Tree-Person test and a verbal test of mental ability, the Basic Word Vocabulary Test, were administered to 23 male and 27 female, university undergraduates and to 27 boys and 38 girls in Grades 3 to 8. The drawings were given three separate and independent scorings by judges who computed intelligence scores according to the House-Person manual; rated them impressionistically on intelligence, using a forced-distribution method; or rated them impressionistically on creativity, using the same forced-distribution method. The three House-Tree-Person measures were highly intercorrelated for all groups of subjects. All three House-Tree-Person scores also correlated positively and significantly with vocabulary test scores for female university students, as did both Impressionistically derived House-Tree-Person scores for grade-school girls. Male students' and boys' vocabulary scores were unrelated to any of the House-Tree-Person scores. Results suggest that competence in graphic expression operates independently of verbal intelligence in males but validity as a nonverbal test of mental ability and that it can be scored efficiently and reliably by using a global, impressionistic method.     

The Affective Ratio in Rorschach's Test as a Function of Age

Divergent values for the Affective Ratio score of Rorschach's test have been reported by Exner and Beck. The results of computation of the scores of 119 school children supported Beck's findings.     

The Bible among Lutherans in America: The ELCA as a Test Case

Abstract: This article describes the biblical hermeneutics that inform the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by comparing the ELCA's tradition of biblical interpretation with that of the Lutheran Church‐Missouri Synod. It sets both against the great social and intellectual challenges of the early twentieth century, including the modernist/fundamentalist controversy. One commonality that surfaces is that both church bodies appropriated pre‐modern hermeneutical impulses for “counter modern” biblical apologetics. In this process the LC‐MS privileged the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy (17^th century) while the ELCA constructed its hermeneutical paradigm through a recovery of the early Reformation (Luther). This observation suggests that both interpretive trajectories need further historical as well as theological review and revision.     

Decision Development in Small Groups V Test of a Contingency Model

This study tested a model of the factors that influence groups to follow various paths as they make decisions. Three panels of contingency variables, which indexed the nature of the group's task and group structure, were used to predict properties of the group's developmental path. The decision path properties included type of decision path, the complexity of the path, the amount of disorganized behavior the group engaged in, and the relative emphasis on various types of decision activity, such as orientation, problem analysis, and solution development. The contingency variables were quite effective in predicting decision paths and their properties. Group structure variables were stronger predictors than were task variables. Results suggested that significant revisions in the original contingency model were necessary. Most notably, the groups appeared to be much more rational in adapting their paths to the contingencies than we had originally supposed they would be.     

On Aristotelianism and Structures as Parts

Aristotelian substance theory tells us that substances have structures (read: forms) as proper parts. This claim has recently been defended by Kathrin Koslicki who dubbed it the ‘Neo‐Aristotelian Thesis.’ Strangely, Aristotelianism has not yet been universally embraced by philosophers – partly because some of its claims, such as the Neo‐Aristotelian Thesis – are viewed by some as counterintuitive at best. In this paper, I argue for Aristotelianism by showing its philosophical usefulness: specifically, I put it to use in saving the metaphysical doctrine of endurantism and some central mereological doctrines (such as Transitivity) from recent attacks. This utility gives us reason to endorse Aristotelianism. Along the way, I defend Koslicki's argument for the Neo‐Aristotelian Thesis from a recent criticism, thus helping provide still more reason to endorse Aristotelianism: namely, Koslicki's vindicated argument.     

The Cognitive Reflection Test as a predictor of performance on heuristics-and-biases tasks

The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT; Frederick, 2005) is designed to measure the tendency to override a prepotent response alternative that is incorrect and to engage in further reflection that leads to the correct response. In this study, we showed that the CRT is a more potent predictor of performance on a wide sample of tasks from the heuristics-and-biases literature than measures of cognitive ability, thinking dispositions, and executive functioning. Although the CRT has a substantial correlation with cognitive ability, a series of regression analyses indicated that the CRT was a unique predictor of performance on heuristics-and-biases tasks. It accounted for substantial additional variance after the other measures of individual differences had been statistically controlled. We conjecture that this is because neither intelligence tests nor measures of executive functioning assess the tendency toward miserly processing in the way that the CRT does. We argue that the CRT is a particularly potent measure of the tendency toward miserly processing because it is a performance measure rather than a self-report measure.     

The Role of Neuroscience Information in Choosing a Personality Test: Not as seductive as expected

There is a large number of different personality tests used by practitioners for selection purposes, many of which are promoted by commercial test publishers and do not measure the Big Five. The present study examined one particular promotion factor used by at least one successful personality test: the influence of a link between the brain and personality on the decision for or against a personality test. This factor was chosen as past research has demonstrated the seductive appeal of neuroscience information on judgments in other areas. Three samples consisting of human resource practitioners, business management students, and psychology students rated two versions of a fictitious personality test, one with neuroscience information and one without. Contrary to our expectations, the personality test with neuroscience information was rated more negatively than the same test without this information. Human resource practitioners in particular reacted negatively, whereas psychology students were not influenced by our manipulation.     

The Rabkin Test as a Means of Detecting and Analyzing Defective Color Vision

This study investigated the attentional and mental-set conditions which determine the acquisition and use of memory schema cues. Ninety male and female undergraduate Ss listened to and shadowed the Bransford-Johnson “washing clothes” paragraph under a variety of conditions defined by cue placement (before or during shadowing), attentional mental set (told of relation of cue to passage, or not told), and modality of cue (given visually or auditorily). It was found that cue placement and cue modality had no effect on subsequent recall of the passage, but that attentional mental set did. It was argued that the data supported a model of the mind that emphasized conscious intention in both attention and schema activation, a position associated with Wilhelm Wundt.     

An Acquaintanceship Questionnaire as a Test of Sociability

Abstract

Symbolic racism and social dominance theories were compared by reanalysis of data from a national probability sample of 234 White Americans and by using observed-variables, structural equation models. Contrary to the conclusions reached by Jessor (1989), the results did not support the major contentions of symbolic racism theory; rather, they seemed more consistent with the assumptions of social dominance theory. The possibility that symbolic racism serves as an important legitimizing myth in American society is discussed.     

Parts function as perceptual organizational entities in infancy

Both objects and parts function as organizational entities in adult perception. Prior research has indicated that objects affect organization early in life: Infants grouped elements located within object boundaries and segregated them from those located on different objects. Here, we examined whether parts also induce grouping in infancy. Five- and 6.5-month-olds were habituated to two-part objects containing element pairs. In a subsequent test, infants treated groupings of elements that crossed part boundaries as novel, in comparison with groupings that had shared a common part during habituation. In contrast, the same arrangement of elements failed to elicit evidence of grouping in control conditions in which the elements were not surrounded by closed part boundaries. Thus, infants grouped and segregated elements on the basis of part structure. Part-based processing is a key aspect of many theories of perception. The present research adds to this literature by indicating that parts function as organizational entities early in life.     

自我决定动机对考试焦虑的影响：拖延行为的不同中介作用

我国约有一半的大学生经受着考试焦虑的困扰。结合国内外已有研究成果,本研究以624名大学生为被试,考察了自我决定动机的3种类型和拖延行为的2种类型对考试焦虑的忧虑性、情绪性的影响。结果发现：(1) 无动机对考试焦虑的2种类型都有正向的直接影响。(2) 唤起性拖延仅对情绪性有正向直接影响,而回避性拖延仅对忧虑性有正向直接影响。(3) 唤起性拖延在无动机影响考试焦虑的情绪性中起了重要的部分中介作用,而回避性拖延在无动机影响考试焦虑的忧虑性中起了重要的部分中介作用。     

The Validity of the Role Construct Repertory Test as a Measure of Sexual Identification

Although the majority of research on Therapeutic Assessment (TA) discusses the application of TA in research or private practice settings, we found that the model could be applied in a community mental health setting. We argue that when implementing this model with racially diverse, low socioeconomic status children, it is essential to integrate issues of class, privilege, and race into the assessment process. A case is presented that illuminates the specific concerns and struggles of adapting this model to a community psychology population. This analysis includes the interface with systems, placement stability, and consideration of culturally responsible treatment. We also demonstrate how the support of a treatment team helps the individual clinician process and integrate the levels of trauma and pain with which these families present.     

汉语作为第二语言的初学者口语能力结构初探

根据口语表达及汉语初学者口语能力的发展特点，拟构了初学者口语能力模型。该模型从语言的成分、情帚特征以及它们相互作用的角度来定义构想，把口语表达分为听一说模式和独白模式两种表达模式，并分别从短语、句子和语段三个层面来考查口语能力。以来华学习汉语半年至一年的留学生共275人为样本，使用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析研究了初学者口语能力模型与实测数据的拟合程度，结果表明拟合程度良好，模型得到了验证。