Channels and stages in human information processing: A limited analysis of theory and methodology

This article reviews the status of the theoretical construct of capacity. Four basic questions are discussed: (1) What is capacity? (2) How is capacity measured? (3) Is capacity limited? (4) If so, where is it limited? It is claimed that empirical answers to these questions have been unsatisfactory due to theoretical and methodological issues that need be resolved. Data are presented to illustrate such difficulties. The construct of capacity has become more and more vacuous and caution is required whenever capacity is invoked to explain behavior. These problems can be overcome by careful research and well-defined models. Capacity can be a soup stone, a millstone, or a touchstone, depending upon how it is used.     

Training in family systems theory: A group experience

This paper describes the utilization of a family-of-origin group experience in clinical training. This model encourages attention to group process as well as content, as members study both theory and their own families. The potential difficulties and boundary issues that arise in such a group experience are addressed. Case examples are presented that illustrate the nature of the process and the student’s response to the experience.     

Notes on E! III: A theory of descriptions

Philosophical Studies -     

Expectancy-value models of attitudes: A note on the relationship between theory and methodology

Concern has been expressed in the literature regarding the method of scoring ‘beliefs’ within expectancy-value models of attitudes. This paper reviews the major issues and focuses upon some hitherto largely neglected problems with scoring methods. Empirical findings from a series of studies concerned with ‘the theory of reasoned action’ are examined: with a multiplicative Combination of beliefs and evaluations, it is found that bipolar scoring of belief items leads to higher correlations of the summed products of beliefs and evaluations with attitudes than are achieved with unipolar scoring. These findings contrast markedly with recently reported research and indicate the important role played by contextual factors (such as belief content and the response scales presented to subjects). It is concluded that more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between conceptual and methodological issues.     

The psychosomatic family model. A critical analysis of family interaction concepts

The psychosomatic family model of Minuchin and his colleagues is one of the best known and influential viewpoints in the field of family therapy. This article critically analyses this model and related concepts, focusing on the lack of clear definitions, especially with regard to the interactional concepts: enmeshment, rigidity, overprotectiveness, and lack of conflict resolution. Each concept is discussed, concluding with the recommendation of a new definition, so that the model can be empirically verified. The authors suggest that Minuchin's model can be reduced to three fundamental interactional dimensions : the intensity of intrafamilial boundaries, the degree of the family's adaptability, and the family's way of handling conflicts. A research method is presented in which the way of assessing these interactional dimensions is demonstrated.     

The critique of equilibrium theory in economic methodology: A constructive empiricist perspective

Kaldor, one of the leading figures of the post‐war ‘Cambridge School’, has produced a large volume of methodological writings since the mid‐1960s, which we will argue represents one of the major critiques of orthodox equilibrium economic theory produced this century. While Kaldor's position represents a fundamental and radical rejection of the methodological basis of equilibrium economics, he did not provide a systematically formulated alternative methodology for economics. Recent attempts at providing such a reconstruction has argued that scientific realism provides the most convincing philosophical interpretation of Kaldor's methodological contributions. In this paper we will argue that van Fraassen's constructive empiricism represent a more compelling alternative methodological framework to realism for systematizing Kaldor's important contributions. In particular it will be argued that this constructive empiricist reading of Kaldor has the capacity to critically undermine the methodological basis of orthodox equilibrium economics. In addition we explore the potential of this alternative framework to provide a novel and challenging reconstruction of economic methodology.     

Circumplex model of marital and family systems: III. Empirical evaluation with families.

This study was designed to test the circumplex model of family systems that hypothesizes moderate family cohesion and moderate adaptability to be more functional than either extreme. Thirty-one Catholic family triads with daughters ranging in age from 14 to 17 years participated in a structured family interaction game (SIMFAM) and filled out questionnaires that measured the variables of cohesion and adaptability and the facilitative variables of support and creativity. All families were considered normal but were subdivided into those that had more and less difficulty with this adolescent. Analysis of the data yielded considerable support for the circumplex model. High family functioning was associated with moderate family cohesion and adaptability, and low family functioning had extreme scores on these dimensions. As predicted, high family support and creativity were also related to high family functioning. Implications of these findings for family therapy are discussed.     

Normal crises: Stage theory and family therapy

Abstract

The theme of the Twenty-Third Georgetown University Symposium on Family Theory and Family Psychotherapy, held November 8 and 9,1986, in Washington, DC, was Toward a Science of Human Behavior. The program included famed sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson as the Distinguished Guest Lecturer; a special panel discussion about what is involved in moving toward a science of human behavior; a presentation by Murray Bowen, Director of the Georgetown University Family Center; a presentation by Walter Toman, who is well-known for his research on sibling position; and 10 other presentations related to various aspects of family systems theory and therapy.     

Tomberlin,Frege, and Guise theory: A note on the methodology of dia-philosophical comparisons

Conclusion Tomberlin's comparative claims about the superiority of the De Dicto-De Re Account over Guise Theory concerning referential opacity are abortively premature. Nevertheless, he may be right. Yet the order of the day is to develop the De Re-De Dicto Account to the hilt. Not until this is done can any useful dia-philosophical comparison of the two theories yield any fruit. My deep desire is, of course, for the sheer enjoyment of experiencing the world from the perspective of each of the two views, indeed, from the perspective of other views — e.g., Frege's Sense/Referent Theory — that can be developed to the same data-encompassing stage as Guise Theory.     

Towards a theory of collective phenomena. III: Conflicts and forms of power

This paper further develops a new theory of power advanced by the authors in two previous papers (Galam and Moscovici, 1991, 1994). According to this theory power results from the build up of conflicts within a group, these conflicts requiring a degree of organizational complexity which is itselfa decreasing function of group size. Within this approach, power appears to be a composite of three qualitatively different powers, institutional, generative and ecological. Levels and relationships among these forms of power are considered as a function of the diversity of the group. There exist also three states of organization associated with power evolution. At the group initial stage is the paradigmatic state. Creation and inclusion of conflicts are accomplished in the transitional state through the building of complexity. At a critical value of diversity, the group moves into the agonal state in which institutional power vanishes simultaneously with the fusion of generative and ecological powers.     

Longitudinal scalogram analysis: A methodology and microcomputer program for Guttman scale analysis of longitudinal data

Guttman scalogram analysis has been limited to cross-sectional analysis. Longitudinal scalogram analysis (LSA), a direct extension of cross-sectional scalogram analysis to longitudinal-data, is proposed as an alternative methodology. The benefits of LSA relative to cross-sectional methods of analysis are discussed.