The Model Theoretic Argument, Indirect Realism, and the Causal Theory of Reference Objection

Abstract: Hilary Putnam has reformulated his model-theoretic argument as an argument against indirect realism in the philosophy of perception. This new argument is reviewed and defended. Putnam's new focus on philosophical theories of perception (instead of metaphysical realism) makes better sense of his previous responses to the objection from the causal theory of reference. It is argued that the model-theoretic argument can also be construed as an argument that holders of a causal theory of reference should adopt direct realism in the philosophy of perception.     

Temperament,Hopelessness, and Attempted Suicide: Direct and Indirect Effects

This study evaluated whether hopelessness mediated the relations between temperament and recent suicide attempter status in a psychiatric sample. Negative temperament and positive temperament (particularly the positive emotionality subscale) uniquely predicted levels of hopelessness. Although these temperament constructs also demonstrated significant indirect effects on recent suicide attempter status, the effects were partially (for the broad temperament scales) or fully (for the positive emotionality subscale) mediated by the levels of hopelessness. These findings indicate that a tendency to experience excessive negative emotions as well as a paucity of positive emotions may lead individuals to experience hopelessness. Although temperament may also indirectly influence suicide attempter status, hopelessness mediates these relations.     

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Inadmissible Evidence1

College students (N= 270) assigned to six-person mock juries read summaries of a murder trial and then evaluated the defendant's guilt both before and after group discussion. The strength of the prosecution's case was manipulated, as was the inclusion of extra wiretapping evidence that favored the prosecution or the defense and was ruled admissible or inadmissible by the judge. Whether it favored the prosecution or the defense, inadmissible evidence directly biased subjects' reactions toward the defendant and indirectly biased their behaviors during the group discussions. None of these effects varied with the strength of the prosecution's case. The results also showed that the direct effects of inadmissible evidence were at least partially mediated by its indirect effects, suggesting that the process of deliberation can potentially help jurors to control the influence of inadmissible evidence on their decisions.     

Parental Contributions to Preschoolers' Emotional Competence: Direct and Indirect Effects

The present study examines the contributions of (1) parental socialization of emotion and preschoolers' emotional interaction with parents to their emotional competence, and (2) parental socialization and child emotional competence to their general social competence. Both observational and self-report techniques were used to measure emotion socialization, emotional competence, and social competence of preschoolers (average age = 49.8 months) from 60 middle-socioeconomic-status families. Data were collected in both classroom and home settings. In general, the results suggest that parental modeling of expressive styles and emotional responsiveness to child emotions are important predictors of preschoolers' emotional competence and their overall social competence. Children whose parents were more affectively positive tended to display more positive emotion with peers, whereas children whose parents were more negative appeared less socially competent in the preschool. Parents who were better coaches of their children's emotions had children who understood emotions better. Age and sex moderated several of the study's key findings. The results are consistent with earlier research indicating that parental socialization of emotion impacts the child's emotional and social functioning both at home and in the preschool.     

ERP Correlates of Directed Forgetting Effects in Direct and Indirect Memory Tests

Directed forgetting effects on direct (recognition) and indirect (categorisation) memory tests were analysed using electrophysiological (ERPs) and behavioural (RT and accuracy) measures. These effects were evaluated in relation to the two main hypotheses traditionally proposed to explain them (i.e. the differential rehearsal and inhibition hypotheses). In the study phase, 100 words were presented, each followed by either a remember (R) or a forget (F) instruction. In the test phase, half of the subjects performed a recognition task (old vs new words) and the other half did a categorisation task (concrete vs abstract words). In the study phase, ERPs following Rinstruction differed from those elicited by F-instruction, being more positive in the first 400 msec post-stimulus and becoming less positive from 400 to 800 msec. In the test phase, the effects of the forgetting manipulation were quite clear in the recognition test, affecting both ERP (from 200 to 300 and from 500 to 700 msec) and behavioural measures, but these effects did not appear in the categorisation test. The old/new effects were reflected in the behavioural measures corresponding to both tests, but with the ERP measures they appeared only in the recognition task from 500 to 700 msec. The lack of directed forgetting effects in the indirect test is in line with the differential rehearsal hypothesis. However, the forgetting manipulation produced a short-latency effect (200-300 msec) in the ERPs obtained in the recognition test that is difficult to explain based on that hypothesis. This finding suggests the existence of inhibitory mechanisms, although operating only when conscious access to the previous learning episode is required.     

Direct and Indirect Effects of Behavioral Parent Training on Infant Language Production

Given the strong association between early behavior problems and language impairment, we examined the effect of a brief home-based adaptation of Parent–child Interaction Therapy on infant language production. Sixty infants (55% male; mean age 13.47 ± 1.31 months) were recruited at a large urban primary care clinic and were included if their scores exceeded the 75th percentile on a brief screener of early behavior problems. Families were randomly assigned to receive the home-based parenting intervention or standard pediatric primary care. The observed number of infant total (i.e., token) and different (i.e., type) utterances spoken during an observation of an infant-led play and a parent-report measure of infant externalizing behavior problems were examined at pre- and post-intervention and at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Infants receiving the intervention demonstrated a significantly higher number of observed different and total utterances at the 6-month follow-up compared to infants in standard care. Furthermore, there was an indirect effect of the intervention on infant language production, such that the intervention led to decreases in infant externalizing behavior problems from pre- to post-intervention, which, in turn, led to increases in infant different utterances at the 3- and 6-month follow-ups and total utterances at the 6-month follow-up. Results provide initial evidence for the effect of this brief and home-based intervention on infant language production, including the indirect effect of the intervention on infant language through improvements in infant behavior, highlighting the importance of targeting behavior problems in early intervention.     

Direct and Indirect Effects of Operations Tempo on Outcomes for Soldiers and Spouses

The purpose of this article was to integrate 2 models linking work and family. The first model, coming primarily from the military literature, suggested that working conditions are directly related to outcomes. The second model, found primarily in the civilian literature, suggested that in addition to being directly related, working conditions are also related to outcomes indirectly through work–family conflict (WFC). An integrated model including both direct and indirect relations was developed and then tested using separate samples of soldiers and spouses. Generally, the results support the integrated model in that both direct and indirect relations were found. Across both samples, working conditions associated with operations tempo had a direct relation to Army outcomes and an indirect relation, through WFC, to family outcomes.     

Biology as Politics: The Direct and Indirect Effects of Lewontin and Levins

Lewontin and Levins's contributions are viewed from four angles: a more vigorous culture of science criticism; a visible college of Marxist scientists in the USA; inquiries into the diverse social influences shaping science; and motivating readers who want to pursue their science as a political project. Indirect contributions—influences on and appropriations by other actors in the wider realm of biology as politics—are discussed as well as the more direct effects.     

The Effects of Caffeine Consumption on Direct and Indirect Majority and Minority Influence

A study is reported that examines the effect of caffeine consumption on majority and minority influence. In a double blind procedure, 72 participants consumed an orange drink, which either contained caffeine (3.5mg per kilogram of body weight) or did not (placebo). After a 40-minute delay, participants read a counter-attitudinal message (antivoluntary euthanasia) endorsed by either a numerical majority or minority. Both direct (message issue, i.e., voluntary euthanasia) and indirect (message issue-related, i.e., abortion) change was assessed by attitude scales completed before and after exposure to the message. In the placebo condition, the findings replicated the predictions of Moscovici's (1980) conversion theory; namely, majorities leading to compliance (direct influence) and minorities leading to conversion (indirect influence). When participants had consumed caffeine, majorities not only led to more direct influence than in the placebo condition but also to indirect influence. Minorities, by contrast, had no impact on either level of influence. The results suggest that moderate levels of caffeine increase systematic processing of the message but the consequences of this vary for each source. When the source is a majority there was increased indirect influence while for a minority there was decreased indirect influence. The results show the need to understand how contextual factors can affect social influence processes.     

Distinguishing Direct and Indirect Effects of Executive Functions on Reading Comprehension in Adolescents

This study investigated direct and indirect effects of executive functions on reading comprehension in adolescents (N?=?87, M?=?14.0?years, SD?=?1.5) by testing for parallel mediation of effects of working memory, task-switching, and inhibitory control via decoding and text recall/inference. Working memory showed direct and indirect effects on passage comprehension, the latter mediated by text recall/inference. Task-switching was associated with decoding but its relation to passage comprehension was not significant. Inhibitory control showed indirect effects on passage comprehension via decoding and text recall/inference. Results indicate overlapping but distinct contributions of executive functions to reading skills.     

Causal Decision Theory and EPR correlations

The paper argues that on three out of eight possible hypotheses about the EPR experiment we can construct novel and realistic decision problems on which (a) Causal Decision Theory and Evidential Decision Theory conflict (b) Causal Decision Theory and the EPR statistics conflict. We infer that anyone who fully accepts any of these three hypotheses has strong reasons to reject Causal Decision Theory. Finally, we extend the original construction to show that anyone who gives any of the three hypotheses any non-zero credence has strong reasons to reject Causal Decision Theory. However, we concede that no version of the Many Worlds Interpretation (Vaidman, in Zalta, E.N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2014) gives rise to the conflicts that we point out.     

Direct and Indirect Effects of Completion Versus Accuracy Contingencies on Practice-Exam and Actual-Exam Performance

Students in four sections of an undergraduate educational course (two large and two small sections) took out-of-class practice exams prior to actual exams for each of five course units. Each course unit consisted of five class sessions focusing on a specific developmental theme. Some sections received practice-exam credit based on the number of items completed, whereas other sections received practice-exam credit based on the number of items answered accurately. The contingencies were applied only to the practice exams. A two-way MANOVA included two independent variables (practice-exam contingency and group size) and two dependent variables (practice-exam performance and unit-exam performance). The analysis revealed a main effect for both independent variables across both dependent variables, with students performing better under the accuracy than the completion contingency and better in the small than the large groups. One exception to this overall pattern was a non-significant difference between the large and small groups on the practice exams across both contingencies.     

The Effects of Direct Questions on Preschool Children's Responses to Indirect Requests

Indirect instructional approaches, such as responsive interaction, are common in inclusive early childhood settings. Unfortunately, young children with disabilities do not always have the skills to take advantage of these learning opportunities. Teaching children with disabilities to be more responsive to developmentally appropriate indirect instructional strategies may help them take advantage of and benefit from available learning opportunities in inclusive settings. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which presenting a series of direct questions increased children's attempts to respond and correct responses to indirect requests. Increased attempts to respond and correct responses to indirect requests were evident for all participants with whom the intervention was implemented. Three of the participants continued to attempt to respond and responded correctly to indirect requests when intervention procedures were removed. The contributions of these findings to literature on language instruction with young children, implications of the findings for practitioners, methodological limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Direct Versus Indirect: Control,Moral Responsibility,and Free Action

This article has two primary aims. The first is to identify relationships among direct control, direct moral responsibility for an action, and directly free action. The second is to provide a partial map depicting the bearing of some familiar competing views about moral responsibility and free action – traditional compatibilism, semicompatibilism, and event-causal libertarianism – on differences in conceptions of direct and indirect species of moral responsibility and free action.