The Philosophical Use and Misuse of Science

Science is our best way of finding out about the natural world, and philosophers who write about that world ought to be sensitive to the claims of our best science. There are obstacles, however, to outsiders using science well. We think philosophers are prone to misuse science: to give undue weight to results that are untested; to highlight favorable and ignore unfavorable data; to give illegitimate weight to the authority of science; to leap from scientific premises to philosophical conclusions without spelling out their relevance; to treat mere resonance between a scientific theory and a philosophical view as empirical evidence for the philosophical view. This article identifies and illustrates some of the ways in which philosophers misuse science, explains why these pitfalls are easy to fall into, and concludes with suggestions for avoiding them.     

An Experience for the Lifelong Journey: The Long-Term Effect of a Class Visit to a Science Center

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to explore the multiple outcomes of a class visit to a science center, and to investigate changes in these outcomes over time. The study is significant because relatively little research has been conducted on the long-term effects of school museum visits. The study was carried out in the National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Israel, which is the largest science museum in the country. Participants were 8th-grade students who had a guided visit in the museum. Students from this class were interviewed immediately after and then again 16 months after the visit. The short- and the long-term interviews were analyzed according to 3 main categories that addressed meaningful learning outcomes: connecting knowledge, communicating knowledge, and fostering lifelong learning. After 16 months the students retained details of the experience; indicated the contribution of the visit to their knowledge; and emphasized peer interactions during the visit. This highlights the significant educational values that students take to their life's journey from the informal learning experience.     

The Misuse and Use of Science in Family Therapy

The wish to adopt ideas and metaphors from science can have a constricting effect on thinking about family therapy theory and practice. We describe three examples from the recent literature. The two problems describe: (a) borrowing the prestige and certainty of scientific ideas and metaphors and using them as cultural representations of reality, and (b) embracing certain philosophically comprehensive systems of thought. We then recommend some appropriate borrowing from the natural history tradition of science, and give some examples of ways in which that tradition has widened rather than narrowed the range of ideas that are used in family therapy.     

The Use of Hypnotic Elements and Audio Recordings with the Fantasy Relaxation Technique

The Fantasy Relaxation Technique, developed by Hugh Gunnison in 1976, is a simple method of gaining control over panic and anxiety. Two new components have been added to the original technique and they seem to enhance students' self-control during tests.     

Adding to the Mix: Integrating ELSI into a National Nanoscale Science and Technology Center

This paper describes issues associated with integrating the study of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) into ongoing scientific and technical research and describes an approach adopted by the authors for their own work with the center for nanophase materials sciences (CNMS) at the Oak Ridge national laboratory (ORNL). Four key questions are considered: (a) What is ELSI and how should it identify and address topics of interest for the CNMS? (b) What advantages accrue to incorporating ELSI into the CNMS? (c) How should the integration of ELSI into the CNMS take place? (d) How should one judge the effectiveness of the activity? We conclude that ELSI research is not a monolithic body of knowledge, but should be adapted to the question at hand. Our approach focuses on junctures in the R&;D continuum at which key decisions occur, avoids topics of a purely ethical nature or advocacy, and seeks to gather data in ways that permit testing the validity of generalization. Integrating ELSI into the CNMS allows dealing with topics firmly grounded in science, offers concrete examples of potential downstream applications and provides access to the scientists using the CNMS and their insights and observations. As well, integration provides the opportunity for R&;D managers to benefit from ELSI insights and the potential to modify R&;D agendas. Successful integration is dependent on the particular ELSI question set that drives the project. In this case questions sought to identify key choices, information of value to scientists, institutional attributes, key attributes of the CNMS culture, and alternatives for communicating results. The opportunity to consult with scientists on ELSI implications is offered, but not promoted. Finally, ELSI effectiveness is judged by observing the use to which research products are put within the CNMS, ORNL, and the community of external scholars.     

The Timing of Counselor Contact in the Use of a Computer Information Delivery System With Adult Career Counseling Clients

Treatment outcome differences based on the timing of counselor contact in the use of a computer information delivery system were investigated. The results indicate significant differences between scores for the postintervention counseling and control groups on the Career Decision Scale. Results also indicate significant differences between the postintervention and en-route counseling groups for scores on the Computer Liking subscale of the Computer Attitude Scale. Implications are discussed.     

The Use of Role‐Player Prompts in Assessment Center Exercises

So far, a substantial amount of assessment center (AC) studies have aimed to improve the quality of the AC method by focusing on the assessors. However, systematic studies about the role‐player in AC exercises are nonexistent. This is surprising as the role‐player might serve as a key figure for consistently evoking job‐relevant behavior across candidates. Therefore, this study focused on the ‘role’ of role‐players in ACs. We examined the effects of instructing role‐players to use prompts among 233 candidates. Results suggest that role‐players are able to use prompts and that their negative impact on candidates' reactions is negligible. In addition, some AC dimensions (problem solving and interpersonal sensitivity) were better measured when role‐players used prompts. No effects on interrater reliability were found.     

面孔加工中的热情优先效应：来自眼动的证据

本研究采用眼动追踪技术,从注意的角度考察面孔加工中热情和能力的关系。结果发现：热情面孔比能力面孔的首次注视到达时间更短;热情面孔的注视次数显著多于能力面孔,且总注视时间更长;在趋避判断的消极条件下,个体更倾向于对热情面孔做出回避的判断且反应时更长,在积极条件下则不存在显著差异。这表明,相比于能力面孔,个体对热情面孔注意更加警觉、注意维持更久,回避消极热情面孔的倾向更强。因此,热情面孔在注意和行为判断过程中对个体更加重要,即面孔加工中存在热情优先效应。     

Incidence of Data Duplications in a Randomly Selected Pool of Life Science Publications

Since the solution to many public health problems depends on research, it is critical for the progress and well-being for the patients that we can trust the scientific literature. Misconduct and poor laboratory practice in science threatens the scientific progress, leads to loss of productivity and increased healthcare costs, and endangers lives of patients. Data duplication may represent one of challenges related to these problems. In order to estimate the frequency of data duplication in life science literature, a systematic screen through 120 original scientific articles published in three different cancer related journals [journal impact factor (IF) <5, 5–10 and >20] was completed. The study revealed a surprisingly high proportion of articles containing data duplication. For the IF < 5 and IF > 20 journals, 25 % of the articles were found to contain data duplications. The IF 5–10 journal showed a comparable proportion (22.5 %). The proportion of articles containing duplicated data was comparable between the three journals and no significant correlation to journal IF was found. The editorial offices representing the journals included in this study and the individual authors of the detected articles were contacted to clarify the individual cases. The editorial offices did not reply and only 1 out of 29 cases were apparently clarified by the authors, although no supporting data was supplied. This study questions the reliability of life science literature, it illustrates that data duplications are widespread and independent of journal impact factor and call for a reform of the current peer review and retraction process of scientific publishing.     

Media Violence and Freedom of Speech: How to Use Empirical Data

Susan Hurley has argued against a well known argument for freedom of speech, the argument from autonomy, on the basis of two hypotheses about violence in the media and aggressive behaviour. The first hypothesis says that exposure to media violence causes aggressive behaviour; the second, that humans have an innate tendency to copy behaviour in ways that bypass conscious deliberation. I argue, first, that Hurley is not successful in setting aside the argument from autonomy. Second, I show that the empirical data are irrelevant to statutory regulation of media violence. They do not yield a sufficiently strong correlation between exposure to media violence and non-autonomously copied criminal violence, and they do not yield a way ex ante to individuate the viewers who will be affected by media violence.

北京大学医学部本科生学术道德的现状和分析

采用文献法、调查法,对北京大学医学部本科生学术道德的现状进行系统研究,了解北京大学医学部本科生学术道德的行为、态度以及对学术道德管理的认识,提出完善制度规范、营造维护学术道德的良好氛围、建立学生、教师、管理者共同参与的体系等对策.     

The Sequential Structure of Movement Outcome in Learning a Discrete Timing Task

The sequential structure of discrete movement outcomes in an elbow-flexion movement task was examined with a crossed design of 2 movement-time (125 and 500 ms) and 2 range-of-motion (5 degrees and 20 degrees ) conditions over sets of 200 trials of practice. Traditional analyses of error score. techniques, time-series analyses of the quantitative raw and differenced data, and a symbolic dynamic analysis of qualitative events arising from the data were conducted. The differenced data revealed a consistent order over 3-trial strings that was more apparent with larger steps in the data scores, but quantitative time-series and symbolic dynamic analyses of the raw movement-time data showed weaker relations. There were a few patterns of structure evident in the raw data time series that were a function of the movement condition and the skill level of the subject. The analyses of the movement-time scores revealed that, in learning the discrete timing task, there is more order apparent in the intrinsic frame of reference of the difference scores than in the extrinsic frame of reference.     

To Watch is to Work: a Review of NeuroImaging Data on Tool Use Observation Network

Neuropsychology Review - Since the discovery of mirror neurons in the 1990s, many neuroimaging studies have tackled the issue of action observation with the aim of unravelling a putative homolog...     

The Use of Song Lyrics to Alleviate a Child's Fear

A two stage intervention employing a cognitive self-control strategy which made use of familiar song lyrics and successfully eliminated an intense fear in a nine-year-old boy in a school setting. In the first stage, the child learned to identify a cue which accompanied a strong anxiety response, in the second he learned to induce a competing cognitive coping response. The client was free of fear by the fourth day of treatment, suggesting the efficacy of using popular song lyrics as prompts for self-control strategies in children of this age.     

非平衡双语者Stroop效应的时间进程

运用Stroop任务的SOA范式,考察中-英双语者干扰和易化效应的时间进程及程度,比较双语者认知控制和词汇通达的差异。结果发现,在中文条件下,干扰效应的峰值发生在SOA为-200ms时,在英文条件下,最大的干扰效应发生在SOA为-300 ms时,由此可见,干扰效应时间出现了负转换。在英文条件下,-400ms SOA引发了最大的易化效应,而中文条件下最大的易化效应发生在-300ms SOA。该研究表明,双语者没有表现出认知优势,在Stroop任务中受到了词汇通达的影响。     

The Psychology of Child Timing: A Measurement Instrument and a Model1

The timing of children during individuals' lives has many important macro level and micro level effects. This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding an important psychological sequence that affects the timing of childbearing by individuals. In the first step of this sequence, child-timing attitudes and beliefs affect child-timing desires; in the second step, child-timing desires affect child-timing intentions. The Child-Timing Questionnaire is a data collection instrument designed to measure attitudes and beliefs relevant to child timing. Using this instrument, we constructed four child-timing indices and tested the two-step framework with data from 187 husbands and 188 wives with no children and 182 husbands and 184 wives with one child. The results provide support for the framework and indicate some important sex and parity differences in the psychology of child timing. The Child-Timing Questionnaire appears to be a reliable, valid instrument; it is readily adaptable for use with any population in which the timing of children is an important research or service issue.     

Timing a week later: The role of long-term memory in temporal preparation

Temporal preparation has been investigated extensively by manipulating the foreperiod, the interval between a warning stimulus and target stimulus requiring a speeded response. Although such research has revealed many effects of both the duration and distribution of foreperiods on reaction times, the underlying cognitive mechanism is still largely unknown. Here, we test a recent proposal that temporal preparation is driven by the retrieval of memory traces of past experiences from long-term memory rather than by knowledge about upcoming events. Two groups of participants received different foreperiod distributions in an acquisition phase, which was followed a week later by a transfer phase, in which both groups received the same distribution of foreperiods. We found that the effects of the different foreperiod distributions presented in the acquisition phase were still apparent a week later during the transfer phase, as the reaction time patterns of both groups reflected the old distributions. This occurred even though both groups were provided with full information about the change in the distribution of foreperiods at the start of the transfer phase. These findings provide compelling evidence that long-term memory plays an important role in temporal preparation.     

Transforming the Self and Healing the Body Through the Use of Testimonies in a Divine Retreat Center, Kerala

In this article, we analyze the collective healing process that takes place on a weekly basis in the Divine Retreat Center (DRC) in Muringoor, Kerala. We argue that disease in the DRC is understood either as a psycho-somatic or as a spirito-somatic phenomenon. In contrast to other Charismatic communities, however, the body is the locus on which the medical effects of the healing become visible. The whole process is divided into several phases: First, there is a cleansing and disengagement procedure that aims to purify and liberate the participants through confession and counseling. Thereafter comes a climatic phase of personal emptying, transition and re-orientation during which the healing itself takes place. The procedure is finally completed with the person being spiritually "refilled" by the Holy Spirit. The dominant recurring element in the whole process is the continuous statement of healing "testimonies." As an integral part of the healing procedure, these statements are used to share personal experiences among the participants in the center. They are produced in a strict format in order to be spread far beyond through various media (TV, newspaper, Internet, etc.). They thereby constitute a speech genre that follows specific rules and patterns. Through shaping one's own biography in the frame of the testimonies, so we argue, the actual transformation of the self and therefore the miracle healing takes place.     

The Decision to Continue a Pregnancy Affected by Down Syndrome: Timing of Decision and Satisfaction with Receiving a Prenatal Diagnosis

In order to provide the best genetic counseling possible for women who learn of a diagnosis of Down syndrome prenatally, we sought to assess the timing of the decision to continue a pregnancy and the satisfaction these women had with learning this information. Fifty-six mothers of children with Down syndrome diagnosed prenatally between 2007 and 2010 completed a survey regarding their experience with decision-making after prenatal diagnosis. Approximately one third (17/56) of participants reported they knew before getting pregnant that they would not terminate for any reason, and almost half of the participants (24/56) reported they did not decide to continue their pregnancy until after the diagnosis. Many participants (82 %; 42/56) stated that learning the diagnosis during pregnancy increased their anxiety. The majority (88 %; 45/56) also reported that if they could do it over again, they would undergo prenatal testing for preparation purposes, despite increased anxiety. Religious and spiritual beliefs as well as feeling attached to the baby were the personal factors that had the greatest impact on most women’s decision-making. Despite increased anxiety caused by learning the diagnosis prenatally, most women favored prenatal diagnosis as it allowed them time to process the information and prepare for the birth of their child.