Propensities and Transcendental Assumptions

In order to comprehend the world around us and construct explaining theories for this purpose, we need a conception of physical probability, since we come across many (apparently) probabilistic phenomena in our world. But how should we understand objective probability claims? Since pure frequency approaches of probability are not appropriate, we have to use a single case propensity interpretation. Unfortunately, many philosophers believe that this understanding of probability is burdened with significant difficulties. My main aim is to show that we can treat propensity as a theoretical concept that exhibits many similarities to other theoretical concepts, and its difficulties are not insuperable if we make explicit some general presuppositions of scientific practice and apply them to propensities. At least this is true if we formulate the right bridge principle for propensity and rely on further methodological rules in dealing with propensity assertions to make them empirically testable.     

Paired associate learning in reading-disabled children: evidence for a rule-learning deficiency

Two experiments examined whether normal and disabled readers differed in the utilization of rules in a paired associate learning task. Experiment 1 required children to learn symbol-word associates. Children were assigned to one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule was based on semantic opposites. Subjects benefited from having the rule, but disabled readers showed less improvement across four test blocks than both chronological age (CA) controls and reading age (RA) controls, particularly in the inconsistent condition. Experiment 2 required subjects to learn symbol-symbol associations in one of three conditions: nonrule, consistent rule, or inconsistent rule. When present, the rule specified the locations of a subsidiary figure in each symbol according to the pattern top-right, bottom-left. Disabled and normal readers did not differ in the nonrule condition where reliance on visual memory would be an effective strategy. Normal readers were superior to disabled readers in both rule conditions. In addition, disabled readers in the inconsistent rule condition were less able than normal readers to apply the rule in a generalization task where memory demands were reduced. Results supported the hypothesis that disabled readers have greater difficulty than normal readers inducing and/or using rules, particularly when they are inconsistent. It is suggested that difficulties in acquiring or using complex and inconsistent rules may be one important source of problems learning spelling-sound correspondence rules, which in English are complex and inconsistent.     

Robustness of the rule-learning effect in 7-month-old infants: A close,multicenter replication of Marcus et al. (1999)

We conducted a close replication of the seminal work by Marcus and colleagues from 1999, which showed that after a brief auditory exposure phase, 7-month-old infants were able to learn and generalize a rule to novel syllables not previously present in the exposure phase. This work became the foundation for the theoretical framework by which we assume that infants are able to learn abstract representations and generalize linguistic rules. While some extensions on the original work have shown evidence of rule learning, the outcomes are mixed, and an exact replication of Marcus et al.'s study has thus far not been reported. A recent meta-analysis by Rabagliati and colleagues brings to light that the rule-learning effect depends on stimulus type (e.g., meaningfulness, speech vs. nonspeech) and is not as robust as often assumed. In light of the theoretical importance of the issue at stake, it is appropriate and necessary to assess the replicability and robustness of Marcus et al.'s findings. Here we have undertaken a replication across four labs with a large sample of 7-month-old infants (N = 96), using the same exposure patterns (ABA and ABB), methodology (Headturn Preference Paradigm), and original stimuli. As in the original study, we tested the hypothesis that infants are able to learn abstract “algebraic” rules and apply them to novel input. Our results did not replicate the original findings: infants showed no difference in looking time between test patterns consistent or inconsistent with the familiarization pattern they were exposed to.     

Dissociable neural systems for analogy and metaphor: implications for the neuroscience of creativity

Two recent reviews of the neuroimaging literature on creativity have pointed to inconsistent findings across studies, calling into question the usefulness of the theoretical constructs motivating the search for its neural bases. However, it is argued that consistent patterns of neural activation do emerge when the cognitive process and the neuroimaging method are kept uniform across studies. To demonstrate this empirically, the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method was used to conduct quantitative meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments of analogy and metaphor - two processes related to creativity and included in the recent reviews. The results demonstrated that analogy and metaphor reliably activate consistent but dissociable brain regions across fMRI studies. The implications of the findings for cognitive theories of analogy and metaphor are discussed. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that to the extent that creativity has heterogeneous sources, its neural instantiation will vary as a function of the underlying cognitive processes.     

Representations without rules,connectionism and the syntactic argument

Terry Horgan and John Tienson have suggested that connectionism might provide a framework within which to articulate a theory of cognition according to which there are mental representations without rules (RWR) (Horgan and Tienson 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992). In essence, RWR states that cognition involves representations in a language of thought, but that these representations are not manipulated by the sort of rules that have traditionally been posited. In the development of RWR, Horgan and Tienson attempt to forestall a particular line of criticism, theSyntactic Argument, which would show RWR to be inconsistent with connectionism. In essence, the argument claims that the node-level rules of connectionist networks, along with the semantic interpretations assigned to patterns of activation, serve to determine a set of representation-level rules incompatible with the RWR conception of cognition. The present paper argues that the Syntactic Argument can be made to show that RWR is inconsistent with connectionism.The present paper has been improved by conversations with Terry Horgan and John Tienson. Thanks are also due to Gary Fuller, John Heil, Terry Horgan and Bob Stecker for comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

A cross-cultural study of family functioning

The Family Assessment Device (FAD) was used to compare patterns of family functioning in two cultural settings, North America and Hungary. The sample size consisted of 95 nonclinical North American families and 58 nonclinical Hungarian families. No cross-cultural differences were found in the families' general functioning nor in their affective involvement or affective responsiveness as measured by the FAD. Hungarian families, however, perceived their functioning as significantly better than the North American families in problem-solving and in communication. North American families rated themselves significantly better than the Hungarians in setting family rules and boundaries and in meeting their family responsibilities. Results from this study suggest that cultural values can affect a family's functioning and that differences in areas of family functioning can be captured using the FAD. A discussion of broad societal values of the two cultures was used to interpret the contrasting patterns of family functioning.Cross-cultural studies serve many purposes. In general they provide knowledge about the different cultures under investigation. As such, they broaden and enrich our perspectives of ourselves and the world around us. More specifically they highlight similarities and differences across cultures, information that can be helpful in further refining our understanding of the impact of diverse and varying socio-political forces.A topic of particular interest to family therapists and researchers is family functioning in different cultural settings. In spite of continuing research in this area, few studies examine cross-cultural patterns of family interactions and even fewer do so with instruments specifically designed to assess family functioning.From a family perspective, particularly looking at pathology in family functioning, cross-cultural comparisons can be used to highlight areas of dysfunction common to families irrespective of the cultural context. From a cross-cultural perspective, family comparisons can be used to point out the cultural effects and emphases given to different dimensions of functioning within a common system (i.e., the family unit).Both conceptual and methodological problems have contributed to shortcomings in previous cross-cultural studies (Fabrega, 1974; Kleinman, 1987; Flaherty et al., 1988; Rogler, 1989). A basic criticism of such studies has been the assumption that meanings and values in one culture are equivalent to those in another.Another issue, which is particularly pertinent to our study, is the use of an instrument which is developed in one culture and administered in another cultural setting. A potential problem this raises is inferring cultural differences between groups when the translated and the original instruments are not actually comparable in meaning. In fact, one objective of the study was to see whether our own self-report measure of family functioning, the Family Assessment Device (FAD, Epstein et al., 1978, 1983), could be successfully used in another cultural setting.The following report is part of a larger research project, conducted in 1986–87, that compared depressed and nonclinical families across two cultures. The findings presented here are comparisons between nonclinical Hungarian and nonclinical North American families. In our earlier study differences in family interactions between clinically depressed and nonclinical families were evident in both cultural settings (Keitner et al., in press). It was not clear, however, if significant cross-cultural differences in family functioning would be found for the normal group of families and, if so, how these would differ from their ill counterparts. Inclusion of the normal families thus served two purposes, as controls in the larger study to test within cultural differences and as comparison groups in a separate analysis to test between cultural differences.A specific objective of this study was to contrast patterns of perceived family functioning in nonclinical Hungarian families and North American families. Another objective was to determine if the Family Assessment Device (FAD), a self-report measure of family functioning, could be successfully used in different cultural contexts. Hungary was chosen as an appropriate country of study for several reasons. It is at the crossroads of East and West, sharing enough similarities with western culture to validate comparisons, yet different enough in both its cultural and sociopolitical system that some differences could be expected to emerge. Because it is likely that the Hungarian social system is less familiar to readers than that of North American, the results are discussed with particular reference to Hungary.We would like to thank Drs. J. Furedi and T. Kurimay for help in translating the Family Assessment Device and Professors J. Szilard and Muszong-Kovacs for their support of this study. This work was supported in part by the Firan Foundation.     

Rules of clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology: a comparison

This paper compares the rules that govern clinical understanding in classical psychoanalysis and in self psychology. The rules of understanding in the two systems are fundamentally different. Self psychology interprets causes and relies on interpretive rules similar to those used in allegory. Classical psychoanalysis investigates reasons and seeks to uncover the patient's own interpretive system. Self psychology refinds its own theory in the relation between elements disguised in the manifest content of patients' productions. Classical psychoanalysis seeks to open up manifest content. Where self psychology reiterates theory in its interpretations, classical interpretations move away from theoretical generalizations toward specific fantasy-memory constellations. Theory, in self psychology, organizes directly the content of interpretations; theory in classical psychoanalysis organizes a technique of exploration and furnishes general sequences according to which data can be understood. This paper also suggests that the differences in the rules of clinical understanding have potential consequences for psychoanalysis which manifest themselves in psychoanalytic training and in the capacity for self-analysis.     

Identification,Reflection, And Correlation: Problems In The Bases Of Repertory Grid Measures

Repertory grids, deriving from George Kelly's personal construct theory, have been used to provide measures of a number of personality and cognitive variables. Several of these grid measures, such as the identification index, some measures of cognitive complexity, and other indices extracted from factor analyses of grids, are based on correlations between the columns (elements) of the grid data matrix. These measures are problematic and unstable because the intercolumn correlations depend on the direction of scoring across each of the matrix rows (constructs). This direction is not guided by explicit or theoretically justified rules and appears to be arbitrary and inconsistent between researchers. Also, correlation is a poor measure of element similarity, the basis of the identification measure. The importance of the valuating aspect of construing may provide a basis for the standardization of scoring. And scoring from the valued pole of a construct may help bring stability and meaning to the correlation-based measures.     

The Impact of Disputants’ Expectations on Mediation Testing an Interventionist Model

This investigation extends previous work in mediation by developing and testing an interventionist mediation model using 91 mediated roommate disputes. A key assumption of the interventionist model is that effective mediators assume active, highly participatory roles in the mediation process. This control based model for mediation presumes that a critical function of a mediator is to orchestrate the interaction by developing and extending the information resources, enforcing the rules for the session, and encouraging disputants to make constructive proposals to reach an agreement collabora lively. The theoretical model examined the impact of expectations for reaching agreement on the mediation process using both mediators’ and disputants assessments of their sessions. The data were not inconsistent with the hypothesized model. The level of participants expectations, however, added little predictive power to the model.     

试论理论心理学及其应用价值

理论心理学是近20年来涌现出的新学科。这是一门以理论思维方法对心理学的基本问题和规律进行探索的科学,已逐渐汇成为心理学各分支学科的理论基础。理论心理学在心理学中的地位,就应像理论物理学、理论化学在物理学和化学中一样,是心理学的学科体系中一个极为重要和不可缺少的组成部分。理论心理学并不是抽象的哲学建构,它也十分关注实践应用问题。当前理论心理学在西方已出现了两种比较成熟的行动应用模式。     

Family therapy approach to incapacitating migraine

A nine-year-old boy who suffered from intractable migraine was referred for psychiatric consultation and treatment after failing to respond to congeries of medications and diets, notwithstanding thorough investigations by neurologists, pediatricians, and other specialists. The decision for a family systems treatment approach resulted in the following defined objectives: (1) to investigate triggers for the headaches and to see if these could be reduced and/or eliminated, (2) to see if therapy would help the boy stay in school, (3) to examine, and if possible, change family rules of interaction and transaction, (4) to allow for more fun within the family (5) to allow for ventilation without retribution, and (6) to clarify the mother's role as a significant contributor to the family's interactions, shifting the focus from the father as the sole generator of family tension. The principal therapeutic tools which proved efficacious involved the following: (1) scrutiny of the maternal and paternal histories, and (2) analysis of triangulations within the family system, leading to (3) the formulation of therapeutic strategies, and (4) specific task assignments. A major intervention by the therapist was the specific strategy to have the family examine the rules of transaction which were in the metapsychological sense unarticulated.     

Transformation rules in concept learning

Two major classes of models have been proposed to explain concept learning: strength models and distance models (Hayes-Roth & Hayes-Roth, 1977). The present study demonstrates that subjects abstract transformation rules as defined by the Franks and Bransford 11971) distance model. Transformation rules characterize how the patterns of a concept differ from each other. Transformation rules are inconsistent with strength models, which assume that subjects abstract component features and not relational information characterizing the differences among patterns. Whether a strength model or a distance model is more appropriate in other instances of concept learning is probably a function of task demands, stimulus characteristics, and subject characteristics.     

Some characteristics of EMG patterns during locomotion: implications for the locomotor control process

Myoelectric signals from several muscles of the lower limb were studied under various speed and stride length conditions. The main purpose was to determine invariant and variant features among these myoelectric patterns. A pattern recognition algorithm was used to analyze these activity patterns. Within-condition analysis revealed some common features among the EMG patterns. This suggests that the nervous system does not have to generate all the muscle activity patterns, only the common features that can, in appropriate combination, produce the necessary activity patterns. From the across condition analysis, the following rules emerged. First, both phasic component and magnitude (d.c. level) of the muscle activity patterns have to be modulated to meet the demands imposed by the various conditions. Second, the variability in the proximal muscle activity patterns across conditions are higher than the distal muscle activity patterns. Within each group, the extensor muscles and double-jointed muscles show greater variability than the flexor muscles and single-jointed muscles. And finally, the changes in the average value (d.c. level) of the muscle activity patterns across conditions are not uniform but show muscle and task specificity. For example, within the speed condition, the increase in d.c. level of the extensors with speed of locomotion show a proximal to distal trend. Based on these results, a conceptual model for the human locomotor control process is proposed.     

Some Characteristics of EMG Patterns During Locomotion

Myoelectric signals from several muscles of the lower limb were studied under various speed and stride length conditions. The main purpose was to determine invariant and variant features among these myoelectric patterns. A pattern recognition algorithm was used to analyze these activity patterns. Within-condition analysis revealed some common features among the EMG patterns. This suggests that the nervous system does not have to generate all the muscle activity patterns, only the common features that can, in appropriate combination, produce the necessary activity patterns. From the across condition analysis, the following rules emerged. First, both phasic component and magnitude (d.c. level) of the muscle activity patterns have to be modulated to meet the demands imposed by the various conditions. Second, the variability in the proximal muscle activity patterns across conditions are higher than the distal muscle activity patterns. Within each group, the extensor muscles and double-jointed muscles show greater variability than the flexor muscles and single-jointed muscles. And finally, the changes in the average value (d.c. level) of the muscle activity patterns across conditions are not uniform but show muscle and task specificity. For example, within the speed condition, the increase in d.c. level of the extensors with speed of locomotion show a proximal to distal trend. Based on these results, a conceptual model for the human locomotor control process is proposed.     

How One Family Perceives Another: The Relationship Between Social Constructions and Problem-Solving Competence

This paper delineates a rarely studied but important family process: how a family perceives and understands the relationships in other families it knows. We hypothesize that these perceptions of other families are fundamental components of a family's shared construing of its social world. Families differ in how they perceive other families, specifically, and in their approach to construing or apprehending their social world, generally. We have hypothesized that these general differences also play a crucial role in shaping the style and competence of family problem-solving. A family's approach to any problem depends upon how it construes or interprets the social context of that problem. Using these general concepts of family life, we construct specific hypotheses linking family problem-solving and interfamily perception. We describe methods for measuring both family problem-solving and how a family perceives other families. Findings confirm our major hypothesis: A family that searches for underlying and subtle patterns in a problem-solving situation will develop a more differentiated and organized conception of other families.     

Intergenerational Transmission: Individuation and Intimacy Across Three Generations

This study examined the transmission of intergenerational family processes across three generations, employing Williamson's construct of Personal Authority in the Family System (PAFS) as a theoretical back-drop. From a PAFS perspective, psychological health is viewed as directly related to the degree of individuation and intimacy (PAFS) experienced within the family of origin. Overall, the results provided a degree of support for the intergenerational transmission hypothesis. The strongest predictor of the transmission process was from the participant/parent relationship to the participant/spouse relationship (spousal fusion/individuation). Separate male and female analyses of the Spousal Fusion/Individuation model found a moderate effect for females and a large effect for males. A small effect was found in predicting nuclear family triangulation from parent and spouse variables, although there was no gender effect. The findings suggest that degree of individuation and its related constructs are more critical in the transmission process than is intimacy.     

Dual processes in recognition: Does a focus on measurement operations provide a sufficient foundation?

Current theoretical thinking about dual processes in recognition relies heavily on the measurement operations embodied within the process dissociation procedure. We critically evaluate the ability of this procedure to support this theoretical enterprise. We show that there are alternative processes that would produce a rough invariance in familiarity (a key prediction of the dual-processing approach) and that the process dissociation procedure does not have the power to differentiate between these alternative possibilities. We also show that attempts to relate parameters estimated by the process dissociation procedure to subjective reports (remember-know judgments) cannot differentiate between alternative dual-processing models and that there are problems with some of the historical evidence and with obtaining converging evidence. Our conclusion is that more specific theories incorporating ideas about representation and process are required.     

Action models—learning by doing

The aim of this workshop was to demonstrate experientially how action models can be used: to highlight particular themes; to study ongoing interactional patterns of the family system; to allow patterns of behaviour and communication to emerge along with the consequences of that pattern; to focus on the process rather than the content; to find the strengths and resources of the family; and to offer the opportunity of practising new skills and to gain insight through experience. Action techniques are specific acts or actions the therapist engages in to implement a strategy. Action is a deliberate intervention which will provide material shared with the family and therapist. Five different experiential exercises were demonstrated for use in family therapy training or in family therapy sessions.     

Family Factors in the Development and Management of Anxiety Disorders

Family variables are thought to play a key role in a wide variety of psychopathology according to many theories. Yet, specific models of the development of anxiety disorders place little emphasis on general family factors despite clear evidence that anxiety runs in families. The current review examines evidence for the involvement of a number of family-related variables in the development of anxiety disorders as well as the importance of families in their management. Evidence across most areas is shown to be weak and inconsistent, with the one exception being an extensive literature on the role of parenting in the development of anxiety. There is also currently little evidence that family factors have a strong role to play in the treatment of anxiety, aside from research demonstrating the value of parents and partners as non-critical supports in therapy. The promises and hints in the literature, combined with the currently inconsistent methods, suggest that considerably more research is needed to determine whether specific family factors may yet be shown to play a key role in the development and management of anxiety disorders.