The integration problem for naive realism

This paper makes explicit the basic problem perfect hallucinations pose for perceptual naive realists, more fundamental than the well-trodden Screening-off Problem. The deeper problem offers the basis for an overarching classification of the available naive- realist-friendly approaches to perfect hallucinations. In the course of laying out the challenges to the different types of response, the paper makes a case for the superiority of a particular approach to perfect hallucinations, on which they would be understood as a special kind of perceptual anomaly—arising from a secondary mode of perceptual processing.     

Rethinking naive realism

Philosophical Studies - Perceptions are externally-directed—they present us with a mind-independent reality, and thus contribute to our abilities to think about this reality, and to know what...     

诚信的道德价值

信用是市场经济运行的道德基础;信誉是企业良性发展的基石;诚信不仅是人际交往的基础,也是个人自我完善的要求。     

论曾国藩的忠孝观

在中国传统伦理文化中 ,忠孝是两个重要的范畴。曾国藩的“先于孝而后于忠”忠者观是值得研究的。     

Vitalism in naive biological thinking

Vitalism is the belief that internal bodily organs have agency and that they transmit or exchange a vital force or energy. Three experiments investigated the use of vitalistic explanations for biological phenomena by 5- and 10-year-old English-speaking children and adults, focusing on 2 components: the notion that bodily organs have intentions and the notion that some life force or energy is transmitted. The original Japanese finding of vitalistic thinking was replicated in Experiment 1 with English-speaking 5-year-olds. Experiment 2 indicated that the more active component of vitalism for these children is a belief in the transfer of energy during biological processes, and Experiment 3 suggested an additional, albeit lesser, role for organ intentionality. A belief in vital energy may serve a causal placeholder function within a naive theory of biology until a more precisely formulated mechanism is known.     

A diagrammatic approach to computer instruction for the naive user

There are inherent difficulties with text as an instructional format. This research presents the development of a diagrammatic representation that overcomes some of those difficulties. A simple “language” is presented that includes both procedural and model information. This approach is applied to the instruction of word processing/text-editing skills. An experimental methodology is presented and preliminary results are reported that suggest that the diagrammatic approach results in improvements in both the amount of word processing accomplished and the speed with which modifications are made.     

Young children''s naive theory of biology

This article aimed at investigating the nature of young children's naive theory of biology by reviewing a large number of studies conducted in our laboratories. More specifically, we tried to answer the following five critical questions. What components does young children's knowledge system for biological phenomena (or naive biology) have? What functions does it have in children's lives? How is it acquired in ontogenesis? How does its early version change as children grow older? Is it universal across cultures and through history? We propose that young children's biological knowledge system has at least three components, that is, knowledge needed to specify the target objects of biology, ways of inferring attributes or behaviors of biological kinds, and a non-intentional causal explanatory framework, and that these three constitute a form of biology, which is adaptive in children's lives. We also claim that the core of naive biology is acquired based on specific cognitive constraints as well as the general mechanism of personification and the resultant vitalistic causality, but it is differently instantiated and elaborated through activity-based experiences in the surrounding culture.     

The essentialist aspect of naive theories

Recent work on children's inferences concerning biological and chemical categories has suggested that children (and perhaps adults) are essentialists - a view known as psychological essentialism. I distinguish three varieties of psychological essentialism and investigate the ways in which essentialism explains the inferences for which it is supposed to account. Essentialism succeeds in explaining the inferences, I argue, because it attributes to the child belief in causal laws connecting category membership and the possession of certain characteristic appearances and behavior. This suggests that the data will be equally well explained by a non-essentialist hypothesis that attributes belief in the appropriate causal laws to the child, but makes no claim as to whether or not the child represents essences. I provide several reasons to think that this non-essentialist hypothesis is in fact superior to any version of the essentialist hypothesis.     

Construct validity and case validity in assessment

Clinical assessment relies on both construct validity, which focuses on the accuracy of conclusions about a psychological phenomenon drawn from responses to a measure, and case validity, which focuses on the synthesis of the full range of psychological phenomena pertaining to the concern or question at hand. Whereas construct validity is grounded in understanding causal influences of a distinct phenomenon on responses to various measures and life contexts, case validity encompasses the joint influences of multiple phenomena on individuals' responses. Two sets of distinctions essential to understanding psychological phenomena, hence to understanding construct validity, are (a) implicit and explicit versions of personality constructs and (b) ability and personality as versions of constructs measured by performance tests presenting maximal and typical conditions, respectively. Since both implicit and explicit versions of constructs interface with maximal or typical performance conditions, case validity requires systematic inclusion of these distinctions in assessment protocols.     

Evidence of construct validity for work values

Despite the importance of work values in the process of career adjustment (Dawis, 2002), little empirical research has focused on articulating the domains represented within the construct of work values and the examination of evidence of validity for the construct has been limited. Furthermore, the larger number of work values measures has made it difficult to determine the key domains that constitute the construct. The current study sought to examine multiple measures of work values to understand domains represented within the construct of work values and to establish evidence of validity for these domains. Principal Components Analysis utilizing scores on the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (Rounds, Henley, Dawis, Lofquist, & Weiss, 1981), the revised edition of Super's Work Values Inventory (SWVI-R; Zytowski, 2006), and Manhardt's Work Values Inventory (Manhardt, 1972) found that six components best explained the data. These components reflected the importance of: the working environment, having challenging work, opportunities for status and income, autonomy, organizational support, and relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Optimal test length for maximum battery validity

Having given a fixed amount of total testing time it is important to know how long each test in the battery should be so that the correlation of the battery with the criterion will be a maximum. The precise solution for the test lengths will depend on a particular set of conditions which may be specified. The writer has previously presented solutions for two sets of conditions. This article presents the solution for a third set of conditions. These are: (1) The total number of items or testing time is fixed. (2) The score is the total number of items correctly answered. (3) The test lengths are determined in such a way that the correlation of total score with the criterion is a maximum. The solutions for the two previous sets of conditions, together with the current set, are summarized. A set of experimental data is submitted to each solution and the three sets of results are compared.     

The social validity of treatments for agoraphobia

Two experiments evaluated the public's (Experiment 1) and agoraphobics' ratings of Acceptability and Perceived Effectiveness of five different procedures that have been used to treat agoraphobia. The results showed that both groups evaluated psychological treatment procedures as more acceptable and generally more effective, especially in the long run, than the drug treatments. An exposure treatment was highly rated by both groups, but the two groups differed in their evaluations of a cognitive or a relationship therapy. Recommendations were made for considering the opinions of different consumer groups when evaluating treatment validity.     

Vitalistic causality in young children's naive biology

One of the key issues in conceptual development research concerns what kinds of causal devices young children use to understand the biological world. We review evidence that children predict and interpret biological phenomena, especially human bodily processes, on the basis of 'vitalistic causality'. That is, they assume that vital power or life force taken from food and water makes humans active, prevents them from being taken ill, and enables them to grow. These relationships are also extended readily to other animals and even to plants. Recent experimental results show that a majority of preschoolers tend to choose vitalistic explanations as most plausible. Vitalism, together with other forms of intermediate causality, constitute unique causal devices for naive biology as a core domain of thought.