Linear separability in superordinate natural language concepts

Two experiments are reported in which linear separability was investigated in superordinate natural language concept pairs (e.g., toiletry-sewing gear). Representations of the exemplars of semantically related concept pairs were derived in two to five dimensions using multidimensional scaling (MDS) of similarities based on possession of the concept features. Next, category membership, obtained from an exemplar generation study (in Experiment 1) and from a forced-choice classification task (in Experiment 2) was predicted from the coordinates of the MDS representation using log linear analysis. The results showed that all natural kind concept pairs were perfectly linearly separable, whereas artifact concept pairs showed several violations. Clear linear separability of natural language concept pairs is in line with independent cue models. The violations in the artifact pairs, however, yield clear evidence against the independent cue models.     

Operativity and the superordinate categorization of artifacts.

Relations between typical and atypical exemplars of superordinate categories are low in figurative similarity, i.e., similarity based in appearance or in spatial/temporal context. Operativity, as an emergent competence to overcome figurative cues and establish nonfigurative relations, might be expected to contribute to superordinate categorization. The present study assessed the relative consistency of age-equivalent preoperational and concrete-operational groups of first graders across two categorization tasks employing color drawings of exemplars of superordinate artifact categories. Concrete-operational subjects categorized two exemplars together on a Sample-Match Task if they had previously included both exemplars under the same category on a Category-Membership Task. In addition to membership in the same category, preoperational subjects required that both exemplars be typical before categorizing them together on the Sample-Match Task. The cognitive levels did not differ in their category membership decisions. Results are discussed in terms of both utilization and acquisition of superordinate knowledge.     

Individual differences in preschool children's knowledge of superordinate categories

The present study assesses intensional knowledge of superordinate categories in preschool children. This assessment is part of a larger programmatic research effort aimed at the development of a cognitive preschool screening test to detect learning problems prior to their manifestation in school failure. Necessary prerequisites for including intensional superordinate category knowledge as a potential component of this screening test are addressed: (a) Are there substantial variations in this knowledge across preschool children? (b) Can the knowledge be measured reliably using game-like picture tasks? (c) Do individual differences in this knowledge relate to the child's current level of intellectual functioning? An underlying assumption for the development of this screening test is that assessing gradually emerging abstract knowledge that develops through active, ongoing processing is more likely to predict learning problems than assessing knowledge that develops through rote associative learning. Consistent with this approach was the prediction that one component of intension, knowledge of differences, would be a better predictor of current functioning than knowledge of similarities. The data support this contention. Although both knowledge of similarities and differences was stable within an individual, variable among individuals and highly correlated with each other, only knowledge of differences related to the child's concurrent level of intellectual functioning.     

三维均衡之上的公正概念

公正是一个复杂的概念.公正具有严格的概念范畴和内涵尺度,而不仅仅是一种哲学分析模式的指代符号.在政治哲学的语境中,公正意味着促进人对公民性、价值认知、观念认同、制度均衡和社会结构稳定的产生、发展或实现.这就意味着公正概念必须建立在某种特定的政治实践的基础上.对于当代公正概念分析而言,这一基础离不开政治评价行为、政治生活结构和政治价值构建等三个维度,且表现为这样三个维度之间的均衡存在.     

Developmental effects of typicality and superordinate property dominance on sentence verification

Second graders (mean age, 8 years 3 months), fourth graders (mean age, 10 years 4 months), and adults verified telegraphic sentences with typical or atypical subject nouns and high or low dominant property predicates. The hypothesis tested was that the similarity in the attribute structures of category members to their superordinate prototype should be related to degree of typicality. Adult reaction time and error data supported the prototype model of semantic category structure. Second and fourth graders showed comparable property knowledge to adults, but evidenced different organizational patterns than predicted by the adult model. The results suggest that with development children learn to simultaneously use many attribute dimensions and to abstract the family resemblance structure and relative importance of category properties.     

The superordinate self in psychoanalytic theory and in the self psychologies

The concept of the self has been used in several attempts to resolve the epistemological problems of what is subjective and what is objective, what is personal and what is organismic. In addition, it has been used to mediate between the hermeneutic and natural-science approaches to psychoanalytic explanation, between the motivational and causal dimensions of our theory and experience. In the case of Kohut, the self was initially invoked to deal with clinical difficulties associated with the analysis of patients with narcissistic personality disorders more recently, it has become the central article in a "self psychology" that addresses presumed deficiencies in the traditional psychoanalytic picture of psychopathology. But the concept of the self is not suited to be a panacea for resolving theoretical or clinical difficulties. The self as person refers to an entity that is both enduring and changing; it describes continuity in the face of change and change in the face of continuity. Abend (1974) comes closest to capturing this attribute of the self in his image of the tidal beach with a configuration that changes but an essence that remains the same. Eisnitz (1980) evokes something similar in his figure-ground conception of the self-representation. The crux of the matter is that the notion of self-experience includes a variety of phenomena that cannot be contained within a single self-construct--be it normal pathologic, grandiose, or otherwise. As a result of these considerations, I have argued against the use of the self as a superordinate concept in psychoanalytic theory and have focused on the shortcomings of three self psychologies that use the self in this way. I believe that Klein, Gedo, and Kohut all offer the self as a kind of conceptual tranquilizer for the philosophical, theoretical, and clinical dualities that are inherent in psychoanalytic work. Grossman addressed himself to these dualities as far back as 1967 and elaborated on the problems with Simon (1969) in a pathbreaking paper on anthropomorphism in psychoanalysis. Grossman and Simon contended that the controversy about anthropomorphism in psychoanalytic theory pertains to the basic confusion in psychology between meaning and causality. They submitted that until this confusion was dispelled and until some superordinate concept was found that could "encompass both kinds of discourse", attempts to transform psychoanalysis into a general psychology would result in failure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Towards tolerance: Representations of superordinate categories and perceived ingroup prototypicality

According to Mummendey and Wenzel (1999), group members tend to perceive their ingroup, relative to an outgroup, as more prototypical of the superordinate category encompassing both groups. Hence, they tend to regard the outgroup as deviating from the norms of the superordinate category. Factors that inhibit perception of relative ingroup prototypicality should thus promote intergroup tolerance. In two experiments, the representation of the superordinate category was manipulated. Both an undefinable prototype (Experiment 1; N=63) and a complex representation (Experiment 2; N=88) led to a decrease in relative ingroup prototypicality. Dual identification with the ingroup and the superordinate category increased relative ingroup prototypicality, which was negatively correlated with positive attitudes towards the outgroup. The findings supported Mummendey and Wenzel’s assumptions about the conditions that lead to intergroup tolerance.     

Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels

We studied categorization in pigeons, using carefully controlled photographs. Within daily sessions, 4 pigeons had to classify each of 32 photographs into either its proper basic-level category (cars, chairs, flowers, or people; four-key forced choice procedure) or its proper superordinate-level category (natural or artificial; two-key forced choice procedure). The pigeons successfully classified the same stimuli at both levels. Overall, the pigeons learned the basic discrimination more quickly than the superordinate discrimination, but this difference was reliable only for artificial stimuli (cars and chairs), not for natural stimuli (flowers and people). The pigeons also exhibited reliable discrimination transfer to novel photographs, attesting to the open-endedness of these basic and superordinate categories.     

On the relation provable equivalence and on partitions in effectively inseparable sets

We generalize a well-knownSmullyan's result, by showing that any two sets of the kindC _a = {x/ xa} andC _b = {x/ xb} are effectively inseparable (if I b). Then we investigate logical and recursive consequences of this fact (see Introduction).     

On the equivalence between elimination-by-aspects and generalised extreme value models of choice behaviour

Elimination-by-aspects and generalised extreme value offer competing paradigms for the representation of a common behaviour, that of individual discrete choice. Observing certain consistencies in their mathematical structure, several eminent authors have commented on the degree of equivalence between the two paradigms. Most contributions to this debate have, however, been less than definitive. More fundamentally, the contributions lack consensus. We advance the debate by establishing formal mathematical conditions under which three-alternative tree models from the two paradigms are exactly equivalent. We then extend our analysis to consider more general models, showing that equivalence can be established for general tree models, but not for cross-nested models.     

On the equivalence of two oblique congruence rotation methods,and orthogonal approximations

Tucker's method of oblique congruence rotation is shown to be equivalent to a procedure by Meredith. This implies that Monte Carlo studies on congruence by Nesselroade, Baltes and Labouvie and by Korth and Tucker are highly comparable. The problem of rotating two matrices orthogonally to maximal congruence has not yet been solved. An approximate solution to this problem can be derived from Tucker's method. Even better results can be obtained from a Procrustes rotation followed by rotation to simple structure.