Cut-free tableau calculi for some propositional normal modal logics

We give sound and complete tableau and sequent calculi for the prepositional normal modal logics S4.04, K4B and G ⁰(these logics are the smallest normal modal logics containing K and the schemata A A, A A and A ( A); A A and AA; A A and ((A A) A) A resp.) with the following properties: the calculi for S4.04 and G ⁰are cut-free and have the interpolation property, the calculus for K4B contains a restricted version of the cut-rule, the so-called analytical cut-rule.In addition we show that G ⁰is not compact (and therefore not canonical), and we proof with the tableau-method that G ⁰is characterised by the class of all finite, (transitive) trees of degenerate or simple clusters of worlds; therefore G ⁰is decidable and also characterised by the class of all frames for G ⁰.Research supported by Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, project number P8495-PHY.Presented by W. Rautenberg     

Social comparison,attraction, and choice of a comparison other

The effects of attitudinal similarity and task-relevant affiliative status, together with three situational factors (presence or absence of a monetary reward, choice of information source or work partner, and choice made before or after Ss completed preliminary work on the task), on the choice of comparison others were examined. The most significant determinant of the comparison other chosen was attitude similarity (p < .01). There was also a significant interaction between attitude similarity, task-relevant affifliative status, and time of choice (p < .05). The nature of the interaction suggested that general impressions such as conveyed by general attitudinal information may be more important in the selection of referent others than comparability on situation-specific factors.     

Plural quantifiers: a modal interpretation

One of the standard views on plural quantification is that its use commits one to the existence of abstract objects–sets. On this view claims like ‘some logicians admire only each other’ involve ineliminable quantification over subsets of a salient domain. The main motivation for this view is that plural quantification has to be given some sort of semantics, and among the two main candidates—substitutional and set-theoretic—only the latter can provide the language of plurals with the desired expressive power (given that the nominalist seems committed to the assumption that there can be at most countably many names). To counter this approach I develop a modal-substitutional semantics of plural quantification (on which plural variables, roughly speaking, range over ways names could be) and argue for its nominalistic acceptability.     

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO): a yoked-control comparison

After training to press a lever on a variable-interval 30-sec schedule, one group of rats was shifted to a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior 10-sec schedule, while a second group was shifted to a noncontingent yoked-control schedule that provided the same frequency and distribution of reinforcement. Then, both groups were extensively retrained on the variable-interval schedule, after which the first group was shifted to a series of differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior 30-sec sessions alternating daily with variable-interval 30-sec sessions, while the second group was treated like the first on variable-interval days and yoked with the first as before on differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior days. In both phases, response-decrement was more rapid and more marked in the differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior animals than in the controls. The difference was due, at least in large measure, to sustainment of response in the control animals by adventitious reinforcement. All the differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior animals developed “other” behavior—the same distinctive pattern of waiting at the foodcup—but there was no direct evidence that it contributed in any way to the decrement in lever pressing.     

Responses to a happily married other: The role of relationship satisfaction and social comparison orientation

A study among 103 married individuals examined how the responses to a story about an individual with a happy marriage that was characterized by either high or low effort were moderated by relationship satisfaction and social comparison orientation (SCO). As individuals were higher in SCO, the high‐effort couple evoked more positive affect and more identification and the low‐effort couple evoked more negative affect and less identification. Furthermore, the higher the SCO, the more positive affect and identification those high in relationship satisfaction experienced in response to the targets. In the high‐effort condition, but not in the low‐effort condition, identification mediated between relationship satisfaction and SCO and the affective responses. Independent of induced effort, a higher degree of perceived effort was, especially among those high in relationship satisfaction, associated with a higher level of identification. Finally, relationship satisfaction induced relatively more identification with the target among men, married people, and relatively older people.     

Determining the environment: a modal logic for closed interaction

The aim of the work is to provide a language to reason about Closed Interactions, i.e. all those situations in which the outcomes of an interaction can be determined by the agents themselves and in which the environment cannot interfere with they are able to determine. We will see that two different interpretations can be given of this restriction, both stemming from Pauly Representation Theorem. We will identify such restrictions and axiomatize their logic. We will apply the formal tools to reason about games and their regulation.     

Paraconsistent logic from a modal viewpoint

In this paper we study paraconsistent negation as a modal operator, considering the fact that the classical negation of necessity has a paraconsistent behavior. We examine this operator on the one hand in the modal logic S5 and on the other hand in some new four-valued modal logics.     

Modeling general and specific variance in multifaceted constructs: a comparison of the bifactor model to other approaches

This article recommends an alternative method for testing multifaceted constructs. Researchers often have to choose between two problematic approaches for analyzing multifaceted constructs: the total score approach and the individual score approach. Both approaches can result in conceptual ambiguity. The proposed bifactor model assesses simultaneously the general construct shared by the facets and the specific facets, over and above the general construct. We illustrate the bifactor model by examining the construct of Extraversion as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R; Costa & McCrae, 1992), with two college samples (N = 383 and 378). The analysis reveals that the facets of the NEO‐PI‐R Extraversion correlate with criteria in opposite directions after partialling out the general construct. The direction of gender differences also varies by facets. Bifactor models combine the advantages but avoid the drawbacks of the 2 existing methods and can lead to greater conceptual clarity.     

Risk perception in Poland: A comparison with three other countries

The present study is a cross-cultural comparison of risk perception. A psychometric approach has been followed in order to examine quantitative risk judgments of different hazards and the ratings of these same hazards on various risk-characteristic scales. A list of hazards was used that is comparable with other samples (American, Hungarian, Norwegian), but a certain number of hazards of an entirely different kind were added (e.g. social tensions, shortages of consumer goods) because these are important today for Polish society. In spite of the different list of hazards, the basic factor structure of risk perception turned out to be essentially the same as the structure found in other studies. There was considerable agreement in risk perceptions in the Polish and American samples. We also discovered a number of idiosyncratic qualities of risk perception in Poland, generally indicating the importance of the availability heuristic.     

Acceptability of aggression in four Spanish regions and a comparison with other European Countries

The degree of acceptance of various forms of aggression in different situations was investigated by applying questionnaires to students from four Spanish regions: Castile, Catalonia, Andalusia, and the Basque Country. These data are also compared with similar studies in Finland and Poland. Although some minor differences were found between the different groups as well as some gender preferences, very similar acceptances were observed in all the populations studied, suggesting a certain universality of norms and beliefs about aggression in society. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc. ©1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Products of modal logics and tensor products of modal algebras

One of natural combinations of Kripke complete modal logics is the product, an operation that has been extensively investigated over the last 15 years. In this paper we consider its analogue for arbitrary modal logics: to this end, we use product-like constructions on general frames and modal algebras. This operation was first introduced by Y. Hasimoto in 2000; however, his paper remained unnoticed until recently. In the present paper we quote some important Hasimoto's results, and reconstruct the product operation in an algebraic setting: the Boolean part of the resulting modal algebra is exactly the tensor product of original algebras (regarded as Boolean rings). Also, we propose a filtration technique for Kripke models based on tensor products and obtain some decidability results.     

Sexual homicide: Definition,motivation and comparison with other forms of sexual offending

Sexual homicides attract a great deal of attention from the media and the scientific community. Yet, despite this interest, there is no universally accepted definition of the term. This paper explores this issue and looks closely at the motivation behind these offenses. In particular, it explores the role of pathology, anger, and sadistic sexual fantasy. It also explores whether sexual homicide is distinct from other forms of sexual violence, or whether it is better explained as an extreme variant of sexual assault.     

The effect of subject's gender on judgments of similarity and choice of a comparison other

This study examined the implications for social comparison theory of the proposition that women have lower self-confidence than men when there is a socially defined standard of performance. To this end, it was hypothesized that women would judge themselves to be similar to a lower ranked person, whereas men would judge themselves to be similar to a higher ranked person. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that women would choose to see a score lower than their own, whereas men would choose to see a score higher than their own. The results on the measure of similarity indicated that men did judge themselves to be similar to a higher ranked person, whereas women showed no consistent preferences in their judgments of similarity. The results on the choice of a comparison other were not as clear-cut.