Is there a general factor of preference for complexity?

It has been assumed that preferences for different aspects of complexity in visual patterns are intercorrelated. Evidence purporting to demonstrate this was examined and found to be inconclusive. The preferences of 111 Ss using three sets of patterns showed no correlation between preference for asymmetry, for multiplicity, and for heterogeneity of elements.     

Is there a chaplain in your clinic?

As medical care continues to move outside the hospitals, clients with spiritual needs are more often to be found in clinics and doctors' offices than inpatient settings. Chaplains in partnership with physicians can contribute to healing in outpatient centers. A study of one group of clinic patients indicates that an outpatient setting may be a better place to address spiritual needs than a hospital setting. Pastoral interventions are acceptable to many clients, who according to statistics are already using alternative therapies to augment traditional medical care. Paul A. Mandziuk, M. Div., a priest of the Missionaries of La Salette, is a chaplain at Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center in St. Louis, MO, and serves on the leadership council of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.     

Is there a magnitude effect in tipping?

The present study examined nearly 1,000 tips recorded for two taxicabs, two hair salons, and two restaurants. In each of the six cases, amount of tip increased linearly as a function of the amount of the bill. Contrary to standard microeconomic theory, there was a magnitude effect in that as the amount of the bill increased, the percent tip tended to decrease. The present results extend the findings of Chapman and Winquist (1998), obtained using hypothetical scenarios, to real-world tipping behavior. Chapman and Winquist argued that a magnitude effect in tipping reflects the shape of the utility function for money. We suggest, however, that the magnitude effect may be the mathematical consequence of replotting the fundamental relationship between tip and bill amounts in terms of percent tip, given that the observed linear relation between tip and bill amounts has a positive intercept. We suggest further that the positive intercept arises because a tip represents a judgment as to what constitutes a fair or equitable wage, and part of what constitutes a fair wage is independent of the amount of the bill, reflecting compensation for simply being there when needed. The present account implies that different explanations may be needed for magnitude effects observed in different domains.     

Is history important for a historical argument in religious studies?

This review article addresses the historical argument of Norenzayan's Big Gods. It questions the claim that there is enough historical evidence to support the thesis that gods, who are observing human behaviour from high, enable societies to grow beyond the stage of face-to-face groups.     

Is there a search in fixed-set memory search?

We discuss the hypothesis that structural factors in the fixed-set memory-search task may contribute to the standard linear set-size effect typically observed in this task. We constructed a lexical decision task that contained the same structural factors as the memory-search task. Two structural factors are discussed: (1) the priming of the probe by the memory set, and (2) the confounding of repetitions per item with set size. Our experiment demonstrated that these structural factors play a role in the set-size effect. The implications of these effects for the memory-search task and for models proposed to account for memory-search data are discussed.     

Is there a duty to remain in ignorance?

Questions about information inform many debates in bioethics. One of the reasons for this is that at least some level of information is taken by many to be a prerequisite of valid consent. For others, autonomy in the widest sense presupposes information, because one cannot be in control of one’s life without at least some insight into what it could turn out to contain. Yet not everyone shares this view, and there is a debate about whether or not there is a right to remain in ignorance of one’s medical, and especially genetic, information. It is notable, though, that this debate leaves unexamined the assumption that, if a person wants information, he is entitled to it. This paper examines the assumption, specifically in relation to genetics, where learning facts about oneself may reveal facts about other people, particularly one’s close relatives. This may be taken as a violation of their privacy, and since privacy is something that we normally think should be respected, it is worth asking whether one ought to abjure the opportunity to obtain genetic information for the sake of privacy. In effect, there may be an argument to be made not just for a right to remain in ignorance, but for a duty to do so.     

Is there a place for Feminists in a Christian Church?

Based on a dialogue held on 16 May 1986 in London at Westminster Cathedral Hall, and organised by Catholic Women's Network and Women in Theology. Dr Daphne Hampson presents her own position at length, Dr Rosemary Ruether responds to it at length, and a discussion between the two of them follows.     

Is there a primordial Torah?

Is Orthodox Judaism committed to the existence of a Torah that pre-existed the world? This paper argues that Orthodoxy is so committed unless it can find compelling philosophical or theological reasons to reject the possibility of such an entity, and then to re-interpret allegorically all of the texts that speak of such a Torah. Providing an ontology of primordial texts, I argue that no compelling reason can be found to deny the existence of the primordial Torah.     

Is there a neutral metalanguage?

Logical pluralists are committed to the idea of a neutral metalanguage, which serves as a framework for debates in logic. Two versions of this neutrality can be found in the literature: an agreed upon collection of inferences, and a metalanguage that is neutral as such. I discuss both versions and show that they are not immune to Quinean criticism, which builds on the notion of meaning. In particular, I show that (i) the first version of neutrality is sub-optimal, and hard to reconcile with the theories of meaning for logical constants, and (ii) the second version collapses mathematically, if rival logics, as object languages, are treated with charity in the metalanguage. I substantiate (ii) by proving a collapse theorem that generalizes familiar results. Thus, the existence of a neutral metalanguage cannot be taken for granted, and meaning-invariant logical pluralism might turn out to be dubious.

     

Is there a Sunk Cost Effect in Committed Relationships?

The sunk cost effect occurs when a prior investment in one option leads to a continuous investment in that option, despite not being the best decision. The aim of the present paper was to study the role of the sunk cost effect in committed relationships. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 902) were presented with an unhappy relationship scenario in which they needed to make a choice: to stay or end the relationship. Results showed that the likelihood of participants staying in the relationship was higher when money and effort, but not time, had been previously invested in that relationship. In Experiment 2, the time investment was manipulated and the sunk cost was evaluated using a different methodology. Specifically, instead of having a dichotomous decision, participants (N = 275) choose how much time they would be willing to invest in the relationship. Results revealed a sunk time effect, that is, participants were willing to invest more time in a relationship in which more time had already been invested.     

Is there a role for psychology in ulcer disease?

The discovery of the importance of bacterial factors in the etiology of ulcer disease has led to a neglect of psychological factors. However, both earlier theoretical and empirical approaches implicating these factors are supported by more recent studies, both epidemiological and experimental. While not ignoring the unquestioned role of Helicobacter, it is important for future research to recognize the multi-factorial nature of ulcer disease by which several factors, including stress, bacteria and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, may interact to drive a pre-pathology (erosions or ulcerations) to a pathological state (ulcer). Calls for general eradication programs should be cautioned in the light of possible unwanted side effects.     

Is there a sensitive period in human incest avoidance?

Many studies support the proposition that early cosocialization with opposite-sex children has the effect of inhibiting later mutual sexual attraction, but the existence of a period in the life cycle in which individuals are sensitive to the effect of early cosocialization has been a matter of controversy. Drawing on earlier traditional psychological research, and on more recent work guided by parental investment theory, we hypothesized that only for maternal perinatal association (MPA)-absent males a less-than- around-three-years age difference with the sister can predict stronger aversion to sibling incest. The results corroborated the hypothesis. The results can be interpreted as support for the existence of a sensitive period as well as for the potent role of MPA. Cross-cultural comparative studies were called on to further test the hypothesis.     

Is working memory capacity a causal factor in fluid intelligence?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - It is well established that measures of reasoning ability and of working memory capacity (WMC) correlate positively. However, the question of what explains this...     

Is there a profession of engineering?

This article examines three common arguments for the claim that engineering is not a profession: 1) that engineering lacks an ideal internal to its practice; 2) that engineering’s ideal, whether internal or not, is merely technical; and 3) that engineering lacks the social arrangements characteristic of a true profession. All three arguments are shown to rely on one or another definition of profession, each of which is inadequate. An alternative to these definition is offered. It has at least two advantages. On the one hand, it emphasizes the importance of professional community, the role of occupation in defining profession, the centrality of a moral ideal, and the necessity for morally binding standards (beyond ordinary morality). On the other hand, the alternative definition is in part independent both of moral theory and sociology. This article concludes by considering what light the alternative definition can throw on the professional status of engineers serving the Nazis.