Beyond a stereotyped view of older adults' traditional family values

Structural equation models for predictors of traditional family values regarding relationships were examined in 2 samples: undergraduate students and adults ranging widely in age (23-86 years). Predictor variables included verbal ability, need for cognition, need for closure, intolerance for ambiguity, religiosity, and gender orientation. The models accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in traditional family values (64% for students, 63% for adults). Findings provide little support for common stereotypes regarding age and gender differences in traditionalism. Instead, 3 individual-differences variables predicted traditional family values: need for closure, religiosity, and verbal ability. Outcomes argue for the need to identify multiple mechanisms by which personal characteristics such as need for closure and religiosity influence traditionalism in social belief systems and argue against reliance on status variables such as age and gender as explanatory variables for these beliefs.     

理性事实与自然主义谬误——兼论摩尔对康德道德哲学的误读

论文以摩尔自然主义谬误概念为出发点,指出摩尔对康德道德哲学的批评是不恰当的,并分析了摩尔对康德的误解及其原因;进而提出康德以理性事实概念为基础,解决了关于善与道德法则的关系,并为善的概念之阐明开辟了新的视野;康德的理性事实概念学说超越了从"是"到"应该"规范伦理学的思路,以及自然主义谬误所指出的错误路径,指出"应该"作为定言命令是被给予的而非被推导的,从而为规范伦理学开辟了新的境界.     

关于克里普克模态性的一个自然主义解释

The Kripkean metaphysical modality (i.e. possibility and necessity) is one of the most important concepts in contemporary analytic philosophy and is the basis of many metaphysical speculations. These metaphysical speculations frequently commit to entities that do not belong to this physical universe, such as merely possible entities, abstract entities, mental entities or qualities not realizable by the physical, which seems to contradict naturalism or physicalism. This paper proposes a naturalistic interpretation of the Kripkean modality, as a naturalist’s response to these metaphysical speculations. It will show that naturalism can accommodate the Kripkean metaphysical modality. In particular, it will show that naturalism can help to resolve the puzzles surrounding Kripke’s a posteriori necessary propositions and a priori contingent propositions. __________ Translated from Zhexue yanjiu 哲学研究 (Philosophical Researches), 2008, (1): 18–26     

Rate and duration memory of naturalistic sounds

Research has shown that the tempi of familiar songs are remarkably well-remembered with a high degree of accuracy. The goal of the present research was to determine whether this ability generalizes to various types of ecological sounds and, if so, how rate information is encoded into the cognitive system. Across three experiments, participants were familiarized with a set of sounds and later asked to remember the rate of each. Experiment 1 revealed that the inherent rate of sounds is incidentally learned such that subsequent recognition is comparable across both prospective and retrospective paradigms. Experiment 2 confirmed these findings through an adjustment task and further demonstrated that memory for event rate remains highly accurate regardless if attending is initially directed toward a sound's rate and/or pitch qualities. Lastly, Experiment 3 assessed the ability to recognize event rate vs. duration when the two dimensions systematically co-vary with one another and revealed that rate variations influence duration recognition but not vice versa. These overall findings are discussed relative to a framework that emphasizes the role of event structure in time judgment behavior.     

Predictors of naturalistic sexual aggression

This research integrated within a theoretical and empirical framework varied predictor factors pertaining to males' sexual aggression against women. The selection of predictors was guided by theorizing that sexual aggression is caused by the interaction among multiple factors, including those creating the motivation for the act, those reducing internal and external inhibitions, and those providing the opportunity for the act to occur. The predictor factors assessed were sexual arousal in response to aggression, dominance as a motive for sexual acts, hostility toward women, attitudes accepting of violence against women, psychoticism, and sexual experience. A measure assessing self-reported sexual aggression (primarily among acquaintances) in naturalistic settings served as the dependent measure. The subjects were 155 males. As expected, nearly all the predictor factors significantly related to sexual aggression. In addition, much better prediction of such aggression was achieved by a combination of these factors than by any one individually. It was also found that including interactions among these predictors yielded a regression equation that was more successful in relating to sexual aggression than an equation using an additive combination only. The relevance of these data to the causes and prediction of violence against women is discussed.     

Beyond the Mainstreams

My interest in the theory and art of psychoanalysis is traced to some of its sources—my childhood and expulsion from Germany in the late 1930s, my experience as a member of a discriminated-against minority, my nonacceptance as a psychologist by American psychoanalytic societies, my invitation to participate in the development of self psychology, and my fortuitous encounter with personal and professional friends who have contributed to the scope of my psychoanalytic endeavors (e.g., to my abiding interest in research and, in particular, the empirical studies of the early mother–infant dyad). I offer this account as evidence of the varied and creative opportunities that await psychoanalysts not outside but beyond the mainstream of American psychoanalysis.     

Beyond the intellectual

Pastoral Psychology -     

Duration judgments of naturalistic events in the auditory and visual modalities

Two experiments were performed to examine whether the same underlying mechanisms apply to the duration estimates of both auditory and visual events. In Experiment 1, it was found that the durations of visual scenes are reproduced with the same level of accuracy in prospective and retrospective situations when these display a predictable array of information, a result consistent with past research on auditory durations. Experiment 2 further revealed that when participants are asked to prospectively or retrospectively judge the durations of various naturalistic events in their auditory, visual, or audiovisual modality, no differences in either accuracy or bias are observed. These findings diverge from previous research and are argued to stem from different processing mechanisms that arise from naturalistic events.