To link, to infer, to understand

A model of linkage in text processing is proposed: An external proposition and an inference belonging to one frame are superimposed to constitute understanding. A text containing four academic subjects was presented orally to students who recalled it in writing. After transforming the recalls into propositions they are entered into a nonmetric multidimensional scaling to yield a text space. The subjects' interest choices among items of the four aspects are scaled to render an interest space. The decomposition ob both as subspaces of a common space yields an angle as their overall similarity and indicates the degree of predictability from interests. As the aggregate of inferences shows directedness, correlated with volitional-motivational orientation, and inference base is assumed to intervene. It is concluded that recipients try to superimpose and thereby construct a primary stage of processing. This allows for a very general algorithm of parallel information processing (holographic thesis), perhaps constructing the properties we are used to. Motivated perception, knowledge influence, schema-directedness and contribution to coherence are rivalled out as an explanation of this process.     

Proneness to shame, proneness to guilt, and psychopathology.

The links between shame and guilt and psychopathology were examined. In 2 studies, 245 and 234 undergraduates completed the Self-Conscious Affect and Attribution Inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Scale, and the Attributional Style Questionnaire. Results failed to support Lewis's (1971) notion that shame and guilt are differentially related to unique symptom clusters. Shame-proneness was strongly related to psychological maladjustment in general. Guilt-proneness was only moderately related to psychopathology; correlations were ascribable entirely to the shared variance between shame and guilt. Although clearly related to a depressogenic attributional style, shame accounted for substantial variance in depression, above and beyond attributional style.     

The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive,linguistic, and perceptual skills

Reading-impaired children have difficulty tapping to a beat. Here we tested whether this relationship between reading ability and synchronized tapping holds in typically-developing adolescents. We also hypothesized that tapping relates to two other abilities. First, since auditory-motor synchronization requires monitoring of the relationship between motor output and auditory input, we predicted that subjects better able to tap to the beat would perform better on attention tests. Second, since auditory-motor synchronization requires fine temporal precision within the auditory system for the extraction of a sound’s onset time, we predicted that subjects better able to tap to the beat would be less affected by backward masking, a measure of temporal precision within the auditory system. As predicted, tapping performance related to reading, attention, and backward masking. These results motivate future research investigating whether beat synchronization training can improve not only reading ability, but potentially executive function and auditory processing as well.     

Reply to Meyers,Cahoone, Colapietro,and Pratt

This paper responds to four commentators (Diana Tietjens Meyers, Lawrence Cahoone, Vincent Colapietro, and Scott L. Pratt) on my book The Network Self: Relation, Process, and Personal Identity (2019). Aspects of the book focused on and about which I respond include reflexive communication (Meyers); identity and integrity (Cahoone); embodiment, self-deception, and autonomy (Colapietro); and social location and power (Pratt). I also clarify my strategy in the book, namely, to shift the ontological framework away from the dualistic mind/body or psychological/animalist distinction and embrace the idea that as relational processes selves are particular kinds of natural complexes (to use a term from Justus Buchler). In doing so, I aim to avoid metaphysically narrow views of human selves or persons, and to provide a framework for conceptualizing selves in both abstract and practical terms.     

Dedicating Time to Volunteering: Values,Engagement, and Commitment to Beneficiaries

A moderated mediation model was developed to explain the variation in the amount of time volunteers dedicate to their chosen voluntary cause. Data from 534 volunteers of an international aid and development agency in the United Kingdom revealed a positive relationship between prosocial values and time spent volunteering. The results also show that volunteer engagement fully mediated the relationship between the value motive and time spent volunteering, and the strength of the mediated effect varied as a function of volunteers' commitment to beneficiaries. These findings provide a new perspective on the link between volunteers' motivation and active participation in volunteer activities. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Sensitivity to disgust, stigma, and adjustment to life with a colostomy

We examined whether trait disgust sensitivity predicts well-being in colostomy patients, and whether disgust predicts stigmatizing attitudes about colostomy in non-patients. 195 patients with a colostomy returned a mailed survey including measures of disgust sensitivity, life satisfaction, mood, and feelings of being stigmatized. We also conducted an internet-survey of a non-patient sample (n = 523). In the patient sample, we observed negative correlations between a bowel-specific measure of disgust sensitivity and life satisfaction (r = -.34, p<.01), and colostomy adjustment ( r = -.42, p<.01), and a positive correlation with feeling stigmatized because of the colostomy (r = .54, p<.01). Correlations between a general trait disgust measure and these outcomes were more modest. A structural equation model indicated that colostomy patients who had high disgust sensitivity felt more stigmatized, and this was in turn strongly related to lower life satisfaction. Concordantly, in the non-patient sample we observed that disgust sensitivity was a significant, positive predictor of wanting less contact with colostomy patients (r = .22, p < .01).     

Children's,adolescents', and adults' reference to goals to explain interpersonal actions

This study investigated children's, adolescents', and adults' references to an actor's goals when explaining interpersonal actions. Participants were presented with eight brief stories containing a variety of social events and were asked to explain why the actor in each story performed the central action. Children, adolescents, and adults mentioned goals for most of the stories. Adults and adolescents mentioned psychological goals much more often than did children. Older children, adolescents, and adults mentioned complex psychological goals more often than did younger children. Younger children often mentioned instrumental or social goals. When making goal attributions, children, adolescents, and adults considered both the nature of the action and the social context in which it occurred. Participants mentioned psychological goals more often when explaining an antisocial action and social goals when explaining a prosocial action. Participants were also more likely to mention psychological goals when interpersonal events immediately preceding the central action were described. Thus, goals were offered as explanations for interpersonal actions by all age groups, but the type of goals mentioned varied by the age of the participant, the social context, and the valence of the action. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reply to Ellis and to Handfield on essentialism,laws, and counterfactuals

Peter Singer has argued that there are good utilitarian reasons for rejecting the prospect of superlongevity: developing technology to double (or more) the average human lifespan. I argue against Singer's view on two fronts. First, empirical research on happiness indicates that the later years of life are (on average) the happiest, and there is no reason to suppose that this trend would not continue if superlongevity were realized. Second, it is argued that there are good reasons to suppose that there will be a certain amount of self-selection: the happiest are more likely to adopt superlongevity technology. This means that the adoption of superlongevity technology will have the effect of raising the level of aggregate utility.     

Physiological,Cognitive, and Nonverbal Responses to Repeated Exposure to Crowding1

The present study testcd the hypotheses that crowded subjects would evidence higher levels of arousal than uncrowded subjects and that the arousal of crowded subjects would not habituate with the passage of time. In a laboratory setting, subjects were exposed three tinies over a 3-week period to either crowding with physical contact or an uncrowded environment. A high degree of convergence in support of the experimental hypotheses was provided by behavioral, physiological, and self-report measures. Crowded subjects were more physiologically aroused; rated by confederates to be more tense, uncomfortable, and annoyed; and reported more negative affect than uncrowded subjects. No evidence for habituation of. response to crowding was found.     

The decision to return to college: Role concepts,personality, attitudes,and significant others

In two studies, personality, role concepts, and attitudes distinguished wives and mothers who decided to resume college from those who did not. College women and women about to resume college had more self-actualizing, achievement-oriented, and dominant personalities (California Psychological Inventory); broader, more personalized role concepts; more liberal attitudes; better educated husbands; and fewer children than housewives. Measurements before college return and during the second year at college indicated that college exposure did not significantly affect these variables. The single exception was that after college exposure, women no longer saw society as supporting their efforts to actualize their potentials.A version of this paper was presented at the 83rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, August 31, 1975.     

Replies to Wallace,Queloz, and Kirwin

In this article, I reply to the comments offered by R. Jay Wallace, Matthieu Queloz, and Claire Kirwin on my book, The Will to Nothingness. An Essay on Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality (OUP, 2021). These comments and my replies cover central features of the book, including my analysis of ressentiment as an expression of the will to power; the concept of self-undermining functionality I introduce to make sense of Nietzsche's critique of the ascetic ideal; and my reasons for omitting to examine the “unconditional will to truth,” which he presents as the latest embodiment of this ideal.