Sample size and the detection of correlation--a signal detection account: comment on Kareev (2000) and Juslin and Olsson (2005)

Simulations examined the hypothesis that small samples can provide better grounds for inferring the existence of a population correlation, p, than can large samples. Samples of 5, 7, 10, 15, or 30 data pairs were drawn either from a population with p=0 or from one with p>0. When decision accuracy was assessed independently for each level of the decision criterion, there was a criterion-specific small-sample advantage. For liberal criteria, accuracy was greater for large than for small samples, but for conservative criteria, the opposite result occurred. There was no small-sample advantage when accuracy was measured as the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve or as the posterior probability of a hit. The results show that small-sample advantages can occur, but under limited conditions.     

An attentional learning account of the shape bias: reply to Cimpian and Markman (2005) and Booth, Waxman, and Huang (2005)

Recently, Developmental Psychology published 2 articles on the shape bias; both rejected the authors' previous proposals about the role of attentional learning in the development of a shape bias in object name learning. A. Cimpian and E. Markman (2005) did so by arguing that the shape bias does not exist but is an experimental artifact. A. E. Booth, S. R. Waxman, and Y. T. Huang (2005), in contrast, concluded that the shape bias (and its contextual link to artifact categories) does exist but that the mechanisms that underlie it are conceptual knowledge and not attentional learning. In response, in this article the authors clarify the claims of the Attentional Learning Account (ALA) and interpretations of the data under question. The authors also seek to make explicit the deeper theoretical divide: cognition as sequestered from processes of perceiving and acting versus as embedded in, and inseparable from, those very processes.     

Holography does not account for goodness: a critique of van der Helm and Leeuwenberg (1996)

P. A. van der Helm and E. L. J. Leeuwenberg (1996) outlined a holographic account of figural goodness of a perceptual stimulus. The theory is mathematically precise and can be applied to a broad spectrum of empirical data. The authors argue, however, that the account is inadequate on both theoretical and empirical grounds. The theoretical difficulties concern the internal consistency of the account and its reliance on unspecified auxiliary assumptions. The account also makes counterintuitive empirical predictions, which do not fit past data or the results of a series of new experimental studies.     

The effects of social (dis)engagement on status conferral: A context dependent account

The functionalist perspective of status suggests that, to attain status, individuals need to be socially engaging and contribute to a group. In contrast, the signaling perspective of status indicates that people often perceive a lack of social engagement as a status cue and thus confer status on someone who is socially disengaging. Integrating these two important perspectives in the status literature, we propose a context dependent account of social (dis)engagement and status conferral in groups and organizations. Whereas social engagement (e.g., contributing to a group and connecting with its members) results in status attainment in task contexts, social disengagement (e.g., withholding benefits from a group and distancing oneself from its members) leads to status attainment in social contexts. A laboratory study and an online experiment provide partial empirical support for our predictions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Effects of Emotional (Non-)Expression in (Chronic) Disease: A Meta-Analytic Review

Research on emotional (non-)expression is characterized by two facets; it has mainly focused on healthy individuals and it has failed to explore the relationships between the different concepts describing expression and non-expression. A meta-analysis was conducted in order to identify the differential effects of emotional expression and non-expression in patient samples. Results showed that neither expression, nor non-expression of emotions was related to perception of disease severity. Psychological distress increased in relation to emotional non-expression, but no effect was shown for emotional expression. Emotional non-expression was also related to adopting a helpless attitude towards the disease. The conceptual and methodological disparities identified in the retrieved studies undermined the validity of the emerged relationships. Reported changes in physical and psychological outcomes were related to the kind of research design, operationalization of (non-)expression and the clinical and psychological condition of the recruited samples. Implications for improving future research are discussed.     

Questioning the goal-switching account of the AB: comment on Ferlazzo et al. (2007)

Identification of the second of two targets (T2) is impaired when presented less than about 500?ms after the first (T1; Attentional Blink: AB). Although the AB is known to be remarkably robust across many manipulations, [Ferlazzo, F., Lucido, S., Di Nocera, F., Fagioli, S., &; Sdoia, S. (2007). Switching between goals mediates the attentional blink effect. Experimental Psychology, 54, 89–98; Ferlazzo, F., Faglioli, S., Sdoia, S., &; Di Nocera, F. (2008). Goal-completion processes affect the attentional blink. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20, 697–710] found it to be substantially attenuated when the observers were set to accomplish a single goal (e.g. reporting the sum of the T1 and T2 digits) instead of a dual goal (reporting T1 and T2 separately). The larger AB obtained with the dual-goal set was ascribed to the attentional switch necessitated by the goal-switch between T1 and T2. This conclusion is questionable on three grounds: non-equivalent scoring procedures across conditions, range of inter-target lags, and unreliability of the baseline level. These issues were addressed in the present study. Contrary to Ferlazzo et al.’s conclusions, we found no AB attenuation in the single-goal, relative to the dual-goal condition.     

Chronic sildenafil (Viagra) administration reduces anxiety in intact and castrated male rats

Epidemiological research indicates that sildenafil (Viagra) abuse is associated with increased risk behaviors. The present study employs the open field, a standard animal model used in the field of anxiety research, to examine whether chronic exposure to sildenafil affects anxiety and risk-taking behaviors in gonadally intact and castrated male Wistar rats. Sildenafil (10 mg/kg) or saline were administered three times a week for three weeks. Animals were tested once a week in the open field during and after drug treatment. Sildenafil treatment increased the number of center entries and time spent in the center in intact and castrated animals during and after treatment, suggesting that repeated drug use decreases anxiety. Sildenafil also restored the deficits in exploration and locomotion produced by castration, indicating that sildenafil effects on open field behaviors are independent of endogenous androgens. We caution against generalizing from this study to human behaviors, but propose that the behavioral effects produced by a chronic high dose of sildenafil warrant further studies into its abuse potential.     

Identity matters,culture wars: An account of Al-Huda (re)defining identity and reconfiguring culture in Pakistan

Middle-class and upper-class urban Pakistani women affiliated with Al-Huda, an Islamic school for women created in Islamabad in the early 1990s, are actively engaged in cultural construction as they first alter their ideology and behaviour, and then encourage others to alter theirs in order to live their lives as Muslims within a particular religious framework. While the presence of a variety of ideological systems in Pakistani society prevents Al-Huda's religious discourse from creating a monolithic culture infused by particular values and behaviours, it is nevertheless attempting to accomplish just that as it builds upon particular cultural codes that already exist in the country; for instance, those that intricately tie being a Pakistani with being a Muslim. Al-Huda takes this connection a step forward by specifying what being a Muslim entails based on their understanding of Muslim piety, hence promoting and constructing a particular kind of culture as authentic and desirable.     

Having reasons and the factoring account

It’s natural to say that when it’s rational for me to φ, I have reasons to φ. That is, there are reasons for φ-ing, and moreover, I have some of them. Mark Schroeder calls this view The Factoring Account of the having reasons relation. He thinks The Factoring Account is false. In this paper, I defend The Factoring Account. Not only do I provide intuitive support for the view, but I also defend it against Schroeder’s criticisms. Moreover, I show that it helps us understand the requirements of substantive rationality, or what we are rationally required to do when responding to reasons.     

Ease of predication does not account for imageability effects in performance: a reply to Jones (2002)

In this paper we defend our views against claim that the criticism of the ease of predication hypothesis (Jones, 1985) made by de Mornay Davies and Funnell (2000) is "fundamentally flawed." Jones raises five issues concerning the content of the text, the reliability of effects of ease of predication, the generation of predicates, semantic features, and memory retrieval. We address each of these issues in turn and show that either a critical point raised is not made, or the point is mistaken. More importantly we show that our empirical findings, which are entirely overlooked by Jones, unequivocally support the view that ease of predication does not account for imageability effects in performance.     

三十代天师张继先生平简述

张继先是天师道史上作出过杰出贡献的天师。虽然他的令名与事迹早已跨越了时间、空间的界限,但迄今教内外有关论著对其生平的论述都较为简略,并且存在着几个疑点。本文将解决其中的疑点,并对其生平作出较为详细的论述,以助读者对这位神童天师的进一步了解。     

Behavioral Effects of Chronic Melatonin and Pregnenolone Injections in a Myelin Mutant Rat (taiep)

The taiep (tremor, ataxia, immobility, epilepsy, and paralysis) myelin mutant displays a number of locomotor deficits. Taiep rat gait is characterized by shorter stride and step lengths as well as by larger stride widths. Thirty-day-old taiep mutants were placed under a regimen of daily hormone injections for 60 days. Animals in Condition 1 received melatonin, those in Condition 2 received pregnenolone sulfate, and those in a third control condition received injections of saline. Following the injections, each taiep mutant's gait was analyzed. The animals that received melatonin and pregnenolone displayed significantly larger stride and step lengths than did the controls. In addition, the animals that received hormones displayed shorter stride widths than did the controls. These experimental effects are consistent with a normalization of gait. Possible cellular mechanisms of this behavioral effect are discussed.     

Confirmation and reduction: a Bayesian account

Various scientific theories stand in a reductive relation to each other. In a recent article, we have argued that a generalized version of the Nagel-Schaffner model (GNS) is the right account of this relation. In this article, we present a Bayesian analysis of how GNS impacts on confirmation. We formalize the relation between the reducing and the reduced theory before and after the reduction using Bayesian networks, and thereby show that, post-reduction, the two theories are confirmatory of each other. We then ask when a purported reduction should be accepted on epistemic grounds. To do so, we compare the prior and posterior probabilities of the conjunction of both theories before and after the reduction and ask how well each is confirmed by the available evidence.     

Gender and relationships. A developmental account

This article argues that behavioral differentiation of the sexes is minimal when children are observed or tested individually. Sex differences emerge primarily in social situations, and their nature varies with the gender composition of dyads and groups. Children find same-sex play partners more compatible, and they segregate themselves into same-sex groups, in which distinctive interaction styles emerge. These styles are described. As children move into adolescence, the patterns they developed in their childhood same-sex groups are carried over into cross-sex encounters in which girls' styles put them at a disadvantage. Patterns of mutual influence can become more symmetrical in intimate male-female dyads, but the distinctive styles of the two sexes can still be seen in such dyads and are subsequently manifested in the roles and relationships of parenthood. The implications of these continuities are considered.