Children's theories of motivation

To investigate children’s theories of motivation, we asked 166 children (8-12 years of age) to rate the effect of various motivational strategies on task interest, over the short and long terms, in activities described as appealing or unappealing. Children viewed the rewards strategy as resulting in greatest interest except when implemented over the long term for appealing activities. Individual difference analyses revealed that some children held operant theories of motivation, in which rewards were central, and others held hybrid theories, in which rewards were key, but some allowance was made for interest to be self-sustaining in the absence of inducements. Children’s theories predicted their academic self-regulation. Their theories are discussed relative to an expert theory of motivation.     

Equivalence relations and the reinforcement contingency

Where do equivalence relations come from? One possible answer is that they arise directly from the reinforcement contingency. That is to say, a reinforcement contingency produces two types of outcome: (a) 2‐, 3‐, 4‐, 5‐, or n‐term units of analysis that are known, respectively, as operant reinforcement, simple discrimination, conditional discrimination, second‐order conditional discrimination, and so on; and (b) equivalence relations that consist of ordered pairs of all positive elements that participate in the contingency. This conception of the origin of equivalence relations leads to a number of new and verifiable ways of conceptualizing equivalence relations and, more generally, the stimulus control of operant behavior. The theory is also capable of experimental disproof.     

Freud's theory of paranoid delusion based on the Schreber case contrasted with related theories

The historic importance of Freud's analysis of the Schreber case is acknowledged, even though the theory it expounds is largely disavowed. The theory ascribes the cause of paranoid delusion to homosexual impulses unresolved in infancy or early childhood. This paper summarizes Freud's monograph on Schreber and contrasts his theory with the views of various revisionists. The writers focus on the Freudian concept of projection, which is intended to explain how much meaning can become reversed under the impetus of stress, and the reversal lead to delusional thinking. Based on their work in family therapy, where they observed one form of pathogenic relating termed learning to be possessed, the writers concluded that this form was also based on a type of projection which could culminate in delusional ideation. A relationship between learning to be possessed and H. S. Sullivan's theory of paranoid transformation is described. A learning factor is present in several of the psychological theories advanced to explain delusion, and the factor is akin to if not identical with Freud's concept of projection.Gerald Zuk, PhD, is in private practice at 25316 Pacy Street, Santa Clarita, California 91321-3343. Carmen Zuk, MD, is a child psychiatrist-partner affiliated with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group at its psychiatric clinic in Van Nuys, California. Both may be reached by telephone at (805) 252-7702.     

Anxiety disorders: Some emerging theories

The influential Miller-Mowrer theory of fear and avoidance served well for over 30 years, but the need for revisions is now irresistible. The evidence in support of the first part of the theory, the conditioned acquisition of fear, is reviewed briefly and the major weaknesses of the theory are identified. The insufficiency of the second part of the theory, which deals with the persistence of avoidance behavior, is noted. Six emerging themes and theories of anxiety are described and briefly compared: Lang's bioinformational theory, Gray's neuropsychological theory, Beck's cognitive theory, Eysenk's neobehavioristic theory, emotional processing, and Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Attention is given to the 3 pathways to fear acquisition hypothesis, and to the role of safety signals in maintaining avoidance behavior. This subject is undergoing a period of healthy ferment, and significant advances in understanding can be expected to occur in the near future.     

Falsification and the protective belt surrounding entity-postulating theories

Meehl’s article is a contradiction. In every area, he recognizes some of what is wrong and then advocates a course that will produce more of the same. He sees the problem with falsification and in essence advocates for its alternative, verification, but falsely claims this strategy is still falsification and is useful when there is a loose link between theories and their auxiliaries and conditions. He acknowledges the proven value of tightening the link between theories and their auxiliaries and conditions, but rejects that course because it does not apply to his preferred theories. Twenty-five years later there is even more “slow progress” to ponder. It is time to dismantle the protective belt surrounding entity-postulating theories that Meehl’s reasoning has helped to create.     

Winnicott's splitting headache: considering the gap between Jungian and object relations concepts

This paper examines some difficulties inherent in the process of integration of potentially divergent theoretical positions. It is noted that there is an increasing tendency toward integration of Jungian theory with various models from psychoanalysis and other scientific disciplines. This trend can be understood as relating to the larger post-modern current operating in the scientific and cultural communities. As an element of the Zeitgeist, theory integration can proceed with a lack of critical stance on the process itself. An argument is developed on theoretical grounds for urging caution in the implementation of theory integration. The integrative process is examined using dream material from D. W. Winnicott in conjunction with his review of Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Through this discussion, some implications are examined as to the viability of linking Jungian and developmental models.     

Varieties of people-place relations and place change: UK electricity transmission grid development

Abstract

With a projected increase in electricity demand and low-carbon energy generation in the UK, the increased deployment of the existing electricity network is foreseeable (DECC, 2011). Public controversy over the proposed sitting of overhead transmission lines (often termed NIMBYism) has, in some cases, led to active opposition and resulted in planning delays and financial cost for developers. In going beyond the NIMBY concept, Devine-Wright (2009) posits a place-based approach to understanding responses to energy infrastructure proposals, highlighting the importance of people's subjective emotional and symbolic associations to particular places. This paper critically reviews existing literature on varieties of people-place relations, pointing to limitations of cross-sectional studies and outlining the value of narrative interviews for establishing the dynamic nature of place orientations over time. Furthermore, the case is made for novel research that explores relationships between forms of non-attachment to place (Lewicka, 2011) and responses to a power line proposal.     

The modular structure of physical theories

Any advanced theory of physics contains modules defined as essential components that are themselves theories with different domains of application. Different kinds of modules can be distinguished according to the way in which they fit in the symbolic and interpretive apparatus of a theory. The number and kind of the modules of a given theory vary as the theory evolves in time. The relative stability of modules and the variability of their insertion in other theories play a vital role in the application, comparison, construction, and communication of theories. Modularity conveys some global unity to physics through the sharing of modules by diverse theories. This alternative to rigid hierarchies and holistic totalities permits a dynamical, plastic, and symbiotic approach to physical theory.     

Power and spatial relations

Embodied views of language hold that perceptual and motor simulations are involved during comprehension. Study 1 investigated power-related language in a picture recognition task wherein participants judged whether the picture presented at either the upper or lower screen position matched the sentence. In Study 2, participants chose the picture that best described the sentence between two (identical) images that were aligned vertically. Results demonstrated that participants responded faster to pictures presented at the implied location and chose that picture more often. Such results suggest that spatial information implicit in power-related language is involved in linguistic comprehension.     

理论的建构与验证:来自社会认同研究的经验(英文)

科学研究的核心在于理论的建构与验证。基于社会认同和群际关系研究的经验,本文提出了建构与验证心理学理论的四步方法:1)选择现象——观察我们身边及周围世界所发生的事件;2)寻找关键共性——厘定不同事件间的共同成份;3)抽象化(理论化)——提取关键共性中潜存的基本心理过程,并将其与已有的或者最新的理论相联系;4)验证假设——利用实验反复地验证理论。以上四个步骤引导着研究者针对现实生活中的社会事件展开科学研究。文章将以等级身份、身份霸权和桥梁身份等研究为例阐明上述方法,同时也提出在社会和人格心理学领域开展系统性研究的准则。     

Positive employment relations: A qualitative meta-synthesis of the evidence

This study utilises a qualitative meta-synthesis approach to scope the evidence on qualities that define positive employment relations. The selection criteria included the identification of emerging themes, concepts and commonalities comprising positive employment relations throughout literature. Findings suggest that 21 core constructs comprised and affected positive employment relations on individual, team and organisational levels. Of the 21 constructs, only six key constructs are positive workplace relations resources: trust, respect, support, communication, equity and equality, and conflict management. Optimal functioning and flourishing of individuals result in an optimally thriving organisation, and, to ensure flourishing individuals and teams, an organisation should attend to and improve the quality of relationships within the work context.     

Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories

Belief in conspiracy theories has been associated with a range of negative health, civic, and social outcomes, requiring reliable methods of reducing such belief. Thinking dispositions have been highlighted as one possible factor associated with belief in conspiracy theories, but actual relationships have only been infrequently studied. In Study 1, we examined associations between belief in conspiracy theories and a range of measures of thinking dispositions in a British sample (N = 990). Results indicated that a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with lower analytic thinking and open-mindedness and greater intuitive thinking. In Studies 2–4, we examined the causational role played by analytic thinking in relation to conspiracist ideation. In Study 2 (N = 112), we showed that a verbal fluency task that elicited analytic thinking reduced belief in conspiracy theories. In Study 3 (N = 189), we found that an alternative method of eliciting analytic thinking, which related to cognitive disfluency, was effective at reducing conspiracist ideation in a student sample. In Study 4, we replicated the results of Study 3 among a general population sample (N = 140) in relation to generic conspiracist ideation and belief in conspiracy theories about the July 7, 2005, bombings in London. Our results highlight the potential utility of supporting attempts to promote analytic thinking as a means of countering the widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories.     

论健康伦理学及其基本理论架构——“九大理论”视野中的健康伦理

当代医学道德发展的走向理应是健康道德,后医学伦理学时代理应是健康伦理学。建设健康伦理学需要搭成一个基本理论架构。其组成至少应该有“九大理论”,即生命神圣论、生命质量论、生命价值论,医学人本论、医学功利论、医学公正论,医者美德论、医者义务(患者权利)论、医患和谐论。其间,按顺序由每三论构成一个“统一论”,将第一个“统一论”作为立论前提,将第二个“统一论”作为直接依据,将第三个“统一论”作为应用指南,如此,才能由三个“统一论”共同地更好地阐释全部健康伦理学问题。     

The ontological commitments of inconsistent theories

In this paper I present an argument for belief in inconsistent objects. The argument relies on a particular, plausible version of scientific realism, and the fact that often our best scientific theories are inconsistent. It is not clear what to make of this argument. Is it a reductio of the version of scientific realism under consideration? If it is, what are the alternatives? Should we just accept the conclusion? I will argue (rather tentatively and suitably qualified) for a positive answer to the last question: there are times when it is legitimate to believe in inconsistent objects.     

Implicit theories moderate the relation of positive future fantasies to academic outcomes

We hypothesized and observed that the degree to which students endorsed entity theories - the view that intelligence is fixed rather than malleable - attenuated the affective benefits and exacerbated the achievement drawbacks of positive fantasies in the academic domain. Positive fantasies only predicted low anger and anxiety for schoolchildren who did not strongly endorse entity theories (Study 1), and positive fantasies only predicted poor final school grades for vocational students who did strongly endorse entity theories (Study 2). An experiment indicated that for university students with stronger entity theories, positive fantasies demanded relatively little attention (Study 3), suggesting that positive fantasies obscure the opportunity for the preemptive self-regulation which promotes successful performance.     

Psychophysiological theories on sympathetic nervous system reactivity in the development of essential hypertension

Psychophysiological theories on the development of essential hypertension are reviewed and evaluated. Two interconnected theories that relate behavior to essential hypertension and account for individual differences in susceptibility to disease are the "hyperreactivity" theory and "the symptom specificity" theory. The "hyperreactivity" theory identifies individual differences in autonomic nervous system reactivity as the pathophysiological mechanism and the "symptom specificity" theory suggests that inflexible, stereotypical responding increases the risk to develop hypertension. Based on a literature review, these theories are examined. There exist both case/control and prospective studies on autonomic nervous system reactivity and the development of hypertension. It is concluded that a neurogenically mediated hyperreactivity to stress is a precursor and not an effect of hypertension. Tasks that call for active but not passive coping efforts are more efficient elicitors of reactivity differences between those at high and low risk to develop hypertension in case/control studies. In prospective studies, active tasks may also have a predictive advantage over passive with respect to blood pressure development. In the early phase of hypertension, an increased cardiovascular reactivity is accompanied by increased neuroendocrine activation. In the later phase, heightened reactivity is confined to the cardiovascular system. This does not prove but is consistent with the notion that transient episodes of increased cardiac output translate into essential hypertension by causing vascular hypertrophy. Case/control studies suggest that an increased "symptom specificity", with stereotypical responding across multiple stressors, is independent of cardiovascular reactivity and a precursor of hypertension. The literature lacks prospective studies on the clinical relevance of stereotypical responding. It is suggested that the presence of both hyperreactivity and symptom specificity in a single individual increases the risk to develop essential hypertension.     

Self‐actualizing persons and the ideal society

In a number of scientific disciplines, the search for unified concepts is about to reach a new phase. Science is on the threshold of another “revolution,” one that promises to bring to us knowledge that is significantly unified in regard to the understanding of the essential features of reality. Its unfolding merits sustained attention.     

Theory change in immunology part II: The clonal selection theory

This two-part article examines the competition between the clonal selection theory and the instructive theory of the immune response from 1957–1967. In Part I the concept of a temporally extended theory is introduced, which requires attention to the hitherto largely ignored issue of theory individuation. Factors which influence the acceptability of such an extended theory at different temporal points are also embedded in a Bayesian framework, which is shown to provide a rational account of belief change in science. In Part II these factors, as elaborated in the Bayesian framework, are applied to the case of the success of the clonal selection theory and the failure of the instructive theory.     

Feeling good vibrations in dialogical relations

I engage phenomenological and empirical perspectives on dialogical relations in infancy in a mutually enlightening and challenging relation. On the one hand, the empirical contributions provide evidence for the primacy of first-to-second person interrelatedness in human sociality, as opposed to the claim of primary syncretism heralded by Merleau-Ponty, and also in distinction from the ego-alter ego model routinely used in phenomenology. On the other hand, phenomenological considerations regarding the lived affective experience of dialogical relatedness enrich and render intelligible the psychological accounts of dialogue in terms of observable behavior. Phenomenological and empirical perspectives on dialogical relatedness thus combine to offer an affectively charged and conversationally patterned notion of primary intersubjectivity in the I-you mode.