Behavioral complexity theory: Seven decades and beyond

This paper provides a synopsis of the origins and subsequent development of behavioral complexity theory (BCT). First, the foundational contributions of personal construct theory, conceptual systems theory, and the conceptual complexity theory are described. Second, the diversification of BCT via integrative complexity theory, Strategic Management Simulations, and Metacomplexity Simulations is outlined. Next, the discussion emphasizes the contemporary relevance and importance of BCT, suggests that more scalable assessment and development technologies should be created (especially of integration), and ends by calling for enhanced interaction within the BCT community.     

"种子本有与种子始起"问题及其价值意蕴——唯识学一个传统问题的再探讨

以《成唯识论》为代表的唯识学在成佛的可能性问题上有"种子本有与种子始起"的争论,虽然这个争论的理论结果在纯理论逻辑的探讨上尚有可商榷之处,但此争论本身若从价值与实践的角度观察,则不但对此理论本身的探讨有所助益,也可使佛学及其唯识学立足宗教实践的重现实意蕴得以进一步凸显.     

A functionalist account of shame-induced behaviour

Recent research has shown that shame activates both a restore and a protect motive (De Hooge, Zeelenberg, & Breugelmans, 2010), explaining the hitherto unexpected finding that shame can lead to both approach and avoidance behaviours. In the present article we show a clear difference in priority and development of restore and protect motives over time. Our experiment reveals that shame mainly motivates approach behaviour to restore the damaged self, but that this restore motive decreases when situational factors make it too risky or difficult to restore. In contrast, the motive to protect one's damaged self from further harm is not influenced by such situational factors. As a consequence, the approach behaviour that shame activates may change over time. These findings add to our understanding of the motivational processes and behaviours following from shame.     

A functionalist account of shame-induced behaviour

Recent research has shown that shame activates both a restore and a protect motive (De Hooge, Zeelenberg, & Breugelmans, 2010), explaining the hitherto unexpected finding that shame can lead to both approach and avoidance behaviours. In the present article we show a clear difference in priority and development of restore and protect motives over time. Our experiment reveals that shame mainly motivates approach behaviour to restore the damaged self, but that this restore motive decreases when situational factors make it too risky or difficult to restore. In contrast, the motive to protect one's damaged self from further harm is not influenced by such situational factors. As a consequence, the approach behaviour that shame activates may change over time. These findings add to our understanding of the motivational processes and behaviours following from shame.     

Adaptive memory: nature's criterion and the functionalist agenda

Memory researchers traditionally ignore function in favor of largely structural analyses. For example, it is well known that forming a visual image improves retention, and various proximate mechanisms have been proposed to account for the advantage (e.g., elaboration of the memory trace), but next to nothing is known about why memory evolved such sensitivities. Why did nature craft a memory system that is sensitive to imagery or the processing of meaning? Functional analyses are critical to progress in memory research for two main reasons: First, as in applied research, functional analyses provide the necessary criteria for measuring progress; second, there are good reasons to believe that modern cognitive processes continue to bear the imprint of ancestral selection pressures (i.e., cognitive systems are functionally designed). We review empirical evidence supporting the idea that memory evolved to enhance reproductive fitness; as a consequence, to maximize retention in basic and applied settings it is useful to develop encoding techniques that are congruent with the natural design of memory systems.     

The Chimenti controversy

Jacopo Chimenti (c 1551-1640), an artist from Empoli, made two sketches of a young man holding a compass and a plumb line. When these were seen, mounted next to one another, by Alexander Crum Brown in 1859, he combined them by overconvergence and described the stereoscopic depth he saw. Brown's informal observation was conveyed to David Brewster, who suggested that the drawings were produced for a stereoscope, possibly made by Giovanni Battista della Porta. There followed a bitter debate about the supposed stereoscopic effects that could be seen when the pictures combined. Brewster's claims were finally dispelled when precise measurements were made of the drawings: some parts were stereoscopic and others were pseudoscopic. Brewster's attempts to wrest the invention of the stereoscope from Wheatstone were unsuccessful.     

焦虑个体抑制控制缺陷的研究现状和争议：基于注意控制理论视角

根据注意控制理论的观点, 焦虑会削弱个体的抑制控制功能。虽然这一假设得到了大量行为学和神经生理证据的支撑, 但在高焦虑个体是增加还是减少自上而下注意控制资源来完成抑制控制任务这一核心问题上却存在较大争议。多种因素的存在造成了这一局面。理论解释本身存在明显的不足; 实证研究中多种额外变量的存在导致已有研究结果的信效度较低。未来可以通过探索焦虑水平、注意控制水平和抑制控制之间的关系来解决这一争议。     

The controversy of defining serial murder: Revisited

Over the years, researchers and law enforcement professionals have tried to achieve uniformity in the use of the term “serial murder,” but such efforts have rather proved futile. Endeavors aimed at achieving a consensus on the definition of serial murder have potentiated its precarious applications. Though the term continues to remain elusive, ambiguous and amorphous in the literature, recent efforts are suggestive of a trend towards the attainment of a standardized definition of serial murder. However, a review of both current research and legal definitions of serial murder revealed some discrepancies in how the term is defined. Built upon Skrapec's (2001) definition, the current article aims to revisit several key definitional issues and to propose a more comprehensive serial murder definition with three key elements: (1) Two or more forensic linked murders with or without a revealed intention of committing additional murder, (2) the murders are committed as discrete event(s) by the same person(s) over a period of time, and (3) where the primary motive is personal gratification.     

The significance test controversy

Summary The pre-designationist, anti-inductivist and operationalist tenor of Neyman-Pearson theory give that theory an obvious affinity to several currently influential philosophies of science, most particularly, the Popperian. In fact, one might fairly regard Neyman-Pearson theory as the statistical embodiment of Popperian methodology. The difficulties raised in this paper have, then, wider purport, and should serve as something of a touchstone for those who would construct a theory of evidence adequate to statistics without recourse to the notion of inductive probability.     

Analogic and abstraction strategies in synthetic grammar learning: A functionalist interpretation

Subjects learned artificial grammars under two conditions of acquisition: paired-associate learning and observation of exemplars. The former procedure was strongly associated with the establishment of a fairly concrete memorial space consisting of specific items and parts of items and the use of an analogic strategy for making decisions about novel stimuli. The observation procedure was strongly associated with the induction of an abstract representation of the rules of the grammar and the use of a correspondence strategy for decision making. Moreover, this latter procedure led to more robust knowledge and better overall performance. Analyses of both objective response patterns and subjective introspections yielded coordinated data in support of this distinction. The relationships between acquisition condition and cognitive strategy are discussed from a functionalist point of view.