On the Phenomenon of "Dog-Wise Arrangement"

An influential line of thought in metaphysics holds that where common sense discerns a tree or a dog or a baseball there may be just many microparticles. Provided the microparticles are arranged in the right way—are "treewise" or "dogwise" or "baseballwise" arranged—our sensory experiences will be just the same as if a tree or dog or baseball were really there. Therefore whether there really are such familiar objects in the world can be decided only by determining what more is needed for microparticles dogwise arranged actually to compose a dog. This paper argues that this line of thought sets up the wrong agenda. Composition is trivial; dogwise (etc.) arrangement is tricky. Dogwise arrangement will obtain in the wrong regions unless we stipulate that there are dogs, and that dogwise arrangement obtains only within their borders. The bearers of dogwise arrangement, moreover, will have to be dogs themselves, not their microparticles. Thus allowing that dogwise arrangement obtains at all is allowing that there are dogs.     

The Reconstruction of Criterion A in DSM-5: Is it a True Incorporation of Secondary Traumatization into the PTSD Diagnosis?

In DSM-5, the event criterion (criterion A) for PTSD includes indirect exposure as a potential source of PTSD. In light of the revised criterion A, it is now important to reevaluate the concept of “secondary traumatization” vis-á-vis the PTSD diagnosis. I argue that, while including indirect exposure in DSM-5 was an important step forward, there is still a considerable gap between what DSM views as indirect trauma exposure and what research has taught us about the underlying mechanisms of secondary traumatization. Thus, while DSM-5 certainly moved in the right direction, researchers are encouraged to explore new avenues of research in order to bridge the gap between the existing empirical and theoretical knowledge about secondary traumatization and the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.     

On the Johnson-Neyman technique and some extensions thereof

The Johnson-Neyman technique is a statistical tool used most frequently in educational and psychological applications. This paper starts by briefly reviewing the Johnson-Neyman technique and suggesting when it should and should not be used; then several different modifications and extensions of the Johnson-Neyman technique, all of them conceptually simple, are proposed. The close relation between confidence intervals and regions of significance of the Johnson-Neyman type is pointed out. The problem of what to do when more than two groups are being compared is considered. The situation of more than one criterion variable is also considered.This research was supported in part by Educational Testing Service, and in part by the Mathematics Division of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.     

论传媒伦理的界定

要科学地界定传媒伦理,首先,不能偏离伦理“致至善”的本性;其次,须从元伦理学、规范伦理学及应用伦理学三个层面深入考察传媒伦理的理论进路。本文认为,传媒伦理首先是对人们媒介行为中善恶选择的系统性探究,它系统地研究道德善的媒体当如何履职、媒体是否符合它的应当以及媒介从业人员在其媒介行为中对善与恶,正当与不正当的认识与抉择等问题;其次,与人们实际生活相关的是,传媒伦理也试图界定那些构成价值与生活规范的,被作为个体、群体或文化共同体的人们所共同认可的原则性的内容。     

The control of "classroom attention": a group contingency for complex behavior

Cumulative time measures of classroom attention, as delineated by the teacher, were taken of four elementary classes (kindergarten, third, fifth, and sixth grades) and of 16 randomly chosen students in these same classes. Each class of students was viewed as an individual responding organism. Base rates showed considerable variability. Explicit instructions alone concerning student attention produced temporary increase for some students and for some grades. Adding group contingencies (i.e., contingencies dependent on the attention of every student in the class) and token-mediated reinforcement to class achievement of a gradually increasing attention criterion raised group measures to a consistent 70 to 85% level of time attending to task as instructed, and raised individual student measures to a stable 90 to 100% level. Reversals and other data indicate that the elementary teacher can, by herself and with little effort, maximize what she considers the "paying-attention behavior" of all her students by her less-than-precise measure and consequation of the attention of the class as a whole.     

Promising's Neglected Siblings: Oaths,Vows, and Promissory Obligation

Promises of a customary, interpersonal kind have received no small amount of philosophical attention. Of particular interest has been their capacity to generate moral obligations. This capacity is arguably what distinguishes promises from other, similar phenomena, like communicating a firm intention. But this capacity is common to still other nearby phenomena, such as oaths and vows. These latter phenomena belong to the same family of concepts as promises, but they are structurally and functionally distinct. Taken in their turn, they fill out what I call the ‘breadth criterion’: Theories of promising should cover not only customary, interpersonal promises but also sibling phenomena, including oaths and vows. Accommodating the breadth criterion is not something all theories of promising are positioned to accomplish. I focus on the challenge that the breadth criterion poses for Scanlon's influential expectation view of promising and suggest a normative powers account will fare better.     

A Puzzle about Consent in Research and in Practice

In this paper, I will examine a puzzling discrepancy between the way clinicians are allowed to treat their patients and the way researchers are allowed to treat their subjects: in certain cases, researchers are legally required to disclose quite a bit more information when obtaining consent from prospective subjects than clinicians are when obtaining consent from prospective patients. I will argue that the proper resolution of this puzzling discrepancy must appeal to a pragmatic criterion of disclosure for informed consent: that what needs to be disclosed in order for consent to be valid depends on what the patient/subject needs to know in order to make a decision. I will then use this pragmatic criterion of disclosure to argue that when obtaining consent researchers should be permitted to omit the same information clinicians are, given certain qualifications. I will also examine how this puzzle forces us to confront some perhaps surprising truths about valid consent. My broader aim in this paper is to examine, not so much the puzzle itself, but rather what this particular puzzle can teach us about more theoretical issues surrounding informed consent.     

张君劢“德法合一”论述评

张君劢的“德法合一”是儒家之德与西方之法的合一,在德与法的关系上,二者并不是地位相同的,德法合一是在德的基础上德与法的合一,德比法更根本,“德法相辅而行”更深层的意义是“德主法辅而行”。张君劢“德法合一”论始终未离儒家道德本位,决定了这种结合仍是停留在道德文化层面,而没有落实为政治法律事实,若将“德法合一”论还原为“内圣外王”之道,我们仍可看到传统儒学在当代社会面临的困境。     

"Normal" Sex Roles: An Historical Analysis

Parental sex-role performance has been used as a criterion for differentiating normal and pathogenic families. Sex roles assumed to be normative are normative only for a specific society at a specific time. Sex roles assumed to be normative in the modern, urban, middle-class family were determined by economic and social changes that took place in the early nineteenth century. These changes effected a new division of function between the sexes that had serious psychological consequences. A behavior code was formulated as a social response to the need to facilitate adaptation. The behavior prescribed in this code is behavior now defined by sociologists as normative. The problems the code attempted to alleviate have not diminished, and there is evidence suggesting that the prescribed behavior is itself a source of psychological strains. Social role performance, therefore, is an unsatisfactory criterion for identifying pathogenic families.     

Group Differences in Regression Intercepts: Implications for Factorial Invariance

Studies of differential prediction typically examine group differences in linear regression slopes or intercepts for predicting criterion scores from one or more test scores. When there are no group differences in slopes, what are the implications of differences in regression intercepts for the measurement equivalence of the tests or criterion across groups? Measurement equivalence is here defined as factorial invariance under a single-factor model for the tests and criterion. Two theorems are given that describe conditions under which intercept differences can exist under factorial invariance. In such cases, intercept differences do not result from measurement bias in either the tests or criterion. The conditions of the theorems are testable using multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis. These test procedures are illustrated in real data. The implications of the theorems and the test procedures for studies of differential prediction are discussed.     

The hippocampus and memory for "what," "where," and "when"

Previous studies have indicated that nonhuman animals might have a capacity for episodic-like recall reflected in memory for "what" events that happened "where" and "when". These studies did not identify the brain structures that are critical to this capacity. Here we trained rats to remember single training episodes, each composed of a series of odors presented in different places on an open field. Additional assessments examined the individual contributions of odor and spatial cues to judgments about the order of events. The results indicated that normal rats used a combination of spatial ("where") and olfactory ("what") cues to distinguish "when" events occurred. Rats with lesions of the hippocampus failed in using combinations of spatial and olfactory cues, even as evidence from probe tests and initial sampling behavior indicated spared capacities for perception of spatial and odor cues, as well as some form of memory for those individual cues. These findings indicate that rats integrate "what," "where," and "when" information in memory for single experiences, and that the hippocampus is critical to this capacity.     

Protecting Human Dignity in Research Involving Humans

Human dignity is the supreme criterion for protecting research participants, and likewise for numerous ethical matters of ultimate importance. But what is meant by “human dignity”? Isn’t this some vague criterion, some sort of lip service of questionable relevance and application? We shall see that it is nothing of the sort, that to the contrary, it is a very definite and very accessible criterion. However, how is this criterion applied in protecting research participants? These are the matters that we will examine now. My presentation is divided into four parts. 1/Recognizing Human Dignity; 2/Practical Definition of Human Dignity; 3/The Human Being in a Weakened State; 4/ Conclusion.     

Preaching a Risen Christ of Resistance among "Captive" Americans

Abstract: In the midst of the current captivity of Americans to governmental policies which most of the rest of the world finds objectionable, what are the challenges facing those who preach? How can these be addressed biblically and theologically, grounded in what it means to be part of a global communion, and empowered by faith in the Resurrected Christ? How can preaching form faith communities through conversion, confession and conversation so that they might confront and change what is occurring, for the sake of the whole world?     

Is There an Intrinsic Criterion for Causal Lawlike Statements?

A scientific mathematical law is causal if and only if it is a process law that contains a time derivative. This is the intrinsic criterion for causal laws we propose. A process is a space-time line along which some properties are conserved or vary. A process law contains a time variable, but only process laws that contain a time derivative are causal laws. An effect is identified with what corresponds to a time derivative of some property or magnitude in a process law, whereas the other terms correspond to the cause(s). According to our criterion, causes are simultaneous with their effects and causality has no temporal direction. Several examples from natural and social disciplines support the applicability of our criterion to all scientific laws. Various objections to our proposal are presented and refuted. The merits our intrinsic theory of causality vis-à-vis the Salmon–Dowe conserved quantity theory are discussed.     

Religion,reason and non-directive teaching: a reply to Trevor Cooling

In other work I have argued that decisions about what to teach directively and what non-directively should be governed by an epistemic criterion. Trevor Cooling has recently advanced some objections to my defence and application of the epistemic criterion and proposed an alternative to it. Here I reply to his objections and comment on his proposed alternative.     

Is Causation Necessary for What Matters in Survival?

In this paper I shall argue that if the Parfitian psychological criterion or theory of personal identity is true, then a good case can be made out to show that the psychological theorist should accept the view I call “psychological sequentialism”. This is the view that a causal connection is not necessary for what matters in survival, as long as certain other conditions are met. I argue this by way of Parfit’s own principle that what matters in survival cannot depend upon a trivial fact.     

On detachment-substitutional formalization in normal modal logics

The aim of this paper is to propose a criterion of finite detachment-substitutional formalization for normal modal systems. The criterion will comprise only those normal modal systems which are finitely axiomatizable by means of the substitution, detachment for material implication and Gödel rules.Some results of this paper were announced in the abstract [2].Allatum est die 10 Junii 1976     

On a class of additive learning models: Error-correcting and probability matching

A general model for learning signal detection in a Yes-No task is considered in which (a) the decision criterion shifts upward and downward by equal steps, and (b) the probability that the criterion shifts on a trial depends on the stimulus-response pair on that trial. Conditions are given for this process to have a unique stationary distribution, and the behavior of the process, as the step-size decreases to zero, is studied. The special model where criterion shifts may occur only on error trials can account for the probability matching behavior and for the interaction between signal strength and signal probability typically observed when the payoff matrix is symmetrical. Further, when the shift probability is assumed to be an increasing function of the distance of the sensory input from the criterion, the stationary mean criterion values are less extreme than the values that yield probability matching. It is shown that the model provides a way of incorporating payoff matrix asymmetry. Finally, the standard error in the maximum likelihood parameter estimates is calculated and a statistic is proposed for discriminating the error-correcting model from the more general model.     

Metatraits: Enhancing Criterion‐Related Validity Through the Assessment of Traitedness1

With the growing use of personality tests as predictors of job performance, the reliable measurement of these personality variables has become important to selection researchers and practitioners. Metatrait researchers have examined the possibility that personality traits are not equally relevant for all people. This study sought to examine whether considering the relevance of a trait to an individual (i.e., traitedness) would enhance the predictive validity of a measure. Specifically, traitedness was expected to moderate the relationship between predictor and criterion scores such that the predictor‐criterion relationship would be stronger for traited than for untraited individuals. Consistent with this hypothesis, a strong moderating effect was found for traitedness between a measure of personality and an objective criterion. Contrary to what was predicted, traitedness only provided incremental validity, above personality, for supervisor ratings of job performance.