The difficult mountain: enriched composition in adjective–noun phrases

When readers need to go beyond the straightforward compositional meaning of a sentence (i.e., when enriched composition is required), costly additional processing is the norm. However, this conclusion is based entirely on research that has looked at enriched composition between two phrases or within the verb phrase (e.g., the verb and its complement in . . . started the book . . .) where there is a discrepancy between the semantic expectations of the verb and the semantics of the noun. We carried out an eye-tracking experiment investigating enriched composition within a single noun phrase, as in the difficult mountain. As compared with adjective–noun phrases that allow a straightforward compositional interpretation (the difficult exercise), the coerced phrases were more difficult to process. These results indicate that coercion effects can be found in the absence of a typing violation and within a single noun phrase.     

Tactful or doubtful? Expectations of politeness explain the severity bias in the interpretation of probability phrases

When a statement about the occurrence of a medical condition is qualified by an expression of probability, such as the word possible, listeners interpret the probability of the condition as being higher the more severe the condition. This severity bias can have serious consequences for the well-being of patients. We argue that the bias is due to a misconception of the pragmatic function served by the expression of probability. The more severe the condition, the greater the chance that the listener construes the expression as a politeness marker rather than as an uncertainty marker. When this misconception does not occur, neither should the severity bias. An analysis of interpretations of probability expressions using a membership-function approach validates this account. We discuss the consequences of this bias for the communication of risk within and outside the medical domain.     

The interpretation of Locke’s Two Treatises in Britain, 1778–1956

ABSTRACT

This paper describes how Locke’s Two Treatises of Government was read in Britain from Josiah Tucker to Peter Laslett. It focuses in particular upon how Locke’s readers responded to his detailed and lengthy engagement with the patriarchalist political thought of Sir Robert Filmer. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the debate between Locke and Filmer continued to provide the framework within which political obligation was discussed. A hundred years later that had changed, to the point where Locke’s readers found it unintelligible that he argued against Filmer and not Hobbes. I explain this in terms of the development in nineteenth-century Britain of a new conception of the history of political philosophy, the product of interest in the Hegelian theory of the state. The story told here is offered as one example of how understandings of the history of philosophy are shaped by understandings of philosophy itself.     

“Don't think zebras”: Uncertainty,interpretation, and the place of paradox in clinical education

Working retrospectively in an uncertain field of knowledge, physicians are engaged in an interpretive practice that is guided by couterweighted, competing, sometimes paradoxical maxims. “When you hear hoofbeats, don't think zebras,” is the chief of these, the epitome of medicine's practical wisdom, its hermeneutic rule. The accumulated and contradictory wisdom distilled in clinical maxims arises necessarily from the case-based nature of medical practice and the narrative rationality that good practice requires. That these maxims all have their opposites enforces in students and physicians a practical skepticism that encourages them to question their expectations, interrupt patterns, and adjust to new developments as a case unfolds. Yet medicine resolutely ignores both the maxims and the tension between the practical reasoning they represent and the claim that medicine is a science. Indeed, resolute epistemological naivete is part of medicine's accommodation to uncertainty; counterweighted, competing, apparently paradoxical (but always situational) rules enable physicians simultaneously to express and to ignore the practical reason that characterizes their practice.     

Studying sense of agency online: Can intentional binding be observed in uncontrolled online settings?

Intentional binding is often used as an implicit index of the sense of agency. However, intentional binding research has primarily been conducted in controlled lab environments. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, there has been a shift to implementing studies using online platforms and it is an open question whether the intentional binding effect can be found using an online experimental set-up and participant sample. Here, we address this question by asking online participants to complete the Libet clock version of the intentional binding task, which we make freely available to researchers as a jsPsych (De Leeuw, 2014) plugin. Intentional binding was observed in the form of later keypress estimates and earlier auditory tone estimates, when the auditory tone followed the keypress. These findings confirm that intentional binding can be assessed in online contexts. We discuss these findings in relation to the broader intentional binding literature.     

Adjective–noun order as representational structure: Native-language grammar influences perception of similarity and recognition memory

This article describes two experiments linking native-language grammar rules with implications for perception of similarity and recognition memory. In prenominal languages (e.g., English), adjectives usually precede nouns, whereas in postnominal languages (e.g., Portuguese), nouns usually precede adjectives. We explored the influence of such rules upon similarity judgments about, and recognition of, objects with multiple category attributes (one nominal attribute and one adjectival attribute). The results supported the hypothesized primacy effect of native-language word order such that nouns generally carried more weight for Portuguese speakers than for English speakers. This pattern was observed for judgments of similarity (i.e., Portuguese speakers tended to judge objects that shared a noun-designated attribute as more similar than did English speakers), as well as for false alarms in recognition memory (i.e., Portuguese speakers tended to falsely recognize more objects if they possessed a familiar noun attribute, relative to English speakers). The implications of such linguistic effects for the cognition of similarity and memory are discussed.     

The grammar of Levinas’ other,Other, autrui,Autrui: Addressing translation conventions and interpretation in English-language Levinas studies

I will in this article aim to highlight an issue in interpretation of Levinas: that his address to his central concern for the ‘other’ has been deemed inconsistent, yet might well have been approached unfairly. The issue arises in English scholarship, in that translation of Levinas’ four terms for otherness was adapted into ‘conventions’ that changed over time. While aiming to be respectful and protective of the Levinas community, I will closely track that evolution of conventions over four decades, to follow some of their consequences. In so doing, I suggest how re-orientating the approach to Levinas’ central terms could facilitate study of Levinas and a more accepting Levinasian culture.     

The development of rapid online control in children aged 6–12 years: Reaching performance

Rapid online control during reaching has an important bearing on movement accuracy and flexibility. It is surprising then that few studies have investigated the development of rapid online control in children. In this study, we were particularly interested in age-related changes in the nature of motor control in response to visual perturbation. We compared the performance of younger (6–7 years of age), mid-aged (8–9), and older (10–12) children, as well as healthy young adults using a double-step reaching task. Participants were required to make target-directed reaching movements in near space, while also responding to visual perturbations that occurred at movement onset for a small percentage of trials. Results showed that both the older and mid-aged children corrected their reaching in response to the unexpected shifts in target location significantly faster than younger children, manifest by reduced time to correction. In turn, the responses of adults were faster than older children in terms of movement time and on kinematic measures such as time to correction and time to peak velocity. These results indicate that the capacity to utilize forward estimates of limb position in the service of online control of early perturbations to ballistic (or rapid) reaching develops in a non-linear fashion, progressing rapidly between early and middle childhood, showing a degree of stability over mid and later childhood, but then evidence for continued refinement between childhood and young adulthood. The pattern of change after childhood and into early adolescence requires further investigation, particularly during the rapid phase of physical growth that accompanies puberty.     

Old,New, Borrowed,Blue? The Emergence and Retention of Personal Meaning in Autobiographical Storytelling

Research on narrative identity has traditionally focused on how narrative characteristics are related to personality and well-being in adults. The present pair of studies with college students (Study 1, n= 62; Study 2, n= 68 couples) examined the dynamic conversational processes that might be part of constructing that identity. We examined the characteristics of personal meanings, operationalized as self-event connections, and the retention of those connections about important past events discussed between new romantic partners. Across the 2 studies, self-event connections that were positive and about stable aspects of the self were more likely to occur. Connections that were retained over 1 month were those that were shared by both teller and listener in an independent postconversation assessment. Discussion focuses on the processes that might contribute to the construction of narrative identity and the importance of positivity, stability, and shared connections in developing and maintaining narrative identity.     

Knowledge,women and gender in the adīth: a feminist interpretation

This article examines gender constructs embedded within the book on ‘Knowledge’ in Bukhārī's adīth collection. This text provides a site for exploring Islamic constructions of human nature, knowledge, rationality and authority. Out of a sum total of 136 adīths contain in Bukhārī's book on ‘Knowledge’, there are eight concerning women. These have multiple levels of meaning and interpretive possibilities. Employing a feminist hermeneutic, the article examines some of the gender ideology implicit in these formative adīths for Islamic understandings of the human person. The article's twofold approach firstly engages critically with dimensions of androcentricism and patriarchy within the texts, and secondly lifts out marginalized aspects embedded within the texts that offer counter–narratives to dominant constructions of gender. The intention of this reading is to name and illustrate both the functioning patriarchy as well as alternative liberatory positions of gender within the legacy. This represents part of an Islamic feminist approach that destabilizes patriarchal gender constructs and provides alternative approaches to the tradition informed by a religious commitment to gender justice.     

Subject,enjoyment, hegemony: a discussion of Ernesto Laclau’s interpretation of empty signifiers and the real as impossible in Lacanian psychoanalysis

Continental Philosophy Review - Ernesto Laclau’s theory of hegemony interprets in a peculiar way two central concepts of Lacanian psychoanalysis: the signifier and the real. Laclau maintains...     

State faith‐based education in Israel: a messianic‐nationalist model of interpretation

This article analyzes the traces and configuration of three syntagmatic interpretation models in the educational text produced by Israel’s state religious educational system: the modus, the hermetic and the gnostic models, which together add up to a fourth, and unique one: the messianic nationalist model of interpretation. This interpretive model has a concrete configuration which, as opposed to similar but secular educational models, uses transcendental motifs in order to pragmatically organize the explanation of ‘reality’. From this point of view the messianic nationalist model presents a case study in religious education, which integrates between modern (i.e., nationalist) and traditional (religious) motifs in a relatively flexible way, situating itself between a fundamentalist religious idiosyncrasy and a secular one. Theoretically and methodologically the article develops the textual analysis of educational texts. The specific analysis presented here assumes that an educational ideological text interprets, and is interpreted constantly by, its producers and its users as well.     

Trends in the Scientific Study of Religion, Spirituality, and Health: 1965–2000

The present study examined the degree to which interest in religion, spirituality, and health has changed in psychology and the behavioral sciences over the past few decades. To accomplish this, searches were conducted on the PsycINFO database between the years 1965 and 2000. Three basic searches were conducted combining the word “health” with the following search terms: 1. (religion OR religious OR religiosity) NOT (spiritual OR spirituality); 2. (spiritual OR spirituality) NOT (religion OR religious OR religiosity); and 3. (religion OR religious OR religiosity) AND (spiritual OR spirituality). The rate per 100,000 articles was then calculated for each of the three search-terms: religion, spirituality, religion and spirituality. A significant upward trend across years was found for the rate of articles dealing with spirituality, r(34) = .95, p<.001, and religion and spirituality, r(34) = .86, p<.001. A significant downward trend was found for articles that only addressed religion, r(34) = −.64, p<.001. The consequences of these trends are discussed.Dr. Andrew J. Weaver is a United Methodist minister and clinical psychologist. He is the Associate Publisher of Zion’s Herald, an independent religious journal founded in 1823 and is co-author of numerous professional and popular articles and eleven books. His recent book titles include Counseling Survivors of Traumatic Events and Reflections on Grief and Spiritual Growth.Dr. Kenneth I. Pargament is professor of clinical psychology at Bowling Green State University. Dr. Pargament has published over 100 articles on the meanings of religion and spirituality, the vital role of religion in coping with stress and trauma, perceptions of sacredness in life, and psychospiritual treatment. He is author of The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice.Dr. Kevin J. Flannelly has been the Associate Director of Research at The Health Care Chaplaincy since 2001. Dr. Flannelly has published more than 100 studies in various areas of psychology and he has worked in the field of religion, spirituality and health since 1996. He recently published a review and analysis of the methodological quality of research on religion and health in the Southern Medical Journal.Julia Oppenheimer is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, studying child development and clinical practice in the Clinical Psychology program. She has conducted research on the etiology and treatment of anxiety disorders, as well as publishing a number of studies on religion and mental health. Her current research on the development of children’s self-perceptions of personality is funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Award. Correspondence to Dr. Kevin J. Flannelly, kflannelly@healthcarechaplaincy.org.     

Developing number–space associations: SNARC effects using a color discrimination task in 5-year-olds

Human adults’ numerical representation is spatially oriented; consequently, participants are faster to respond to small/large numerals with their left/right hand, respectively, when doing a binary classification judgment on numbers, known as the SNARC (spatial–numerical association of response codes) effect. Studies on the emergence and development of the SNARC effect remain scarce. The current study introduces an innovative new paradigm based on a simple color judgment of Arabic digits. Using this task, we found a SNARC effect in children as young as 5.5 years. In contrast, when preschool children needed to perform a magnitude judgment task necessitating exact number knowledge, the SNARC effect started to emerge only at 5.8 years. Moreover, the emergence of a magnitude SNARC but not a color SNARC was linked to proficiency with Arabic digits. Our results suggest that access to a spatially oriented approximate magnitude representation from symbolic digits emerges early in ontogenetic development. Exact magnitude judgments, on the other hand, rely on experience with Arabic digits and, thus, necessitate formal or informal schooling to give access to a spatially oriented numerical representation.     

“A Golly was simply a toy. End of”: Inoculation,attention deflection,and attempted puzzle-resolution in contesting racism in online discussions

In producing arguments against minority groups that are designed to avoid accusations of prejudice, speakers routinely deploy two discursive strategies. One strategy of “inoculation” seeks to ward off such accusations, while the other strategy of “attention deflection” directs attention away from the potential target group. Where despite use of one or both strategies accusations arise, the result is a puzzle that needs to be resolved through explanation. Here, in a discourse analysis of online discussions as to whether “blacking up” is to count as racism, we see contributors contest (a) whether absence of intention to offend inoculates individuals from accountability for potentially racist actions, (b) whether “blacking up” depicts toys/characters rather than people, and (c) whether attempted explanations of accusations of racism work to resolve the apparent puzzle that has arisen. Contributors do not reach any consensus. These findings point to the difficulties in attempting to challenge potential racism.     

Motivation in a MOOC: a probabilistic analysis of online learners’ basic psychological needs

Self-determination theory (SDT) is one of the most well-known approaches to achievement motivation. However, the three basic psychological needs of SDT have not received equivalent attention in the literature: priority has been given to autonomy, followed by the need for competence, with research into relatedness lacking (Bachman and Stewart in Teach Psychol 38: 180–187, 2011. doi: 10.1177/0098628311411798). One new educational setting where relatedness may be particularly important is massive open online courses (MOOCs), which provide unprecedented opportunities for either relatedness or isolation. The purpose of the research was to use Bayesian networks (BN) to establish probabilistic relationships between learners’ basic psychological needs in the context of one MOOC. The majority (59 %) of participants (N = 1037; 50 % female and 50 % male) were under 45 (age range was 18–74 years). This sample represented approximately 88 regions and countries. Participants completed a revised Basic Student Needs Scale (Betoret and Artiga in Electron J Res Educ Psychol 9(2): 463–496, 2011). In order to reveal the best structural understanding of SDT within a MOOC learning environment, analysis of the data involved the development of a BN probabilistic model. The best fitting BN model included autonomy, competence, and relatedness—resulting in a probabilistic accuracy of 77.41 %. Analyses revealed participants with high autonomy had an 80.01 % probability of having a moderate level of competence. Relatedness was distinct from the autonomy and competence relationship. The strong inter-connections between autonomy and competence support existing research. The notion that relatedness may be a distinct need, at least in this context, was supported and warrants future research.     

Trust and the collection,selection, analysis and interpretation of data: A scientist’s view

Trust is a critical component of research: trust in the work of co-workers and colleagues within the scientific community; trust in the work of research scientists by the non-research community. A wide range of factors, including internally and externally generated pressures and practical and personal limitations, affect the research process. The extent to which these factors are understood and appreciated influence the development of trust in scientific research findings.