Creativity and the artwork: the perspectives of a painter and a philosopher

Creativity in Robert Henri's view is a gratuitous act, shot through with mystery; what is left after such an act is the artwork itself as concrete evidence that such a heightened state of consciousness has been achieved. This paper will examine Henri's understanding of the nature of creativity from his perspective as a twentieth century New York painter, in conjunction with Eliot Deutsch's theoretical insights as a philosopher deeply interested in the nature of the experience of an artwork. In his Essays on the nature of art, Deutsch presents the view that the experience of an artwork involves the assimilation of the work's aesthetic force, the recognition of its meaning, the discernment of its formal dimensions, and ‘calls for a special appropriation that yields an integrated wholeness’. This paper presents commonalities between Henri's and Deutsch individual perspectives and discusses some value‐centred educational implications that could be drawn from these commonalities.     

Detectability of the deletion of a tone from a tone-plus-noise background

The deletion of a 1,000-Hz tone from a tone-plus-noise background is much harder for humans to detect than the insertion of the same tone into a background of noise. A mathematically ideal O, oblivious to the context in which an observation interval occurs, performs equally well under conditions of insertion and deletion. Human listeners, not oblivious to context, produced the function d_s = 0.036 E/N_o under deletion; the slope of this linear function is no more than half that of the typical slope of the comparable insertion function. The underlying reasons for the superiority of detection of insertion to that of deletion remain unclear.     

An Account of the Psychotherapeutic Process from the Perspective of a Client with a Disability

No abstract available for this article.     

On the a priori and a posteriori assessment of probabilities

We argue that in spite of their apparent dissimilarity, the methodologies employed in the a priori and a posteriori assessment of probabilities can both be justified by appeal to a single principle of inductive reasoning, viz., the principle of symmetry. The difference between these two methodologies consists in the way in which information about the single-trial probabilities in a repeatable chance process is extracted from the constraints imposed by this principle. In the case of a posteriori reasoning, these constraints inform the analysis by fixing an a posteriori determinant of the probabilities, whereas, in the case of a priori reasoning, they imply certain claims which then serve as the basis for subsequent probabilistic deductions. In a given context of inquiry, the particular form which a priori or a posteriori reason may take depends, in large part, on the strength of the underlying symmetry assumed: the stronger the symmetry, the more information can be acquired a priori and the less information about the long-run behavior of the process is needed for an a posteriori assessment of the probabilities. In the context of this framework, frequency-based reasoning emerges as a limiting case of a posteriori reasoning, and reasoning about simple games of chance, as a limiting case of a priori reasoning. Between these two extremes, both a priori and a posteriori reasoning can take a variety of intermediate forms.     

Avoidance of a return to the first component of a chain from the terminal component

Three pigeons were trained on a chained fixed interval-fixed ratio schedule. Avoidance behavior which postponed a return to the first chain component from the second component was maintained on a second response key concurrently with the second component. When the fixed interval length was increased, avoidance rates first increased and then decreased as a function of fixed interval length. As the fixed ratio requirement was increased for one subject, avoidance rates first declined and then increased at larger fixed ratio values. Avoidance behavior maintained by postponing the first chain component was similar to avoidance behavior maintained by postponing a time out period.     

Appraised changeability of a stressor as a modifier of the relationship between coping and depression: a test of the hypothesis of fit

The goodness of fit among the appraised changeability of a stressor, coping, and depression in people with psychiatric, physical health, work, and family problems was examined (N = 746). It was expected that problem-focused coping (as opposed to emotion-focused coping) would be used more and be more adaptive in situations appraised as changeable as compared with situations appraised as not changeable. Although few relationships existed between appraisal and coping, tests of fit between coping and depressed mood (maladaption) were much stronger. In people with nonpsychiatric conditions, problem-focused coping and depressed mood were negatively related when a stressor was appraised as changeable but were unrelated when a stressor was appraised as not changeable. Emotion-focused coping was positively related to depression when a stressor was appraised as changeable. No general relations were observed in the people with psychiatric conditions.     

Haptic probing: Perceiving the length of a probe and the distance of a surface probed

Knowing about the properties of objects by wielding them and knowing about the distances of surfaces by striking them with objects as probes are examples of dynamic or effortful touch. Six experiments focused on the invariant mechanical parameters that couple the time-varying states (displacements, velocities) of hand-held rods to the time-varying torques and forces imposed upon them by wielding and probing. There were three major conclusions. First, when a probe is wielded without contact, perceived probe length is a function of the probe’s rotational inertia; however, with contact, perceived probe length is affected by the rotational inertia and the distance of the point of contact from the probe’s center of percussion. Second, when a surface is struck with a probe, perceived surface distance is affected by the probe’s rotational inertia and the angle of inclination of the probe at contact. Third, under seemingly identical conditions of probing, either probe length or surface distance can be perceived selectively without confusion. Results were discussed in terms of haptic information, haptic attention, and the dynamics of probing.     

Interviewing a Therapist in the Presence of a Couple: A Description of the Therapeutic Process

A therapy research team interviewed a therapist in the presence of a couple. Following each of six consecutive sessions with a couple, an interviewer posed questions to the therapist and couple. While one question was standard to each interview, other questions were generated by team members who tracked the entire process via live observation. These questions were directed first at the therapist, then at the couple, and then focused on therapeutic process and outcome. Findings of this process for the therapy system included decreasing the hierarchy within the client/therapist relationship; increasing the client ownership and energy in the therapy process; discovering the presence of parallel processes between the systems; and informing the direction of future therapy sessions. Practical, clinical implications are discussed for a variety of therapy settings.     

Comparison of the performances of a fluent and a nonfluent aphasic on a pantomimic referential task

The pantomimic performances of a typical Broca's (nonfluent) and Wernicke's (fluent) aphasic were compared with each other and with four normal control subjects on a simple task of nonverbal referential communication. Both aphasic subjects demonstrated only about 50% accuracy in their pantomimic communication. Also, measures were obtained of the motoric fluency of the pantomimes of all subjects and comparisons were made between the fluent and nonfluent aphasics. These measures demonstrated distinct differences in the fluency patterns of the pantomimes of the two aphasic subjects similar to the differences in speech fluency which distinguish and characterize these two types of aphasia; that is, the fluent aphasic pantomimed fluently and like the control subjects and the nonfluent aphasic pantomimed nonfluently. The quantitative and qualitative similarities in the fluency patterns of the speech and the pantomimic behaviors of the aphasic subjects are discussed in terms of their implications for a definition of aphasia.     

From a linear to a contextual model of the ABCs of RET

The Contextual ABC Model follows from the recognition that the ABCs of RET ... are oversimplified and omit salient information about human disturbance and its treatment (Ellis, 1984). It is an attempt to capture the mutual and reciprocal intricacies of the ABC process, the complexities of human cognition, and the power of the person to create feelings and behaviors, thoughts and ideas, and even environmental events independent of any prior activating stimuli. It is believed that this model adds to the scope and power of RET's theory and practice without subtracting from or omitting what already exists.     

Perception of the end position of a limb loaded with a weight

We examined the effect of loading a weight on the perception of the end position of the limb. The participants haptically perceived where the end of their limb was located while they swung the limb or statically held it. The results showed that the loading of a weight influenced participants' perception only when they swung the limb; when the weight was attached to a participant's hand, the position was perceived to be farther from the body than when the weight was attached to the forearm or no weight was attached. We also found that the end position was generally underestimated when the participants swung their limb. On the other hand, when the participants statically held their limb, the perceived position was not affected by the loading of the weight and was rather precise. These results suggest that the perceptual system for limb end position is sensitive to changes in the surrounding haptic information caused by moving the limb.