Worlds are colliding! Explaining the fictional in terms of the real

I discuss Gregory Currie’s taxonomy of explanations of the fictional. On the one hand, there is an important kind of relation between internal and external explanations of some fictional truths that Currie leaves out, where both are salient and yet in a relation of harmony with each other. On the other hand, I do not see that he has established that there is a genuine relation of tension between some pairs of internal and external explanations, and thus I question the usefulness of the category of collapse. I also consider a further kind of explanation: the exterior explanation.

The prospects for a Jungian psychology in China

The possibility of a Jungian psychology developing in China is considered by a brief historical excursion through the early translations of psychoanalytical works. Translation problems and the contentious nature of some of Freud's ideas have made for their difficult reception in China. The inattention to Jung's ideas in universities in the west in the past, and a reliance on science based subjects by Chinese students studying abroad, have meant little opportunity to study Jung, and, by implication, to translate him. The turbulent political climate in China over the course of the past century has also hindered developments in psychology generally. In addition, certain traditional practices of understanding mind-body relationships and reporting 'illnesses' have precluded the possibility of any psychotherapeutic psychology emerging. However, the present climate looks more favourable for the dissemination of Jungian knowledge, but the question of an appropriate context and a receptive readership remains. Certain Jungian notions can be seen to fit comfortably within traditional systems of Chinese thought but the present day psychology department in China is no more a congenial environment for Jungian psychology than its counterpart in the west. It may be that the success of importing Jungian ideas into China rests with those with a predilection towards arts and cultural sciences, and with the innovations of the organizers of conferences.     

The promise of qualitative inquiry for positive psychology: Diversifying methods

Abstract

This article offers a corrective for positive psychology, viewing qualitative methods as a paradigm of equal value to quantitative methods for psychologists interested in better understanding human strengths. Gergen, Josselson, and Freeman’s framework for qualitative psychology in general, along with other qualitative theory, will be utilized as a basis for application to positive psychology in particular. Qualitative inquiry’s potential for enriching positive psychology will be described, noting several qualitative research approaches. Then, the role of qualitative psychology in promoting the flourishing of positive psychology will be examined, discussing implications for theoretical advancements, building community, and enhancing psychology through interdisciplinarity. Finally, the possibility for qualitative methods in positive psychology to build relationships between academia and society will be explored; in particular, the nature of this collaboration, and the communication of positive psychology to the public will be noted. The conclusion notes how such potentials may be realized given current realities.     

Portrayal of personality in Victorian novels reflects modern research findings but amplifies the significance of agreeableness

All literature embodies an implicit theory of personality and human nature (Hogan, 1976). The research described here investigates the implicit personality theory embedded in the behavior of 435 characters in 143 canonical Victorian novels. Characters were rated on the Web by 519 scholars and students of 19th-century British literature. Ratings included the characters’ goals, success in achieving goals, mate preferences and strategies, and personality according to the Five Factor Model. Results suggest that novels by Victorian authors largely reflect personality and human nature as understood by modern personality psychology, but Victorian authors amplify the significance of agreeableness and thus, whether intentionally or not, encourage cooperative impulses in readers.     

Science and community psychology: social norms for pluralistic inquiry

The concept of science linked to the concept of community psychology requires adaptation. In the case of community psychology, science is public to citizens as well as to the scientist. The community psychologist, as scientist, works from the expectation that choices of topics, methods, and interpretation of findings are done in concert with representatives of the community. The following remarks offer 7 ways to keep vital the research of the community psychologist while contributing to robust and useful knowledge.     

The challenges and opportunities of first-person inquiry in experimental psychology

Psychology is concerned with outward (behavioural) and inward (mental and experiential) dimensions of inquiry. To study behaviour, psychologists are equipped with a comprehensive repertoire of measurement instruments. These instruments are not well suited to study the qualitative nature of inner experience, however: they yield data which, by their very nature as symbolic representations, abstract away from the primary phenomenon. To study qualitative experience, it would hence appear logical to engage a first-person, introspective method of inquiry. Psychology has a turbulent relationship to introspective research, however. In this article we review the concerns regarding the introspective approach; delineate the strengths – and also the limitations – of the experimental method; and, critically, outline a hybrid approach towards studying experience by exploring how important ingredients of the experimental approach can be transferred to the study of qualitative experience. This approach is a methodological proposal rather than an epistemological or ontological defence of introspection.     

Rethinking leadership education: narrative inquiry and leadership stories

This narrative essay shares observations and insights about how instructors can use creativity, student voice, and personalized learning to create more responsive educational leadership pedagogy. Three stories, as told by a professor and two former students, explore how students’ narratives can naturally inform educational leadership preparation across international borders. We aim to demonstrate how students’ narrative experiences in education can contribute to exisiting discourse and research on effective and innovative pedagogical practice in educational leadership preparation.     

Informing supervision practice through research: A narrative inquiry

Intention: This study focused on questions of whether and how clients benefit from supervision. As practitioner research, the study was intended to shape the researchers’ own supervision practice. Method: The qualitative approach was based on interviews with a small number of experienced practitioners about their supervision experiences. The findings are presented in the form of reflexive stories, told by each researcher. Findings: In these stories the researchers tell how engagement with experienced practitioners’ accounts of their past supervision shaped the hopes and intentions the researchers hold for their future supervision. Implications forpractice: The stories suggest there are therapeutic benefits in an ethic of transparency that provides for practices that overtly carry stories in both directions between counselling and supervision.     

Cognitive psychology in sport: Progress and prospects

ProblemThere has been a recent upsurge of research interest in cognitive sport psychology or the scientific study of mental processes (e.g., mental imagery) in athletes. Despite this interest, an important question has been neglected. Specifically, is research on cognitive processes in athletes influential outside sport psychology, in the “parent” field of cognitive psychology or in the newer discipline of cognitive neuroscience?ObjectivesThe purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical significance of research on expertise, attention and mental imagery in athletes from the perspective of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.MethodFollowing analysis of recent paradigm shifts in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, a narrative review is provided of key studies on expertise, attention and mental imagery in athletes.Results and conclusionsThis paper shows that cognitive sport psychology has contributed significantly to theoretical understanding of certain mental processes studied in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. It also shows that neuroscientific research on motor imagery can benefit from increased collaboration with cognitive sport psychology. Overall, I conclude that the domain of sport offers cognitive researchers a rich and dynamic natural laboratory in which to study how the mind works.     

Applied developmental psychology: Problems and prospects for an emerging discipline

Some problems and prospects for the emerging discipline of applied developmental psychology are analyzed. A working definition of applied developmental psychology is offered, along with a categorization scheme which places developmental psychologists along the basic-applied continuum. Some of the tasks that applied developmentalists can perform are listed, followed by a discussion of the boundaries of applied developmental, particularly the boundary with clinical psychology. Next, the training of applied developmental psychologists at the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels is explored. Finally, some of the professional issues that might confront applied developmentalists as the field evolves are described.     

Imaginability,morality, and fictional truth: dissolving the puzzle of ‘imaginative resistance’

This paper argues that there is no genuine puzzle of ‘imaginative resistance’. In part 1 of the paper I argue that the imaginability of fictional propositions is relative to a range of different factors including the ‘thickness’ of certain concepts, and certain pre-theoretical and theoretical commitments. I suggest that those holding realist moral commitments may be more susceptible to resistance and inability than those holding non-realist commitments, and that it is such realist commitments that ultimately motivate the problem. However, I argue that the relativity of imaginability is not a particularly puzzling feature of imagination. In part 2, I claim that it is the so-called ‘alethic’ puzzle, concerning fictional truth, which generates a real puzzle about imaginative resistance. However, I argue that the alethic puzzle itself depends on certain realist assumptions about the nature of fictional truth which are implausible and should be rejected in favour of an interpretive view of fictional truth. Once this is done, I contend, it becomes evident that the supposed problem of imaginative resistance as it has hitherto been discussed in the literature is not puzzling at all.

On the role of theoretical inquiry in psychology: A double-edged sword

Wachtel's article is as relevant today as it was over a quarter century ago, especially as public support for higher education has declined, and increased pressure to obtain external research funding is needed in order to support universities. Although Wachtel's observation that research and grant funding are more likely to be reinforced then theoretical inquiry, there is a serious question regarding whether theory can be effective in advancing the field of psychology and psychotherapy. Some of problems that typically have been associated with theory in our field are discussed, and the argument is made that theoretical inquiry be directed to the formulation of less abstract and more focal principles of human behavior and the therapy change process.     

The progress and prospects of health psychology: tasks of a maturing discipline

Substantial research advances and professional articulation have brought the field of health psychology to a certain level of maturity. From a research standpoint, we are ready to meet the challenge of the biopsychosocial model. Professionally, the field must continue to demonstrate treatment effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, integrate basic science with applications, consider how best to market health psychology research, develop criteria for intervention, and agree on training standards for researchers and professionals in the field. Current trends toward complex, multidisciplinary programs of research, and lengthy training programs may, however, conspire to drive away talented young investigators. The field can anticipate and potentially solve some of these problems by drawing on the cooperative scientific vision that has characterized our field to date.     

Evolution of the biopsychosocial model: prospects and challenges for health psychology.

Although advances have been made in specifying connections between biological, psychological, and social processes, the full potential of the biopsychosocial model for health psychology remains untapped. In this article, 4 areas that need to be addressed to ensure the continued evolution of the biopsychosocial model are identified and a series of recommendations concerning initiatives directed at research, training, practice and intervention, and policy are delineated. These recommendations emphasize the need to better understand and utilize linkages among biological, psychological, social, and macrocultural variables. Activities that facilitate the adoption of a multisystem, multilevel, and multivariate orientation among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers will most effectively lead to the kinds of transdisciplinary contributions envisioned by the biopsychosocial perspective.     

信念修正的AGM理论

信念修正问题是一个富有活力的,正在发展的研究主题。这个主题包括了一大批背景不同、形态各异的理论。阿尔罗若(C．E．Alchourron)、加德福斯(P．Gardenfors)和梅金森(D．Markinson)共同建立的信念修正理论(简称AGM理论)是其中形成比较早的、影响最大的理论。本文说明信念修正的基本概念,并且对AGM理论进行述评.     

Modest deontologism in epistemology

Deontologism in epistemology holds that epistemic justification may be understood in terms of “deontological” sentences about what one ought to believe or is permitted to believe, or what one deserves praise for believing, or in some similar way. If deonotologism is true, and people have justified beliefs, then the deontological sentences can be true. However, some say, these deontological sentences can be true only if people have a kind of freedom or control over their beliefs that they do not in fact have. Thus, deontologism in epistemology, combined with anti-skepticism, has implausible implications. I first describe one sort of control that people typically have over ordinary actions but do not have over typical beliefs. I then argue that there is a paradigmatic type of epistemic evaluation that does properly apply to beliefs even though we lack this sort of control over them. Finally, I argue that these paradigmatic epistemic evaluations are sufficient to make true some of the deontological sentences.