On ‘Defending The Phenomenal Concept Strategy’

I argue that Diaz-Leon fails to defend the phenomenal concept strategy against Stoljar's criticism because she fails to give us any general reasons for thinking that conditionals that involve psychologically distinct concepts could be a priori.     

Europe 2020 Strategy and Citizens’ Life Satisfaction

The aim of this paper is to analyse whether the Europe 2020 Strategy approach might guide policymaking toward citizens’ life satisfaction. We find that the Member States closer to attaining the Europe 2020 targets report higher levels of satisfaction. That is, Europe 2020 Strategy, as a set of public policies, is aligned with people’s life satisfaction. In addition, and given the current context of rising economic and social inequalities in the European Union and their negative consequences for people’s well-being, we study whether an “inequality-extended Europe 2020 Strategy”, incorporating more specific targets for inequalities, is more aligned with European’s life satisfaction. Results show that inequality-extended Europe 2020 Strategy is more associated with life satisfaction than Europe 2020 Strategy. Thus inequalities do matter to European citizens and a refinement of the Europe 2020 Strategy could enhance the effectiveness of its programs.     

Intrinsic Explanation and Field’s Dispensabilist Strategy

Abstract

Hartry Field defended the importance of his nominalist reformulation of Newtonian Gravitational Theory, as a response to the indispensability argument, on the basis of a general principle of intrinsic explanation. In this paper, I argue that this principle is not sufficiently defensible, and can not do the work for which Field uses it. I argue first that the model for Field’s reformulation, Hilbert’s axiomatization of Euclidean geometry, can be understood without appealing to the principle. Second, I argue that our desires to unify our theories and explanations undermines Field’s principle. Third, the claim that extrinsic theories seem like magic is, in this case, really just a demand for an account of the applications of mathematics in science. Finally, even if we were to accept the principle, it would not favor the fictionalism that motivates Field’s argument, since the indispensabilist’s mathematical objects are actually intrinsic to scientific theory.     

Do Renormalization Group Explanations Conform to the Commonality Strategy?

Renormalization group (RG) explanations account for the astonishing phenomenon that microscopically very different physical systems display the same macro-behavior when undergoing phase-transitions. Among philosophers, this explanandum phenomenon is often described as the occurrence of a particular kind of multiply realized macro-behavior. In several recent publications, Robert Batterman denies that RG explanations account for this explanandum phenomenon by following (what I call) the commonality strategy, i.e. by identifying properties that microscopically very different physical systems have in common. Arguing against Batterman’s claim, I defend the view that RG explanations are in accord with the commonality strategy.     

Does Task Affordance Moderate Age-related Deficits in Strategy Production?

ABSTRACT

According to the task-affordance hypothesis, people will be more likely to use a specific strategy as tasks more readily afford its use. To evaluate this hypothesis, we examined the degree to which older and younger adults used a self-testing strategy to learn items, because previous studies suggest that age-related differences in the use of this powerful strategy vary across tasks. These tasks (words affixed to a board vs. pairs on flashcards) differentially afford the use of the self-testing strategy and may moderate the age-related effects on strategy use. Participants performed a recall-readiness task in which they continued to study items until they were ready for the criterion test. As predicted, self testing was used less often on tasks that least afforded its use. Namely, participants used self testing less when they studied single words affixed to a board than when they studied pairs on flashcards. Most important, age-related deficits in strategy use were greater for the former task and nonexistent for the latter one, suggesting that task affordance moderates age differences in strategy use.     

Counselling psychology in the workplace: Strategy or sticking plaster?

This paper reviews the rationale for, and describes the development of, an in-house Staff Counselling Psychology Service in two large National Health Service teaching hospital trusts and a college of health. The three elements of service delivery, the challenges in establishing a service and the familiar argument that the role of the Counselling Psychologist in such a setting carries the potential for participating in organizational development will be discussed. User statistics and the results of a consumer satisfaction survey will be presented to support the notion that strategy has a greater utility to an organization than being a 'sticking plaster'. Finally, the paper will argue that Counselling Psychology in the workplace demands of the practitioner additional skills.     

A Longitudinal Study of Semantic Grouping Strategy Use in 6–11-Year-Old Children: Investigating Developmental Phases,the Role of Working Memory,and Strategy Transfer

This two-cohort longitudinal study on the development of the semantic grouping strategy had three goals. First, the authors examined if 6–7-year-olds are nonstrategic before becoming strategic after prompting at 8–9 years of age, and if 8–9-year-olds are prompted strategic before spontaneous strategy use at 10–11 years of age. Children 6–7 and 8–9 years old performed two sort-recall tasks (one without and one with a grouping prompt) at two time points separated 1.5 years from each other. Second, the authors investigated whether short-term or working memory capacity at time point 1 predicted recall in children who did or did not use the semantic grouping strategy 1.5 years later. Third, the authors investigated whether prompted strategic children and children who used the strategy spontaneously differed in strategy transfer to a new task. Developmental results confirmed previous cross-sectional results, but in a longitudinal two-cohort study 6–7-year-olds were nonstrategic, and became prompted strategic around 8–9 years of age, followed by spontaneous strategy use at age 10–11 years. The authors found that memory capacity was not predictive of later use of the strategy. New findings were that prompted strategic children were as equally able as spontaneously strategic children to transfer the strategy to a new task, albeit with smaller recall benefits.     

Is Racial Profiling a Legitimate Strategy in the Fight against Violent Crime?

Racial profiling has come under intense public scrutiny especially since the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. This article discusses two questions: (1) whether racial profiling is sometimes rational, and (2) whether it can be morally permissible. It is argued that under certain circumstances the affirmative answer to both questions is justified.     

Strategy shifts in classification skill acquisition: Does memory retrieval dominate rule use?

In two experiments, we demonstrated two types of strategies (rule-based and memory-based) and strategy transitions within the same binary classification task. The strategy that dominated later in practice depended on the difficulty of the operative classification rule and on the salience of the cue for that rule. Accuracy increased over practice trials, and response times were faster for the dominant strategy, either rule or memory. Rule retention was superior to stimulus item retention, so that, even for participants who preferred a memory-based strategy, a rule-based strategy dominated at least temporarily after a 1-week interval. Strategy use over trials and the retention interval reflected a given task's affordance of a shift between rule- and memory-based processes.     

Acknowledging One's Stigma in the Interview Setting: Effective Strategy or Liability?1

The current research examines how members of stigmatized groups remediate hiring biases by adopting the strategy of directly acknowledging their stigmatizing condition within the interview context. In the first study, 123 participants responded to a videotaped interview involving an obese or physically disabled job applicant who either did or did not acknowledge a stigma. In the second study, 87 participants responded to scenarios that manipulated type of stigma, controllability of its onset, and acknowledgment. Results across both experiments reveal that applicants who did not acknowledge their obesity or physical disability in an employment context were not viewed differently from each other. However, if applicants did acknowledge, the perceived controllability of the stigmas strongly influenced how they would be perceived.     

Is Distraction an Adaptive or Maladaptive Strategy for Emotion Regulation? A Person-Oriented Approach

Distraction is an emotion regulation strategy that has an ambiguous status within cognitive-behavior therapy. According to some treatment protocols it is counterproductive, whereas according to other protocols it is seen as a quite useful strategy. The main purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that distraction is adaptive when combined with active acceptance, but maladaptive when combined with avoidant strategies. A non-clinical community sample of adults (N?=?638) and a clinical sample (N?=?172) completed measures of emotion regulation and well-being. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups with different profiles on six emotion regulation variables, and these subgroups were then compared on well-being (positive and negative emotionality, and life quality) and on clinical status. A nine-cluster solution was chosen on the basis of explained variance and homogeneity coefficients. Two of these clusters had almost identical scores on distraction, but showed otherwise very different profiles (distraction combined with acceptance vs. distraction combined with avoidance). The distraction-acceptance cluster scored significantly higher than the distraction-avoidance cluster on all measures of well-being; it was also under-represented in the clinical sample, whereas the distraction-avoidance cluster was over-represented. Limitations include a cross-sectional design, and use of self-report measures. The findings suggest that distraction may be either adaptive or maladaptive, depending on whether it is combined with an attitude of acceptance or avoidance.     

Parental Use of Time Out Revisited: A Useful or Harmful Parenting Strategy?

Time out has been widely advocated as an effective parental discipline practice to reduce disruptive and oppositional child behaviour in young children. Despite evidence showing that the procedure is effective when used as part of a comprehensive positive parenting strategy it has not been uniformly accepted and critics have questioned its effectiveness and potentially adverse effects on the parent–child relationship. This paper examines the controversy surrounding the use of time out, discusses the criticisms levelled against it, and concludes that its judicious use in parent training programs is justified and is of benefit to many children with conduct problems. Factors that influence the effectiveness of time out and some contraindications are also discussed.     

Toward a Comprehensive Strategy for Effective Practitioner–Scientist Partnerships and Larger-Scale Community Health and Well-Being

This article articulates joint priorities for the fields of prevention science and community psychology. These priorities are intended to address issues raised by the frequent observation of natural tensions between community practitioners and scientists. The first priority is to expand the knowledge base on practitioner–scientist partnerships, particularly on factors associated with positive outcomes within communities. To further articulate this priority, the paper first discusses the rapid growth in community-based partnerships and the emergent research on them. Next described is an illustrative research project on a partnership model that links state university extension and public school delivery systems. The article then turns to the second, related priority of future capacity-building for diffusion of effective partnership-based interventions to achieve larger-scale health and well-being across communities. It outlines two salient tasks: clarification of a conceptual framework and the formulation of a comprehensive capacity-building strategy for diffusion. The comprehensive strategy would require careful attention to the expansion of networks of effective partnerships, partnership-based research agendas, and requisite policy-making.     

Strategy sequential difficulty effects vary with working-memory and response–stimulus-intervals: A study in arithmetic

Strategy sequential difficulty effects are the findings that when participants execute strategies, performance is worse after a difficult strategy than after an easy strategy (Uittenhove & Lemaire, 2012). Strategy sequential difficulty effects are hypothesized to result from decreased working-memory resources following difficult strategy execution. In the present study we found a correlation between individuals' working memory and strategy sequential difficulty effects in arithmetic, supporting a working-memory account of these effects. Furthermore, we varied response–stimulus intervals, and we found decreased strategy sequential difficulty effects with increasing response–stimulus intervals. Implications of these findings for further understanding of strategic variations in human cognition are discussed.     

Improving Iranian Graduate Students’ Performance in Reading Scientific Articles in English Through Explicit Strategy Instruction

The purpose of this mixed-method investigation was to examine the effect of explicit instruction of cognitive strategies on the reading performance of Iranian graduate students and identify the cognitive strategies the participants used while reading a scientific article in English (L2). Prior to the study, the students completed a questionnaire and took part in a semi-structured interview providing information on the reading strategies they used while reading English texts. In order to also identify the participants’ improvement in reading English texts, they completed the reading section of the IELTS test prior to and following the treatment. During a 16-week course, students became familiar with cognitive strategies through explicit instruction. At the end of the course, the students were required to read a scientific article in English and think-aloud in order to identify the reading strategies they employed while reading. The quantitative results (paired-sample T-test) revealed that the participants’ reading comprehension significantly improved after explicit instruction of cognitive strategies. The qualitative data (think-aloud protocols) indicated that the participants used more cognitive strategies while reading scientific articles in English after receiving explicit instruction. Pedagogical implications are provided for further research.     

Subsidizing Religious Participation Through Groups: A Model of the “Megachurch” Strategy for Growth

Either despite or because of their non-traditional approach, megachurches have grown significantly in the United States since 1980. This paper models religious participation as an imperfect public good which, absent intervention, yields suboptimal participation by members from the church’s perspective. Megachurches address this problem in part by employing secular-based group activities to subsidize religious participation that then translates into an increase in the attendees’ religious investment. This strategy not only allows megachurches to attract and retain new members when many traditional churches are losing members but also results in higher levels of an individual’s religious capital. As a result, the megachurch may raise expectations of members’ levels of commitment and faith practices. Data from the FACT2000 survey provide evidence that megachurches employ groups more extensively than other churches, and this approach is consistent with a strategy to use groups to help subsidize individuals’ religious investment. Religious capital rises among members of megachurches relative to members of non-megachurches as a result of this strategy.     

Watch Where You're Going? Interferer Velocity and Visual Behavior Predicts Avoidance Strategy During Pedestrian Encounters

Pedestrians can avoid collisions with other pedestrians by modifying some combination of their velocity and their path. The authors investigated how path constraints (constrained or unconstrained), interferer velocity (slow or fast), and vision (looking or not looking; time spent looking at the interferer) influenced collision avoidance to an oblivious interferer walking on a perpendicular path. Ten participants walked 6 m to either a point or line target on either a constrained or unconstrained path while wearing an eye-tracking device and avoiding an oblivious interferer that walked at 2 speeds. Looking behavior and interferer velocity were reliable predictors of determining whether a pedestrian would pass in front of or behind the interferer, while path constraints were less reliable. These findings highlight the degeneracy in human movement systems and suggest that, in complex environments, behavior may not always be optimized for efficiency.     

A Living Life, A Living Death: Bessie Head��s Writing as a Survival Strategy

This paper explores Bessie Head's writing as a survival strategy through which she transformed her lived experience into imaginative literature, giving meaning and purpose to a life under permanent threat from the dominant group first in South Africa and later in Botswana. This threat included the destructive effect of the many fixed labels imposed upon her including: a 'Coloured' woman, the daughter of a woman designated mad, an exile, a psychotic, a tragic black woman, and a Third World woman writer. Her endeavours to avoid and defeat such limited, static definitions produced work characterised by contradiction and paradox, through which she asserted her right to survive and determined, like Makhaya in When Rain Clouds Gather, to establish 'a living life' in place of the 'living death that a man could be born into' (Head 1989, 136). Through a combination of Head's personal letters and papers and her published work, it can be seen how her particular preoccupations and experiences including her life in exile, her beliefs about her origins, her relationship to her absent mother, her distress, her madness and her need for love and for work were transformed into writing which expresses not only the destructive circumstances of her life but also its life-affirming aspects. Her writing was also a means by which she could create identities to express the dangers she encountered from the all-pervasive power structures which influenced her life and her sense of self, as well as ways to transcend them, enabling her to say in the last years of her life 'I am no failure' (20.2.1986 KMM BHP).