Passage,Becoming and the Nature of Temporal Reality

I first distinguish several notions that have traditionally been conflated (or otherwise neglected) in discussions of the metaphysics of time. Thus, for example, I distinguish between the passage of time and temporal becoming. The former is, I maintain, a confused notion that does not represent a feature of the world; whereas a proper understanding of the latter provides the key for a plausible and comprehensive account of the nature of temporal reality. There are two general classes of views of the nature of temporal reality; proponents of particular views in both classes attempt to account for the phenomenon of temporal becoming in terms of qualitative change. I argue that any such account – in terms of change – is irredeemably problematic. And so I propound a different account of temporal becoming, based on the notion that temporal reality is transient, which provides the means to characterize intuitively and vividly the significant effects of time on the metaphysical nature of the world.

Quine and Davidson on Language,Thought and Reality

Books reviewed: Hans‐Johann Glock, Quine and Davidson on Language, Thought and Reality. Cambridge University Press, 2003; xi + 311 pp. £45.00, $60.00 (hardcover).
Reviewed by Dale Jacquette, The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Philosophy
The Pennsylvania State University
246 Sparks Building
University Park, PA 16802 / USA
dlj4@psu.edu
http://www.personal.psu.edu/dlj4/     

Language: A Toolbox for Sharing and Influencing Social Reality

ABSTRACT— The key role of language is often neglected in explicitly formulated theories of cognition, affect, and social behavior. Implicitly, though, the relationship between language and mind is at the heart of psychological science. Two major research programs—linguistic universals and linguistic relativity—originate in opposite philosophical positions, assuming either that language reflects the mind's ideas and free will or that language differences govern and restrict the mind. However, modern psychological research was able to begin illuminating the power and richness of linguistic influences only after the priority debate was given up and language and cognition were treated as integral parts of the same process. Beyond the confines of referential communication, conceived as cooperative transfer of symbols referring to common world knowledge, some of the most intriguing phenomena are detached from referential bonds, reflecting unintended, emergent, or even random outcomes of verbal interaction. Indeed, the effectiveness of verbal priming may be actually contingent on language users' failure to understand the primes' referential meanings and implications.     

时间顺序与时间距离对语言理解的影响:进一步的证据

探讨时间顺序和时间距离对语言理解的影响,包括2个实验.实验采用关系再认范式(relation-recognition paradigm)和句子-探测再认范式(sentence-probe-recognition paradigm).实验一探讨探讨在简单句条件下,时间顺序对不同频率事件理解的作用;实验二探讨在复句条件下时间顺序与时间距离对语言理解的影响.2个实验结果一致表明,在语言理解过程中,存在对将来取向(顺时序)的事件进行优先加工处理.时间距离对语言理解的影响取决于不同时距的事件能否整合成情景模型.     

时间顺序关系对语言理解的影响

通过2个实验探讨在语言理解中时间顺序相关性(顺时序、反时序、不相关)和时间间隔(200ms、500ms、1000ms)在日常事件认识中的作用。实验采用关系——认知范式(relarion-recognition paradigm)。结果表明：被试在有明显时间信息影响下,优先对将来取向(顺时序)的事件进行加工处理。对时间上不相关的事件比对顺时序和反时序的事件加工得快而准。但在无明显时间信息影响时,首先受到本身词义的影响,继而受到隐含的时间信息的影响。     

视角在时间语言理解中的影响

语言学家在英语的时间语言表达中发现了隐含其中的两种不同运动视角：一种是从过去指向将来的自我运动（自我运动视角moving-ego）;另一种是从将来指向过去的时间运动（时间运动视角moving-time）。心理学家McGlone＆Harding报告了在英语中视角对时问语言理解的作用,并提出人们存在MT视角的偏向。本文报告了两个实验,实验1直接运用和修改McGlone＆Harding的范式在汉语文本探讨视角对时间语言理解的影响。实验2运用信号检测理论来验证了人们存在MT视角偏向。     

Children’s Memory for Temporal Information: The Roles of Temporal Language and Executive Function

Abstract

The ability to recall the temporal order of events develops much more slowly than the ability to recall facts about events. To explore what processes facilitate memory for temporal information, we tested 3- to 6-year-old children (N?=?40) for immediate memory of the temporal order of events from a storybook, using a visual timeline task and a yes/no recognition task. In addition, children completed tasks assessing their understanding of before and after and the executive functions of inhibition using the Day/Night Stroop task and cognitive shifting using the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. Older children (Mage?=?69.25?months) outperformed younger children (Mage?=?52.35?months) on all measures; however, the only significant predictor of memory for the temporal ordering of events was cognitive shifting. The findings suggest that the difficulty in memory for temporal information is related to development of a general cognitive ability, as indexed by the DCCS, rather than specific temporal abilities.     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group TreatmentPart I: Reality and Reality Testing

This two-part contribution addresses reality, reality testing, and testing reality—how we think about and may technically approach these concepts. Part I provides a topic overview and focuses on reality testing. Part II (in an upcoming issue) focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Reality testing and testing reality represent two fundamental, reciprocal manifestations of the drive to know and of tasks of learning: approaching problems and solving them. While testing reality involves approaching reality without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity, reality testing centers on a particular theme or object. It evolves towards organization and rationality, with a goal to define and solve problems—or to avoid them.

Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two types of approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are appropriate.     

时空隐喻的心理现实性:手势和手语的视角

早期有关时空隐喻表征心理现实性的研究因囿于有声语言而饱受批评,近年来兴起的手势和手语研究为该问题的证明提供了新的视角和证据。一方面,手势在三个空间维度上均可形成时空隐喻,有力地回应了反对派对概念隐喻理论在语言和概念层面循环论证的质疑;另一方面,手语空间运用的独特性以及文化图式的复杂性,导致其时空隐喻表现形式更为多样,为该领域研究提供了更加丰富的类型学证据。未来研究还应当注意心理学、语言学以及民族学等多学科的交汇融合,建立起概括力更强和系统性更完整的理论框架,将口语、手势和手语同时囊括其中。     

BLAMING THE PERPETRATOR Language that Distorts Reality in Newspaper Articles on Men Battering Women

In an earlier article, Lamb (1991) showed that journal authors, when writing about men battering women, wrote in a way that avoided assigning responsibility to men as perpetrators, and that this kind of writing was more common among male authors as well as female authors who wrote with men. This study examines first whether this kind of writing occurs in newspaper articles on men battering women, and whether two problematic styles of writing have an effect on the reader. Three versions of a newspaper article were developed to differentiate active voice, passive voice, and writing that implies shared responsibility for a man's violence. One hundred and eighty subjects read one of the three versions and endorsed one of five possible punishments for the man in the story who had been violent. Results showed that subjects did not differ in their selection of punishments for the active voice versus the passive voice version, but were much more lenient towards the man after reading the shared responsibility version.     

虚拟与"虚拟实在"

"虚拟"是这个时代的热门词,也是当下文化的关键词.在三亿多的网民中,很多人见面时的问候语从"吃过没有"变为"魔兽了吗"抑或"摘菜了没有",网络虚拟生活已经成为国人乃至世人一种必不可少的生活方式.二十年前美国学者迈克海姆写过一本关于虚拟实在的书,大约十年前引入国内,引发了国内学者关于"虚拟实在"的研究和讨论.但由于当时国内的信息技术尚未普及,网民数量稀少,所以他的书和这场讨论未能引起社会轰动并深入持久下去.如今恰逢读网时代,我们重拾"虚拟实在",重新探讨它的形而上以及与"虚拟"的区别与联系,因为它是我们在谈及当下文化时绝不能回避和忽略的问题.     

Reality Testing and Testing Reality in Group Treatment

This two-part contribution addresses concepts of “reality,” “reality testing,” and “testing reality,” as they apply to group treatment. Part I provided topic overview and focused on reality testing. Part II focuses on testing reality and how it promotes emergence of new or previously inhibited forms of engagement.

Whereas reality testing centers on a particular theme or object, with a goal to define and solve problems, testing reality involves approaching targets of interest without necessarily looking for or coming to definition or clarity. It is wide open, spontaneous, and unbounded, and may take the individual and group into realms that are uncomfortable and even unwanted. Engaging the group and supporting individuals in these two approaches to learning requires a well-defined therapeutic focus on process and purpose; at times, different tactics and techniques are called for.     

Living in the Past,Present, and Future: Measuring Temporal Orientation With Language

Temporal orientation refers to individual differences in the relative emphasis one places on the past, present, or future, and it is related to academic, financial, and health outcomes. We propose and evaluate a method for automatically measuring temporal orientation through language expressed on social media. Judges rated the temporal orientation of 4,302 social media messages. We trained a classifier based on these ratings, which could accurately predict the temporal orientation of new messages in a separate validation set (accuracy/mean sensitivity = .72; mean specificity = .77). We used the classifier to automatically classify 1.3 million messages written by 5,372 participants (50% female; ages 13–48). Finally, we tested whether individual differences in past, present, and future orientation differentially related to gender, age, Big Five personality, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms. Temporal orientations exhibit several expected correlations with age, gender, and Big Five personality. More future‐oriented people were older, more likely to be female, more conscientious, less impulsive, less depressed, and more satisfied with life; present orientation showed the opposite pattern. Language‐based assessments can complement and extend existing measures of temporal orientation, providing an alternative approach and additional insights into language and personality relationships.     

Temporal Predication with Temporal Parts and Temporal Counterparts

If ordinary objects have temporal parts, then temporal predications have the following truth conditions: necessarily, (a is F) at t iff a has a temporal part that is located at t and that is F. If ordinary objects have temporal counterparts, then, necessarily, (a is F) at t iff a has a temporal counterpart that is located at t and that is F. The temporal-parts account allows temporal predication to be closed under the parthood relation: since all that is required to be F at t is to have a temporal part, a t, that is located at t and that is F, every object that has a t as a temporal part is F at t. Similarly for the temporal-counterparts account. Both closure under parthood and closure under counterparthood are shown to have unacceptable consequences. Then strategies for avoiding closure are considered and rejected.