Outranking Relations: Do They Have Special Properties?

Outranking relations are most often built using a concordance–discordance principle. Such relations are in general neither transitive nor complete. This is not to say that the concordance–discordance principle does not impose some ‘structural’ restrictions on these relations. We show why this question may be of some importance for analysing the various techniques designed to build a recommendation on the basis of such relations. These restrictions are studied for the ELECTRE and PROMETHEE methods.     

Modeling the effects of choice-set size on the processing of letters and words

Letters and words are better identified when there are fewer available choices. How do readers use choice-set restrictions? By analyzing new experimental data and previously reported data, the author shows that Bayes theorem-based models overestimate readers' use of choice-set restrictions. This result is discordant with choice-similarity models such as R. D. Luce's (1963a) similarity choice model, G. Keren and S. Baggen's (1981) letter recognition model, and D. W. Massaro and G. C. Oden's (1979) fuzzy logical model of perception. Other models posit that choice restrictions affect accuracy only by improving guessing (e.g., J. L. McClelland & D. E. Rumelhart's, 1981, interactive activation model). It is shown that these models underestimate readers' use of choice-set restrictions. Restriction of choice set does improve perception of letters and words, but not optimally. Decision models that may be able to explain this phenomenon are discussed.     

论制度安排的正义

制度对我们的一切活动 ,既是基础、保证 ,又是规范、制约 ,还是赏罚、导向。这决定着我们可以在多大的空间里、向什么方向和方位去作为 ;并在付出自己的作为之后 ,应该、可以、事实上得到的是什么、有多少。因此 ,制度的首要价值是正义 ;制度安排是正义的还是不正义的 ,有决定性的意义。     

Reading time evidence for enriched composition

Verbs like 'begin' and 'enjoy' appear to semantically select a complement that expresses an activity or an event (Jackendoff, R. (1997). The architecture of the language faculty. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; Pustejovsky, J. Cognition 41 (1991) 47; Pustejovsky, J. (1995). The generative lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). When these verbs occur with a complement that does not directly denote either an activity or an event (e.g. '... began the book' or '... enjoyed the book'), the complement must be type-shifted from an object to an activity to conform to the verb's semantic restrictions. We report an experiment in which self-paced reading times were found to be longer for complements that required type-shifting than for complements that directly matched the semantic restrictions of the matrix verb. This finding is argued to provide on-line evidence for a type of enriched lexical processing posited in recent lexical semantic research.     

Irrelevant speech effects and statistical learning

Immediate serial recall of visually presented verbal stimuli is impaired by the presence of irrelevant auditory background speech, the so-called irrelevant speech effect. Two of the three main accounts of this effect place restrictions on when it will be observed, limiting its occurrence either to items processed by the phonological loop (the phonological loop hypothesis) or to items that are not too dissimilar from the irrelevant speech (the feature model). A third, the object-oriented episodic record (O-OER) model, requires only that the memory task involves seriation. The present studies test these three accounts by examining whether irrelevant auditory speech will interfere with a task that does not involve the phonological loop, does not use stimuli that are compatible with those to be remembered, but does require seriation. Two experiments found that irrelevant speech led to lower levels of performance in a visual statistical learning task, offering more support for the O-OER model and posing a challenge for the other two accounts.     

The Market for Bodily Parts: a response to Ruth Chadwick

ABSTRACT  Largely as a result of public outcry, legislation has recently been passed in the UK prohibiting the sale of bodily parts. This topic was the focus of a recent article in Journal of Applied Philosophy by Ruth Chadwick, which acknowledged that difficulties might exist in trying to distinguish between the selling of one's bodily organs and the selling of one's labour. The position argued for, in the ensuing discussion, is that there is no relevant moral difference between the two acts. Furthermore it contests the view that the sale of bodily organs should necessarily be prohibited. The assertion is made that the legislation does little to prevent the general exploitation of the type of person likely to be involved in such transactions, places unnecessary restrictions on the autonomy of individuals, and does nothing to promote an enhanced moral attitude by health professionals.     

Dual-relationship prohibitions: A concept whose time never should have come

The concept of dual-relationship prohibitions has limited value in that it creates confusion and leads to unfair results in ethics and licensing actions. It serves little purpose because it does not assist psychologists in analyzing situations. Neither does it provide much help in assisting psychologists in deciding how to act in a particular situation, such that the client's best interest is considered. This article addresses the problems with dual-relationship prohibitions. It also focuses on the constitutional problems of dual-relationship restrictions. Finally, a new standard is offered, that of substantial conflict of interest. In addition, an analytical model is proposed to guide psychologists in making decisions regarding whether a substantial conflict of interest exists where multiple-role relationships are involved. Finally, several suggestions are presented to make the entire process connected with ethics complaints fairer and more constitutionally sound.     

In Defense of the Responsibility to Protect

This essay responds to Esther Reed's recent critique of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle in this journal. It argues that Reed fundamentally misunderstands and misrepresents R2P. Her critique of R2P would have served well as a critique of the earlier concept of humanitarian intervention had it been penned in the late 1990s. But most of the problems and dangers that Reed identifies are in reality the very problems and dangers that R2P seeks to overcome, and I suggest that it does overcome them quite successfully. R2P does not impose Western ideals on the rest of the world, weaken the legal restrictions on the use of force, or promote abusive interventionism. Rather, it offers a bold but carefully constructed framework that holds the promise of promoting the protection of vulnerable populations from mass atrocities.     

Responsible conduct in research

Science is not taken for granted any longer. Society, politics and the media pose critical questions tending to censorship or at least control of science. How does science respond? It cannot exist and develop without freedom, but this does not mean freedom to amass knowledge and apply technological applications at any price and without restrictions. Science should be autonomous, but is not value-free. A distintion is made between external and internal social/ethical problems. The former refer to questions of the social/ethical context and consequences of scientific research, and the latter to the rules of ‘good practice’ and scientific integrity. The role of academies of science, and of associations of such academies (e.g. All European Academies (ALLEA)) in developing codes of good scientific practice and fostering a proper sense of scientific values and standards is further discussed.     

Cluster Analysis for Cognitive Diagnosis: Theory and Applications

Latent class models for cognitive diagnosis often begin with specification of a matrix that indicates which attributes or skills are needed for each item. Then by imposing restrictions that take this into account, along with a theory governing how subjects interact with items, parametric formulations of item response functions are derived and fitted. Cluster analysis provides an alternative approach that does not require specifying an item response model, but does require an item-by-attribute matrix. After summarizing the data with a particular vector of sum-scores, K-means cluster analysis or hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis can be applied with the purpose of clustering subjects who possess the same skills. Asymptotic classification accuracy results are given, along with simulations comparing effects of test length and method of clustering. An application to a language examination is provided to illustrate how the methods can be implemented in practice.     

A League of Their Own? Evaluating Justifications for The Division of Sport into ‘Enhanced’ and ‘Unenhanced’ Leagues

Cheating through the use of illegal performance enhancements (such as doping) is a persistent problem in sport. It has been suggested that one response to this problem is to separate sport into two parallel leagues. One league would resemble sport as it is currently practised – i.e. with restrictions on use of particular enhancements – and the other would not possess these restrictions, allowing those that wish to use currently illegal enhancements to do so. In this paper I articulate the ‘two leagues’ proposal further and subject it to critical scrutiny. The proposal fails. It does so by failing to address conceptual confusion regarding enhancement use in sport; by replicating in the new league the current problems associated with enhancement-based cheating; and by creating new problems. In an attempt to revive it I describe other possible justifications for the proposal, based on its promotion of personal autonomy, and rights-based justifications. These fail, with the exception of a group right claiming provision of the enhanced league as a participatory good. I conclude that this latter use of the proposal is the only sensible one, but it nevertheless faces significant obstacles.     

Minors' competence to consent to abortion

In the light of legal restrictions in some states, the psychological evidence for whether adolescents are competent to give informed consent to abortion is reviewed. It would be important to know whether competence to decide on pregnancy outcome reflects maturity to be a parent; further, whether degrees of maturity can be traced throughout adolescence. Research shows that parents, not peers, are major sources of advice for minors' abortion decisions. Younger and less competent minors are more likely to consult parents than older, mature minors. There is no evidence that adolescent issues or developmental tasks influence pregnancy decisions. Decision making competence does not differ from that of adults, except as affected by the living situation of the adolescent. Decision performance does differ: minors are more likely to consider their present family's opinion, and not consider future risks, than are adults. The sparse research available on this problem provides no basis for restricting minors' decision making on the ground of competence alone.     

Next steps in Bayesian structural equation models: Comments on, variations of, and extensions to Muthén and Asparouhov (2012)

Muthén and Asparouhov (2012) made a strong case for the advantages of Bayesian methodology in factor analysis and structural equation models. I show additional extensions and adaptations of their methods and show how non-Bayesians can take advantage of many (though not all) of these advantages by using interval restrictions on parameters. By keeping parameters restricted to intervals (such as loadings between -.3 and .3 to produce small loadings), frequentists using standard structural equation modeling software can do something similar to what a Bayesian does by putting prior distributions on these parameters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The role of structural context in perception: Syntax in the recognition of algebraic expressions

Two character-identification experiments investigated the function of structural context during the processing of briefly exposed algebraic strings. Neither experiment prodded evidence to support the notion of an algebra-superiority effect, a contextually driven enhancement of the recognition of specific algebraic characters. However, the results of Experiment 2 indicate that the structure of algebra does provide information at the level of a character’s categorical denomination. These findings suggest that the parsing of an algebraic string includes a level of processing in which its structural context places restrictions on the denominations of its symbols. A processing model of algebraic perception is proposed that incorporates these syntactic constraints—constraints that appear to be independent of feature-based character identification processes.     

Reactance versus rationalization: divergent responses to policies that constrain freedom

How do people respond to government policies and work environments that place restrictions on their personal freedoms? The psychological literature offers two contradictory answers to this question. Here, we attempt to resolve this apparent discrepancy. Specifically, we identify the absoluteness of a restriction as one factor that determines how people respond to it. Across two studies, participants responded to absolute restrictions (i.e., restrictions that were sure to come into effect) with rationalization: They viewed the restrictions more favorably, and valued the restricted freedoms less, compared with control participants. Participants responded in the opposite way to identical restrictions that were described as nonabsolute (i.e., as having a small chance of not coming into effect): In this case, participants displayed reactance, viewing the restrictions less favorably, and valuing the restricted freedoms more, compared with control participants. We end by discussing future research directions.     

Perfectionism for children,anti-perfectionism for adults

This paper explores the debate between perfectionists and anti-perfectionists in the context of children. It suggests that the most influential and compelling arguments in favour of anti-perfectionism are adult-centric. It does this by considering four leading reasons given in favour of anti-perfectionism and shows that none apply in the case of children. In so doing, the paper defends a perfectionist account of upbringing from the attacks made against perfectionism more generally. Furthermore, because the refutation of the various anti-perfectionist arguments are made exclusively dealing with children, the paper suggests that the perfectionist view of upbringing is compatible with anti-perfectionist restrictions on dealing with adults. This dual view combining perfectionism for children and anti-perfectionism for adults is referred to as restricted perfectionism.     

Participation restrictions at work indicate participation restrictions in other domains of life

Health problems are often associated with activity limitations and participation restrictions, as defined in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). This often affects the workplace in the form of sick leave or a reduction in productivity. The question is, "to what extent are participation restrictions at work related to participation restrictions in other domains of life?" A total of 382 primary health care patients (aged 18-65) were asked to provide information on their employment status, perceived health-related workplace problems and sick leave status. Health-dependent participation restrictions across different domains of life were assessed using the Index for Measuring Participation Restrictions (IMET) self rating questionnaire. Currently unemployed patients reported significantly higher degrees of participation restrictions across all domains of life than the employed participants. Employed patients with workplace problems scored higher than patients without workplace problems. The domain of work encompassed the highest level of impairment, while the lowest was observed in personal relationships. Workplace problems occur frequently for primary health care patients. They coincide with participation restrictions in other domains of life. For patients who complain about their capacity to work, diagnosis and treatment must not only focus on the work domain, but also enquire into and consider participation restrictions in other domains of life.     

The causal impacts of empty stadiums on women’s sports activities: Evidence from European football leagues

This paper examines the effect of spectators on women’s football games. COVID-19 and related restrictions provide a unique opportunity with an adequate sample size to test the effect of lockdown on sports activities. Studies have recently exploited this opportunity for men’s football to better understand the potential causes of home advantage and, more specifically, assess the psychological consequences when matches are played without supporters. Despite the increased scientific interest, there was only one paper that focused on women’s football. Therefore, we aim to contribute to this research field by considering matches from four major European women’s football leagues. The findings suggest that for three of these leagues, lockdown has a statistically significant effect on the sanctioned yellow cards by either reducing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the away teams or increasing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the home teams. Nonetheless, lockdown does not affect any final match outcomes; therefore, it does not significantly affect the magnitude of home advantage for women’s games.