De Finettian Logics of Indicative Conditionals Part I: Trivalent Semantics and Validity

Journal of Philosophical Logic - This paper explores trivalent truth conditions for indicative conditionals, examining the “defective” truth table proposed by de Finetti (1936) and...     

Baselining affects the production of deceptive narratives

Recent research shows that the quality of a baseline (i.e., the analysis of one's behavior in normal conditions) decreases when the second narrative is expected and deceitful. However, a first step would be to investigate whether the writing of a first narrative might influence the second, independently of its expectancy. In this study, we hypothesized that second narratives would be less detailed, especially if these narratives are deceptive. Participants (N = 71) were asked to narrate two consecutive truthful and deceptive narratives. The second narrative was unexpected, and the order of the narratives was counterbalanced. Results suggest a detrimental effect of deceptiveness and order on the frequency of details. Moreover, an interaction was observed, suggesting when narratives are written after a first one, the frequency of details decreases, all the more if they were deceptive. The results of this experiment are discussed from both a theoretical and an applied perspective.     

THE “AS‐YET SITUATION” IN WINNICOTT'S “FRAGMENT OF AN ANALYSIS”: YOUR FATHER “NEVER DID YOU THE HONOR OF”… YET

The author proposes a new hypothesis in relation to Winnicott's “Fragment of an Analysis”: that as early as 1955, in the case described in this text, Winnicott is creating the paternal function in his patient's psychic functioning by implicitly linking his interpretations regarding the father to the Freudian concept of Nachträglichkeit. The author introduces an original clinical concept, the as‐yet situation, which she has observed in her own clinical work, as well as in Winnicott's analysis of the patient described in “Fragment of an Analysis” (1955).     

The impact of presentation format on causal inferences

The impact of the presentation format of covariation information on causal judgements was examined in a fictitious virus-disease causal induction task. Six different judgement conditions were created by crossing two levels of virus-disease covariation (0, .5) with three levels of disease base rate (.25, .5, .75). The covariation information was presented differently to three groups of participants. In a first group, it was presented in propositional format summarising the frequencies of the four patient types, namely patients with or without the virus who either did have or did not have the disease. In a second group the same information was presented in a 2×2 table with the cell frequencies represented in terms of countable objects (the presence/absence of virus/disease was shown as schematic faces that varied in expression and colour). In a third group the covariation information was presented in terms of a cumulative frequency tree with the two main branches representing the frequencies of patients with and without the disease which further decomposed into subgroups of those with and without the virus. The ability to discriminate between the levels of covariation was poorest in Group 1; it was significantly improved in Group 2, and was best in Group 3. These results suggest that the format with which covariation information is presented to reasoners exerts a significant influence on causal judgements.     

The impact of external representation in a rule discovery task

The 2-4-6 rule discovery task introduced by Wason (1960) elicits generally poor hypothesis-testing behaviour as reflected by the underwhelming effort and creativity participants invest in the process before announcing their “best” guess. The traditional task departs from real-world hypothesis testing in a significant respect: Reasoners proceed to discover the rule solely from an internal representation of the problem space. Two studies reported here examined representational effects in the 2-4-6 task by developing task isomorphs that offered external, physically manipulable, representations of the dimensions of the problem space. These isomorphs led to a significantly higher incidence of successful rule discovery, driven by significantly greater diligence and creative exploration of the problem space, compared to other task isomorphs that did not offer such an external representation. These results confirm the fruitfulness of a research programme that explores the contextual determinants of sound hypothesis testing.     

Adaptation of Neuromuscular Synergies During Intentional Constraints of Space-Time Relationships in Human Gait

Tight frequency-to-amplitude relationships are observed in spontaneous human steady gait. They can be modified, if required; that flexibility forms a fundamental basis of the intentional adaptive capabilities of locomotion. In the present experiments, the processes underlying that flexibility were investigated at both the level of joint kinematics and the level of neuromuscular synergies. Subjects (N = 4) walked at the same speed either with a preferred or a nonpreferred frequency-to-amplitude relationship (i.e., constrained, short steps at a high frequency [COS condition] or constrained, long steps at a low frequency [COL condition]); their swing and stance phases were separately analyzed. In the COS condition, increases in EMG activity were specifically required during the swing phase. In the COL condition, several muscles required increases in EMG activity during the stance phase, but decreases of the hamstring muscles were needed during the swing phase. Whereas, in preferred walking, modification of the frequency affects the EMG patterns globally (the gain increasing with the frequency in both the stance and swing phases), the present results show that changing the frequency in a constrained manner either affects the swing phase specifically or affects both phases, but in the opposite direction. That finding indicates mat a separate control is needed in both the swing and the stance phases.     

Clinical encounters with children in the Trump era

There is an emerging research and conceptual literature on the impact of the 2016 United States election of Donald Trump on the psychoanalytic psychotherapy process; however, the focus of this growing body of literature has been primarily with adults. Issues related to the election of Donald Trump, and the current political climate, also continue to arise in clinical encounters with children. These moments highlight the complexities of intersectionality, intersubjectivity, power dynamics, and self-disclosure. This article describes several clinical scenarios with American youth – reports from the front lines of a new political reality – drawn from the perspectives of trainees learning psychodynamic therapy, a private practitioner conducting an assessment for a young asylum seeker, and a school psychologist working in a private school for children with learning disabilities. We consider the fears and preoccupations that arise among children and their caregivers and the feelings that are provoked in the clinician, both in response to their clients and to the election itself. Traditional psychoanalytic paradigms of limiting self-disclosure and maintaining the therapeutic frame are challenged by the intensely personal nature of contemporary politics. This paper explores a contemporary phenomenon – the tension between therapeutic attending to internal experience and symbolisation, repression, and integration, while also considering a harsh, political external reality – through the lens of centuries of psychoanalytic work conducted in the face of war, trauma, and oppression. Children and adolescents who present for treatment or other forms of clinical intervention require a flexible therapeutic approach that acknowledges their unique position in history and the ways in which their distress is exacerbated by real and perceived political threats.     

What’s in a name? Psychology’s ever evasive construct

We explore in broad terms the uses of the construct concept in psychological and related scientific discourses. First, we provide a brief history of the origins and development of the concept ‘construct.’ We then describe past and current definitions and/or uses of ‘construct’ and attempt to draw out certain conceptual implications of these uses. Finally, we highlight and attempt to clarify several core conceptual confusions that surround the use of ‘construct’ in psychology.     

Imaging or Imagining? A Neuroethics Challenge Informed by Genetics

From a twenty-first century partnership between bioethics and neuroscience, the modern field of neuroethics is emerging, and technologies enabling functional neuroimaging with unprecedented sensitivity have brought new ethical, social and legal issues to the forefront. Some issues, akin to those surrounding modern genetics, raise critical questions regarding prediction of disease, privacy and identity. However, with new and still-evolving insights into our neurobiology and previously unquantifiable features of profoundly personal behaviors such as social attitude, value and moral agency, the difficulty of carefully and properly interpreting the relationship between brain findings and our own self-concept is unprecedented. Therefore, while the ethics of genetics provides a legitimate starting point—even a backbone—for tackling ethical issues in neuroimaging, they do not suffice. Drawing on recent neuroimaging findings and their plausible real-world applications, we argue that interpretation of neuroimaging data is a key epistemological and ethical challenge. This challenge is two-fold. First, at the scientific level, the sheer complexity of neuroscience research poses challenges for integration of knowledge and meaningful interpretation of data. Second, at the social and cultural level, we find that interpretations of imaging studies are bound by cultural and anthropological frameworks. In particular, the introduction of concepts of self and personhood in neuroimaging illustrates the interaction of interpretation levels and is a major reason why ethical reflection on genetics will only partially help settle neuroethical issues. Indeed, ethical interpretation of such findings will necessitate not only traditional bioethical input but also a wider perspective on the construction of scientific knowledge.