Complexity preference in substance abusers and controls: relationships to diagnosis and personality variables

To assess the relationship between complexity preference as measured by the Barron-Welsh Revised Art Scale and models of arousal and personality, 36 male substance abusers and 24 community controls were given this tool as well as a battery of personality tests. Some support was found for the notion that emotionality, as measured by the Test of Emotional Styles, was associated with preference for complexity. Relevant neurobiological models of affective expression and hemispheric asymmetry are discussed in light of these findings.     

Trump,Kierkegaard, and a nation divided

This article depicts the United States as a nation divided, as it suffers from two major deficiencies: in societal income equality and in individual formation of selves. It offers reflections on how Søren Kierkegaard's writings and those of Kierkegaard-world are a resource for critiquing Donald Trump and addressing the disruption and divisiveness he and Trump-world are bringing to America's national life. Contours of a theological ethic focusing on the formation of ethical selves are delineated and examples of practicing resurrection are given.     

Can Essence Provide Knowledge of Metaphysical Necessity? A Reply to Jago

Philosophia - In this paper I argue against Mark Jago’s recent suggestion that ordinary knowers can move from knowledge of essence to knowledge of metaphysical necessity.     

Multicriteria approval: application of approval voting concepts to MCDM problems

Multicriteria decision making (MCDM) methods generally require information that is difficult and expensive to obtain. It is shown in this paper that given an ordering of criteria by importance, and whether each alternative is above the average evaluation of the alternatives for each criterion, considerable information can be extracted concerning the overall rankings of the alternatives. This is done by recognizing the similarity between criteria in MCDM, and voters in social choice theory. Multicriteria approval, proposed in this paper, is an MCDM adaptation of approval voting which can be used to classify decisions into one of several categories, depending on whether, and the manner in which, a superior alternative can be identified. An exhaustive examination of all possible decision situations of tractable size is made to measure the applicability of multicriteria approval, and the approach is demonstrated in an industrial procurement case. In addition to requiring minimal information from a decision maker, multicriteria approval satisfies several desirable criteria for MCDM techniques. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Varieties of musical experience

In this paper, we argue that music cognition involves the use of acoustic and auditory codes to evoke a variety of conscious experiences. The variety of domains that are encompassed by music is so diverse that it is unclear whether a single domain of structure or experience is defining. Music is best understood as a form of communication in which formal codes (acoustic patterns and their auditory representations) are employed to elicit a variety of conscious experiences. After proposing our theoretical perspective we offer three prominent examples of conscious experiences elicited by the code of music: the recognition of structure itself, affect, and the experience of motion.     

An automated food delivery system for behavioral and neurophysiological studies of learning and memory in freely moving monkeys

We describe a custom-built feeder based on stepping motor technology controlled by a laboratory computer. The feeder dispenses a wide range of foods: any fruit, vegetable, or nut. The feeder allows the investigator to reward monkeys with different foods within a single experimental day. The monkey’s motivation to perform tasks is high and does not rely upon food regulation. The avoidance of regulation, as well as the palatability and variety of the rewards dispensed by our device, distinguishes it from commercially available products. We also describe the use of the feeder in the context of novel behavioral and neurophysiological studies in freely moving monkeys.     

Gender, religion, and adolescent patterns of self-disclosure in the divided society of Northern Ireland

Adolescence is a period when levels of self-disclosure are often lowest. While studies have revealed a clear preference for female targets of disclosure, little research has been carried out on the effects of religion upon disclosure. The impact of religion was of importance in this investigation, given that it was conducted in Northern Ireland, where religion affects almost every aspect of social life. The aim was to ascertain the effects of gender and religious affiliation on adolescent disclosure to friends and strangers. Results revealed that while females were significantly higher disclosers than were males, religion per se did not play a key role. This suggests that even in a highly polarized society, gender is the central determinant of disclosure and is even more important than political identity. The implications of these findings are discussed, particularly with regard to the difficulty young males have in terms of revealing personal information.     

Religion and Partisanship in Canada

Using a survey of three thousand Canadian adults conducted by the Angus Reid Group in the autumn of 1996, we examine the continuing role of religion in shaping partisan preferences. We find that traditional religious alignments still have some impact, but are being reshaped by both religious and political developments. We find that Evangelical Protestants are drawn toward the new Reform Party, Mainline Protestants still tend toward the Progressive Conservatives, and Catholics—both English‐and French‐speaking—remain the bulwark of the Liberal Party. The New Democratic Party, however, finds its greatest resonance among secular Canadians, and the Bloc Quebecois is strongest among nominal, rather than practicing, French‐speaking Catholics. In multivariate analysis, these religious variables stand up well against other influences in explaining partisan preferences.     

Was It My Fault? Effects of Counterfactual Mutation Focus and Self‐Presentation Strategy1

A recent perspective proposes that counterfactual thinking mutates controllable events that could have prevented a specific outcome, and so provides knowledge that can be used to prevent similar outcomes in the future. This implies that counterfactual thinking does not necessarily influence causal reasoning, although they may be associated in some circumstances. Results of 2 studies reported here show that, for serious outcomes where actions of the self are antecedents and different self‐actions might have prevented the outcome, there was an associated increase in self‐blame. Findings from these studies also suggest that whether self‐mutations are reflected in public expressions of blame will depend on whether the context favors self‐serving self‐presentation strategies, or mitigating strategies incorporating the face concerns of others.