Familiar Words in Unfamiliar Surroundings: Davidson’s Malapropisms,Cavell’s Projections

Abstract

In their discussions and criticisms of the idea that language use is essentially a matter of following rules, Davidson and Cavell both invoke as counterexamples instances of intelligible linguistic innovation. Davidson’s favorite examples are malapropisms. Cavell focuses instead on what he calls projections. This paper clarifies some important differences between malapropisms and projections, conceived as paradigmatic forms of linguistic innovation. If malapropisms are treated as exemplary it will be natural to conclude, with Davidson, that a shared practice, be it rule-governed or not, matters only instrumentally – as something that may enhance but is neither necessary nor sufficient for successful communication. By contrast, if Cavellian projections are seen as exemplary, a shared practice will be conceived not only as essential to the possibility of meaningful linguistic innovation, but as already permeated by the sort of creativity of which projections are only particularly striking examples. It is also argued that malapropisms are not particularly convincing as counterexamples to the sort of view Davidson wants to reject. Cavellian projections, on the other hand, are powerful as counterexamples, and reflecting on the nature of their inventiveness is crucial to understanding and seeing the plausibility of Cavell’s own conception of language.     

The mediational role of perceived stress in the relation between optimism and burnout in competitive athletes

Abstract

Burnout has been highlighted as an important issue, not only in occupational settings but also among athletes. Optimists appear to be more resistant to burnout, which might be partly explained by lower levels of stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between optimism and burnout symptoms in 217 athletes (139 males and 78 females, aged 16 to 19 years), while also examining stress as a mediator in this relationship. The results showed that optimism had a significant negative relationship with both stress and burnout. Mediation analyses indicated that perceived stress fully mediated the links between optimism and two symptoms of burnout, emotional/physical exhaustion and sport devaluation, and partly mediated the link between optimism and a third symptom, reduced sense of accomplishment. The findings indicate that individual factors, such as optimism, may play an important role in the development of burnout by virtue of their association with stress. Future research should, therefore, investigate the longitudinal effects of optimism on stress and burnout.     

Pre- and Postpartum Fear of Childbirth in Nulliparous and Parous Women

The link between fear of childbirth and theories of anxiety in general is discussed. A possible expression of trait (T-fear) and state (S-fear) aspects of fear of childbirth was investigated in 77 nulliparous and 85 parous women based on data from gestational week 32, at 2 hours and at 5 weeks after childbirth. Data are based on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire. According to their scores on the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire during late pregnancy, women were divided into 3 groups: high, moderate and low levels of fear of childbirth. In gestational week 32, women in the low level of fear of childbirth group had lower trait anxiety than those in the moderate level of fear of childbirth group, who had lower trait anxiety than the women in the high level of fear of childbirth group. Nulliparous women had a higher level of fear of childbirth but a lower level of trait anxiety than did parous women. There was a significant decreasing trend in fear of childbirth from 2 hours to 5 weeks after delivery, in a parallel way for all 3 groups. Differences in fear of childbirth between nulliparous and parous women disappeared after delivery. These findings suggest that fear of childbirth comprises a considerable part of T-fear, with the risk of a vicious cycle, i.e. that during labour women experience what they are afraid of, which also influences the women's postpartum cognitive appraisal of the delivery.     

In Defence of My Favourite Theory

One of the principles on how to act under moral uncertainty, My Favourite Theory, says roughly that a morally conscientious agent chooses an option that is permitted by the most credible moral theory. In defence of this principle, we argue that it prescribes consistent choices over time, without relying on intertheoretic comparisons of value, while its main rivals are either plagued by moral analogues of money pumps or in need of a method for making non‐arbitrary intertheoretic comparisons. We rebut the arguments that have been levelled against My Favourite Theory and offer some arguments against intertheoretic comparisons of value.     

Age-related differentiation of cognitive abilities in ages 3–7

One important issue in the study of individual differences in cognitive abilities has been the question whether abilities tend to become more differentiated with increasing age. The present study examines age-related differentiation in the structure of cognitive abilities among children 3–7 years of age, using data from the recently undertaken Swedish standardisation of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised. A confirmatory factor analytic modelling approach is applied. Models of different factor structure are built, evaluated and tested against empirical data using the LISREL 8 and the Mplus2 programs run under the STREAMS modelling environment. The results provide support for the notion that cognitive abilities show increasing differentiation with increasing age.     

A Note in Defence of Ratificationism

Andy Egan argues that neither evidential nor causal decision theory gives the intuitively right recommendation in the cases The Smoking Lesion, The Psychopath Button, and The Three-Option Smoking Lesion. Furthermore, Egan argues that we cannot avoid these problems by any kind of ratificationism. This paper develops a new version of ratificationism that gives the right recommendations. Thus, the new proposal has an advantage over evidential and casual decision theory and standard ratificationist evidential decision theory.     

Working Memory Mediates Increased Negative Affect and Suicidal Ideation in Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at greater risk for suicidal ideation and suicide attempts compared to those without ADHD. Increased risk is at least partially attributable to a subset of children with ADHD and comorbid depression or disruptive behavior disorders; however, the early predictors and mechanisms driving increased risk are not well understood. Here, we investigate the contributions of two candidate mechanisms for increased suicidal ideation in children with ADHD: executive function and negative affect. 623 clinically well-characterized, community-recruited children classified by research criteria as ADHD (n = 388) or typically-developing controls (n = 253) participated. Parent-report on the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire provided a measure of negative affectivity. Children completed laboratory tasks to measure response inhibition and working memory. Suicidal ideation was evaluated by parent report during a semi-structured interview and child responses on the Children’s Depression Inventory. Compared to typically developing controls, children with ADHD had higher rates of suicidal ideation, more negative affect, slower stop signal reaction times, and weaker working memory. Statistical path-model analyses confirmed the hypothesis that weaker working memory in ADHD statistically mediated increased negative affect. Weaker working memory also mediated and increased suicidal ideation in these cross sectional data. Findings were not attributable to comorbid disruptive behavioral disorders. Poor response inhibition did not reliably mediate negative affect or suicidal ideation. Impairment in working memory is an important early risk factor for suicidal ideation in children with ADHD, and may help in identifying children for prevention and early intervention efforts.     

Bentham’s binary form of maximizing utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham is often interpreted as defending a satisficing, rather than maximizing, version of utilitarianism, where an act is right as long as it produces more pleasure than pain. This lack of maximization is surprising given Bentham’s maximizing slogan ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’. Against the satisficing interpretation, I argue that Bentham consistently defends a maximizing version of utilitarianism, where an act’s consequences are compared to those of not performing the act. I show that following this version of utilitarianism requires that one realizes the greatest happiness for all affected individuals.     

Overlapping and Distinct Cognitive Impairments in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Autism Spectrum Disorder without Intellectual Disability

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are commonly comorbid, share genetic liability, and often exhibit overlapping cognitive impairments. Clarification of shared and distinct cognitive effects while considering comorbid symptoms across disorders has been lacking. In the current study, children ages 7–15 years assigned to three diagnostic groups:ADHD (n?=?509), ASD (n?=?97), and controls (n?=?301) completed measures spanning the cognitive domains of attention/arousal, working memory, set-shifting, inhibition, and response variability. Specific processes contributing to response variability were examined using a drift diffusion model, which separately quantified drift rate (i.e., efficiency of information processing), boundary separation (i.e., speed-accuracy trade-offs), and non-decision time. Children with ADHD and ASD were impaired on attention/arousal, processing speed, working memory, and response inhibition, but did not differ from controls on measures of delayed reward discounting, set-shifting, or interference control. Overall, impairments in the ASD group were not attributable to ADHD symptoms using either continuous symptom measures or latent categorical grouping approaches. Similarly, impairments in the ADHD group were not attributable to ASD symptoms. When specific RT parameters were considered, children with ADHD and ASD shared impairments in drift rate. However, children with ASD were uniquely characterized by a wider boundary separation. Findings suggest a combination of overlapping and unique patterns of cognitive impairment for children with ASD as compared to those with ADHD, particularly when the processes underlying reaction time measures are considered separately.