Belief, assertion and Moore’s Paradox

In this article I argue that two received accounts of belief and assertion cannot both be correct, because they entail mutually contradictory claims about Moore’s Paradox. The two accounts in question are, first, the Action Theory of Belief (ATB), the functionalist view that belief must be manifested in dispositions to act, and second, the Belief Account of Assertion (BAA), the Gricean view that an asserter must present himself as believing what he asserts. It is generally accepted also that Moorean assertions are absurd, and that BAA explains why they are. I shall argue that ATB implies that some Moorean assertions are, in some fairly ordinary contexts, well justified. Thus BAA and ATB are mutually inconsistent. In the concluding section I explore three possible ways of responding to the dilemma, and what implications they have for the nature of the constitutive relationships linking belief, assent and behavioural dispositions.

美国的患儿同意及借鉴意义

准确地评定患儿的同意能力,保障患儿的同意权得以有效行使,有利于尊重患儿的人格尊严,促进患儿身心健康。从患儿同意能力和同意权的角度出发,简要回顾了美国患儿同意产生的背景,介绍了美国患儿同意的现状,并对其进行了一定的分析和评价,希望对促进我国患儿同意的发展起到一定的借鉴作用。     

Pilot study for assessing the behaviors of patients with schizophrenia towards a virtual avatar.

This study examined whether a virtual avatar could be perceived as a real human by patients with mental disease, especially schizophrenia, as well as whether a virtual avatar could be applied to acquiring patients' behavior characteristics in a short conversation situation. The virtual avatar has been used for various applications which need to communicate with other person or to train or educate by showing humanlike behavior. Recently, many researches have shown that the virtual avatar technology has been enhanced and the avatar could be perceived like real human. A virtual avatar, standing in a virtual room, was designed for this study. Tasks to approach, initiate a talk, and answer to avatar's questions was assigned to the 11 patients with schizophrenia. As behavioral parameters in the virtual environment, the interpersonal distance and the verbal response time were acquired. In addition, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for patients was administered in order to investigate the relationship between patients' symptomatic characteristics and behavior parameters. The interpersonal distance was negatively correlated with the negative syndrome scale, a subscale of PANSS, which is consistent with previous research reporting the relationship between interpersonal distance and a real person's image. The verbal response time, however, was not correlated with any other subscale of PANSS. After analyzing subitems of the negative syndrome of PANSS, two positive correlations were found: one was with blunted affect and the other was with poor rapport. We concluded that the virtual avatar could be perceived as a real human by schizophrenic patients and the avatar could draw the schizophrenic patients' behavior characteristics.     

Effects of Word Semantic Transparency,Context Length,and L1 Background on CSL Learners’ Incidental Learning of Word Meanings in Passage-Level Reading

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - This study investigated the effects of semantic transparency of Chinese disyllabic compound words on Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners’...     

Use of Objectification Theory to Examine the Effects of a Media Literacy Intervention on Women

Although the impact of the media’s thin ideal on body image may be lessened by media literacy, empirical support for this is inconsistent. Objectification theory, which suggests that certain social situations serve to increase women’s self-objectification (i.e., viewing self from a third person perspective), was used as a framework to understand this inconsistency. In particular, it was hypothesized that media literacy may involve both negative (heightened self-objectification) and positive (well-being) effects. We used both qualitative and quantitative measures, and two studies showed that viewing the video Slim Hopes increased state self-objectification, as well as self-esteem and positive affect. Implications for effective media literacy and self-objectification are discussed.     

Multiple pathways from stress to suicidality and the protective effect of social support in Hong Kong adolescents

Two theoretical models were constructed to illustrate how stressful events, family and friends support, depression, substance use, and death attitude mutually influence to create cumulative risks for suicide. The models were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Results showed that suicidality was strongly predicted by death attitude, depression, and substance use which together form a dangerous combination of risk factors at the personal level. Within the adolescent's social environment, stressful events increased suicidality through intensifying depression, substance use, and death acceptance, whereas family and friends support lowered it, partly through reducing stress and death acceptance. The effect (direct and indirect combined) of family support was much stronger than that of friends support. Enhancing stress coping ability, promoting positive family relationships, and attacking attitudes supportive of death might be the best strategies to prevent youth suicide.     

How Do You Say Nature?: Opening the Design Space with a Knowledge Environment

In this paper, we describe a design study on how families in Los Angeles experience nature, with a particular focus on how using alternative formats for research analysis and presentation can enrich a design research inquiry. Conducted in Pasadena, CA as a part of Super Studio, the year-long design research class emphasized knowledge building and sharing through design methods of analysis, exhibition, and concept prototypes. After conducting interviews and engaging participants with probes, the class built the results into an open-ended knowledge environment. The main observation from the exhibition – that Angelenos have a limited vocabulary for describing nature and their interaction with it – helped to define the opportunity for design intervention that created connection points between Angelenos and nature. There are few attempts to describe how probe returns evolve into design concepts. Showcased is a process that depends on the unique affordances of design as the vehicle for discovery and invention.     

30泰铢治疗所有疾病——泰国医疗保健制度的一种尝试

随着20世纪90年代民主政府的建立并实施一系列社会、经济和制度的变革以来,泰国的医疗体制也相继发生了变化,特别是30泰铢的普及医疗计划,提高了医疗服务的可及性,但是由于医疗资源配置方式的不健全,仍存在公立部门医务人员短缺、私人医疗机构不断膨胀的问题,为此必须要合理规范医疗市场,避免医疗服务的两极分化。     

ICQ (I seek you) and adolescents: a quantitative study in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government and the education sector encourage the whole population-from toddlers to senior citizens-to utilize information technology, and many do. Yet there are no studies exploring the patterns of adolescents using ICQ (I seek you) in Asian countries. This study was done in Hong Kong, which has the greatest number of ICQ users. A quantitative approach was adopted by administering self-constructed questionnaires to the students of one high school. One hundred and forty-seven adolescents volunteered to participate. The key findings of the study are (1) most of the adolescents have been using ICQ for 1-4 years; (2) most fit one of two patterns of use: either 2 or 3 days per week, or more than 5 days per week; (3) they spend less than 3 h per day on ICQ; (4) the main reasons for using ICQ are entertainment, relaxation, and socializing; and (5) parents are concerned about possible negative impacts on their children's academic performance because of using ICQ. Two main implications are drawn: proper use of ICQ can minimize parental distress and encourage adolescents to be less sedentary.     

VR-based conversation training program for patients with schizophrenia: a preliminary clinical trial.

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness and is characterized by hallucinations and delusions as well as social skills deficits. Generally, social skills training designed to help patients develop social skills includes role-playing, but this form of training has typical shortcomings, which are largely due to a trainer's difficulties to project emotion. Virtual reality (VR)-based techniques have the potential to solve these difficulties, because they provide a computer-generated but realistic three-dimensional world and humanlike avatars that can provide emotional stimuli. In this paper, we report on a method of implementing virtual environments (VEs) in order to train people with schizophrenia to develop conversational skills in specific situations, which could overcome the shortcomings of or complement conventional role-playing techniques. The paper reports the efficacy of the proposed approach in a preliminary clinical trial with 10 patients with schizophrenia.