Providing Foundations for Coherentism

We prove that four theses commonly associated with coherentism are incompatible with the representation of a belief state as a logically closed set of sentences. The result is applied to the conventional coherence interpretation of the AGM theory of belief revision, which appears not to be tenable. Our argument also counts against the coherentistic acceptability of a certain form of propositional holism. We argue that the problems arise as an effect of ignoring the distinction between derived and non-derived beliefs, and we suggest that the kind of coherence relevant to epistemic justification is the coherence of non-derived beliefs. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Neuroleptic-induced attenuation of brain stimulation reward in rats.

In 30-min free-operant tests, the dopamine receptor blockers pimozide (.125, .25, and .50 mg/kg) and (+)-butaclamol (.1, .2, and .4 mg/kg) attenuated lever pressing for lateral hypothalamic brain stimulation. When discrete self-stimulation trials were offered in a straight alleyway, pimozide increased start box latencies, slowed running speeds, and reduced lever-pressing rates. However, performance early in both lever-pressing and runway sessions was normal; performance deteriorated as testing progressed, following patterns that paralleled those seen when animals were tested with reductions in the amplitude of stimulating current. Spontaneous recovery was obtained in both situations; experimenter-imposed 10-min time-outs caused renewed lever pressing and running. In contrast, alpha-noradrenergic receptor blockade by phenoxybenzamine (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) failed to produce extinction-like response patterns. These data support the view that central dopaminergic systems are important components of the neural mechanisms mediating reward.     

Contributions to factor analysis of dichotomous variables

A new method is proposed for the factor analysis of dichotomous variables. Similar to the method of Christoffersson this uses information from the first and second order proportions to fit a multiple factor model. Through a transformation into a new set of sample characteristics, the estimation is considerably simplified. A generalized least-squares estimator is proposed, which asymptotically is as efficient as the corresponding estimator of Christoffersson, but which demands less computing time.This research was supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation under project Structural Equation Models in the Social Sciences, project director Karl G. Jöreskog.     

Altruism Toward a Deviant in City and Small Town

A field experiment using the "Lost Letter Technique" tested the hypothesis that altruism would be higher in small towns than in cities, unless the person needing help was a social deviant. The hypothesis was derived from Milgram's (1970) overload theory, in which city dwellers are expected to become generally indifferent to, and make fewer differentiations between, unimportant others. A total of 216 letters to one of three addressees (control, somewhat deviant, highly deviant) were "lost", one-half in Tulsa, Oklahoma (population: 347,600) and one-half among 51 small, Oklahoma towns (× population: 2,002). Return rates supported the hypothesis. The data also suggest that a greater intolerance in small towns for social deviance might systematically overwhelm their generally higher levels of social responsibility. Implications are drawn regarding the danger of overgeneralizing negative attributions to urban centers.     

Reversing the Levi identity

The AGM (Alchourrón-GÄrdenfors-Makinson) model of belief change is extended to cover changes on sets of beliefs that arenot closed under logical consequence (belief bases). Three major types of change operations, namely contraction, internal revision, and external revision are axiomatically characterized, and their interrelations are studied. In external revision, the Levi identity is reversed in the sense that onefirst adds the new belief to the belief base, and afterwards contracts its negation. It is argued that external revision represents an intuitively plausible way of revising one's beliefs. Since it typically involves the temporary acceptance of an inconsistent set of beliefs, it can only be used in belief representations that distinguish between different inconsistent sets of belief.     

Assessing the social components of retirement anxiety

In 4 studies involving 308 men and 384 women aged 25-76, a reliable instrument, the Social Components of Retirement Anxiety Scale (SCRAS), was developed to assess retirement anxiety. The 23-item SCRAS measures 4 factors:Social Integration and Identity, Social Adjustment/Hardiness, Anticipated Social Exclusion, and Lost Friendships. The scale strongly predicts fear of retirement and negative attitudes toward retirement. However, it seems not to be measuring simply a generalized emotional state, exhibiting only minimal correlations with more general measures of anxiety and depression. Elevated scores were observed particularly in persons for whom major social transitions are quite difficult--for example, those who were shy, lonely, had fewer instrumental or communal traits, or expected to have little personal control over their lives after retirement.     

Clinicians and supervisors' experiences with developing practices of open dialogue in network meetings in public mental health services

Open Dialogue is a dialogical approach focusing on the perspectives of patients and their social networks on treatment and recovery processes. As part of a larger research project, this prospective cohort study explores what promotes and hinders the development of Open Dialogue in network meetings (ODNM) based on the experiences of thirty-seven clinicians and seven supervisors. Multistage focus group interviews were used to collect data and were analysed thematically. We generated two main themes: (1) togetherness and isolation and (2) challenging and evolving. The findings show that ODNM can be developed in public mental healthcare, but this leads to both challenges and opportunities at the organisational level, such as conflicting perspectives, the difficulty of maintaining interest in ODNM, the need for committed and involved leaders, and the growing change in the traditional view of treatment, which has made clinicians collaborate more with patients and their relatives.     

Happiness theories of the good life

The paper starts with a presentation of the pure happiness theory, i.e. the idea that the quality of a person’s life is dependent on one thing only, viz. how happy that person is. To find out whether this type of theory is plausible or not, I examine the standard arguments for and against this theory, including Nozick’s experience machine argument. I then investigate how the theory can be modified in order to avoid the most serious objections. I first examine different types of epistemic modifications of the theory (e.g. the idea that a person’s happiness is more valuable for her if it is based on a correct perception of her own life), and then turn to a number of modifications which all make the value of a person’s happiness depend on whether the evaluative standard on which her happiness is based satisfies certain requirements. In connection with this, I present and defend my own modified version of the happiness theory.