Cross-cultural validity, reliability, and stimulus characteristics of the Lüscher Color Test

The Lüscher Color Test (LCT) was administered to 125 Canadian university students, 88 of whom were retested 21 days later. Sample and sex-specific color preferences were found as well as discrepancies between Lüscher's color-naming system and two widely used color-naming systems. Test-retest reliability estimates were low. It was concluded that the LCT suffers from major shortcomings and that research investigating the relationship between color preference and personality should follow alternate paths.     

The liabilities of mobility: a selection pressure for the transition to consciousness in animal evolution

The issue of the biological origin of consciousness is linked to that of its function. One source of evidence in this regard is the contrast between the types of information that are and are not included within its compass. Consciousness presents us with a stable arena for our actions-the world-but excludes awareness of the multiple sensory and sensorimotor transformations through which the image of that world is extracted from the confounding influence of self-produced motion of multiple receptor arrays mounted on multijointed and swivelling body parts. Likewise excluded are the complex orchestrations of thousands of muscle movements routinely involved in the pursuit of our goals. This suggests that consciousness arose as a solution to problems in the logistics of decision making in mobile animals with centralized brains, and has correspondingly ancient roots.     

The assessment of the social cognition and object relations scale on TAT and interview data

This study examines the reliability and convergent validity of 2 versions of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS), one for use with Thematic Apperception Test narratives (SCORS-TAT; Westen, 1990) and one for use with clinical interview data (SCORS-CDI; Westen, Barends, Leigh, Mendel, & Silbert, 1990 ). Four SCORS dimensions were evaluated. Data were collected in a psychiatric sample (N = 74). Results show that although interrater reliability was good for all dimensions, internal consistency was low, especially for the affective dimensions. Structural equation modeling, in which a model with 2 factors (i.e., SCORS-TAT and SCORS-CDI) and 4 dimensions each was tested, indicated low convergence between corresponding dimensions of SCORS-TAT and SCORS-CDI. Correlational analyses suggested that this was due to a strong method factor. Regression analyses, however, revealed that the presence of a personality disorder operated as a moderator for convergence between corresponding cognitive-structural dimensions.     

Who Becomes Unhappy when Income Inequality Increases?

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Literature has established that, on a macroeconomic level, income inequality has a negative effect on average life satisfaction. An unresolved question is,...     

Relationship between perceived health care quality and attitude toward substance abuse treatment

Despite the considerable investment made in recent years in Spain in substance abuse care, treatment adherence remains one of the aspects that determine the effectiveness of programs. Several authors have noted the importance of perceived service quality in this context. This paper is presented with dual purpose of highlighting the role that management of the quality of care for drug addicts has, both as a modulator of users' attitudes and perceptions about the treatment, and as a work philosophy, typical of an organization committed to continuous improvement. Conducting personal interviews with 670 users of drug abuse care services in Galicia and through the application of covariance structure analysis, the close relationship between two factors (perceived quality and attitude toward treatment) was revealed. This research also provides professionals and researchers with a new scale for service evaluation that is short, easy to use and with adequate psychometric properties.     

Consciousness without Bodies: Rethinking the Power of the Visualised Brain

This article examines the possibility of the futuristic assumption that the human mind will converge with artificial intelligence technology to create an enhancement of consciousness. By studying how a correlation between consciousness and the brain is made through visual tools that are used in neuroscience, this article elaborates on how these findings affect research that is done in philosophy on the concept of consciousness. This article proposes a new approach on studying the brain, by examining it as a theoretical object, which gives every research field the possibility to argue over the truth in the images that are created of the brain.     

Economic Freedom,Income Inequality and Life Satisfaction in OECD Countries

Since Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century in 2014, scientific interest into the impact of income inequality on society has been on the rise. However, little is known about the mediating role of income inequality in the relationship between market institutions and subjective well-being. Using panel analysis on a sample of 21 OECD countries to test the effects of five different types of economic freedom on income inequality, we find that fiscal freedom, free trade and freedom from government regulation increase income inequality, whereas sound money decreases income inequality. Income inequality is found to have a negative effect on life satisfaction. Mediation tests show that income inequality mediates the influence of fiscal freedom, free trade and freedom from government regulation on life satisfaction.     

Modal Logic,Truth, and the Master Modality

In the paper (Braüner, 2001) we gave a minimal condition for the existence of a homophonic theory of truth for a modal or tense logic. In the present paper we generalise this result to arbitrary modal logics and we also show that a modal logic permits the existence of a homophonic theory of truth if and only if it permits the definition of a so-called master modality. Moreover, we explore a connection between the master modality and hybrid logic: We show that if attention is restricted to bidirectional frames, then the expressive power of the master modality is exactly what is needed to translate the bounded fragment of first-order logic into hybrid logic in a truth preserving way. We believe that this throws new light on Arthur Prior's fourth grade tense logic.