Stabilizing and Changing Phenomenal Worlds: Ludwik Fleck and Thomas Kuhn on Scientific Literature

In the work of both Ludwik Fleck and Thomas Kuhn the scientific literature plays important roles for stability and change of scientific phenomenal worlds. In this article we shall introduce the analyses of scientific literature provided by Fleck and Kuhn, respectively. From this background we shall discuss the problem of how divergent thinking can emerge in a dogmatic atmosphere. We shall argue that in their accounts of the factors inducing changes of scientific phenomenal worlds Fleck and Kuhn offer substantially different approaches, and we shall discuss in which respects their approaches may be compatible. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Kuhn's Account Of Family Resemblance: A Solution To The Problem Of Wide-Open Texture

It is a commonly raised argument against thefamily resemblance account of concepts that, on thisaccount, there is no limit to a concept's extension.An account of family resemblance which attempts toprovide a solution to this problem by including bothsimilarity among instances and dissimilarity tonon-instances has been developed by the philosopher ofscience Thomas Kuhn. Similar solutions have beenhinted at in the literature on family resemblanceconcepts, but the solution has never received adetailed investigation. I shall provide areconstruction of Kuhn's theory and argue that hissolution necessitates a developmental perspective withbuilds on both the transmission of taxonomies betweengenerations and a progressive development throughhistory.     

Method effects: the problem with negatively versus positively keyed items

Using confirmatory factor analyses, we examined method effects on Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) in a sample of older European adults. Nine hundred forty nine community-dwelling adults 60 years of age or older from 5 European countries completed the RSES as well as measures of depression and life satisfaction. The 2 models that had an acceptable fit with the data included method effects. The method effects were associated with both positively and negatively worded items. Method effects models were invariant across gender and age, but not across countries. Both depression and life satisfaction predicted method effects. Individuals with higher depression scores and lower life satisfaction scores were more likely to endorse negatively phrased items.     

Exercise imagery and its correlates in older adults

Objectives

The purpose of the present study was to test a structural model examining the interrelationships between exercise imagery, self-reported exercise behaviour and well-being in older adults.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Method

Participants were 499 older Greek adults (50.10% males) aged between 51 and 84 years (M age = 57.31; SD = 5.52) who completed questionnaires measuring exercise imagery use, exercise behaviour, subjective vitality, and physical self-worth. The relationship between these variables was tested with a structural model based on the applied model of imagery use for exercise (Munroe-Chandler & Gammage, 2005).

Results

Energy imagery positively predicted exercise behaviour and subjective vitality, and appearance and technique imagery positively predicted physical self-worth.

Conclusions

These results indicate older adults engage in different types of imagery to motivate themselves to exercise and improve their well-being, thus implying that the content of imagery interventions should be specifically tailored to the outcomes older adults wish to realise for interventions to be effective.     

Effect of self-discrepancy on specificity of autobiographical memory retrieval

Research using a cue word paradigm has consistently shown that depression, in both adults and adolescents, is associated with difficulties in retrieving specific autobiographical memories. Inspired by previous work stating that depressed feelings are related to a perceived discrepancy between attributes of the actual and the ideal self, the present study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that cues bringing discrepancies between the actual and ideal selves to the foreground might promote or facilitate the recall of overgeneral (instead of specific) autobiographical memories. In two studies adolescents provided autobiographical memories in response to 10 high-discrepant and 10 low-discrepant words. As predicted, results in both studies showed an effect of cue word discrepancy on the specificity of autobiographical memories such that participants retrieved a smaller proportion of specific and a greater proportion of overgeneral memories in response to high-discrepant words as compared to low-discrepant words. The findings are discussed in terms of the self-memory system (SMS) as a conceptual framework of autobiographical memory (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000).     

Neuropattern: a new translational tool to detect and treat stress pathology. II. The Teltow study

The present study was designed to test the clinical utility of Neuropattern (NP), a newly developed translational diagnostic tool. NP consists of biological and psychological measures that facilitate the identification of functional changes (called "neuropatterns") in patients with stress-related health problems. In this prospective, randomized control trial, we expected NP to improve therapeutic efficacy, as compared with the usual treatment. NP was applied to 101 in-patients suffering from various mental disorders (mainly depression, anxiety disorders, and adjustment disorders), and scoring high on the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) somatization scale. The patients (73% females, mean?±?standard deviation age 46?±?9.03 years) were randomly assigned to two groups: in the experimental group (n?=?51), physicians received results from NP diagnostics, while in the control group (n?=?50), this information was not available until discharge from the hospital. Improvements of symptoms in consequence of treatment were monitored by two self-rating scales, the SCL-90-R and Short Form-12 health survey, and a physician's clinical global rating (Beeintr?chtigungs-Schwere Score). There was a significantly greater improvement in the experimental group in the self-rating assessments on symptom severity (p?=?0.03) and quality of life (p?=?0.05), but not in the observer rating of emotional, physical, and social-communicative functioning (p?=?0.13). Treatment efficacy in patients can be improved by providing the attendant physician and the patient with diagnostic information and treatment recommendations by NP. The role of concrete mediators of treatment efficacy awaits further research.     

Defense mechanisms: An approach from the perspective of personal construct psychology

The psychoanalytic concept of defense mechanisms was theoretically and empirically approached from the perspective of personal construct psychology, in an attempt to investigate its cognitive components. Thirty neurotic clients of the Psychotherapeutic Center in Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany, were investigated by means of the Questionnaire for Defense Categories (Ehlers & Peter, 1989) and the Repertory Grid Test (Kelly, 1955). Tight construing, extremity of emotional evaluation, construal of the symptom as having positive implications, and construed similarity between certain aspects of the self were observed in clients who frequently used the defense mechanisms denial, rationalization, and turning against the object.     

Negotiating ending: A qualitative study of the process of ending psychotherapy

Objectives: When psychotherapy is open-ended, the question of termination is a matter for negotiation. A model based on both content and the process of ending may explain how ‘good enough’ psychotherapies can be brought to ‘good enough’ endings.

Design: Twelve processes of ending were explored through a combination of audio recordings made during therapy sessions and post-therapy interviews with clients and therapists. Therapies had been tailored to the needs of the clients and were based on a broad spectrum of theoretical affiliations.

Methods: A procedure for systematic text condensation was used on a case-by-case basis. Issues surrounding the initiation and negotiation of ending were pointed out in each case and were then compared across cases.

Results: The initiation of ending and exchanges concerned with when and how to end therapy unfolded as a concerted process because both parties seemed to be aware that the theme of ending contained a potential challenge to the alliance. Dual affect regulation, implicit communication and a future-oriented perspective were important features. Structural elements such as schedule changes and temporary breaks served several psychological functions. Therapies seemed to reach ‘good enough’ endings when the client and therapist joined in their efforts to resolve basic ambivalences embedded in the decision to terminate contact with the affirmation of a continuing emotional bond.     

Mechanisms of change in cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder: The role of panic self-efficacy and catastrophic misinterpretations

The efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD) is well-established; however, little is known about the underlying change processes of clinical improvement during therapy. According to cognitive theories, CBT for PD primarily works by changing catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily symptoms and panic attacks. However, panic self-efficacy, i.e. the perceived ability to cope with panic attacks, has also been suggested as an important change mechanism in CBT for PD. The aim of the study was to investigate if change in catastrophic misinterpretations and panic self-efficacy mediated change in the level of anxiety during the course of thirteen sessions of group CBT for PD. Forty-five participants completed weekly self-report measures of the possible cognitive mediators and the level of anxiety throughout therapy. The results indicated that within-person change in panic self-efficacy in one session, but not in catastrophic misinterpretations, predicted within-person level of anxiety symptoms the following week. However, in a reversed analysis, prior change in level of anxiety symptoms also predicted change in panic self-efficacy the following session. These results support panic self-efficacy as a mediator of change in CBT for PD, although a reciprocal causal relationship between panic self-efficacy and level of anxiety seems to be implied.