Can Teleosemantics Deflect the EAAN?

Alvin Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism aims to show that the conjunction of contemporary evolutionary theory (E) with the claim that there is no God (N) cannot be rationally accepted. Where R is the claim that our cognitive faculties are reliable, the argument is:

1. The probability of R given N and E is low or inscrutable.
2. Anyone who sees (1) and accepts (N&E) has a defeater for R, and this defeater cannot be defeated or deflected.
3. Anyone who has an undefeated, undeflected defeater for R has an undefeated, undeflected defeater for everything she believes.
4. Therefore she has an undefeated, undeflected defeater for (N&E).

Plantinga (2011) defends the second premise. It examines and rejects several candidate defeater defeaters and defeater deflectors. One candidate is Millikan’s teleosemantics. I show that Plantinga’s motives for rejecting teleosemantics as a defeater deflector are inadequate. I then show that teleosemantics is not on its own an adequate defeater deflector. Then I offer an additional premise that constitutes a defeater deflector in conjunction with teleosemantics.     

Why Malcolm X Never Developed an Islamic Approach to Civil Rights

This paper considers recent developments in the relations between state, education and religion in Britain in the light of analogous developments in pre-war Japan. The discussion focuses on the emergence of a government-sponsored state cult developed in the late 19th century and retrospectively referred to as ‘state Shinto’. Defined as ‘non-religious’ and disseminated through the school system, it eventually incorporated all other Japanese religions. The analogy with contemporary Britain involves an examination of the background and content of the 1988 Education Reform Act and subsequent (1994) government ‘Guidance’ to schools, particularly in relation to schools religious worship and Religious Education (RE). The analogy with pre-war Japan highlights shifts in the ‘constitutional topography of the sacred’, only partially achieved so far in Britain, whereby religious authority passes from ‘real’ religions to the state, and is then disseminated through the education system as morality.     

Anxiety, Sensory Over-Responsivity, and Gastrointestinal Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high rates of anxiety, sensory processing problems, and gastrointestinal (GI) problems; however, the associations among these symptoms in children with ASD have not been previously examined. The current study examined bivariate and multivariate relations among anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and chronic GI problems in a sample of 2,973 children with ASD enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network (ages 2–17 years, 81.6 % male). Twenty-four percent of the sample experienced at least one type of chronic GI problem (constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, and/or nausea lasting three or more months). Children with each type of GI problem had significantly higher rates of both anxiety and sensory over-responsivity. Sensory over-responsivity and anxiety were highly associated, and each provided unique contributions to the prediction of chronic GI problems in logistic regression analyses. The results indicate that anxiety, sensory over-responsivity and GI problems are possibly interrelated phenomenon for children with ASD, and may have common underlying mechanisms.     

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version (BRIEF-P): Test Review and Clinical Guidelines for Use

The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) is a standardized questionnaire that measures executive functioning in preschoolers. This test review provides an overview of the BRIEF-P, including scale structure, administration, norms, score interpretation, current reliability and validity evidence, and provides general guidelines for clinical use.     

A Randomized Trial of Attention Training for Generalized Social Phobia: Does Attention Training Change Social Behavior?

The use of attention training protocols for the treatment of generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD) is undergoing increased examination. Initial investigations were positive but more recent investigations have been less supportive of the treatment paradigm. One significant limitation of current investigations is overreliance on self-report. In this investigation, we expanded on initial investigations by using a multimodal assessment of patient functioning (i.e., including behavioral assessment). Patients with a primary diagnosis of SAD (n = 31) were randomly assigned to eight sessions of attention training (n = 15) or placebo/control (n = 16). Participants were assessed at pre- and posttreatment via self- and clinician-report of social anxiety as well as anxious and behavioral response to two in vivo social interactions. Results revealed no differences between groups at posttreatment for all study outcome variables, suggesting a lack of effect for the attention training condition. The results are concordant with recent investigations finding a lack of support for the use of attention training as an efficacious treatment for patients with SAD.     

Flagging Up Buddhism: Charles Pfoundes (Omoie Tetzunostzuke) Among the International Congresses and Expositions, 1893–1905

Charles James William Pfoundes (1840–1907), a young emigrant from Southeast Ireland, spent most of his adult life in Japan, received a Japanese name ‘Omoie Tetzunostzuke’, first embraced and then turned against Theosophy and, from 1893, was ordained in several Japanese Buddhist traditions. Lacking independent means but educated, intellectually curious, entrepreneurial, fluent in Japanese and with a keen interest in Asian culture, Pfoundes subsisted as a cultural intermediary, explaining Japan and Asia to both Japanese and foreign audiences and actively seeking involvement in global expositions and congresses, in Asia and beyond. Drawing on a previously unstudied collection of Pfoundes' personal documents, this paper first outlines Pfoundes' unusual career and then focuses on his engagement, in the last 15 years of his life, in actual or proposed international congresses and expositions in London, Chicago, Japan, Hanoi, St Louis and Oregon. The paper thereby draws attention, through the forgotten figure of Charles Pfoundes, to the distinctive nineteenth century phenomenon of great international expositions and their associated congresses, viewing these complicated events as another kind of crossroads; innovative nodes and material stimuli to the kinds of travel, cultural communication and interaction which, like monastic, trade, political and ethnic networks, helped to exchange and promote modern representations of Buddhism.     

The effect of receipt personalization on tipping behavior

Research has shown that personalizing receipts, such as drawing “smiley faces” and writing “thank you” notes on customer bills to express gratitude, can result in larger tips for restaurant wait staff. Although the practice of receipt personalization has been supported using field experiments, limited research has examined the effectiveness of this technique based on the level of service quality provided by restaurant wait staff. Using a scenario‐based approach, we found from this study that adding a personalized message significantly lowers tip percentages. Moreover, the negative effect is magnified when service quality fails to exceed customer expectations. Implications related to the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Need Satisfaction Supportive Game Features as Motivational Determinants: An Experimental Study of a Self-Determination Theory Guided Exergame

Empirical studies have validated that basic needs satisfaction supported by video game play predicts motivation and engagement outcomes. However, few studies specifically manipulated game features for each of the three basic needs specified in the self-determination theory (SDT) to examine how the game features impact players' need satisfaction and game experience. The current study employed an in-house developed exergame and manipulated the game features in a 2 (autonomy-supportive game features: on vs. off) × 2 (competence-supportive game features: on vs. off) experiment to predict need satisfaction, game enjoyment, motivation for future play, effort for gameplay, self-efficacy for exercise using the game, likelihood of game recommendation, and game rating. The manipulated game features led to the corresponding need satisfaction. Manipulated autonomy-supportive and competence-supportive game features had main effects on most motivation and engagement outcomes. Need satisfaction of autonomy and need satisfaction of competence were both found to be mediators for the relationships between the game features and the motivation and engagement outcomes. The findings add evidence to support the underlying mechanism postulated by SDT for media enjoyment and motivation as well as the emerging entertainment research conceptualizing enjoyment as need satisfaction. The findings also have practical implications for intervention effort that intends to capitalize the motivational pull of video games.     

Cognition and Emotion in TV Message Processing: How Valence,Arousing Content,Structural Complexity,and Information Density Affect the Availability of Cognitive Resources

This paper examines whether emotional message content alters the effects of structural complexity and information density on available resources, measured by secondary task reaction times (STRTs), and message encoding, measured by audio recognition. In addition, hypotheses relating motivational activation and resource availability based on the motivational activation concepts of positivity offset (greater appetitive activation in a neutral environment) and negativity bias (faster aversive activation) influence are tested. Results replicate previous research supporting the contention that STRTs measure available resources. In addition, they show that the basic pattern of STRTs and recognition as a function of allocated and required resources is relatively consistent regardless of emotional content of the message. Emotion appears to function as a constant, increasing both resource allocation and resources required. Finally, these data provide some initial support for predicted relationships between motivational activation and resource allocation based on the constructs of positivity offset and negativity bias.