Quantified Hintikka-style epistemic logic

This paper contains a formal treatment of the system of quantified epistemic logic sketched in Appendix II of Carlson (1983). Section 1 defines the syntax and recapitulates the model set rules and principles of the Appendix system. Section 2 defines a possible worlds semantics for this system, and shows that the Appendix system is complete with respect to this semantics. Section 3 extends the system by an explicit truth operatorT it is true that and considers quantification over nonexistent individuals. Section 4 formalizes the idea of variable identity criteria typical of Hintikkian epistemic logic.     

Masculine/feminine: A personological perspective

How might our expanding knowledge of gender contribute to a deeper understanding of personality? This paper offers a personological perspective for considering the import of contemporary work, and focuses on the ten substantive papers included in this issue of the Journal of Personality An agenda for our future inquiry is proposed that includes (a) revising our ideology of science in a postpositivist era, (b) recognizing the complexity of personality as a domain distinguished from “human being theory,” (c) developing richer and more comprehensive personality theory, and (d) studying persons over time The papers reported in this issue contribute in various ways to the enrichment of personological understanding     

Job burnout and job leaving in public school teachers: Implications for stress management

This study addressed the questions of whether selected teacher and organizational variables contributed to (a) significant amounts of variance in teachers' scores on three components of burnout, and (b) teachers' intentions to leave special education teaching. Study participants (N =490) included a sample of respondents to a survey of all of the 1096 special education teachers in Hawaii. Instruments used in this study included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Porter Need Satisfaction Questionnaire, and the Special Education Teacher Survey. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that for the burnout components, Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization, relatively large and significant amounts of variance could be accounted for by a set of predictor variables. For the third burnout component, Personal Accomplishment, the variance accounted for by a set of predictor variables was significant but small. Stepwise discriminant function analysis was used to distinguish between teachers who stated they did or did not intend to leave special education teaching. Eight variables were identified as predictors of Intention to leave special education teaching, correctly classifying 73% of teachers into the appropriate Yes-Leaving and No-Leaving groups.This research was conducted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Doctoral dissertation by the first author.     

Effectiveness of Impression Management Tactics Across Human Resource Situations1

An experimental study was undertaken to explore the effectiveness of impression management tactics in various situations. To manipulate the variables of interest, 6 different scenarios were created by crossing 2 independent variables: impression management tactics (self-focused or other-focused) and situation (employment interview, performance appraisal, or training session). Respondents, 178 human resource professionals, were mailed a survey that contained 2 of the 6 scenarios. In each scenario, respondents rated the person described in the scenario on performance, provided their affective impressions, and determined the appropriateness of the impression management cues given the situation. Results indicated a significant interaction between the use of impression management and the situation. These findings are compared to past research, and suggestions for future directions for the study of impression management are outlined.     

Worksite Stress Management with High-Risk Maintenance Workers: A Controlled Study

This study evaluated effects of a worksite stress management/health promotion program with primarily minority blue-collar employees showing a number of high-risk health behaviors. In a biopsychosocial approach, participants were assessed with a standardized health risk appraisal that included physical and behavioral variables, plus measures of self-control, health attitudes/satisfaction, and other factors. A controlled group design was employed with pretreatment, treatment, posttreatment, and three-month follow-up. Participants were randomly assigned to a wait-listed control group (n = 26) and a health promotion intervention group (n = 24). The latter received a multimodal intervention including stress management training, educational workshops and counseling, and a self-directed behavior change program. Following posttreatment assessment, the control subjects were given treatment and their data were then added to that of the initial treatment group to comprise a total group of treatment finishers (n = 33). The results revealed a number of significant differences between the two groups at posttreatment and/or for the treatment finishers across time (pretreatment vs. posttreatment and/or follow-up), including certain of the physical and behavioral measures, self-efficacy, and some health attitudes, but no effects for job-related measures, such as absenteeism and job satisfaction.     

The wellness behavior interaction model

A cognitive-behavioral model for conceptualizing wellness is proposed consisting of situational/antecedent variables, person variables, and consequence variables which, taken individually or together, may serve to describe and explain wellness behavior. The model also is interactional in the sense that different categories of variables or factors within a category may impact on each other in a multidirectional fashion. A selective review of research relating to each variable is provided to demonstrate the need for such a multidimensional conceptual scheme for wellness.     

A ganglionic model of “learned helplessness”

The phenomenon known as “learned helplessness” (LH) is seen broadly across the animal kingdom. Some of the basic characteristics of this behavior are: failure to escape shock when it is possible to do so following non-escapable shock; reversion to non-escape behavior even after successful escape; if the animal is given escape/avoidance training prior to being given inescapable shocks, the latter will not interfere with its ability to later show normal escape/avoidance behavior (generally described as an immunization effect); following inescapable shock training the animals often become “passive and still” when confronted with an escapable shock. These behaviors are seen in intact mammals, lower vertebrates, and invertebrates. In fact, the basic characteristics are even seen in a spinal rat and, with the exception of one characteristic not yet examined, in an isolated thoracic ganglion of an insect. The brain is evidently not essential either in mammals or in invertebrates for demonstrating this behavior. Not only can an insect ganglion show the behavioral characteristics of LH, but the neural information underlying the phenomenon of LH can be shown to transfer from one ganglion innervating one pair of legs to another ganglion innervating a different pair of legs. Thus, how CNS information underlying LH is coded and transferred from one site to another within the CNS can be examined in such a system. The LH model has provided valuable insights into the physiology of depression. This model suggests that human depression is caused by one’s lack of control over traumatic events. It is supported by a number of parallels between depression and LH behavior. Tricyclic antidepressants, MAO inhibitors, and ECT, which are effective in treating depression, also can prevent and reverse LH in mammals. It would be important to find out if they are also effective in invertebrate models. The fact that the characteristics of the behavior called LH are seen in invertebrates such as slugs, cockroaches, and locusts provokes other intriguing questions about the presence of cognition at these phylogenetic levels, as well as what animal or preparation constitutes an appropriate model for human depression.     

REDUCTION OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN THE COMMUNITY USING A MULTICOMPONENT TREATMENT APPROACH

Problem behavior often prevents community integration of people with developmental disabilities. Therefore, we evaluated a multicomponent approach for remediating problem behavior in public community settings (specifically, supermarkets). We selected treatments based on hypotheses about the variables controlling the problem behavior (hypothesis-driven model). The multicomponent intervention included choice making, embedding, functional communication training, building tolerance for delay of reinforcement, and presenting discriminative stimuli for nonproblem behavior. Treatment progress was monitored using measures of latency and task completion rather than traditional measures of frequency and time sampling. Results showed substantial increases in task completion and duration of time spent in supermarkets without problem behavior. Outcomes were socially validated by group-home staff and cashiers. We discuss how the intervention approach taken can resolve some of the issues involved in assessing, measuring, and treating problem behavior in the community.     

Levels of representation in the interpretation of anaphoric reference and instrument inference

The level of representation accessed when inferences are made during sentence comprehension was examined. The inferences investigated included antecedent assignment for both definite noun phrase anaphors and pronouns and also instrument inferences. In making these inferences, a listener must access the inferred element, whether an antecedent or an instrument, in either a linguistic form representation or a discourse model. The level of representation involved in these inferences was determined by exploiting differences in the lexical-decision and naming tasks, which were argued to exhibit differential sensitivity to representational levels. In three experiments, the priming of antecedent and instrument targets in the lexical decision task was compared with priming of the same targets in the naming task. Differences in the patterns of activation across the two tasks indicated that all three types of inferences required-accessing-elements in a discourse model. Three control experiments ruled out simple context or congruity checking as an explanation for our results. The following conclusions were also supported by these studies: (1) Antecedent assignment occurs immediately after processing an anaphor; (2) antecedent assignment involves inhibition for the inappropriate antecedent rather than facilitation for the appropriate antecedent; (3) although subjects do not make instrument inferences-when they hear isolated sentences containing verbs that strongly imply certain instruments, the inferences are made when sentences are preceded by a context that mentions the instrument.     

A report on The National Council of Community Mental Health Centers

The National Council of Community Health Centers represents a professional development of great interest to clergy. Because mental health centers collaborate with community agencies and systems, their interventions on behalf of community mental health provide an occasion to work toward common goals. Their policy of shared responsibility with community leaders and consumers provides a unique opportunity for a practical integration of religious systems and the public arena. A number of pastors and mental health trained clergy are actively participating in this common effort on behalf of the nation's mental health.He has served five years as a member of the Council on Prevention of the National Council of Community Mental Health Centers.