The perception of emotion from body movement in point-light displays of interpersonal dialogue

We examined whether it is possible to identify the emotional content of behaviour from point-light displays where pairs of actors are engaged in interpersonal communication. These actors displayed a series of emotions, which included sadness, anger, joy, disgust, fear, and romantic love. In experiment 1, subjects viewed brief clips of these point-light displays presented the right way up and upside down. In experiment 2, the importance of the interaction between the two figures in the recognition of emotion was examined. Subjects were shown upright versions of (i) the original pairs (dyads), (ii) a single actor (monad), and (iii) a dyad comprising a single actor and his/her mirror image (reflected dyad). In each experiment, the subjects rated the emotional content of the displays by moving a slider along a horizontal scale. All of the emotions received a rating for every clip. In experiment 1, when the displays were upright, the correct emotions were identified in each case except disgust; but, when the displays were inverted, performance was significantly diminished for some emotions. In experiment 2, the recognition of love and joy was impaired by the absence of the acting partner, and the recognition of sadness, joy, and fear was impaired in the non-veridical (mirror image) displays. These findings both support and extend previous research by showing that biological motion is sufficient for the perception of emotion, although inversion affects performance. Moreover, emotion perception from biological motion can be affected by the veridical or non-veridical social context within the displays.     

Physician-patient relations: no more models

Currently, the common theoretical models of "preferred" decision-making relationships do not correspond well with clinical experience. This interview study of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients documents the variety of patient preferences for decision-making, and the necessity for attention to family involvement. In addition, these findings illustrate the confusion as to the designation of surrogate decision-makers and physicians in charge. We conclude that no single model of physician-patient decision-making should be preferred, and that physicians should first ask patients how they want medical information and decision-making to be handled.     

Faith and unfaith in pre‐occultation Shīism: a study in theology and social history

The study uses books of Shīite adīth (including the Kāfī of Kulaynī) collected before the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam in 941 to demonstrate a significant change in social attitudes in the Shīite community. The change, which appears to have taken place some time in the ninth century, involved a shift from electionism and isolationism to a more open stance toward the non‐Shīte majority. The revised view is expressed in adīths that offer a view of faith (īmān) and unfaith (kufr) that grants non‐Shīites some measure of faith and salvation and promotes social integration by allowing marriage with and inheritance from other Muslims. Other adīth narratives, however, suggest that some Shīites strongly resisted this view. The account of Shīte views on faith offered by the contemporaneous (d. 935) heresiographer al‐Asharī confirms the picture of a community divided between attitudes of segregation and rapprochement—between rejection of and participation in the great religious consensus taking place under Abbāsid rule.     

Nonreductive Physicalism and the Causal Powers of the Mental

Nonreductive physicalism is currently one of the most widely held views about the world in general and about the status of the mental in particular. However, the view has recently faced a series of powerful criticisms from, among others, Jaegwon Kim. In several papers, Kim has argued that the nonreductivist's view of the mental is an unstable position, one harboring contradictions that push it either to reductivism or to eliminativism. The problems arise, Kim maintains, when we consider the causal powers that mental properties are held to carry on the nonreductivist's view and the causal transactions into which mental events are said to enter. My aim here is less than that of defending nonreductive physicalism against all of Kim's criticisms. I wish primarily to call into question the claim that nonreductive physicalism is committed to emergentism with respect to the causal powers of the mental. As subsidiary points, I shall offer a limited defense of nonreductivism against two related objections that Kim raises. However, even if my conclusions are correct, problems remain for the nonreductivist's treatment of mental causation. I shall close the paper with a brief discussion of these difficulties. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A person-centred approach to stress management

Stress is analysed from a phenomenological perspective in terms of how individuals evaluate the varying stressors in their lives. The basic philosophical tenets underlying the person-centred approach to therapy are outlined with its emphasis on the ability of the individual human organisms to heal and recover from dysfunction.     

Home environment questionnaire

Psychometric and normative data are presented for two forms of the Home Environment Questionnaire (HEQ) that provide measures of 10 variables used to describe the psychosocial environments of children. One form, HEQ-2R, is suitable for use with families in which there are two parents; the other form, HEQ-1R, is for use with one-parent families. The HEQ scales are relatively independent and not significantly related to the age of the target child, and most of the scales are reasonably internally consistent. Previous research has found several of the HEQ scales to be significantly related to several dimensions of children's clinically important behavior.