Catching up with wonderful women: The women‐are‐wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies

Inequalities between men and women are common and well‐documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies—there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women‐are‐wonderful effect—that women are evaluated more positively than men overall—is also common. Cross‐cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self‐reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women‐are‐wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.     

Quantum monism: an assessment

Monism is roughly the view that there is only one fundamental entity. One of the most powerful argument in its favor comes from quantum mechanics. Extant discussions of quantum monism are framed independently of any interpretation of the quantum theory. In contrast, this paper argues that matters of interpretation play a crucial role when assessing the viability of monism in the quantum realm. I consider four different interpretations: modal interpretations, Bohmian mechanics, many worlds interpretations, and wavefunction realism. In particular, I extensively argue for the following claim: several interpretations of QM do not support monism at a more serious scrutiny, or do so only with further problematic assumptions, or even support different versions of it.     

Considerations in Francisco Varela for Psychotherapy of Sense

Under the influence of dialogic and narrative models, relational systemic psychotherapy has shifted its attention towards understanding the relational self, its agency and off-centered nature. In order to substantiate its new clinical positions, it has reached for other disciplines such as philosophy and literature. Francisco Varela’s approach regarding the ontological aporia between the individual and the relationship may provide conceptual foundations to propose a clinical understanding where identity and sense play a key role. By considering intentionality as the engine of everything that’s living, Varela generates a difference between the extensive environment in which individuals unfold, and the singular investiture of significance through which people seek relationships to recognize their identity. A model for a relational psychotherapy of sense is proposed, based in Francisco Varela’s conceptual influences.     

Pure optic ataxia and visual hemiagnosia – extending the dual visual hypothesis

Goodale and Milner's two visual system hypothesis is an influential model for the understanding of the primate visual system. Lesions of either the ventral (occipito‐temporal) or the dorsal (occipito‐parietal) stream produce distinct and dissociated syndromes in humans: visual agnosia is typical for ventral damage, whereas optic ataxia (OA) for dorsal damage. We studied the case of a 59‐year‐old left‐handed woman with a circumscribed lesion around the left posterior occipital sulcus, extending to the underlying white matter. Initially, she presented with a central visual field OA, which regressed to an OA to the right visual hemifield during the 3 months observation period. In addition, tachistoscopic experiments showed visual hemiagnosia to the right visual hemifield. In line with the findings of the neuropsychological experiments, the analysis of the structural MR data by means of a trackwise hodologic probabilistic approach revealed damage to the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and to the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, indicating an impairment of both the dorsal and the ventral stream. The combination of OA and visual hemiagnosia in the same patient has never been previously described. The present case study thus provides further insights for the understanding of visual processing.     

Neighborhood effects in reading aloud: new findings and new challenges for computational models

A word from a dense neighborhood is often read aloud faster than a word from a sparse neighborhood. This advantage is usually attributed to orthography, but orthographic and phonological neighbors are typically confounded. Two experiments investigated the effect of neighborhood density on reading aloud when phonological density was varied while orthographic density was held constant, and vice versa. A phonological neighborhood effect was observed, but not an orthographic one. These results are inconsistent with the predominant role ascribed to orthographic neighbors in accounts of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Consistent with this interpretation, 6 different computational models of reading aloud failed to simulate this pattern of results. The results of the present experiments thus provide a new understanding of some of the processes underlying reading aloud, and new challenges for computational models.     

On the relation provable equivalence and on partitions in effectively inseparable sets

We generalize a well-knownSmullyan's result, by showing that any two sets of the kindC _a = {x/ xa} andC _b = {x/ xb} are effectively inseparable (if I b). Then we investigate logical and recursive consequences of this fact (see Introduction).     

Priority monism,dependence and fundamentality

Philosophical Studies - Priority monism (PM) is roughly the view that the universe is the only fundamental object, that is, a concrete object that does not depend on any other concrete object....     

An 8-item test of acrobatics and balance

A 14-item test of Acrobatics and Balance was previously developed to assess gross motor skills of high school physical education students. This study examined the factor structure of an 8-item version of the test based on exploratory and confirmatory factor-analytic techniques. The 8-item short-form of the Acrobatics and Balance test was administered to 334 Italian boys, ages 14 to 16 yr. (M = 15.0, SD= .8), during physical education lessons. The sample was then randomly split into two groups of equal size. Data from Group 1 were subjected to principal components analysis followed by oblimin rotation. Two factors emerged without overlapping items, accounting for 65.6% of variance. Factors included items of Acrobatics and Balance, matching the scales of the whole version of the 14-item test. Confirmatory factor analysis on data from Group 2 confirmed the two factor structure of the 8-item test. The test had a Cronbach coefficient alpha of .84. The Balance and Acrobatics scales had Cronbach alphas of .84 and .78 for Group 1 and of .84 and .77 for Group 2. Findings provided preliminary support for the use of the 8-item test, especially when there is a need to shorten assessment time.