The challenge of measuring immigrant origin and immigration-related ethnicity in Europe

Different European nation-states use the most diverse statistical constructions of foreign origin or ethnic minority populations. Several countries traditionally even shun from producing such data. This makes international comparison a very difficult endeavour. Anyone wanting to perform comparative research on immigrants or (immigrant origin) ethnic minorities in Europe is unavoidably confronted with the most diverse types of national statistical data and has to opt for ad hoc solutions. Attempts at international comparison can thus be very tricky due to data characteristics. It is important that researchers are aware of these problems and do not simply accept data (especially in comparisons) at face value. In this article we embark on a comparative explorative study of the way in which immigrant background and immigration related ethnicity is taken stock of by national statistical institutes in a set of European nation-states.     

Computational models for the combination of advice and individual learning

Decision making often takes place in social environments where other actors influence individuals' decisions. The present article examines how advice affects individual learning. Five social learning models combining advice and individual learning-four based on reinforcement learning and one on Bayesian learning-and one individual learning model are tested against each other. In two experiments, some participants received good or bad advice prior to a repeated multioption choice task. Receivers of advice adhered to the advice, so that good advice improved performance. The social learning models described the observed learning processes better than the individual learning model. Of the models tested, the best social learning model assumes that outcomes from recommended options are more positively evaluated than outcomes from nonrecommended options. This model correctly predicted that receivers first adhere to advice, then explore other options, and finally return to the recommended option. The model also predicted accurately that good advice has a stronger impact on learning than bad advice. One-time advice can have a long-lasting influence on learning by changing the subjective evaluation of outcomes of recommended options.     

Arguing about tobacco and its effects on social representations

This study analysed the influence of social debate (group discussion) on previously held antagonistic social representations about tobacco. In the first phase of our study, we contacted 130 subjects in order to know what type of social representations they held. Two representations were found: a ‘psychopathological’ representation and a ‘critical’ one. After obtaining these results, and in a second phase, we randomly divided 100 subjects into 10 discussion groups, whilst another 30 subjects were assigned to the control condition (non-discussion group). The group discussion (social debate) led to a convergence of previously held representations. Debate emerged as a mechanism which could reduce the distance between groups who hold previously opposing representations.     

Infants of depressed mothers show less “depressed” behavior with their nursery teachers

This study investigated whether infants' “depressed” behavior (i.e., less positive affect and lower activity levels) noted during their interactions with their depressed mothers generalized to their interactions with their nondepressed nursery teachers. Field et al. (1988) reported that infants of depressed mothers also show “depressed behavior” when interacting with nondepressed female adults, suggesting that the infants develop a generalized “depressed mood style” of interaction. However, in that study the adults were also strangers to the infants, confounding the results. In the present study, eighteen 3-month-old infants interacted with their depressed mothers and also with their nondepressed familiar teachers in 3-minute episodes. The infants' behavior ratings improved when they interacted with their familiar teachers compared to their interactions with their mothers. The infants' low activity levels and negative affect were specific to their interactions with their depressed mothers. Thus, the data suggest that the infants respond differentially to depressed and nondepressed adults who are familiar.     

Integrating early parent-infant psychosocial support into neighborhood health clinics: An ecological intervention

A program of early psychosocial support for low-income parents and infants was established at an inner-city family health center. Such a program meets many of the criteria of successful early psychological intervention by (1) beginning during the prenatal period and extending through the first 3 years of life, (2) providing professional and peer support to the parent-infant system, (3) responding to the social as well as psychological needs of low-income parents, and (4) embedding preventive intervention into an accessible neighborhood setting.     

Instance‐based learning in dynamic decision making

This paper presents a learning theory pertinent to dynamic decision making (DDM) called instancebased learning theory (IBLT). IBLT proposes five learning mechanisms in the context of a decision‐making process: instance‐based knowledge, recognition‐based retrieval, adaptive strategies, necessity‐based choice, and feedback updates. IBLT suggests in DDM people learn with the accumulation and refinement of instances, containing the decision‐making situation, action, and utility of decisions. As decision makers interact with a dynamic task, they recognize a situation according to its similarity to past instances, adapt their judgment strategies from heuristic‐based to instance‐based, and refine the accumulated knowledge according to feedback on the result of their actions. The IBLT's learning mechanisms have been implemented in an ACT‐R cognitive model. Through a series of experiments, this paper shows how the IBLT's learning mechanisms closely approximate the relative trend magnitude and performance of human data. Although the cognitive model is bounded within the context of a dynamic task, the IBLT is a general theory of decision making applicable to other dynamic environments.     

What Valentine Announcements Reveal about the Romantic Emotions of Men and Women

Gender differences in the expression of romantic emotions were investigated by analyzing the content of 300 Valentine’s Day announcements. The emotions studied were love, praise, commitment, and fidelity, as expressed by dating and married individuals. Women emphasized love and fidelity relatively more than men did; men emphasized praise and commitment relatively more than women did. Relationship status influenced the gender differences; most interesting is that dating men expressed commitment, but not fidelity. Social-cultural and evolutionary perspectives are considered in the interpretation of the findings.     

Dialectic and dialogue in the hermeneutics of Paul Ricœur and H.G. Gadamer

The present paper uses the theme of dialectic and dialogue to begin unraveling the similarities and differences between the hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur and H.G. Gadamer. Ricoeur is shown to distance himself from Heidegger by insisting on a dimension of explanation and distanciation (which he sometimes identifies with Plato's `descending dialectic') that cannot be reduced to, or absorbed by, understanding and appropriation. This same move, however, leads him to reject Platonic dialogue, with the attendant prioritizing of oral conversation over the written text, as a model for hermeneutics. Ricoeur therefore sees in Gadamer's recourse to such a model a regression to the problematic position of Heidegger. Yet the conception of philosophy as dialectical and dialogical which Gadamer finds in Plato is capable of responding to Ricoeur's objections. Where the fundamental difference between the hermeneutics of Ricoeur and Gadamer emerges is in the question of whether experience is fundamentally dialectical and whether language is inherently dialogical.