From H = log s(n) to conceptual framework: a short history of information

"Information" has become a widely used term in psychology, especially within cognitive psychology. However, despite its status as a technical term, the word now rarely receives explicit definition. By contrast, when information entered the vocabulary of psychologists in the late 1940s, it had an explicit mathematical definition largely derived from developments in information theory. This article examines how information entered psychology, how its meaning changed, and how it remained a technical term in the vocabulary of psychologists in the second part of the 20th century. "Information" became a term that was required to speak to ever more diverse theoretical concerns and its earliest definitions in psychology could not sustain such uses. As a consequence, "information" became a term whose technical uses became increasingly difficult to differentiate from its everyday meanings. I argue that this has not necessarily made "information" a worthless term but one whose lack of specificity may now be unsettling to some psychologists.     

Participatory Organizational Change in Community-Based Health and Human Services: From Tokenism to Political Engagement

Community psychologists have long worked with community-based human service organizations to build participatory processes. These efforts largely aim at building participatory practices within the current individual-wellness paradigm of human services. To address collective wellness, human service organizations need to challenge their current paradigm, attend to the social justice needs of community, and engage community participation in a new way, and in doing so become more openly political. We use qualitative interviews, focus groups, organizational documents, and participant observation to present a comparative case study of two organizations involved in such a process through an action research project aimed at transforming the organizations’ managerial and practice paradigm from one based on first-order, ameliorative change to one that promotes second-order, transformative change via strength-based approaches, primary prevention, empowerment and participation, and focuses on changing community conditions. Four participatory tensions or dialectics are discussed: passive versus active participation, partners versus clients, surplus powerlessness versus collective efficacy, and reflection/learning versus action/doing.     

Changes in health-promoting behavior following diagnosis with HIV: prevalence and correlates in a national probability sample.

Diet, exercise, smoking, and substance use patterns affect the course of illness and quality of life for people with HIV. In interviews with a national probability sample of 2,864 persons receiving HIV care, it was found that most had made health-promoting changes in one or more of these behaviors since diagnosis. Many reported increased physical activity (43%) and improved diet (59%). Forty-nine percent of cigarette smokers quit or cut down; 80% of substance users did so. Desire for involvement in one's HIV care and information seeking-positive coping were the most consistent correlates of change. Other correlates varied by health practice but included health status, emotional well-being, demographics, and attitudes toward other aspects of HIV care. Most people with HIV improve their health behavior following diagnosis, but more might be helped to do so by targeting these behaviors in future interventions.     

Lateralized audiogenic seizure: motor asymmetries exhibited and the effects of interrupted stimulation

Sensitized SJL/J mice were monaurally tested for susceptibility to sound-induced seizure. The acoustic stimulation was interrupted for 15 s at various points during the biphasic pattern of running which these mice characteristically exhibit before seizing. Asymmetries of run directions and side of fall were noted. In addition, a dramatic reduction in seizure incidence was found when the interruption either extended into the period when the later burst of running would have occurred or began during this running burst. Finally, the results indicate that the latencies to the later running burst and the subsequent seizure are determined at or about the time of the onset of the first burst of running.     

The Logic of Plausible Reasoning: A Core Theory

The paper presents a core theory of human plausible reasoning based on analysis of people's answers to everyday questions about the world. The theory consists of three parts:

• 1 a formal representation of plausible inference patterns; such as deductions, inductions, and analogies, that are frequently employed in answering everyday questions;
• 2 a set of parameters, such as conditional likelihood, typicality, and similarity, that affect the certainty of people's answers to such questions; and
• 3 a system relating the different plausible inference patterns and the different certainty parameters.

This is one of the first attempts to construct a formal theory that addresses both the semantic and parametric aspects of the kind of everyday reasoning that pervades. all of human discourse.