Is ‘human action’ A category?

It seems to have been taken for granted that we all know what a human action is. However in attempting to draw from what philosophers have said about actions the necessary clues as to their distinguishing features, one finds little to discourage the idea that there is no way of distinguishing one category of occurrences, human actions, from the complex of different sorts of things which happen. From this I am tempted to conclude that there is no category of human action. But before drawing such a conclusion an ancient but terrible question must be faced: What sorts of things happen in the world ? This ancient question is faced but not answered. It is brought up because the failure to find a satisfactory answer to the question, Is human action a category? is a failure even to find a satisfactory assumption about what kind of reference the term ‘human action’ is supposed to have.     

Too Old to Train or Reprimand: The Role of Intergroup Attribution Bias in Evaluating Older Workers

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the role rater and target age play in the evaluations of poorly performing workers. Intergroup attribution theory suggests that rater age predicts the attributions made for the poor performance of older workers.

Design/Methodology/Approach

In this study, 203 supervisors in various industries completed measures of causal attribution and evaluations for a poorly performing hypothetical subordinate.

Findings

Compared to the poor performance of younger targets, the poor performance of older targets was more likely to be attributed to external and controllable causes by older raters and more likely to be attributed to stable causes by younger raters. These attributions predicted willingness to punish and likelihood to provide training.

Implications

Our findings were partially supported by intergroup attribution theory and suggest that this theory may be useful in understanding how older workers’ performance is evaluated.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to utilize intergroup attribution theory among supervisors in exploring how older workers are evaluated in the workplace and to demonstrate that the theory predicts how older workers’ poor performance will be attributed. Our study provides evidence that when evaluating a poorly performing older target, older raters will be more inclined to attribute this performance to controllable causes and thus be more punitive than younger raters. Further, we provide some evidence that raters will be more punitive and less willing to provide training when evaluating poorly performing targets to whom they are similar.     

人体棕色脂肪的临床意义

饮食增加和运动减少使肥胖及其相关代谢疾病患病率逐年升高,尤其是许多与肥胖相关的疾病,如2型糖尿病、高血脂、心脑血管疾病等已成为威胁健康的重要因素,且目前缺乏有效、安全的防治策略。研究证实人体内存在棕色脂肪／米色脂肪,参与机体的物质代谢,在维持能量平衡方面有重要作用,因此成为增加能量消耗方面颇具吸引力的一个研究靶点。本文将对棕色脂肪及其对人体的影响做一综述,并讨论其作为治疗肥胖及相关代谢性疾病新靶点的可行性。     

高压氧医学与康复医学的协同发展

随着医学理论与实践的不断创新和发展,中国也正在努力寻求一种具有中国特色的现代医学发展模式.高压氧医学与康复医学都是新兴的边缘交叉性学科,具有广阔的发展潜能和空间;然而,两者在快速发展的同时也突显了一些问题,如:后续动力不足、发展方向不明确等.本文从哲学中联系与发展的角度出发,通过机制探讨及发展趋势的分析,试图寻找两者共同发展的结合点,为推动康复医学与高压氧医学在临床工作中的继续向前发展提供一种借鉴与参考.     

视觉工作记忆参与融景知觉

融景知觉现象是指观察者任意时刻虽然只能观察到部分刺激模式,却能基于部分刺激模式形成完整知觉。完成融景知觉的关键在于需要将时间序列上的信息进行整合。根据视知觉与视觉工作记忆动态交互模型,完成信息整合需视觉工作记忆的参与。然而以往研究均关注融景现象的知觉加工特性,尚未涉及视觉工作记忆在该现象中的作用机制。笔者采用双任务范式,要求被试完成规则或不规则刺激模式的融景知觉,同时操纵工作记忆负荷,以考察记忆负荷对融景知觉的影响。结果发现,高记忆负荷显著降低不规则刺激的融景知觉绩效(实验一);且该效应并非由记忆负荷对融景刺激维持阶段的影响所致(实验二)。上述结果说明,至少对不规则图形的融景知觉需要视觉工作记忆参与。     

The extended mind argument against phenomenal intentionality

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - This paper offers a novel argument against the phenomenal intentionality thesis (or PIT for short). The argument, which I'll call the extended mind...     

听障大学生社会支持对学业自我效能感的影响：心理韧性的中介作用

为探讨听障大学生社会支持对学业自我效能感的影响,以及心理韧性的中介作用,对342名听障大学生进行问卷调查。结果发现,听障大学生的学业自我效能感处于中低水平,社会支持和心理韧性处于中等偏上水平;心理韧性在社会支持对学业自我效能感的影响中起部分中介作用。结果表明：社会支持既可以直接影响听障大学生的学业自我效能感,也可以通过心理韧性的中介作用间接影响听障大学生的学业自我效能感。     

歧视知觉对留守青少年攻击行为的影响：多重中介效应分析

为考察歧视知觉对留守青少年攻击行为的影响及其作用机制,采用问卷法对662名留守中学生进行调查。结果表明：（1）歧视知觉、抑郁、愤怒、道德推脱与攻击行为两两显著正相关。（2）歧视知觉不能直接影响留守青少年攻击行为,但存在四条显著的间接路径：愤怒的简单中介作用;道德推脱的简单中介作用;抑郁和道德推脱的链式中介作用;愤怒和道德推脱的链式中介作用。因此,抑郁、愤怒和道德推脱在歧视知觉与留守青少年攻击行为之间起多重中介作用。     

“平分秋色”与“三足鼎立”:适应功能视角下拒绝敏感性的新结构取向

拒绝敏感性是个体对拒绝信息的焦虑预期、准备性知觉和过度反应的倾向。以往研究多以单因素的视角考察整体拒绝敏感性,但近年来其结构取向出现了转变趋势,研究者开始从适应功能的视角分别关注其二因素(即焦虑预期、愤怒预期)与三因素结构(即焦虑成分、愤怒成分和拒绝预期),且发现不同结构取向对个体的适应功能具有不同影响,焦虑预期与内化行为问题有关,愤怒预期与外化行为问题有关,而拒绝预期作为认知成分也需要加以重视。未来亟需从性别差异、行为及神经科学证据、本土化研究、年龄差异、针对性干预措施五方面对不同结构进一步深入探索。     

Toward a further understanding of assent

Arranging assent opportunities is an increasingly common strategy for involving clients in therapeutic decisions within behavior analysis. Recent behavior-analytic articles have helped create a basic behavioral definition and conceptualization of assent, but much more guidance is needed for practitioners and researchers interested in embedding assent into their practices. The purpose of this article is to advance the conceptualization and understanding of assent and assent practices by refining previous definitions and conceptualizations of assent and providing six essential considerations for embedding assent into practice. The six considerations consist of determining the applicability and feasibility of assent, assessing assent-related skills, arranging assent procedures and teaching assent-related skills, arranging fair choices, selecting opportunities to assess assent, and informally assessing assent. Following the discussion of the considerations for assent practices, we issue a call for specific topics of research on assent.