There are Intentionalia of Which it is True that Such Objects Do Not Exist

Abstract

According to Crane’s schematicity thesis (ST) about intentional objects, intentionalia have no particular metaphysical nature qua thought-of entities; moreover, the real metaphysical nature of intentionalia is various, insofar as it is settled independently of the fact that intentionalia are targets of one’s thought. As I will point out, ST has the ontological consequence that the intentionalia that really belong to the general inventory of what there is, the overall domain, are those that fall under a good metaphysical kind, i.e., a kind such that its members figure (for independent reasons) in such an inventory. Negatively put, if there are no things of a certain metaphysical kind, thoughts about things of that kind are not really committed to such things. Pace Crane, however, this does not mean that the intentionalia that are really there are only those that exist. For existence, qua first-order property, is no metaphysical kind. Thus, there may really be intentionalia that do not exist, provided that they belong to good metaphysical kinds.     

Reducing prejudice via direct and extended cross-group friendship

One of the most exciting developments in intergroup contact theory is the idea that a certain type of contact, cross-group friendship, might be particularly effective at reducing prejudice. In this chapter we review research on two types of cross-group friendship. Direct cross-group friendship refers to friendships that develop between members of different groups. Extended cross-group friendship, on the other hand, refers to vicarious experience of cross-group friendship, the mere knowledge that other ingroup members have cross-group friends. We consider the relationship between both types of cross-group friendship and prejudice and the processes that mediate and moderate these relationships. The research highlights the respective strengths and weaknesses of direct and extended cross-group friendship and illustrates how they might be practically combined in efforts to improve intergroup relations.     

Assessing At‐Risk Youth Using the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory With a Latino Population

Factor analyses were conducted on scores from the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (RAASI; Reynolds, 2001 ) representing at‐risk Latino youth. The 4‐factor model of the RAASI did not exhibit a good fit. However, evidence of generalizability for Latino youth was noted.     

Sistemas neurales de relevancia en el contexto de la psicobiología de la ansiedad: una revisión

Resumen

La ansiedad es un estado emocional central de características muy complejas que, al menos en términos de respuesta, se asemeja en gran medida al miedo. En las ültimas décadas, estudios neurobiológicos y psicobiológicos han identificado numerosas estructuras y circuitos cerebrales estrechamente relacionados con este tipo de respuestas, así como con el estado central característico. Destacan, por su especial relevancia, el sistema límbico (incluyendo el sistema septohipocampal, la amígdala y el hipotálamo posterior) y los sistemas monoaminérgicos ascendentes (principalmente de serotonina y norepinefrina), lugares donde, además, las sustancias ansiolíticas podrían ejercer su efecto terapéutico. El principal objetivo del presente trabajo es revisar la precisa implicación de estos sistemas neurales en la modulación de ese estado emocional definido como ansiedad.     

La falacia de la validación personal: Más efectos placebo

RESUMEN

En este artículo se pone a prueba la influencia de efectos placebo en la aceptación de informes evaluativos y diagnósticos por los sujetos. Tras introducir brevemente el tema y plantear las hipótesis, los autores describen el método y los resultados de su investigación. En la discusión explican que estos resultados sugieren que la aceptación del diagnóstico que ofrece un profesional es un fenómeno general independiente de las características personales de los individuos que lo reciben, poniendo en entredicho el fenómeno de la validación personal y, al mismo tiempo, interactúa con determinadas características profesionales de los sujetos, ligadas a imágenes de personalidad a las que son más propensos. Los autores también analizan una limitación importante de su trabajo, el tamaño reducido de la muestra, y finalizan destacando que es el contenido del informe, más que el tipo de pruebas o profesionales, lo que parece afectar diferencialmente a distintos grupos profesionales.     

Assessing Approximate Fit in Categorical Data Analysis

A family of Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) statistics is proposed for assessing the goodness of approximation in discrete multivariate analysis with applications to item response theory (IRT) models. The family includes RMSEAs to assess the approximation up to any level of association of the discrete variables. Two members of this family are RMSEA₂, which uses up to bivariate moments, and the full information RMSEA_n. The RMSEA₂ is estimated using the M₂ statistic of Maydeu-Olivares and Joe (2005, 2006), whereas for maximum likelihood estimation, RMSEA_n is estimated using Pearson's X² statistic. Using IRT models, we provide cutoff criteria of adequate, good, and excellent fit using the RMSEA₂. When the data are ordinal, we find a strong linear relationship between the RMSEA₂ and the Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual goodness-of-fit index. We are unable to offer cutoff criteria for the RMSEA_n as its population values decrease as the number of variables and categories increase.     

How Should We Assess the Fit of Rasch-Type Models? Approximating the Power of Goodness-of-Fit Statistics in Categorical Data Analysis

We investigate the performance of three statistics, R ₁, R ₂ (Glas in Psychometrika 53:525–546, 1988), and M ₂ (Maydeu-Olivares & Joe in J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 100:1009–1020, 2005, Psychometrika 71:713–732, 2006) to assess the overall fit of a one-parameter logistic model (1PL) estimated by (marginal) maximum likelihood (ML). R ₁ and R ₂ were specifically designed to target specific assumptions of Rasch models, whereas M ₂ is a general purpose test statistic. We report asymptotic power rates under some interesting violations of model assumptions (different item discrimination, presence of guessing, and multidimensionality) as well as empirical rejection rates for correctly specified models and some misspecified models. All three statistics were found to be more powerful than Pearson’s X ² against two- and three-parameter logistic alternatives (2PL and 3PL), and against multidimensional 1PL models. The results suggest that there is no clear advantage in using goodness-of-fit statistics specifically designed for Rasch-type models to test these models when marginal ML estimation is used.     

Facilitation and interference of behavioral responses by task-irrelevant affect-laden stimuli

Emotional interference on behavior is commonly observed when task-irrelevant negative stimuli appear before behavioral targets. One explanation postulates that affect-laden stimuli readily capture attention, interfering with the processing of the upcoming target. Emotional stimuli might also preactivate motor programs incompatible with the demanded response. Using a cued go/no-go procedure we showed that task-irrelevant unpleasant stimuli cause interference or facilitation depending on their onset asynchrony relative to the target. We observed interference with short (200 ms) stimulus-target asynchronies and facilitation for longer ones (600 ms), both for key press (Experiment 1) and key release (Experiment 2) responses. The interference effect is compatible with an attentional explanation, but the behavioral facilitation is hard to accommodate within either attentional or motor accounts. This interference-facilitation pattern can be explained assuming that once the attentional effect subsides, emotional processing may enhance the perceptual processing of the stimuli, or lower the decision threshold, thereby facilitating the response selection process.