Association as a Cause of Dating Bias

Two experiments investigated a dating bias in which people tend to estimate recent dates too remotely and remote dates too recently. Experiment 1 examined and upheld a prediction of the hypothesis that bias arises because events whose time of occurrence is unknown are dated through associated events for which some time information is available. Experiment 2 required some subjects to date prototype events while others dated specific events. Prototype events were dated more recently, and the errors in dating specific events were related to differences in the way the prototype events were dated. Both sets of results were predicted by the association hypothesis, according to which events whose dates are well known are dated with reference either to specific associated events or to prototype events.     

Investigating the structure of autobiographical memory using reaction times

The study investigated the structure of autobiographical memory using reaction time measures. A total of 18 participants took photographs over their summer holidays and then reacted to pairs of these photographs displayed via a computer. They also subsequently sorted their photographs according to the autobiographical themes and events with which they were associated. When photographic sequence and the physical similarities in the photographs were controlled for by considering the results of “stranger” participants who were unfamiliar with the photographs, reaction times were significantly faster to pairs of photographs from the same theme or event. The results are consistent with currently held assumptions about the structure of autobiographical memory. Furthermore, the results suggest that reaction time measures may provide a valuable means by which aspects of autobiographical memory can be explored.     

When food is more than nutrition: Understanding emotional eating and overconsumption

This research examines how more proximal or immediate goals of affect regulation impact goals of weight loss and maintenance. Findings suggest that both psychological and social factors play a role in eating behavior and food overconsumption. Specifically, the narratives of self‐identified emotional eaters reveal that negative emotion, prefactual thinking, and ruminative propensities play major roles in contributing to food‐related consumption. Additionally, emotional eating informants' consumption behavior is greatly impacted by the attitudes and behaviors of others. Several approaches for developing interventions for emotional eaters and furthering transformative research in obesity and overconsumption are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metaphorical interpretations: A critical examination

Abstract

This paper seeks to place the technique of metaphorical interpretations (called amplification in analytical psychology) under scrutiny due to theoretical uncertainty surrounding the therapeutic value of the practice. The historical roots in Freud and Jung are briefly presented, as well as the contributions of subsequent psychoanalytic theory. The theoretical and technical implications of the practice of metaphorical interpretations have relevance for practitioners who are working psychotherapeutically with clients, as well as those who are case managing patients (under CPA), particularly patients with severe disturbances. Case material is presented and advanced theoretically from which it is suggested that potential problems with metaphorical interpretations result primarily from an incorrect assessment of the patient's symbolic capacity and/or the inappropriate presentation of the interpretation. Aspects relating to countertransference and unamplifying (internal amplifications) are also explored. Finally, the positive aspects of metaphorical interpretations are noted.     

Dyadic Flexibility in Early Parent–Child Interactions: Relations with Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Child Negativity and Behaviour Problems

Lower levels of parent–child affective flexibility indicate risk for children's problem outcomes. This short‐term longitudinal study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of dyadic affective flexibility and positive affective content in mother–child problem‐solving interactions at age 3.5 years (N = 100) and whether these maternal and dyadic factors predicted child emotional negativity and behaviour problems at a 4‐month follow‐up. Dyadic flexibility and positive affect were measured using dynamic systems‐based modelling of second‐by‐second affective patterns during a mother–child problem‐solving task. Results showed that higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were related to lower levels of dyadic affective flexibility, which predicted children's higher levels of negativity and behaviour problems as rated by teachers. Mothers' ratings of child negativity and behaviour problems were predicted by their own depressive symptoms and individual child factors, but not by dyadic flexibility. There were no effects of dyadic positive affect. Findings highlight the importance of studying patterns in real‐time dyadic parent–child interactions as potential mechanisms of risk in developmental psychopathology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Theory-based Bayesian models of inductive learning and reasoning

Inductive inference allows humans to make powerful generalizations from sparse data when learning about word meanings, unobserved properties, causal relationships, and many other aspects of the world. Traditional accounts of induction emphasize either the power of statistical learning, or the importance of strong constraints from structured domain knowledge, intuitive theories or schemas. We argue that both components are necessary to explain the nature, use and acquisition of human knowledge, and we introduce a theory-based Bayesian framework for modeling inductive learning and reasoning as statistical inferences over structured knowledge representations.     

Memorial psychophysics for visual area: The effect of retention interval

Previous studies (e.g., Kerst & Howard, 1978) have shown that remembered visual areas are related to actual areas by a more compressive power function than are perceived visual areas. Experiment 1 useda between-groups design to replicate this effect for a map of Europe and showed that compression increased as the retention interval, the time between map inspection and area estimation, increased from 2 min to 1 week. Experiment 2 obtained similar results with a similar design, except that a simple two-region map was used to reduce uncertainty. Overall, the results suggest that two processes may be operating: uncertainty and gradual transformation of the representation of the map in memory.     

Dating recent and historical events

Subjects were asked to date 28 ‘recent’ public events that had occurred in the previous 7 years, and 28 ‘historical’ events that occurred between 1765 and 1947. For both kinds of event, the age of older events was underestimated and that of more recent events overestimated, a result agreeing with previous research. Whether the events were well or poorly known, as rated by a separate sample of subjects, affected the dating error of historical but not recent events. The results suggest that both recent and historical events are dated by a rather abstract, constructive process, rather than by cues relating to the age of the memory or the time of its formation.     

Truth in Frege's ‘law of truth’

I wish to thank Peter Hylton, from whom I have learned much in discussion of these issues, and whose comments upon a previous draft of this paper helped to give it its present shape. I must also thank two anonymous referees, who were most helpful on both specific and general points, and Axel Boldt, who helped with the German.