Political Liberalism and the Interests of Children: A Reply to Timothy Michael Fowler

Timothy Michael Fowler has argued that, as a consequence of their commitment to neutrality in regard to comprehensive doctrines, political liberals face a dilemma. In essence, the dilemma for political liberals is that either they have to give up their commitment to neutrality (which is an indispensible part of their view), or they have to allow harm to children. Fowler??s case for this dilemma depends on ascribing to political liberals a view which grants parents a great degree of freedom in deciding on the education of their children. I show that ascribing this view to political liberals rests upon a misinterpretation of political liberalism. Since political liberals have access to reasons based upon the interests of children, they need not yield to parent??s wishes about the education of their children. A correct understanding of political liberalism thus shows that political liberals do not face the dilemma envisaged by Fowler.     

The geometry of factorial indeterminancy

TheN-dimensional geometry of a Spearman-Thurstone factor solution reveals two sources for the indeterminancy of factor scores: indeterminancy of total factor space and a rotational indeterminancy within a given total factor space. The analytical papers of Ledermann [4] and Guttman [2] on indeterminancy of factor scores are related to these findings and a simple vector model is developed to reveal the properties of rotational indeterminancy. The significance of factor-score indeterminancy is discussed in light of these findings.     

Elicitation and Inhibition of Competitive Fighting in Food Deprived Mice

Habituation as an index of the intrasensory and intersensory integration of form was investigated in nine-year-old children. In Habituation Period One, Ss were habituated to either a visual or a haptic 14″-perimeter standard stimulus. During Habituation Period Two, groups were subdivided and presented with one of the following stimuli: (a) 14″ visual, (b) 16″ visual, (c) 14″ haptic, or (d) 16″ haptic. The dependent variables were GSR frequency and amplitude, visual fixation time, and touching time. Subjects required more trials to habituate to the different stimulus presented in Habituation Period Two than Ss who received repeated presentations of the same stimulus. GSR frequency and amplitude habituated more consistently than did fixation and touching response measures. The results supported the use of the habituation paradigm for the study of intersensory and intrasensory integration, as well as providing support for extending Sokolov's theory to intersensory functions.     

Does Feeling Empathy Lead to Compassion Fatigue or Compassion Satisfaction? The Role of Time Perspective

Research has shown that feeling empathy sometimes leads to compassion fatigue and sometimes to compassion satisfaction. In three studies, participants recalled an instance when they felt empathy in order to assess the role time perspective plays in how empathizers perceive the consequences of empathy. Study 1 revealed that college students perceive empathy as having more negative consequences in the short term, but more positive consequences in the long term. Study 2 showed that service industry professionals perceive the consequences of feeling empathy for customers who felt bad as less negative, and the consequences of feeling empathy for people who felt good as less positive, in the long as opposed to the short term. Because Studies 1 and 2 confounded time perspective with event specificity a third study was conducted in which event specificity was held constant across time perspectives. The same pattern of results emerged. The results of these studies indicate that perceptions of the effects of feeling empathy, whether positive or negative, become less extreme over time. These findings shed light on the relation between empathy and compassion fatigue and satisfaction by suggesting that situations that initially are experienced as stressful can over time make the empathizer stronger.     

Differentiation of Psychotic From Nonpsychotic Psychiatric Inpatients: The Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index

The aim of the study was to investigate the validity of the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) to detect psychotic perceptual and thought disturbance in a sample of Slovene psychiatric inpatients. Using a sample of 275 adult psychiatric inpatients of both sexes, we examined the differences between patients with psychosis (PP) and patients with no psychotic features (NP) from various diagnostic groups on the global PTI and its subcomponent variables. PPs obtained significantly higher PTI scores, indicating more disturbed perception and more thinking disturbance, than NPs. No differences were found for diagnostic differences within the PP and NP groups. Results are in accordance with previous studies of the PTI as a valid cross-cultural index of perceptual and thinking disturbance.     

Individuum,Gesellschaft Und Staat

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

LOGIQUE ET PSYCHOLOGIE DE L'APPRENTISSAGE DES CONCEPTS

In the field of concept learning, there are very few studies in which logícal conditions are used as independent variables. A logical analysis of concept learning phenomena is presented: it is an application of some elementary theoremas of logics and set theory. To learn a concept means to identify relevant attributes of the phenomena observed; the theoretical analysis of the situation shows that concept learning can be seen as a problem, the solution of which depends on a precise algorithm. Numerous experiments have been carried out on the basis of such an analysis, some of which are described here. Results provide evidence that time and quality of performance depend on the length and logical structure of the set of successive stimuli presented to subjccts. So logical features of the situation influence concept learning; but, there are various other factors which control subject's performance : for instance, number of redundant examples, and subject's memory and perceptual-motor activity. Current interpretations of concept learning, i.e., stochastic models of learning and logical and mathematical interpretation are discussed and the need of an approach which would combine both to fit the complexity of concept learning phenomena is emphasized.     

Development and psychometric validation of the verbal affective memory test

We here present the development and validation of the Verbal Affective Memory Test-24 (VAMT-24). First, we ensured face validity by selecting 24 words reliably perceived as positive, negative or neutral, respectively, according to healthy Danish adults’ valence ratings of 210 common and non-taboo words. Second, we studied the test's psychometric properties in healthy adults. Finally, we investigated whether individuals diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) differed from healthy controls on seasonal changes in affective recall. Recall rates were internally consistent and reliable and converged satisfactorily with established non-affective verbal tests. Immediate recall (IMR) for positive words exceeded IMR for negative words in the healthy sample. Relatedly, individuals with SAD showed a significantly larger decrease in positive recall from summer to winter than healthy controls. Furthermore, larger seasonal decreases in positive recall significantly predicted larger increases in depressive symptoms. Retest reliability was satisfactory, rs?≥?.77. In conclusion, VAMT-24 is more thoroughly developed and validated than existing verbal affective memory tests and showed satisfactory psychometric properties. VAMT-24 seems especially sensitive to measuring positive verbal recall bias, perhaps due to the application of common, non-taboo words. Based on the psychometric and clinical results, we recommend VAMT-24 for international translations and studies of affective memory.