Anterior Hypothalamic Stimulation Decreases Serum Immunoglobulin G Concentrations

The Psychological Record - Neuroimmunological research has indicated that hypothalamic structures play an important role in the modulation of immunoresponsivity. We report that electrical...     

Idealization in Applied First-Order Logic

Applying first-order logic to derive the consequences of laws that are only approximately true of empirical phenomena involves idealization of a kind that is akin to applying arithmetic to calculate the area of a rectangular surface from approximate measures of the lengths of its sides. Errors in the data, in the exactness of the lengths in one case and in the exactness of the laws in the other, are in some measure transmitted to the consequences deduced from them, and the aim of a theory of idealization is to describe this process. The present paper makes a start on this in the case of applied first-order logic, and relates it to Plato's picture of a world or model of 'appearances' in which laws are only approximately true, but which to some extent resembles an ideal world or model in which they are exactly true. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Necessary and sufficient factors in classical conditioning

The issue of necessary and sufficient factors (pairing-contiguity vs. contingency-correlation) in classical (Pavlovian) excitatory conditioning is examined: first, in terms of definitional (logical) and manipulational requirements of “necessary” and “sufficient”; second, in terms of Boolean logic test models indicating experimental and control manipulations in tests of pairing and contingency as necessary and sufficient factors; and, third, by a selective review of reference experiments showing appropriate experimental and control manipulations of pairing and contingency indicated in the Boolean logic test models. Results of examination show pairing-contiguity as the sole necessary and sufficient factor for excitatory conditioning, while contingency-correlation is conceptualized as a modulating factor controlling minimal-maximal effects of pairingcontiguity. Reservations and diagnostic experiments are indicated to assess effects of uncontrolled conditioned stimulus—unconditioned stimulus \((\overline {CS} - US)\) probability characteristics (e.g., p (CS ∩ US)/p \((\overline {CS} \cap US)\) in truly random (TR) schedule manipulations). Similar analysis of conditioned inhibition reveals insufficient evidence to support a choice among current alternatives.     

Students' Reactions to Groups in a University Counseling Center

This article describes an evaluative study of students' reactions to three types of groups—assertiveness training, personal growth, and ethnic rap—offered by a university counseling center. A 16-item questionnaire distributed to 130 group participants yielded 90 usable returns. Chi-square calculations comparing the responses of the three types of groups revealed statistically significant differences between them on eight of the 16 items. Samples of the responses to the open-ended items convey the flavor and feeling tone of the reactions to the group experience. One of the notable results of the study was the development of a new group intended to integrate the most useful elements identified by the students' reactions.     

Assumptions underlying psychological testing

Tests purporting to reflect the learning aptitudes of school children differ much more than generally is recognized. However, error in assesing such learning aptitude inheres much more in the users of the tests than in the tests themselves. Assumptions fundamental to such assessment, or even testing, are considered. It is particularly important that the assessor, or tester, constantly be sensitive to the nature of the relationship between the psychological demands of test items or tests and the learning demands confronting the child. Even tests that generally are grossly or crudely used often can yield psychoeducationally meaninful information if their results are differentially perceived in terms of the light they throw on the psychological operations fundamental to learning, “process,” as contrasted with that thrown on the results of the functioning of such operations, “product.”