Brentano's Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint and Freud's early metapsychology.

Brentano's Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint and Freud's early metapsychology, particularly the Project for a Scientific Psychology, show some interesting similarities. In psychological theory, both men stressed the motivated nature of thought and a conception of a "psychological reality" that is superior to "material reality." Both saw consciousness of one's own mental activity as arising retrospectively and having a calming effect on emotions. Both emphasized a process of "judgment" or "reality testing," made possible only by the presence of a strong unity of consciousness of ego. Methodologically, both agreed that the retrospective analysis of subjective experience is the principal tool of psychology. Freud eventually agreed with Brentano that psychology proceeds best when separated from physiology. They applied similar criteria to "proofs" of the unconscious, with Brentano concluding negatively, and Freud, positvely, after considering new evidence. This article considers the similarities and concludes that they suggest some sort of influence of Brentano on Freud.     

Visibility distances with halogen and conventional headlights

Abstract.— Using visibility distance as a criterion, halogen and conventional continental European high and low-beam headlights were compared in a series of field experiments. On high-beam without opposing light the halogen headlights offered about 25% longer visibility distances than the conventional headlights. With both opposing cars using low-beam there was a slight advantage (<5 m) in favour of halogen headlights. The optimal dipping distance was a function of high-beam system (intensity) rather than low-beam system. Small differences in aiming, atmosphere etc. caused larger differences in visibility distance than did the headlight system.     

Memory prediction accuracy in younger and older adults: a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis

Across three experiments, the effects of age and normative information on memory prediction accuracy were examined. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults were given an arbitrary midpoint anchor and made global predictions about how they expected to perform on subsequent verbal, visual, and name-face memory tasks. In Experiment 2, the normative information was varied by providing participants with a midpoint anchor, accurate anchor, or no anchor. Across both experiments, older adults successfully adjusted their predictions in accordance with the task demands, regardless of the type of normative information given. In Experiment 3, older adults' prediction accuracy was measured at a 5-year follow-up. Memory performance predictions were found to be just as accurate as they had been at the first assessment. In general, the findings indicate that older adults were as accurate as younger adults in assessing their memory performance abilities. Older adults also did not operate on a negative stereotype of global cognitive decline with age, as they provided varying performance estimates across the different domains and types of memory tasks.     

自尊的毕生发展

自尊是心理学的一个重要研究领域, 文章介绍了自尊的毕生发展研究在近三十年来的进展, 主要探讨了自尊的稳定性及其毕生发展的影响因素, 包括年龄、性别、种族和文化、社会经济地位与家庭教养方式等方面, 指出自尊毕生发展的研究将来应关注自尊的纵向研究和本土化研究, 并注意区分和探讨不同形式自尊的发展变化。