Some local models for correlation experiments

This paper constructs two classes of models for the quantum correlation experiments used to test the Bell-type inequalities, synchronization models and prism models. Both classes employ deterministic hidden variables, satisfy the causal requirements of physical locality, and yield precisely the quantum mechanical statistics. In the synchronization models, the joint probabilities, for each emission, do not factor in the manner of stochastic independence, showing that such factorizability is not required for locality. In the prism models the observables are not random variables over a common space; hence these models throw into question the entire random variables idiom of the literature. Both classes of models appear to be testable.Work on this paper was supported, in part, by National Science Foundation Grant SES 79-25917.     

First-order modal theories

This paper is part of a general programme of developing and investigating particular first-order modal theories. In the paper, a modal theory of propositions is constructed under the assumption that there are genuinely singular propositions, ie. ones that contain individuals as constituents. Various results on decidability, axiomatizability and definability are established.I should like to thank the members of a metaphysics seminar at Irvine, and Peter Woodruff in particular, for several helpful discussions on the topic of this paper.     

Training Genetic Counselors to provide teratogen counseling

Provision of teratogen counseling requires acquisition of knowledge and skills from several disciplines. Traditionally, training in teratogen counseling has occurred on the job. We describe a formal, didactic and experiential curriculum for teratogen counseling as an integral part of the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling leading to the master of science degree at Northwestern University. All students complete a 5-week rotation with the Coordinator of the Illinois Teratogen Information Service (TIS). This provides them with an opportunity to evaluate a spectrum of teratogen exposures, to interpret teratogen studies in a manner useful for patients, and to develop skills in assessing and addressing psychosocial issues associated with fetal exposure to potential teratogens. Students also learn first hand about how a TIS functions and when and how to refer to TIS specialists. The goal of the program is to provide genetic counseling students with the opportunity to gain experience in accessing and interpreting teratology research and in communicating teratogen information to patients and health professionals in a sensitive, effective manner.     

A comparison of the psychological profiles of teenage mothers and their nonmother peers: II. Responses to a set of TAT cards.

In Part I of this investigation (Oz, Tari, & Fine, 1992), it was found that, in comparison with nonmother peers, teenage mothers demonstrated a higher degree of ego development. This was in contradiction to most of the literature on the subject. In the second part of the study, the Thematic Apperception Test was employed to examine defenses and motivations which may impact upon the young girls' functioning within family and heterosexual relationships. Results confirmed reports in the literature which have indicated that adolescent mothers attempt to resolve autonomy-dependence conflicts in heterosexual relationships, whereas nonmothers do so within the family of origin. Consistent with their enhanced ego maturity, teenage mothers were more likely to confront their conflicts than were nonmothers. However, whereas nonmothers reacted to environmental stressors by rejecting the source of the stress, teenage mothers tended to react with self-abasement. It is recommended that further research be directed toward uncovering the emotional and cognitive resources of teenage mothers rather than focusing on their more obvious weaknesses.     

Tyranny and freedom: looking at ideas in the practice of family therapy

This article comments upon recent "second-order" family therapy concerns about the nature of the therapeutic relationship, and explores how ideas held by therapists may rule and restrict therapeutic conversations. Ideas are examined in the light of how adherence to them might open space (free) or close space (tyrannize) with respect to the therapeutic relationship. The authors propose a philosophical viewpoint, a methodology, and practical suggestions for therapists wishing to maintain a stance of relative freedom with respect to ideas in their work with clients.     

Parallel Processing Response Times and Experimental Determination of the Stopping Rule

It was formerly demonstrated that virtually all reasonable exhaustive serial models, and a more constrained set of exhaustive parallel models, cannot predict critical effects associated with self-terminating models. The present investigation greatly generalizes the parallel class of models covered by similar "impossibility" theorems. Specifically, we prove that if an exhaustive parallel model is not super capacity, and if targets are processed at least as fast as non-targets, then it cannot predict such (self-terminating) effects. Such effects are ubiquitous in the experimental literature, offering strong confirmation for self-terminating processing. Copyright 1997 Academic Press. Copyright 1997 Academic Press     

Epistemic instrumentalism,exceeding our grasp

In the concluding chapter of Exceeding our Grasp Kyle Stanford outlines a positive response to the central issue raised brilliantly by his book, the problem of unconceived alternatives. This response, called "epistemic instrumentalism", relies on a distinction between instrumental and literal belief. We examine this distinction and with it the viability of Stanford's instrumentalism, which may well be another case of exceeding our grasp.     

Just methods in revolting times

This article takes up the challenge of critical methods in “revolting times,” as we conduct qualitative research on (in)justice festering within repulsive inequality gaps, and yet surrounded by the thrill of radical social movements dotting the globe. I introduce a call for “critical bifocality,” a term coined by Lois Weis and myself, to argue for research designs that interrogate how history, structures, and lives shape, reveal, and refract the conditions we study. Borrowing from critical researchers long gone, W. E. B. Du Bois in his text The Philadelphia Negro and Marie Jahoda in her stunning case study Marienthal, I offer up a set of epistemological muddles and methodological experiments, hoping to incite a conversation about our responsibilities as critical psychologists in deeply contentious times, refusing downstream analyses and resurrecting instead what Edward Said called “lost causes.”