Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Clusters and Acquired Capability for Suicide: A Reexamination Using DSM-5 Criteria

This study used the interpersonal–psychological theory of suicide to explore the relationships among DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters derived from the six-factor anhedonia model and facets of acquired capability for suicide (ACS). In a sample of 373 trauma-exposed undergraduates, most PTSD symptom clusters were negatively associated with facets of ACS in bivariate correlations, but the anhedonia cluster was positively associated with ACS in regression models. Structure coefficients and commonality analysis indicated that anhedonia served as a suppressor variable for the other symptom clusters. Our findings further elucidate the complex relationship between specific PTSD symptom clusters and ACS.     

Differential components of the manual and vocal Stroop tasks

In this study, four components of the Stroop effect were examined for manual word and vocal responses. The components were lexical, semantic relatedness, semantic relevance, and response set membership. The results showed that all four components were present in the vocal response task. However, in the manual word response task, the only component that produced significant interference on its own was response set membership. These results do not support predictions made by recent translation models (see W. R. Glaser & M. O. Glaser [1989] and Sugg & McDonald [1994]). A possible solution was suggested that located two sites for Stroop interference. The lexical, semantic relatedness, and semantic relevance effects were located in the lexical system, whereas the response set membership effect was located at a response selection stage.     

Selective hypothesis testing

A diverse set of biases that have been found to characterize judgment may be similarly mediated by a process of selective hypothesis testing. Our paper begins with a definition of selective hypothesis testing and an explanation of how and when this process leads to error. We then review a diverse and often disconnected set of findings in the person perception, judgment, cognition, attitudes, attribution, and rule discovery literatures that can be explained by this process. Finally, we examine the question of why the selective testing of hypotheses occurs. Although the psychological literature suggests that selective hypothesis testing contributes to a variety of errors, in many contexts it may be a useful and efficient strategy that leads to satisfactory judgment.     

What is improved if a mental rotation task is repeated – the efficiency of memory access, or the speed of a transformation routine?

The present study contrasts 3 theories which provide explanations for performance improvement in mental rotation tasks. Wallace and Hofelich conjectured that the process as such may be executed more rapidly after training, while Bethell-Fox and Shepard attributed practice effects to the fact that images may be transformed first elementwise, but later as a Gestalt. In contrast, Tarr and Pinker assumed that a transformation of an image will no longer be computed after training but simply be retrieved from memory. Thirty-seven subjects participated in 3 test sessions in which they had to decide on the parity of 3-D block figures presented from different perspectives. Experimental group subjects underwent 4 additional practice sessions in which a subset of the figures and a subset of perspective views were used. Tests adapted to the predictions of the 3 theories revealed specific learning effects but no transfer, neither to old objects presented in new perspectives nor to new objects. This supports an instance-based explanation of practice effects which states that objects are represented in multiple perspective views. Received: 7 May 1997 / Accepted: 6 August 1997     

Evaluative Conditioning Is a Form of Associative Learning: On the Artifactual Nature of Field and Davey's (1997) Artifactual Account of Evaluative Learning

Field and Davey (1997) claimed that evaluative conditioning (EC), rather than being a genuine type of Pavlovian associative learning, represents nothing but an experimental artifact. They come to this conclusion by first identifying the prototypical experimental procedure of EC research, by next pointing to the potential methodological shortcomings of this prototypical procedure in order to infer associative learning, and by finally demonstrating that when the appropriate controls are added to this prototypical procedure, it becomes clear that apparent EC results represent nothing but an experimental artifact. In this paper, we first demonstrate that what Field and Davey identify as the “prototypical procedure” is, as a matter of fact, the exception rather than the rule in EC research, such that the potential scope of their criticism is rather limited. Next, we show how the results of their own experiment are actually due to an artifact that is not present in any EC study. Finally, we discuss how Field and Davey's criticism of EC research has its roots in a misconception of the appropriate within or between subject controls for Pavlovian associative learning.     

Language and the Social Roots of Conscience: Heidegger's Less Traveled Path

This paper develops a new interpretation of Heidegger's concept of conscience in order to show to what extent his thought establishes the possibility of civil disobedience. The origin of conscience lies in the self's appropriation of language as inviting a reciprocal response of the other (person). By developing the social dimension of dialogue, it is showsn that conscience reveals the self in its capacity for dissent, free speech, and civil disobedience. By developing the social roots of conscience, a completely new light is cast on the political implications of Heidegger's thought.