Phenomenal Continuity and the Bridge Problem

Any theory that analyses personal identity in terms of phenomenal continuity needs to deal with the ordinary interruptions of our consciousness that it is commonly thought that a person can survive. This is the bridge problem. The present paper offers a novel solution to the bridge problem based on the proposal that dreamless sleep need not interrupt phenomenal continuity. On this solution one can both hold that phenomenal continuity is necessary for personal identity and that persons can survive dreamless sleep.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFICULTY AND FACTOR LOADINGS OF SOME VISUAL-PERCEPTUAL TESTS

WERDELIN, I. & STJERNBERG, G. The relationship between difficulty and factor loadings of some visual-perceptual tests. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 21–28. – The study aimed at investigating whether it is possible to change factor loadings by varying the difficulty and complexity of the same visual-perceptual tests. 171 sixth grade pupils were given 27 tests. Some of these defined reference factors, others were differently difficult versions of four tests from separate parts of the visual-perceptual field. Data were treated by factor analysis, yielding the four factors R, S, N and P. It was found that the more difficult the test the higher its loadings on the S and R factors, and the easier the test the higher its loadings on the N and particularly the P factor.     

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations. Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.     

Non-branching personal persistence

Philosophical Studies - Given reductionism about people, personal persistence must fundamentally consist in some kind of impersonal continuity relation. Typically, these continuity relations can...     

Directedness and engagement in chimpanzee vocal ontogeny

Directedness and engagement during pre-verbal vocal communication play a major role in language development. What was their role in the evolution of language? This question invites us to examine these behaviours in chimpanzee vocal ontogeny. We collected observational data on infant (N = 15) and juvenile (N = 13) chimpanzees at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, Zambia. We examined the impact of age and vocalization type (grunts, whimpers, laughs and screams) on directed cues (gaze directedness and face directedness) and engagement (mutual face directedness) during vocal communication. We also assessed the impact of directed cues and engagement on social interactions by coding the behaviour of social partners before, during and after a vocalisation, and examining whether they contingently changed their behaviour in response to the vocalisation if it was directed or if engagement occurred. We found that face directed vocalisations showed a general increase during ontogeny and we observed call-type dependent effects of age for mutual face directedness. Only face directed vocalisations were significantly predictive of behavioural responses in social partners. We conclude that like young humans, young chimpanzees routinely exhibit directed behaviours and engagement during vocal communication. This social competency improves during ontogeny and benefits individuals by increasing the chances of eliciting behavioural responses from social partners. Directedness and engagement likely provide a foundation for language phylogenetically, as well as ontogenetically.

Research Highlights

• We show that directedness and engagement routinely occur during early chimpanzee vocalisations.
• Directedness increases throughout chimpanzee vocal ontogeny, similar to human infants.
• Directedness enhances social partner responsiveness, demonstrating a direct benefit to this style of communication.
• Directedness and engagement could provide a route towards language phylogenetically as well as ontogenetically.

     

In Defence of My Favourite Theory

One of the principles on how to act under moral uncertainty, My Favourite Theory, says roughly that a morally conscientious agent chooses an option that is permitted by the most credible moral theory. In defence of this principle, we argue that it prescribes consistent choices over time, without relying on intertheoretic comparisons of value, while its main rivals are either plagued by moral analogues of money pumps or in need of a method for making non‐arbitrary intertheoretic comparisons. We rebut the arguments that have been levelled against My Favourite Theory and offer some arguments against intertheoretic comparisons of value.