Nonhuman rationality: a predictive coding perspective

Cognitive Processing - How can we rethink ‘rationality’ in the wake of animal and artificial intelligence studies? Can nonhuman systems be rational in any nontrivial sense? In this...     

The early Yogācāra theory of no-self

ABSTRACT

I reconstruct early Yogācāra theory of no-self based on works by Asa?ga and Vasubandhu. I introduce the idea of the cognitive schema (CS) of the self, a conception borrowed from the developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget. A fundamental CS is a psychological function that guides the formation of perceptions. I propose that Manas can be understood in terms of being the CS of the self, a psychological mechanism from which perceptions of external objects are formed. In addition, I argue that non-imaginative wisdom can be regarded as an experience during which the CS of the self does not function, such that one only possesses pure sensations without perceptions of external objects. After the repeated experience of non-imaginative wisdom, the CS of the self is changed to the purified CS of no-self. It still supports interactions with the external world, but in a way that does not allow the four afflictions (self-delusion, self-belief, self-conceit, and self-love) to arise.

Abbreviations: MS: Mahāyānasa?graha; TS: Tri??ikā-kārikā; TSN: Trisvabhāvanirde?a; VVS: Vi??atikā Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi     

Multicultural Mastery Scale for youth: multidimensional assessment of culturally mediated coping strategies

Self-mastery refers to problem-focused coping facilitated through personal agency. Communal mastery describes problem solving through an interwoven social network. This study investigates an adaptation of self- and communal mastery measures for youth. Given the important distinction between family and peers in the lives of youth, these adaptation efforts produced Mastery-Family and Mastery-Friends subscales, along with a Mastery-Self subscale. We tested these measures for psychometric properties and internal structure with 284 predominately Yup'ik Eskimo Alaska Native adolescents (12- to 18-year-olds) from rural, remote communities-a non-Western culturally distinct group hypothesized to display higher levels of collectivism and communal mastery. Results demonstrate a subset of items adapted for youth function satisfactorily, a 3-response alternative format provided meaningful information, and the subscale's underlying structure is best described through 3 distinct first-order factors organized under 1 higher order mastery factor.     

The relative influence of conduct problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in the development of adolescent psychopathy

An in depth literature review was conducted into the relative influence of conduct problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in the development of child/adolescent psychopathy. Lynam (1996) wrote that children/adolescents exhibiting behaviors of both were ‘fledgling psychopaths;’ however, recent evidence suggests that if youth with comorbid conduct problems and ADHD exhibit a persistent form of antisocial and/or psychopathic behavior, the cause is primarily due to the levels of conduct problems, not the influence of ADHD. This article looks at the three perspectives regarding the development of psychopathy: (1) Conduct Problem Mediation, (2) the Independent Position, and (3) the Comorbid Subtype. The studies examining the three perspectives found that the Conduct Problem Mediation, not the Comorbid Subtype, was the most important in the development of psychopathy.     

Delinquency in gangs — Selection or socialization?

Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, and Chard-Wierschem's (1993) introduced three models to account for why gangs are associated with high levels of delinquency. Existing research using Thornberry et al.'s (1993) models to explain the gang-delinquency association has been inconclusive. This paper seeks to address this gap in research by incorporating Moffitt's (1993) developmental taxonomy of delinquency within Thornberry et al.'s (1993) explanatory models. A few proposals are put forth in this paper: (1) support for Thornberry et al.'s (1993) models depends on developmental stage of the individual, (2) the selection model explains delinquency of life-course-persistent gang members, while social facilitation model explains delinquency of adolescence-limited gang members, and (3) support for the enhancement model is an artifact of assuming a homogenous gang sample.     

Relative Income and Marital Happiness Among Urban Chinese Women: The Moderating Role of Personal Commitment

Compared with the rich knowledge in the West, studies of the impact of wives’ relative income on marital quality during the fast socioeconomic change period in urban China have surprisingly fallen far behind. This study attempted to examine the impact of relative income on marital happiness among urban Chinese women. Using an urban Beijing sample of 763 married women, this study found that a woman married to a husband with lower income tended to be less happy with her marriage, but this effect will be countered if there is more love in the sense of a genuine concern about the well-being of the partner and a willing to make sacrifice for him. The results were interpreted from theoretical verification and possible mechanisms linking personal commitment and marital happiness.     

Formulation and Application of the Hierarchical Generalized Random-Situation Random-Weight MIRID

The process-component approach has become quite popular for examining many psychological concepts. A typical example is the model with internal restrictions on item difficulty (MIRID) described by Butter (1994) Butter, R. 1994. Item response models with internal restrictions on item difficulty, Doctoral thesis Leuven, , Belgium: Katholieke Universiteit..  [Google Scholar] and Butter, De Boeck, and Verhelst (1998). This study proposes a hierarchical generalized random-situation random-weight MIRID. The proposed model is more flexible for formulating endogenous latent variables within a multilevel framework, allowing the analysis of polytomous data with complex models (e.g., including item discriminations, random situations, random weights, and heteroskedasticity). The parameters in the proposed model can be estimated using the computer program WinBUGS, which adopts Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms. To illustrate the application of the proposed model, a real data set about guilt is analyzed and a comparison of MIRIDs for various conditions is conducted.     

Constructing Confidence Intervals for Effect Size Measures of an Indirect Effect

Confidence intervals for an effect size can provide the information about the magnitude of an effect and its precision as well as the binary decision about the existence of an effect. In this study, the performances of five different methods for constructing confidence intervals for ratio effect size measures of an indirect effect were compared in terms of power, coverage rates, Type I error rates, and widths of confidence intervals. The five methods include the percentile bootstrap method, the bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap method, the delta method, the Fieller method, and the Monte Carlo method. The results were discussed with respect to the adequacy of the distributional assumptions and the nature of ratio quantity. The confidence intervals from the five methods showed similar results for samples of more than 500, whereas, for samples of less than 500, the confidence intervals were sufficiently narrow to convey the information about the population effect sizes only when the effect sizes of regression coefficients defining the indirect effect are large.     

Psychological contracts and innovative behavior: a moderated path analysis of work engagement and job resources

This study explored the relationships between psychological contract types and innovative behavior. We focused on the mediating effect of work engagement and the moderating effect of job resources (organizational and social resources). Participants were 267 dyads of research and development engineers and their supervisors from 30 high‐tech companies. Moderated path analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings showed that: (a) work engagement fully mediated the negative relationship between transactional contracts and innovative behavior; in addition, it also fully mediated the positive relationship between relational contracts and innovative behavior; and (b) job resources attenuated the former and strengthened the latter mediating effects. These findings contribute to understanding how, why, and when psychological contract types lead to innovative behavior via work engagement.