DU DEDANS AU DEHORS: TRANSFORMATION DE LA POSSESSION-MALADIE EN POSSESSION RITUELLE

The conjunction of possession and sacrifice in the same therapeutic ritual evidences a paradox in that the spirit or divinity to whom the sacrifice is made is being embodied by the sacrificer whose aim it is to expel this spirit from the patient's body. The ritual process by which the Wolof of Senegal solve this paradox is described and analyzed. In the ritual, the internal and inclusive relationship with an anonymous rab (a body-within-a-body) is transformed into an external and exclusive relationship with a named rab (a body-to-a-body). The conversion of the possession-as-illness into a ritual possession entails both a spatial and temporal inversion of the bodily symptom-symbol. The diffusely and continuously acting agency from the inside is and must become an external agency of circumscribed and recurrent action. The patient's temporary decoration with internal parts of the immolated animal (such as a cap made of the paunch or peritoneum, a necklace or tulband of intestines, or anointing with blood) - typical of the initiatory sacrifices in many ‘possession-cults’ - acts as the symbolic operator of this inversion, i.e., of the amoeboid eversion of the body of the possessed. The analysis of some comparative data suggests that the metonymic assimilation between the possessed and the sacrificed is only a ritual artifact linked to the above-mentioned paradox. The cultic possession, which necessarily entails the reproduction of the ritual trance, is a specific form of the sacrificial mode of thinking and practice. The time and periodicity of the trance and of the sacrifice are comparable. Possession can be analyzed as a metonymic figuration of the sacrifice in that it re-inserts the bodily experience within the sacrificial communication. Possession gives bodily form to the symbolic efficacy and is, therefore, frequently associated with therapy.     

ÉTUDE INTERCULTURELLE DES PRÉFÉRENCES MUSICALES

The question of socio-cultural relativism or universalism in aesthetic judgment is dealt with in a cross-cultural study of musical preferences. Four groups of subjects were compared: Japanese expert musicians, French professional musicians, French students in music and French non-musician students. Their task was to state their preference for one of the elements in ten pairs of excerpts of traditional Japanese music, representing three levels of complexity (Koto, Trio, Gagaku). In addition, the subjects were asked to give a general appreciation of the three styles. The analysis of the preferences was performed in three ways: intra-group and inter-groups variabilities were computed as well as the variability due to the musical style. The results can be summarized as follows: as far as a group judgment is possible in one or another culture (intra-group agreement), the preferences of two culturally different groups do not contrast as long as the judgment concerns rather simple objects; the degree of inter-cultural agreement, far from increasing with musical competence, decreases. On the other hand, the judgments of more complex pieces show an agreement only in groups with musical skill and, in this case, the preference of Japanese and French musicians are contrasting. Finally, it is pointed out that a minimal attractiveness of the material presented is necessary to obtain from the subjects valid comparisons instead of artificial.     

Memory-conjunction errors: Miscombination of stored stimulus features can produce illusions of memory

We demonstrate that subjects will often claim to have previously seen a new stimulus if they have previously seen stimuli containing its component features. Memory for studied stimuli was measured using a "yes"/"no" recognition test. There were three types of test stimuli: target stimuli, which had been presented during study, conjunction stimuli, constructed by combining the features of separate study stimuli, and feature stimuli, in which studied stimulus features were combined with new, unstudied, features. For both nonsense words and faces, the subjects made many more false alarms for conjunction than for feature stimuli. Additional experiments demonstrated that the results were not due to physical similarity between study and test stimuli and that conjunction errors were much more common than feature errors in recall. The results demonstrate that features of stored stimuli maintain some independence in memory and can be incorrectly combined to produce recognition errors.     

CUE COMPETITION EFFECTS:

Abstract— The ability to predict future consequences on the basis of previous experience with the current yet of environmental cues is one of the most fundamental of all cognitive processes. Thix sttidv investigated how the validity of one cue influences the effectiveness of another cue for predicting a criterion. The results demonstrate a cue competition effect—increasing the validity of one cue decreased the effectiveness of another cue in a linear prediction task, even though the two cues were statistically independent.     

Mathematical statistics and metastatistical analysis

This paper deals with meta-statistical questions concerning frequentist statistics. In Sections 2 to 4 I analyse the dispute between Fisher and Neyman on the so called logic of statistical inference, a polemic that has been concomitant of the development of mathematical statistics. My conclusion is that, whenever mathematical statistics makes it possible to draw inferences, it only uses deductive reasoning. Therefore I reject Fisher's inductive approach to the statistical estimation theory and adhere to Neyman's deductive one. On the other hand, I assert that Neyman-Pearson's testing theory, as well as Fisher's tests of significance, properly belong to decision theory, not to logic, neither deductive nor inductive. I then also disagree with Costantini's view of Fisher's testing model as a theory of hypothetico-deductive inferences.In Section 5 I disapprove Hacking₁'s evidentialists criticisms of the Neyman-Pearson's theory of statistics (NPT), as well as Hacking₂'s interpretation of NPT as a theory of probable inference. In both cases Hacking misses the point. I conclude, by claiming that Mayo's conception of the Neyman-Pearson's testing theory, as a model of learning from experience, does not purport any advantages over Neyman's behavioristic model.     

Emotions as indeterminate justifiers

Synthese - Sentimentalists believe that values are crucially dependent on emotions. Epistemic sentimentalists subscribe to what I call the final-court-of-appeal view: emotional experience is...     

Allies Against Sexism: The Impact of Men’s Egalitarian Versus Paternalistic Confrontation on Women’s Empowerment and Well-Being

Sex Roles - Men as advantaged group members can be involved in actions against inequality. But how do women experience men’s confrontation of sexism? We examine how women perceive men’s...     

Parental Physical Illnesses and Their Association with Subsequent Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms in Children

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parental physical illnesses can be stressful for children. We estimated the prevalence of children who experience parental physical illnesses, and whether...