Kripke and materialism

Philosophical Studies -     

A review of professor mommy: finding work–family balance in academia

Rachel Connelly & Kristin Ghodsee. (2011). Professor Mommy: Finding Work–Family Balance in Academia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. 232 pages, $25.95 List. ISBN: 978‐1442208582.     

To discover or to create: metaphors and the true self

Three studies examined how endorsement of self‐discovery and self‐creation metaphors influences belief in the true self and its use as meaning source. It was hypothesized that discovery metaphors contribute to belief in the true self and bolster the relationship between true self‐knowledge and meaning. Study 1 supported the hypothesis that discovery is positively associated with belief in the true self among a sample of college students (N = 311). Studies 2 and 3 extended the analysis by showing that the discovery metaphor also facilitates perceptions of meaning and the use of the true self specifically as a source of meaning in a second sample of college students (N = 75) as well as an adult sample of university employees (N = 173). Implications for understanding what enables the true self to infuse life with meaning, as well as an individual differences approach to metaphoric cognition, are discussed.     

Intentional inferences are not more likely than unintentional ones: some evidence against the intentionality bias hypothesis

We conducted a study to test the hypothesis that inferences about intentionality are biased toward an intentional interpretation. Contrary to previous research, participants were no more likely to judge ambiguous actions as intentional in a speeded compared to an unspeeded condition. Further, participants were faster to respond and more consistent in responding to unintentional rather than intentional actions.     

An experimental investigation of physical education teachers’ and coaches’ reactions to weight-based victimization in youth

Objectives

Overweight youth are frequent targets of weight-based victimization during Physical Education (PE) and sports. In addition, previous research indicates that teachers’ perceptions and expectations may influence their likelihood of intervening during victimization, and physical educators may endorse biased perceptions and expectations of overweight youth. Despite this evidence, no research has examined how physical educators respond to weight-based victimization of their students. Thus, the current study examined PE teachers’ and coaches’ responses to different types of victimization involving average weight and overweight students.

Design

This study utilized an experimental design that assessed participants’ reactions to situations of weight-related victimization using hypothetical scenarios accompanied by photographs of youth.

Methods

PE teachers and sport coaches (N = 162) were randomly presented with a scenario and follow-up questions about an average weight or an overweight student. Each participant completed two conditions: one with a male target, and one with a female target.

Results

Participants were more likely to take action when overweight female students were victims of bullying, specifically in situations of verbal and relational victimization. Male participants were less likely to respond to victimization than female participants.

Conclusions

Findings suggest the importance of increasing awareness about weight-based victimization and its consequences, especially among male physical educators. Implications for the psychological, social, and physical development of overweight youth are discussed.     

MorePower 6.0 for ANOVA with relational confidence intervals and Bayesian analysis

MorePower 6.0 is a flexible freeware statistical calculator that computes sample size, effect size, and power statistics for factorial ANOVA designs. It also calculates relational confidence intervals for ANOVA effects based on formulas from Jarmasz and Hollands (Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 63:124–138, 2009), as well as Bayesian posterior probabilities for the null and alternative hypotheses based on formulas in Masson (Behavior Research Methods 43:679–690, 2011). The program is unique in affording direct comparison of these three approaches to the interpretation of ANOVA tests. Its high numerical precision and ability to work with complex ANOVA designs could facilitate researchers’ attention to issues of statistical power, Bayesian analysis, and the use of confidence intervals for data interpretation. MorePower 6.0 is available at https://wiki.usask.ca/pages/viewpageattachments.action?pageId=420413544.     

Can we modify maladaptive attributions for fatigue?

Research has shown that those with insomnia focus primarily on their sleep as a cause of daytime fatigue rather than the multitude of other possible causes of fatigue. This can create sleep-related anxiety and further perpetuate the sleep disturbance. In order to lessen the increased focus on sleep, the present study investigated whether people could learn to consider other attributions for fatigue via an information-based manipulation. Undergraduate students (N = 88) were randomized to two information groups: They either received information about common factors that could explain daytime fatigue (the fatigue information condition) or received generic sleep-related information (the control condition). Each group was tested pre- and post-intervention. Fatigue information participants were significantly more likely to consider non-sleep-related attributions for fatigue at post-intervention, relative to control participants. These results demonstrate that attributions for fatigue may be amenable to change via an information-based intervention; thus, this research explores a preliminary step toward investigating refinements to insomnia treatments.     

Identifying the mechanisms underpinning recognition of structured sequences of action

We present three experiments to identify the specific information sources that skilled participants use to make recognition judgements when presented with dynamic, structured stimuli. A group of less skilled participants acted as controls. In all experiments, participants were presented with filmed stimuli containing structured action sequences. In a subsequent recognition phase, participants were presented with new and previously seen stimuli and were required to make judgements as to whether or not each sequence had been presented earlier (or were edited versions of earlier sequences). In Experiment 1, skilled participants demonstrated superior sensitivity in recognition when viewing dynamic clips compared with static images and clips where the frames were presented in a nonsequential, randomized manner, implicating the importance of motion information when identifying familiar or unfamiliar sequences. In Experiment 2, we presented normal and mirror-reversed sequences in order to distort access to absolute motion information. Skilled participants demonstrated superior recognition sensitivity, but no significant differences were observed across viewing conditions, leading to the suggestion that skilled participants are more likely to extract relative rather than absolute motion when making such judgements. In Experiment 3, we manipulated relative motion information by occluding several display features for the duration of each film sequence. A significant decrement in performance was reported when centrally located features were occluded compared to those located in more peripheral positions. Findings indicate that skilled participants are particularly sensitive to relative motion information when attempting to identify familiarity in dynamic, visual displays involving interaction between numerous features.     

Semantic alignment and number comparison

Are the quantity representations activated by Arabic digits influenced by semantic context? We developed a novel paradigm to examine semantic alignment effects (e.g., Bassok et al. in J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 34:343–352, 2008) in number comparison. A horizontal word pair (either less more or few many) appeared for 480 ms to prime either relative magnitude (less more) or quantity (few many). Then a horizontal pair of single digits that were either successors (near) or differed by at least four (far) appeared above the word pair. Participants indicated verbally whether or not the word and digit pairs were congruent with respect to left-to-right ascending or descending relative magnitude. The RT advantage for far number pairs compared to near pairs (the distance effect) was greater with magnitude primes (81 ms) than quantity primes (17 ms), demonstrating a semantic alignment effect. This effect disappeared in Experiment 2 in which participants received identical stimuli but named the larger of the two digits and were free to ignore the primes. Nonetheless, mean RT in Experiment 2 was faster with prime and target pairs both ascending or both descending, but only with quantity primes. This prime-dependent order-congruity effect suggests that semantic alignment with respect to numerical order affected number comparison in Experiment 2. The results thereby demonstrate that number comparison exhibits task-dependent semantic alignment effects and recruits distinct numerical representations as a function of semantic context (e.g., Cohen Kadosh and Walsh in Behav Brain Sci 32:313–373, 2009).