International Union of History and Philosophy of Science Division of Logic,Methodology and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS/DLMPS)

International Union of History and Philosophy of Science Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS/DLMPS)Bulletin no. 16     

Children's voluntary exploration and preference for tactually presented nonsense shapes differing in complexity

This study represents an extension of research on children's response to nonsense shapes varying in complexity to the tactual modality. Wooden cut-out shapes varying in number of turns from 3 to 40 were presented to children at Grades I, III, and VI, both for voluntary haptic exploration, and for preference choices. Both of these measures yielded monotonically increasing functions in the oldest group, while the youngest showed a similar but much flatter gradient for exploration times, and an inverted-U shaped preference function; data for the Third Grade subjects were in both cases intermediate. Supplementary data based on an analysis of preference choice latencies for stimulus pairs of adjacent levels of complexity, as well as on ratings of subject's mode of exploration of the stimuli under both response sets showed a marked shift from a predominantly passive to an increasingly active mode of exploration. These results are related to the age differences for the exploration-time and preference data, and discussed in relation to Schachtel's differentiation between allocentric and autocentric modes of perception.     

Carnap's inductive probabilities as a contribution to decision theory

Common probability theories only allow the deduction of probabilities by using previously known or presupposed probabilities. They do not, however, allow the derivation of probabilities from observed data alone. The question thus arises as to how probabilities in the empirical sciences, especially in medicine, may be arrived at. Carnap hoped to be able to answer this question byhis theory of inductive probabilities. In the first four sections of the present paper the above mentioned problem is discussed in general. After a short presentation of Carnap's theory it is then shown that this theory cannot claim validity for arbitrary random processes. It is suggested that the theory be only applied to binomial and multinomial experiments. By application of de Finetti's theorem Carnap's inductive probabilities are interpreted as consecutive probabilities of the Bayesian kind. Through the introduction of a new axiom the decision parameter λ can be determined even if no a priori knowledge is given. Finally, it is demonstrated that the fundamental problem of Wald's decision theory, i.e., the determination of a plausible criterion where no a priori knowledge is available, can be solved for the cases of binomial and multinomial experiments.     

Psychosis in German prisoners: Comparison of the clinical appearance of psychotic disorder of an imprisoned population with a not detained community group

Surveys confirm risk factors for the incarceration of patients with psychosis including homelessness and comorbidity. There is also agreement that severe psychosis can lead to violence. Data describing prisoners with psychosis in Germany are scarce. We aimed to compare patients with psychosis in a prison hospital and patients with psychosis in a community hospital. Demographic data were collected, as well as comorbidity in the form of substance dependence and a psychiatric assessment using the German version of the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). In the prison hospital group more patients were homeless (17 versus 2%) and non-German (36 versus 4%). There were also more patients with substance dependence or abuse in the prison hospital group. The total scores of BPRS and PANSS were lower in the prison hospital group (BPRS, 43.8 versus 51.2; PANSS, 71.5 versus 83.7). We assume that social disintegration for mentally disturbed offenders prior to incarceration hindered effective treatment. To avoid further social disintegration and possible further deterioration of mental health status of released offenders, which may lead to reoffending after imprisonment, discharge management after release from prison should be improved.     

A comparison of the common-sense and ‘scientific’ conceptions of extroversion—introversion

From research on the organization of implicit personality theory, and on the fakability of psychometrically sophisticated scales a general argument about the conceptual overlap between implicit personality theory and ‘scientific’ theories of personality is developed. This is tested in the case of the common-sense conception of extroversion—introversion, and that of Eysenck. The convergent validity of these two conceptions are found to be high enough to support the argument. The implications of the argument are discussed in relation to the correspondences between implicit personality theory and personality theory, and the functions of personality theory in psychology and implicit personality theory in everyday life.     

What determines the detection of changes in motion velocity? A comment on Dzhafarov,Sekuler, and Allik (1993)

We comment on a recent model aimed at explaining data on speed of reaction to motion onset and to changes in motion velocity. The model is based on calculating the running variance of the stimulus positions passed during the motion. We show that although the model is successful in explaining data on motion onset and suprathreshold velocity changes, it may not be able to explain data on time of reaction to changes in velocity when these are near the detection threshold.     

Exerting Self‐Control ≠ Sacrificing Pleasure

Self‐control is a prominent topic in consumer research, where it is often conceptualized as the abstinence from hedonic consumption. We examine whether this conceptualization accurately captures consumers’ experiences of self‐control conflicts/failures in light of seminal self‐control theories in economics and psychology. Rejecting that notion, we argue that self‐control failures are choices in violation of superordinate long‐term goals accompanied by anticipated regret, rather than choices of hedonic over utilitarian consumption. This conceptualization has important methodological, theoretical, and practical implications. Methodologically, it highlights the need for experimental paradigms with higher construct validity. Theoretically, it helps elucidate how self‐control is distinct from impatience and self‐regulation. Practically, it provides a rich set of implications for deducing interventions on the individual and public policy level to help consumers exert self‐control.     

The focus of attention in working memory: Evidence from a word updating task

Three experiments examined the cognitive costs of item switching within working memory with a novel word updating task, thereby extending previous research to the field of linguistic stimuli and linguistic-graphemic updating operations. In Experiments 1 and 2 costs for switching between working memory items were evident on the word level, and they increased with an increasing word set size (Experiment 2). In contrast, a surprisingly similar switch effect on the level of letters was not affected by word set size (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 showed that this effect is not simply based on the need for re-orienting visual spatial attention. To account for the overall picture of results, a recursive model of attentional foci is proposed. Moreover, individual working memory span appears to be associated with the accuracy of item switching, but not with its speed.