Just how controversial is evidential holism?

This paper is an examination of evidential holism, a prominent position in epistemology and the philosophy of science which claims that experiments only ever confirm or refute entire theories. The position is historically associated with W.V. Quine, and it is at once both popular and notorious, as well as being largely under-described. But even though there’s no univocal statement of what holism is or what it does, philosophers have nevertheless made substantial assumptions about its content and its truth. Moreover they have drawn controversial and important conclusions from these assumptions. In this paper I distinguish three types of evidential holism and argue that the most oft-cited and controversial thesis is entirely unmotivated. The other two theses are much overlooked, but are well-motivated and free from controversial implications.     

Vigilance and Avoidance of Threat in the Eye Movements of Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder

The vigilance-avoidance attention pattern is found in anxious adults, who initially gaze more at threatening pictures than nonanxious adults (vigilance), but subsequently gaze less at them than nonanxious adults (avoidance). The present research, using eye tracking methodology, tested whether anxious children show the same pattern. Children with separation anxiety disorder or no mental disorder viewed pairs of pictures, while the direction of their gaze was tracked. Each picture pair showed one picture of a woman separating from a child, the other picture of a woman reuniting with a child. The results supported the vigilance-avoidance model in children. Although the two groups’ gaze direction did not differ during the first second of viewing, anxious children gazed significantly more at separating (threatening) pictures than nonanxious children after a period of 1 s. But after 3 s the pattern reversed: anxious children gazed significantly less at the separating pictures than nonanxious children.     

Editors’ Overview: Topics in the Responsible Management of Research Data

Responsible data management is a multifaceted topic involving standards within the research community regarding research design and the sharing of data as well as the collection, selection, analysis and interpretation of data. Transparency in the manipulation of images is increasingly important in order to avoid misrepresentation of research findings, and research oversight is also critical in helping to assure the integrity of the research process. Intellectual property issues both unite and divide academe and industry in their approaches to data management. Central to the realization and promulgation of responsible data management is clear and careful communication of standards and expectations within the research community to trainees as well as among colleagues. These topics are examined and explored in depth in a special issue of Science and Engineering Ethics on responsible data management.     

Ireland’s economic crisis and austerity: the response of the Irish Catholic Bishops

The Irish Roman Catholic Church has been a dominant institution in Irish society for generations but this dominance has declined in recent decades due to modernisation and secularisation. Since the mid-1990s, the Church has been rocked by scandals of clerical and religious sex abuse of children, which has had a negative impact on its moral standing in Irish society. As a result of the economic crash in 2008, a programme of severe austerity was introduced by the Irish government. In this article, the response of the Irish Catholic Bishops to the recession and austerity measures is assessed through the analysis of their public statements which are available through the news archive of the Irish Bishops’ Conference. The findings show that the Bishops did criticise the socio-economic policies of the Irish government but this was limited due to a range of institutional barriers.     

The Daily Grind: A Rhizomatic Approach to Narratives of Managing Commuter Stress During Traffic Congestion in Metro Manila

Robust literature on commuter stress has shown the multiple impact of daily commuting in people's lives. Framed within a rhizomatic approach to narratives, we analyzed stories of 11 working and 9 student Filipino commuters by looking at the ways they act on or reconstruct themselves to manage stress. In urban Metro Manila, our findings showed three narrative “stress entryways”: getting caught by the wave, seating privileges, and stuck in transit. Theoretical and practical implications of findings on commuter well-being (e.g., keeping emotions in, releasing tensions), technologies of the “fit” commuter, and enriching conversations in traffic psychology and urban living are discussed.     

Remapping the cognitive and neural profiles of children who struggle at school

Our understanding of learning difficulties largely comes from children with specific diagnoses or individuals selected from community/clinical samples according to strict inclusion criteria. Applying strict exclusionary criteria overemphasizes within group homogeneity and between group differences, and fails to capture comorbidity. Here, we identify cognitive profiles in a large heterogeneous sample of struggling learners, using unsupervised machine learning in the form of an artificial neural network. Children were referred to the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM) by health and education professionals, irrespective of diagnosis or comorbidity, for problems in attention, memory, language, or poor school progress (n = 530). Children completed a battery of cognitive and learning assessments, underwent a structural MRI scan, and their parents completed behavior questionnaires. Within the network we could identify four groups of children: (a) children with broad cognitive difficulties, and severe reading, spelling and maths problems; (b) children with age‐typical cognitive abilities and learning profiles; (c) children with working memory problems; and (d) children with phonological difficulties. Despite their contrasting cognitive profiles, the learning profiles for the latter two groups did not differ: both were around 1 SD below age‐expected levels on all learning measures. Importantly a child's cognitive profile was not predicted by diagnosis or referral reason. We also constructed whole‐brain structural connectomes for children from these four groupings (n = 184), alongside an additional group of typically developing children (n = 36), and identified distinct patterns of brain organization for each group. This study represents a novel move toward identifying data‐driven neurocognitive dimensions underlying learning‐related difficulties in a representative sample of poor learners.     

Disease Rarity,Carrier Status,and Gender: A Triple Disadvantage for Women with Fabry Disease

Fabry disease is a multi-systemic X-linked genetic disorder which has progressive and deadly consequences for those it afflicts. Fabry disease symptoms are widely recognized as a substantive burden for affected males. In comparison, female heterozygotes have traditionally been viewed as relatively symptom-free, though a debate continues about whether and how much they suffer with the disease. Previous research suggests that females with Fabry disease may be triply disadvantaged in healthcare settings owing to: (1) disease rarity, (2) devalued carrier status, and (3) gender. The combined effects of these three factors suggest that female heterozygotes may suffer substantially with Fabry disease symptoms. A qualitative analysis of a brief disease-specific questionnaire provides supportive evidence. The female Fabry disease participants described experiencing significant symptoms that interfered with their lives. They also described unsatisfying experiences with healthcare professionals related to disease rarity, carrier status, and gender. The results of this study corroborate the suggestion that this triple disadvantage exists and may preclude appropriate management and treatment of females with Fabry disease. The role of healthcare professionals, including genetic counselors, in remedying this disadvantage is reviewed.     

Research into the organisation,training and effectiveness of counsellors who work for free

The activities of voluntary or ‘paraprofessional’ counsellors, who work for free, represent a highly significant component of the delivery of psychological therapy in Britain and other countries. However, in recent years there has been relatively little published research into issues associated with the provision of service by counsellors who work on a voluntary part‐time basis, and who typically receive limited training and supervision. This paper introduces a special theme section on counselling in the voluntary sector, which highlights some recent examples of research into the context, organisation, training and effectiveness of such counsellors. Some suggestions are made concerning the research agenda for counselling in the voluntary sector.     

Online Data Collection: Strategies for Research

Online data collection, through e‐mail and Web‐based surveys, is becoming an increasingly popular research methodology. In this article, the authors outline the benefits and limitations of this type of data collection to help researchers determine whether their data could be collected online in a way that retains the integrity of the data. A detailed procedure, including strategies to manage limitations, is given for researchers wishing to conduct their own online surveys.