Of Mice and Men: Natural Kinds of Emotions in the Mammalian Brain? A Response to Panksepp and Izard

ABSTRACT— For almost 5 decades, the scientific study of emotion has been guided by the assumption that categories such as anger, sadness, and fear cut nature at its joints. Barrett (2006a) provided a comprehensive review of the empirical evidence from the study of emotion in humans and concluded that this assumption has outlived its usefulness. Panksepp and Izard have written lengthy papers (published in this issue) containing complementary but largely nonoverlapping criticisms of Barrett (2006a) . In our response, we address three of their concerns. First, we discuss the value of correlational versus experimental studies for evaluating the natural-kind model of emotion and refute the claim that the evidence offered in Barrett (2006a) was merely correlational. Second, we take up the issue of whether or not there is evidence for "coherently organized neural circuits" for natural kinds of emotions in the mammalian brain and counter the claim that Barrett (2006a) ignored crucial evidence for existence of discrete emotions as natural kinds. Third, we address Panksepp and Izard's misconceptions of an alternative view, the conceptual act model of emotion, that was briefly discussed in Barrett (2006a) . Finally, we end the article with some thoughts on how to move the scientific study of emotion beyond the debate over whether or not emotions are natural kinds.     

Juggalos - Whoop! Whoop! A Family or A Gang? A Participant-Observation Study on an FBI Defined ‘Hybrid’ Gang

ABSTRACT

This study examines the Juggalos and their controversial gang designation as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Juggalos are devoted fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse, but law enforcement officials have identified Juggalos as a “hybrid” gang. A participant observation study was conducted in the fall of 2017 during the Juggalo March in Washington D.C. This protest rally was a response to challenge the gang classification and demonstrate to others that Juggalos are “a family and not a gang.” The authors observed Juggalo behaviors that were not consistent with a gang; but rather consistent with the characteristics of identifying a gang, as well as behaviors that were deviant.     

Goodness of fit of trend curves and significance of trend differences

Experimental studies of the successive changes (frequently represented by curves describing laws of learning and other similar functional relationships) in a criterion variable accompanying experimental variations in a given treatment, and experimental comparisons of such changes for different populations or for different treatments, constitute a large and important class of psychological experiments. In most such experiments, no attempt has been made to analyze or to make allowance for errors of sampling or of observation. In many others, the techniques of error analysis that have been employed have been inefficient, inexact, or inappropriate. This paper suggests tests, using the methods of analysis of variance, of certain hypotheses concerning trends and trend differences in sample means obtained in experiments of this general type. For means of successive independent samples, tests are provided of the hypotheses: (H ₁) that there is no trend, or that the trend is a horizontal straight line, (H ₃) that there is a linear trend, (H ₅) that the trend is as described by a line not derived from the observed means, and (H ₇) that the trend is as described by a line fitted to the observed means. Tests are also provided of similar hypotheses (H ₂,H ₄,H ₆, andH ₈, respectively) for means of successive measurements of the same sample. Finally, tests are provided of the null hypotheses that there is no difference in trend in two series of means: (H ₉) when each mean in each series is based on an independent sample, (H ₁₀) when each pair of corresponding means is based on an independent sample, (H ₁₁) when each series of means is based on an independent sample, and (H ₁₂) when both series are based on a single sample.     

An empirical study of the effect of heterogeneous within-groups variance upon certainF-tests of significance in analysis of variance

In the application of the analysis of variance to data obtained in educational methods experiments which involve several classes of several schools, one assumption is that of homogeneity in the variances of pupil scores from school to school. It is shown that such variances on representative educational achievement tests are heterogeneous. The effects of this heterogeneity upon theF-tests of significance commonly employed in methods experiments are investigated by comparing the actual distribution ofF values for a large number of experiments involving marked heterogeneity with a theoretical distribution based on the assumption of homogeneity. Although the findings, which vary somewhat with the type of variance ratio, are not entirely conclusive, they apparently demonstrate that departure from homogeneity does not invalidate the use of the customaryF-tests for evaluating results of the typical methods experiment.