Quantifying Inner Experience?—Kant's Mathematical Principles in the Context of Empirical Psychology

This paper shows why Kant's critique of empirical psychology should not be read as a scathing criticism of quantitative scientific psychology, but has valuable lessons to teach in support of it. By analysing Kant's alleged objections in the light of his critical theory of cognition, it provides a fresh look at the problem of quantifying first‐person experiences, such as emotions and sense‐perceptions. An in‐depth discussion of applying the mathematical principles, which are defined in the Critique of Pure Reason as the constitutive conditions for mathematical‐numerical experience in general, to inner sense will demonstrate why it is in principle possible to justify a quantitative structure of psychological judgments on the grounds of Kant's critical thinking. In conclusion, it will propose how Kant's critique could be used in a constructive way to develop first steps towards a transcendental foundation of psychological knowledge.     

D-optimal design for the Rasch counts model with multiple binary predictors

In this paper we derive optimal designs for the Rasch Poisson counts model and its extended version of the (generalized) negative binomial counts model incorporating several binary predictors for the difficulty parameter. To efficiently estimate the regression coefficients of the predictors, locally D-optimal designs are developed. After an introduction to the Rasch Poisson counts model and its extension, we will specify these models as particular generalized linear models. Based on this embedding, optimal designs for both models including several binary explanatory variables will be presented. Therefore, we will derive conditions on the effect sizes for certain designs to be locally D-optimal. Finally, it is pointed out that the results derived for the Rasch Poisson models can be applied for more general Poisson regression models which should receive more attention in future psychological research.     

How are employees at different levels affected by privatization? A longitudinal study of two Swedish hospitals

Despite the amount of privatizations around the world in recent decades, only limited research attention has been paid to how privatization affects the employees. The effects are likely to vary depending on the individual's position in the organization. The aim of this study was to investigate how employees' work‐related attitudes and strain changed after privatization of a Swedish acute care hospital, and to analyze whether the effects of privatization differed between employees at various hierarchic levels. Questionnaire data collected at a hospital 1 year before and 2 years after privatization, as well as at a hospital which remained a public administration unit, suggest only limited effects of privatization on a general level, but that employees at various hierarchic levels may be affected differently. While employees at a high level (physicians) and low level (assistant nurses) reported only marginal differences over time in work attitudes and strain, also in comparison with their colleagues at the comparison hospital, work attitudes of employees at the intermediate level (registered nurses) decreased after privatization. These results emphasize the importance of taking hierarchic level into account when a privatization is implemented and analyzed.     

Mindestanforderungen für Schuldfähigkeitsgutachten*

Ohne Zusammenfassung Wegen der besonderen Bedeutung für die Bemühungen um die Qualit?tssicherung in den forensischen Disziplinen wird der folgende Artikel, entstanden aus einer interdisziplin?ren Diskussion am BGH, hier nochmals den Fachkollegen zur Kenntnis gegeben. H. Sa? * bereits 2005 erschienen in NStZ 25:57–62     

Judging the animacy of words: The influence of typicality and age of acquisition in a semantic decision task

The age at which members of a semantic category are learned (age of acquisition), the typicality they demonstrate within their corresponding category, and the semantic domain to which they belong (living, non-living) are known to influence the speed and accuracy of lexical/semantic processing. So far, only a few studies have looked at the origin of age of acquisition and its interdependence with typicality and semantic domain within the same experimental design. Twenty adult participants performed an animacy decision task in which nouns were classified according to their semantic domain as being living or non-living. Response times were influenced by the independent main effects of each parameter: typicality, age of acquisition, semantic domain, and frequency. However, there were no interactions. The results are discussed with respect to recent models concerning the origin of age of acquisition effects.     

Foot Without Achilles’ Heel

Philosophia - It is often assumed that neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics postulates an obligation to be a good human being and that it derives further obligations from this idea. The paper argues that...     

Distributing mathematical practice of third and seventh graders: Applicability of the spacing effect in the classroom

We examined the effect of distributed practice on the mathematical performance of third and seventh graders (N = 213) in school. Students first received an introduction to a mathematical topic, derived from their curriculum. Thereafter, they practiced in one of two conditions. In the massed condition, they worked on three practice sets in 1 day. In the distributed condition, they worked on one practice set per day for 3 consecutive days. Bayesian analyses of the performance in two follow‐up tests 1 and 6 weeks after the last practice set revealed a positive effect of distributed practice as compared with massed practice in Grade 7. In Grade 3, a positive effect of distributed practice was supported by the data only in the test 1 week after the last practice set. The results suggest that distributed practice is a powerful learning tool for both elementary and secondary school students in the classroom.     

Latent Classes of Dysregulated Behaviors Relate to Negative Mental Images

Dysregulated behaviors (DBs), such as self-harm or binge eating, are related to various negative outcomes. In this study, we investigate how classes of individuals vary in their level of DBs. We compare the classes with regards to their experiences regarding negative mental images and emotion regulation strategies. A web-based survey assessed eleven DBs in a sample of N=912 adults. A latent class analysis (LCA) identified a class of 168 adults that were prone to various DBs (“high(DBs)”). Another class (n?=?46) reported drunkenness and risks for drug use and overeating (“high(Intake)”). The majority of individuals (n?=?698) featured a low rate of DBs (“low(DBs)”). The high(DBs) exhibited the highest scores in distressing imagery and maladaptive emotion regulation. The high(Intake) had a low overall profile; however, it displayed increased imagery nowness. Class differences were leveled by depressive symptoms. The findings help extend the knowledge on DBs and their correlates. Clinical implications are discussed.     

How Fragile Is Conditional Cooperation? A Field Experiment with Smartphones during the 2014 Soccer World Cup

We conducted an experiment in a highly cooperative environment to find out how a disruption, similar to a broken window, affects behavior. A centipede game was framed as a game of soccer and run with smartphones during a soccer public viewing event, that is, a Bavarian beer garden with a large screen displaying a soccer game. We provided some subjects with information that was supportive to cooperation and others with disruptive information, aimed at inducing a broken window effect. The disruption reduced the willingness to cooperate at the final stage of the game. But expectations regarding teammates remained unaffected such that cooperation at earlier stages remained high. Cooperation is thus not as fragile as one might fear. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.