The rhetorician's craft, distinctions in science, and political morality

In his response to Szasz' Secular Humanism and Scientific Psychiatry, the author considers the use of rhetorical devices in Szasz' work, Szasz' avoidance of acknowledging psychiatry's scientific distinctions, and Szaszian libertarianism versus liberalism.     

The cumulative semantic cost does not reflect lexical selection by competition

The cumulative semantic cost describes a phenomenon in which picture naming latencies increase monotonically with each additional within-category item that is named in a sequence of pictures. Here we test whether the cumulative semantic cost requires the assumption of lexical selection by competition. In Experiment 1 participants named a sequence of pictures, while in Experiment 2 participants named words instead of pictures, preceded by a gender marked determiner. We replicate the basic cumulative semantic cost with pictures (Exp. 1) and show that there is no cumulative semantic cost for word targets (Exp. 2). This pattern was replicated in Experiment 3 in which pictures and words were named along with their gender marked definite determiner, and were intermingled within the same experimental design. In addition, Experiment 3 showed that while picture naming induces a cumulative semantic cost for subsequently named words, word naming does not induce a cumulative semantic cost for subsequently named pictures. These findings suggest that the cumulative semantic cost arises prior to lexical selection and that the effect arises due to incremental changes to the connection weights between semantic and lexical representations.     

TEM observation of oxide scale formed on a Ti–Al–Zr alloy oxidized at 360°C in alkaline steam

Ti–Al–Zr alloy has been oxidized at 360°C in alkaline steam at a pressure of 10.3?±?0.7?MPa. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations indicated that the oxide scale of Ti–Al–Zr alloy was composed of outer and inner subscales, in which the outer layer consists of anatase-TiO₂ and the inner layer a mixture of TiO and Ti₂O. The thickness of the Ti₂O, TiO and anatase-TiO₂ were approximately 50, 100 and 400?nm, respectively. These results were confirmed by X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) measurements. The enhanced corrosion of titanium alloys in LiOH solution is attributed to a high hexagonal Ti₂O to tetragonal TiO₂ phase transformation rate induced by the substitution of Li⁺ for Ti⁴⁺ in the oxide layer.     

Effect of aspect ratio on the compressive deformation and fracture behaviour of Zr-based bulk metallic glass

The compressive deformation and fracture features of Zr₅₉Cu₂₀Al₁₀Ni₈Ti₃ bulk metallic glassy samples with aspect ratios in the range of 0.67–2.00 have been investigated. The compressive plastic strain of the glass monotonically increases with decreasing aspect ratio, but the maximum strength almost maintains a constant value of 1.77–1.88?GPa. All the compressive shear-band angles are equal to?～40° if modified by the rotation of the primary shear bands.     

Wear behaviour of a gradient surface produced by a punching process in a Cu-30 Ni alloy

The grain size variation in a gradient surface produced by a punching and recovery process on a Cu-30Ni alloy has been observed by atomic force microscopy. The friction characteristics of the gradient surface in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution were investigated using a micro-indenter probe, a pin-on-disc type tribometer, a strain sensor and an optical microscope. The results showed that the hardness and grain size can be well represented by the Hall–Petch relationship when the gain size is more than 30?nm. The wear rate, friction coefficient and adhesive force all increase depth below the surface. These variations are attributed to a gradual increasing grain size with depth. The morphologies of the worn track were also studied to understand further the corrosive wear behaviour of gradient surfaces.     

Short-term memory and working memory as indices of children's cognitive skills

In the current literature, empirical and conceptual distinctions have been drawn between a more or less passive short-term memory (STM) system and a more dynamic working memory (WM) system. Distinct tasks have been developed to measure their capacity and research has generally shown that, for adults, WM, and not STM, is a reliable predictor of general cognitive ability. However, the locus of the differences between the tasks has received little attention. We present data from children concerning measures of matrices reasoning ability, reading, and numerical skill along with forward and backward order serial recall of WM, STM, and STM with articulatory suppression tasks. As indices of children's cognitive skills, STM and WM are shown to be rather similar in terms of memory per se. Neither the opportunity for rehearsal nor task complexity provides satisfactory explanations for differences between memory tests.     

Mother‐child relationships and creativity

The present study focused on the relationship between young children's level of differentiation and creative potential as assessed by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). The mothers of high and low creative children were interviewed in order to establish the degree to which they encouraged differentiation in their children. Their level of involvement with their children was also evaluated using the Family Relations Test (FRT). Mothers of high creative children were less emotionally involved with their children than other mothers, less likely to be perceived as overprotective, and less likely to deny their feelings of hostility towards them. They were more self‐confident and self‐realized in their homes and had higher occupational levels than other mothers. The present study also assessed the level of differentiation in both creative and uncreative children with the Draw‐a‐Person and Kinetic Family Drawing Tests. Results indicated that highly creative children were more differentiated than uncreative children.     

Discussion: Toward a social‐constructivist view of the psychoanalytic situation

The three papers by Modell, Aron, and Greenberg are discussed in terms of their relationship to a new paradigm for understanding the psychoanalytic situation. The paradigm is called social‐construct‐ivist to capture both the idea of the analyst's participation and the idea of construction of meaning. It is argued that these theorists, as well as many of the authors they cite as part of a broad movement in the field, do not consistently meet the criteria for this paradigm, although they seem to be aiming for it. An important source of inconsistency and confusion derives from the confounding of the two axes: drive‐relational and positivist‐constructivist. Many relational theorists who hold fast to the idea that analysts can grasp the truth of both their own experience and that of the patient are no closer to the constructivist point of view than was Freud. The call by Aron and Greenberg for greater attention to the patient's resisted experience of the analyst's subjectivity is discussed in terms of its potential benefits and problems. The ritualized asymmetry of the psychoanalytic situation is said to have important functions, including prevention of excessive involvement and protection of the unobjectionable positive transference and of a degree of idealization. Modell's notion of paradox, which makes the therapeutic relationship seem “real”; and “unreal”; at the same time, is seen as a special instance of the always precarious social construction of reality. It is argued, moreover, that the social and individual aspects of experience are interdependent. Neither is reducible to the other, and both should be understood, like many other issues in the new paradigm, in terms of a dialectical interplay of figure and ground in experience.     

Response to Slavin: Considering the Evolutionary and Existential Contexts of Dialectical Constructivism

Within his evolutionary framework, Slavin elaborates eloquently on the dialectic of construction of meaning and anticipation of death. Also within that framework he highlights the emergence of the universal dialectic of self-interest and care for others, perhaps finding its most poignant expression in the relation of parents and children. I raise questions about Slavin's attribution of a “sense of loss” to humans who allegedly long for the experience of evolutionarily earlier species, particularly their sense of automatic connectedness and automatic ways of relating to the world free of the burdens of uncertain, self-conscious choice. A longing for earlier states in human development is easier to grasp than a longing for the experience of less advanced species from which humans evolved. Nevertheless, Slavin's views and my own are otherwise deeply compatible, particularly his sense of what emerges as the uniquely human challenge of intersubjective construction of meaning in the context of individual self-interest and in the face of death. Slavin is also emphatic that the pervasiveness of absolute belief systems that preempt awareness of ambiguity, the anxiety of freedom, and the dread of death, does not gainsay their defensive nature. I argue, in accord with Altman, Butler, and others, that denial of death may promote dissipation of communal sensibility and replacement of it in a capitalist world (and perhaps others as well) with destructive splitting and fetishistic, competitive pursuit of money and power.