Wittgenstein and Friendship

In his article “It's a Wonderful Life,” Ronald Hall connects Wittgenstein's last words with Frank Capra's 1946 film. His analysis focuses on the concept of wonder, but he misses one of the most important aspects of both the film and Wittgenstein's last words: the significance of friendship. This is philosophically (and biographically) important because it raises questions about aspect‐seeing, friendship and everyday life. Wittgenstein's final words provide a striking example of the philosophical complexity of his life and work.     

Item response theory analyses of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System card sorting subtest

In the current study, we examined the dimensionality of the 16-item Card Sorting subtest of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Functioning System assessment in a sample of 264 native English-speaking children between the ages of 9 and 15 years. We also tested for measurement invariance for these items across age and gender groups using item response theory (IRT). Results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that a two-factor model that distinguished between verbal and perceptual items provided the best fit to the data. Although the items demonstrated measurement invariance across age groups, measurement invariance was violated for gender groups, with two items demonstrating differential item functioning for males and females. Multigroup analysis using all 16 items indicated that the items were more effective for individuals whose IRT scale scores were relatively high. A single-group explanatory IRT model using 14 non-differential item functioning items showed that for perceptual ability, females scored higher than males and that scores increased with age for both males and females; for verbal ability, the observed increase in scores across age differed for males and females. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Capuchins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>) fail to show an asymmetric dominance effect

The asymmetric dominance effect (ADE) occurs when the introduction of a partially dominated decoy option increases the choice share of its dominating alternative. The ADE is a violation of regularity and the constant-ratio rule, which are two derivations of the independence of irrelevant alternatives axiom, a core tenant of rational choice. The ADE is one of the most widely reported human choice phenomena, leading researchers to probe its origins by studying a variety of non-human species. We examined the ADE in brown capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella), a species that displays many other decision biases. In Experiment 1, we used a touchscreen method to elicit choice-based preferences for food rewards in asymmetrically dominated choice sets. In Experiments 2 and 3, we distinguished between different types of judgments and used a free selection task to elicit consumption-based preferences for juice rewards. However, we found no evidence for the ADE through violations of regularity or the constant-ratio rule, despite the similarity of our stimuli to other human and non-human experiments. While these results appear to conflict with existing literature on the ADE in non-human species, we point out methodological differences—notably, the distinction between value-based and perception-based stimuli—that have led to a collection of phenomena that are difficult to understand under a unitary theoretical framework. In particular, we highlight key differences between the human and non-human research and provide a series of steps that researchers could take to better understand the ADE.     

Are parrots poor at motor self-regulation or is the cylinder task poor at measuring it?

The ability to inhibit unproductive motor responses triggered by salient stimuli is a fundamental inhibitory skill. Such motor self-regulation is thought to underlie more complex cognitive mechanisms, like self-control. Recently, a large-scale study, comparing 36 species, found that absolute brain size best predicted competence in motor inhibition, with great apes as the best performers. This was challenged when three Corvus species (corvids) were found to parallel great apes despite having much smaller absolute brain sizes. However, new analyses suggest that it is the number of pallial neurons, and not absolute brain size per se, that correlates with levels of motor inhibition. Both studies used the cylinder task, a detour-reaching test where food is presented behind a transparent barrier. We tested four species from the order Psittaciformes (parrots) on this task. Like corvids, many parrots have relatively large brains, high numbers of pallial neurons, and solve challenging cognitive tasks. Nonetheless, parrots performed markedly worse than the Corvus species in the cylinder task and exhibited strong learning effects in performance and response times. Our results suggest either that parrots are poor at controlling their motor impulses, and hence that pallial neuronal numbers do not always correlate with such skills, or that the widely used cylinder task may not be a good measure of motor inhibition.     

Social connection and social networking: Daily conflict increases nightly Facebook use among avoidant participants

Using a daily diary methodology we explored whether attachment style predicted evening Facebook use and whether this effect was moderated by daily interpersonal conflict. High anxiety participants reported spending significantly more time on Facebook at night, regardless of daily conflict. Conversely, participants high in avoidance only reported increased time on Facebook on nights following days of more (vs. less) conflict. Daily conflict did not influence time spent in face-to-face interactions for avoidant participants. Interestingly, increased time on Facebook led to lower self-esteem next day , but increased time in face-to-face interactions led to higher self-esteem. Results suggest people high in avoidance use Facebook as an indirect way to seek connection following conflict, but, ironically, Facebook fails to fulfill avoidant’s belongingness needs.     

School-Based Mental Health Services: Definitions and Models of Effective Practice

ABSTRACT

School-based mental health services are those delivered by school-employed and community-employed providers in school buildings. With the implementation of provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) that funds school-based health centers, school-based mental health services could become more broadly available in communities throughout the United States. Playing a pivotal role in promoting models for school-based services that maximize benefits to children and adolescents while making efficient use of communities' mental health resources are school psychologists. School psychologists, who recognize and respect the separated development of school and community mental health professions, can foster school–agency partnerships to coordinate children's mental health services that are comprehensive, child centered, family focused, and culturally competent. In this article, we provide three case examples using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model (B. K. Nastasi, R. B. Moore, & K. M. Varjas, 2004 Nastasi, B. K., Moore, R. B., & Varjas, K. M. (2004). School-based mental health services: Creating comprehensive and culturally specific programs. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [Google Scholar]) as exemplars for the implementation of community partnerships providing comprehensive culturally and contextually relevant school-based mental health services.     

Christ’s faith,doubt, and the cry of dereliction

According to accounts of the Passion, Christ cries out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The cry, I argue, manifests that Christ lacks a belief that God is with him. Given the standard view of faith—belief that p is required for faith that p—it would follow that Christ lost his faith that God is with him just before he died. In this paper, I challenge the standard view by looking at the cognitive requirement of faith. Although faith that p requires some positive cognitive orientation toward p, that orientation need not be belief. I show that reliance is an alternative stance that fulfills the cognitive requirement of faith. Reliance aims at providing sensible guidance for action that is in accord with one’s values/ends. Thinking of the cognitive component of Christ’s faith in terms of reliance makes sense of the doubt manifested in his cry.     

Using Therapeutic Riding as an Intervention for Combat Veterans: An International Classification of Functioning,Disability, and Health (ICF) Approach

The aim of the study was to examine the effects of therapeutic horseback riding on posttraumatic stress symptoms, quality of life, and functioning of combat veterans using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) as a framework. Fifty-one veterans and active duty service members participated in an 8-week therapeutic riding program. The study findings revealed clinically significant decrease in PTSD symptoms, improved social functioning, vitality, less interference of emotions on daily activities, and increased participation. Qualitative themes discovered included improved confidence, trust, acceptance of self and others, and gratitude. Qualitative and quantitative data linked to the ICF components.     

Spiritual Distress and Depression in Bereavement: A Meaning-Oriented Contribution

One key focus of a meaning reconstruction model of bereavement concerns spiritual meanings attributed to the death, whether consoling or troubling. Specifically, previous studies in our research program suggest that religiously inclined violent death survivors are at risk for elevated levels of both bereavement distress and complicated spiritual grief, a crisis of faith following loss that refers to the erosion of the mourner’s relationship to God and/or the religious community. However, more research is needed to understand the convergence of depression and spiritual struggle in the context of violent and natural loss. In this study of a diverse sample of 59 American Christians bereaved less than 5 years, we sought to: (1) determine if individuals bereaved by homicide, suicide or fatal accident differed from those bereaved by natural causes in their levels of depression and spiritual coping; (2) investigate the relation between the latter constructs; and (3) ascertain if cause of death mediates the effect of religious coping on depression. We found that: (a) violently bereaved individuals endorsed more negative religious coping, and (b) depression was associated with greater spiritual struggle, particularly a sense of disrupted relationship with God. Contrary to expectations, positive religious coping was unrelated to post-loss depression, and cause of death did not mediate the relationship between spiritual coping and depressive symptomatology. A clinical case study concludes the article, illustrating the interweaving of spiritual and psychological distress in tragic bereavement, and their implications for a meaning-oriented grief therapy.