Buddhism and bell hooks: Liberatory Aesthetics and the Radical Subjectivity of No‐Self

This article engages bell hooks's concept of “radical black subjectivity” through the lens of the Buddhist doctrine of no‐self. Relying on the Zen theorist Dōgen and on resources from Japanese aesthetics, I argue that non‐attachment to the self clarifies hooks's claim that radical subjectivity unites our capacity for critical resistance with our capacity to appreciate beauty. I frame this argument in terms of hooks's concern that postmodernist identity critiques dismiss the identity claims of disempowered peoples. On the one hand, identity critique has an emotional component, as it involves questioning the self and possibly letting go of aspects of that self in which a person has inevitably made emotional investments. On the other hand, it has an aesthetic component, as it opens a space for the creative crafting and recrafting of identity. Japanese aesthetics emphasizes that all aesthetic appreciation is accompanied by feelings of mournfulness, for the object of aesthetic appreciation is transient. Linking hooks's liberatory aesthetics with the resources of the Japanese tradition suggests that mournfulness in the face of self‐loss necessarily accompanies all instances of critical resistance. Thus non‐attachment becomes a useful framework in which to understand both the emotional and aesthetic components of empowered identity critique.     

Efficient spatio-temporal data mining with GenSpace graphs

We describe a method for spatio-temporal data mining based on GenSpace graphs. Using familiar calendar and geographical concepts, such as workdays, weeks, climatic regions, and countries, spatio-temporal data can be aggregated into summaries in many ways. We automatically search for a summary with a distribution that is anomalous, i.e., far from user expectations. We repeatedly ranking possible summaries according to current expectations, and then allow the user to adjust these expectations. We also choose a propagation path in the GenSpace subgraph that reduces the storage and time costs of the mining process.     

Life History Prototypes in the Study of Human Individuality

Using biographical data collected in late adolescence and young adulthood, prototypes or subgroups of individuals with similar patterns of prior behaviors and experiences were empirically identified. The prototypes are described, and the pathways taken by the prototypes from adolescence to adulthood are examined. Focusing on the various pathways or trajectories followed by different prototypes, we discuss implications of prototype membership for continuity and change in personality.     

Saying and doing: A commentary on a contingency-space analysis

This article addresses the contingency-space analysis (Matthews, Shimoff, & Catania, 1987) of the verbal regulation of behavior. From an applied perspective, the conceptualization of the relationship between saying and doing Matthews et al. present may be more complex than is necessary. The central issue in correspondence investigations is a simple one: does correspondence between what people say and what they do occur? The focus of this paper is on the applied and clinical importance of the relationship between verbalizations and relevant behavior and the implications for future research.     

Memory for modality of presentation: Within-modality discrimination

Two experiments demonstrated that Ss are capable of making within-modality memory discriminations in both visual and auditory modalities. In Experiment I Ss studied mixed lists of pictures and labels representing common objects and were subsequently required to judge whether the original presentation was pictorial or verbal The high level of performance achieved on this task was unaffected by degree of categorical relatedness of items within method of presentation or by instructions to produce visual images when items were presented verbally. In Experiment II Ss demonstrated the ability to remember whether a sentence was originally presented by a male or a female speaker. Some strategies by which within-modality discrimination in memory might be accomplished are discussed.     

Incentives,information, rehearsal,and the negative recency effect

The negative recency effect is generally attributed to inadequate rehearsal of terminal input items during study. In two experiments, Ss were encouraged to increase rehearsal of initial or terminal input items by offers of incentives for remembering these items and information that there would be a delayed memory test (Experiment I) or by explicit instructions to rehearse terminal items and provision of added rehearsal time (Experiment II). Serial position curves in immediate and delayed recall were little affected by these manipulations. These results are more in line with models that give rehearsal the role of maintaining items in a short-term store than with models that accord rehearsal a role in transfer of information to a more permanent store.     

Plasma glucose and insulin levels in monkeys anticipating feeding

To see whether plasma glucose or insulin changed in anticipation of feeding, we provided seven rhesus monkeys with four-hour access to food every other day. Blood was sampled before and during a 30-minute signal which ended with food availability and before and during a 30-minute signal which was not closely and reliably linked with food availability. Plasma insulin showed no evidence of conditioning. Plasma glucose was higher during the signal than prior to the signal in both experiments. This probably reflects the arousing nature of the signal rather than appetitive-associated learning. However, the differences, while statistically significant, were probably biologically trivial because they fall within the normal fluctuations of meal-fed monkeys. Under the conditions of this experiment, it appears that conditional changes in glucose and insulin do not reliably occur in monkeys anticipating access to food.     

Evaluation of a preventive intervention for a self-selected subpopulation of children

Evaluated an experimental preventive intervention developed for children who perceived their parents as problem drinkers. The 8-session program was designed to improve children's coping, self-esteem, and social competence, and modify alcohol expectancies which were specified as mediators of the effects of parental alcohol abuse on child mental health. Participants were 271 self-selected 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade students in 13 schools. The children were randomly assigned to treatment or delayed treatment conditions and the program was given to three successive cohorts of students. A meta-analysis across three different cohorts indicated significant program effects to improve knowledge of the program content and the use of support- and emotion-focused coping behaviors for the full sample. A slightly stronger range of effects was found for a high-risk subsample. This research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant P50-MH39246 to support a Preventive Intervention Research Center and Prevention Training Grant T32-MH18387-02.     

Psychometric vs. attentional correlates of early onset alcohol and substance abuse

Adolescent inpatients with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse (n=28), nonalcohol substance abuse disorders (n=15), or psychiatric disorders without substance abuse (n=46) were examined on measures of attentional, intellectual, and personality functioning. High scores on a personality measure, the Substance Abuse Proclivity Scale (SAP), was the best predictor of substance abuse in general. Alcohol abusers were differentiated from other substance abusers by their increased impairment on the Continuous Performance Test. Adolescents with alcohol abuse did not manifest the types of cognitive impairments associated with chronic alcoholism. These data suggest that certain attentional impairments may be associated with early onset alcohol abuse and that earlier conceptions of the role of attentional impairments in risk prediction for alcohol abuse are supported.This research was supported by the Four Winds Foundation.     

Family characteristics of children who self-select into a prevention program for children of alcoholics

Evaluated the efficacy of a self-selection recruitment process designed to attract fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children into a school-based prevention program for children of alcoholics. Participants were 296 families comprising one child and either one or both parents. Family members' self- and collateral reports were used to assess parental problem drinking, family characteristics, and individual pathology. Analyses revealed that the recruitment process was not effective in recruiting children of alcohol-abusing parents. Furthermore, families in which children received parental consent to participate in the prevention program were indistinguishable from families whose children either showed interest without obtaining consent or showed no interest at all. Implications for recruitment strategies for future prevention programs for children of alcoholics are discussed.