Counterexamples to Recovery and the Filtering Condition

David Makinson has argued that the compelling character of counterexamples to the Recovery Condition on contraction is due to an appeal to justificational structure. In “naked theories” where such structure is ignored or is not present, Recovery does apply. This note attempts to show that Makinson is mistaken on both counts. Recovery fails when no appeal is made to justificational structure. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Location coding by the human visual system: multiple topological adaptations in a case of strabismic amblyopia

Amblyopia, a major cause of vision loss, is a developmental disorder of visual perception commonly associated with strabismus (squint). Although defined by a reduction in visual acuity, severe distortions of perceived visual location are common in strabismic amblyopia. These distortions can help us understand the cortical coding of visual location and its development in normal vision, as well as in amblyopia. The history of retinotopic mapping in the visual cortex highlights the potential impact of amblyopia. Theories of amblyopia include topological disarray of receptors in primary visual cortex, undersampling from the amblyopic eye compared with normal eyes, and the presence of anomalous retinal correspondence or multiple cortical representations of the strabismic fovea. We examined the distortions in a strabismic amblyope, using a pop-out localization task, in which normal observers made errors dependent on the visual context of the stimulus. The localization errors of the strabismic amblyope were abnormal. We found that none of the available theories could fully explain this one patient's localization performance. Instead, the observed behavior suggests that multiple adaptations of the underlying cortical topology are possible simultaneously in different parts of the visual field.     

Diagnosing organizational cultures: A conceptual and empirical review of culture effectiveness surveys

This review traces the development of survey research methods within the organizational culture tradition and focuses specifically on those instruments that measure the aspects of culture that are related to organizational effectiveness. Our review suggests that the reliability and validity of most instruments in this category is quite limited. This review outlines the recommended logic for the development and validation of culture effectiveness surveys and identifies three key challenges for future culture researchers to address: (1) the confirmatory testing of nested models, (2) the guidelines for aggregating data to the organizational level, and (3) the establishing of criterion-related validity. Using data from the Denison Organizational Culture Survey, we present an empirical illustration of the three challenges identified above and conclude by considering limitations and opportunities for future research.     

Charisma, status, and gender in groups with and without gurus

A number of studies have noted that small religious groups with charismatic leaders seem to have different gender dynamics than do groups without. We argue that the presence of such a leader changes what charisma “means” in such a group. Without such a leader, strong personalities may appear charismatic and lead to positions of high status—and such dynamics historically have tended to be associated with a positional advantage to males. With such a leader, however, charisma is more likely to be compatible with receptivity and decoupled from gender characteristics that tend to disadvantage women, leading charismatic women to have greater status than they would otherwise have.     

Children's loneliness, sense of coherence, family climate, and hope: developmental risk and protective factors

The study examined the contributions of individual and familial variables for the prediction of loneliness as a developmental risk and the sense of coherence as a protective factor. The sample consisted of 287 children from grades 5-6. Their loneliness, sense of coherence, hope, effort, and family climate were assessed. Separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that family cohesion and children's hope contributed to the explanation of the risk and protective outcomes. Yet, the contribution of the family adaptability was not significant. Cluster analysis of the family climate dimensions (i.e., cohesion and adaptability) was performed to clarify the interactive roles of family adaptability together with family cohesion. The authors identified 4 separate family profiles: Children in the 2 cohesive families' clusters (Cohesive Structured Families and Cohesive Adaptable Families) reported the lowest levels of loneliness and the highest levels of personal strengths. Children within rigid and noncohesive family cluster reported the highest levels of loneliness and the lowest levels of children's sense of coherence. The unique role of the family flexibility within nonsupportive family systems was demonstrated. The results further clarified the unique profiles' characteristics of the different family clusters and their adjustment indexes in terms of loneliness and personal strengths.     

Deductive closure

This is a brief review of issues over which Henry Kyburg and I differed concerning the requirement that full beliefs should be closed under deductive consequence.