Parallelism in the Early Moist Texts

Parallelism is present everywhere in the early Moist texts: at the syntactic level, at the semantic level, between sentences, between sets of sentences, between argumentative structures. The present article gives many examples of the phenomenon: parallelism of insistence, insistence from top to bottom, insistence from bottom to top, parallelism with symmetry, parallelism involving negation, subcontraries and negation at deeper levels, parallelism of the argumentative structures. Logic is particularly applied to the study of parallelism involving negation. From the point of view of argumentation, it is shown that many of those constructions have an important role in supporting arguments such as: arguments of generalization, a fortiori arguments, arguments of exemplarity, consequentialist arguments, arguments by comparison. This study draws the attention to the importance of argumentation in the study of Moism and gives a new light on the argument by parallelism (mou 侔) in the “Xiaoqu”: It is a natural extension of what we call “parallelism involving negation,” already very common in the early Moist texts.     

Trait mechanisms in youth with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Relations of temperament and personality traits within children and adolescents with ADHD and non-ADHD controls were examined. A two-process structure was hypothesized involving top-down effortful and bottom-up reactive response tendencies. Top-down processes were hypothesized to relate to inattentive ADHD symptoms, whereas bottom-up processes were hypothesized to relate to hyperactive–impulsive ADHD symptoms. Each hypothesis was tested in a sample of 179 children age 7–13 (113 boys; 107 ADHD) and then replicated in 184 adolescents age 14–17 (109 boys; 87 ADHD). All families completed a multistage diagnostic process. Youth completed laboratory measures of cognitive control, and parents completed trait ratings. Traits examined in the current study included effortful control, reactive control, resiliency, negative emotionality, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Correlational relations among traits were inconclusive, but external correlations with cognitive tasks and ADHD symptoms were interpretable within the hypothesized two-process framework. Results provide partial support for a distinction between effortful and reactive traits and suggest this distinction is useful in relation to understanding ADHD.     

Measuring the discrepancy between current and ideal spiritual and religious functioning in problem drinkers.

The idea that spiritual and religious functioning (SRF) is associated with alcohol misuse is generally supported, but problems with typical research methods limit the utility of findings. Problems in SRF were conceptualized as discrepancies between current and ideal SRF. Two separate studies were conducted to develop and evaluate a scale to measure the subjective importance and adequacy of aspects of SRF that seem to be associated with alcohol problems. The 1st study suggested that a questionnaire developed to evaluate self-reported ratings of current and ideal SRF is both internally consistent and temporally stable. In the 2nd study, the questionnaire was administered to persons seeking treatment for alcohol problems and persons who indicated that they had never sought treatment for an alcohol problem. Results indicate that those with a drinking problem were more likely to report substantial discrepancies between current and ideal SRF, supporting the validity of the measure as an indicator of problems in SRF. The usefulness of this method for treatment and research is discussed.     

Speciation of Superions from Humans: Is Species Cleansing the Ultimate Form of Terror and Genocide?

Using ideas from evolution, and what is known about higher stages of development, we examine a hypothetical scenario, in which new humanoid species, called Superions, are produced. What would then happen with current humans? Recent genetic engineering advances have led to creating life forms with particular characteristics. Scientists are already genetically engineering human beings. Some changes are to improve health. Engineering of traits such as intelligence, higher stage reasoning or less neuroticism is also very likely. This is seen as the ultimate terrorist act because it is genocide, not against a culture, but against an entire species. The article will also discuss how Homo Sapiens could defend themselves against this. Relating two species (systems), the Homo Sapiens and Superions constitutes metasystematic operations. Developing a system of discourse that would not destroy the Homo-sapiens requires paradigmatic operations (Sonnert and Commons, Individ Soc 4:31–35, 1994).     

Acculturation and depression among Hispanics: the moderating effect of intercultural competence

In the present study the authors examined the relative contributions of typical acculturation indicators, general coping, and intercultural competence in predicting depression among 96 Hispanic adults. The results indicated that intercultural competence served to moderate the relationship between acculturation and depression. The combination of high acculturation and high intercultural competence was associated with fewer symptoms. General coping accounted for significant amounts of variance in predicting depression, over and above traditional acculturation variables alone, suggesting that an active problem-solving style was associated with a healthier outcome. The findings are discussed within the context of integrating competence-based variables into psychological conceptualizations of cultural adaptation and the importance of group-specific abilities as potential buffers against negative mental health consequences.     

Perceived Support for Promotion-Focused and Prevention-Focused Goals: Associations With Well-Being in Unmarried and Married Couples

ABSTRACT— Perceived emotional support from close relationship partners in times of stress is a major predictor of well-being. However, recent research has suggested that, beyond emotional support, perceived support for achieving personal goals is also important for well-being. The present study extends such research by demonstrating that associations of perceived goal support with well-being differ depending on how people represent their goals and the general motivational context in which they pursue these goals. Among unmarried romantic partners, for whom the context of the relationship presumably is largely attainment oriented, perceived support for attainment-relevant (or promotion-focused ) goals independently predicted relationship and personal well-being, whereas perceived support for maintenance-relevant (or prevention-focused ) goals did not. In contrast, among married partners, for whom the context of the relationship presumably is both attainment and maintenance oriented, perceived support for both promotion-focused and prevention-focused goals independently predicted well-being. We discuss the implications for forecasting and improving well-being among married couples.     

The Common Beliefs Survey-III and the Situational Self-Statement and Affective State Inventory: Test-Retest Reliability, Internal Consistency, and Further Psychometric Considerations

The Common Beliefs Survey-III (CBS-III), a factored measure of general irrational beliefs, has satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. The Situational Self-Statement and Affective State Inventory (SSSASI), also with acceptable basic psychometric properties, assesses specific thoughts and feelings in response to vignettes describing frustrating events. Both inventories are potentially useful in assessing dimensions important to REBT, but information on test-retest reliability is needed. The CBS-III and the SSSASI were administered to 101 undergraduate students on two occasions, two or three weeks apart. Satisfactory test-retest reliability coefficients were obtained on all subscales of both inventories, but in the case of the SSSASI reliabilities were generally stronger when the same form of the test was used on both occasions (Form 1 presented the thoughts before the feelings, whereas Form 2 presented the feelings before the thoughts). Further exploration showed that responding to the thoughts before the feelings significantly attenuated scores on the feelings, but responding to the feelings before the thoughts had no effect on scores on the thoughts. This unexpected finding also held true in a previously unexamined data set obtained with a different sample of students several years earlier. Taking careful stock of one's emotional reactions before embarking on cognitive modification interventions seems essential to REBT, and it follows that asking questionnaire respondents to rate their affective states before they rate their self-statements could be desirable conceptually. These results provide empirical support for that strategy.     

Do the EPR correlations pose a problem for causal decision theory?

We argue that causal decision theory (CDT) is no worse off than evidential decision theory (EDT) in handling entanglement, regardless of one’s preferred interpretation of quantum mechanics. In recent works, Ahmed (Evidence, decision, and causality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014) and Ahmed and Caulton (Synthese, 191(18): 4315–4352, 2014) have claimed the opposite; we argue that they are mistaken. Bell-type experiments are not instances of Newcomb problems, so CDT and EDT do not diverge in their recommendations. We highlight the fact that a Causal Decision Theorist should take all lawlike correlations into account, including potentially acausal entanglement correlations. This paper also provides a brief introduction to CDT with a motivating “small” Newcomb problem. The main point of our argument is that quantum theory does not provide grounds for favouring EDT over CDT.