科学发现的真正方法

一般情况下,很多人误认为作为科学常用的数学逻辑方法就是科学发现的方法,作者通过列举了归纳法和演绎法的不足,指出它们的错误,提出科学发现的真正方法应该是怀疑论和逆推论。认为科学家要像一位神秘的侦探,充分发挥自己的想象力和创造力,不断地进行质疑和反思;持有怀疑态度的想象是创造力的源泉;他们不应该迷信任何人,而应该大胆怀疑,敢于创新。他还从科学史角度列举了很多科学发现的事例,无不说明批判性的创造性思维的重要性。科学家并不是坐在实验室里对乌鸦的颜色、太阳明天升起、每天都将喂养火鸡等进行归纳概括。——伯顿·S·格特…     

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF TRANSFORMATION: SCIENCE FICTION'S IMAGINED TECHNOLOGIES AND THE CIVIC IMAGINATION

This is an introduction to the thematic section on Science Fiction's Imagined Technologies, which includes three articles that were presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in San Diego, CA on November 24, 2019.     

Perceptual priming is not a necessary consequence of semantic classification of pictures

Four experiments investigated how repetition priming of object recognition is affected by the task performed in the prime and test phases. In Experiment 1 object recognition was tested using both vocal naming and two different semantic decision tasks (whether or not objects were manufactured, and whether or not they would be found inside the house). Some aspects of the data were inconsistent with contemporary models of object recognition. Specifically, object priming was eliminated with some combinations of prime and test tasks, and there was no evidence of perceptual (as opposed to conceptual or response) priming in either semantic classification task, even though perceptual identification of the objects is required for at least one of these tasks. Experiment 2 showed that even when perceptual demands were increased by brief presentation, the inside task showed no perceptual priming. Experiment 3 showed that the inside task did not appear to be based on conceptual priming either, as it was not primed significantly when the prime decisions were made to object labels. Experiment 4 showed that visual sensitivity could be restored to the inside task following practice on the task, supporting the suggestion that a critical factor is whether the semantic category is preformed or must be computed. The results show that the visual representational processes revealed by object priming depend crucially on the task chosen.     

Cross-domain Repetition Priming in Person Recognition

Three experiments examining repetition priming of personal names are reported. In each experiment, faces are used as prime stimuli and people's names as the test stimuli. Experiment 1 fails to demonstrate priming from faces to names when the same task-a familiar/ unfamiliar judgement-is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 2 shows that priming is observed when the same semantic judgement (British/ American) is made in prime and test phases. Experiment 3 shows that priming is observed when different semantic judgements (dead/ alive, British/ American) are made at prime and test phase. These results suggest that transfer appropriate processing cannot provide the sole account of repetition priming in person recognition. Instead, the results are interpreted in terms of a structural account of priming, embedded within an interactive activation and competition model of person recognition.     

Semantic processing in an incidental learning task

Recent research on implicit learning has suggested that perceptual learning could account for the observed dissociation between task performance and associated verbal knowledge. We report three experiments that investigate whether performance in an incidental learning task is based on knowledge held primarily at a perceptual or a semantic level. The results indicate that, under the task conditions described, processing of the semantic content of the stimuli is an automatic process. The implications of this result for implicit learning are discussed.     

Locked into the System? Critical Community Psychology Approaches to Personal Debt in the Context of Crises of Capital Accumulation

The considerable and sustained boom in personal debt recently has in many countries around the world led to experiences of over‐indebtedness that are associated with very considerable distress and suffering. This article explores critical perspectives that situate personal debt, material deprivation and suffering, and specific ways of knowing and acting, within the context of recent political and economic practices. There is a need to focus on positioning people's experiences of debt within a broader matrix of factors of national and international practices and policies, including globalisation, changing labour markets, and poorly regulated financial industries. These factors appear to have allowed a network of international financial institutions to adopt practices that have proved successful in creating personal debt. Yet, an individualised discourse of financial capability has been propagated, configuring personal debt as a problem of irresponsible individual consumption. In order to explore ways of resisting reactionary and individualised modes of addressing personal debt, proposals will be made of alternative paradigms for responding to personal debt, defined by two dimensions of community psychological practice, with examples. This article aims to increase collective awareness of the systemic character of debt and the collective responses required. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.