COGNITIVE SWITCHING: A BEHAVIORAL TRACE OF HUMAN INFORMATION PROCESSING FOR TELEVISION NEWSCASTS

A theory of cognitive switching is presented which was developed from human performance literature and signaled stopping research. The purpose of the study was to validate the basic constructs of the theory and to present data which display behavioral traces of the ways people organize television news into their information-processing system during the actual reception of the messages. The findings suggest (1) that people cognitively switch for four basic reasons (functions) to: agree, disagree, think, and question; and (2) that people exhibit similar cognitive switching behaviors in similar information-processing situations, even though the content of the stimulus changes. Limitations of this type of research are discussed and implications for further study are suggested.     

NOT SO PROMISING AFTER ALL: EVALUATOR-RELATIVE TELEOLOGY AND COMMON-SENSE MORALITY

Abstract:  Douglas Portmore has recently argued in this journal for a "promising result"– that combining teleological ethics with "evaluator relativism" about the good allows an ethical theory to account for deontological intuitions while "accommodat[ing] the compelling idea that it is always permissible to bring about the best available state of affairs." I show that this result is false. It follows from the indexical semantics of evaluator relativism that Portmore's compelling idea is false. I also try to explain what might have led to this misunderstanding.     

CODING VERBAL CONFLICT TACTICS: NONVERBAL AND PERCEPTUAL CORRELATES OF THE “AVOIDANCE-DISTRIBUTIVE-INTEGRATIVE” DISTINCTION

Coding procedures developed by Sillars (1980a) classified statements made during interpersonal conflict into “avoidance,”“integrative,” and “distributive” categories. In the present paper we present evidence that these distinctions provide an intuitively sound and theoretically meaningful basis for coding communication during conflict. Two studies are reported. In the first study, verbal tactics correlated in the expected ways with observer perceptions of the disclosiveness and competitiveness of conflict discussions. In the second study, several predicted relationships between verbal tactics and nonverbal behaviors were confirmed, although regression analysis indicated that most of these relationships could be accounted for by the high degree of talkativeness associated with integrative tactics. Overall support for the coding distinctions was obtained from the two studies.     

A Thought or Two on the Future of Research in Career Counseling

The advantages of a shift in focus in research—a shift more in keeping with the counselor's genuine interest in the individual client—are explored.     

CHANGING THE PAST: RETROCAUSALITY AND NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION

Abstract: This article is a reply to Jeanne Peijnenburg's argument for retrocausality in “Shaping Your Own Life.” Although it is perfectly possible to make sense of the way Peijnenburg deals with the subject of changing the past, there is no need to think this implies retrocausality.