A resource-bounded agent addresses the newcomb problem

In the Newcomb problem, the standard arguments for taking either one box or both boxes adduce what seem to be relevant considerations, but they are not complete arguments, and attempts to complete the arguments rely upon incorrect principles of rational decision making. It is argued that by considering how the predictor is making his prediction, we can generate a more complete argument, and this in turn supports a form of causal decision theory.     

A sense of awe: On the differences between Confucian thought and Christianity

The fundamental importance of reverence is recognized by all major world cultures. Confucianism’s account of “The three things of which the sage is in awe” is seen in Chinese culture through the value placed on reverence. “The three things of which the sage is in awe” both manifests itself as an approach to value and is also an expression of practical ethical guidance. The essential aspect of reverence is a sincere and ethical outlook; accordingly it is a part of virtue ethics. In this kind of virtue ethics, ethical practice accords with self-conscious conduct that is guided by a sense of reverence, and this forms the guiding thought of Confucianism. From a comparative cultural perspective, the Confucian sense of reverence founded upon ethical self-awareness and Christian sense of reverence founded on divine worship are different. However, both take reverence to be the root of culture, thus proving that reverence is an element that none of the world’s major cultures can be without. In the early modern period, a sense of reverence was seen something enchanted and harmful to the rational progress of civilization. However, the contemporary reenchantment movements in some ways call up a return to such reverence.     

Kant’s virtue theory

By focusing on human virtues rather than the general morality of rational beings, Kant’s virtue theory presents systematic arguments from the perspectives of reason and experiential emotion, norms and disposition, spirituality and humanity, etc., which is of great significance to an overall understanding of Kantian ethics, thus clarifying misunderstandings from the past decades.     

Defense Mechanisms in Mania,Bipolar Depression and Unipolar Depression

The present study compared the use of defense mechanisms in ten bipolar manic, ten bipolar depressed and ten unipolar depressed patients. The defense mechanisms were assessed by two methods: TAT stories scored by Defense Mechanism Manual and Defense Mechanism Rating Scale ratings of psychodynamic interviews. The severity of symptoms was assessed by Beck Depression Inventory for depressed patients and Young’s Manic Rating Scale for manic patients. Both bipolar manic and depressed groups used the defense mechanism of denial, borderline level defenses and immature defenses significantly more than the unipolar depression group. The manic group showed greater dependence on narcissistic level defenses as compared to the other two groups. Positive relationships were found between severity of manic symptoms and the defense mechanisms of denial as well as the narcissistic level defenses. The bipolar depression group also used more action level defenses as compared to the unipolar depression group. The unipolar depression group scored higher on the defense mechanism of identification and adaptive level defenses as compared to the manic group. A negative correlation was found between the severity of depressive symptoms for unipolar depression group and the defense mechanism of identification. The neurotic level defenses were used most frequently by unipolar depression group, followed by the bipolar depression group and manic group. Some of these findings are in consonance with the psychoanalytic understanding of mania and depression.     

A Validation Study of the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ)

In this study, the validity of the recently developed 28-item Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) was examined. Survey data from a representative sample of 6,723 Norwegian senior high school students between 18 and 20 years of age were used for this purpose. Validity and reliability were investigated by means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, correlations with other relevant variables, and internal consistency measures. The results supported the construct and convergent validity of the five factors of a modified 23-item version of the scale, which also yielded acceptable psychometric properties. The paper concludes that the modified READ is a valid measure assessing relevant resilience factors with relatively few items, thereby serving as a valuable tool in resilience and risk-factor research.     

Feedforward, -backward,and neutral transparency measures for Grade 1 and Grade 2 Greek readers

In the present study, orthographic metrics for Greek children’s Grade 1 and Grade 2 reading materials were presented. Data for five transparency metrics—three of which being neither feedforward nor feedbackward— were presented and offered for use in the research of children’s reading and spelling acquisition. The analysis demonstrated the complex relationships between metrics and compared the results with those obtained for the English language. The structure of these metrics from a variety of corpus sizes was investigated, and we concluded that large corpus sizes do not necessarily make a substantial contribution to the value of such metrics when compared with smaller samples.     

Health Care Chaplains and their Role on Institutional Ethics Committees: An Australia Study

This paper presents the results of the largest Australian pastoral study concerning the perceptions of health care chaplains about their involvement on hospital research ethics committees (also known in some contexts as institutional ethics committees). Survey results from over 300 Australian health care chaplains indicated that nearly 90% of chaplains believed there was merit in chaplains serving on hospital research ethics committees, yet only a minority (22.7%) had ever participated on such committees. Data from in-depth interviews is also presented exploring the reasons for the lack of participation and the varying opinions regarding the role, appropriateness, and value of chaplains on ethics committees. Some implications of this study with respect to chaplaincy, hospital research ethics committees, health care institutions, ecclesiastical institutions, and government responsibilities are discussed.     

A Systematic Replication and Extension of Using Incremental Rehearsal to Improve Multiplication Skills: An Investigation of Generalization

The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend a previous study by Burns (Education and Treatment of Children 28: 237–249, 2005) examining the effectiveness of incremental rehearsal on computation performance. A multiple-probe design across multiplication problem sets was employed for one participant to examine digits correct per minute and percentage of digits correct on problems targeted during treatment and response maintenance sessions. Treatment occurred twice weekly across 12 weeks. Retention of target facts was measured prior to each treatment session. Treatment impact on generalized skills including single skill mastery probes, multiplying fractions, and word problems was examined. Results suggested that the participant achieved accurate and fluent performance on the problem sets. This performance was maintained over time and generalized to SSM, fraction, and word problem probes.     

Adding fear to conflict: A general purpose cognitive control network is modulated by trait anxiety

Studies of cognitive control show that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are involved in the detection and resolution of cognitive conflict. However, the neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying emotional interference effects are less consistent. We used fMRI during emotional and nonemotional versions of a facial Stroop task to investigate the effects of emotional stimuli on cognitive control. In the full group there was limited evidence that different prefrontal circuits manage conflict arising from emotional and nonemotional distractors. However, individual differences in trait anxiety affected both behavioral performance and neural activity during the emotional task. Relative to low-anxiety (LA) subjects, high-anxiety (HA) subjects showed greater amygdala activity to task-relevant emotional information and impaired performance and greater conflict-related activity in the dACC when emotional content was task-irrelevant. Only LA subjects activated rostral ACC during the emotional task. This is consistent with cognitive models of individual differences that hypothesize deficient control of task-irrelevant emotional information in HA subjects. Additional behavioral and fMRI results from this study may be downloaded from http://cabn.psychonomic-journals .org/content/supplemental.