Early alternative derivations of Fechner's law

Historians of psychology, notably Boring, fostered Fechner's idea that Weber's law is the indispensable basis for the derivation of the logarithmic psychophysical law. However, it is shown here that Bernoulli in 1738 and Thurstone in 1931 derived the logarithmic law using principles other than Weber's law and that Fechner and Thurstone based their derivations on the principles originally employed by Bernoulli. It is concluded that awareness of researchers about Bernoulli's and Thurstone's derivations could expand the directions of research on the form of the psychophysical law. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants in Italy: Perceived threat and positive beliefs mediate the effect of contact with immigrants

The present study aimed at investigating whether the effects of intergroup contact on support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants was mediated by perceived threat from immigrants and positive beliefs toward immigrants. Using data from the Italian national survey on “Discrimination by Gender, Sexual Orientation and Ethnic Origin,” which followed a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling procedure, a representative sample of 5509 Italian residents (53.4% women), aged 18 to 74 years, participated. Findings showed that contact with immigrants was negatively related to perceived threat, and positively related to positive beliefs toward immigrants. Mediational analysis conducted by structural equation modelling, indicated that support for discriminatory behaviours was positively associated with perceived threat, and negatively associated with positive beliefs toward immigrants. Both variables together mediated the relationship between contact with immigrants and support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants; individually, indirect relationships were also significant. To promote interaction between natives and immigrants by reducing the perceived threat and strengthening positive beliefs toward immigrants might lessen support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants.     

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior increases resistance to extinction: clinical demonstration, animal modeling, and clinical test of one solution

Basic research with pigeons on behavioral momentum suggests that differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) can increase the resistance of target behavior to change. This finding suggests that clinical applications of DRA may inadvertently increase the persistence of target behavior even as it decreases its frequency. We conducted three coordinated experiments to test whether DRA has persistence-strengthening effects on clinically significant target behavior and then tested the effectiveness of a possible solution to this problem in both a nonhuman and clinical study. Experiment 1 compared resistance to extinction following baseline rates of reinforcement versus higher DRA rates of reinforcement in a clinical study. Resistance to extinction was substantially greater following DRA. Experiment 2 tested a rat model of a possible solution to this problem. Training an alternative response in a context without reinforcement of the target response circumvented the persistence-strengthening effects of DRA. Experiment 3 translated the rat model into a novel clinical application of DRA. Training an alternative response with DRA in a separate context resulted in lower resistance to extinction than employing DRA in the context correlated with reinforcement of target behavior. The value of coordinated bidirectional translational research is discussed.     

Legal realisms: on law and politics

The focus of this work is the issue of whether, and to what extent, the nature of the law is affected by politics, has been taken up by the American and Scandinavian legal realists. By the very fact of their being products of␣the socio-political conditions of the most recent century, the American and Scandinavian legal realisms are the movements that have most explicitly and systematically brought to the surface one particular characteristic phenomenon of contemporary Western legal systems: the existence of two basic forces simultaneously attracting and repelling, affecting the law in its relations with the political world.I would like to deeply thank Brian Bix, Laura Carlson, Roger Cotterrell and Jori Munukka for their many helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. Any errors remaining are my own.     

Instructions for Climbing the Ladder (The Minimalism of Wittgenstein's Tractatus)

I aim to present a solution to the apparent paradox of the Tractatus by means of a minimalist reading grounded in the idea that the correct logical symbolism alone “finally solves” in essentials the philosophical problems. I argue that although the sentences of the Tractatus are nonsensical, rules presented in its symbolism are not. The symbolism itself expresses only a priori rules of logic through schematic variables that do not say anything. I argue that this reading correctly expresses the ladder structure of the book, and that it can account for Wittgenstein's critique of the Tractatus in Some Remarks on Logical Form.     

Exploring how the psychiatrist experiences the patient during the diagnostic evaluation: the Assessment of Clinician’s Subjective Experience (ACSE)

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences -     

Serial dependence promotes the stability of perceived emotional expression depending on face similarity

Individuals can quickly and effortlessly recognize facial expressions, which is critical for social perception and emotion regulation. This sensitivity to even slight facial changes could result in unstable percepts of an individual’s expression over time. The visual system must therefore balance accuracy with maintaining perceptual stability. However, previous research has focused on our sensitivity to changing expressions, and the mechanism behind expression stability remains an open question. Recent results demonstrate that perception of facial identity is systematically biased toward recently seen visual input. This positive perceptual pull, or serial dependence, may help stabilize perceived expression. To test this, observers judged random facial expression morphs ranging from happy to sad to angry. We found a pull in perceived expression toward previously seen expressions, but only when the 1-back and current face had similar identities. Our results are consistent with the existence of the continuity field for expression, a specialized mechanism that promotes the stability of emotion perception, which could help facilitate social interactions and emotion regulation.     

Continuous Grey Scales Versus Sharp Contrasts: Styles of Representation in Italian Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratories

In some circumstances, scientists of the same discipline visualize and view differently the same scientific object. The question of representational difference, which has usually been connected to scientific revolutions or controversies, is framed here using the concept of “style,” addressing the plurality of scientific traditions within a well-established scientific field. Using ethnomethodology we will examine the divergences of representational practices that, beyond the apparent consensus of a scientific community, are present throughout the procedure of chromosomes preparation. The ethnographic data was gathered through participant observation and in-depth interviews in several Italian clinical cytogenetic laboratories. The concept of style emerges through the examination of the two alternate, and sometimes conflicting, ways of configuring the complex texture of practice, instrumental mediation, epistemic virtues, and expertise involved in scientific representation of chromosomes. Resonating with the recent debate on objectivity, it tries to articulate the concept of “epistemic virtue” outside an internalised scientific self through an aesthetic, analytical, instrumental, and ontological preferences in the current manners to produce and see the same research object.