Theories and inter‐theory relations in Bošković

During 1745–1755 Bo?kovi? explicitly used the concept of scientific theory in three cases: the theory of forces existing in nature, the theory of transformations of geometric loci, and the theory of infinitesimals. The theory first mentioned became the famous theory of natural philosophy in 1758, the second was published in the third volume of his mathematical textbook Elementorum Universae Matheseos (1754), and the third theory was never completed, though Bo?kovi? repeatedly announced it from 1741 on. The treatment of continuity and infinity in natural philosophy, geometry and infinitesimal analysis brought about inter‐theory relations in Bo?kovi?'s work during his Roman period. The two constructed theories of Bo?kovi?, the theory of forces and the theory of geometric transformations, directly influenced the idea for the construction of his third theory. These written theories refer to understanding and effective application of continuity and infinity in natural philosophy and geometry, and this task, according to Bo?kovi?, requires methodological support from the theory of infinitesimals.     

Characteristics of the Group Process in Long-Term Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy for Patients with Psychosis

This study aimed to investigate the development of the group process through group climate parameter dynamics during long-term psychodynamic group psychotherapy for 30 outpatients with psychosis. The group process in four groups was monitored using MacKenzie’s Group Climate Questionnaire-Short Form (GCQ-S) that was completed by the therapist after each session over the two-year period. The trends of engagement, avoidance and conflict parameters differed between groups, and no clear indicators of the development phases were found. The results suggested that these groups remained in the first developmental phase during the observation period, and highlighted the characteristics of resistance and difficulties in establishing social relations in patients with psychosis.     

The need for contextual and technical knowledge in judgmental forecasting

The purpose of this research is to assess the extent to which judgmental forecasts are improved by having more contextual and technical knowledge. Contextual information is knowledge gained by practitioners through experience on the job, consisting of general forecasting experience in the industry as well as specific product knowledge. Technical knowledge is knowledge about data analysis and formal forecasting procedures, including information on how to analyze data judgmentally. We directly compared judgmental forecasts of business practitioners with those generated by students, using 22 real-world time series. The practitioners had considerable contextual but no technical knowledge. The students had no contextual but two different levels of technical knowledge. We also generated forecasts with statistical methods to benchmark performance. Results show that contextual knowledge is particularly important in making good judgmental forecasts, while technical knowledge has little value. Practitioner forecasts are better than student forecasts in almost all comparisons. A decisive factor affecting forecast performance appears to be data variability, measured by the coefficient of variation of the time-series data. As the variability of a time series increases, the performance of all forecasts deteriorates, but judgmental forecasts by practitioners become more preferable. Statistical methods have difficulty achieving reasonable forecasts when the data are more variable, whereas judgemental forecasts reinforced by contextual information do relatively well. Data variability is one explanation for the mixed findings of past studies, relative to how well statistical techniques compare with judgment as a forecasting method.     

An ethnomethodological clarification of Husserl's concepts of “regressive inquiry” and “Galilean physics” by means of discovering praxioms

This paper offers an ethnomethodological clarification of Husserl's concepts of Galilean physics and regressive inquiry. It employs the reader's textual-practical operationalization of these concepts. With the use of a simple optical prism as a perspicuous case of a scientific instrument, the reader will be asked and instructed to make a self-reflexive inquiry into the practical contingencies of the prismatic field of reflection. The reader will discover that the geometric structures of the reflective field of the prism is an achievement and formalization of the reader's own operatlonalizations. I named these discoverable discovering operationspraxioms or practical axioms — the pre-scientific contingencies of the geometric structures of prismatic reflection.I would like to thank Mike Lynch, Eric Livingston, George Psathas and Shelley Schweizer-Bjelic for their comments.     

A Short Measure of the Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory – RSQ17

The need for a research and practical tool, such as a short, reliable, and valid personality assessment test, suggests researchers to create shortened versions of original instruments. Reinforcement sensitivity questionnaire (RSQ) was created in line with some basic premises of revised Reinforcement sensitivity theory, which proposes three motivational and emotional systems: Behavioral inhibition system (BIS), responsible for scanning environment for potential threats, Behavioral activation system (BAS), responsible for aproaching behavior, and the Fight/Flight/Freeze system (FFFS), responsible for behavior in the present threat. RSQ comprises five scales: BIS, BAS, Fight, Flight, and Freeze. The aim of this study was to develop a short version of RSQ, which would be beneficial to both research and practical purposes. Item response theory analyses were used for item selection. The study comprised two samples of participants, whereby Sample 1 (N = 837, 34.6% male, aged 18 – 82, M = 31.63, SD = 13.54) served as the derivation sample, while Sample 2 (818 participants, 43.6% male, 18?75 years, M = 29.65, SD = 12.52) served as validation sample. Factorial validity of the short RSQ was examined on both Sample 1 and Sample 2. Convergent and divergent validity of the short RSQ was examined using RST-PQ, Jackson-5, BIS/BAS scales, and Big Five Inventory. The results point to satisfactory internal consistency, factorial validity, and construct validity of the short RSQ, suggesting that it is an adequate measure for research settings or other contexts which require the use of short personality questionnaires.     

Is pictorial perception robust? The effect of the observer vantage point on the perceived depth structure of linear-perspective images

Every image of a scene produced in accord with the rules of linear perspective has an associated projection centre. Only if observed from that position does the image provide the stimulus which is equivalent to the one provided by the original scene. According to the perspective-transformation hypothesis, observing the image from other vantage points should result in specific transformations of the structure of the conveyed scene, whereas according to the vantage-point compensation hypothesis it should have little effect. Geometrical analyses illustrating the transformation theory are presented. An experiment is reported to confront the two theories. The results provide little support for the compensation theory and are generally in accord with the transformation theory, but also show systematic deviations from it, possibly due to cue conflict and asymmetry of visual angles.     

They do what they are told to do: the influence of instruction on (chess) expert perception-commentary on linhares and brum (2007)

Linhares and Brum (2007) argue that they provide evidence for analogy as the main principle behind experts' acquisition of perceptual knowledge. However, the methodology they used—asking players to pair positions using abstract similarity—raises the possibility that the task reflects more the effect of directional instructions than the principles underlying the acquisition of knowledge. Here we replicate and extend Linhares and Brum's experiment and show that the matching task they used is inadequate for drawing any conclusions about the nature of experts' perception. When expert chess players were instructed to match problems based on similarities at the abstract level (analogy), they produced more abstract pairs than pairs based on concrete similarity. However, the same experts produced more concrete pairs than abstract ones when instructed to match the problems based on concrete similarity. Asking experts to match problems using explicit instructions is not an appropriate way to show the importance of either analogy or similarity in the acquisition of expert knowledge. Experts simply do what they are told to do.