Sub-Abstract Bodies: The Epistemic and Ethical Role of the Body-Mind Relationship in Adorno’s Philosophy

Abstract

The aim of this paper is threefold. In the first place, I should like to show that Adorno’s philosophy is dependent, to a degree perhaps not always directly recognized in the literature, on a deeply contentious view on the relationship between the mind and the body. In order to show this, I explore and bring out the epistemic and ethical stakes for Adorno’s theory of the relationship between mind and body. Secondly, I move to better articulate precisely what Adorno’s view on the nature of this relationship is. I hold that his position revolves around positing a porous boundary between the domains of the somatic and the cognitive. In closing, I show that Adorno’s account relies on this domain boundary being unidirectionally porous, in that determination of somatic impulses by cognitive content does not seem a live option for Adorno. I go on to note that this smuggles in a dubious position which does a lot of unearned work. The stakes which his implicit account of the body and mind relationship served to secure thereby come once more to look highly vulnerable.     

Adorno,Interpretation, and the Body

Abstract

Adorno sees experience as intrinsically interpretative. As interpretation requires normative constraints, in order to guide and channel this interpretative engagement, this opens the question of how experience acquires its motivating criteria. If experience is from the first criterially structured, how are these criteria acquired? Moreover, as these criteria are acquired in isolation from experience – as they are the precondition of that experience – are these criteria sensitive to the particularity of the experiences they produce? In order to address these questions, and the problems they threaten to create for Adorno’s epistemology, I look at Adorno’s theory of impulse and cognition. I argue that Adorno grounds the criterial structure of experience and reason in self-preservation. This provides both a motivation and a determining constraint on the criterial structure of experience. It is also a determining influence which is epistemically flexible and compatible with Adorno’s project of tracing the ‘non-identical’.     

Emergent self-regulation skills among very young ethnic minority children: A confirmatory factor model

Emerging self-regulation skills were assessed in 407 low-income African American and Latino (primarily Mexican-origin) preschoolers. A battery of self-regulation tasks was administered when children were 2½ years old and again approximately 1 year later. Confirmatory factor analyses supported four components of self-regulation: inhibitory control, complex response inhibition, set shifting, and working memory. Complex response inhibition was too rare a skill in this sample to be detected reliably from measures collected at 2½ years of age, but it emerged from measures collected at 3½ years. In addition, significant ethnic differences were found in that African American children scored better on measures of complex response inhibition and set shifting, whereas Latino children scored better on measures of inhibitory control and working memory. Implications of study findings for measuring self-regulation in low-income ethnic diverse populations of young children, as well as for developing interventions to enhance self-regulation development, are discussed.     

Psychologists' attitudes toward aids

Abstract

Practicing psychologists in all areas of the country will see an increasing number of persons at risk for AIDS, or with AIDS-related illnesses. Previous research has shown that AIDS elicits negative reactions from the general public and from certain health care professionals. In the current study, a national sample of randomly selected practicing psychologists completed attitude measures after reading vignettes that described a male patient with either AIDS or leukemia who was either homosexual or heterosexual. Respondents evaluated the AIDS patient more negatively and reported less willingness to interact with him in a professional role or in casual social situations. It is important to develop training and continuing education programs to prepare psychologists to deal with persons affected by AIDS.     

Prevalence and Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Following Traumatic Brain Injuries in Children

The prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms following childhood traumatic brain injuries (TBI) were examined using data drawn from a prospective longitudinal study. Participants included 38 children with severe TBI, 51 with moderate TBI, and 55 with orthopedic injuries (OI). Assessments occurred shortly after injury (baseline) and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Children completed the Child Depression Inventory (CDI). Parents rated depressive symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), with baseline ratings reflecting premorbid status. Assessments also included measures of children's neurocognitive functioning and the family environment. The three groups did not differ overall in self-reported symptoms on the CDI, but did display different trends over time. The three groups did not differ on parent ratings of premorbid depressive symptoms on the CBC, but parents reported more depressive symptoms in the TBI groups than in the OI group at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Child and parent reports were correlated for children in the TBI groups, but not for those in the OI group. Depressive symptoms were related to socioeconomic status in all groups. Socioeconomic status also was a significant moderator of group differences, such that the effects of TBI were exacerbated in children from more disadvantaged homes. Although self-reports of depressive symptoms were related inconsistently to children's verbal memory, parent reports of depressive symptoms were unrelated to IQ or verbal memory. The findings suggest that TBI increases the risk of depressive symptoms, especially among more socially disadvantaged children, and that depressive symptoms are not strongly related to post-injury neurocognitive deficits.     

The Pediatric Neuropsychologist Introduction to the Special Section

Abstract

The rapid expansion of clinical neuropsychology during the past decade has fostered increasing specialization in the practices of neuropsychologists. Recent surveys indicate that a small but significant number of neuropsychologists devote most of their professional activities to children and adolescents. The growing interest in pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychology is reflected most recently in the formation of the Pediatric Neuropsychology Interest Group (PNIG) in August 1995 and the subsequent establishment of an internet mailing list devoted to pediatric neuropsychology in October 1996. This new special section of Child Neuropsychology was created to foster increased communication and opinion exchange among the community of pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychologists regarding research, training, and clinical issues. In this inaugural section, we present a thoughtful discussion of training issues in pediatric neuropsychology. Future sections that are already planned will discuss the reporting of neuropsychological evaluations, and graduate and postdoctoral preparation for specializing in child neuropsychology. As Editors of the special section, we welcome and encourage additional contributions from readers regarding these or any other issues as they pertain to the growth and development of the profession of pediatric neuropsychology.     

Problems for Logical Pluralism

I argue that Beall and Restall's logical pluralism fails. Beall–Restall pluralism is the claim that there are different, equally correct logical consequence relations in a single language. Their position fails for two, related, reasons: first, it relies on an unmotivated conception of the ‘settled core’ of consequence: they believe that truth-preservation, necessity, formality and normativity are ‘settled’ features of logical consequence and that any relation satisfying these criteria is a logical consequence relation. I consider historical evidence and argue that their position relies on an unmotivated conception of the settled features of logical consequence. There are many features that are just as settled but which are inconsistent with pluralism. Second, I argue that Beall–Restall pluralism fails to hold in a single language with a single selection of logical constants, which they require for the position to be distinct from Carnap's. I consider various ways in which Beall and Restall can resist this meaning variance, particularly for negation, but argue that the strongest way relies on an unmotivated conception of the settled features of the logical constants.     

Neural correlates of affective influence on choice

Making the right choice depends crucially on the accurate valuation of the available options in the light of current needs and goals of an individual. Thus, the valuation of identical options can vary considerably with motivational context. The present study investigated the neural structures underlying context dependent evaluation. We instructed participants to choose from food menu items based on different criteria: on their anticipated taste or on ease of preparation. The aim of the manipulation was to assess which neural sites were activated during choice guided by incentive value, and which during choice based on a value-irrelevant criterion. To assess the impact of increased motivation, affect-guided choice and cognition-guided choice was compared during the sated and hungry states. During affective choice, we identified increased activity in structures representing primarily valuation and taste (medial prefrontal cortex, insula). During cognitive choice, structures showing increased activity included those implicated in suppression and conflict monitoring (lateral orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate). Hunger influenced choice-related activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Our results show that choice is associated with the use of distinct neural structures for the pursuit of different goals.     

Book reviews

Prisons in Turmoil by John Irwin Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, 288 pages, $6.95, paper.

Deviant Behavior: An Interactionist Approach by Erich Goode Englewood Cliffs, N. J., Prentice Hall, 1978, 470 pages, hard, $15.95.

Deviant Behavior: Readings in the Sociology of Deviance by Delos H. Kelly New York, St. Martins Press, 1979, 769 pages, paper, $7.95.

Deviant Behavior by Alex Thio Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978, 416 pages, hard, $15.75.

Defining Child Abuse by Jeannne M. Giovannoni and Rosina M. Becerra New York, The Free Press, 1979, 302 pages, $15.95, hard.

Demystifying Social Deviance by Stuart L. Hills New York, McGraw‐Hill, 1980, 210 pages, $8.95, paper.

Police and Policing: An Introduction by Richard J. Lundman New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980, 215 pages.