From implicit skills to explicit knowledge: a bottom-up model of skill learning

This paper presents a skill learning model CLARION. Different from existing models of mostly high-level skill learning that use a top-down approach (that is, turning declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge through practice), we adopt a bottom-up approach toward low-level skill learning, where procedural knowledge develops first and declarative knowledge develops later. Our model is formed by integrating connectionist, reinforcement, and symbolic learning methods to perform on-line reactive learning. It adopts a two-level dual-representation framework (Sun, 1995), with a combination of localist and distributed representation. We compare the model with human data in a minefield navigation task, demonstrating some match between the model and human data in several respects.     

Application of social identity theory in group therapy with stigmatized adults.

Social identity theory was applied in group therapy for adults with mild mental retardation. Social identity theory suggests that social group membership, also called collective identity, has an impact on self-esteem. Individuals will try to maintain self-esteem by viewing their social groups positively. This may not be possible for individuals who are members of a stigmatized group. However, it may be possible to enhance self-esteem by broadening one's awareness of collective identity. Furthermore, being able to positively view other individuals who are co-members of one's own stigmatized group can also have positive consequences for self-esteem. A clinical vignette demonstrates this process in group therapy. Results are discussed as being applicable to members of various stigmatized groups.     

Kantian Themes in Contemporary Philosophy: Michael Friedman

This paper considers the extent to which Kant's vision of a distinctively 'transcendental' task for philosophy is essentially tied to his views on the foundations of the mathematical and physical sciences. Contemporary philosophers with broadly Kantian sympathies have attempted to reinterpret his project so as to isolate a more general philosophical core not so closely tied to the details of now outmoded mathematical-physical theories (Euclidean geometry and Newtonian physics). I consider two such attempts, those of Strawson and McDowell, and argue that they fundamentally distort the original Kantian impulse. I then consider Buchdahl's attempt to preserve the link between Kantian philosophy and the sciences while simultaneously generalizing Kant's doctrines in light of later scientific developments. I argue that Buchdahl's view, while not adequate as in interpretation of Kant in his own eighteenth century context, is nonetheless suggestive of an historicized and relativized revision of Kantianism that can do justice to both Kant's original philosophical impulse and the radical changes in the sciences that have occurred since Kant's day.     

THE SHIFT IN POWER WITH AGE Changes in Perception of the Power of Women and Men Over the Life Cycle

Previous research has described an apparent shift in perceived interpersonal power towards equality between men and women later in life. This study investigated (a) whether the "shift in power with age" would appear in the Israeli kibbutz, (b) the role of the "parental emergency" in the shift, and (c) whether changes in behaviors or attitudes best account for the shift. One hundred twenty younger and older Israeli women and men, half from the city and half from the kibbutz, wrote TAT stories, which were then rated for overall power of the female and male characters, their power strategies, and their motives. A shift in perceived power with age was found in both the city and the kibbutz. Parental status reduced the power of the woman and increased the power of the man only in the city, whereas the reverse was true in the kibbutz. These results counter the "parental emergency" explanation for the shift in power with age. Furthermore, older women used traditionally feminine power strategies, but their behavior was evaluated as more powerful than the same behavior in younger women. Thus, it is not the behaviors but rather people's evaluation of the behaviors that changes across the life span of the individual.