Bennett and “proxy actualism”

Karen Bennett has recently argued that the views articulated by Linsky and Zalta (Philos Perspect 8:431–458, 1994) and (Philos Stud 84:283–294, 1996) and Plantinga (The nature of necessity, 1974) are not consistent with the thesis of actualism, according to which everything is actual. We present and critique her arguments. We first investigate the conceptual framework she develops to interpret the target theories. As part of this effort, we question her definition of ‘proxy actualism’. We then discuss her main arguments that the theories carry a commitment to actual entities that do not exist. We end by considering and addressing a worry that might have been the driving force behind Bennett’s claim that Linsky and Zalta’s view is not fully actualistic.

Case Study Evidence for an Irreducible Form of Knowing How to: An Argument Against a Reductive Epistemology

Over recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in arguments favouring intellectualism—the view that Ryle’s epistemic distinction is invalid because knowing how is in fact nothing but a species of knowing that. The aim of this paper is to challenge intellectualism by introducing empirical evidence supporting a form of knowing how that resists such a reduction. In presenting a form of visuomotor pathology known as visual agnosia, I argue that certain actions performed by patient DF can be distinguished from a mere physical ability because they are (1) intentional and (2) knowledge-based; yet these actions fail to satisfy the criteria for propositional knowledge. It is therefore my contention that there exists a form of intentional action that not only constitutes a genuine claim to knowledge but, in being irreducible to knowing that, resists the intellectualist argument for exhaustive epistemic reduction.

Children’s Intent Attributions and Feelings of Distress: Associations with Maternal and Paternal Parenting Practices

Many studies point to the importance of social information processing mechanisms in understanding distinct child behaviors such as aggression. However, few studies have assessed whether parenting might be related to such mechanisms. This study considers how aversive forms of parenting (i.e., corporal punishment, psychological control) as well as parental warmth and responsiveness might be concurrently associated with children’s hostile intent attributions and emotional distress in response to ambiguous provocation scenarios (both instrumental and relational). A sample of 219 children (101 boys, 118 girls) and their parents participated. Bivariate associations showed that parenting dimensions and child variables were significantly associated in mostly expected ways, but only in father–child relationships (especially father–son relationships). Analyses generally showed dimensions of aversive parenting by fathers to be associated with a greater tendency toward hostile attributional bias in children. Moreover, paternal warmth and responsiveness, as well as corporal punishment, were associated with less emotional distress in boys. In contrast, paternal psychological control predicted greater emotional distress in boys. The findings suggest that the tone of the father–son relationship, in particular, may help set the tone for how boys interpret their social world. Psychological control figures prominently in this regard.     

The Unity and Diversity of Inattention and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity in ADHD: Evidence for a General Factor with Separable Dimensions

To examine the unity and diversity of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptom domains of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a clinical sample of adolescents with ADHD. Parents and adolescents were administered a semi-structured diagnostic interview, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children — Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL), to assess adolescent ADHD. Data from 201 parent interviews and 189 adolescent interviews were examined. Four potential factor structures for the 18 ADHD symptoms were tested using confirmatory factor analysis: two models with correlated factors and two bifactor models. A bifactor model with two specific factors best accounted for adolescent symptoms, according to both parent and adolescents’ reports. Replication of these findings from behavioral rating scales completed for this sample by parents and teachers indicates that the findings are not method– or informant-specific. The results suggest that there is an important unitary component to ADHD symptoms and separable dimensional traits of Inattention and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity.     

Caught in the act: How extraverted and introverted friends communally cope with being recorded

This study explored how close friends who were similar or opposite on extraversion communally coped with being put on the spot to produce a recorded conversation. Participants were 50 pairs of same-sex college-age friends (54% female) who explicitly discussed the fact that their conversation was being recorded. The initial ‘on-stage’ episode emerged consistently earliest for extraverted dyads, and the majority of their episodes quickly diverted the on-stage moment. Dyads that included at least one introvert engaged in more extensive assortments of on-stage maneuvers, including research talk, soothing, and joking. In introvert–extravert dyads the extravert usually initiated and ended these episodes. Implications are discussed for understanding how personality is reciprocally implicated in managing shared everyday problems.     

The joint influence of mood and a cognitively demanding task on risk-taking

This study investigates a mood regulation-based reconciliation of prior findings in the mood maintenance and information processes literatures about the impact of negative mood state on risktaking judgment. Participants were administered a negative mood state induction using a standardized film clip procedure and subsequently completed a measure of risk-taking judgment under one of three conditions: (1) immediately following the mood induction, (2) following a 5 min no-task delay period, or (3) following performance of a cognitively demanding task. As expected, participants who made risk judgments after the performance of the cognitively demanding task showed higher level of recovery from the negative mood induction (i.e., increased positive mood and decreased negative mood) and lower levels of risk-taking judgment than participants in the delayed condition. Additional analyses showed the risk-taking judgments were explained by mood change after the interpolated task. These findings reconcile previous inconsistencies between the two perspectives. Implications for future research on the restorative role of cognitive task performance as a mood regulation strategy are discussed.     

What Carries a Mediation Process? Configural Analysis of Mediation

Mediation is a process that links a predictor and a criterion via a mediator variable. Mediation can be full or partial. This well-established definition operates at the level of variables even if they are categorical. In this article, two new approaches to the analysis of mediation are proposed. Both of these approaches focus on the analysis of categorical variables. The first involves mediation analysis at the level of configurations instead of variables. Thus, mediation can be incorporated into the arsenal of methods of analysis for person-oriented research. Second, it is proposed that Configural Frequency Analysis (CFA) can be used for both exploration and confirmation of mediation relationships among categorical variables. The implications of using CFA are first that mediation hypotheses can be tested at the level of individual configurations instead of variables. Second, this approach leaves the door open for different types of mediation processes to exist within the same set. Using a data example, it is illustrated that aggregate-level analysis can overlook mediation processes that operate at the level of individual configurations.     

Promoting child and family wellness: priorities for psychological and social interventions

In order to foster the well‐being of children and families we propose a shift in the priorities of psychological and social interventions. Following a brief discussion of the concept of wellness, we present a framework for interventions to promote child and family wellness. Psychological and social intervention strategies to promote child and family wellness are then reviewed and interpreted in terms of the framework. Recommendations for changing priorities for programmes and policies are based on the framework and a review of the effectiveness of existing interventions. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Further analysis of encoding in patients with Huntington's disease

Arguments favoring the view that derangement of normal encoding processes contributes to the memory defects of patients with Huntington's disease (HD) are supported by the finding that HD patients do not learn highly imageable words more rapidly than they learn words that are difficult to image. But other data indicating that HD patients can use verbal mediators as mnemonic aids for picture recognition question the existence of important and general encoding deficits in HD. In the first of two experiments the influence of imagery on the acquisition and recall of 14-word lists was studied using a free-recall paradigm. Both HD patients and controls learned highly imageable words more quickly and retained them better than low imagery words over a 30-min delay. The impact of imagery on learning was apparent by the first trial. In the second experiment, a modified Brown-Peterson distractor paradigm was used to assess release from proactive interference (PI). It was found that both HD patients and controls exhibited comparable release from PI following a shift in taxonomic categories. The results of both experiments question the importance of encoding deficits in the memorial dysfunctions associated with HD.