John Locke, ‘Hobbist’: of sleeping souls and thinking matter

In this paper, I consider Isaac Newton’s fevered accusation that John Locke is a ‘Hobbist.’ I suggest a number of ways in which Locke’s account of the mind–body relation could plausibly be construed as Hobbesian. Whereas Newton conceives of the human mind as an immaterial substance and venerates it as a finite image of the Divine Mind, I argue that Locke utterly deflates the religious, ethical, and metaphysical significance of an immaterial soul. Even stronger, I contend that there is good reason to suspect that Locke is a crypto-materialist, at least with respect to human beings, and in this respect, could reasonably be labeled a ‘Hobbist.’     

Psychodynamic Theory and Counseling in Predictive Testing for Huntington’s Disease

This paper revisits psychodynamic theory, which can be applied in predictive testing counseling for Huntington’s Disease (HD). Psychodynamic theory has developed from the work of Freud and places importance on early parent–child experiences. The nature of these relationships, or attachments are reflected in adult expectations and relationships. Two significant concepts, identification and fear of abandonment, have been developed and expounded by the psychodynamic theorist, Melanie Klein. The processes of identification and fear of abandonment can become evident in predictive testing counseling and are colored by the client’s experience of growing up with a parent affected by Huntington’s Disease. In reflecting on family-of-origin experiences, clients can also express implied expectations of the future, and future relationships. Case examples are given to illustrate the dynamic processes of identification and fear of abandonment which may present in the clinical setting. Counselor recognition of these processes can illuminate and inform counseling practice.     

Self-disclosure, emotional expression and intimacy within romantic relationships of people with social phobia

The current study examined aspects of communication and intimacy between people with social phobia and their romantic partners. Forty-eight individuals with social phobia and 58 community controls completed a series of questionnaires to measure self-disclosure, emotional expression and levels of intimacy within their romantic relationships. Participants with social phobia reported less emotional expression, self-disclosure and intimacy than controls, even after controlling for a diagnosis of mood disorder. The group differences did not differ significantly by gender. A continuous measure of social anxiety also correlated significantly with the three relationship measures and these associations held for emotional expression and self-disclosure after controlling for levels of dysphoria. People with social phobia report reduced quality within their romantic relationships, which may have implications for impairment, social support and ultimately maintenance of the disorder.     

The religioning of anthropology: New directions for the ethnographer‐pilgrim

Based on fieldwork in the state of Kerala, south India, Dempsey explores the ethnographical endeavour through the lens of religion. Applying religious categories such as pilgrimage and sainthood to examine the mechanics of ethnography, this essay investigates a spectrum of fieldwork motives and outcomes. Using the tourist and her quest as a comparative link between ethnographer and pilgrim, Dempsey proposes possible ‘religious’ motives in portraying the other as irretrievably exotic, in spite of evidence to the contrary, functioning as a kind of healing authenticity for modernity's banal existence. Dempsey notes that current trends in ethnography offer opportunities for an alternative kind of pilgrimage, based on attention to human intimacies that stem from extended fieldwork. These intimacies work to dash, sometimes begrudgingly, touristic ‘faith’ in unbreachable otherness, challenging the ethnographer to a conversion of sorts, and bringing her study back down to earth.     

Young children's responses to media representations of intergroup threat and ethnicity

Two studies are reported in which ethnic majority children's reactions to media representations of ethnic minorities are examined. In Study 1, 20 white Scottish 6‐year‐olds viewed short television stories in which white or ethnic minority children were depicted as hostile to the participants’ in‐group (threat present) or not (threat absent). A strong effect of threat on liking was obtained but no effect of ethnicity of target and no interaction. In Study 2, 4‐ and 6‐year‐old white Scottish children viewed PowerPoint displays in which Scottish people were shown only as white (traditional version) or as ethnically diverse (multicultural version). Intergroup threat was manipulated. Again, a strong effect of threat was obtained. However, when threat was absent, participants exposed to the traditional condition liked the white out‐group more than the multi‐ethnic out‐group, while participants exposed to the multicultural condition liked the multi‐ethnic out‐group more than the white out‐group. The results are interpreted as consistent with the predictions of Social Identity Development Theory.     

Can propositional biases modulate syntactic repair processes? Insights from preceding comprehension questions

ABSTRACT

There is an ongoing debate about whether discourse biases can constrain sentence processing. Previous work has shown comprehension question accuracy to decrease for temporarily ambiguous sentences preceded by a context biasing towards an initial misinterpretation, suggesting a role of context for modulating comprehension. However, this creates limited modulation of reading times at the disambiguating word, suggesting initial syntactic processing may be unaffected by context [Christianson & Luke, 2011 Christianson, K. , & Luke, S. G. (2011). Context strengthens initial misinterpretations of text. Scientific Studies of Reading , 15 (2), 136–166. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/10888431003636787 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Context strengthens initial misinterpretations of text. Scientific Studies of Reading, 15(2), 136–166]. The current experiments examine whether propositional and structural content from preceding comprehension questions can cue readers to expect certain structures in temporarily ambiguous garden-path sentences. The central finding is that syntactic repair processes remain unaffected while reading times in other regions are modulated by preceding questions. This suggests that reading strategies can be superficially influenced by preceding comprehension questions without impacting the fidelity of ultimate (mis)representations.