Causal Networks or Causal Islands? The Representation of Mechanisms and the Transitivity of Causal Judgment

Knowledge of mechanisms is critical for causal reasoning. We contrasted two possible organizations of causal knowledge—an interconnected causal network, where events are causally connected without any boundaries delineating discrete mechanisms; or a set of disparate mechanisms—causal islands—such that events in different mechanisms are not thought to be related even when they belong to the same causal chain. To distinguish these possibilities, we tested whether people make transitive judgments about causal chains by inferring, given A causes B and B causes C, that A causes C. Specifically, causal chains schematized as one chunk or mechanism in semantic memory (e.g., exercising, becoming thirsty, drinking water) led to transitive causal judgments. On the other hand, chains schematized as multiple chunks (e.g., having sex, becoming pregnant, becoming nauseous) led to intransitive judgments despite strong intermediate links ((Experiments 1–3). Normative accounts of causal intransitivity could not explain these intransitive judgments (Experiments 4 and 5).     

Enrique Pichon Rivière's conception of reality in psychoanalysis

The author places the subject of his paper in the context of the original views of a school of Argentinian psychoanalysts that differed from traditional conceptions of man and his 1 relationship with the sociocultural context – that is, with reality. These were the analysts who followed Enrique Pichon Rivière and further developed his ideas – namely, Madeleine and Willy Baranger, José Bleger, and David Liberman. The author begins his exposition with a discussion of Pichon Rivière and culture. He then offers an outline of Pichon Rivière's particular conception of man, followed by a section on the Internal Group as the nexus between the psyche and reality. Further sections address the idea of reality in the analytic situation as a dynamic field and the operative definition of the transference; the distinction between perceptual reality and the reading of reality, with a consideration of the notion of ‘critical judgement’; and lastly the issue of health and illness in terms of adaptation to reality. In addition, on the basis of a quotation from Antonio Damasio, the author draws a parallel between these psychoanalytic thinkers’ ‘psychosocial’ approach to man and the findings of contemporary neuroscience as presented by one of its paradigmatic protagonists.     

A comparison of methods for assessing preference for social interactions

Researchers have evaluated a variety of methods for assessing preference for social interactions, and generally have found that such assessments accurately identify differentially reinforcing, preferred interactions. However, few researchers have compared methods for assessing preference for social interactions, and none have done so with participants across different skill levels. The current study compared the stability and validity of hierarchies produced by social interaction preference assessments (SIPA) and picture-based multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessments (MSWO) with 8 individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The MSWO most often produced valid hierarchies for participants who could match, identify, and tact pictures of social interactions and that the SIPA most often produced valid hierarchies for participants who could not identify or tact pictures of social interactions. A vocal paired-stimulus preference assessment (PSPA) was also conducted with a subset of participants who communicated vocally, and it produced valid hierarchies. Considerations and recommendations for selecting a method of assessing preference for social interactions are discussed.     

Phantom narratives and the uncanny in cultural life: psychic presences and their shadows

Abstract

In this paper the author explores the emotional factors that are activated at the level of the cultural unconscious, that produce experiences of the uncanny that are expressed through Phantom Narratives. Phantom Narratives as a hybridized term is the author’s way of linking personal and social activity of unconscious story formation through psychic presences (images). Phantom Narratives are expressions of the unconscious at the level of the group that shows the psyche’s way of narrating its relationship to the group, through the expressions of cultural, social, and political issues. The uncanny, at the level of the social, is seen as those disturbances of feelings that alienate us from the familiar social world of others. What is uncanny about Phantom Narratives is how group emotional dynamics are represented as psychic presences. Making use of the author’s own subjectivity (i.e. psychoanalytic literary genre) he uses an approach from analytic psychology (Jungian) called amplification, which allows for the elaboration of symbolic processes, to create a meaningful (semantic) context for exploration.     

The Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms Distress Index: A pragmatic exploration of general factors to enhance a multidimensional scale

Objective: The authors attempted to develop and validate a general distress index for a multidimensional psychological symptom/outcome measure used in over 300 college counseling centers with more than 100,000 cases annually: the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS). Method: Four models were compared for fit indices (n = 19,247): the existing first-order factor model (without a general factor), a second-order factor model, a bifactor model, and a single factor or “total score” model. In separate clinical and non-clinical samples, concurrent and divergent validity were examined using several well-established measures of psychological symptoms, as well as two-week test–retest and treatment utilization data. Results: Second-order and bifactor models which captured a single “distress” factor both exhibited good fit to the data relative to the baseline and “total score” model. Validity data indicated that factors adequately measured meaningful clinical onstructs. Conclusion: Both the bifactor and second-order models indicated the presence of a “distress index” comprised items across many of the CCAPS subscales. This distress scale has strong applicability for benchmarking the overall severity and complexity of patients at different centers, and can be used to help identify colleges and universities with areas of clinical strength, which can be studied to improve the field. Clinically, the distress index offers a parsimonious and efficient method for clinicians to monitor patients’ progress through treatment.     

Marital satisfaction as a function of dyadic gender-role constellations

Abstract

Forty-eight married couples completed Snyder's Marital Satisfaction Inventory and were also categorized with the Bern Sex-role Inventory as androgynous, gender role congruent, gender role incongruent, or undifferentiated. Analyses of variance showed that androgynous couples featured more wives who were dissatisfied regarding child issues. Data are also presented for differential patterns for the individual marital satisfaction indices. Results are compared to data on individual gender-role determinants and are conceptualized in terms of gender-role and communication theory.     

Hume's Theory of Pity and Malice

This article describes, and proposes a solution to, an interpretive conundrum at the heart of Hume's theory of the passions. Hume tells us explicitly that pity and malice are indirect passions. But there is strong textual evidence suggesting that Hume takes pity and malice to be direct passions. Indeed, some of this evidence points to (1) the identification of pity with a kind of grief and malice with a kind of joy, while the rest of the evidence points to (2) the identification of pity and malice with different combinations of desire and aversion. Here, I argue that option (1) is the one that Hume would have chosen upon careful reflection.     

Creative Pseudo-Reality as a Defensive Factor in Jewish Wit: A Dialectical Perspective

Theoretical dynamics of ethnic humor are juxtaposed with Jewish wit, showing that there is a distinct factor which operates in the Jewish humor response to oppression. Drawing from Ziv's (1986) rich anthology of research and case studies, this factor is conceptualized as creative pseudo-reality. It is hypothesized that Jewish wit features this element of self-effacing humor besides the factors which it shares with the ethnic humor of other marginal groups. The implicit ability to construct a perceived environment which is bound neither to reason nor to logic, is seen as the last line of defense for an oppressed minority whose other options have been denied. Irony and triumph, suggested as key elements in this factor, are illustrated in annotated stereotypical excerpts of Jewish wit. Throughout the analysis, the dialectic principle—maintaining the co-existence of inconsistent dynamics—is highlighted in contrast to the reductionistic either/or approach commonplace in psychological and sociological discourse.