Buddhist Fictionalism

Questions regarding what exists are central to various forms of Buddhist philosophy, as they are to many traditions of philosophy. Interestingly, there is perhaps a clearer consensus in Buddhist thought regarding what does not exist than there may be regarding precisely what does exist, at least insofar as the doctrine of anātman (no self, absence of self) is taken to be a fundamental Buddhist doctrine. It may be noted that many forms of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy in particular are considered to offer a quite austere ontology—a rather ‘empty’ account of what exists. Continuing in this vein of ontological austerity, here I will attempt to lay out a relatively novel approach to Buddhist ontology, viz. Buddhist fictionalism.     

Understanding smoking after acute illness: An application of the sentinel event method

The sentinel event theory provides a stepwise approach for building models to understand how negative events can spark health behaviour change. This study tested a preliminary model using the sentinel events method in a sample (N = 300) of smokers who sought care for acute cardiac symptoms. Patients completed measures on: smoking-related causal attribution, perceived severity of the acute illness event, illness-related fear and intentions to quit smoking. Patients were followed up one week after the health event and a seven-day timeline follow back was completed to determine abstinence from tobacco. Structural equation models were performed using average predictor scale scores at baseline, as well as three different time anchors for ratings of illness severity and illness-related fear. Quit intentions, actual illness severity and age were the consistent, positive and independent predictors of seven-day point prevalence abstinence. Additional research on the influences of perceptions and emotional reactions is warranted.     

You Can Take a Horse to Water But You Can’t Make it Drink’: Exploring Children’s Engagement and Resistance in Family Therapy

Children’s engagement and disengagement, adherence and non-adherence, compliance and non-compliance in healthcare have important implications for services. In family therapy mere attendance to the appointments is no guarantee of engaging in the treatment process and as children are not the main initiators of attendance engaging them through the process can be a complex activity for professionals. Through a conversation analysis of naturally occurring family therapy sessions we explore the main discursive strategies that children employ in this context to passively and actively disengage from the therapeutic process and investigate how the therapists manage and attend to this. We note that children competently remove themselves from therapy through passive resistance, active disengagement, and by expressing their autonomy. Analysis reveals that siblings of the constructed ‘problem’ child are given greater liberty in involvement. We conclude by demonstrating how therapists manage the delicate endeavour of including all family members in the process and how engagement and re-engagement are essential for meeting goals and discuss broader implications for healthcare and other settings where children may disengage.     

Interaction of Afferent and Efferent Signals Underlying Joint Position Sense

A model of joint position sense is considered based on the concept that central motor commands are adequately expressed in terms of shifts of the so-called invariant length-tension characteristics for agonist and antagonist muscles. The main points of this concept are discussed to clarify them and to prevent misunderstanding. The basic idea of the model is that the efferent copy of the central motor commands plays the role of a reference frame for evaluation of afferent proprioceptive discharges. An experiment with reproduction of constrained movements was performed in order to investigate the influence of voluntary flexor or extensor muscle tension on position sense in the elbow joint. The results demonstrate adequate perception of joint position on the background of voluntary muscle tension and thus are quite consistent with the model. The role of afferent and efferent signals in position sense is discussed with special reference to views expressed recently by different authors. The interrelation between position sense and sense of effort is considered, based on a concept of senso-motor space.     

The Initial Interview with Asian American Clients

When grouped with Pacific Islanders, Asian Americans constitute the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. In this article, the authors provide background information for understanding the diversity and commonalities within Asian American populations and discuss the challenges of initial assessment with clients who identify as Asian Americans. We conclude this article with guidelines for conducting an effective initial interview with Asian American clients.     

Underlying Mechanisms Explaining the Link between Differentiation and Romantic Relationship Outcomes

Abstract

Differentiation of self has been associated with positive relationship outcomes, but little has been done to analyze the underlying mechanisms that promote these outcomes for highly differentiated people. Longitudinal data were collected from a sample of university students (N?=?162) and clinically relevant direct and indirect effects between I-position and emotional reactivity, anxious attachment, relationship efficacy, and relationship satisfaction and conflict hostility were analyzed using path analysis. In general, anxious attachment and relationship efficacy mediated the association between differentiation of self and conflict hostility. Clients may benefit from therapists assessing differentiation and attachment, facilitating conversations that contribute to increasing differentiation and attachment, and using both of these constructs as mechanisms to enhance relationships in young adults.     

What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You,Unless You Don’t Know You’re Wrong

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the impact of students’ background knowledge and how they utilized “don’t know” affordances to comprehend and learn from text. In two studies, over 8,000 middle and high school students interacted with a content-area learning environment in which they answered a series of background knowledge questions before they completed a unit on the same topic. Students were given the opportunity to indicate they “did not know” the answers to the knowledge questions. Higher knowledge was related to higher understanding, and the use of the “don’t know” option further explained variability in students’ understanding of the sources beyond background knowledge. When responding to knowledge questions, students who selected incorrect options before the task understood less and were less likely to learn content when given the opportunity compared to students who indicated they did not know. Thus, low knowledge students were still able to comprehend and learn as long as they acknowledged they lacked background knowledge. One’s comprehension and learning can be facilitated or impaired, depending upon the veracity of their knowledge, and whether students choose to acknowledge their lack of background knowledge. Implications of this work are discussed in terms of learning and instruction.     

Can Perceptions of Supervisor-Related Ethical Climate Influence How High-Impression Managers Admit Past Unethical Behavior?

In this study, we investigated how the perceptions of ethical climate as it relates to supervisor behavior and impression management are related to admission of past unethical behavior in a sample of Canadian Army personnel. We expected that among respondents who perceive less ethical supervisor-related climate, the relationship between Impression Management (IM) and the admission of past unethical behavior should be significant and positive. In contrast, among respondents who perceive a more ethical supervisor-related climate, the relationship between IM and self-report past unethical behavior should be weak or nonsignificant, and the frequency of admission of past unethical behavior should be low. Although moderation occurred, it was not as hypothesized. IM predicted admission of having obeyed, or witnessed others obey an unlawful command when perceptions of supervisor-related ethical climate were low, and not when perceptions of supervisor-related ethical climate were high. However, higher (vs. lower) impression managers admitted less past unethical behavior, regardless of their perceptions of supervisor-related ethical climate. These results suggest that high impression managers do not admit to having obeyed or witnessed others obey an unlawful command in the past, regardless of their perceptions of the ethical climate as it relates to supervisor behavior.