A status theory of the evaluation of sex-role and age-role behavior

An earlier investigation formulated a status theory of behavioral choice evaluation to explain the lesser approval for cross-sex-role behavior of males than of females. Since males are often assigned higher prestige, their deviation from male to female behavior represents a movement from higher to lower status, resulting in a loss of approval. To determine that the fit of previous data with the theory was indeed due to the status characteristic of sex roles, the current study used the theory to predict the evaluations of appropriate and cross-role behavior concerning age roles as well as sex roles. Furthermore, the effect of status upon evaluation was hypothesized to reside in the association of status with social value and, in turn, the effect of social value upon evaluation. Subjects were 57 male and 40 female university students who provided approval ratings of either appropriate or cross-age-role and sex-role behavior. For sex and age, cross-role behavior received less approval for the higher status actor. This indicated that the lesser approval of cross-sex-role behavior of males was due to the differential status ranking of male and female roles, rather than to some other feature more specific to sex roles. The proposition that social value is the explanatory link in the effect of status upon evaluation is supported by the results.     

Applications of object relations theory and self-psychology in current group therapy

In an effort to explore how group therapists can apply psychoanalytic theory in the group modality to advantage, two major developments in analytic theory are examined. 1) Kernberg stresses the neutral interpretive stance and utilizes concepts of protective identification and splitting in dealing with borderline pathology. This paper illustrates concretely how such theory can be used by the group therapist to encourage working through in the group situation. 2) Kohut's work stresses the empathic, nurturant analytic stance and focuses upon idealization, the grandiose self and the self-object. An understanding of these concepts helps the group therapist avoid obstacles in the treatment of narcissistic patients and can enrich the therapeutic work. The paper concludes that treatment of the difficult patient may be enhanced by the group situation in combination with specific psychoanalytic concepts.     

Models for normal intuitionistic modal logics

Kripke-style models with two accessibility relations, one intuitionistic and the other modal, are given for analogues of the modal systemK based on Heyting's prepositional logic. It is shown that these two relations can combine with each other in various ways. Soundness and completeness are proved for systems with only the necessity operator, or only the possibility operator, or both. Embeddings in modal systems with several modal operators, based on classical propositional logic, are also considered. This paper lays the ground for an investigation of intuitionistic analogues of systems stronger thanK. A brief survey is given of the existing literature on intuitionistic modal logic.     

Two operations in character recognition: Some evidence from reaction-time measurements

Theories of the recognition of a visual character may be divided into three sets.defined by the way in which the stimulus is encoded before being compared to a memorized target character. A character-classification experiment was performed in which the test stimuli were characters that were either intact or degraded by a superimposed pattern. Analyses of reaction-times in the experiment lead to the rejection of two of the three sets of theories. There appear to be at least two separate operations in the recognition or classification of a character. The first encodes the visual stimulus as an abstracted representation of its physical properties. The second, which may occur more than once, compares such a stimulus representation to a memory representation, producing either a match or a mismatch. A theory of high-speed exhaustive scanning in memory underlies the experiment and is given new support. The method of reaction-time analysis that is introduced, an elaboration of the Uelmholtz-Donders subtraction method, may be applicable to the general problem of the invariance ofperceived form under certain transfomations of the stimulus.     

Parfit on Free Will,Desert, and the Fairness of Punishment

In his recent monumental book On What Matters, Derek Parfit argues for a hard determinist view that rejects free will-based moral responsibility and desert. This rejection of desert is necessary for his main aim in the book, the overall reconciliation of normative ethics. In Appendix E of his book, however, Parfit claims that it is possible to mete out fair punishment. Parfit’s position on punishment here seems to be inconsistent with his hard determinism. I argue that Parfit is mistaken here, in a way that leads him to unjustified optimism about the possibility of fair penalization. Insofar as we take the free will problem seriously, we cannot reconcile a belief in the absence of desert with a belief in the fairness of penalization.