Social closeness of MZ and DZ twin parents towards nieces and nephews

Twins' marriages to non‐twins yield genetically and socially informative kinships. Monozygotic (MZ) twins' genetic identity makes them ‘genetic parents’ of their nieces/nephews, and their nieces/nephews their ‘genetic children’. The present study is the first to apply twin‐family models to study social relatedness. Analyses of twin families (MZ: N = 248; DZ: N = 75) tested evolutionary‐based concepts concerning social closeness, perceived similarity and caretaking. Hypotheses based on Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory were supported: MZ twin aunts/uncles expressed greater social closeness towards their nieces/nephews than DZ twin aunts/uncles; and female twins from same‐sex pairs expressed greater closeness towards their nieces/nephews than male twins from same‐sex pairs. This study underlines benefits of associations between behavioural‐genetic and evolutionary psychological theories, methods and interpretations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Jung and Lévy-Bruhl

Abstract: For his knowledge of ‘primitive’ peoples, C. G. Jung relied on the work of Lucien Lévy‐Bruhl (1857–1939), a French philosopher who in mid‐career became an armchair anthropologist. In a series of books from 1910 on, Lévy‐Bruhl asserted that ‘primitive’ peoples had been misunderstood by modern Westerners. Rather than thinking like moderns, just less rigorously, ‘primitives’ harbour a mentality of their own. ‘Primitive’ thinking is both ‘mystical’ and ‘prelogical’. By ‘mystical’, Lévy‐Bruhl meant that ‘primitive’ peoples experience the world as identical with themselves. Their relationship to the world, including to fellow human beings, is that of participation mystique. By ‘prelogical’, Lévy‐Bruhl meant that ‘primitive’ thinking is indifferent to contradictions. ‘Primitive’ peoples deem all things identical with one another yet somehow still distinct. A human is at once a tree and still a human being. Jung accepted unquestioningly Lévy‐Bruhl's depiction of the ‘primitive’ mind, even when Jung, unlike Lévy‐Bruhl, journeyed to the field to see ‘primitive’ peoples firsthand. But Jung altered Lévy‐Bruhl's conception of ‘primitive’ mentality in three key ways. First, he psychologized it. Whereas for Lévy‐Bruhl ‘primitive’ thinking is to be explained sociologically, for Jung it is to be explained psychologically: ‘primitive’ peoples think as they do because they live in a state of unconsciousness. Second, Jung universalized ‘primitive’ mentality. Whereas for Lévy‐Bruhl ‘primitive’ thinking is ever more being replaced by modern thinking, for Jung ‘primitive’ thinking is the initial psychological state of all human beings. Third, Jung appreciated ‘primitive’ thinking. Whereas for Lévy‐Bruhl ‘primitive’ thinking is false, for Jung it is true—once it is recognized as an expression not of how the world but of how the unconscious works. I consider, along with the criticisms of Lévy‐Bruhl's conception of ‘primitive’ thinking by his fellow anthropologists and philosophers, whether Jung in fact grasped all that Lévy‐Bruhl meant by ‘primitive’ thinking.     

Causal essentialism and mereological monism

Several philosophers have recently defended Causal Essentialism—the view that every property confers causal powers, and whatever powers it confers, it confers essentially. I argue that on the face of it, Causal Essentialism implies a form of Monism, and in particular, the thesis I call ‘Mereological Monism’: that there is some concretum that is a part of every concretum. However, there are three escape routes, three views which are such that if one of them is true, Causal Essentialism does not imply any form of Monism at all. I survey the costs associated with taking these escape routes along with the costs associated with accepting Mereological Monism.     

THE MODERN STUDY OF MYTH AND ITS RELATION TO SCIENCE

The history of the modern study of myth can be divided into two main categories: that which sees myth as the primitive counterpart to natural science, itself considered overwhelmingly modern, and that which sees myth as almost anything but the primitive counterpart to natural science. The first category constitutes the nineteenth‐century approach to myth. The second category constitutes the twentieth‐century approach. Tylor and Frazer epitomize the nineteenth‐century view. Malinowski, Eliade, Bultmann, Jonas, Camus, Freud, and Jung epitomize the twentieth‐century approach. The question for the twenty‐first century is whether myth can be brought back to the physical world, but in a way compatible with science. The case of the myth of Gaia will be considered as a possible way of doing so.     

Assessment of Anxiety in Older Adults: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation of the German Version of the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS)

Anxiety occurs frequently among older adults, and can have deleterious impacts on the quality of daily life. Due to the dearth of well-validated elder-specific anxiety screening instruments available in the German language, this study aimed to translate the Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS), a reliable and valid 30-item self-report screening instrument for assessing anxiety based on DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria (Segal et al. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24(7), 709–714, 2010a), into German, and to validate the new measure. The German version of the GAS was developed through a translation and back translation process, with careful attention paid to culturally-sensitive expressions of anxiety in the German older adult population. The final version of the German GAS was tested in a sample of 242 community-dwelling older adults (M_age?=?72.0 years, SD?=?6.9 years; 59 % women) who completed either an online (26 %) or a paper-pencil (74 %) version of the questionnaire. The findings confirmed the successful translation of the GAS into German and provided psychometric support for the new measure. The validation of the factor structure based on confirmatory factor analyses was in support of a unidimensional structure of the GAS-G. Correlational analyses with inventories measuring anxiety related and non-anxiety related personality traits additionally confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the GAS for use as an assessment measure for anxiety among German older adults.