Anchoring Intersubjective Models in Recent Advances in Developmental Psychology,Cognitive Neuroscience and Parenting Studies: Introduction to Papers by Trevarthen,Gallese, and Ammaniti & Trentini

The papers in this special section review and extend the bold, creative body of current theory and research about the intersubjectivity. From different points of view, they all show that interpersonal recognition and collaboration play as central a role in motivating and organizing personality as other motivations like sex and attachment. Taken together, the papers offer a panoramic perspective, integrating cognitive and affective neuroscience, phenomenological philosophy, early development research, and psychoanalysis. Written by leading European academics, they reflect a Continental style of investigating the theoretical implications of “scientific” data.     

Logical dynamics of belief change in the community

In this paper we explore the relationship between norms of belief revision that may be adopted by members of a community and the resulting dynamic properties of the distribution of beliefs across that community. We show that at a qualitative level many aspects of social belief change can be obtained from a very simple model, which we call ‘threshold influence’. In particular, we focus on the question of what makes the beliefs of a community stable under various dynamical situations. We also consider refinements and alternatives to the ‘threshold’ model, the most significant of which is to consider changes to plausibility judgements rather than mere beliefs. We show first that some such change is mandated by difficult problems with belief-based dynamics related to the need to decide on an order in which different beliefs are considered. Secondly, we show that the resulting plausibility-based account results in a deterministic dynamical system that is non-deterministic at the level of beliefs.     

Working With Disruption in the Supervisory Relationship: Introduction to Panel

In this panel Emanuel Berman and Joan Sarnat present examples of supervisions in which anxieties disrupted their work with psychoanalytic candidates. These authors, as well as discussants Franco Borgogno and Tony Bass, concur about the importance of enlarging the scope of the supervisory process beyond the traditional focus on the patient and on supervisee countertransference, narrowly defined, when such disruptions occur.     

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and the future of psychology

Psychology responded to the national needs in World War I and World War II and was itself transformed. National need calls a third time: unprecedented levels of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, suicide, and anxiety along with a need for a resilient Army capable of meeting the persistent warfare of the foreseeable future. As a large part of the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, positive psychology is meeting this need with new tests, with new fitness courses, and with resilience training. These developments may transform the practice of psychology and psychology's relation to medicine and education.     

中国古代的推理模型

文章主要针对中国古代语言和论证的一些重要方面进行探讨,特别地,我们重点考察了儒家和墨家的观点。我们主张使用轻型的逻辑模型方法（不引进全部的现代逻辑演算）对一些重要的概念提供解释。我们所关注的问题主要有：情景辨别和做出反应、根据合适的反应来正名、以及通过＂法＂和＂因＂两个方面讨论类的外延。我们尝试使用博弈模型来表示古代论证的实际情形,重点讨论关于对象和类之间关系的争辩。在文章的最后,我们讨论了使用博弈建模方法对于理解古代中国推理实践潜在的可能性。     

Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions

Positive psychology has flourished in the last 5 years. The authors review recent developments in the field, including books, meetings, courses, and conferences. They also discuss the newly created classification of character strengths and virtues, a positive complement to the various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e. g., American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and present some cross-cultural findings that suggest a surprising ubiquity of strengths and virtues. Finally, the authors focus on psychological interventions that increase individual happiness. In a 6-group, random-assignment, placebo-controlled Internet study, the authors tested 5 purported happiness interventions and 1 plausible control exercise. They found that 3 of the interventions lastingly increased happiness and decreased depressive symptoms. Positive interventions can supplement traditional interventions that relieve suffering and may someday be the practical legacy of positive psychology.     

Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents

In a longitudinal study of 140 eighth-grade students, self-discipline measured by self-report, parent report, teacher report, and monetary choice questionnaires in the fall predicted final grades, school attendance, standardized achievement-test scores, and selection into a competitive high school program the following spring. In a replication with 164 eighth graders, a behavioral delay-of-gratification task, a questionnaire on study habits, and a group-administered IQ test were added. Self-discipline measured in the fall accounted for more than twice as much variance as IQ in final grades, high school selection, school attendance, hours spent doing homework, hours spent watching television (inversely), and the time of day students began their homework. The effect of self-discipline on final grades held even when controlling for first-marking-period grades, achievement-test scores, and measured IQ. These findings suggest a major reason for students falling short of their intellectual potential: their failure to exercise self-discipline.     

Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life

Different orientations to happiness and their association with life satisfaction were investigated with 845 adults responding to Internet surveys. We measured life satisfaction and the endorsement of three different ways to be happy through pleasure, through engagement, and through meaning. Each of these three orientations individually predicted life satisfaction. People simultaneously low on all three orientations reported especially low life satisfaction. These findings point the way toward a distinction between the full life and the empty life.