Modeling human performance in statistical word segmentation

The ability to discover groupings in continuous stimuli on the basis of distributional information is present across species and across perceptual modalities. We investigate the nature of the computations underlying this ability using statistical word segmentation experiments in which we vary the length of sentences, the amount of exposure, and the number of words in the languages being learned. Although the results are intuitive from the perspective of a language learner (longer sentences, less training, and a larger language all make learning more difficult), standard computational proposals fail to capture several of these results. We describe how probabilistic models of segmentation can be modified to take into account some notion of memory or resource limitations in order to provide a closer match to human performance.     

Am I doing better than you? That depends on whether you ask me in English or Chinese: Self-enhancement effects of language as a cultural mindset prime

Westerners tend to judge themselves positively unless their failure relative to others is obvious, in which case they tend to distance themselves from outperforming others. Whether this tendency to self-enhance in social-comparison situations is universal or culture-bound is hotly debated. Rather than construe self-enhancement as either universal or culture-bound, we propose that its effects depend on the cultural mindset that is salient at the moment of self-reflection. A cultural mindset is a mental representation containing culture-congruent content, procedures, and goals. We focused on individual and collective mindsets, using language as an unobtrusive mindset prime and predicting that people would be more self-enhancing when an individual mindset was made salient by using English than when a collective mindset was made salient by using Chinese. Three studies supported this hypothesis. Chinese students self-enhanced (rating themselves as better than others and distancing themselves from outperforming others) more when primed with an individual mindset.     

Rational Natural Law and German Sociology: Hobbes,Locke and Tönnies

While the roots of modern German sociology are often traced back to historicism, the importance of rational natural law in the inception of the founding work of German sociology, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft by Ferdinand Tönnies, intended as a ‘creative synthesis’ between rational natural law and romantic historicism, should not be overlooked. We show how in his earliest scholarly work on Thomas Hobbes and John Locke the shift in the meaning of the two concepts ‘Gemeinschaft’ and ‘Gesellschaft’ represents a departure from early liberal enlightenment to a Weltanschauung marked by romantic authors such as Fichte, Novalis and Haller, by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Spencer and Marx, notwithstanding Tönnies' adherence to the political and social values of a liberal civil society.     

Societal creativity: Problems with pathology

Abstract

This commentary on Simonton's “Political Pathology and Societal Creativity” argues that although the article offers a comprehensive and illuminating account of possible connections between societal creativity and political phenomena, viewing such connections in terms of a relationship between creativity and political pathology is problematic. The notion of political pathology presupposes some notion of political health, yet no standard of political health is offered by Simonton, nor are we given any criteria for determining whether certain social phenomena are pathological. Ultimately the notion of what constitutes a healthy society rests upon views about the nature of society which depend on a political philosophy. The danger in talk of political pathology lies in defining political health in terms of a particular political ideology, thereby making a value judgment regarding political ideals hidden in the guise of a strictly empirical claim.     

Self-Care as Key to Others' Care: The Perspectives of Globally Situated Experienced Senior-Level Sport Psychology Practitioners

Engaging in self-care has been proposed as a means of counteracting work–life stress that can negatively impact efforts by sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) to effectively and ethically care for their clients. Utilizing Hill's Consensual Qualitative Research methodological approach, researchers examined the perceptions, experiences, and meanings that 20 internationally located, experienced, senior-level SPPs attributed to their self-care. The researchers identified 3 main domains: (a) defining self-care for SPPs, (b) describing the self-care challenges SPPs faced, and (c) identifying the strategies used to overcome those challenges. The experienced and senior-level practitioners participating in this study recognized a need to sustain a relatively balanced approach in their professional and personal lives. They presented a perspective of self-care as necessary to effectively support and provide care for clients. The SPPs identified self-care as an important contributor to their sport psychology professional quality of life. Study findings have implications for the well-being of both novice and more experienced SPPs.     

Care and Justice Moral Orientation: A Scale for Its Assessment

A quantitative measure of adult moral orientation, based on the theoretical frameworks of Kohlberg and Gilligan, was developed to measure preference for "justice" or "care"-oriented moral thinking. The Moral Orientation Scale Using Childhood Dilemmas (MOS), a short, objective measure, presents adults with a series of dilemmas frequently faced by children, each followed by two care-oriented and two justice-oriented responses to the dilemma. The procedures for developing and scoring the measure are discussed, and validity and reliability data are presented. Used with both male and female social work and law students, as expected, the MOS shows males to be more justice-oriented in their moral reasoning than females who are shown to be more care-oriented. Moreover, in further agreement with Gilligan's theory that gender and experience, taken together, are related to moral reasoning style, male lawyers and female social workers are shown to have the strongest preferences.     

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Quantitative Mental Health Literature in Occupational Therapy

ABSTRACT

A bibliometric analysis was performed to examine the impact and use of the peer-reviewed occupational therapy intervention effectiveness literature addressing adults with mental illness, 2000–2016. Of 2,597 articles, 68 were quantitative studies assessing an intervention for adults with mental illness. These studies had a collective citation count of 1,455 and were published in 29 journals in 14 countries. The majority (n?=?36; 52.94%) were randomized controlled and two-group controlled studies. The most commonly assessed interventions were life skills and community reintegration (n?=?20, 29.41%) and supported employment (n?=?16, 23.52%). Sixty-five (95.58%) studies found statistically significant results on the primary or secondary outcomes.     

The areas of change questionnaire: A cross-cultural comparison of israeli and american distressed and nondistressed couples

Abstract

This study examines Israeli couples' presenting complaints about their relationship, their perceptions of one another's complaints and perceptual accuracy between actual and perceived complaints, using the Areas of Change Questionnaire (ACQ). Samples were obtained of both distressed and nondistressed couples. Each sample met stringent criteria for categorization as distressed and nondistressed. Normative data for both samples are examined and areas of similarities and differences are discussed. The instrument is found to discriminate distressed and nondistressed Israeli couples. Results are compared with a previous study of American distressed and nondistressed couples. The American finding that women desire more change in marriage is not replicated in the Israeli sample, nor the American finding that distress and stage in the life cycle are related. However, there is an indication in both samples that men, compared to women, perceive more requests for change. Men in both cultures also feel more change is asked of them than they themselves ask in return.