Perspectivas actuales en Psicología de la Religión

Resumen

El objetivo del trabajo radica en llevar a cabo una revisión sobre el estado actual de las investigaciones rejerentes a los aspectos psicosociales de la religión.

Se comienza planteando los problemas que ello extraña: escaseZ de investigaciones rigurosas, connotaciones ideológicas de los planteamientos y estrategias, diversas y contrapuestas acepciones de términos elementales, etc.

Se aborda la polémica que ba enfrentado a psicólogos y teólogos, que, a pesar de su poca operatividad, ha supuesto un foco de interés.

Se analiza la multidimensionalidad de las actitudes religiosas, aportaciones realizadas al respecto y los instrumentos de medida que han gomado de mayor predicamento.

Se concluye con la exposición panorámica de las investigaciones actuales más relevantes sobre el tema, señalando cómo se han ocupado básicamente de correlacionar las actitudes religiosas o la religiosidad con diversas variables de personalidad, como autoritarismo, neuroticismo, autoestima, etc.     

Dynamics of scientific change and cognitive science. An epistemological update / Dinámica de cambio y ciencias cognitivas. Una puesta al día epistemológica

Abstract

I explore two proposals on the dynamics of scientific change in the general philosophy of science and I evaluate the extent to which they can be applied in the cognitive sciences. I do this by paying special attention to the youth and diversity which characterize this field of scientific research. Firstly, I distinguish two kinds of uses of Kuhn’s work: direct but loose applications of Kuhnean concepts to the history of cognitive science, on the one hand, and indirect applications of certain aspects of Kuhnean ideas, on the other hand. Secondly, I criticize their pertinence on the basis of the secondary role which theories play in the field. Finally, I defend the fertility of the concept of ‘research tradition’ proposed by Laudan, by focusing on the previously highlighted set of idiosyncratic characteristics of the cognitive sciences.     

Time course of selective attention to face regions in social anxiety: eye-tracking and computational modelling

ABSTRACT

We investigated the time course of selective attention to face regions during judgment of dis/approval by low (LSA) and high (HSA) social anxiety undergraduates (with clinical levels on questionnaire measures). The viewers’ gaze direction was assessed and the stimulus visual saliency of face regions was computed, for video-clips displaying dynamic facial expressions. Social anxiety was related to perception of disapproval from faces with an ambiguous smile (i.e. with non-happy eyes), but not those with congruent happy eyes and a smile. HSA observers selectively looked earlier at the eye region, whereas LSA ones preferentially looked at the smiling mouth. Consistently, gaze allocation was less related to visual saliency of the smile for HSA than for LSA viewers. The attentional bias towards the less salient eye region – thus opposing the automatic capture by the smile – suggests that it is strategically driven in HSA individuals, possibly aimed at detecting negative evaluators.     

Finite basis problems and results for quasivarieties

Let be a finite collection of finite algebras of finite signature such that SP( ) has meet semi-distributive congruence lattices. We prove that there exists a finite collection ₁ of finite algebras of the same signature, , such that SP( ₁) is finitely axiomatizable.We show also that if , then SP( ₁) is finitely axiomatizable. We offer new proofs of two important finite basis theorems of D. Pigozzi and R. Willard. Our actual results are somewhat more general than this abstract indicates.While working on this paper, the first author was partially supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research (OTKA) grant no. T37877 and the second author was supported by the US National Science Foundation grant no. DMS-0245622.Special issue of Studia Logica: Algebraic Theory of Quasivarieties Presented by M. E. Adams, K. V. Adaricheva, W. Dziobiak, and A. V. Kravchenko     

Contents of Volume 138

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 138     

Assessing automaticity in audiovisual speech integration: evidence from the speeded classification task

The McGurk effect is usually presented as an example of fast, automatic, multisensory integration. We report a series of experiments designed to directly assess these claims. We used a syllabic version of the speeded classification paradigm, whereby response latencies to the first (target) syllable of spoken word-like stimuli are slowed down when the second (irrelevant) syllable varies from trial to trial. This interference effect is interpreted as a failure of selective attention to filter out the irrelevant syllable. In Experiment 1 we reproduced the syllabic interference effect with bimodal stimuli containing auditory as well as visual lip movement information, thus confirming the generalizability of the phenomenon. In subsequent experiments we were able to produce (Experiment 2) and to eliminate (Experiment 3) syllabic interference by introducing 'illusory' (McGurk) audiovisual stimuli in the irrelevant syllable, suggesting that audiovisual integration occurs prior to attentional selection in this paradigm.     

Stereotype threat undermines intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load

Research on stereotype threat has repeatedly demonstrated that the intellectual performance of social groups is particularly sensitive to the situational context in which tests are usually administered. In the present experiment, an adaptation of the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test was introduced as a measure of cognitive ability. Results showed that individuals targeted by a reputation of intellectual inferiority scored lower on the test than did other people. However, when the identical test was not presented as a measure of cognitive ability, the achievement gap between the target and the control group disappeared. Using heart rate variability indices to assess mental workload, our findings showed that the situational salience of a reputation of lower ability undermined intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load. Our results indicate that group differences in cognitive ability scores can reflect different situational burdens and not necessarily actual differences in cognitive ability.     

Motor adaptation to different dynamic environments is facilitated by indicative context stimuli

When humans are exposed to external forces while performing arm movements, they adapt by compensating for these novel forces. The basis of this learning process is thought to be a neural representation that models the relation between all forces acting upon the system and the kinematic effects they produce, called inverse dynamic model (IDM). The present study investigated whether and how the predictability of a given external force affects the selection of an appropriate motor response to compensate for such force. Adult human subjects (N=32) held a handle that could rotate around the elbow joint and learned to perform goal-directed forearm flexion movements, while an external velocity-dependent negative damping force was applied that assisted forearm movement. Subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. In the associative group, the applied damping force was always associated with a specific initial position. Thus, after initial learning, the force application became predictable. In the non-associative group, where the same movements were performed, the applied force was independent of the initial position, so that no association between force and location could be formed. We found that only the associative group significantly reduced target error when damping was present. That is, the location cue aided these subjects in generating dynamic responses in the appropriate limb. Our results indicate that motor adaptation to different dynamic environments can be facilitated by indicative stimuli.     

On the way to assess emotions in animals: do lambs (Ovis aries) evaluate an event through its suddenness, novelty, or unpredictability?

Appraisal theories provide a framework that gives insight into emotions and could allow comparisons across species. According to these theories, events are first evaluated on their suddenness, novelty, and unpredictability. The authors examined the ability of lambs (Ovis aries) to evaluate an event according to these 3 criteria through 3 tests. The lambs responded to suddenness with a startle response coupled with an increase in heart rate and to novelty with an orientation response coupled with an increase of vagal activity. There was no clear evidence that lambs can detect the predictability of an event. Those results support the usefulness of appraisal theories to assess emotion in animals.     

Educational Background,Modes of Discourse and Argumentation: Comparing Women and Men

This paper analyses the way in which discourse and argumentation may vary depending on participants educational level and gender. Men and women from three different educational levels (literacy, advanced level and university students) participated in discussion groups that debated about women and work, the sharing of housework and the way in which girls and boys are educated. The results showed important differences depending on participants educational level and gender. In general, the main differences were related to educational level, while gender tended to interact with educational level, as a moderating factor.