Logic Semantics with the Potential Infinite

A form of quantification logic referred to by the author in earlier papers as being ‘ontologically neutral’ still made use of the actual infinite in its semantics. Here it is shown that one can have, if one desires, a formal logic that refers in its semantics only to the potential infinite. Included are two new quantifiers generalizing the sentential connectives, equivalence and non-equivalence. There are thus new avenues opening up for exploration in both quantification logic and semantics of the infinite.     

Other voices,other minds

I argue to a conclusion I find at once surprising and intuitive: although many considerations show trust useful, valuable, important, or required, these are not the reasons for which one trusts a particular person to do a particular thing. The reasons for which one trusts a particular person on a particular occasion concern, not the value, importance, or necessity of trust itself, but rather the trustworthiness of the person in question in the matter at hand. In fact, I will suggest that the degree to which you trust a particular person to do a particular thing will vary inversely with the degree to which you must rely, for the motivation or justification of your trusting response, on reasons that concern the importance, or value, or necessity of having such a response.     

Construing a “Perfect Knight”: A Personal Construct Investigation of Mass Murder

We report three studies in which we examined the structure of interpersonal construct systems. We attempted to identify (a) the degree to which individuals' differentiation in the constructs they used to construe themselves paralleled the differentiation in the constructs they used to construe other and (b) the differences and similarities in the content of constructs used by subjects to construe themselves, liked peers, and disliked peers. In addition, we compared the content of the liked- and disliked-peer constructs with those used by employees construing co-workers in a previous study. Findings indicated that Ziller, Martell, and Morrison's (1977) checklist measure of self differentiation was weakly correlated in the first sample and uncorrelated in the second sample with Crockett's (1965) Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ), a measure of other differentiation. Differentiation scores from the other and self versions of the RCQ were moderately correlated. Content analyses revealed that self constructs were drawn largely from the same pool as those used in describing liked and disliked peers; they were more similar to the liked-peer constructs than the disliked-peer ones, but also drew heavily on the disliked-peer construct pool. Constructs used to describe liked and disliked peers were very similar to those used to describe co-workers but were clearly influenced by context. To account for the findings, we suggest that constructs become meaningful and thus prominent in a particular domain because of their usefulness for the particular construal tasks encountered in that domain.     

Rrepresentations of trauma in infancy: Clinical and theoretical implications for the understanding of early memory

Understanding the nature of the infant's internal experience is a crucial prerequisite for delineating the developmental effects of an early trauma. In addition, to the extent that internal representations of a trauma can be traced over time, traumatic experiences present unique opportunities for the study of early memory. This article will describe case vignettes of children who experienced a trauma in the preverbal period and who evidenced forms of memory of their trauma at subsequent points in time. In conjunction with the clinical material, developmental research bearing on the types of early memories described will be discussed. The clinical data, reinforced by research findings, indicate that preverbal children, even in the first year of life, can establish and retain some form of internal representation of a traumatic event over significant periods of time. The specificity and enduring nature of the internal representations suggest that specific therapeutic interventions over and above general comforting will be required if an infant is to maximally recover from a trauma. The clinical findings have relevance for a number of issues currently under debate in the area of infant memory, including the role of reminders in memory retention, the nature of early memory systems, and the development of autobiographical memory. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

A linear growth curve analysis of inpatient treatment response by conduct‐disordered,ADHD, and comorbid preadolescents

Conduct disorder (CD) comorbid with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is widely reputed to be treatment refractory, particularly when accompanied by aggression and early‐onset symptoms. Few studies, however, have assessed inpatient treatment response among early onset CD/ADHD children in detail. In the present investigation, behavioral and rating scale data were compared among CD (n=13), ADHD (n=20), and CD/ADHD (n=45) preadolescents during one‐month of multimodal inpatient treatment that included methylphenidate administration. As expected, linear growth curve analyses revealed that CD/ADHD children were the most symptomatic of the three groups. However, all groups benefited from hospitalization, with few differences in treatment responsiveness observed. Analyses of residualized symptoms suggested that methylphenidate administration was effective in curbing impulsive but not aggressive behaviors. Aggr. Behav. 29:440–456, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.