A critique of foundationalist conceptions of comprehensive doctrines in the religion in politics-debate

This paper comprises a critical examination of foundationalist conceptions of comprehensive doctrines in the religion in politics-debate. I argue that John Rawls, the towering figure of this debate, operates with a foundationalist conception of comprehensive doctrines that has shaped the debate’s view of relevant alternatives (often referred to as exclusivism and inclusivism). However, there are several problems with foundationalist conceptions, and the most serious is that they are empirically inadequate in relation to modern Western societies. I conclude that participants of the exclusivist/inclusivist debate ought to look closer at alternative, non-foundationalist conceptions, and I supply a brief sketch of one such approach, inspired by American pragmatism.     

Response style analysis with threshold and multi‐process IRT models: A review and tutorial

Two different item response theory model frameworks have been proposed for the assessment and control of response styles in rating data. According to one framework, response styles can be assessed by analysing threshold parameters in Rasch models for ordinal data and in mixture‐distribution extensions of such models. A different framework is provided by multi‐process item response tree models, which can be used to disentangle response processes that are related to the substantive traits and response tendencies elicited by the response scale. In this tutorial, the two approaches are reviewed, illustrated with an empirical data set of the two‐dimensional ‘Personal Need for Structure’ construct, and compared in terms of multiple criteria. Mplus is used as a software framework for (mixed) polytomous Rasch models and item response tree models as well as for demonstrating how parsimonious model variants can be specified to test assumptions on the structure of response styles and attitude strength. Although both frameworks are shown to account for response styles, they differ on the quantitative criteria of model selection, practical aspects of model estimation, and conceptual issues of representing response styles as continuous and multidimensional sources of individual differences in psychological assessment.     

Graphical regression models for polytomous variables

When modeling the relationship between two nominal categorical variables, it is often desirable to include covariates to understand how individuals differ in their response behavior. Typically, however, not all the relevant covariates are available, with the result that the measured variables cannot fully account for the associations between the nominal variables. Under the assumption that the observed and unobserved variables follow a homogeneous conditional Gaussian distribution, this paper proposesRC(M) regression models to decompose the residual associations between the polytomous variables. Based on Goodman's (1979, 1985)RC(M) association model, a distinctive feature ofRC(M) regression models is that they facilitate the joint estimation of effects due to manifest and omitted (continuous) variables without requiring numerical integration. TheRC(M) regression models are illustrated using data from the High School and Beyond study (Tatsuoka & Lohnes, 1988). This article was accepted for publication, when Willem J. Heiser was the Editor ofPsychometrika. This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (#SBR96-17510 and #SBR94-09531) and the Bureau of Educational Research at the University of Illinois. We thank Jee-Seon Kim for comments and computational assistance.     

Psychosocial effects associated with dental fear in adult dental patients with avoidance behaviours

Abstract

The most obvious consequence of a genuine dental phobic reaction is the avoidance of necessary dental care. Previous research has indicated that such avoidance has adverse effects on an individual's oral health status, and also reduces the quality of life. However, systematic investigations in this area of dentistry are few and clinical observations and interviews may often fail to elicit information regarding the impairment created outside the dental situation. The present investigation assessed the presence and levels of emotional and social life effects among dental phobic patients with regard to the prevalence of dental and general fears and the length of time for which dentistry had been avoided. It was shown that a majority of the patients felt that they had to curtail their social relations, and many, especially long-term avoiders, reported wide-spread negative social life effects. Often this had extended into feelings of loneliness or to overt social isolation. It remains to be seen whether fear of dentistry itself produces disadvantage or whether these effects are mainly related to personality factors, which can also promote the development of dental fear. Alternatively, poor dental health, which is probably more frequent in anxious patients, may be perceived by these patients and thus impair social relationships.     

Correcting Too Much or Too Little? The Performance of Three Chi-Square Corrections

This simulation study investigates the performance of three test statistics, T₁, T₂, and T₃, used to evaluate structural equation model fit under non normal data conditions. T₁ is the well-known mean-adjusted statistic of Satorra and Bentler. T₂ is the mean-and-variance adjusted statistic of Sattertwaithe type where the degrees of freedom is manipulated. T₃ is a recently proposed version of T₂ that does not manipulate degrees of freedom. Discrepancies between these statistics and their nominal chi-square distribution in terms of errors of Type I and Type II are investigated. All statistics are shown to be sensitive to increasing kurtosis in the data, with Type I error rates often far off the nominal level. Under excess kurtosis true models are generally over-rejected by T₁ and under-rejected by T₂ and T₃, which have similar performance in all conditions. Under misspecification there is a loss of power with increasing kurtosis, especially for T₂ and T₃. The coefficient of variation of the nonzero eigenvalues of a certain matrix is shown to be a reliable indicator for the adequacy of these statistics.     

One-Year-Olds Warn Others About Negative Action Outcomes

Warning others is a paradigm case of communicative helping and prospective action understanding. The current study addressed the ontogeny of warning in infants' gestural communication. We found that 12- and 18-month-olds (n = 84) spontaneously warned an adult by pointing out to her an aversive object hidden in her way (problem condition). In control conditions, the object was either positive (no-problem condition) or the adult had witnessed its placing (problem-known condition), which resulted in significantly less pointing. Results show that infants intervene spontaneously to help others avoid a problem before it has occurred. These acts of warning entail an understanding of negatively defined goals (to avoid an outcome) and incorrect representations of reality. Findings support theories of altruism and social–pragmatic competencies in infancy.     

Choice by value encoding and value construction: processes of loss aversion

Loss aversion and reference dependence are 2 keystones of behavioral theories of choice, but little is known about their underlying cognitive processes. We suggest an additional account for loss aversion that supplements the current account of the value encoding of attributes as gains or losses relative to a reference point, introducing a value construction account. Value construction suggests that loss aversion results from biased evaluations during information search and comparison processes. We develop hypotheses that identify the influence of both accounts and examine process-tracing data for evidence. Our data suggest that loss aversion is the result of the initial direct encoding of losses that leads to the subsequent process of directional comparisons distorting attribute valuations and the final choice.     

Individual differences in social, cognitive, and morphological aspects of infant pointing

Little is known about the origins of the pointing gesture. We sought to gain insight into its emergence by investigating individual differences in the pointing of 12-month-old infants in two ways. First, we looked at differences in the communicative and interactional uses of pointing and asked how different hand shapes relate to point frequency, accompanying vocalizations, and mothers’ pointing. Second, we looked at differences in social-cognitive skills of point comprehension and imitation and tested whether these were related to infants’ own pointing. Infants’ and mothers’ spontaneous pointing correlated with one another, as did infants’ point production and comprehension. In particular, infants’ index-finger pointing had a profile different from simple whole-hand pointing. It was more frequent, it was more often accompanied by vocalizations, and it correlated more strongly with comprehension of pointing (especially to occluded referents). We conclude that whole-hand and index-finger pointing differ qualitatively and suggest that it is index-finger pointing that first embodies infants’ understanding of communicative intentions.     

Effective connectivity hierarchically links temporoparietal and frontal areas of the auditory dorsal stream with the motor cortex lip area during speech perception

A left-hemispheric cortico-cortical network involving areas of the temporoparietal junction (Tpj) and the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) is thought to support sensorimotor integration of speech perception into articulatory motor activation, but how this network links with the lip area of the primary motor cortex (M1) during speech perception is unclear. Using paired-coil focal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy subjects, we demonstrate that Tpj → M1 and pIFG → M1 effective connectivity increased when listening to speech compared to white noise. A virtual lesion induced by continuous theta-burst TMS (cTBS) of the pIFG abolished the task-dependent increase in pIFG → M1 but not Tpj → M1 effective connectivity during speech perception, whereas cTBS of Tpj abolished the task-dependent increase of both effective connectivities. We conclude that speech perception enhances effective connectivity between areas of the auditory dorsal stream and M1. Tpj is situated at a hierarchically high level, integrating speech perception into motor activation through the pIFG.     

Psychological autopsies: methods and ethics

Essential knowledge on suicide is derived from studies that include interviews with survivors. In this paper, we discuss methodological and ethical issues pertaining to the interview method known as "psychological autopsy"; the discussion is based on our application of the method to three studies of suicides in Sweden and on a review of other investigations. Interviewing a survivor is a delicate matter, and the integrity of the deceased, the integrity and health of the informant, and the psychological strain on the interviewer must all be taken into consideration. The interviewer should have clinical experience in order to be prepared to deal with interviewees in grief. Contact by telephone, followed by an introductory letter, provides an opportunity to meet survivors in an empathic manner and has a low rejection rate. A 2- to 6-month interval between suicide and interview is recommended. The survivor's reactions to the interview should be evaluated in order to expand the empirical base for ethical considerations. Studies on the validity and reliability of the method are necessary.