Some Uses of Logic in Rigorous Philosophy

This paper is concerned with the use of logic to solve philosophical problems. Such use of logic goes counter to the prevailing empiricist tradition in analytic circles. Specifically, model-theoretic tools are applied to three fundamental issues in the philosophy of logic and mathematics, namely, to the issue of the existence of mathematical entities, to the dispute between first- and second-order logic and to the definition of analyticity.     

The users of an online psychological advice service: a sociodemographic analysis

Although online psychological services and research based on them are increasing rapidly, it is not that easy to find investigations that focus on the kind of people that demand them. To know their profile could help to improve the online psychological services that are offered to them. For this purpose, we analysed the sociodemographic characteristics of 1052 participants, all of them having posed a psychological question to our online advice service. The relations between sociodemographics and variables related to the psychological consultation are analysed herein. Features such as age distribution, a high proportion of long-term problems, the large quantity of questions from Latin America, or the under representation of the lowest socioeconomic and educational levels could lead to clinical, social and legal implications that we comment on in this work.     

A practical method for analyzing factorial designs with heteroscedastic data

The Type I error rates and powers of three recent tests for analyzing nonorthogonal factorial designs under departures from the assumptions of homogeneity and normality were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Specifically, this work compared the performance of the modified Brown-Forsythe procedure, the generalization of Box's method proposed by Brunner, Dette, and Munk, and the mixed-model procedure adjusted by the Kenward-Roger solution available in the SAS statistical package. With regard to robustness, the three approaches adequately controlled Type I error when the data were generated from symmetric distributions; however, this study's results indicate that, when the data were extracted from asymmetric distributions, the modified Brown-Forsythe approach controlled the Type I error slightly better than the other procedures. With regard to sensitivity, the higher power rates were obtained when the analyses were done with the MIXED procedure of the SAS program. Furthermore, results also identified that, when the data were generated from symmetric distributions, little power was sacrificed by using the generalization of Box's method in place of the modified Brown-Forsythe procedure.     

Paraconsistent Metatheory: New Proofs with Old Tools

Journal of Philosophical Logic - This paper is a step toward showing what is achievable using non-classical metatheory—particularly, a substructural paraconsistent framework. What standard...     

Gender and emotional response induced by imagery

The aim of this study is to explore gender differences in emotional expression: Do men benefit from their stereotyped response pattern to some negative affects such as sadness? Do women benefit less than men from positive affect? We studied sadness and happiness in the laboratory, using imagery induction with some temporal proximity, and registering physiological, facial, and cognitive responses. The results show a complex panorama in which the differences depend on the emotional content and presentation order. The results are in accordance with the educational theories that postulate prototypical emotional education, and indicate a way to reduce the problems related to women's sensitization to sadness, using the beneficial effects of positive experiences.     

The role of domain-specific practice, handedness, and starting age in chess

The respective roles of the environment and innate talent have been a recurrent question for research into expertise. The authors investigated markers of talent, environment, and critical period for the acquisition of expert performance in chess. Argentinian chess players (N = 104), ranging from weak amateurs to grandmasters, completed a questionnaire measuring variables including individual and group practice, starting age, and handedness. The study reaffirms the importance of practice for reaching high levels of performance, but it also indicates a large variability: The slower player needed 8 times as much practice to reach master level than the faster player. Additional results show a correlation between skill and starting age and indicate that players are more likely to be mixed-handed than individuals in the general population; however, there was no correlation between handedness and skill within the sample of chess players. Together, these results suggest that practice is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acquisition of expertise, that some additional factors may differentiate chessplayers and nonchessplayers, and that starting age of practice is important.     

Two Dimensions of the Ethical Problems Related to Nanotechnology

The current literature on nanoethics focuses on a wide array of topics such as equity, privacy, military, environment, human enhancement, intellectual property, and security. The identification of those topics leads to the adoption of an ethical stance, which we call the in itself dimension. In this article we argue that even though it is correct to identify the areas where ethical problems are imperative to deal with (in itself dimension), it is a partial approach. This is because the in itself dimension pays no attention to another ethical stance; one that does not have anything to do with individual or collective responsibilities, but rather with the socio-economic system into which those responsibilities are embedded. We call this second issue the contextual dimension.     

Couple interaction: A study of the punctuation process

This study examined couples' punctuation of their own interactions. The association between causal explanations for the interactions on issues involving differences and the nature of relatedness (i.e., degree of distress) was the major purpose of the study. Punctuation was defined as a way of grouping sequences of interactions. Punctuational differneces were operationalized by measuring couples' causal explanations and attributions of responsibility concerning their own interactions. Twenty distressed and non-distressed couples, matched on age, income, education, and length of relationship, participated in an intensive 3-hour interview conducted at their homes. Two relationship measures to determine the degree of distress were administered. The interview involved: generating issues of important differences, improvisational role plays of interactions, responses to open-ended questions about self and other perspectives, and rankings of causal explanations and attributions of responsibility about the interactions. The results suggested that the nature of relatedness, as defined by degree of distress, was associated with the punctuation of interactions by the communicators, tentatively supporting the Watzlawicket al. (1967) metacommunicational axiom. The main finding was that distressed couples attributed responsibility to the mate rather than self, whereas in nondistressed douples responsibility was shared.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The senior author is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco