Does Klein’s infinitism offer a response to Agrippa’s trilemma?

The regress of reasons threatens an epistemic agent’s right to claim that any beliefs are justified. In response, Peter Klein’s infinitism argues that an infinite series of supporting reasons of the right type not only is not vicious but can make for epistemic justification. In order to resist the sceptic, infinitism needs to provide reason to think that there is at least one justified belief in the world. Under an infinitist conception this involves showing that at least one belief is supported by an infinite series of supporting reasons. This paper argues that showing this makes problems for the infinitist. The finite minds problem that prevents completion of an infinite series is well documented. This paper examines alternative attempts to provide evidence of infinity that the infinitist might take, whether by using a notion of justification without infinite reasons or by altering the notion of evidence. It concludes that both of these fail and consequently infinitism is unable to offer a solution to Agrippa’s trilemma.     

Gender-role identity after heart attack: Links with sex and subjective health status

Abstract

This paper compares the health status of 60 women and 60 men six months after suffering a myocardial infarction. Findings confirm previous reports of women having a poorer outcome compared with men at this period of rehabilitation. However, using a measure of gender-role orientation, it was found that masculinity was a better discriminator of outcome measures than sex alone. Higher levels of masculinity were associated with better health status for both women and men. Femininity was not related to differences in health status but was related to age in the total patient sample. On the assumption that gender-role orientation is a portrayal by the individual rather than a trait, the argument is made that women and men display masculinity through different articulations of fitness. The better or worse outcomes following heart attack variously affect the ability of men and women to signify in gender terms.     

The Power of a Co‐witness: When More Power Leads to More Conformity

The effect of the power dynamic between co‐witnesses on memory conformity for images was investigated. Participant–confederate pairs were first presented with 50 images on a computer and then were randomly assigned to one of three social power role combinations analogous to those present in the workplace: manager and subordinate, subordinate and manager, or collaborators with equal power and status. After role assignment (but without ever engaging in the role‐related tasks), pairs were tested on whether each of 100 images (50 old and 50 new) had or had not been shown previously. Confederates always responded before participants. Subordinates were significantly less likely to conform than managers. Findings are discussed in light of the work‐related facet of social power and memory distortion. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inhibitory Control and Working Memory in Post-Institutionalized Children

Inhibitory control and working memory were examined in post-institutionalized (PI) children adopted into United States families from Russian institutions. The PI sample originated from institutions that were less severely depriving than those represented in previous studies and approximated the level of psychosocial deprivation, which is characterized by adequate physical resources but a lack of consistent and responsive caregiving. PI children (N?=?75; 29 male) ranged in age from 8–17 years (M?=?12.97; SD?=?3.03) and were grouped according to whether they were adopted after 14 months or before 9 months. A non-adopted comparison group (N?=?133; 65 male) ranged in age from 8–17 years (M?=?12.26; SD?=?2.75). PI children adopted after 14 months of age displayed poorer performance on the stop-signal and spatial span tasks relative to PI children adopted before 9 months of age after controlling for age at assessment. The two PI groups did not differ in their performance on a spatial self-ordered search task. Older-adopted PI children also showed poorer spatial span task performance compared to non-adopted children, but younger-adopted PI children did not. Task performance was significantly associated with parent-rated hyperactive-impulsive behavior in everyday contexts. These findings suggest that exposure to prolonged early institutional deprivation may be linked with inhibitory control and working memory difficulties years after adoption.     

Truth,Ramsification, and the Pluralist's Revenge

Functionalists about truth employ Ramsification to produce an implicit definition of the theoretical term true, but doing so requires determining that the theory introducing that term is itself true. A variety of putative dissolutions to this problem of epistemic circularity are shown to be unsatisfactory. One solution is offered on functionalists' behalf, though it has the upshot that they must tread on their anti-pluralist commitments.     

The Tempo of Verbal Interaction in an Open Therapy Group Conducted in Rotation by Three Different Therapists

This article examines the experience of new members joining an ongoing psychotherapy group. The group's stage of development and the new member's personality development are suggested to be important variables in this significant event. The experience of joining is found to share some things in common with the beginning phase of group for the group as a whole, but also noted are some unique elements. The process of joining is viewed as a highly anxious event for the new member, with antecedents in the individual's life experience. The new member is compromised by not knowing the group members, nor their shared history, norms, and dynamics. Concurrently, the group may experience a range of fears, wishes, and anxieties about the new member. Developmental considerations for the new member and the stage of group help to inform intervention strategies.     

Exploring the association between the 2-repeat allele of the MAOA gene promoter polymorphism and psychopathic personality traits,arrests, incarceration,and lifetime antisocial behavior

A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and sometimes 5-repeat alleles), with research indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increased risk to antisocial phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were, in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males because only 0.1% carried it.     

How a “Reasonable Doubt” Instruction Affects Decisions of Guilt

Jurors are instructed to render a guilty verdict if they feel the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury is often told that this does not mean an absolute certainty of guilt and that even if it were possible to imagine a scenario in which the defendant is innocent, a guilty verdict may still be appropriate. Here, participants read a case summary. They were either told to say that the defendant was guilty if they believed in guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or were given more detailed instruction stressing that they did not have to be absolutely certain of guilt to give a guilty verdict. In Experiment 1, participants provided “think-aloud” protocols. Content analysis revealed that those who were given this instruction often used the phrase reasonable doubt to justify their guilty verdicts by saying that although they were not certain of the defendant's guilt, their belief exceeded the reasonable doubt threshold. None of the participants in the control group did this. Experiment 2 was designed to test if the instruction affected belief in guilt and the reasonable doubt threshold quantitatively. The instruction affected both people's belief in guilt and the threshold that they used to define reasonable doubt. The implied values for reasonable doubt were 63% for those who received the instruction and 77% for the control group. Implications for jury decision making are discussed.