ALTERNATIVE LOGICS AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS

Many advocates of non‐classical logic for reasons external to mathematics claim that their proposed revisions are consistent with the use of classical logic within pure mathematics. Doubts are raised about such claims, concerning the applicability of pure mathematics to natural and social science.     

Intuitive covariation assessment of the illusory correlation

Most of the research concerned with the illusory correlation is modeled after the seminal work of D. L. Hamilton and R. K. Gifford (1976). However, S. A. Haslam and C. McGarty (1994) have voiced concerns over the dependent measures used within this paradigm. Therefore, in this study, the authors tested a new dependent variable that has high face validity. This measure was modeled after the work of J. R. McGahan and R. Wight (1989) and consisted of a set of propositional statements representing either the illusory correlation, the contingency opposite the illusory correlation, or the noncontingency. A second purpose of this study was to validate other studies that have used dependent measures modeled after the work of J. R. McGahan and R. Wight (1989). Demonstrating that this measure can be used to detect a well-documented phenomenon (i.e., the illusory correlation) would strengthen the results and conclusions from other studies. To this end, results from 2 experiments indicate that this measure does provide a valid alternative to those measures that are commonly used in illusory correlation studies. The results thereby give credence to other studies that have used similar dependent measures.     

The equivalence of contingency structure for intuitive covariation judgments about height, weight, and body fat

In a complete between-subjects design, 576 respondents judged covariations of problems framed around height, weight, and body fat. A verbal measure was used, consisting of propositional statements representing relationships between two of the variables, as well as two types of response options: true or false, and a 7-point, bipolar, Likert-type scale. Consistent with previous findings, weight and body fat were unambiguously judged as if positively correlated; there were indications of a perceived negative correlation of height and body fat; and there was no evidence that participants regarded height and weight as positively correlated. Furthermore, there was no reliable evidence in support of framing effects. However, there were indications of influence for conditional format. These findings are discussed relative to previous and ongoing research efforts, and it is concluded that it may be inappropriate to regard variations in conditional format as parallel items. Measures involving all possible variations are considered fundamentally unbiased and consistent with I. Ajzen's (1988) principle of aggregation.     

Color term knowledge does not affect categorical perception of color in toddlers

Categorical perception of color is shown when colors from the same category are discriminated less easily than equivalently spaced colors that cross a category boundary. The current experiments tested various models of categorical perception. Experiment 1 tested for categorical responding in 2- to 4-year-olds, the age range for the onset establishment of color term knowledge. Experiment 2 tested for categorical responding in Himba toddlers, whose language segments the color space differently from the way in which the English language does so. Experiment 3 manipulated the conditions of the task to explore whether the categorical responding in Experiments 1 and 2 was equivalent to categorical perception. Categorical perception was shown irrespective of naming and was not stronger in those children with more developed color term knowledge. Cross-cultural differences in the extent of categorical perception were not found. These findings support universalistic models of color categorization and suggest that color term knowledge does not modify categorical perception, at least during the early stages of childhood.     

Association of national cancer mortality and suicide rates

Using WHO data from 1996 instead of 1990, the authors replicated and extended Knodrichin and Lester's 2001 study. Like their study, our total rates of cancer mortality and suicide in a similar sample of 37 European nations of the world were estimated to be positively associated.     

Establishing appropriate symptomatic control groups for the eating disorders

Two symptomatic control groups for the eating disorders were defined using high and low scores on the Dietary Restraint and Disinhibition scales of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire. Clinical subjects diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia nervosa were compared with these symptomatic control groups using measures of body weight, bulimic symptoms, and anorexic symptoms. In comparison to the high-Restraint/low-Disinhibition group, anorexic subjects scored higher on measures of eating disorder symptoms but not on Restraint and Disinhibition. The high-Restraint/high-Disinhibition group differed from bulimia nervosa subjects on measures of eating disorder symptoms but did not differ on Restraint and Disinhibition. The results suggested that a control group defined by high Restraint and low Disinhibition formed an appropriate control group for anorexia nervosa. For bulimia nervosa, the most appropriate control group was defined by high Restraint and high Disinhibition.     

Children's discrimination of oblique lines.

In three experiments using delayed-matching tasks with 5-year-old children (one of which also included 7-year-olds) no support was found for the hypothesis that children code for line orientation using a match-mismatch strategy. The hypothesis that errors in discrimination of obliques can be attributed mainly to confusion over the left-right direction of tilt was rejected in a fourth experiment. It was concluded that young children do not spontaneously encode orientation in relation to a matching environmental cue and that there is no evidence that memory for the direction of obliquity is inferior to memory for the degree of obliquity.