Models of causation and the semantics of causal verbs

This research examines the relationship between the concept of CAUSE as it is characterized in psychological models of causation and the meaning of causal verbs, such as the verb cause itself. According to focal set models of causation (; ), the concept of CAUSE should be more similar to the concepts of ENABLE and PREVENT than either is to each other. According to a model based on theory of force dynamics, the force dynamic model, the concepts of CAUSE, ENABLE, and PREVENT should be roughly equally similar to one another. The relationship between these predictions and the meaning of causal verbs was examined by having participants sort causal verbs and rate them with respect to the dimensions specified by the two models. The results from five experiments indicated that the force dynamic model provides a better account of the meaning of causal verbs than do focal set models of causation. Implications for causal inference and induction are discussed.     

The effect of a masked stimulus on the response to the masking stimulus

Four experiments are reported in which the subjects had to respond to a target that masked a preceding prime via metacontrast masking. In one part of Experiment l, the subjects discriminated the target's shape (square or diamond) by a motor-choice reaction, and in another part they had to respond with a simple reaction. The prime was neutral (circular) with respect to the target's shape. The data showed a facilitation effect. In both tasks the reaction time was reduced by the masked prime. However, the reduction was more pronounced with simple reaction than with choice reaction. In the other experiments, additional primes were used with the same angular shapes as the targets. In Experiments 2 and 3, after discriminating the target's shape by a choice reaction, the subjects had to judge the prime's shape in a signal-detection task. While neither the d' value for discriminating the angular primes from the circular ones (Exp. 2) nor the d' value for distinguishing between the angular primes (Exp. 3) was different from zero, the choice-reaction data showed a congruency effect. With a congruent prime (i.e., a prime that had the same shape as the target), the reaction times were reduced. With an incongruent prime, the reaction times grew. In Experiment 4 the errors were investigated. The facilitation effect was present in the RT, but not in the number of errors, whereas the congruency effect was present in the number, but not in the RT of errors.While the facilitation effect can be attributed either to an unspecific activation by the masked prime or to an influence of the prime on attentional processes, the congruency effect can be explained by the assumption that the masked prime directly activates the specific response, which corresponds to the prime's shape.     

Evolution and devolution of folkbiological knowledge

In this paper we present evidence in support of the hypothesis that the average person's knowledge about trees, and about the natural world in general, has declined during the 20th century. Our investigations are based on examination of a large sample of written material from the 16th through 20th centuries contained in the Oxford English Dictionary. In Analysis 1, we show a precipitous decline in the use of tree terms after, but not before, the 19th century. In Analysis 2, we analyze tree terms at different levels of organization and show that the decline observed in Analysis 1 occurs for all levels of organization. This second analysis also reveals that during the 16th to 19th centuries tree terms became progressively more specific, suggesting that during these periods knowledge about trees increased. In Analysis 3, we show similar rates of decline in other folkbiological categories, indicating that the change in tree terms reflects a general decline in knowledge about living kinds. Also in Analysis 3, we show that several non-biological categories have experienced evolution during the 20th century, indicating that the declines in the 20th century for folkbiological categories are not an inevitable outcome of the corpus. Finally, Analysis 4 also shows declines in the frequency of quotations for which the tree term was not the topic of the sentence, and thus incidental to the purposes of the writer. The results from Analysis 4 reassure us that the results from Analyses 1-3 were not solely due to change in the aims and purposes of writers over the centuries. In sum, the analyses indicate that in the domain of trees, there has been a long and sustained period of conceptual evolution followed by a recent pronounced period of devolution.     

Review

Journal for General Philosophy of Science -     

The patterns seen when alternating electric current is passed through the eye

When alternating current of frequency up to 210 c's. is passed through the eye while the retina is brightly and uniformly illuminated, conspicuous spatial patterns are seen. Other such patterns are seen when current of frequency up to 100 c/s. is passed through the eye in darkness. These patterns are here described, and their origin is discussed.     

Selective migration among southern blacks: A reinterpretation of Lee (1951)

Comparisons of the mean IQs of Northern and Southern blacks have consistently shown a 7–12 point difference favoring the former group. Explanations of this difference have been highly polarized. Hereditarians have generally favored an hypothesis of selective migration; environmentalists have tended to ascribe the difference to such environmental causes as education, discrimination and cultural deprivation. Two studies (Klineberg, 1935; Lee, 1951) have been interpreted by many commentators as decisively vindicating the environmentalist position. In this paper this interpretation is questioned and certain neglected features of Lee's (1951) data are construed as providing strong evidence for selective migration.     

Concurrent Validity and Informant Agreement of the ADHD Module of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for <Emphasis Type="Italic">DSM-IV</Emphasis>

Examined the concurrent validity of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) module of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Child and Parent versions (ADIS-C/P). One hundred eighty-four clinic-referred children were categorized into three ADIS-generated groups: No diagnosis of ADHD (No ADHD; n = 63), parent-only diagnosis of ADHD (Parent Only; n = 81), and parent plus child diagnosis of ADHD (Parent + Child; n = 40). The groups were compared on demographics, comorbid diagnoses, parent and child-report measures, and a computerized test of attention. Results support the concurrent validity of the ADIS ADHD module and highlight the positive relationship between internalizing symptomatology and parent-child agreement on ADHD diagnoses. The clinical implication of this study is that parent-child agreement on ADHD may serve as a marker of internalizing symptomatology. Future research on child self-perceptions is suggested in developing treatments for this internalizing ADHD group.

A sociological approach to the history of sociology

Max Weber's “Science as a Vocation” and “Politics as a Vocation” show that irrespective of Weber's insistence on “value-free” sociology, he was a committed critic of his society but failed to explicate his position fully. The assumption of a sociological approach to the history of sociology is that sociology must operate with the concept of a normative society, thus reestablishing continuity with sociology's first hundred years and potentially uniting, in the face of the possibility of our planet's demise, not only sociologists but all people of good will.