Varying the response code in the blindness to response-compatible stimuli

Previous work has indicated that action-control processes can specifically influence perceptual processes. The identification of a left- or right-pointing arrow is impaired when it appears during the preparation and execution of a compatible left-right keypress (Müsseler & Hommel, 1997a, b). The present study examines the role of the response-specifying cue in order to manipulate the coding of the action-control processes. Experiment 1 shows that the size of the perceptual impairment is not affected by whether the cue has high or little feature overlap with the to-be-performed response. Cues were omitted in Experiment 2 and participants generated their responses endogenously, but the perceptual impairment still occurred. Experiment 3 examines in more detail which feature of the response contributes to the effect. The results show that it needs both an intended action goal and a corresponding motor activity to bring about the perceptual impairment.     

Is ecology an ‘alternative’ natural science?

This article discusses whether ecology represents an alternative type of natural science, that is normatively committed. Central questions are:-how man and human action are integrated into the subject matter of ecology;-whether evaluative concepts like health are incorporated into the conceptual structure of ecology; and-whether ecology transcends the image of natural knowledge as control of nature.It is concluded that all hypotheses of ecology being inherently judgmental in character must be rejected.Like all the healing arts, ecology is through and through judgmental in character. It cannot be value-neutral.... What violates the natural harmony must be condemned; what enhances it be endorsed.... Ecology is the closest our science has yet come to an integrative wisdom. It, not physics, deserves to become the basic science of the future.     

Attribution of Arousal as a Mediator of the Effectiveness of Fear-Arousing Communications1

Before watching a fear-arousing antismoking movie, male smokers were administered a placebo pill that was said to have either arousing, tranquilizing, or no side effects. Subjects reported less intention to reduce smoking when they could attribute their arousal to the presumably arousing pill, and greater intention to do so when they expected the pill to be tranquilizing, than when they expccted no side effects. The self-reported number of cigarettes smoked during a two-week period following the experiment decreased in both the tranquilizing and no side-effects conditions, but not in the arousing side-effects condition. The data on subjects' i]ntentions are consistent with predictions derived from Kelley's discounting and augmentation principles and demunstrate informational functions of affective states. Several explanations concerning the differences between intentions and behavior are discussed, and implications concerning strategies for behavior change are explored.     

Continuous selection

Summary A model of target selection in continuous search tasks is outlined. The model was designed to account for two basic observations that are difficult to cover within the framework of the traditional target-control-type models of search, namely, pure detection (detection without identification) and pseudotarget detection (detection of new items not to be searched for). The model combines two basic assumptions: first, that targets are detected by default, that is, by virtue of the fact that they do not fit into an internal model of to-be-expected events (target detection by default) and second, that this internal model is generated, maintained, and updated on the basis of the nontarget information encountered during search (integration of non-target information). Furthermore, it is assumed that non-target integration and target detection can both be carried out at several processing levels simultaneously. The evidence available to support and develop the model is reviewed, and some of its general implications for a theory of selective attention are discussed.This paper is a selective summary of experimental work done in collaboration with Dieter Nattkemper and Cristina Meinecke and supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant Pr 118/5)     

Rasch-representable reaction time distributions

This article investigates properties of a representation based on the Rasch test model for reaction times (RT) that was proposed by Micko. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a set of RT distributions to be Rasch-representable are derived. It is shown that independent serial and independent parallel processing models cannot be reconciled with the representation. However, random extreme models compatible with the Reasch-representation exist that assume RT is determined by the longest or he shortest processing time of a random number of independent paraloel channels. Nonparametric properties of Rasch-representable distributions are derived that can be used for testing the model and for estimating its parameters. Conditions are presented for Rasch-representable distributions to form a scale family. Finally, Rasch-represent-able distributions are characterized interms of their hazard functions.For helpful discussions, we are grateful to Hans Irtel, Christoph Micko, Hartmann Scheiblechner, and Hans-Henning Schultz.     

Peace and Islam: In theory and practice

The article centres on the humanistic and peace‐oriented elements in the foundational sources of Islam, the Qur'an and the Prophet's life, especially on Muhammad's attitude towards war and peace. As the Qur'an clearly attests, Muhammad continued to search for reconciliation and mutual understanding,. with Jews and Christians as well as with opponents and enemies. As to jihad, Q. 2:90 and Q. 22:39 unambiguously prohibit offensive war, in fact, any kind of aggression, cruelty and wanton destruction. The Qur'an prescribes a humane conduct of war. Wherever politically possible, peace has the priority. Finally, the author exemplifies contemporary Muslim attitudes towards war and peace and describes Muslim peace initiatives.