Metaphysical Systematics: A Lesson from Whitehead

Despite its lack of influence in analytical philosophy, and independently of its content as a process philosophy, Whitehead's system in Process and Reality affords a valuable lesson on how to pursue revisionary systematic metaphysics. This paper argues the case generally for metaphysical revision and system, describes the structure of Whitehead's categorial scheme, endorses his idea of an ultimate which is not an entity, and outlines an alternative, “digital” ultimate or basis composed of several analytical factors. [I]n the absence of a well-defined categoreal scheme of entities, issuing in a satisfactory metaphysical system, every premise in a philosophical argument is under suspicion. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Our analytic heritage: ideals and idealizations

The relation between ideals and idealizations is examined with regard to the aims of the American Psychoanalytic Association in advancing psychoanalytic education, practice, and research. Ideals are essential for preserving the past and as guides for the future. However, the idealizations that often develop in response to new discoveries and innovations may lead to a defensive clinging to the past as well as to an overly enthusiastic embrace of new ideas. Both these forms of idealization may serve as powerful resistances to creative and constructive change.     

Review Essay

Studies in East European Thought -     

Change blindness

Although at any instant we experience a rich, detailed visual world, we do not use such visual details to form a stable representation across views. Over the past five years, researchers have focused increasingly on 'change blindness' (the inability to detect changes to an object or scene) as a means to examine the nature of our representations. Experiments using a diverse range of methods and displays have produced strikingly similar results: unless a change to a visual scene produces a localizable change or transient at a specific position on the retina, generally, people will not detect it. We review theory and research motivating work on change blindness and discuss recent evidence that people are blind to changes occurring in photographs, in motion pictures and even in real-world interactions. These findings suggest that relatively little visual information is preserved from one view to the next, and question a fundamental assumption that has underlain perception research for centuries: namely, that we need to store a detailed visual representation in the mind/brain from one view to the next.     

Helplessness deficits in students: The role of motivational orientation

This paper includes research comprised of field studies and laboratory experiments to examine our diathesis-stress model that students with an extrinsic motivational orientation given evaluative/controlling directives are at risk for maladaptive achievement patterns, including performance, cognitive, and emotional deficits of helplessness. The findings, using our multimethod approach, confirmed our assumptions and indicated that motivational orientation is a more reliable predictor of helplessness than either attributions or perceptions of competence. The pattern of data obtained across studies is discussed in light of other theoretical approaches to understanding achievement patterns in students.The research reported here was supported, in part, by Grant No. MN45566 from NIMH. Address all correspondence to Ann K. Boggiano, Department of Psychology, Campus Box 345, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0345.     

Behavioural response home monitoring of good and insomniac sleepers

Can the fundamental differences in sleep structure known to differentiate good from insomniac sleepers (e.g., sleep length, sleep onset latency [SOL], number of sleep disruptions, etc.) be identified using a behavioural sleep/wake (S/W) monitor in the home? Sixteen women (8 good and 8 insomniac sleepers) enrolled in an introductory psychology course participated in a study of S/W patterns. They used a portable version of the Ogilvie and Wilkinson (1988) behavioural response (BR) system in their homes for 4 consecutive nights. Insomniacs had greater SOLs, less efficient sleep, and tended to have a greater number of arousals as compared with good sleepers. The data indicate that the behavioural system could be used as a diagnostic tool for in-home evaluations of disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep.     

An assessment of a community's mental health needs

Summary This study tested the potential utility of social indicators and survey data in the prediction of community mental health sevice utilization and construction of a model of community need. The results showed that both kinds of data are strongly associated with rates of usage across census tracts within the community. The social indicator data appeared to describe the social forces acting with various segments of the community. The strength of these forces were unevenly distributed, and disadvantaged areas were most likely to have higher rates of mental health center utilization rates, although to a lesser extent than the social indicators. The two sets of data were highly convergent and both were seen as useful to planning of mental health sevices. The social indicators appeared to identify best where to look in the community for high-risk populations, while the survey data showed what to look for as mental health problems for the people of a given locale.The authors contributed equally to this research. They wish to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of Dennis McSharry, Director of Research and Evaluation, Granite Community Mental Health Center.     

Personal Values and Academic Performance Among Engineering Students

Independently drawn random samples of 20 dean's list and 20 academic probation engineering sophomores were the subjects in this investigation of student academic status in relation to personal values and aptitude variables. Dean's list students differed significantly (.05 level) from academic probation students on variables such as need for achievement, direction of aspirations, peer group values, independence in planning, persistence, self-control, and high school record. No statistically significant differences were found on variables such as socio-economic status, influence of the home, self-insight or scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that the successful engineering student differs from the relatively less successful engineering student in certain measurable characteristics. These results elucidate the efficacy of the utilization of nonintellective variables in such differentiation.     

Value‐related goals and vocational choice: The effect of temporal distance

This field study examines the importance that people assign to value‐related goals in their vocational decisions. We focused on the interactive effects of temporal distance from the vocational decision and the level of abstraction of the goal. Soldiers rated the importance of value‐related goals for their vocational choice following their release from military service. They were presented with value‐driven, abstract, decontextualized goals and with value‐driven, concrete, job‐related goals. For half, vocational choice was temporally close, and for the rest, it was temporally distant. Temporal distance from the vocational decision interacted with the level of abstraction of the goals in predicting their importance: When construed in the abstract, the goals were deemed more important if the vocational decision was distant. When construed concretely, the goals were deemed more important if the vocational decision was proximate.