Development of mother–infant interaction in tickling play: The relationship between infants’ ticklishness and social behaviors

This study examined the development of mother–infant tickling interaction and the relationship between infants’ ticklishness and social behaviors including infants’ looking at mothers’ face, mothers’ narrative tickling, and mothers’ laughter. Twenty-two Japanese infants aged 5 months (n = 10, five girls) and 7 months (n = 12, four girls) and their mothers were videotaped. Results revealed that the mothers’ narrative tickling was more frequent at 7 than at 5 months and the infants’ strong ticklishness showed the same tendency. The infants’ strong ticklishness was linked with the occurrence of other social behaviors. In conclusion, infants’ ticklishness was heavily connected with social behaviors. The mode of the tickling interaction at 7 months was different from that at 5 months especially in the increase of mother’s narrative tickling. A possible function of such mother’s narrative tickling to facilitate infant active communication at a higher cognitive level including anticipation, was discussed.     

Conditionals,Context, and the Suppression Effect

Modus ponens is the argument from premises of the form If A, then B and A to the conclusion B (e.g., from If it rained, Alicia got wet and It rained to Alicia got wet). Nearly all participants agree that the modus ponens conclusion logically follows when the argument appears in this Basic form. However, adding a further premise (e.g., If she forgot her umbrella, Alicia got wet) can lower participants’ rate of agreement—an effect called suppression. We propose a theory of suppression that draws on contemporary ideas about conditional sentences in linguistics and philosophy. Semantically, the theory assumes that people interpret an indicative conditional as a context‐sensitive strict conditional: true if and only if its consequent is true in each of a contextually determined set of situations in which its antecedent is true. Pragmatically, the theory claims that context changes in response to new assertions, including new conditional premises. Thus, the conclusion of a modus ponens argument may no longer be accepted in the changed context. Psychologically, the theory describes people as capable of reasoning about broad classes of possible situations, ordered by typicality, without having to reason about individual possible worlds. The theory accounts for the main suppression phenomena, and it generates some novel predictions that new experiments confirm.     

类别型状态不确定独立否定句的加工机制：来自眼动实验的证据

探讨类别型状态不确定独立否定句(如“裙子不是蓝色的”)的动态表征过程。实验1和实验2分别仅给被试提供“与事件备择选项一致的图片” (红色裙子)和“含有否定标签的与事件否定状态一致的图片” (含有否定标签的蓝色裙子); 实验3同时提供以上两种选项。结果发现：3个实验中被试在早期均对“与事件否定状态一致的图片”注视概率更高, 在晚期阶段, 实验1仅对“与事件备择选项一致的图片” 注视概率更高, 实验2和实验3均仅对“含有否定标签的与事件否定状态一致的图片”注视概率更高, 并且选择为事件的最终状态; 实验4的评定结果表明, 当被试有充裕时间完成任务时, 37名评定者中有30名选择“与事件备择选项一致的图片”为事件的最终状态。4个实验的结果为锚激活与限制满足模型和抑制假设提供了进一步证据。     

Time, tense, truth

A theory of time is a theory of the nature of temporal reality, and temporal reality determines the truth-value of temporal sentences. Therefore it is reasonable to ask how a theory of time can account for the way the truth of temporal sentences is determined. This poses certain challenges for both the A theory and the B theory of time. In this paper, I outline an account of temporal sentences. The key feature of the account is that the primary bearers of truth-values are not utterances, but sentences evaluated with respect to a time. I argue that unlike other views, the present proposal can meet the challenges faced both by the A and the B theory.     

Our Relations with the Past

The approach that philosophers have taken to history has too often been one-dimensional. It is my aim in this paper to map out a future multi-dimensional philosophy of history, by invoking the notion of a relation with the past, and by arguing for the philosophical relevance of multiple such relations.

Using Creative Writing Techniques to Enhance the Case Study Method in Research Integrity and Ethics Courses

The following article explores the use of creative writing techniques to teach research ethics, breathe life into case study preparation, and train students to think of their settings as complex organizational environments with multiple actors and stakeholders.     

汉语句子的标记因素对外国留学生理解的影响

以不同标记程度汉语句子为材料,母语是英语、日语和韩语的留学生为被试,母语为汉语的大学生作参照,研究汉语句子的标记因素对留学生理解的影响。结果发现:(1)有标记结构规则的句子是比较难理解的;(2)受母语的影响,有时标记程度相同的汉语句子对不同母语类型的留学生难易有差异,甚至表现相反;(3)使用频率多可能会使有标记的句子理解起来比较容易。研究结果为在对外汉语教学中有针对性教学提供参考。     

Adding Silence to Stories: Narrative Therapy and Contemplation

A review of the literature reveals that one particular form of contemplation—mindfulness—has been integrated into cognitive-behavioral therapy. Built upon this background, this article raises the issue of combining contemplation and narrative therapy. It first examines the unique experiences that occur when one enters into silence. Then, it explores the implications of these experiences for narrative therapy. A contemplative-based approach to narrative therapy differs from traditional narrative therapy in that it utilizes: (a) contemplative skills, (b) contemplative and narrative metaphors, (c) modified interventions, and (d) broader views of reality and self. The outcome is an enlarged narrative approaches that possess numerous benefits and possibilities for future treatment models. P. Gregg Blanton is a Professor of Human Services at Montreat College. He is a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor of AAMFT.     

Collaborative Helping: A Practice Framework for Family-Centered Services

This article offers a framework for collaborative family-centered practice that can reinvigorate our work with families who have not responded to more traditional approaches. Collaborative Helping is grounded in family-centered principles that include: striving for cultural curiosity, believing in resourcefulness, working in partnership, and making our work more accountable to the clients we serve. The article introduces collaborative inquiry as an organizing metaphor for clinical practice and offers a five-step practice framework with clinical illustrations and sample questions. The framework draws from appreciative inquiry, motivational interviewing, the signs of safety approach to child protection work, and solution-focused and narrative therapies.