Metaphysics Within Science: Against Radical Naturalism

In Every Thing Must Go James Ladyman and Don Ross argue for a radical version of naturalistic metaphysics and propose that contemporary analytic metaphysics is detached from science and should be discontinued. The present article addresses the issues of whether (i) science and metaphysics are separable, (ii) intuitions and understanding should be excluded from scientific theory, and (iii) Ontic Structural Realism satisfies the criteria of the radical version of naturalism advanced by Ladyman and Ross. The point underlying those topics is that successful scientific research presupposes metaphysics, and that basic epistemic virtues common to metaphysics and science may allow us—as opposed to what Ladyman and Ross suggest—to increase our understanding of the world and to put constraints on allowable metaphysical theories.     

Effects of signaled and unsignaled alternative reinforcement on persistence and relapse in children and pigeons

Three experiments explored the impact of different reinforcer rates for alternative behavior (DRA) on the suppression and post‐DRA relapse of target behavior, and the persistence of alternative behavior. All experiments arranged baseline, intervention with extinction of target behavior concurrently with DRA, and post‐treatment tests of resurgence or reinstatement, in two‐ or three‐component multiple schedules. Experiment 1, with pigeons, arranged high or low baseline reinforcer rates; both rich and lean DRA schedules reduced target behavior to low levels. When DRA was discontinued, the magnitude of relapse depended on both baseline reinforcer rate and the rate of DRA. Experiment 2, with children exhibiting problem behaviors, arranged an intermediate baseline reinforcer rate and rich or lean signaled DRA. During treatment, both rich and lean DRA rapidly reduced problem behavior to low levels, but post‐treatment relapse was generally greater in the DRA‐rich than the DRA‐lean component. Experiment 3, with pigeons, repeated the low‐baseline condition of Experiment 1 with signaled DRA as in Experiment 2. Target behavior decreased to intermediate levels in both DRA‐rich and DRA‐lean components. Relapse, when it occurred, was directly related to DRA reinforcer rate as in Experiment 2. The post‐treatment persistence of alternative behavior was greater in the DRA‐rich component in Experiment 1, whereas it was the same or greater in the signaled‐DRA‐lean component in Experiments 2 and 3. Thus, infrequent signaled DRA may be optimal for effective clinical treatment.     

父母卷入在家庭社会经济地位与学业成就间的中介作用:元分析结构方程模型

以22项实证研究(25个独立样本,79665个被试)为对象,综合使用元分析和结构方程模型,以家庭投资模型和家庭压力模型为理论基础,探讨了家庭社会经济地位对学业成就的影响及内在机制。结果发现:(1)家庭社会经济地位能显著地正向预测学业成就(r=0.32);(2)家庭社会经济地位测量方式的调节效应显著;(3)父母卷入在家庭社会经济地位与学业成就间起着部分中介作用;(4)父母卷入的中介效应只存在于小学及以下群体,在中学群体中介效应不显著。结论,家庭社会经济地位与学业成就之间存在显著正相关,在小学和幼儿园阶段时父母卷入在家庭社会经济地位和学业成就间起着部分中介作用。     

Consequences of autonomous vehicles: Ambivalent expectations and their impact on acceptance

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are within reach of widespread deployment on public roads, but public perceptions are ambivalent. The objective of the present research was to assess expectations about the consequences of CAV introduction. These expectations should explain CAV acceptance, but their relative importance is poorly understood. We conducted a survey with a representatively drawn panel sample (N = 529) from France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. The survey consisted of a large item pool of expected consequences from CAV introduction, as well as general and affective evaluation of CAVs, ease of use, and behavioral intention to use CAVs. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four facets of expected consequences: road safety, privacy, efficiency and ecological sustainability. On average, expectations were mostly positive for ecological sustainability and safety, but negative for privacy. At the same time, substantial variance existed between respondents and between countries. For safety and efficiency, improvement was expected by a third of respondents, while another third expected worsening. Respondents from Italy expected more positive consequences for safety, while respondents from both France and Germany expected more negative consequences for privacy. To different degrees, all four facets predicted the intention to use CAVs in a structural equation model, primarily via affective evaluations. For policy makers, manufacturers, and service providers, understanding the trade-offs inherent to different CAV solutions will be central to ensure citizens’ needs are respected.     

Research on parking choice behavior of shared autonomous vehicle services by measuring users’ intention of usage

Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are one of the important development directions of smart and green transportation. However, relevant researches are not sufficient at present. The factors influencing the intention to use SAVs and their parking choice behaviors need to be further analyzed. First, in order to better explain, predict, and improve travelers’ intention to use SAVs, the conceptual framework based on technology acceptance model was developed to establish the relationships between the travelers’ intention to use SAVs, social influence of SAVs, attitude toward behavior of SAVs, perceived risk of SAVs, perceived usefulness of SAVs and perceived ease of these use. Then structural equation model (SEM) was established to analyze the relationship between various variables. The results show that the perceived usefulness, behavior attitude, social influence, perceived ease of use, and perceived risk are the main factors that determine the intention to use SAVs. Through the test of direct effect, indirect effect, and total effect in the model, it is found that perceived usefulness has the largest total impact on intention to use SAVs, with a standardized coefficient of 0.765, followed by behavior attitude (0.732), social influence (0.597), perceived ease of use (0.462) and perceived risk of SAVs (−0.452). In addition, through the study of observed indicator variables ATB2 and BI3, it is found that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, perceived risk, attitude toward behavior, and behavior intention all have an impact on parking behavior. In order to study the specific influencing factors of parking choice behavior, a multinomial logit (MNL) model was established to analyze the relationships between travelers’ parking choice behaviors and the influential factors, which include travelers’ individual characteristics, travel attributes, and parking modes’ attributes by extracting from a questionnaire. The results show that the travel time, travel fees, parking charge, cruising fees, parking time and traffic emission are the main factors that determine travelers’ choices of parking. This paper provides advice for operators of SAVs.     

Parent’s physical literacy enhances children’s values towards physical activity: A serial mediation model

PurposePhysical literacy is a multidimensional concept that concerns the affective, physical, cognitive, and behavioural aspects of physical activity (PA). It plays a vital role in enhancing PA engagement. However, current research on physical literacy’s function in the family setting is scarce. Its potential effect in elevating values towards PA among parents and children is also understudied. In this study, we examined the predicting role of parents’ physical literacy on children’s values towards PA. We also explored the potential mediating roles of parents’ values towards PA and children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA through a serial mediation model.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2020 and January 2021, a total of 946 primary school-age children (6–13 years) and their parents from 30 Hong Kong primary schools were recruited by cluster sampling method. Structural equation modelling analysis was conducted using Mplus 7.3.ResultsParents’ values towards PA and children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA serially mediated between parents’ physical literacy and children’s values towards PA. Specifically, the indirect effects from parents’ physical literacy to children’s values towards PA via parents’ values towards PA (β = 0.12, 95% CI [0.06, 0.17]), and via parents’ values towards PA to children’s perceived parental autonomy support for PA (β = 0.05, 95% CI [0.02, 0.08]) were significant.ConclusionsParents’ physical literacy is a predictor of children’s values towards PA. Parental autonomy support may facilitate the intergenerational transmission of values towards PA between parents and children. Concurrent interventions that target enhancing parents’ physical literacy and parental autonomy support for PA in the family context may be more effective in raising children’s PA values.     

Fostering Marginalized Youths’ Political Participation: Longitudinal Roles of Parental Political Socialization and Youth Sociopolitical Development

This study examines the roles of parental political socialization and the moral commitment to change social inequalities in predicting marginalized youths' (defined here as lower-SES youth of color) political participation. These issues are examined by applying structural equation modeling to a longitudinal panel of youth. Because tests of measurement invariance suggested racial/ethnic heterogeneity, the structural model was fit separately for three racial/ethnic groups. For each group, parental political socialization: discussion predicted youths' commitment to produce social change and for two groups, longitudinally predicted political participation. This study contributes to the literature by examining civic/political participation among disparate racial/ethnic groups, addresses an open scholarly question (whether youths' commitment to create social change predicts their "traditional" participation), and emphasizes parents' role in fostering marginalized youths' civic and political participation.     

Conflict Transformation, Stigma, and HIV-Preventive Structural Change

Over the prior decade, structural change efforts have become an important component of community-based HIV prevention initiatives. However, these efforts may not succeed when structural change initiatives encounter political resistance or invoke conflicting values, which may be likely when changes are intended to benefit a stigmatized population. The current study sought to examine the impact of target population stigma on the ability of 13 community coalitions to achieve structural change objectives. Results indicated that coalitions working on behalf of highly stigmatized populations had to abandon objectives more often than did coalitions working for less stigmatized populations because of external opposition to coalition objectives and resultant internal conflict over goals. Those coalitions that were most successful in meeting external challenges used opposition and conflict as transformative occasions by targeting conflicts directly and attempting to neutralize oppositional groups or turn them into strategic allies; less successful coalitions working on behalf of stigmatized groups struggled to determine an appropriate response to opposition. The role of conflict transformation as a success strategy for working on behalf of stigmatized groups is discussed.     

An Empirical Examination of Women’s Empowerment and Transformative Change in the Context of International Development

This paper responds to calls from social scientists in the area of globalization and women’s empowerment to test a model that investigates both structural and individual components of women’s empowerment in the context of globalization. The investigation uses a liberation psychology framework by taking into account the effects of globalization, human rights discourse, and women’s activism within social movements to identify how structural inequities may be related to empowerment. Surveys conducted in rural Nicaragua revealed that land ownership and organizational participation among women were related to more progressive gender ideology, and in turn, women’s power and control within the marital relationship, individual levels of agency, and subjective well-being. The study demonstrates that psychology can bridge the theoretical arguments surrounding human rights with the practical implementation of development interventions, and provide empirical support that has yet to be demonstrated elsewhere. The findings have important implications for strategies and interventions that can improve conditions for women and contribute to the aims of social justice articulated in the Beijing Platform for Action.     

A latent variable approach to executive control in healthy ageing

It is a well-established finding that the central executive is fractionated in at least three separable component processes: Updating, Shifting, and Inhibition of information (Miyake et al., 2000). However, the fractionation of the central executive among the elderly has been less well explored, and Miyake's et al. latent structure has not yet been integrated with other models that propose additional components, such as access to long-term information. Here we administered a battery of classic and newer neuropsychological tests of executive functions to 122 healthy individuals aged between 48 and 91 years. The test scores were subjected to a latent variable analysis (LISREL), and yielded four factors. The factor structure obtained was broadly consistent with Miyake et al.'s three-factor model. However, an additional factor, which was labeled 'efficiency of access to long-term memory', and a mediator factor ('speed of processing') were apparent in our structural equation analysis. Furthermore, the best model that described executive functioning in our sample of healthy elderly adults included a two-factor solution, thus indicating a possible mechanism of dedifferentiation, which involves larger correlations and interdependence of latent variables as a consequence of cognitive ageing. These results are discussed in the light of current models of prefrontal cortex functioning.