Covariation and temporal contiguity as principles of causal inference in young children

Four- to seven-year-old children observed a simple physical effect which could be attributed to either a consistent but noncontiguous covariate or a contiguous but inconsistent covariate. When there was a physical rationale for the temporal delay between covariate and effect, children attributed the effect to the consistent but noncontiguous covariate. In the absence of such a rationale, they attributed the effect to the contiguous but inconsistent covariate. It was concluded that neither consistent covariation nor strict temporal contiguity were essential aspects of causal inference for these children.     

Using conjoint-measurement models to investigate a theory about probabilistic information processing

A theory of how opinions are formed and revised on the basis of probabilistic evidence is presented. The decision maker is viewed as a limited information processor who attends to the dimensions of a sample of equivocal information in a sequential fashion, beginning with the most salient dimension and continuing in decreasing order of salience. The contribution of each dimension level to the final opinion depends on the strength of association between that level and each of the two hypotheses under consideration. This theory is represented formally as an additive-difference model, various special cases of which correspond to other algebraic models in the literature. Two of the special cases were empirically investigated under varying levels of experience and payoffs, using the techniques of conjoint-measurement theory and ordinal data from individual subjects. The data provided reasonably good support for the models under all conditions investigated, and in addition showed interesting effects on salience and on processing of the independent variables.     

Rethinking Economic Inequality

Secular discourse about problem of economic inequality rests on two foundational premises that are problematic from a theological point of view. First, individuals enter into society with the aim of bettering their own condition. Second, bettering one's own condition entails accruing more wealth and power so that one can fulfill more of one's desires. In this paper I argue that insofar as these premises shape market behavior, they actively promote excessive economic inequality. Ethical responses to the problem of economic inequality that do not challenge these assumptions are unlikely to effectively promote justice. A theological response to the problem of economic inequality should work to promote cultural change by reminding us that genuine human flourishing depends on communal ties and the higher human goods that material wealth is properly meant to support.     

Renegotiating Aquinas

While Roman Catholic feminist ethicists typically endorse moral realism and crosscultural standards of justice, they also have been influenced by the postmodern interrogation of abstract reason and moral universalism. As theologians writing after the Second Vatican Council, they are increasingly sensitive to the communal and ecclesial dimensions of morality and of Christian ethics, and to the integral relation of Christian faith and ethics. This essay will consider two approaches to Catholic feminist ethics that differ in the relative weight they give to constructive work for social justice (realist gender justice ethics), or to the grounding of ethics in prayer and mysticism (postmodern gendered faith ethics). Using critical feminist reappropriations of the theology and ethics of Aquinas as examples, this essay will argue that the two approaches are overlapping and interdependent.     

Paradigm shift in religious education: a reply to Jackson,or why religious education goes to war

This article provides a defence of my theoretical analysis of paradigm shift in contemporary religious education, particularly in light of Robert Jackson’s (2015) article published in this journal: ‘Misrepresenting religious education’s past and present in looking forward: Gearon using Kuhn’s concepts of paradigm, paradigm shift and incommensurability’. The core of Jackson’s concerns is my adaptation of Kuhn’s concepts of paradigm, paradigm shift and incommensurability to religious education. Defending in turn my use of these concepts – of paradigm, paradigm shift and incommensurability – I conclude that Jackson’s critique is in and of itself an apt demonstration of the position he seeks to attack. Drawing wider parallels with the methodological ‘paradigm wars’ in the social sciences I argue that the paradigms are why religious education too goes to ‘war’.     

How Shall We Read the History of Ethics?

This response suggests that in writing the history of ethics, it is important to take seriously what the principals wrote and believed, distinguishing it carefully from our own responses to their writings, or from subsequent uses to which their writings may have been put. For example, when reading Thomas Aquinas and Francisco de Vitoria on just war against non‐Christian peoples, forcible conversion and conquest are clearly condemned. Whatever the attitudes of their contemporaries, not to mention later thinkers up to the present, there is no foundation in Aquinas and Vitoria for holy war or “exceptionalism,” American or otherwise.     

An examination of vicarious reinforcement processes in children

The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine vicarious reinforcement processes in children. More specifically, the effects on one child of observing another same-sex child receive direct reinforcement were explored across three different age levels. Subjects were 216 children, randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions. For the control condition, neither child in the same-sex, same-age dyad received reinforcement for performance on the experimental task. For the experimental condition, one child in each dyad received direct social reinforcement for performance, while the other child received no social reinforcement for similar performance. Although children who observed other children receive direct social reinforcement initially increased performance (as predicted by vicarious reinforcement hypotheses), their performance soon decreased and was characterized by verbal and nonverbal responses which appeared to interfere with task performance (e.g., “Hey, I can do them too”, “Look at mine”, “There's no use in trying”). It appeared as if these observing children were being punished for their performance. Such effects were more pronounced for older than younger children; however, they were observed equally in boys and girls. Results were discussed in terms of vicarious reinforcement and “implicit punishment” hypotheses. Implications for applied settings were also addressed.