THE INFLUENCE OF MATCHING AND MOTOR‐IMITATION ABILITIES ON RAPID ACQUISITION OF MANUAL SIGNS AND EXCHANGE‐BASED COMMUNICATIVE RESPONSES

Establishing a relation between existing skills and acquisition of communicative responses may be useful in guiding selection of alternative communication systems. Matching and motor‐imitation skills were assessed for 6 children with developmental disabilities, followed by training to request the same set of preferred items using exchange‐based communication and manual signs. Three participants displayed both skills and rapidly acquired both communicative response forms. Three others displayed neither skill; 1 mastered exchange‐based responses but not manual signs, and neither of the other 2 easily acquired either response form.     

Explication Defended

How can formal methods be applied to philosophical problems that involve informal concepts of ordinary language? Carnap answered this question by describing a methodology that he called “explication." Strawson objected that explication changes the subject and does not address the original philosophical problem; this paper shows that Carnap’s response to that objection was inadequate and offers a better response. More recent criticisms of explication by Boniolo and Eagle are shown to rest on misunderstandings of the nature of explication. It is concluded that explication is an appropriate methodology for formal philosophy.     

Capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations

Since the 1970s mental health consumer-run organizations have come to offer not only mutual support, but they have also adopted agendas for broader social change. Despite an awareness of the need for system level efforts that create supportive environments for their members, there has been limited research demonstrating how their system level activities can be documented or their impacts evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to feature a method of evaluating systems change activities and impacts. The paper is based on a longitudinal study evaluating four mental health consumer-run organizations in Ontario, Canada. The study tracked system level activities and impacts using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The article begins by describing the development and implementation of these methods. Next it offers a critical analysis of the methods used. It concludes by reflecting on three lessons learned about capturing system level activities and impacts of mental health consumer-run organizations.     

犯罪行为决策的理论与研究方法

犯罪行为是犯罪人决策的结果。犯罪行为决策研究旨在通过运用认知心理学的有关原理,说明犯罪行为实施之前的行为决策过程及影响因素,其成果能为国家制定刑事政策与犯罪预防政策等提供理论依据。犯罪行为决策的理论模型主要可分为犯罪理性模型、犯罪期望效用模型和犯罪前景理论模型。犯罪行为决策的研究方法主要采用心理物理法、过程追踪法、访谈法、投射测验法和犯罪统计法等。展望未来,应进一步探讨犯罪行为决策的理性与非理性问题,并加强对犯罪行为决策的验证性研究。     

主管承诺理论研究述评

主管承诺（supervisory commitment or commitment to supervisor）是20世纪80年代以来在组织承诺（organizational commitment or commitment to organization）基础上发展起来的员工承诺理论的一个分支。对它的测量,学者们主要是借鉴Allen和Meyer与O’Reilly和Chatman对组织承诺的测量方法,目前属香港学者陈振雄的测量最为细致和全面。对影响主管承诺的前因,学者们目前探索到文化、感受主管支持（PSS）和领导—成员交换（LMX）三个因素。对主管承诺的结果,学者们普遍认为,主管承诺比组织承诺更能影响员工的工作绩效和组织公民行为（OCB）,但在对工作满意感和跳槽意图的影响上还存在不同的意见。另外,在目前大多数学者的研究中,主管承诺与组织承诺是并列关系,但Hunt和Morgan更主张二者是因果关系,而且是主管承诺带来组织承诺。在全面述评的基础上,作者对未来的研究提出了四点展望。     

执行功能研究方法评述

虽然对执行功能的研究长期以来都是从神经心理学角度出发的,但现在发展心理学领域中也出现了大量的研究,其研究方法也层出不穷。该文从发展心理学角度分析了研究儿童冷执行功能和热执行功能的常用方法,包括搜寻任务、规则运用任务、优势规则抑制任务、矛盾冲突任务、问题解决任务、图片工作记忆任务、心理理论任务、延迟满足任务、儿童博弈任务和反向择物。通过对这些方法的分析,作者发现,执行功能的概念已逐步扩展到包容整个认知过程,而已有的关于执行功能的观点都只强调了其中某一个或几个方面,还没有一种观点能够将上述方法所研究的执行功能概括完整。执行功能的本质还远远不能清晰地展示在我们面前。     

Inferences about which of J dependent groups has the largest robust measure of location

Recently, a multiple comparisons procedure was derived with the goal of determining whether it is reasonable to make a decision about which of J independent groups has the largest robust measure of location. This was done by testing hypotheses aimed at comparing the group with the largest estimate to the remaining J − 1 groups. It was demonstrated that for the goal of controlling the familywise error rate, meaning the probability of one or more Type I errors, well-known improvements on the Bonferroni method can perform poorly. A technique for dealing with this issue was suggested and found to perform well in simulations. However, when dealing with dependent groups, the method is unsatisfactory. This note suggests an alternative method that is designed for dependent groups.     

Extensions of Rasch's multiplicative poisson model

Consideration will be given to a model developed by Rasch that assumes scores observed on some types of attainment tests can be regarded as realizations of a Poisson process. The parameter of the Poisson distribution is assumed to be a product of two other parameters, one pertaining to the ability of the subject and a second pertaining to the difficulty of the test. Rasch's model is expanded by assuming a prior distribution, with fixed but unknown parameters, for the subject parameters. The test parameters are considered fixed. Secondly, it will be shown how additional between- and within-subjects factors can be incorporated. Methods for testing the fit and estimating the parameters of the model will be discussed, and illustrated by empirical examples.     

Where Philosophy and Literature merge in the Platonic dialogues

It is no surprise if a good quality communication unit succeeds in seizing the attention of the intended audience (or readership) and is able to let people see precisely what the author wanted them to see, while avoiding that the average addressee become aware of what the author wants to convey in an almost subliminal way. In this respect Plato is no exception. Nevertheless the study of these resources, far from having been somewhat systematic, still is largely neglected, and only a minority of commentators find it important to pay head to the communicational strategies which are at work in Plato's dialogues. It will be argued that the shades of meaning and the contextualization of thought (a) systematically grant to Plato ample room for affecting the way a reader comes to perceive his points of doctrine and (b) often let him convey a biased perception of his arguments.The paper includes an outline of the already longstanding debate on these matters, a case study (Memo 80–82), and a sketchy typology of how the literary working-out is able to affect the reader's perception of the line of thought, esp. within the aporetic dialogues.