Anomalous moral intuitions in juvenile offenders with psychopathic traits

Since the historical conception of psychopathy, researchers have been interested in understanding moral functioning among psychopathic individuals. The present study investigated the association between psychopathic traits and moral intuitions among incarcerated juvenile offenders (N = 178). Participants were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist:Youth Version (Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003) and the Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Graham et al., 2011), which defines five core moral foundations: Harm/care, Fairness/reciprocity, Ingroup/loyalty, Authority/respect, and Purity/sanctity. As expected, psychopathy in juvenile offenders negatively predicted endorsement of all five foundations. This study is the first to demonstrate broad abnormalities in Haidt et al.’s moral foundations in a juvenile sample and can help explain delinquent behavior in juveniles with psychopathic traits. Implications for theories of psychopathy are discussed.     

The Conceptual Complexity of Presidents Carter and Clinton: An Automated Content Analysis of Temporal Stability and Source Bias

Previous work on the measurement of leaders' foreign policy orientations by Margaret G. Hermann argues that spontaneous utterances should provide more useful indications of stable personality characteristics than prepared statements. This paper reconsiders this question for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton through an automated coding system. A large number of spontaneous utterances and prepared statements by these presidents were compared in an effort to determine the stability of their conceptual complexity across source types and over time. The findings support the ability of Hermann's conceptual complexity measurement to capture robust differences between individuals; however, scores derived from spontaneous comments varied significantly from those derived from prepared remarks. In addition, the trait appears to be stable for some subjects (Carter) but not for others (Clinton).     

Embracing Ambiguity: Transpersonal Development and the Phenomenological Tradition

This article offers a perspective on transpersonal development that has been inspired by the phenomenological tradition. This philosophical movement as exemplified by Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty may provide a non-dualistic vision in which human beings participate in both development and no development. Some implications of this paradox are taken forward to indicate a basic open and non-deterministic dimension of our depths which enters ‘nature’ and ‘time’ in unknown ways. In this view, the tension between the ‘personal’ and the ‘transpersonal’ functions in any moment and forms a deep motivation and creative tension in the human heart. How is this tension resolved?     

Comparative Mental Development

To reconstruct the evolution of human cognitive development we are studying its comparative ontogeny in primate phylogeny (i.e., two monkey species, two chimpanzee species, and humans). The research has discovered primate conceptual universals including logical (e.g., classifying), arithmetic (e.g., quantitative substituting), and physical (e.g., causal) cognitions. But the ontogenetic covariation between these conceptual universals is progressively displaced or heterochronic in primate phylogeny. Heterochronic evolution produced the most synchronic and widest ontogenetic window for progressive cognitive development in humans.     

权力概念垂直空间隐喻表征激活的条件

本研究通过三个实验考察权力概念垂直空间隐喻表征激活的条件。实验1发现,在权力判断任务中,具有直接权力关系的相关词对和间接权力关系的无关词对都可以激活隐喻表征。实验2使用相关判断任务,只有相关词对激活了隐喻表征。这说明对词汇进行语义加工并理解权力关系是激活隐喻表征的重要条件。实验3引入水平方向干扰,并将被试的注意转移到干扰信息上,结果仍然出现了隐喻一致性效应,表明垂直空间线索不是隐喻表征激活的必要条件。     

线索强度对测试效应的调节:时间间隔上的差异

本研究采用不同线索强度(强/弱)的中文词对, 选取大学生被试126人, 考察了不同学习方式(重学/测试)在不同时间间隔(5分钟/2天)最终自由回忆测试成绩上的差异。结果发现:在强线索强度词对上, 学习方式主效应显著, 测试条件的回忆成绩在5分钟以及2天后均高于重学条件;而在弱线索强度词对上, 学习方式与间隔时间交互作用显著, 5分钟时重学条件与测试条件的记忆成绩差异不显著, 而2天后测试条件的记忆成绩却显著高于重学条件。结果表明词对的线索强度能够调节测试对不同时间间隔记忆保持的促进作用, 支持了精细提取假设。     

话语参照语境条件下汉语歧义短语的加工

采用移动窗口和眼动记录两种范式 ,以符合“VP +N1+的 +N2”格式的均衡型和述宾型两类汉语歧义短语为背景 ,在两个实验中 ,考察了话语参照语境影响歧义短语句法分析的机制以及时间进程。结果发现 ,在早于解歧区 1的区段上就开始出现话语语境效应。这些发现表明话语参照语境可以通过概念期望机制起作用 ,而并非仅仅通过参照前提机制起作用。此外 ,实验还证明了话语参照语境在句子加工早期的作用。这一结果为句法歧义消解的参照理论和基于制约的模型提供了证据 ,而对宣称最初的句法分析独立于话语语境的花园路径模型 ,提出了质疑     

医学文章写作中的概念问题及应对措施

形式逻辑中的概念表达,是医学文章写作的基本方面,概念表达不明确,就不能清晰地表达出文章的内容,因此,枚举了医学文章中某些概念表达不明确的现象,并提出了应对措施,意在建议医学文章的写作者,加强医学文章写作中明确表达概念的意识,努力提高写作质量。     

The oceanic state: a conceptual elucidation in terms of modal contact

Despite its lengthy history in psychoanalysis, the psychological origins, essential features and value of the oceanic state remain open to dispute. This ambiguity has come at a cost to the clarity of theoretical discussions on the topic. In working towards a conceptual elucidation, the author maintains that there are three primary accounts of the oceanic state: the metaphysical one of Romain Rolland, the developmental one of Sigmund Freud, and the cognitive-perceptual one of Anton Ehrenzweig. Based on the notion of modal contact, he argues that the accounts share a general theoretical structure that establishes as the necessary criterion for all oceanic states the loosening of ego boundaries and sufficient contact between differentiated and undifferentiated modalities of the mind. However, within this common structure, the accounts employ dissimilar metapsychologies to promulgate oceanic states of appreciably distinct kinds. To support this view, the author carries out a comparative examination of the modal contacts involved in the primary accounts' oceanic states. To conclude, he reviews the main implications of the notion of modal contact vis-à-vis recent discussion on oceanic phenomena, and puts forward for consideration a pluralist account of the mind that can accommodate the existence of several kinds of oceanic states.