On some common objections to a behavioral approach to psychological categories

This paper addresses several objections that have been leveled against a behavioral approach to psychological categories. It reconstructs and critically assesses (a) the so-called causal objection; (b) alleged counterexamples whereby one can exhibit the typical behaviors associated with a psychological phenomenon without exhibiting the latter, including Lewis’ “perfect actor” case and Kirk’s “zombie”; (c) alleged counterexamples whereby organisms can exemplify psychological phenomena without exhibiting any behavior associated with them, including Armstrong’s imagined brain in a vat, Putnam’s “super-super-spartans” scenario, and related cases; and (d) the holistic objection. Mistaken assumptions in each of these objections are pinpointed. The paper starts with a brief characterization of behaviorism about psychological categories and a summary of the particular version thereof supported here, which draws upon Ryle and Skinner, among others.     

Three Conceptual Models of Patient and Public Involvement in Standard-setting: From Abstract Principles to Complex Practice

Clinical practice guidelines have been critiqued for prescribing standardized care that neglects patients’ personal circumstances and knowledge in health care decisions. To make care more patient centred, standard-setters are urged to involve patients and the public in guideline development and use. Despite widespread principled support for such Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), the underlying principles guiding PPI in standardization of care are mired on confusion and contradiction. Based on the PPI literature in general, and informed by empirical research on guideline development, it is possible to identify three rationales that justify PPI in clinical standard setting. Each rationale gives rise to a conceptual model which outlines a distinct purpose of participation, who is to be included, and what they are expected to contribute. The Consumer Choice model aims to involve autonomous consumers to personalize clinical care. The Democratic Voice model aims for health care recommendations to better reflect collective values of citizens. The Lay Expertise model aims to re-contextualize universal evidence by including experiential patient knowledge. However, these models can and should not function as ‘Gold Standards’ to be consistently followed in practice. First, the models rely on two distinct types of representation, resulting in contradictory notions of how to be a good representative. Second, imposing models on practice requires a top-down control that is practically and politically problematic. Not only is control difficult to achieve, it may compromise the participatory ideal of participants co-determine practice, and may result in excluding the values and views of ‘real’ patients and public entirely.     

Religious identification and interreligious contact in Indonesia and the Philippines: Testing the mediating roles of perceived group threat and social dominance orientation and the moderating role of context

This study integrates three theoretical perspectives provided by social identity theory, realistic group conflict theory, and social dominance theory to examine the relationship between religious identification and interreligious contact. It relies on a unique dataset collected among Christian and Muslim students in ethnically and religiously diverse regions of Indonesia and the Philippines, where social cleavages occur along religious lines. Religious identification directly predicts a higher quality of interreligious contact, whereas it indirectly predicts a lower quantity and quality of contact, mediated by higher perception of group threat, and a higher quality of contact, mediated by lower social dominance orientation. Furthermore, these direct and indirect relationships are moderated by religious group membership and relative group size. We conclude that religious identification functions as a ‘double‐edged sword’ predicting both higher quality and lower quantity and quality of interreligious contact through various pathways and with a varying strength depending on intergroup context.     

父母的心理控制与儿童心理社会功能的关系

心理控制是一种侵入式教养,它是指父母使用引发儿童的内疚感、爱的撤回等方式侵入儿童思想和情感的教养行为,这种消极的、侵入式教养导致儿童产生诸多心理社会功能失调。跨文化研究发现,我国文化背景下父母的心理控制水平更高。社会环境、父母的人格和儿童的行为等因素都对父母的心理控制水平产生影响。父母的心理控制会对儿童的行为问题、自主性等一系列的心理社会功能产生消极影响。未来研究应立足中国特色文化,深入探讨儿童多重看护条件、儿童自身易感性等因素对心理控制效应的影响。     

宗教对信徒颜色认知的影响及作用机制:以中国台湾宗教信徒为例

采用自然分类法考察中国台湾佛教徒、道教徒、基督徒和非宗教信徒的基本颜色词分类,并做多维标度和聚类分析,以揭示宗教对信徒颜色认知的影响。结果发现,中国台湾三大宗教信徒对基本颜色词的分类既具有共性,又存在差异,宗教信徒与非宗教信徒的基本颜色词分类也存在着共性和差异,共性反映了汉语言和汉文化的影响,差异反映了宗教对颜色认知的影响。研究表明,颜色通过意象式传播方式影响信徒的颜色认知,支持颜色词与颜色认知的相互作用理论。     

Disentangling proactive and reactive aggression in children using self-report

The distinction between proactive and reactive functions of aggression is one of the most common divisions when investigating aggression among children and adolescents. To date, self-report is the least used measurement, despite existing literature supporting the view that the best informant regarding internal processes and motives are children themselves. The main aim of this study was to examine the construct and concurrent validity of a new self-report questionnaire, which aims to disentangle acts of reactive vs. proactive aggression that are most common within the daily lives of children. We examined the self-report measure among 578 children (313 girls, 265 boys, mean age 11 years, range 9–13 years). Most children (90% boys; 85% girls) reported at least one act of aggression over the last four weeks. Furthermore, the outcomes support the two-factor structure (reactive and proactive aggression) and the questionnaire showed good concurrent and discriminant validity with measures for emotional and social functioning. This study validates the use of the self-report instrument for reactive and proactive aggression and demonstrates that children can successfully distinguish between their own motives for reactive and proactive forms of aggressive behaviours.     

Happiness vs. mindfulness exercises for individuals vulnerable to depression

An online ‘positivity’ exercise involving the practice of discrete positive emotions was pitted against a mindfulness meditation exercise and an active placebo control. The effects of positivity and meditation were examined in relationship to personality variables known to entail vulnerability to depression. Participants (N = 741) were randomly assigned to the positivity, mindfulness, or control condition. They completed their exercise for three weeks and were assessed on measures of subjective well-being at baseline, post-test, and one, and two months later. Results indicated that all groups showed significant decreases in depressive symptoms from baseline to two months. The positivity exercise uniquely predicted increases in meaning, pleasure, engagement, and satisfaction in life across follow-ups. Dependent individuals responded favorably to the positivity intervention in the short run, but worsened in the long run for pleasure-related happiness. Self-criticism was associated with significantly greater gains in life satisfaction following exercise completion.     

Health and Aging: A Perspective from the Far East

Singapore is an urban, highly industrialized country in South East Asia. By 2030, one-fifth of the population is projected to be composed of citizens aged above 65 years. Research on aging has largely focused on the effects of deteriorating physical ability on daily functioning capabilities (Iwarsson & Isacsson, 1997; Warr, 1995). More recently, the role of self-perceived usefulness, competence and control on well-being in the elderly have been investigated (Heberlein, Licht & Licht, 1999; Ranzjin, Keeves, Luszcz, & Feather, 1998). In other fields, activity and involvement have been identified as effective coping devices (Nair, 1989; Shalit, 1988). The present study compared the conceptual understanding of the esteem and well-being of the elderly on the dimensions of activity, involvement, and control, as viewed by an undergraduate sample (n = 60) and a cross-section of seniors (n = 71). Three separate factor analyses reflected interesting variations in the conceptual frameworks.