Controlling the uncontrollable. Self-regulation and the dynamics of addiction

The multidisciplinary research on addictions generally promotes the assumption that addictive behavior is caused and maintained by the external psychoactive substance, which accordingly is considered to be ‘addictive in itself’. The present article challenges this widespread assumption by engaging in a detailed examination of the psychodynamic structures of addiction. Tracing addictive behavior back to problems in affect regulation, the article discusses the object, motivation, dynamics, and developmental origins of addiction. Linking the problem with the topic of transitional object relations, the article eventually argues that addictive behavior amounts to a desperate pursuit for self-control. The tragedy of the addict is that he or she only manages to replace one sense of uncontrollability with another.     

Genuine eye contact elicits self-referential processing

The effect of eye contact on self-awareness was investigated with implicit measures based on the use of first-person singular pronouns in sentences. The measures were proposed to tap into self-referential processing, that is, information processing associated with self-awareness. In addition, participants filled in a questionnaire measuring explicit self-awareness. In Experiment 1, the stimulus was a video clip showing another person and, in Experiment 2, the stimulus was a live person. In both experiments, participants were divided into two groups and presented with the stimulus person either making eye contact or gazing downward, depending on the group assignment. During the task, the gaze stimulus was presented before each trial of the pronoun-selection task. Eye contact was found to increase the use of first-person pronouns, but only when participants were facing a real person, not when they were looking at a video of a person. No difference in self-reported self-awareness was found between the two gaze direction groups in either experiment. The results indicate that eye contact elicits self-referential processing, but the effect may be stronger, or possibly limited to, live interaction.     

Perceived impact of online written feedback on students’ writing and learning: a reflection

In this reflective study, I perceive the impact of my own written feedback on students’ academic writing skills in particular and on learning in general. Anchored on Schon’s reflection-on-action (ROA) framework, my reflection arose from a content analysis of my written feedback on 80 student drafts and 44 feedback responses. I found that my written feedback is of two types: focus on form and focus on meaning. Coding the feedback led to an identification of six feedback functions: instructive/using imperatives (18.36%); suggestive (15.31%); asking questions/probing (23.98%); stating a personal opinion (6.12%); corrective (29.59%); and affirming/negating (6.63%). The categorisation of feedback according to these functions was influenced by Wolsey’s feedback functions (2008) which was adapted by Alvarez, Espasa and Guasch. Results revealed that I employ corrective feedback, probing questions and instructive feedback more frequently than suggestive feedback, personal statement or affirmation/negation. I also found that my feedback on form (59%) is higher than my feedback on meaning (41%). I explain the relationship of these findings by identifying some confounding factors that enabled me to interrogate my assumptions, along with a discussion of their implications.     

方向感的加工机制及影响因素

方向感是一种定位当前位置、确定前往目的地的方向及选择相应路线的能力, 与人们的日常生活和国家航空航天事业的发展有着密切联系。方向感的认知加工包括外部信息输入、内部表征建立和信息整合三个过程, 综合方向感的各加工过程的研究结果形成的方向感认知结构模型将有助于研究者全面认识其加工机制。大脑是实现方向感加工的载体, 当前对方向感神经机制的研究主要有正常人的行为实验、脑成像研究以及脑损伤病人研究三方面, 根据这三方面的研究总结得出的神经网络结构清楚地展示了方向感在大脑中的加工过程。方向感的发生和发展受到了先天遗传和后天环境的影响, 因此了解方向感的遗传基础是了解其加工机制的关键之一。遗传影像学近来取得的重大进展推动了基因、大脑和行为研究的结合, 这将是未来方向感加工机制研究的主要方向之一。     

Novel-view scene recognition relies on identifying spatial reference directions

Five experiments investigated whether observer locomotion provides specialized information facilitating novel-view scene recognition. Participants detected a position change after briefly viewing a desktop scene when the table stayed stationary or was rotated and when the observer stayed stationary or locomoted. The results showed that 49° novel-view scene recognition was more accurate when the novel view was caused by observer locomotion than when the novel view was caused by table rotation. However such superiority of observer locomotion disappeared when the to-be-tested viewpoint was indicated during the study phase, when the study viewing direction was indicated during the test phase, and when the novel test view was 98°, and was even reversed when the study viewing direction was indicated during the test phase in the table rotation condition but not in the observer locomotion condition. These results suggest scene recognition relies on the identification of the spatial reference directions of the scene and accurately indicating the spatial reference direction can facilitate scene recognition. The facilitative effect of locomotion occurs because the spatial reference direction of the scene is tracked during locomotion and more accurately identified at test.     

论德性与独立的实践推理者

德性对于人的兴盛是必不可少的。没有道德德性,我们就不能实现从动物性理智到实践推理的转变,其次不能继续有推理的实践;如果不发展某种程度的德性,我们就不能适当地关怀和教育他人。所以,德性必须首先获得,然后才能维持在推理的实践之中。最后,我们在成为实践推理之后,我们仍然需要他人的维护,这种需要同时也是一种对德性的需要。     

The Perceiver's Share: Realism, Scepticism, and Response Dependence

Abstract: Response‐dispositional (RD) properties are standardly defined as those that involve an object's appearing thus or thus to some perceptually well‐equipped observer under specified epistemic conditions. The paradigm instance is that of colour or other such Lockean “secondary qualities”, as distinct from those—like shape and size—that pertain to the object itself, quite apart from anyone's perception. This idea has lately been thought to offer a promising alternative to the deadlocked dispute between hard‐line ‘metaphysical’ realists and subjectivists, projectivists, social constructivists, or hard‐line anti‐realists. A chief source text is Plato's Euthyphro, where the issue is posed in ethical terms: do the gods infallibly approve virtuous acts on account of their divine moral omniscience or are virtuous acts just those the gods approve? Among the areas proposed as amenable to an RD approach are epistemology, ethics, political theory, and philosophy of mathematics. It is claimed that by making due allowance for the involvement of normalised or optimised human responses one can steer a course between the twin poles of an objectivist realism that places truth beyond our cognitive grasp and an epistemic conception that confines truth within the limits of humanly attainable proof, knowledge, or verification. Here I argue—on the contrary—that RD approaches can be shown to offer nothing more than a variant of the same old realist versus anti‐realist dilemma. That is, they work out either as a trivial (tautologous) claim that ‘truth’ simply equates with ‘best judgement’ in the ideal (quasi‐objective) limit or as the claim—advanced by anti‐realists like Michael Dummett—that we cannot form any adequate conception of objective (recognition‐transcendent) truths. After looking at this issue in various contexts of debate, I conclude that one useful (if pyrrhic) outcome is to demonstrate the non‐availability of any middle‐ground stance. We are left with the strictly unavoidable choice between a realist or objectivist approach and one that assimilates truth to the consensus of accredited best opinion. This latter amounts to a roundabout, elaborately qualified version of the anti‐realist case.     

高职生自主学习能力与网络依赖程度关系的研究

在问卷调查法的基础上,本研究对高职生自主学习能力与网络依赖程度进行多种维度的相关分析,并通过多重线性回归分别对突出影响网络依赖及其四种维度的自主学习因子进行考察.结果表明:高职生自主学习能力和网络依赖程度之间存在十分密切的关系,其中学习策略分量表中的学习求助因子和学习管理因子对高职生的网络依赖有最大的影响.     

Misconvergence to the stimulus plane causes apparent displacement of the stimulus elements seen monocularly1

Abstract: When one binocularly views a group of vertical lines through a ring, the outermost line segments (one on each side) seen within the ring are seen monocularly while the segments of the same lines outside the ring are seen binocularly. The monocular segments appear to be displaced outward with respect to the center of the ring and with respect to the corresponding binocular segments outside the ring. Three experiments examined the extent and direction of this illusory displacement as a function of viewing distance, fixation disparity created by varying the angles of the two arms of a haploscope, and fixation disparity created by a stereoscope and different Nonius stimuli. The results of the experiments confirmed the hypothesis that the apparent displacement is due to misconvergence in accordance with Wells‐Hering's laws of visual direction.     

Reference dependence in iterative choices

Valuation of goods often proceeds from a series of hypothetical pairwise choices. We examine reference dependence on the outcome of such evaluations in a large-scale study in which respondents make a series of choices between areas that differ on cost of living and the quality of lakes and rivers. We uncover three substantial reference effects. First, we find that respondents’ choices are altered by being told the national value of water quality. For these people, consistent with prospect theory, changes in water quality below the 65% referenced national standard are treated as losses and given more weight while identical changes above 65% are treated as gains and given less weight. Second, we find that the sequence of iterative choices matters in a surprising way. The iterations proceed by encouraging switching either by degrading the chosen alternative or improving the item chosen. We show that improving the item not chosen produces the greatest switching, a result consistent with prospect theory, but only if the item changed in the iteration becomes the reference alternative. Finally, we find a strong starting reference effect. That is, we show that the trade-off in the first choice reflected in the change in cost of living divided by the change in water quality has a substantial impact on the final valuation. We assess the relative impact of these three reference effects and suggest ways of dealing with them for valuation of non-market goods.