Ethos,pathos and logos in Aristotle's Rhetoric: A re-examination

In Aristotle's Rhetoric, logos must be conceived as enthymematical argumentation relative to the issue of the case. Ethos and pathos also can take the form of an enthymeme, but this argumentation doesn't relate (directly) to the issue. In this kind of enthymeme, the conclusion is relative to the ethos of the speaker or (reasons for) the pathos of the audience. In an ideal situation — with a good procedure and rational judges — logos dominates and in the real situation of Aristotle's time — with an imperfect procedure and irrational judges — ethos and pathos prevail.I should like to thank R. Berkenbosch and J. Wisse for their comments.     

Teaching practices to save America's schools: The legacy of B. F. Skinner

The research and practices found in behavior analysis and the behavioral models of instruction suggest a common set of effective teaching practices. Implementation of these practices could save our schools. They have implications for the students, parents, teachers, and supervisors in our schools. They are presented herein as standards for effective pedagogy and schooling from the viewpoints of students, parents, teachers, and supervisors. Indeed, they may be the necessary ingredients for adequate schooling. All of these practices are feasible now, and all of the parties involved in schooling stand to benefit from their implementation!     

Kernel smoothing approaches to nonparametric item characteristic curve estimation

The option characteristic curve, the relation between ability and probability of choosing a particular option for a test item, can be estimated by nonparametric smoothing techniques. What is smoothed is the relation between some function of estimated examinee ability rankings and the binary variable indicating whether or not the option was chosen. This paper explores the use of kernel smoothing, which is particularly well suited to this application. Examples show that, with some help from the fast Fourier transform, estimates can be computed about 500 times as rapidly as when using commonly used parametric approaches such as maximum marginal likelihood estimation using the three-parameter logistic distribution. Simulations suggest that there is no loss of efficiency even when the population curves are three-parameter logistic. The approach lends itself to several interesting extensions.The author wishes to acknowledge the support of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through grant A320 and the support of Educational Testing Service during his leave there.     

AN ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLE MISPLACED PARENTAL SOCIAL CONTINGENCIES1

This study analyzed the training of a mother to modify five subclasses of her attention to her young child's noncompliance with instructions, and also displayed the changes in her child's behavior correlated with these events. Training in four subclasses consisted of teaching the mother to withhold various forms of social attention to her daughter's undesired behavior; training in the fifth subclass involved introduction of a brief room-timeout procedure for noncompliance. The effectiveness of the parent-training procedure, consisting of initial instructions and daily feedback, was demonstrated through a multiple-baseline design across the five subclasses of parent behavior. Sequential decreases in the first three subclasses of the mother's social attention to undesired child behavior resulted in incomplete improvements in some child responses; however, a decrease in the fourth subclass resulted in a significant increase in undesired child behavior. Complete remediation of all child behaviors was achieved following the training of a timeout procedure for noncompliance. Postchecks conducted up to 16 weeks later showed that these effects were durable.     

The area between two item characteristic curves

Formulas for computing the exact signed and unsigned areas between two item characteristic curves (ICCs) are presented. It is further shown that when thec parameters are unequal, the area between two ICCs is infinite. The significance of the exact area measures for item bias research is discussed.The author expresses his appreciation to Jeffrey A. Slinde, Stephen Steinhaus, Audrey Qualls-Payne, Ivo Molenaar, and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and constructive comments.     

Relationships between dissatisfaction with specific body characteristics and the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3 and Objectified Body Consciousness Scale

Body dissatisfaction was studied in 123 predominately European-American college women. Desired changes in body characteristics were associated with scores on the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3) and the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS). All SATAQ-3 measures were associated with desired changes in bust size and height, but were not related to desired upper body size. In contrast, the OBCS Surveillance and Body Shame Scales were related to desired upper body size, but were not related to desired bust size or height. As hypothesized, the SATAQ-3 Pressure and Internalization-General Scales and the OBCS Surveillance and Body Shame Scales were related to desired weight and lower body size. Results indicate body dissatisfaction is a complex construct and different aspects of this construct are related to different dispositional measures. Results also indicate that the OBCS is a more narrowly focused measure than the SATAQ-3.     

Service Needs of Foster Families with Children who have Disabilities

We examined the service needs of foster families with children who have disabilities. Foster parents in a large Canadian city were asked “What services or supports would be helpful to you?” The responses to this question were edited for clarity and to eliminate redundancies, and sorted into piles of like statements by a group of 15 foster care professionals. Two types of statistical analysis were applied to the sorting of the statements to describe the relationship between statements and their groupings. The major concepts were identified according to the contents of the cluster and a map was constructed to provide a graphic representation of the conceptualization process. The major services and supports identified in this study were: support in the community, financial support, accommodating school system, good relationships with social workers, responsive professionals, information, comprehensive medical care, services for aboriginal children and families, transitional services, and respite.     

Bringing a mentalizing framework to understanding mothers with addiction: The groundbreaking work of Nancy E. Suchman

Nancy Suchman is remembered as a pioneer whose mentalization-based intervention—Mothering from the Inside Out (MIO)—transformed the treatment of parents struggling with substance use disorders. Specifically, Suchman's work highlighted the neural mechanisms underlying substance use disorders and identified the promotion of parental mentalizing as a key therapeutic focus in enhancing early parent-child relationships. Her work transformed parenting support models for this population of parents. Several randomized controlled trials (RCT) show the effectiveness of MIO in promoting parental reflective functioning (PRF) and positive relational outcomes in parents with substance use disorders and their children. Suchman's MIO model has since been extended to parenting in many contexts. She is also remembered as a generous colleague, a gifted researcher and clinician, and an inspiration to generations of researchers and practitioners working with parents who aspire to raise healthy, secure children despite multiple challenges and adversities. This special issue compiles the work of researchers inspired by Suchman as they carry on her legacy in examining aspects of parental mentalization. Collectively, the research presented yields confirmation of MIO core assumptions, offers new insights into roles of positive sentiment and savoring in mentalization processes, and presents evaluations of MIO in multiple contexts and with new adaptations.