Failure of Retrospective Inference in Rats' Taste Aversion

Three experiments explored the possibility of retrospective inference in the rat. Experiment 1 revealed that poisoning of an element of a taste compound after single compound poisoning enhanced aversion to the other element, and that presentation of an element without poison after the compound poisoning reduced aversion to the other element. These results were opposite to those predicted by retrospective inference. Experiment 2 eliminated some confounding variables and examined the effect of element poisoning after compound poisoning. The result again was opposite to what the retrospective view predicts. The results, however, accorded with the idea that within-compound learning was established during compound presentation, and subsequent poisoning or nonpoisoning of one element affected response to the other element via the within-compound learning. In Experiment 3, the possibility of within-compound learning was reduced by using sequential presentation of tastes, but there was no indication of retrospective inference even under this condition.     

The knowledge content of statistical data

An information-theoretic framework is used to analyze the knowledge content in multivariate cross classified data. Several related measures based directly on the information concept are proposed: the knowledge content (S) of a cross classification, its terseness (Zeta), and the separability (Gamma _X ) of one variable, given all others. Exemplary applications are presented which illustrate the solutions obtained where classical analysis is unsatisfactory, such as optimal grouping, the analysis of very skew tables, or the interpretation of well-known paradoxes. Further, the separability suggests a solution for the classic problem of inductive inference which is independent of sample size.     

PREVENTING ABORTION AS A TEST CASE FOR THE JUSTIFIABILITY OF VIOLENCE

This paper explores the rationale for violence and coercion aimed at preventing abortion conceived as the killing of an innocent person. Some important arguments for personhood at conception are examined, and in the light of the examination the paper considers whether they warrant concluding that a free and democratic society should pass laws recognizing personhood at conception. The wider concern is what principles such a society should use as a basis for legal coercion and what principles conscientious individuals should use insofar as they judge that self-defense or, especially, protection of the innocent, requires violence.     

Effects of lines of progress and semilogarithmic charts on ratings of charted data

The extent to which interrater agreement and ratings of significance on both changes in level and trend are affected by lines of progress and semilogarithmic charts was investigated. Thirteen graduate students rated four sets of charts, each set containing 19 phase changes. Set I data were plotted on equal interval charts. In Set II a line of progress was drawn through each phase on each chart. In Set III data points were replotted on semilogarithmic charts. In Set IV a line of progress was drawn through each phase of each Set III chart. A significant main effect on interrater agreement was found for lines of progress as well as a significant 2-way interaction between lines of progress and change type. Three main effects (chart type, lines of progress, and type of change) and a significant 3-way interaction were found for ratings of significance. Implications of these data for visual analysis of charted data are discussed.     

Preference for starting and finishing behavior patterns

Pigeon's key pecking was reinforced with food in two experiments in which the correspondence between preference for starting one of two reinforced behavior patterns and the likelihood of finishing it subsequently was examined. Reinforcers were scheduled according to concurrent schedules for two classes of interresponse times, modified such that reinforcers followed a center-key peck terminating either a shorter interresponse time started by a left-key peck or a longer interresponse time started by a right-key peck. In Experiment 1, the times when reinforcers potentially were available were not discriminated, whereas in Experiment 2 they were. Absolute reinforced pattern durations were varied. The relative frequency of starting a particular pattern was highly correlated with relative frequency of that completed pattern in both experiments. Other relations between starting and finishing a pattern depended on whether reinforced interresponse times were discriminated. For instance, preference for starting a pattern sometimes correlated negatively with the likelihood of subsequently completing it. The present experiments are described as capturing part of the ordinary language meaning of "intention," according to which an organism's behavior at one moment sets the occasion for an observer to say that the organism "intends" in the future to engage in one behavior rather than another.     

Statistical inference for false positive and false negative error rates in mastery testing

This paper describes an asymptotic inferential procedure for the estimates of the false positive and false negative error rates. Formulas and tables are described for the computations of the standard errors. A simulation study indicates that the asymptotic standard errors may be used even with samples of 25 cases as long as the Kuder-Richardson Formula 21 reliability is reasonably large. Otherwise, a large sample would be required.This work was performed pursuant to Grant No NIE-G-78-0087 with the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Huynh Huynh, Principal Investigator. Points of view or opinions stated do not necessarily reflect NIE position or policy and no official endorsement should be inferred. The editorial assistance of Joseph C. Saunders is gratefully acknowledged.     

CRITICAL REALISM REDUX: A RESPONSE TO JOSH REEVES

This article combines an appreciation of several themes in Josh Reeves's Against Methodology in Science and Religion: Recent Debates on Rationality and Theology while arguing in favor of critical realism. The author holds that critical realism manages to combine the objective truth reached through inference and especially cognitive acts of judgment as well as the various, contingent historical contexts that also define where science is practiced. Reeves advocates a historical perspective, but this article claims that in order for critical realism to be credible, a philosophical perspective must be maintained.     

THEORIZING RELIGION AND QUESTIONING THE FUTURE OF ISLAM AND SCIENCE

Will there be any joint future for science and Islam? Although such questions have recently received considerable attention, more basic questions are often ignored. This article aims at addressing some of those more basic questions through exploring the assumptions that underlie different possible understandings of the question about the future of Islam and science. By investigating the relation between conceptualizations of religion and the question about the future of Islam and science, it will be argued that different understandings of the concept of religion (i.e., whether it denotes real objects, whether it is universal, and whether it is belief centered) lead to extremely different readings of the question. Besides, it will be argued that different answers to the question about the future of Islam and science can be understood in terms of the inference to best theological explanation; thus, the criteria that one assumes for the best theological explanation result in different criteria for evaluation of the answers.     

Extraversion,Openness to Experience,and Global Career Intention: The Mediating Role of Cultural Intelligence

Drawing from social cognitive career theory, this study asserts that the personality traits of extraversion and openness to experience are positively and significantly related to global career intention (GCI). Moreover, drawing from self‐efficacy theory, this study asserts that cultural intelligence mediates the relationship between these personality traits and GCI. Results from a study in Australia of 158 undergraduate students demonstrated that extraversion and openness to experience are positively and significantly related to GCI. Results also showed that cultural intelligence partially mediates the relationship between (a) extraversion and GCI and (b) openness to experience and GCI.     

作弊为什么会传染?社会损失和作弊态度的中介作用

为了解释考试作弊的"传染"现象,研究探讨大学考试情境中他人作弊对观察者将来作弊意向的效应,假设他人作弊通过社会损失和作弊态度的链式中介作用对观察者将来作弊意向产生效应。研究采用他人作弊问卷、社会损失问卷、作弊态度问卷、将来作弊意向问卷,对765名在校大学生进行调查。在控制了性别、年级、第一次作弊的时间和经常作弊的开始时间之后,研究发现：（1）他人作弊正向预测观察者将来作弊意向;（2）社会损失在他人作弊和观察者将来作弊意向之间起中介作用;（3）社会损失与作弊态度在他人作弊与观察者将来作弊意向之间起链式中介作用。研究为理解考试作弊的"传染"现象及其内在机制提供了有价值的视角。