Cogency and the Validation of Induction

I.T. Oakley claims that the cogency of invalid, but cogent, arguments is context independent. Robert Pargetter and John Bigelow claim that the apparent cogency of any cogent, but invalid, argument is to be explained by the existence of a corresponding valid argument. I argue that both claims are incorrect and provide my own account of the cogency of arguments.     

Mapping grief: A study in practice using a quantitative and qualitative approach to exploring and addressing the range of responses to loss

The Adult Attitude to Grief (AAG) scale was devised for an earlier study (Machin, 2001) to test the validity of a concept of loss, which proposed that grief reactions fall broadly into three categories — ‘overwhelmed’, ‘balanced’ and ‘controlled’. There was statistical support for the proposed differences but the AAG scale, more importantly, provided insight into the diverse reactions taking place in individual bereaved respondents. This paper describes a second study undertaken to examine the clinical usefulness of the AAG scale with clients receiving help within the Psychological Services Operating Unit of the North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare (NHS) Trust. The scale has been used both in its original form with bereaved clients and in a modified form with clients having distress symptoms associated with other losses, such as relationship breakdown or the onset of chronic illness. The use of the AAG scale in this clinical setting suggests that, both as an assessment tool and as a cue for therapeutic dialogue, it provides a promising way of mapping the general and particular characteristics of response to loss in individual clients. Consideration is also given to varying therapeutic approaches needed to help clients regain the equilibrium disturbed by their grief.     

语言耗损研究述评

本文概述语言耗损研究的历史与现状,包括语言耗损研究的主要内容和意义,以及目前存在的若干问题和难点。作者强调指出,语言耗损乃语言习得的伴生产物,关系极其密切．研究习得决不能忽视研究耗损。此外,由于环境因素对语言耗损有重要影响以及非同源语言对语言习得具有负面作用,研究汉语语言环境下外语耗损对中国的外语教学具有特殊的重要意义。     

Closer to the Shifting Ground: The Rise of Relationship in God‐Talk

Abstract :  The article argues that God‐talk has changed significantly over the last fifty years and identifies the rise of the notion of relationship (reflecting postmodern dissatisfaction with modernity) as a key factor in this change. That factor is cited in Trinitarian studies, the Creator's relationship with and to the creatures, the science and religion conversation, the connection with context, and the increasing recognition of the adjectival character of theology. In closing the author looks ahead to further relational work in soteriology, anthropology and metaphysics.     

人与情境交互作用理论述评

人与情境交互作用理论认为,人一情境系统是一个整合、复杂和动态的整体,个体是其中一个积极和有目的的部分。该理论对情境在个体功能和发展中的作用、人一情境系统发挥自身功能的原则,以及人和情境子系统的结构和过程作了详尽的分析。这些理论主张对当前心理学的理论、方法和研究策略具有深远的启示意义,但也存在难以操作化的缺点。     

‘Her Majesty the Baby’: narcissistic states in babies and young children

This article considers narcissistic states in babies and young children with some reference to the myth of Narcissus in Ovid’s Metamorphosis. The object-seeking character of babies from the beginning of life is elaborated in connection with selected research from mother–baby interaction. This forms the backdrop to a discussion of withdrawal into illusions of self-sufficiency and denial of dependence in adverse circumstances. Two clinical cases are discussed in some depth. One boy whose superiority, self-reliance and pseudo maturity is prompted by anxieties around separation as he approaches starting school is considered within the parameters of ordinary transient narcissism. The lengthy psychotherapy of another child, who developed entrenched narcissistic defences as a response to traumatic, abusive and neglectful experiences in early life, and who needed considerable help, is described in greater detail. Some links are made with difficulties associated with the emergence from narcissistic functioning and encountering the pain of separation and loss.     

Life’s frailty – on fundamentalistic bonds in Haneke’s film Amour

My essay is centred upon Michael Haneke’s film Amour (2012), which revolves around the experiences of an 80-year-old musician couple, George and Anne. The relationship is severely tested as a result of Anne suffering a stroke. The director stakes out questions that explore the potential boundaries for our dignity and love. Using vignettes from the film, I will shed light on the manner in which life becomes restricted, as the object of our love vanishes. A central theme of the film is the collapsing of the mourning process that seeks a resolution in the choice between life and death. In the article, I will attempt to explain it in terms of an incorporation of the lost object of love that has as its purpose to preserve this bond, an incorporation that assumes a physical, concrete form characterised by disorientation, as a defence against catastrophic change. The article furthermore touches upon the concept of the third in the sense that Britton uses it, as something that may reconcile and provide meaning, but which in this case has ceased to function as a symbolic glue. An expression of failure in the process of mourning emerges in a form of a distorted neoreality, with confusion and disorientation as ingredients, to avoid the pain of reality.     

Enhanced conflict-driven cognitive control by emotional arousal,not by valence

Emotion is widely agreed to have two dimensions, valence and arousal. Few studies have explored the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation by considering both of these, which could have dissociate influence. The present study aimed to fill the gap as to whether emotional valence and arousal would exert dissociable influence on conflict adaptation. In the experiments, we included positive, neutral, and negative conditions, with comparable arousal between positive and negative conditions. Both positive and negative conditions have higher arousal than neutral ones. In Experiment 1, by using a two-colour-word Flanker task, we found that conflict adaptation was enhanced in both positive and negative contexts compared to a neutral context. Furthermore, this effect still existed when controlling stimulus–response repetitions in Experiment 2, which used a four-colour-word Flanker task. The findings suggest emotional arousal enhances conflict adaptation, regardless of emotional valence. Thus, future studies should consider emotional arousal when studying the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation. Moreover, the unique role of the emotional context in conflict-driven cognitive control is emphasised.