Dynamic binding of identity and location information: a serial model of multiple identity tracking

Tracking of multiple moving objects is commonly assumed to be carried out by a fixed-capacity parallel mechanism. The present study proposes a serial model (MOMIT) to explain performance accuracy in the maintenance of multiple moving objects with distinct identities. A serial refresh mechanism is postulated, which makes recourse to continuous attention switching, a capacity-limited episodic buffer for identity-location bindings, indexed location information stored in the visuospatial short-term memory, and an active role of long-term memory. As identity-location bindings are refreshed serially, a location error is inherent for all other targets except the focally attended one. The magnitude of this location error is a key factor in predicting tracking accuracy. MOMIT’s predictions were supported by the data of five experiments: performance accuracy decreased as a function of target set-size, speed, and familiarity. A mathematical version of MOMIT fitted nicely to the observed data with plausible parameter estimates for the binding capacity and refresh time.     

以CIS导入为契机,促进医患关系的和谐

我国医惠关系之间的不和谐已成为社会关注的热点。医院可以借鉴企业的成功经验,导入CIS,进行医院形象策划,制定独特统一的理念、设计以理念为指导的行为系统和视觉系统,从理念（MI）,行为（BI）,视觉（VI）三个方面对医院形象进行塑造,改善医院的形象,达到与就医“顾客”沟通的目的,促进医患关系的和谐。     

The RIASEC profile of foreign language teachers

Vocational choice appears to crystallize during adolescence and one’s career aspirations begin to take shape later. Over 40 years ago Holland studied incoming freshman to match vocational aspirations to vocational preference profiles. Individuals seeking to become foreign language teachers were assigned a Social, Artistic, Enterprising vocational code. However, longitudinal studies were not conducted to verify if these people ever entered the teaching profession. The present study sought to determine a Holland code for inservice foreign language educators. Data analysis confirms a stable Holland profile and his earlier findings as well as highlighting interesting differences among world language educators. This study holds implications for school counselors and recruiters of prospective language teachers during a time of critical shortage.     

Reducing reductionism: on a putative proof for Extreme Haecceitism

Nathan Salmon, in his paper Trans-World Identification and Stipulation (1996) purports to give a proof for the claim that facts concerning trans-world identity cannot be conceptually reduced to general facts. He calls this claim ‘Extreme Haecceitism.’ I argue that his proof is fallacious. However, I also contend that the analysis and ultimate rejection of his proof clarifies the fundamental issues that are at stake in the debate between the reductionist and haecceitist solutions to the problem of trans-world identity. These issues hinge on the ability of modal logic and possible worlds semantics to draw a hard and fast distinction between the logic and the metaphysics of modal logic. I shall claim that the considerations in this paper call into question the viability of such a distinction.

A survival guide to fission

The fission of a person involves what common sense describes as a single person surviving as two distinct people. Thus, say most metaphysicians, this paradox shows us that common sense is inconsistent with the transitivity of identity. Lewis’s theory of overlapping persons, buttressed with tensed identity, gives us one way to reconcile the common sense claims. Lewis’s account, however, implausibly says that reference to a person about to undergo fission is ambiguous. A better way to reconcile the claims of common sense, one that avoids this ambiguity, is to recognize branching persons, persons who have multiple pasts or futures.

Symbols of Diaspora Jewish identity: An international survey and multi-dimensional analysis

Symbols are important in representing religious and ethnic identity, particularly in the postmodern age. Using a case study of Jewish adolescents, this article explores the use of symbols in expressing identity. A structural typology of symbols is developed, based on responses to a list of 20 symbols of Jewish identity by over 40,000 Jewish youth from around the world, who were surveyed during educational tours to Israel. The multi-dimensional smallest space analysis (SSA) technique is used to develop the typology by graphically representing the correlations between the symbols. Symbols representing the struggle of the weak against the strong are at the core of the typology. This core is surrounded by sets of symbols related to religion, family, Israel, the Holocaust, justice, and contribution to world culture. A parallel centre–periphery structure indicates that people are more central symbols than places or objects. Sub-populations of self-defined “religious” and “non-religious” Jewish youth are compared in relation to this typology of symbols by introducing them into the SSA as “external variables”. Applications of the typology of symbols to other ethnic and religious groups are explored.     

Acculturation Among Three Racial/Ethnic Groups of Host and Immigrant Adolescents

This study compares Latino host, Latino immigrant, Asian-American host, Asian-American immigrant and European-American host groups of adolescents with respect to four acculturation-related variables: ethnic identity exploration, ethnic identity affirmation/belonging, outgroup orientation, and American identity. Using the five ethno-generational categories as a grouping variable, we conducted analyses of 313 survey responses to the acculturation items at two time periods, 9 weeks apart. Results showed that differences among the three host racial/ethnic groups can best be explained by a group dominance perspective, whereby the two racial/ethnic minority groups are more similar to each other than they are to the European-American group. Furthermore, the relationship between American identity and ethnic identity components is stronger among the three host groups, as compared to the immigrant groups. Implications for future research with adolescent members of the host group whose heritage culture is non-European are drawn.     

The roles of ethnic identity,anti-white attitudes,and academic self-concept in African American student achievement

Conventional wisdom in much of the educational and psychological literatures states that the ethnic and racial identity of African American students is related to their academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ethnic identity and anti-white attitudes predicted the academic achievement of African American students at a historically Black university. A hypothesized path model was proposed that included ethnic identity, attitudes toward other ethnic groups, anti-white attitudes, perceptions of caring faculty, academic self-concept, and devaluing academic success. The path analysis model explained 27% of the variance in grade point average and revealed three direct effects on grade point average: (a) academic self-concept (positive), (b) devaluing academic success (negative), and (c) anti-white attitudes (negative). Ethnic identity was indirectly linked with grade point average (GPA) through academic self-concept and devaluing academic success. Tests of two alternative nested models suggest that even in an indirect role, ethnic identity may be more important than anti-white attitudes in a model of African American academic achievement.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal differences in social dominance orientation and right wing authoritarianism as a function of political power and societal change

Changes in social dominance orientation (SDO) and right wing authoritarianism (RWA) over time were examined using cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of three waves of survey data before and after the 2004 Presidential election in Taiwan. A functionalist perspective (or group socialization model) predicts that: (i) supporters of a dominant political group that has held power for over 50 years should be higher in SDO and RWA than their opposition; and (ii) a formerly subordinate group should increase in SDO and RWA following electoral victory, whereas the dominant group should decrease following defeat. The first hypothesis was supported, whereas support for the second was mixed; the low-powered group increased in SDO and RWA following victory, but the high-powered group was unchanged. It appears easier to acquire the mindset associated with power than to lose it. Longitudinal path modelling showed that SDO became less connected to identity and political party support after an election that consolidated societal and regime change; the role of RWA shifted even more dramatically, from being connected to one political party and social identity pre-election to an opposing one post-election. Longitudinal path models slightly favoured a group socialization account over personality or social identity accounts in modelling correlations between SDO, RWA, political party support, and social identities over time.     

Subjectivity and essential individuality: A dialogue with Peter Van Inwagen and Lynne Baker

Each person is perceived by others and by herself as an individual in a very strong sense, namely as a unique individual. Moreover, this supposed uniqueness is commonly thought of as linked with another character that we tend to attribute to persons (as opposed to stones or chairs and even non-human animals): a kind of depth, hidden to sensory perception, yet in some measure accessible to other means of knowledge. I propose a theory of strong or essential individuality. This theory is introduced by way of a critical discussion of Van Inwagen’s and Baker’s ontologies of persons. Composition Theory and Constitution Theory are shown to be complementary, in their opposite strong and weak points. I argue that both theories have unsatisfactory consequences concerning personal identity, a problem which the proposed theory seems to solve more faithfully both to folk intuitions and the phenomenology of personal life.