Why Colour Primitivism?

Primitivism is the view that colors are sui generis properties of physical objects. The basic insight underlying primitivism is that colours are as we see them, i.e. they are categorical properties of physical objects—simple, monadic, constant, etc.—just like shapes. As such, they determine the content of colour experience. Accepting the premise that colours are sui generis properties of physical objects, this paper seeks to show that ascribing primitive properties to objects is, ipso facto, ascribing to objects irreducible dispositions to look coloured, and that anything that primitive redness can do, the non-reductive disposition to look red can do just as well. What makes primitivism suspect is not the commitment to sui generis properties, but instead the claim that colours are more than dispositions. Since, as I show, whatever primitivism appeals to for the purpose of arguing that colours are more than dispositions—objectivity, explanation, causation, phenomenology, constancy, etc.—can also be invoked by non-reductive dispositionalism, the feature that purportedly renders colours more than dispositions remains mysterious.     

Malchish‐Kibalchish: cultural factors in a clinical case

In this paper, a Jungian understanding of cultural factors influencing individual analysis is illustrated with the case of a patient suffering from panic attacks. The analysis revealed that, in addition to the patient's personal background, the collectivistic attitudes of the Soviet culture, which had a moulding effect on the patient in his childhood and obstructed his individuation, should be taken into account. The concepts of the totalitarian object and the Russian cultural complex encompassing a grandiosity pole and an inferiority pole are used to explore the patient's condition, and the crucial role of creating mutual language with the patient is outlined.     

Linguistic and emotional-valence characteristics of reading passages for clinical use and research

PurposeFluency assessment in people who stutter (PWS) includes reading aloud passages. There is little information on properties of these passages that may affect reading performance: emotional valance, arousal, word familiarity and frequency and passage-readability. Our first goal was to present an extensive examination of these factors in three commonly used (“traditional”) passages. The second goal was to compare a traditional passage to a new passage, designed to minimize the impact of these properties.MethodsContent words were rated (129 participants) on arousal, valence and familiarity. Other linguistic features were analyzed based on available datasets. This information was used to assess traditional passages, and to construct a new well-balanced passage, made of neutral, low-arousal and highly-familiar words. Readability for all passages was tested using formula-based and CLOZE tests (31 participants). Finally, 26 PWS were evaluated on fluency comparing the commonly used “Rainbow” passage with the novel one.ResultsThe three traditional passages contain a share of emotionally valenced (22-34%), high arousal (15-18%), lower familiarity (6-8%) and polysyllabic (5-9%) content words. Readability was highest for the novel passage (on formula-based scales). Average disfluencies percent for the Rainbow and our novel passage were not significantly different. Yet half of the individuals in this sample showed a large difference between the two passages.ConclusionWe provide detailed information on potential sources of variance using the traditional passages. Knowledge about these characteristics can inform clinical practice (and research). We suggest a combined procedure, using more than one passage to assess stuttering in individual cases.     

Cognitive empathy modulates the visual perception of human-like body postures without imitation

To examine the mechanism of visual perception of human-like body postures, we conducted a posture recognition task, a questionnaire survey, and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). The majority of participants perceived the pseudo-posture as a human posture in the early stage (78%), but only approximately half of them reported the imagination of bodily movement (66%). These results suggest that the majority of observers perceive pseudo-postures as human postures in the early stage of perception, but this human posture perception does not necessarily lead to the visualisation of bodily movement. In a group of who received the pseudo posture as a human-posture regardless of the perception stages, the participants who imagined bodily movement (64%) showed significantly higher scores than those who did not on the Fantasy subscale of the IRI. Highly empathic participants are more likely to detect a kinematic relation between the pseudo-postures.     

Linked proximal and distal changes in the reaching behavior of 5- to 12-month-old human infants grasping objects of different sizes

This study evaluates age-related proximal and distal changes in reaching organization for objects of different sizes. To this end, eight objects ranging from 2 to 9 cm diam. were presented to 23 infants ages 5 to 12 months. Proximal control was determined by the relative frequencies of bimanual reaching for large and small objects. Distal control was assessed by hand opening and orientation with respect to an object, and by the proportion of the object being included within hand opening at touch. Five-month-old infants tended to reach bimanually regardless of object size. Starting at 7 to 8 months, infants tended to reach for large objects bimanually more often than for small ones. Only at 11 to 12 months did reaching closely reflect the object’s diameter. The frequency of thumb-index finger angle opening during the approach phase also increased after 7 to 8 months of age, as well as the adjustment of the angle to the object diameter and the proportion of the object within hand opening at touch. Proximal and distal changes appeared coupled at 5 to 6 months, when the few subjects showing evidence of some proximal adjustments to object size were also those who exhibited some distal adjustments. After they started to appear, however, proximal and distal adjustments seemed to be independent, as revealed by the lack of correlation of proximal and distal changes between 7 and 12 months.     

On the Future of Group Therapy Theory

The author presents a hypothetical view of group therapy theories as they may evolve over the first decades of the New Milennium. Looking at the problem of prediction from the standpoint of postmodernism and social constructivism, the importance of these perspectives as frameworks of the social sciences is emphasized. The influence of general systems theory, Foulkesian group analysis, object relations theory, self psychology, cognitive-behavioral psychology, and neuropsychiatry are briefly examined with respect to the expected evolution of increasingly sophisticated, detailed, and nuanced theories of group psychology and group psychotherapy.     

Object elicitation: A compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research

This study provides an innovative, compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research, using object elicitation with 13 participants from vulnerable groups. It examines the positive impact it has on building the research alliance, enhanced depth of sharing within qualitative research interviews and emic ways of knowing through the engagement with a culturally relevant, tangible, internalised or transitional object brought by vulnerable participants from diverse cultural contexts of origin. Results showcase how a creative and compassionate research method can promote a culturally informed research alliance with vulnerable participants, helping to build trust, rapport and relational depth; encourage elicitation of experiences; and empower emic and subjugated voices. The implications of this study make the case for the inclusion of object elicitation as a creative and compassionate method in qualitative research with traumatised and vulnerable individuals, which should be used as part of a culturally informed approach to psychotherapy research.     

Variables latentes et propriétés mentales : pour une épistémologie affirmée pragmatiste et réaliste

The reliability of models with latent variables is questioned by different authors: what is the ontology of mental properties? How to integrate the complex of mental processes with latent variables? All these debates raise the question of the legitimacy of latent variables as methodological approach comparatively to new approaches such as Network analysis. By clearly posing the ontological nature of mental properties as emergent properties of mental processes, and by clearly posing a theory of pragmatist and realistic knowledge, our work seeks to show that latent variables are efficient approaches for inferring mental properties.     

Effect of pressure on the mechanical and dynamical stability of NaAlSi

The effects of pressure on the mechanical and dynamical stability of NaAlSi have been fully investigated by first-principles calculations within the generalised gradient approximation (GGA). The obtained results show that the optimised lattice constants, atomic positions and elastic constants at ambient pressure are in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. The lattice constants decrease monotonically with increasing pressure. The elastic constant C₁₁, C₁₂, C₁₃, C₃₃ and C₆₆ increase while C₄₄ decreases with increasing pressure. It is found that NaAlSi is mechanically unstable when the pressure is above 25.97?GPa. The phonon-dispersion curves along several high symmetry lines are obtained. The phonon frequencies at the Z point decrease with increasing pressure and completely soften to zero at 27.52?GPa, further confirming the structural instability of NaAlSi.