The intergenerational transmission of social dominance: A three‐generation study

This study examined the transmission of social dominance orientation (SDO) from parents and grandparents to children. It was predicted that parents as well as grandparents would pass their social dominance attitudes to children. Children's levels of SDO would thus be the highest when parental and grandparental attitudes are high; the lowest when parental and grandparental attitudes are low; and intermediate when parental and grandparental attitudes are incongruent. These hypotheses were examined in a sample of 93 families including children (in early adulthood), one of their parents, and one of their grandparents. Results yielded support for the predictions. These findings' implications are discussed in terms of their potential to explain previous inconsistent results on the transmission of social attitudes to children. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rigidity in social and emotional memory in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington's disease

Four experiments were conducted to examine social and emotional memory in the R6/2 transgenic mouse model of Huntington’s disease. First, R6/2 mice were tested in a social transmission of food preference task where they had to acquire a preference for a flavoured food (acquisition) and subsequently to learn a preference for a different flavour (shifted reinforcement). R6/2 mice performed well in the acquisition trial. However, they were impaired in the shifted reinforcement trial and perseverated on the first preference learned. Second, mice were trained in an inhibitory avoidance paradigm, with either one or two footshocks delivered during the training. WT mice given one footshock showed retention levels lower than those of mice trained with two footshocks. By contrast, there was no difference in retention levels of R6/2 mice given either one or two footshocks. Third, mice were tested in an active avoidance task that paired a mild footshock with a warning light. R6/2 mice had a strong age-dependent deficit in this task. Finally, mice were tested in a conditioned taste aversion task that paired a saccharine solution with a nausea-inducing agent (LiCl). R6/2 mice displayed normal aversion, however this was not extinguished following repeated exposure to saccharine solution alone. Our data show that while R6/2 mice have functional hippocampus-based memory, they have deficits in striatum-based memory skills. Further, social and emotional memories appear to be encoded in a rigid way that is not influenced by subsequent learning or by arousal levels.     

A strategy for assessing closure

This paper looks at an argument strategy for assessing the epistemic closure principle. This is the principle that says knowledge is closed under known entailment; or (roughly) if S knows p and S knows that p entails q, then S knows that q. The strategy in question looks to the individual conditions on knowledge to see if they are closed. According to one conjecture, if all the individual conditions are closed, then so too is knowledge. I give a deductive argument for this conjecture. According to a second conjecture, if one (or more) condition is not closed, then neither is knowledge. I give an inductive argument for this conjecture. In sum, I defend the strategy by defending the claim that knowledge is closed if, and only if, all the conditions on knowledge are closed. After making my case, I look at what this means for the debate over whether knowledge is closed.     

Loneliness among school-aged children and their parents

The aim of this study was to examine the existence of the intergenerational transmission of loneliness between parents and children, including an examination of its stability and of gender differences. The study consisted of an evaluation of loneliness in mothers ( n = 834), fathers ( n = 661) and their 10-year-old children ( n = 981). Parent's self-reported loneliness was measured once, and their children's social and emotional loneliness were assessed at three time-points. The stability analysis indicated average stability in children's loneliness, especially their social loneliness. Boys were found to experience more emotional loneliness than girls. Structural equation modeling indicated no direct relationship between mothers'/fathers' loneliness and their children's loneliness. However, mothers' and fathers' loneliness reduced their daughters' peer-evaluated cooperating skills, which consequently predicted higher levels of both social and emotional loneliness.     

Marriages and psychological distress among adult offspring of divorce: a Norwegian study

The study compares the likelihood of getting married and of getting divorced among the adult offspring of divorced parents versus the adult offspring of parents who remain married (total N = 37,230). It also compares levels of psychological distress in the two groups (total N= 22,898). Data derive from The Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT) and population registries from Norway. Individuals with divorced parents tended to delay marriage or not marry at all. However, among those who married, there were more divorces among the offspring of divorced parents than among offspring of parents who were still married. Offspring of divorce tended to marry other offspring of divorce. These marriages were at especially high risk of dissolution. Parental divorce was particularly influential as a risk factor during the first years of marriage. Both parental divorce and the individuals’ own divorce were risk factors for psychological distress.     

Ways in which coherence is confirmation conducive

Recent works in epistemology show that the claim that coherence is truth conducive – in the sense that, given suitable ceteris paribus conditions, more coherent sets of statements are always more probable – is dubious and possibly false. From this, it does not follows that coherence is a useless notion in epistemology and philosophy of science. Dietrich and Moretti (Philosophy of science 72(3): 403–424, 2005) have proposed a formal of account of how coherence is confirmation conducive—that is, of how the coherence of a set of statements facilitates the confirmation of such statements. This account is grounded in two confirmation transmission properties that are satisfied by some of the measures of coherence recently proposed in the literature. These properties explicate everyday and scientific uses of coherence. In his paper, I review the main findings of Dietrich and Moretti (2005) and define two evidence-gathering properties that are satisfied by the same measures of coherence and constitute further ways in which coherence is confirmation conducive. At least one of these properties vindicates important applications of the notion of coherence in everyday life and in science.     

舌尖效应产生和解决的词汇提取年老化机制：两阶段范式研究

舌尖效应年老化机制受语言特异性因素的影响。本研究把Stroop效应作为协变量,在统计分析控制个体抑制能力的基础上,采用两阶段范式考察舌尖效应产生和解决过程中词汇提取的年老化机制。结果发现：（1）老年人的舌尖效应产生率和语音提取缺陷均显著高于青年人,而语义提取缺陷的年龄差异不显著;（2）老年人的舌尖效应解决率和语音促进效应量均显著低于青年人;（3）语义启动影响老年人舌尖效应解决时的语言促进效应,而对青年人没有影响。上述结果表明,舌尖效应产生和解决的词汇提取年老化与语音提取衰退有关,与语义提取衰退无关,支持语言特异性衰退的观点。     

从《周易参同契》看易学在道教中的传播与影响

<周易参同契>作为道教易学的重要代表作,其最重要的特色是会归"大易"、"黄老"和"炉火"三家之理,借<周易>言黄老说炼丹.本文将<周易参同契>置于汉代易学的背景下,从黄老道家哲学与道教仙学的发展中,来探讨<周易参同契>如何托<周易>卦爻象为象征符号来隐喻金丹道之内涵,以展示易学在道教中的传播与影响.