Further evidence of the invalidity of the magnitude estimation method

IntroductionThe magnitude estimation method is widely applied in diverse areas of psychology. However, Weiss (1972) found that this method may produce judgments that inaccurately represent subjective magnitudes: constructing the stimuli according to a factorial design allowed the bias caused by magnitude estimation to be exposed as a spurious divergence of factorial curves.ObjectiveThe present study experimentally compared magnitude estimation with graphic rating and ratio estimation. The comparison of magnitude estimation with graphic rating retested Weiss's finding. The comparison of magnitude estimation with ratio estimation explored the hypothesis that magnitude estimation may cause a divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of magnitude estimation to multiply and divide numbers—both ratio estimation and magnitude estimation required participants to judge ratios, but only magnitude estimation required mental multiplication and division.MethodUsing a 3 × 4 factorial experimental design, an achromatic disk was presented concentrically with a larger achromatic square. The brightness of the disk varied with the luminance of the disk and, due to simultaneous contrast, with the luminance of the square. Three different groups of participants judged the brightness of the disk: one group by graphic rating, another by ratio estimation, and the third by magnitude estimation.ResultsIn accord with Weiss's results, graphic rating yielded roughly parallel factorial curves whereas magnitude estimation yielded diverging factorial curves. Ratio estimation also yielded roughly parallel factorial curves, supporting the hypothesis that the magnitude estimation task itself may cause divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of this method to mentally multiply and divide numbers.ConclusionCaution should be taken in using magnitude estimation, especially in factorial experiments, because this method is likely to cause the researcher to make incorrect inferences about the functional relations between the variables involved in mental information integration. Ratio estimation yields a pattern of factorial curves essentially equivalent to that obtained by graphic rating.     

Sound Body,Sound Mind? The Interrelation Between Health Change and Personality Change in Old Age

Personality development is characterized by increasing maturation, that is, people become more conscientious, agreeable and emotionally stable as they age. In late life, however, these trends seem to be reversed. Because many changes and transitions in older age are related to health, we investigated correlated changes in health problems and personality traits, the sources of health changes in later life and the directionality of effects. Our sample consisted of older adult twins, aged 64–85 years at time 1 (n = 410; 135 male/275 female; 134 monozygotic/63 dizygotic twin pairs), assessed at two different time points about five years apart, and we ran bivariate latent change and latent change twin model analyses. Increasing health problems were associated with decreases in agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability and conscientiousness. Changes in health problems were only due to environmental influences, implying that the association between health and personality changes was exclusively environmental. Directional effects were largely absent, but health and personality were significantly related at the second measurement occasion (age 69–89 years). Our results support the link between health change and personality change in late life and spark the assumption of normative personality adaptations to deterioration of health status as a means of developmental regulation. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The Repeatability Argument and the Non-Extensional Bundle Theory

I present a new objection to Bundle Theory. The objection rests on the repeatability of universals, and targets every version of Bundle Theory that assumes that concrete particulars constituted by the same universals are numerically identical. The only way that bundle theorists can elude this objection is to admit the possibility of distinct bundles constituted by the same universals. If even this view is untenable, then Bundle Theory as such is hopeless. Finally, I show how the present inquiry reshapes the dialectical relationship between Bundle Theory and the principle of Identity of Indiscernibles.     

Semantic and Moral Luck

The similarities between the philosophical debates surrounding assessment sensitivity and moral luck run so deep that one can easily adapt almost any argument from one debate, change some terms, adapt the examples, and end up with an argument relevant to the other. This article takes Brian Rosebury's strategy for resisting moral luck in “Moral Responsibility and ‘Moral Luck' ” (1995) and turns it into a strategy for resisting assessment sensitivity. The article shows that one of Bernard Williams's examples motivating moral luck is very similar to one of the examples John MacFarlane uses to motivate the assessment sensitivity of epistemic modals, and in particular the assessment sensitivity of the auxiliary verb “might.” This means that, if Rosebury is right and we do not actually need moral luck to explain Williams's example, we may not need assessment sensitivity to account for the semantic behaviour of the epistemic modal verb “might” either.     

Debunking,supervenience, and Hume’s Principle

ABSTRACT

Debunking arguments against both moral and mathematical realism have been pressed, based on the claim that our moral and mathematical beliefs are insensitive to the moral/mathematical facts. In the mathematical case, I argue that the role of Hume’s Principle as a conceptual truth speaks against the debunkers’ claim that it is intelligible to imagine the facts about numbers being otherwise while our evolved responses remain the same. Analogously, I argue, the conceptual supervenience of the moral on the natural speaks presents a difficulty for the debunker’s claim that, had the moral facts been otherwise, our evolved moral beliefs would have remained the same.     

Incompatibilism proved

The consequence argument attempts to show that incompatibilism is true by showing that if there is determinism, then we never had, have or will have any choice about anything. Much of the debate on the consequence argument has focused on the “beta” transfer principle, and its improvements. We shall show that on an appropriate definition of “never have had, have or will have any choice”, a version of the beta principle is a theorem given one plausible axiom for counterfactuals (weakening). Instead of being about transfer principles, the debate should be over whether the distant past and laws are up to us.     

Category-bounded emotional enhancement: spillover effects in the valuation of public goods

ABSTRACT

We examined whether enhancing (vs. not enhancing) the emotionality of a referent public good influences the subsequent valuation of a target public good. We predicted that it would and that the directionality of its impact would depend on a fundamental cognitive process – categorisation. If the target and referent goods belong to the same domain, we expected that the effect on the target would be in the same direction as the emotional enhancement of the referent (assimilation effect). However, if the target and referent goods belong to different domains, we expected that the effect on the target would be either negligible or in the opposite direction to that of the emotional enhancement of the referent (null or contrast effect). In Experiment 1 we examined the impact of emotionally enhancing a referent public good on feelings towards a target public good, whereas in Experiment 2 on the willingness to contribute towards a target public good. The results support the predicted interaction, which was driven by an assimilation effect for same-domain goods and a null effect for different-domain goods. In doing so, the present findings highlight the interplay between cognition and emotion in the valuation of public goods. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

Kant and Kantian Themes in Recent Analytic Philosophy

This article notes six advances in recent analytic Kant research: (1) Strawson's interpretation, which, together with work by Bennett, Sellars, and others, brought renewed attention to Kant through its account of space, time, objects, and the Transcendental Deduction and its sharp criticisms of Kant on causality and idealism; (2) the subsequent investigations of Kantian topics ranging from cognitive science and philosophy of science to mathematics; (3) the detailed work, by a number of scholars, on the Transcendental Deduction; (4) the clearer understanding of transcendental idealism sparked by reactions to Allison's epistemic account; (5) the resulting need—prompted also by new studies of the thing in itself—to face up to the old question of the philosophical defensibility of such idealism; and (6) the active engagement with Kant's ethics and political philosophy that derives from Rawls's and others' work.     

The best of possible worlds: A testable claim of choice

Leibniz said that the universe, if God-created, would exist at a unique, conjoint, physical maximum: Of all possible worlds, it would be richest in phenomena, but its richness would arise from the simplest physical laws and initial conditions. Using concepts of “variety” and algorithmic informational complexity, Leibniz' claim can be reframed as a testable theory. This theory predicts that the laws and conditions of the actual universe should be simpler, and the universe richer in phenomena, than the presence of observers would require. Tegmark has shown that inhabitants of an infinite multiverse would likely observe simple laws and conditions, but also phenomenal richness just great enough to explain their existence. Empirical observations fit the claim of divine choice better than the claim of an infinite multiverse. The future of the universe, including its future information-processing capacity, is predicted to be endless.     

基于贡献原则的幼儿分配公平性

分配公平性是指个体如何以公平的方式对资源进行分配, 其主要依据3个原则：贡献(equity)、平等(equality)和需要(need)。最新研究表明, 幼儿很早就已经具有基于贡献原则的分配公平性判断与行为, 双加工理论对于该研究结果能够给出更为适当的解释, 心理理论与情境卷入水平分别从认知和情绪方面对幼儿分配公平性的发展有着重要影响。未来研究应注重研究内容的具体化, 对幼儿基于贡献原则的分配公平性发展特点、相关影响因素及其内部动机进行深入探究。