EVOLUTION IN THERMODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE: A HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ANGLE

Abstract. The recently suggested reformulation of Darwinian evolutionary theory, based on the thermodynamics of self-organizing processes, has strong philosophical implications. My claim is that the main philosophical merit of the thermodynamic approach, made especially clear in J.S. Wicken's work, is its insistence on the law-governed, continuous nature of evolution. I attempt to substantiate this claim following a historical analysis of beginning-of-the-century ideas on evolution and matter-life relationship, in particular, the fitness-of-the-environment-for-life theory of the Harvard physiologist L.J. Henderson. In addition, I point to an epistemological common ground underlying the studies of the “thermodynamics school” and other currently active research groups focusing on the emergence and evolution of biological organization.     

Der Einfluß somatischer und psychosozialer Faktoren auf Entstehung und Verlauf chronisch-entzündlicher Darmerkrankungen

Zusammenfassung Chronisch-entzündliche Darmerkrankungen (Morbus Crohn, Colitis ulcerosa) werden traditionellerweise zu den psychosomatischen Erkrankungen gez?hlt. In jüngster Zeit wurde diese Zuordnung aber mehrfach in Frage gestellt; zugleich wurden biomedizinische Faktoren beschrieben, die in der Entstehung und im Verlauf der Erkrankungen eine Rolle spielen k?nnten. Die vorliegende übersichtsarbeit hat das Ziel, den aktuellen Stand der biomedizinischen und psychosomatischen Forschung zur ?tiologie und Verlaufsgestaltung bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen darzustellen und unter methodischen Gesichtspunkten kritisch zu bewerten. Forschungsergebnisse zu folgenden Themenbereichen werden referiert: Epidemiologie; soziodemographische Merkmale; Genetik; di?tetische Faktoren und Zigarettenrauchen; Medikamente; Permeabilit?tsst?rung der Darmepithelien; immunologische Faktoren; mikrobiologische Faktoren; psychiatrische St?rung; emotionale Symptomatik, Pers?nlichkeitsmerkmale; kritische Lebensereignisse und psychosozialer Stre?; Lebensqualit?t und Krankheitsbew?ltigung.      

The subjective vertical under ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ conditions at clockwise and counterclockwise changed positions and the effect of a parallel-lined background field

Summary The dependence of the subjective vertical (SV, the angle between a subjective vertical line and body median plane) on the gravity vertical (body tilt position, angle ) and on the optical vertical (i.e., a field of parallel lines seen as background to the line to be adjusted) was investigated. The SV was measured under dry and wet conditions at different degrees of body tilt attained in either clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW) progression.The measured difference in between field-of-lines left and right of the line is smallest at the upright position (=O°) and largest at =150°/165°. All body positions show a -difference between CW and CCW attainment (hysteresis), this too being least at upright and greatest at inverted body positions.These results, and changes of with test time, are discussed relative to the hypothesis that efficiency of the statolith organs decreases with body tilt increase, favouring increase of interference of somatoreceptors and the optical reference.     

BELIEF AND DELUSION: THEIR COMMON ORIGIN BUT DIFFERENT COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT

Abstract. Comparing the experiences of mystics and victims of delusion we find very similar states of conditions: an experience of abnormal significance, pseudohallucinations, the sense of mission, the suspension of time, extremes of mood, and the sudden and passive appearance. Only the subsequent course of life of those having the experiences makes it possible to distinguish between belief and delusion. The criteria are simple: we find hope and doubt only in relation to mystical experience whereas in delusion we find a paralyzed belief; human freedom increases in belief but is lost in delusion; and belief allows the interaction between the person and society while the person who is deluded has no effectiveness in society.     

Zur Analyse des Bumerang-Effektes

Zusammenfassung In zwei Experimenten wurde mit Hilfe unterschiedlicher sozialer Attitüden und Werthaltungen jeweils die Hypothese geprüft, daß sich Einstellungen nach einstellungskonträrer Agitation in Richtung dieser Agitation oder aber nicht und in Gegenrichtung zur Agitation ändern, je nachdem ob sie weniger oder mehr in allgemeineren Werthaltungen verankert sind. Im Rahmen einer um die Konzeption der Verankerung erweiterten Theorie der kognitiven Dissonanz können damit besser als bisher sogenannte Bumerang-Effekte bei Änderungen von Attitüden erklärt werden.

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Summary In two experiments we tested the following hypothesis concerning social attitudes and value orientations: Attitudes will be changed after counter-attitudinal agitation in the direction of this agitation or in opposite direction depending on their degree of being anchored in general value orientations. With the theory of cognitive dissonance, supplemented by the conception of anchoring, we are now able to explain better than before the so-called boomerang-effects which appear with attitude changes.

     

Mock Jurors' Evaluations of Child Sexual Abuse: The Impact of Memory Recovery and Therapeutic Intervention

The present research assessed whether mock jurors' decisions in a case involving allegations of child sexual abuse would be influenced by (1) the nature of the plaintiff's memory of the abuse (repressed, nonrepressed) and (2) therapeutic intervention (present, absent). Participants (N=123) were given a trial summary in which the plaintiff's memory and involvement in therapy were systematically varied to produce four conditions. Although verdicts varied only by sex of participant, some judgments of the plaintiff's claim were more favorable to the plaintiff in the non-repressed condition. Female participants were also less likely to believe that the claim involving memory repression was truthful when the woman was in therapy as opposed to not in therapy. Results also indicated that people who were aware of “False Memory Syndrome” were more likely to think the plaintiff was lying and less likely to think she was telling the truth compared to those who were not aware.     

Boys Just Don’t! Gender Stereotyping and Sanctioning of Counter-Stereotypical Behavior in Preschoolers

Sex Roles - Although children start to adopt gender stereotypes by the age of three, there is less evidence about how early they start to sanction other children’s counter-stereotypical...     

Adult-Onset-Primary-Tics

psychopraxis. neuropraxis - Tics sind kurze, nicht zweckgebundene, meist stereotype Muskelkontraktionen, die zu motorischen oder vokalen Äußerungen führen. Sie treten vorwiegend...     

A longitudinal study of "intrusion-based reasoning" and posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to a train disaster

Previously, we found that chronic PTSD relates to “intrusion-based reasoning” (IR), i.e. the tendency to interpret distressing intrusions themselves as evidence that danger is impending, regardless of objective danger information (Engelhard et al., Behav. Res. Ther. 39 (2001) 1139). This study was intended to elucidate the causal status of this relation. Twenty-nine residents of a Belgian town witnessed a train crash and were assessed for IR and PTSD symptoms within 1 month and were re-assessed for PTSD at 3.5 months. Fourteen control residents did not witness the crash and were also tested for IR. The IR paradigm involved rating the danger of brief scenarios in which objective danger and presence of intrusions about the crash were systematically varied. The directly exposed residents showed greater danger ratings to scenarios in which intrusions were included than did the controls. IR was strongly related to both acute and chronic PTSD symptoms. It did not significantly predict chronic PTSD symptoms after controlling for acute symptoms, although the partial correlation (r=0.26, p=0.09) was in the expected direction. The data suggest that IR is involved in the onset and maintenance of PTSD symptoms, but more clarity about causality awaits future larger and experimental studies.