Active power and causal flow in aristotle's theory of vision

Aristotle's theory of vision has been characterized as naive, incommensurate with his theory of audition, and of historical interest only. This view is based on an analysis which fails to acknowledge the role of the concepts acting upon and active power in the theory. The meaning of these terms and the role Aristotle assigned them in vision and in sensation generally is demonstrated. It is argued that with the inclusion of these concepts (1) the theory of vision is sufficiently sophisticated and modern to be more than comparable with more recent perceptual theorizing, and (2) the overall integrity of Aristotle's sensory philosophy is preserved. It is further argued that given the cohesiveness and comprehensiveness of Aristotle's psychological works, more attention should be given them by modern psychologists.     

Be careful what you ask for: the effect of anchors on personal injury damages awards

These studies examined the effects of anchors in the context of personal injury damages awards. In 2 experiments, mock jurors read a case in which the presence and size of the plaintiff's damages request and the defense rebuttal were varied across conditions and then awarded damages. Award size and variability increased as the plaintiff's request increased but decreased with the most extreme request. Conversely, award size and variability decreased as the defense rebuttal decreased but increased with the most extreme rebuttal. In both studies, the award recommendations altered the upper and lower boundaries of awards mock jurors found acceptable but did not affect mock jurors' perception of injury severity. The findings suggest that award recommendations can produce biased and unpredictable awards.     

Children's time production for concurrent nontemporal motor tasks

An internal clock model has often been used to explain disruptions in timing production that occur when temporal and nontemporal tasks are performed simultaneously. In this study, participants' ability to walk 8 m in 8 sec. while executing various secondary concurrent nontemporal tasks was assessed for 16 children enrolled in sports at school. Children participated in six trials under five randomized task conditions involving different coordinative and cognitive workloads. The duration of timing production increased as the attention requirements or cognitive demands placed upon the completion of the task increased. However, participants also showed learning of timing over the six trials. Significant differences were found between the timing task and the concurrent nontemporal tasks depending on the difficulty and cognitive load of the secondary tasks. Results are discussed using attention models of time estimation and production.     

Regression toward the mean or heuristic processing in detecting deception? Reply to Elaad (2010)

Masip, et al. (2009) conducted a study in which observers had to make truth-lie judgments at the beginning, middle, or end of a series of videotaped statements. They found a decline in truth judgments over time and explained this finding in terms of information processing mode. Recently, Elaad (2010) challenged this explanation and contended that the decline could be a result of regression toward the mean. In the present paper, it is argued that because Masip, et al. took multiple Moment 1 judgments over time and then averaged across judgments, regression toward the mean was extremely unlikely. Furthermore, the decrease in truth judgments was found under several separate conditions; this cannot be explained by random fluctuations alone. Finally, Masip, et al.'s data were re-analyzed adjusting for the effects of regression toward the mean. The outcomes of these analyses were the same as those reported in the original article.     

Transperformative education: Toward a new educational paradigm based on transdisciplinarity and artistic performativity

The study we are presenting in this article is based on an analysis of the critical observations of the state of the art of the prevailing educational systems today through evaluations by institutions like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the logical demand for reform that they call for. As a consequence, we posit an approach to the construction of an educational paradigm based on performative education that draws from performance art, transdisciplinary methodology, and a survey of the specialized literature that frames the epistemological and methodological field of education in complex, ever-changing settings. The methodology used is a heuristic comparison in a pedagogical sense that, based on our analysis of state of the art publications from the educational system, outlines the transfer of the characteristics of performance art and transdisciplinary methodology to the model we call Transperformative Education. As a result of this model, we came up with a proposal for a deep-seated paradigmatic shift that entails everything from the modification of institutional educational policies to the ways of teaching and learning, including, of course, a major challenge: a shift in the direction of educational research.     

‘What Would You Say if You Were Guilty?’ Suspects' Strategies During a Hypothetical Behavior Analysis Interview Concerning a Serious Crime

Previous research has shown that the Behavior Analysis Interview (BAI) indicators of guilt or innocence are merely commonsense notions. In this study, we examined whether this would lead suspects of a serious crime to try to manipulate their behavior during a BAI in order to look innocent. A serious crime was described to 74 undergraduates who were asked to imagine that they were guilty or innocent. They then completed a questionnaire about the strategies that they would use during a BAI. Both guilty and innocent suspects were more willing to show the innocence rather than guilt indicators of the BAI. Innocent suspects had a blind faith in the power of innocence to demonstrate that they were not guilty. The general (non‐BAI) strategies coincided with those of previous studies; this indicates that prior findings on strategies can be generalized to serious crimes and that strategies can be examined with uncomplicated procedures such as the one used in this study. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depression in Homebound Older Adults: Problem-Solving Therapy and Personal and Social Resourcefulness

The goal of problem-solving therapy is to teach patients systematic coping skills. For many homebound older adults, coping skills must also include both personal and social (help-seeking) resourcefulness. This study aimed to examine the relationship between perceived resourcefulness and depressive symptoms at postintervention and potential mediating effect of the resourcefulness among 121 low-income homebound older adults who participated in a pilot randomized controlled trial testing feasibility and preliminary efficacy of telehealth-PST. Resourcefulness Scale for Older Adults was used to measure personal and social resourcefulness. Only personal resourcefulness scores were significantly associated with depression outcomes at postintervention, and neither resourcefulness scores were significantly associated with group assignment. Analysis found no mediation effect of resourcefulness. The findings call for further research on potential mediators for the potentially effective depression treatment that could be sustained in the real world for low-income homebound older adults who have limited access to psychotherapy as a treatment modality.