Practical understanding

Well-functioning agents ordinarily have an excellent epistemic relationship to their intentional actions. This phenomenon is often characterized as knowledge of what one is doing and labeled “practical knowledge”. But when we examine it carefully, it seems to require a particular kind of understanding - understanding of the normative structure of one's action. Three lines of argument are offered to support this Necessity of Understanding thesis. The first appeals to the nature of intentional action and the second to our everyday reasons explanation of action. The final line of argument draws on a practical amnesia case in which an agent forgets her overall goal while acting. Implications of the Necessity of Understanding thesis for the widely endorsed non-observational view of practical knowledge are briefly discussed. It is argued that support for the non-observational view is weaker than has been appreciated.     

Mediating interpersonal expectancies via vocal cues: Differential speech intensity as a means of social influence

Differential vocal emphasis in the tape-recorded instruction reading for a standard person perception task was manipulated by mechanically raising or lowering the volume of the key words describing the success or failure response alternatives on the rating scale. In a series of three experiments, Ss exposed to success emphasis in the instructions rated the stimulus persons as more successful than did Ss exposed to failure emphasis. This trend was reversed for Ss who listened twice to the instructions. None of the Ss reported awareness of the influence attempt.     

Lost Luggage: A Field Study of Emotion–Antecedent Appraisal

One hundred twelve airline passengers reporting their luggage lost to the baggage retrieval service in a major international airport were interviewed after their interaction with an airline agent. Participants were asked to rate their emotional state before and after the interaction with the agent and to provide information on how they had appraised the situation. The data are interpreted with respect to (1) type and intensity of the emotions felt in this situation, (2) appraisal theory predictions of emotion elicitation and differentiation, and (3) emotional change in the course of the interaction following reappraisal of the situation.     

ON REPORTING RECOLLECTIVE EXPERIENCES AND "DIRECT ACCESS TO MEMORY SYSTEMS"

Abstract— Strack and Förster (1995) showed that, unlike remember responses, know responses in recognition memory were influenced by manipulating response bias. We describe and experiment that replicated theirs but additionally allowed subjects to report guesses. Only guess responses were influenced by this manipulation. Response bias had no effects on either know or remember responses. This outcome suggests that manipulating response bias influence know responses only when guessing is encouraged but not reported as such. More-over, though know responses reflected memory for the study events, guess responses did not.     

Bullying Victimization and Use of Substances in High School: Does Religiosity Moderate the Association?

Alcohol, tobacco and other drug use continue to pose serious public health concerns among youth. Bullying victimization has been identified as a risk factor and religiosity a protective factor for adolescent substance use. No previous research has examined the potential moderating role of religiosity. We explore the association between bullying victimization and substance use in adolescents with low and high levels of religiosity. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a representative sample of high school students in greater Beirut. Binary and multinomial logistic models were used, adjusting for demographics, and stratified by level of religiosity. Of the 986 students responding to the survey, 65% were females; 48% had experienced some form of bullying; and 52% self-rated as low in religiosity. Between 10 and 30% were current users of alcohol or tobacco. Students of lower religiosity levels who had been bullied were more likely to use substances than those who self-rated as high religiosity. Religiosity may be a potential moderator of the association between being bullied and substance use, but the exact mechanisms and underlying reasons need further investigation.