Who is Afraid of Figure of Speech?

Aristotle's illustrations of the fallacy of Figure of Speech (or Form of Expression) are none too convincing. They are tied to Aristotle's theory of categories and to peculiarities of Greek grammar that fail to hold appeal for a contemporary readership. Yet, upon closer inspection, Figure of Speech shows many points of contact with views and problems that inhabit 20th-century analytical philosophy. In the paper, some Aristotelian examples will be analyzed to gain a better understanding of this fallacy. The case of the Third Man argument and some modern cases lend plausibility to the claim that Figure of Speech is of more interest as a type of fallacy than has generally been assumed. Finally, a case is made for the view that Figure of Speech, though listed among the fallacies dependent upon language, is not properly classified as a fallacy of ambiguity. More likely, it should be looked upon as a type of non sequitur. This has important consequences for the profile of dialogue associated with this fallacy.     

Decisions,actions, and the appropriateness of confidence in knowledge

This research examines the appropriateness of confidence (i.e., subjective probability judgments) in knowledge associated with decisions and actions of social importance. One hundred and thirty seven participants completed a 50 item questionnaire assessing their knowledge of the two leading candidates in the 1988 presidential election in the U.S.A. Ninety one of the respondents completed the questionnaire one week prior to the election, whereas the other 46 completed the questionnaire on election day shortly after voting. After each item in the questionnaire, all respondents indicated whether or not the item content represented a reason why they voted (or intended to vote) for or against the candidate to whom the item referred. Within-person results indicated that, in comparison to items that were not cited as reasons for voting intentions or voting behavior, items endorsed as reasons were characterized by better accuracy and resolution, but worse overconfidence. Between groups, decision makers were significantly more accurate and better calibrated than those who had not made a decision between the candidates. Implications of inappropriate confidence on decision making effectiveness are discussed.     

Effect of advanced driver-assistance system trainings on driver workload,knowledge, and trust

Older adults are more likely to get severely injured or die in vehicle crashes. Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) can reduce their risk of crashes; however, due to the lack of knowledge and training, usage rate of these systems among older drivers is limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of two ADAS training approaches (i.e., video-based and demonstration-based training) on older drivers’ subjective and objective measures of mental workload, knowledge and trust considering drivers’ demographic information. Twenty older adults, balanced by gender, participated in a driving simulation study. Results indicated that the video-based training might be more effective for females in reducing their mental workload while driving, whereas the demonstration-based training could be more beneficial for males. There was no significant difference between the video-based and demonstration-based trainings in terms of drivers’ trust and knowledge of automation. The findings suggested that ADAS training protocols can potentially be more effective if they are tailored to specific driver demographics.     

Is monkey maternal abuse of offspring aggressive behavior?

This study was intended to probe the aggressive nature of monkey infant abuse by comparing the morphology of abusive behavior patterns with that of patterns allocated to both aggression and other categories of behavioral repertoires of macaques. This morphological analysis indicated that most abusive patterns should not be classified in the aggression category as they, at the motor end, differ greatly from macaque aggressive acts. In contrast, they perfectly resemble behaviors that monkeys usually display while manipulating inanimate objects. The implications of this finding for the pathogenic study of monkey infant abuse are discussed.     

Moderating Loss Aversion: Loss Aversion Has Moderators,But Reports of its Death are Greatly Exaggerated

Loss aversion, the principle that losses impact decision making more than equivalent gains, is a fundamental idea in consumer behavior and decision making, though its existence has recently been called into question. Across five unique samples (N_total = 17,720), we tested several moderators of loss aversion, which supported a preference construction account. Across studies, more domain knowledge and experience were associated with lower loss aversion, though people of all knowledge and experience levels were loss averse. Among car buyers, those who knew more about a particular car attribute (e.g., fuel economy) were less loss averse for that attribute but not other attributes (e.g., comfort), consistent with the idea that people with less attribute knowledge are more likely to construct preferences, thereby increasing loss aversion. Additionally, older consumers were more loss averse across different loss aversion measures and studies. We discuss implications for several accounts of loss aversion, including accounts rooted in status quo bias, emotion, or ownership. In addition to discovering loss aversion moderators, we cast doubt on recent claims that loss aversion is a fallacy or is fully explained by status quo bias, risk aversion, or the educated laboratory samples often used to study loss aversion.     

A citation network analysis of career mentoring across disciplines: A roadmap for mentoring research in sport

ObjectiveGiven our limited understanding of mentoring in sport, reviewing research from other disciplines has the potential to advance knowledge in this context. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to synthesize and evaluate the mentoring literature across disciplines in order to bridge existing knowledge and to situate the mentoring in sport literature.DesignA citation network analysis.MethodA comprehensive literature search was conducted to locate influential career mentoring articles, books, and book chapters across all disciplines. Subsequently, this body of literature was evaluated using citation network to (a) identify the major career mentoring disciplines, (b) locate the most influential career mentoring texts, (c) evaluate the transfer of knowledge across disciplines, and (d) situate and evaluate the mentoring in sport literature.ResultsThe literature search resulted in a mentoring network of 1,819 texts and 10,951 citation links. Five major mentoring disciplines emerged: academic medicine, industrial and organizational psychology, education, nursing, and psychology. The industrial and organizational psychology and academic medicine disciplines were the most substantial mentoring disciplines. Further, the findings suggest the literature is relatively disconnected within and across disciplines. In regard to sport, the mentoring research represented 1.47% of the full-network (29 texts and 50 citation relations) and is interwoven into the industrial and organizational psychology literature.ConclusionGiven the limited sport texts uncovered in the citation network analysis, sport scholars can stand to benefit from the wealth of existing career mentoring literature in other disciplines. Accordingly, the identification of seminal career mentoring disciplines and texts serves to provide sport mentoring scholars with a roadmap to further promote the advancement and dissemination of mentoring knowledge and research.     

演绎推理的形式和内容启动加工

聚焦推理加工初期,研究通过指导语操控主观加工倾向,考察不同指导语条件下内容可信度和形式有效性对演绎推理结果的影响,检验内容和形式两类加工过程的启动加工动态变化性。结果表明,指导语条件显著影响推理初期加工。在无提示指导语和形式判定指导语条件下,推理结果受到了形式有效性和内容可信度的影响;内容判定指导语下只受到了内容可信度的影响。证明主观加工倾向影响了内容和形式的启动加工关系,支持了动态变化性的假设。     

The "Natural" and the "Formal"

The paper presents an argument against a metaphysical conception of logic according to which logic spells out a specific kind of mathematical structure that is somehow inherently related to our factual reasoning. In contrast, it is argued that it is always an empirical question as to whether a given mathematical structure really does captures a principle of reasoning. (More generally, it is argued that it is not meaningful to replace an empirical investigation of a thing by an investigation of its a priori analyzable structure without paying due attention to the question of whether it really is the structure of the thing in question.) It is proposed to elucidate the situation by distinguishing two essentially different realms with which our reason must deal: the realm of the natural, constituted by the things of our empirical world, and the realm of the formal, constituted by the structures that we use as prisms to view, to make sense of, and to reconstruct the world. It is suggested that this vantage point may throw light on many foundational problems of logic.