Julian Jaynes's software archeology.

In planning the McMaster University Brain and Behaviour Research Programme's 1983 Bauer lecture, it was deemed that a topic in the area of cognitive neuroscience might be suitable, preferably one of a general nature that would be of interest to several disciplines. Consciousness, one of the most perplexing of human issues, requires that we question how the living material of the human brain results in the subjective awareness humankind experiences. Julian Jaynes was asked to present the lecture, which was entitled "Consciousness and the voices of the mind" (see record 2007-08986-001). In this article, Daniel Dennett presents his philosophical views of Jaynes's notion of the nature and origin of consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primitive thoughts.

In planning the McMaster University Brain and Behaviour Research Programme's 1983 Bauer lecture, it was deemed that a topic in the area of cognitive neuroscience might be suitable, preferably one of a general nature that would be of interest to several disciplines. Consciousness, one of the most perplexing of human issues, requires that we question how the living material of the human brain results in the subjective awareness humankind experiences. Julian Jaynes was asked to present the lecture, which was entitled "Consciousness and the voices of the mind" (see record 2007-08986-001). In this article, Jonathan Miller approaches Jaynes's thesis from two points of view, one is neurological, and the other is anthropological. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Consciousness and the voices of the mind": Open discussion.

Provides an open discussion of with Julian Jaynes on his article Consciousness and the voices of the mind (see record 2007-08986-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain mechanisms for consciousness and conscious experience.

In planning the McMaster University Brain and Behaviour Research Programme's 1983 Bauer lecture, it was deemed that a topic in the area of cognitive neuroscience might be suitable, preferably one of a general nature that would be of interest to several disciplines. Consciousness, one of the most perplexing of human issues, requires that we question how the living material of the human brain results in the subjective awareness humankind experiences. Julian Jaynes was asked to present the lecture, which was entitled "Consciousness and the voices of the mind" (see record 2007-08986-001). In this article, George Ojemann discusses the neurological aspects of Jaynes's theory. As a beginning, he makes distinctions between several phenomena included in the term "consciousness." One is to distinguish between an individual and a collective consciousness. The individual consciousness is clearly biologic, for it's gone with the loss of brain function. But a collective consciousness recorded in culture through language, as written or oral tradition, obviously transcends any one individual. This collective consciousness is a sum, a highly variably weighted sum, of individual brain functions, but is no longer dependent on any individual's brain function. It is the collective consciousness that is the source of most of Jaynes's evidence for changes in the individual consciousness. What Ojemann talks about here are the individual biologic brain mechanisms for language and consciousness that underlie the collective consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"McMaster-Bauer symposium on Consciousness": Panel discussion.

Presents a panel discussion on topics relevant consciousness as part of the McMaster-Bauer symposium on consciousness (see record 2007-09336-001), including inner "voices", consciousness and social control, the neural substrates of consciousness, and the hardware/software distinction in the brain/computer metaphor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

McMaster-Bauer symposium on consciousness.

The McMaster University Brain and Behaviour Research Programme was initiated in 1977 with the purpose of facilitating inter-departmental and inter-faculty discussion and collaborative research concerning brain-behaviour relationships in a broad perspective. It was supported initially, in part, by the John A. Bauer Memorial Fund, which provided resources for guest lectures. In planning the Bauer lecture for 1983, it seemed that a topic in the area of cognitive neuroscience might be suitable, preferably one of a general nature that would be of interest to several disciplines. Consciousness is surely one of the most perplexing of human issues--the question being how the living material of the human brain results in the subjective awareness humankind experiences. It has been a topic considered for centuries by philosophers and psychologists, psychiatrists and physicists, among others. A recent book written by Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, embraced many issues from psychology and neurology to archaeology, anthropology, the classics, and religious studies. Jaynes was invited to give the 1983 Bauer lecture. At the same time, Jonathan Miller was invited to discuss some of the anthropological considerations of Jaynes's thesis; Daniel Dennett agreed to present his philosophical views of Jaynes's notion of the nature and origin of consciousness; and George Ojemann discussed the neurological aspects of Jaynes's theory. Included here are Jaynes's original lecture, entitled "Consciousness and the voices of the mind"; an open discussion with questions from the audience; the discussions by Miller, Dennett, and Ojemann; a panel discussion among the four presenters; and finally another open discussion that included questions for all four presenters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"McMaster-Bauer symposium on Consciousness": Open discussion.

Presents an open discussion on topics relevant to the symposium on consciousness (see record 2007-09336-001), including abstraction of sensory input; prophets, the voice of God and the role of the right hemisphere in religiosity; transcendental, mystical, and religious experiences; and critical periods, brain development, and their relation to consciousness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competing paradigms for anorexia nervosa.

The current author comments on the articles from the April 2007 American Psychologist special issue on eating disorders. The current author states that the contributors to this special issue are to be commended for acknowledging lack of progress in understanding, classifying, and treating anorexia nervosa (AN). They highlighted the acute need to refine diagnosis (see record 2007-04834-004), understand comprehensive causal mechanisms to tune treatments and transcend "hodgepodge diagnoses" (see record 2007-04834-005), study functional neural circuits and link behavior with "genomic, cellular, and systems data" (see record 2007-04834-003), and develop effective treatments (see record 2007-04834-006). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ethics of asking about abuse and the harm of "don't ask, don't tell."

Replies to comments by J. Read (see record 2007-07130-012), D. Gleaves et al (see record 2007-07130-013), V. Edwards et al (see record 2007-07130-014), M. Black and R. Black (see record 2007-07130-015), and S. Ullman (see record 2007-07130-016), which raised important points about the authors' original article (see record 2006-03947-003). Those comments extend our thinking about how to ask participants about abuse in an ethical way. Together, the comments point to the importance of researchers examining our own reasons for asking--or not asking--about abuse and of paying attention to how we respond when we ask. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotions and appraisals: Can you have one without the other?

In his commentary on M. Siemer and R. Reisenzein (2007; see record 2007-02169-001), B. Parkinson (2007; see record 2007-02169-002) raised a number of important questions concerning the process of emotion inference and the scope of appraisal theories. Siemer and Reisenzein first examine the alternative explanations of their findings proposed by Parkinson and then look at the alternative "situated" view of emotions proposed by him. The main conclusion is that the issues raised by Parkinson can be dealt with by (suitable extensions of) appraisal theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Focusing on weight is not the answer to America's obesity epidemic.

Current authors respond to two comments on their article Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer (see record 2007-04834-008). The two comments state opposing views of the validity and novelty of the articles conclusions. In his comment, Applebaum (see record 2008-03389-008) claimed that our conclusion is "provocative and unproven" (p. 200), whereas Herman, Van Strien, and Polivy (see record 2008-03389-009) generally agreed with our findings but stated that "this conclusion is hardly new" (p. 202). Research on obesity treatment often leads to polarizing views, and our aim was to present a dispassionate analysis of the methodological issues in the long-term studies of diets. We believe we accomplished this goal, and the conclusions we presented were based on this analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Major depression: A comparison of the routes to prevention": A reply to O'Neill.

Responds to the comments by P. O'Neill (see record 2007-08996-001) on C. G. Costello's original article, "Major depression: A comparison of the routes to prevention" (see record 1986-17712-001). In his comment, O'Neill described the current author's paper as "essentially a polemic against the viability of preventive strategies for alleviating the impact of social problems on psychological well-being." O'Neill asserted that a lack of understanding of how preventive interventions really work is apparent in the hypothetical examples Costello offered. In the response presented here, Costello addresses the criticisms of his paper in their order of presentation in O'Neill's commentary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coda--After "The end of the end of ideology."

Replies to comments by M. Glassman and D. Karno (see record 2007-18356-016) and R. K. Unger (see record 2007-18356-017), on the author's original article (see record 2006-12925-001) on ideology. J. T. Jost thanks Glassman and Karno for returning him to his philosophical roots. Glassman and Karno argued in favor of an "instrumental pragmatist" approach to the study of ideology that emphasizes the strategic, purposive, goal-directed nature of political rhetoric and belief. He agrees that such an approach is helpful and empirically sound. He also agrees that ideological movements are often orchestrated by elites (e.g., party leaders) for strategic political purposes in a top-down manner. There are several other points, however, on which Glassman and Karno seem to misunderstand him. Regarding Unger's comments, Unger pointed out, quite correctly, that Jost said relatively little about the role of religious ideology in his discussion of ideological polarization in the United States. The ideological gulf between religious traditionalists and secular humanists has indeed been widening since 1980, and it corresponds strongly to right-left differences in political attitudes. Jost mentioned, somewhat cryptically, at the end of his article that "similarly fruitful analyses could be undertaken with respect to religious and other belief systems," and he is grateful for Unger's invitation to elaborate on this point. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Science, public policy, and legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

In their comments on my article discussing the social science data relevant to societal recognition of same-sex committed relationships (see record 2006-11202-004), Rosik and Byrd (see record 2007-14606-024) and Schiller (see record 2007-14606-025) criticized aspects of my analysis and raised questions about the role of psychology in policy debates concerning sexual orientation. In the limited space available here, I first respond to their specific criticisms and then briefly consider the broader policy question. Both comments raised questions about whether and how psychologists should address policy issues related to sexual orientation. Rosik and Byrd advocated what they called a "measured approach" that "would distinguish the social scientist from the social activist" (p. 712). In practice, however, their measured approach apparently allows for vague constructs (e.g., men's "uncivilized" sexual nature), accepts conservative social activists' assumptions (e.g., about the necessity of marital "gender complementarity"), and ignores data that contradict their predictions (e.g., Badgett, 2004). Thus, it clearly is inadequate as a source for guidance. As for Tyler's fourth criterion (see record 200714606-026), it is difficult to know if and how psychologists' efforts in this arena will be effective. Regardless of the ultimate policy outcome, however, to the extent that we successfully communicate accurate information about the current state of scientific knowledge on sexual orientation and same-sex relationships, we will have remained true to our commitment to take a leading role in removing the stigma associated with homosexuality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring the strength of the effect of violent media on aggression.

Responds to comments made by Block and Crain (see record 2007-04834-015) to the current author's original article (see record 2001-17729-001). In their critique of our article, Block and Crain claimed, "There is no data transformation that converts an odds ratio or relative risk into a correlation". They further stated that our transformation method is "wrong" and "faulty". They are incorrect. In fact, there are many different methods for transforming an odds ratio or relative risk into a correlation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"One imperfect application does not destroy the value of citation analysis."

Contends that E. Macdonald's comment (see record 2007-04410-001) on the article by Buss (see record 1976-26634-001), "Evaluation of Canadian Psychology Departments based on Citation and Publication Counts," criticizes the methodology of the study and its results. However, Macdonald also makes a blanket criticism of the use of citation and publication analysis for evaluation purposes. Perhaps both are unfamiliar not only with the work being done in this area, but also with the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Science Citation Index (SCI) as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The elusive search for the truth: A review of Pezdek, K. and Banks, W. P. (1996). The recovered memory/false memory debate.

Reviews the book, The recovered memory/false memory debate by K. Pezdek and W. P. Banks (see record 1996-98519-000). This book presents a series of articles, some of which are sympathetic to the "recovered" memory approach and others to the "false" memory approach. In the preface, the authors write: "We tried to hew a middle course, looking for value in all sides." Many of the articles in the book originally appeared in a special issue of Consciousness & Cognition, Volume 3, 1994, the journal which is edited by William Banks, one of the editors of this volume. A major strength of the book is that all the included articles argue their respective positions based on actual experimental data rather than on philosophical biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The practice of psychological science.

Replies to comments made by Tebes (see record 2007-12413-003) and Guyll and Madon (see record 2007-12413-004) on Sue's original article (see record 1999-15532-003), which noted the the paucity of publications and funding for research on ethnic minority populations. It is my belief that theories, models, and assessment instruments should all be rated according to adequacy with different populations. Those that have been used and found to be appropriate and applicable to many different populations should be considered as being more adequate, meeting more stringent requirements, and having greater goodness of fit to human beings than those that have been applied to only a few populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)