Ones.

One opened the August 1978 issue of the American Psychologist with one's customary eagerness, and on reading "Can 'She' and 'He' Coexist?" (see record 1990-58427-001) exclaimed to oneself, "Now, there's a thoughtful solution to a bothersome problem of language!" One's admiration for the beautiful simplicity of the solution does not keep one from wondering about its feasibility, however. The introduction of a new meaning and new grammatical forms to a familiar-seeming prefix may be confusing. Might it not be even simpler and more practical to urge the expanded usage of existing familiar words whose use would not require any such changes of meaning or interpretation? One would hope so, and this one thinks so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Access to justice for deaf Inuit in Nunavut: The role of "Inuit sign language."

Presents a personal perspective on the issue of access to justice (in the context of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) for the deaf Inuit population of Canada's newest Territory—Nunavut. The author's experience in assessing a deaf Inuit in Baker Lake R v. Suwarak (1999) who apparently had no known language, followed an earlier Nova Scotia case R v. Roy (1994) which involved a deaf man who could not hear, speak or use sign language. In the case of Suwarak, the possibility was raised that an indigenous form of sign language, tentatively termed "Inuit Sign Language" was being used. The results of a preliminary study of the status of signed languages in Nunavut based on field visits and interactions with deaf people and their families in 3 communities is described. The possibility that "Inuit Sign Language" exists is discussed within the framework of various theories of language development and also within the context of earlier literature which indicates that many Aboriginal communities had (and possibly still have) flourishing signed languages. Finally, the need for increased research by psychologists on the complex linguistic environment of deaf persons in Nunavut is emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the "Music of Thought": The Use of Metaphor in Poetry and in Psychoanalysis.

The author considers the clinical use of metaphor--when psychoanalytic psychotherapists move intentionally to figurative and comparative language in talking with their patients--by comparing it to the use of metaphor in poetry. Both poets and psychoanalysts, despite the differences in the aims of their arts, rely on this way of speaking in order to evoke, discover, and create meaning. A consideration of the way therapists use metaphors sheds some light on essential clinical processes--and on the current debate between "classical" and "post-modern" ways of understanding what psychoanalysts do. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived necessity explains the dissociation between logic and meaning: The case of "Only If."

The purpose of this article was to investigate why sentences of the form "p only if q" often appear to have a different meaning than sentences of the form "if p, then q," despite their logical equivalence. The results of 3 experiments indicate that when "if…then" statements were equated with respect to necessity and temporal relations, different pragmatic relations (such as permission, causation, etc.) elicited similar "only if" judgments. However, different necessity relations elicited different "only if" judgments, regardless of the type of pragmatic relation expressed in the "if then" statement. These data suggest that "only if" judgements are primarily mediated by necessity and temporal relations and that pragmatic contexts may play a more indirect role, such as in the interpretation of necessity and temporal relations. Suggestions for how these findings might be incorporated into pragmatic scheme theory (P. W. Cheng & K. J. Holyoak; see record 73:29075; P. W. Cheng, K. J. Holyoak, R. E. Nisbett, & L. M. Oliver; see record 73:8193) and mental models theory (P. N. Johnson-Laird & R. M. J. Byrne, 1991) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias in language use: "Neutral" pronouns that aren't.

Terms such as "his," "he," and "man" refer to males but are also used as putative gender-neutral terms to refer to persons of unspecified sex. It is argued that male terms sometimes fail to be gender-neutral and may therefore be a cause of sex bias as well as a vestige of past inequality. In an experiment with 226 male and 264 female college students on the interpretation of pronouns, male terms such as "his," even in explicitly gender-neutral contexts, caused Ss to think 1st of males significantly more often than did "his or her" appearing in the same place. It is concluded that male terms can fail to be gender-neutral even when it is clear that a person of either sex is referred to, and males may have an advantage in contexts where they are referred to by a putative neutral term. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Defining "addiction."

For centuries, the word "addiction" meant being "given over" or devoted to something. However, the 19th century temperance and anti-opium movements used it in a more restrictive way, linking "addiction" to drugs, to illness or vice, and to withdrawal symptoms and tolerance. Both the traditional and restrictive meanings survived into the present. In the ensuing uncertainty about its meaning, some authorities now wish to replace "addiction" with substitute terms like "drug dependence", "substance abuse", etc. We hope to show that the term "addiction" is too valuable to discard. Its traditional sense designates the profoundly important, albeit sometimes harmful, capacity of people to become "given over." On the other hand, the restrictive meaning refers only to a special case, which is defined arbitrarily and inconsistently. It is outmoded because of these problems. The traditional meaning remains useful, but can be improved by clarifying the distinction between "positive" and "negative" addictions originally proposed by Glasser (1976). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"I know, you know": Epistemic egocentrism in children and adults.

This article reviews the evidence and theory pertaining to a form of perspective-taking failure--a difficulty in setting aside the privileged information that one knows to be unavailable to another party. The authors argue that this bias (epistemic egocentrism, or EE) is a general feature of human cognition and has been tapped by 2 independent and largely uncommunicating research traditions: the theory-of-mind tradition in developmental psychology and, with more sensitive probes, the "heuristics and biases" tradition in the psychology of human judgment. This article sets the stage for facilitating communication between these traditions as well as for the recognition of EE's breadth and potential interdisciplinary significance. The authors propose a life-span account and a tentative taxonomy of EE; and they highlight the interdisciplinary significance of EE by discussing its implications for normative ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can "she" and "he" coexist?

Proposes expanding the prefix co into 3 terms co, co's, and coself to substitute for the generic he pronouns. This proposal is in response to the "Guidelines for Nonsexist Language in American Psychological Association Journals." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religious awe: Potential contributions of negative theology to psychology, "positive" or otherwise.

A hallmark of Christian mysticism is negative theology, which refers to the school of thought that gives prominence to negation in reference to God. By denying the possibility to name God, negative theology cuts at the very root of our cognitive makeup--the human impulse to name and put things into categories--and thereby situates us "halfway between a 'no longer' and a 'not yet'" (W. Iser, 1978, p. 213), a temporality in which "the past is negated, but...the present is not yet formulated" (Iser, 1978, p. 217). The affective corollary of this "no longer" and "not yet" state is the "dark night of the soul" that mystics are known to have bouts of. One particular variant of the "dark night of the soul" is awe, which will be the focus of this paper. My investigation starts with an introduction to the two primary themes of negative theology--negativity and self-reflexivity, followed by a critique of D. Keltner and J. Haidt's model of awe, which is compared with R. Otto's phenomenology of mysticism in general and religious awe in particular. In the concluding section, I examine the relevance of religious awe to contemporary life on the one hand, and to emotion research on the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Clinicians, microcomputers, and confidentiality": Correction to Bongar.

Reports an error in "Clinicians, microcomputers, and confidentiality" by Bruce Bongar (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 1988[Jun], Vol 19[3], 286-289). In this article, the address given on p. 286 for correspondence to the author is incorrect. The paragraph should read as follows: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brace Bongar, Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1988-33962-001.) Despite the microcomputer's ever-increasing popularity, one of its greatest strengths, the ability to store enormous quantities of text and data on small, concentrated types of magnetic media, could turn out to be an important structural weakness in the wall of client confidentiality that psychologists have so carefully constructed over the years. In this article I examine the possibilities for such breaches of confidentiality when psychologists use microcomputers in their practice or research. Examples illustrate the ease and rapidity with which the microcomputer's magnetic media can be duplicated, damaged, or destroyed. Recommendations are made for guidelines and techniques to ensure and maintain the confidentiality of clinical and research information when one is using a microcomputer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language as a saboteur: The case of "case management."

The authors examine how the term case management—and, more generally, language—may function as a saboteur of psychotherapeutic meaning and foster the objectification of the clinical process and participant. The authors hope to foster awareness of the implications of word choices and thereby reduce the negative side effects accompanying the unintended meanings of these choices. More generally, the authors argue that curiosity, creativity, and the clinical process are deadened when language is allowed to function as a saboteur. The authors suggest an approach to clinical work that brings a heightened awareness of the power and ambiguity of words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finding "Meaning" in Psychology: A Lay Theories Approach to Self-Regulation, Social Perception, and Social Development.

Much of psychology focuses on universal principles of thought and action. Although an extremely productive pursuit, this approach, by describing only the "average person," risks describing no one in particular. This article discusses an alternate approach that complements interests in universal principles with analyses of the unique psychological meaning that individuals find in their experiences and interactions. Rooted in research on social cognition, this approach examines how people's lay theories about the stability or malleability of human attributes alter the meaning they give to basic psychological processes such as self-regulation and social perception. Following a review of research on this lay theories perspective in the field of social psychology, the implications of analyzing psychological meaning for other fields such as developmental, cultural, and personality psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response bias: Characteristics of detection theory, threshold theory, and "nonparametric" indexes.

Models of discrimination based on statistical decision theory distinguish sensitivity (the ability of an observer to reflect a stimulus–response correspondence defined by the experimenter) from response bias (the tendency to favor 1 response over others). Measures of response bias have received less attention than those of sensitivity. Bias measures are classified here according to 2 characteristics. First, the distributions assumed or implied to underlie the observer's decision may be normal, logistic, or rectangular. Second, the bias index may measure criterion location, criterion location relative to sensitivity, or likelihood ratio. Both parametric and "nonparametric" indexes are classified in this manner. The various bias statistics are compared on pragmatic and theoretical grounds, and it is concluded that criterion measures have many advantages in empirical work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind."

Presents a theoretical analysis of the representational mechanism underlying a child's ability to pretend. This mechanism extends the power of the infant's existing capacity for (primary) representation, creating a capacity for "metarepresentation." It is this, developing toward the end of infancy, that underlies the child's new abilities to pretend and to understand pretense in others. There is a striking isomorphism between the 3 fundamental forms of pretend play and 3 crucial logical properties of mental state expressions in language. This isomorphism points to a common underlying form of internal representation that is here called metarepresentation. A performance model, the "decoupler," is outlined embodying ideas about how an infant might compute the complex function postulated to underlie pretend play. This model also reveals pretense as an early manifestation of the ability to understand mental states. Aspects of later preschool development, both normal and abnormal, are discussed in the light of the new model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Considering "self-ful" desire.

Excessive anxiety about being selfish can, paradoxically, lead to an unconsciously motivated lack of concern about the impact of one’s desires on others. That which is repudiated by the patient as "not me" may become enacted between the patient and analyst, and then become subject to formulation and exploration. Two cases are presented in which excessive worry over selfishness creates unconsciously motivated self-centered behavior, and resulting relationship difficulties and transference-countertransference enactments. The author suggests that extreme anxiety over selfishness may be partially engendered by a lack of intersubjective recognition of desires in early life. The notable lack of language in English that embraces the positive aspects of self-interest is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "Saw-It-All-Along" Effect: Demonstrations of Visual Hindsight Bias.

The authors address whether a hindsight bias exists for visual perception tasks. In 3 experiments, participants identified degraded celebrity faces as they resolved to full clarity (Phase 1). Following Phase 1, participants either recalled the level of blur present at the time of Phase 1 identification or predicted the level of blur at which a peer would make an accurate identification. In all experiments, participants overestimated identification performance of naive observers. Visual hindsight bias was greater for more familiar faces--those shown in both phases of the experiment--and was not reduced following instructions to participants to avoid the bias. The authors propose a fluency-misattribution theory to account for the bias and discuss implications for medical malpractice litigation and eyewitness testimony. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and "pseudovolunteering."

Possible bias in social science research is of increasing importance because of the use of volunteer Ss. The present results with 51 college students suggest that a volunteer population ( n = 39) may be an even more select group than previously thought, since they were different from those Ss ( n = 12) who initially volunteered but did not complete their participation in the research project (pseudovolunteers). With respect to Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, pseudovolunteers were significantly more external in orientation than true volunteers. The implications of using volunteer populations, particularly in relation to the generalizability of results, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Visual Memory for Shapes in Deaf Signers and Nonsigners and in Hearing Signers and Nonsigners: Atypical Lateralization and Enhancement": Correction.

Reports an error in "Visual Memory for Shapes in Deaf Signers and Nonsigners and in Hearing Signers and Nonsigners: Atypical Lateralization and Enhancement" by Allegra Cattani, John Clibbens and Timothy J. Perfect (Neuropsychology, 2007[Jan], Vol 21[1], 114-121). Figure 1 on p. 117 (Stimulus Materials section) depicting sample and match stimuli was incorrect. The labels Object condition and Shape condition should be reversed so that the top row is indicated as the shape condition and the bottom row as the object condition. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-23022-010.) Deaf and hearing individuals who either used sign language (signers) or not (nonsigners) were tested on visual memory for objects and shapes that were difficult to describe verbally with a same/different matching paradigm. The use of 4 groups was designed to permit a separation of effects related to sign language use (signers vs. nonsigners) and effects related to auditory deprivation (deaf vs. hearing). Forty deaf native signers and nonsigners and 51 hearing signers and nonsigners participated in the study. Signing individuals (both deaf and hearing) were more accurate than nonsigning individuals (deaf and hearing) at memorizing shapes. For the shape memory task but not the object task, deaf signers and nonsigners displayed right hemisphere (RH) advantage over the left hemisphere (LH). Conversely, both hearing groups displayed a memory advantage for shapes in the LH over the RH. Results indicate that enhanced memory performance for shapes in signers (deaf and hearing) stems from the visual skills acquired through sign language use and that deafness, irrespective of language background, leads to the use of a visually based strategy for memory of difficult-to-describe items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)