A comprehensive introduction to current research on the psychology of concept formation and use.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Five experiments investigated how people use categories to make inductions about objects whose categorisation is uncertain. Normatively, they should consider all the categories the object might be in and use a weighted combination of information from all the categories: bet-hedging. The experiments presented people with simple, artificial categories and asked them to make an induction about a new object that was most likely in one category but possibly in another. The results showed that the majority of people focused on the (...) most likely category in making inductions, although there was a group of consistently normative responders who used information from both categories (about 25% of our college population). Across experiments the overall pattern of results suggests that performance in the task is improved not by understanding the underlying principles of bet-hedging but by increasing the likelihood that multiple categories are in working memory at the time of the induction. We discuss implications for improving everyday inductions. (shrink)

Six experiments investigated variables predicted to influence subjects’ tendency to classify items by a single property instead of overall similarity, following the paradigm of Norenzayan et al., who found that European Americans tended to give more “logical” rule-based responses. However, in five experiments with Mechanical Turk subjects and undergraduates at an American university, we found a consistent preference for similarity-based responding. A sixth experiment with Korean undergraduates revealed an effect of instructions, also reported by Norenzayan et al., in which classification (...) instructions led to majority rule-based responding but similarity instructions led to overall similarity grouping. Our American subjects showed no such difference and used similarity more overall. We conclude that Americans do not have a preference for rule responding in classification and discuss the differences between tasks that reliably show strong rule or unidimensional preferences in contrast to this classification paradigm. (shrink)

Les prostituées n’échappent pas à la répression et à l’enfermement généralisés organisés par la Monarchie Absolue à la fin du XVIIe siècle. Des institutions nommées « Dames Blanches », « Bon Pasteur » ou « Pénitentes » apparaissent dans la plupart des capitales diocésaines. Afin de ramener ces femmes sur le chemin de la vertu, les autorités font rapidement appel à des religieuses pour diriger ces communautés. Le fonctionnement de deux de ces « couvents », ceux, ceux de Poitiers et (...) La Rochelle, au « siècle des Lumières » est ici étudié. (shrink)

Background: There is a growing interest in using cognitive behavioural therapy with people who have Asperger Syndrome and comorbid mental health problems. Aims: To examine whether modified group CBT for clinically significant anxiety in an AS population is feasible and likely to be efficacious. Method: Using a randomised assessor-blind trial, 52 individuals with AS were randomised into a treatment arm or a waiting-list control arm. After 24 weeks, those in the waiting-list control arm received treatment, while those initially randomised to (...) treatment were followed-up for 24 weeks. Results: The conversion rate for this trial was high, while attrition was 13%. After 24 weeks, there was no significant difference between those randomised to the treatment arm compared to those randomised to the waiting-list control arm on the primary outcome measure, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety. Conclusions: Trials of psychological therapies with this population are feasible. Larger definitive trials are now needed. Declaration of Interest: None Trial Registration: ISRCTN 30265294, UKCRN 8370. (shrink)

© 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved. Background Conceptual frameworks are important to ensure a clear underpinning research philosophy. Further, the use of conceptual frameworks can support structured research processes. Aim To present a partnership model for a reflective narrative for researcher and participant. Discussion This paper positions the underpinning philosophical framework of the model in social constructionism and narrative enquiry. The model has five stages - study design, invitation to share a research space and partnership, a metaphorical research space, (...) building a community story, and reading the community story to others. Core principles of the partnership model are continual reflection by the researcher, potential reflections by participants, reciprocal sharing, and partnership in research. Conclusion A 'trajectory of self' for both participants and researchers can be enhanced within reflective partnerships. Implications for practice This model can be applied to studies that use narrative enquiry and are seeking a humanistic approach with participant engagement. (shrink)

Collagen is the most abundant vertebrate protein and forms a stable fibrous architecture in connective tissues, such as bone, cartilage, skin and tendon. Much recent research has been directed towards an understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the synthesis and degradation of collagen, because a change in the normal balance, or an increased destruction of collagen, can cause loss of function of specialized tissues. This short review attempts to summarize present knowledge about the proteolytic destruction of collagen (...) and the exciting new work on the factors that are emerging as important controlling agents. An understanding of the regulatory processes is yielding some important clues regarding the levels at which they can fail in pathological conditions and we speculate about evolving strategies for preventing uncontrolled resorption. (shrink)

Le devenir des religieuses, lors de la Révolution française, est encore mal connu. L’historiographie, lorsqu’elle les aborde, insiste sur leurs complaisances supposées à l’égard des prêtres réfractaires et les montre volontiers en victimes de la Terreur (exemple des Carmélites de Compiègne). Ces éclairages successifs masquent la majorité des ex-religieuses qui s’adaptent et consentent à la sécularisation. Dans le cas étudié (le diocèse de Poitiers) les religieuses qui souhaitent le rester, souvent au risque de leur vie, sont une minorité. Le regard (...) porté sur ces femmes, prises dans le tourbillon de la Révolution, demeure trop attaché à leur voile. Il convient de lever celui-ci pour analyser, de plus près, les bouleversements provoqués par l’événement révolutionnaire, dans les trajectoires collectives et individuelles de ces religieuses. (shrink)

The problems that Millikan addresses in theories of concepts arise from an extensional view of concepts and word meaning. If instead one assumes that concepts are psychological entities intended to explain human behavior and thought, many of these problems dissolve.

Energy concepts in theology and natural science are studied to see how they may aid the science‐theology dialogue. Relationships between divine and human energies in classical Christology and energy ideas in process theology are significant. In physics, energy has related roles as something conserved and as the generator of temporal development. We explore ways in which God and the world may interact to produce evolution of the universe. Possible connections between the double role of physical energy and the bipolar character (...) of God in process theology are noted. Energy helps to describe God's relationship with the world in both theological viewpoints and, thus, may bridge them. (shrink)

Research on children's and adults' concepts embodies very different assumptions of how concepts are structured, as reflected in their experimental designs. Developmental studies seem to assume that categories contain highly similar objects that can all be identified from one or two examples. If concepts are more like those tested in adult experiments, research on word learning may be misleading.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, demonstrates extensive antigenic heterogeneity in its surface components. The organism has the capacity to switch on and off the synthesis of different versions of components such as pili, outer membrane proteins, and lipopolysaccharide. Recent studies have shown that the gonococcus uses novel and complex mechanisms, of types not described previously, to store different versions of genetic information for surface proteins, and to regulate expression of those genes.

In his enormously influential The Modularity of Mind, Jerry Fodor (1983) proposed that the mind was divided into input modules and central processes. Much subsequent research focused on the modules and whether processes like speech perception or spatial vision are truly modular. Much less attention has been given to Fodor's writing on the central processes, what would today be called higher‐level cognition. In “Fodor's First Law of the Nonexistence of Cognitive Science,” he argued that central processes are “bad candidates for (...) scientific study” and would resist attempts at empirical analysis. This essay evaluates his argument for this remarkable claim, concluding that although central processes may well be “messier” than input modules, this does not mean that they cannot be studied and understood. The article briefly reviews the scientific progress made in understanding central processes in the 35 years since the book was published, showing that Fodor's prediction is clearly falsified by massive advances in topics like decision making and analogy. The essay concludes that Fodor's Law was not based on a clear argument for why the complexities of central systems could not be studied but was likely based on intuitions and preferences that were common in psychology at the time. (shrink)

Programming computers to construct "real types," generally descriptive of a class of societies, makes explicit all steps in the thought process of such constructions because unambiguous instructions to, the computer are needed. The historian uses his judgment to choose a data field and variables that may be relevant in forming a type. He then looks for matches; he divides the data field into groups according to one variable and sees if the other variables differ significantly according to these groups. In (...) this process, he may discover new variables of importance. The selection of interesting types from among the matches can be determined only by the pragmatic interest of the historian; analysis of this selection process involves some of the most difficult problems in the study of historical technique. The computer using a "real type" program may be useful as a quick means to scan data. (shrink)

Keywords: A theological approach to understanding time and change in a modern way must consider the relationships between thermal physics and time as elucidated during the past century and a half. The fact of temporal change, including death and decay, has been a religious problem since antiquity, so that some traditions have simply attempted to transcend the world of change. However, a major current of the Christian tradition has seen change as a fundamental aspect of God's creation, and one with (...) which God becomes identified in the Incarnation. This implies approval of history, as having an ultimate value, rather than transcendence of it.We examine thermodynamics, and especially its Second Law, in order to understand more precisely the issues of temporal change. The Second Law states a universal tendency toward increasing disorder, and several implications of this law are discussed. Of particular significance, however, is the work of Prigogine and others on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, drawing attention to such phenomena as the enhancement of chemical reaction rates and the formation of “dissipative structures” in nonequilibrium situations. Such possibilities may be of considerable importance for understanding chemical and biological evolution.These ideas can be included in an evolutionary picture in which, following Teilhard de Chardin, the Body of Christ is seen as the future of evolution‐an “ultimate dissipative structure” in which the world of time and change is united with God. Suffering, death, and decay receive their meaning from the future. Within this framework it is therefore possible to believe that the material world of history may be part of the eschatological future and that science provides hints, though not predictions, of how that may happen. (shrink)

Ian Barbour has distinguished eight theologies of God's role in nature, together with corresponding models of divine activity. This essay examines these ideas in the light of a theology of the cross. Three of Barbour's approaches—the neo‐Thomist, the kenotic, and the existentialist—are able to provide different aspects of a theology of divine action that is consistent with belief that God's definitive revelation takes place in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. These approaches encourage attention to a part of (...) traditional doctrines of Providence, the idea that God acts by “cooperation” with natural processes. The kenotic character of divine involvement in the world means that the regularities of the basic interactions of physics are maintained. The idea of cooperation can be extrapolated into the past, to give some insight into ways of understanding God's activity in originating the universe. (shrink)

There is a moment when every child leaves color-blindness behind & enters the world of race consciousness. At that moment, there are two roads parents, educators, & therapists can take: they can follow the status quo, internalizing racial expectations, & become-consciously or unconciously-part of the problem. Or, they can question stereotypes, &, actively work against racism to become part of the solution. This book provides the tools we all need to become part of the solution. Beginning with racial segregation in (...) an integrated school situation, this book explores race relations & the development of racial identity from many different viewpoints. (shrink)