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Contents
The Principle of Parsimony and Some Applications in Psychology
Robert Epstein, Northeastern University and Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 119–130, ISSN 0271–0137
A modern principle of parsimony
may be stated as follows: Where we have no reason to do otherwise
and where two theories account for the same facts, we should prefer
the one which is briefer, which makes assumptions with which we
can easily dispense, which refers to observables, and which has
the greatest possible generality. Psychologists often violate
this principle, particularly in attributing complex behavior to
cognitive processes. The practice is exemplified by recent accounts
of chimpanzee behavior.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Robert Epstein,
Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies,
11 Ware Street,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Affection as a Cognitive
Judgmental Process: A Theoretical Assumption Put to Test Through
Brain-Lateralization Methodology
Joseph F. Rychalak, Loyola University of Chicago and Brent D. Slife, University of Santa Clara
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 131–150, ISSN 0271–0137
An experiment on affection employing
brain-lateralization methodology is conducted based upon the tenets
and previous research of logical learning theory, but which cannot
be derived from the affective theories of Osgood and Zajonc. It
is predicted that affective assessment will play a role in the
recognition of both pictorial and verbal (language) materials,
but that left-hemispheric conceptualization will rely more on
affective contrasts for pictorial recognition than for verbal
recognition, and right-hemispheric effects will reflect the opposite
predilection. Sixty-four high school students are put through
a modified Gazzaniga procedure in which after first rating pictorial
or verbal materials for affective value on separate days they
are asked to recognize these items on a third day. The experimental
hypotheses are confirmed (p<.01). Thus, when a hemisphere is cognizing
materials that are not within its primary organization
focus an increased reliance on affective discrimination takes
place.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Joseph F. Rychalak, Ph.D.,
Department of Psychology,
Loyola University of Chicago,
6525 N. Sheridan Road,
Chicago, Illinois 60626.
A Psycho-Neuro-Endocrine Framework for Depression: A Clinically Eclectic Approach.
Elliot M. Frohman, University of California at San Diego and The Winfield Foundation
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 151–169, ISSN 0271–0137
For quite some times the factors
underlying the etiology of clinical depression have remained elusive.
However, many provocative studies have been conducted that have
elucidated some of the central features of the clinical picture.
Our current understanding provides us with the notion that many
factors are superimposed upon the neural architecture which enter
into a dynamic interplay in the orchestration of the complex phenomenon
associated with the behavioral and arousal changes exhibited by
depressed patients. The objective of the present paper is to emphasize
the importance of establishing a framework which considers the
various factors acting in the manifestations of the disorder.
I will give consideration to a host of neuropsychiatric ramifications
which include(1) biobehavioral configurations; (2) genetic and
familial studies with both human and nonhuman primates; (3) the
analysis of sleep; (4) neuro-pyschopharmacology; and (5) neural
circuit mechanisms acting on differentiated aces in the psycho-neuroendocrine
apparatus. An attempt is made to framework depression and hence
bring forth a modicum of understanding to this multfactorial disease
which is neither wholly endogenous or wholly exogenous - but rather
one whose comprehension necessitates an inevitable union between
the biologic and psychological concomitants.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Elliot Frohman,
Director of Medical Affairs,
The Winfield Foundation,
2050 Center Avenue,
Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024.
A Biofunctional Model of Distributed Mental Content, Mental Structures, Awareness, and Attention
Asghar Iran-Nejad and Andrew Ortony, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 171–210, ISSN 0271–0137
Central to current cognitive theories
is the belief that knowledge is an organized collection of long-term
structures upon which various information processing mechanisms
operate. Consequently much research has been devoted to investigating
the organizational and processing aspects of knowledge representations.
This paper proposes a shift in the locus of theoretical analysis.
Following Bartlett, we argue that mental functioning may be more
readily characterized if the idea of abstract long-term associations
and structures is abandoned. An account of cognition is proposed
in which mental relations are transient functional relations,
and in which psychological permanence is a functional characteristic
of neuronal system. Cognition and other aspects of mental life
are explained in terms of the activity of anatomically distributed
constellations of neuronal elements. These elements are conceived
of as physiological microsystems which are capable of generating
specialized awareness experiences. The overall mental counterpart
of the combined activity of these elements we call the schema-of-the-moment
We hope that the model we are proposing can contribute to bridging
the gap between cognitive psychology and the neurosciences.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Asghar Iran-Nejad, Ph.D.,
Center for the Study of Reading,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
51 Gerty Drive,
Champaign, Illinois 61820.
The Double Bind and Koan Zen
Patrick Jichaku, George Y. Fujita, and S.I. Shapiro, University of Hawaii
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 211–221, ISSN 0271–0137
Double bind epistemology is applied to a beneficent
double bind situation - the practice of Koan Zen. The successful
resolution of the double bind in Koan Zen occurs within a context
created by the interaction of several key factors: a competent
teacher, the attitudes of the Zen student toward Zen training,
and the support of a strong community of Zen practitioners.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Patrick
Jichaku, c/o Zen Center of Los Angeles, 905 South Normandie Avenue,
Los Angeles, California 90006.
Occultism is not Science:
A Reply to Kootte
Richard de Mille, Santa Barbara, California
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 223–225, ISSN 0271–0137
While contending that Castaneda's critics, notably de Mille (1980), have failed to prove a
hoax, Kootte (1984) argues selectively, tendentiously, and unscientifically, misreading de Mille and misplacing the burden
of proof. Siegel's (1981) pscychopharmacological refutation of Castaneda's psychodelics is cited. De Mille's meeting with
Castaneda is reported.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Richard de Mille,
960 Lilac Drive,
Santa Barbara, California 93108.
Book Review >
The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development.
Robert Kegan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Reviewed by Victor H. James, Indiana State University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 227–228, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: Early paragraph, no abstract
available.] Believing that people construct their own realities
and that they evolve through a succession of selves"according
to regular principles of stability and change," Robert Kegan identifies
himself as a constructive-developmentalist in his philosophical
and psychological orientation. His excellent book articulates
the process by which the succession of selves evolve and indicates
the kind of therapy that the evolutionary movement seems naturally
to suggest.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Victor H. Jones, Ph.D.,
Department of English,
Indiana State University,
Terre Haute, Indiana 47809.
Book Review >
Children of War.
Roger Rosenblatt. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983.
Reviewed by Mark Senak, The Institute of Mind and Behavior
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 229–230, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract
available.] Children of War is an attempt by Roger Rosenblatt,
a Senior writer for Time magazine, to construct a portrait
of the most helpless victims of war - children. In addition, he
seeks to answer the overwhelming questions of why wars exist at
all, who makes them, and for what reasons. While this lofty ideal
cannot be successfully or substantively addressed in the two hundred
pages that constitute this book, Children of War does offer
an insight into the condition s of war through the eyes of children;
this insight is vivid, apparently accurate, and compelling. The
author felt that if it were possible to obtain any answers at
all to his questions on war, it would be from children, because
"children are vitally important to adults. One way or another,
most grown-ups wish to say something to the world by speaking
to or through their children; and the children, as objects of
this desire, are in a strong position to know what the world is
like."
Requests for reprints should be sent to Mark Senak,
The Institute of Mind and Behavior,
P.O.Box 522,
Village Station,
New York City, New York 10014.
Book Review >
Ethnicity and American Social Theory: Toward Critical Pluralism.
Gerard A. Postiglione. Lanham (Maryland), New York and London: University Press of America, 1983.
Reviewed by Mark Senak, The Institute of Mind and Behavior
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 231–233, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract
available.] The discussion about the secularization trend in modern
industrialized countries could perhaps be enriched by my recent
"discovery" that a one-dollar bill from the days of the Great
Depression does not contain the hope/dream/ideal "in god
we trust," but only the hope/dream/ideal "e pluribus unum." Is
this a symbol or metaphor with an underlying meaning? Does this
mean, for example, that violating the former dream is neither
so serious nor so devious as violating the latter? Is it symbolic
of a move toward America as the melting pot? And how far can one
go when one entertains the metaphor of a "melting pot"? Does the
"unum" simply signify the (least) common denominator of "e pluribus"?
Or do we talk about a certain transubstantiation, a catalyst reaction,
in the send that members of several hundred ethnic groups in the
United States produced something more than the neologism of a
(sic) "united Statian"? Has God himself become, in a sense, the
least common denominator of a multitude of ethnic groups and/or
a new but unspecified emergent common denominator?
Requests for reprints should be sent to Werner D. von der Ohe, Ph.D.,
Institut fur Soziologie der Universitat Munchen,
8000 Munchen 40,
West Germany.
Book Review >
Kurt Koffka: An Unwitting Self-Portrait.
Molly Harrower. Gainsville: University Presses of Florida, 1984.
Reviewed by William F. Stone, University of Maine at Orono
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 235–236, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.]
Molly Harrower arrived at Smith College in 1928, at the age of
22, as a graduate student in experimental psychology. Born in
Johannesburg and educated in England (with a year in Switzerland).
Harrower was a mature student although young in years, She had
come from England to study and research with Kurt Koffka, who
had assumed a chair at Smith the year before. Thus began a professional
relationship that blossomed into correspondence two years later
when Harrower took a year off to teach at Wells College in New
York.
Requests for reprints should be sent to William F. Stone, Ph.D.,
Department of Psychology,
University of Maine,
Orono, Maine 04469.
Book Review >
Aftermath: A Soldier's Return From Vietnam.
Frederick Downs, Jr. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1984.
Reviewed by Steven E. Connelly, Indiana State University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 237–239, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] Vietnam. The word still triggers ferocious
emotions, puzzling and irrational responses. Consider two recent scenes from a college classroom. (1) A middle-aged
freshman angrily denounces the documentary Hearts and Minds, declaring that it must have been made by communists.
She refuses to believe that maimed and paralyzed veterans interviewed ever really fought in Vietnam; she announces to the
class that these men must be actors, because her son was wounded in Vietnam, and she knows that no American wounded
in the service of his country could possibly oppose the war. (2) A veteran of 60's anti-war demonstrations, once beaten and
spit upon by violence - remarks casually, but seriously, that American soldiers killed and wounded in Vietnam have simply
received their just due. The crazed, twisted logic that once divided the country endures: erupting in an apathetic
classroom of the eighties, it shocks all the more.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Steven E. Connelly, Ph.D.,
Department of English,
Indiana State University,
Terre Haute, Indiana 47809.
Book Review >
Freud As A Writer.
Patrick Mahony. New York: International University Press, Inc., 1982.
Reviewed by Steven E. Connelly, Indiana State University
The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Spring 1984, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 241–243, ISSN 0271–0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract
available.] Nearly forty years ago, the American novelist Allan
Seager suggested that Freudian psychology affected the attitudes
of twentieth century writers almost as much as all other influences
combined: "I agree with Freud himself," Seager declared, "in believing
that, in time, he will come to be regarded as the great literary
figure of Our Time because he composed, on the foundation of an
hypothesis completely unprovable physiologically, a body of stories
about ourselves that we utterly believed." Certainly Freud's influence
upon literature has been colossal. The novel, once virtually by
definition committed to the exploration of an entire society,
has generally narrowed to a careful study of the protagonist's
psychology. Psychological criticism has become one of the basic
approaches to literature. Indeed, not only has Freud influenced
the creation and criticism of literature, he has himself become
a character in fiction: e.g., The White Hotel and The
Seven Percent Solution. The incestuous nature of the relationship
between literature and psychology has been frequently noted, and
on occasion in has been claimed that literature spawned Freudian
psychology: certainly without Freud's strong schooling in the
classics, without his love for Dostoevsky, without his studied
insight into the tale well told, the history of modern psychology
would have been radically different. Is it not strange, then,
that literary Freud has not been a more frequent subject of intense
study? Perhaps Patrick Mahony's Freud As A Writer will
be the forerunner of such investigations..
Requests for reprints should be sent to Steven E. Connelly, Ph.D.,
Department of English,
Indiana State University,
Terre Haute, Indiana 47809.
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