Psychological Level Of Analysis Research Articles

Centrifugal and Centripetal Thinking About the Biopsychosocial Model in Psychiatry

The biopsychosocial model, which was deeply influential on psychiatry following its introduction by George L. Engel in 1977, has recently made a comeback. Derek Bolton and Grant Gillett have argued that Engel’s original formulation offered a promising general framework for thinking about health and disease, but that this promise requires new empirical and philosophical tools in order to be realized. In particular, Bolton and Gillett offer an original analysis of the ontological relations between Engel’s biological, social, and psychological levels of analysis. I argue that Bolton and Gillett’s updated model, while providing an intriguing new metaphysical framework for medicine, cannot resolve some of the most vexing problems facing psychiatry, which have to do with how to prioritize different sorts of research. These problems are fundamentally ethical, rather than ontological. Without the right prudential motivation, in other words, the unification of psychiatry under a single conceptual framework seems doubtful, no matter how compelling the model. An updated biopsychosocial model should include explicit normative commitments about the aims of medicine that can give guidance about the sorts of causal connections to be prioritized as research and clinical targets.

A categorical analysis of the «personality self-determination» concept in the context of the problem of students’ orientation towards moral self-determination

The paper raises the problem of students orientation towards moral self-determination as one of the directions of moral education of students. The necessity of carrying out a categorical analysis of the personality self-determination concept to determine the content and methods of orientation of students towards moral self-determination is substantiated. Personality self-determination is considered at the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical levels of analysis. At the philosophical level of analysis, the essence of the personality self-determination phenomenon and the concept adequate to it is revealed; it consists in a persons choice of certain actions and deeds in a given situation; shows the role of moral choice in the self-determination of the individual. At the psychological level of analysis, the author substantiates the relationship between the self-determination of the individual and the system of his/her relations (to the surrounding reality, other people and himself/herself), which determine the content of the personalitys position. At the pedagogical level of analysis, the self-determination of a person is associated with his/her choice of values, the source of which is his/her needs. The paper argues that the self-determination of a person is both a process and a result of a persons choice of his/her own position, there is a choice of relations that form the content of a position, there is a choice of values, the focus on which constitutes the value orientations of a person, which become the core of self-determination. The author also has determined some practical pedagogical tasks, the solution of which is aimed at creating conditions for the orientation of students towards moral self-determination: the task of students moral principles development, which will ensure their choice of their position, goals and means of self-realization in life; the task of familiarizing students with the value of good, which is the essence of their ethical attitude to the world, to people and to themselves; the task of developing students ability to substantiate the foundations of moral choice and its principles to reflection.

Operationalizing the Relation Between Affect and Cognition With the Somatic Transform

This article introduces the somatic transform that operationalizes the relation between affect and cognition at the psychological level of analysis by capitalizing on the relation between the cognitive-denotative and affective-connotative meaning of concepts as measured with semantic differential rating scales. Following discussion of levels of analysis, the importance of language at the psychological level, and two principles (inextricability and complementarity) summarizing the relation between affect and cognition that are rendered explicit by the somatic transform, we present affect control theory (ACT) and its Bayesian extension (BayesACT) containing the somatic transform. We conclude by identifying examples of inextricability and complementarity in the social science and neuroscience literatures and discussing how our psychological model might be implemented in a realistic neural model.

Assessment of operant learning and memory in mice born through ICSI.

Are there differences in operant learning and memory between mice born through ICSI and naturally conceived control (CTL) mice? ICSI females exhibited deficits in the acquisition reward learning relative to CTL females, and ICSI males exhibited deficiencies in discrimination learning and memory relative to CTL males. Some human outcome studies have suggested that ICSI might be associated with an increased risk of certain cognitive disorders, but only one of two behavioral studies with ICSI mouse models have reported differences between ICSI and CTL females. No studies to date have investigated associative learning in ICSI mice. Groups of 36 ICSI mice (18 male, 18 female) and 37 CTL mice (19 male, 18 female) aged 3-6 months were compared in a series of operant learning procedures that assessed acquisition of a new behavior, discrimination learning and memory. In total, 16 ICSI mice (9 male, 7 female) and 17 CTL mice (10 male, 7 female) received follow-up discrimination learning and memory assessments at 12 months of age (6 months after the end of initial training) to evaluate retention and reacquisition of learned performances. Mice received daily operant learning sessions in experimental chambers in which all stimulus events and the recording of responses were automated. Food rewards were delivered for responding under different conditions of reinforcement, which varied by procedure. Subjects received a successive series of sessions of nose poke acquisition training, discrimination training and the delayed-non-matching-to-position memory procedure. Mixed repeated measures ANOVAs in which the between-subjects factor was group (ICSI vs CTL) and the within-subjects factor was repeated exposures to learning procedures (i.e. sessions) were used to analyze data. In comparisons between all mice (i.e. males and females combined), CTL mice exhibited superior performance relative to ICSI in response acquisition (P = 0.03), discrimination (P = 0.001) and memory (P = 0.007). Sex-specific comparisons between the groups yielded evidence of sexual dimorphism. ICSI females exhibited a deficit in acquisition learning relative to CTL females (P < 0.001), but there was not a significant difference between CTL and ICSI males. In the discrimination and memory tasks, ICSI males exhibited deficits relative to CTL males (P = 0.002 and P = 0.02, respectively) but the differences between females in these tasks were not significant. There was no difference in discrimination or memory retention/re-acquisition assessments conducted with mice at 12 months of age. ICSI males and females weighed significantly more than CTL counterparts at all points during the experiment. N/A. The study was not blinded. All learning assessments utilized food reward; other assessments of operant, Pavlovian and nonassociative learning are needed to fully characterize learning in ICSI mice and speculate regarding the implications for cognitive function in humans conceived via ICSI. Studying learning and memory processes in mouse models have the potential to shed light on ICSI outcomes at the level of cognitive function. Future research should use multiple learning paradigms, assess both males and females, and investigate the effects of variables related to the ICSI procedure. Studying cognitive function in ICSI is an interdisciplinary endeavor and requires co-ordination between researchers at the genetic and psychological levels of analysis. This work was supported, in part, by grants from the NIH (P30GM110767, HD071736 and HD085506 to W.Y.), the Templeton Foundation (61174 to W.Y.) and a New Scholarly Endeavor Grant from the University of Nevada, Reno Office of Research and Innovation (to M.L., Y.W., H.Z., L.H. and W.Y.). The authors declare no competing interests.

Countries with Greater Gender Equality Have More Positive Attitudes and Laws Concerning Lesbians and Gay Men

Social scientists have long discussed and empirically demonstrated how attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are determined in part by sexism and endorsement of gender roles, but only at the psychological level of analysis. We present data that considers these relationships at the cross-national level of analysis, using country-level measures of gender equality (the Gender Global Gap Index), aggregate measures of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in a country, and a newly constructed measure of the progressiveness of sexual orientation laws. We show for the first time to our knowledge that countries that have the greatest gender equality also have (a) the most positive aggregate attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and (b) the strongest legislative protections for lesbians and gay men. These results hold even when controlling for plausible third variables such as a country’s level of religiosity and its economic and political development, each with their own separate effects. We discuss the results within the context of the various forces that contribute to, and work against, ensuring more accepting attitudes of, and equal rights for, lesbians and gay men. In conclusion, to fully understand support for lesbians and gay men and the laws that protect them, one should also consider how women are treated in a country.

Our computational nature: comment on Barrett et al.

Our computational nature: comment on Barrett et al.

Social Psychology and the Great Recession: Comment on Bridging the Gap

Despite appreciating the importance of bridging–or perhaps because of it–we must also appreciate the challenges of any micro-macro interplay. Many psychological scientists work on social issues precisely because we are frustrated by the untested and often untenable psychological assumptions made by more macro social and economic sciences. At the psychological level of analysis, the array of approaches here to the social psychology of the Great Recession suggests a full agenda. The articles use quite a varied set of methods and forms of inequality, but these do not exhaust the possibilities for future work.

The role of evolutionary psychology within an interdisciplinary science of religion

The recent explosion of research on religion by biologists, anthropologists, and psychologists offers the prospect of a truly interdisciplinary science organized by an evolutionary paradigm. However, such unification will be elusive in the absence of proper vertical integration of biological, psychological, and anthropological levels of analysis. This article reviews arguments for an evolutionary approach to psychology that is consistent with, and founded upon, evolutionary biology; it then argues that in the same manner, an evolutionary approach to anthropology must be consistent with, and founded upon, evolutionary psychology. The author suggest that ongoing debates in the evolutionary study of religion, such as whether religion is an adaptation or a byproduct, often conflate biological, psychological, and cultural levels of analysis, and often fail to appreciate the indispensible role of the psychological level of analysis between biological and cultural levels. In the final section, the author attempts to articulate this role in an effort to promote true vertical integration of psychological and anthropological evolutionary approaches to religion.

Social Neuroscience: The Footprints of Phineas Gage

Social neuroscience is the most important development in social psychology since the “cognitive revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s. Modeled after cognitive neuroscience, the social neuroscience approach appears to entail a rhetoric of constraint, in which biological facts are construed as constraining theory at the psychological level of analysis, and a doctrine of modularity, which maps particular mental and behavioral functions onto discrete brain locations or systems. The rhetoric of constraint appears to be mistaken: psychological theory informs the interpretation of biological data, but not the reverse. And the doctrine of modularity must be qualified by an acceptance of a domain-general capacity for learning and problem-solving. While offering tremendous promise, the social neuroscience approach also risks accepting a version of reductionism that dissolves social reality into biological processes, and thus threatens the future status of the social sciences themselves.

Emergence and Metacontingency: Points of Contact and Departure

The behavioral contingency and the metacontingency describe pheThe behavioral contingency and the metacontingency describe phenomena at different levels of analysis, the former at the individual level, the latter at the group level. The relationship between these levels is similar to the relationship between the physiological and the psychological levels of analysis. Simply stated, behavior is not simply the sum of physiological activity, but is rather more than or qualitatively different from physiological activity. We believe this emergent relationship may be crucial to distinguishing phenomena at different levels of analyses. The term ‘emergence’ is used in several ways within behavior analysis. Some uses suggest that novel behavior or more complex behavior is emergent upon simpler behavior. The term is also used to suggest that molar patterns of behavior emerge from molecular contingencies of reinforcement. For others, the term is reserved for describing connections between levels of analysis. Our aim in this paper is to contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon of emergence in the interdisciplinary interaction between behavior analysis and sociology. In presenting this analysis, we examine the utility of an interdisciplinary concept of metacontingency and discuss the points of contact and departures between behavior analysis and cultural analysis throughout this process.

Triangulation and Theoretical Understanding

The more recent interpretation of triangulation in social and educational research was summarised and examined with reference to theory triangulation applied in an empirical study. The construction of special educational needs (SEN) from the individual experiences of a sample of SEN co‐ordinators and SEN teachers, parents, and adolescents with emotional and behavioural difficulties or physical disabilities were interpreted from the perspectives of personal construct theory, bio‐psycho‐social model, socio‐psychological analysis, bioecological model of human development and a developmental model of self‐understanding. Their points of convergence and divergence enriched and extended theoretical understanding. The focus on the ‘verstehen’ psychological level of analysis and on forging closer theory, concept and data connections influenced the range of theory choice. This instance of theory triangulation casts doubts on the Duhem‐Quine thesis of underdetermination.

Conceptual Learning: The Priority for Higher Education

ABSTRACT: The common sense notion of learning as the all-pervasive acquisition of new behaviour and knowledge, made vivid by experience, is an incomplete characterisation, because it assumes that the learning of behaviour and the learning of knowledge are indistinguishable, and that acquisition constitutes learning without reference to transfer. A psychological level of analysis is used to argue that conceptual learning should have priority in higher education.

Hebb's Neural Networks Support the Integration of Psychological Science.

Abstract In a recent paper and forthcoming volume, the former President of the American Psychological Association, Robert Sternberg, calls for an effort to reintegrate psychological science (Sternberg, in press; Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2001). In this paper we argue that D. O. Hebb, beginning with his technical volume in 1949 and continuing through a series of introductory textbooks, has convincingly presented the basis for such integration. The basis for this integration lies in understanding how genes and experience shape neural networks underlying human thoughts, feelings, and actions. Why has not Hebb's accomplishment been generally recognized as providing the needed integration for psychology? We suggest that the methods available to Hebb, mostly animal research and behavioural human experiments, were not sufficient to provide empirical methods for linking his conceptual nervous system to real events in the human brain. This methodology has now been provided by neuroimaging. While Hebb also recognized the importance of studying individual differences in intelligence and affect, there were also no methods for exploring the specific genes that were an important source of these differences. The human genome project has provided new methods for exploring this issue. Hebb's basic idea, together with the new methodological tools and new disciplines (e.g., cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience), all based on network views, give abundant evidence of the value of employing the converging operations strategy advocated by Sternberg and Grigorenko (2001). It is important that psychology recognize the need for integrating cognitive, affective and, social neuroscience with psychology, because many of the theoretical questions that need to be addressed by neuroimaging and genetic studies are exactly those that a century of psychologists have explored. The neuroscience approach provides crucial constraints for psychological theories, but also benefits from a closer connection with the psychological level of analysis. The Challenge In their paper, Sternberg and Grigorenko (2001) argue for a milltiparadigmatic and multidisciplinary integrated psychology to replace what they regard as a badly fragmented discipline. They outline three bad habits that they regard as symptoms of the fragmentation of the field. These are: a) the use of single methodologies, b) the identification of scholars with the psychological subfields of social, clinical, etc., and c) adherence to single paradigms such as behaviourism, cognitivism or psychoanalysis. Their paper traces various efforts to provide a unified psychology by Kimble (1994), Staats (1999), Magnusson (2000), and others. They also propose their own ideas, including the importance of using converging methods selected from different levels of analysis and the important role of graduate training in producing needed skills for integrative research. They also discuss political and social reasons why some oppose integration, and what can be done by organizations to foster it. We believe that the scientific basis for the integration is already on the scene, and that potentially integrated efforts under the names of cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience have already appeared. Functional neuroimaging requires the use of a task to activate brain areas. The usual strictures in the design of such tasks stem from cognitive studies, and they are now being taught and used by imagers. In addition, the combination of fMRl, EEC measures and lesions provide a toolkit of methods. Although there are many disagreements about the appropriate converging methods and how to best analyze imaging data, there is little question that a new generation of imagers are employing sophisticated and convergent methods. In our paper, we trace the background to these efforts in the work of D. O. Hebb. We then summarize important new developments that have increased the applicability of Hebb's ideas to many new topics. …

The impact of social experience on neurobiological systems: illustration from a constructivist view of child maltreatment

In this article, I highlight the discipline of developmental psychopathology as an integrative framework that builds upon the historical underpinnings of a constructivist perspective. After presenting illustrative developmental psychopathology principles that I consider to be central to a constructivist view, I turn my attention to the role of experience on brain development. This serves as the entree into a discussion of research conducted with maltreated children on brain event-related potentials (ERPs) and the cognitive processing of emotional stimuli, neuroendocrine functioning, and acoustic startle. Each of these components of brain functioning serve to underscore how different neurobiological systems reflect the way in which individuals ascribe meaning to traumatic experiences. Research on child maltreatment, an “experiment of nature,” reveals that maltreated children actively construct their reality at both the biological and psychological levels of analysis, at least in part based on the meaning these children impute to their caregiving experiences.

DNA.

The authors predict that in a few years, many areas of psychology will be awash in specific genes responsible for the widespread influence of genetics on behavior. As the focus shifts from finding genes (genomics) to understanding how genes affect behavior (behavioral genomics), it is important for the future of psychology as a science that pathways between genes and behavior be examined not only at the molecular biological level of cells or the neuroscience level of the brain but also at the psychological level of analysis. After a brief overview of quantitative genetic research, the authors describe how genes that influence complex traits like behavioral dimensions and disorders in human and nonhuman animals are being found. Finally, the authors discuss behavioral genomics and predict that DNA will revolutionize psychological research and treatment early in the 21st century.

Childhood autism: An appeal for an integrative and psychobiological approach.

The difficulty that a person with autism has in establishing relationships, maintaining them (communicating and responding appropriately) is a common experience of those close to them., That impaired perceptual and cognitive processing can underlie this difficulty and the interactions of people with autism with the material environment has been established in the laboratory. The consequences at a psychological level of analysis may converge in the inadequacy of second-order representations of the world. An attenuation of such endogenous monitoring processes could also indirectly account for features of withdrawal and the stereotypies often observed. At another level of analysis there are delays in neurotransmission, in the CNS and a lack of flexibility of physiological response shown by evoked potential recordings. Tomographic studies of blood flow and metabolism illustrate a lack of correlation between information processing centres in the brain that may sometimes arise from diffuse gray matter atrophy. A "stop-go" form of modulation of central processing is mediated by anomalous ascending serotonergic and dopaminergic function (transmitters with inhibitory and switching functions). On these bases it is no wonder that representations are not formed and inappropriate and repetitive behaviors follow, although the link remains somewhat speculative. Both levels of analysis are useful for an explanation. As behavioral and pharmacotherapy, though helpful, are severely limited in their efficacy, more effort is required to synthesize the different levels of analysis into a psycho-biological approach, to remedial programs and new forms of therapy.

Process vs Structure and Levels of Analysis in Psychology

This paper proposes the development and formalization of a model, already implicit in much philosophy of science, as a vehicle for moving to the unification of theories in psychology and the social sciences. Its two essential foundations are (i) an emphasis on process rather than structure (or actions rather than things) and (ii) the analysis of phenomena of interest to psychology on an indeterminate number of levels. Processes on each level provide a description of the phenomena, and are related to processes at lower and higher levels, such that at each level they provide structure for levels above. It is proposed that existing scientific theories are legitimate at their own levels, but should be articulated into a complete model of reality on the basis of processes rather than reduced to the neural or any other level on the basis of structure.

A Case for Banishing "Dual-Career Marriages" from the Research Literature

The authors argue that the concepts career and dual-career marriage are loosely defined in the literature and that this hinders the comparability offindings and accumulation of scientific knowledge. A review of recent articles on dual-career marriages supports this assertion. The absence of clear differentiation between sociological and psychological levels of analysis is an important element in the confusion. Researchers have often assumed that high job commitment (an attitudinal variable) correlates with high status occupations (a structural variable). This article presents empirical evidence for a lack of relationship between these variables from a sample of 450 husbands and 344 wives. The authors propose a glossary of terms to clarify dual-career marriage research.

CONCEPTUALISING RESEARCH ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING

Summary. A framework is presented for considering effective teaching which focuses on ‘classroom process’. The framework distinguishes three complementary levels of analysis. First, a surface level of analysis which focuses on the notions of ‘active learning time’ and ‘quality of instruction’. Second, a psychological level of analysis which focuses on psychological concepts, principles and processes which attempt to explain how process may influence outcomes. Third, a pedagogical level of analysis which focuses on teaching skills and on a three‐way interaction between teacher perceptions and strategies, pupil perceptions and strategies and characteristics of the learning experience. It is argued that the distinction between these three levels of analysis may aid clarification in conceptualising research on effective teaching.

Toward a General Theory of Alienation*

In this paper, the author arranges some of the major treatments of alienation within a coherent framework. He introduces a distinction between disassociation (certain specified objective conditions) and alienation (a specified experience) and articulates the relationship between these two by presenting a series of intervening psychological issues. A typology of human association is presented; and it is argued that especially two types of disassociation (i.e., marginality and subordination) and, to some extent, another (i.e., privilege) may be productive of alienation. These conditions are considered at the cultural, social, and psychological levels of analysis. Variables connecting these conditions and alienation include the perception of the condition, evaluation, integration, blame, and response.