Frontiers in psychology
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
ReviewIch kann nicht anders: Social Heroism as Nonselfsacrificial Practical Necessity.
Most self-reports of heroic action in both reactive and social (proactive) cases describe the experience as involving a kind of necessity. This seems intuitively sound, but it makes it unclear why heroism is accorded strong approbation. ⋯ This evinces a deep social bond, and it is this bond, rather than the action itself, that is the ground of approbation. (3) I then discuss how this construal of reactive heroism can be extended to cases of social heroism by way of a necessity that is internal to the agent's individual character. Similarly to reactive cases, a social hero literally embodies a certain ethical commitment such that her actions are likewise instances of nonselfsacrificial practical necessity. (4) I then discuss how the commitment perceived in cases of social heroism pertains to the actualization of "surplus validity," such that whereas the reactive hero is praised for embodying shared value, the social hero is praised for embodying a commitment to actualizing the concrete potential of such value more fully The approbation accorded to social heroism is therefore tied inextricably to a normative judgment concerning such immanent progressive transformation.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
ReviewGoing Beyond the Data as the Patching (Sheaving) of Local Knowledge.
Consistently predicting outcomes in novel situations is colloquially called "going beyond the data," or "generalization." Going beyond the data features in spatial and non-spatial cognition, raising the question of whether such features have a common basis-a kind of systematicity of generalization. Here, we conceptualize this ability as the patching of local knowledge to obtain non-local (global) information. Tracking the passage from local to global properties is the purview of sheaf theory, a branch of mathematics at the nexus of algebra and geometry/topology. ⋯ In both cases, going beyond the data is obtained from a (universal) sheaf theory construction called "sheaving," i.e., the "patching" of local data attached to a topological space to obtain a representation considered as a globally coherent cognitive map. These results are discussed in the context of a previous (category theory) explanation for systematicity, vis-a-vis, categorical universal constructions, along with other cognitive domains where going beyond the data is apparent. Analogous to higher-order function (i.e., a function that takes/returns a function), going beyond the data as a higher-order systematicity property is explained by sheaving, a higher-order (categorical) universal construction.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Can Induce Neuroplasticity and Significant Clinical Improvement in Patients Suffering From Fibromyalgia With a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse-Randomized Controlled Trial.
Background: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a condition considered to represent a prototype of central sensitization syndrome, can be induced by different triggers including childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Recent studies have demonstrated hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can induce neuroplasticity and improve clinical outcome of FMS. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of HBOT on patients suffering from FMS with a history of CSA. ⋯ Conclusion: HBOT induced significant clinical improvement that correlates with improved brain functionality and brain microstructure in CSA related FMS patients. Trial Registration: www. Clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT03376269. url: https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03376269.
-
In recent years, the scientific study of meditation and psychedelic drugs has seen remarkable developments. The increased focus on meditation in cognitive neuroscience has led to a cross-cultural classification of standard meditation styles validated by functional and structural neuroanatomical data. Meanwhile, the renaissance of psychedelic research has shed light on the neurophysiology of altered states of consciousness induced by classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, whose effects are mainly mediated by agonism of serotonin receptors. ⋯ Indeed, various aspects of self-consciousness, including narrative aspects linked to autobiographical memory, self-related thoughts and mental time travel, and embodied aspects rooted in multisensory processes, may be differently affected by psychedelics and meditation practices. Finally, we consider long-term outcomes of experiences of self-loss induced by meditation and psychedelics on individual traits and prosocial behavior. We call for caution regarding the problematic conflation of temporary states of self-loss with "selflessness" as a behavioral or social trait, although there is preliminary evidence that correlations between short-term experiences of self-loss and long-term trait alterations may exist.
-
Frontiers in psychology · Jan 2018
Creative Argumentation: When and Why People Commit the Metaphoric Fallacy.
This article aims to understand when and why people accept fallacious arguments featuring metaphors (metaphoric fallacy) as sound arguments. Two experiments were designed to investigate, respectively, when and why participants fell into the metaphoric fallacy. In the first experiment, participants were provided with a series of syllogisms, presented in natural language, containing in their first premise either a lexically ambiguous, literal middle term or a metaphorical middle term, i.e. the term that "bridges" the first premise with the second premise, and ending with a true, false or plausible conclusion. ⋯ We argue that a creative search for alternative reasons justifies participants' falling into the metaphoric fallacy, especially when the framing effect of a metaphor covertly influences the overall reading of the argument. Thus, far from being a source of irrationality, metaphors might elicit a different style of reasoning in argumentation, forcing participants to find an alternative interpretation of the premises that guarantees the believed conclusion. In this process, conventional metaphors are revitalized and extended through the second premise to the conclusion, thereby entailing an overall metaphorical reading of the argument.