Background and purpose: The functional understanding and examination of competitive anxiety responses as temporal events that unfold as time-to-competition moves closer has emerged as a topical research area within the domains of sport psychology. However, little is known from an inclusive and interaction oriented perspective. Using the multidimensional anxiety theory as a framework, the present study examined the temporal patterning of competitive anxiety, focusing on the dimensions of intensity, direction, and frequency of intrusions in athletes across gender and skill level. (...) Methods: Elite and semi-elite Table Tennis athletes from the Ghanaian league (N= 90) completed a modified version of Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) with the inclusion of the directional and frequency of intrusion scales at three temporal phases (7 days, two days and 1 hour) prior to a competitive fixture. Results: MANOVA repeated measures with follow-up analyses revealed significant interactions for between-subjects factors on all anxiety dimensions (intensity, direction and frequency). Notably, elite (international) female athletes were less cognitively anxious, showed more facilitative interpretation towards somatic anxiety symptoms and experienced less frequency of somatic anxiety symptoms than their male counterparts. However, both elite groups displayed appreciable level of self-confidence. For time-to-event effects, both cognitive and somatic anxiety intensity fluctuated whereas self-confidence showed a steady rise as competition neared. Somatic anxiety debilitative interpretation slightly improved 1 hour before competition whereas cognitive anxiety frequencies also increased progressively during the entire preparatory phase. Conclusions: Findings suggest a more dynamic image of elite athletes’ pre-competitive anxiety responses than suggested by former studies, potentially influenced by cultural differences. The use of psychological skills interventions that require effective structure, content, and timing in a composite manner is suggested. (shrink)

Even though the assessment of competitive anxiety responses (intensity, interpretation, and frequency) using the time-to-event paradigm has gained much attention, literature on the account of these same experiences in-event and their corresponding psychological skills adopted under differing conditions is limited. This is a follow up investigation to establish the extent to which associated anxiety responses are stable or dynamic and whether this pattern could be related to reported psychological skills under low or high stressful conditions across gender. Twenty-three high level (...) (N= 13 males and 10 females) Ghanaian Table Tennis players provided data through completion of modified versions of Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2), incorporated with directional and frequency of intrusion scales and the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) inventory during breaks within competitive fixtures. MANCOVAs (gender x stress condition) with follow-up analyses revealed no significant interactions and no main effect for gender but significant main effects were realized for all anxiety dimensions and psychological skills for only the second factor. Specifically, the intensity and frequency of cognitive and somatic state anxiety symptoms increased and were interpreted as debilitative under the high stress condition, although self-confidence and other array of psychological skills were highly displayed under the same stressful condition. Findings highlight the dynamic characteristics of in-event associated anxiety responses and ineffectiveness of deployed psychological skills regardless of gender. These perhaps show the exceptionality of affective experiences in an African setting, suggesting a culturally diversified approach to psychological skills application, if desirable effects are to be attained. (shrink)

In der Reihe werden herausragende monographische Untersuchungen und Sammelbände zu allen Aspekten der Philosophie Kants veröffentlicht, ebenso zum systematischen Verhältnis seiner Philosophie zu anderen philosophischen Ansätzen in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Veröffentlicht werden Studien, die einen innovativen Charakter haben und ausdrückliche Desiderate der Forschung erfüllen. Die Publikationen repräsentieren damit den aktuellsten Stand der Forschung.

Wenn man den freien Willen nicht mehr als ursachenlose Ursache bzw. als Erstauslöser deutet, sondern als neuronal und kulturell bedingte Fähigkeit begreift, für verschiedene Gründe zugänglich zu sein und ungehindert Entschlüsse fassen zu können, so kann man durch Tadel im Sinne eines asymmetrischen Sprachspiels - so die These - lernen, willensfrei(er) zu werden und aus Gründen zu handeln. Tadel ist somit in der Erziehung unentbehrlich, denn bevor man sich für einleuchtende Gründe entscheidet, muss man überhaupt aus Gründen handeln und ungehindert (...) entscheiden können. Obwohl dieser Eingriff als eine die Freiheit nicht fördernde Intervention erscheinen mag, kann er mentale Ereignisse in Gang setzen, mit denen Entschlüsse erneut abgewogen werden können, wodurch sich ein Zuwachs an Willensfreiheit doch noch ereignet. Die alte pädagogische Antinomie von Zwang und Freiheit ist damit auflösbar, ohne die neuronale Bedingtheit mentaler Phänomene zu leugnen. (shrink)

Die vorliegende Untersuchung stellt die Frage nach der Gerechtigkeit des Rechts, wobei sich das Wort "Recht" sowohl auf das Ganze der Rechtsordnung als auch auf einzelne Rechtsnormen beziehen kann. Dabei wird ausgelotet, was eine rechtsethische Rechtfertigung des Rechts überhaupt zu leisten vermag und welches ihre Grenzen sind. Die Untersuchung geht systematisch vor. Es erfolgt in erster Linie eine Auseinandersetzung mit problembezogenen Lösungsvorschlägen. Historische Positionen sowie philosophiegeschichtliche Betrachtungen dienen der Abrundung. Der Aufbau des Werkes erfolgt in Form einer Stufenpyramide, wobei auf (...) jeder Stufe die Problembehandlung immer weiter konkretisiert wird. So wird die Bandbreite möglicher Antworten auf die Frage nach der Gerechtigkeit des Rechts Schritt für Schritt eingegrenzt. Der Lösungsvorschlag des Autors geht am Ende dieser Stufenpyramide hin zu einer materialen Gerechtigkeitstheorie. Diese sogenannte "Dreizonentheorie politischer Gerechtigkeit" wird im zentralen Teil der Untersuchung ausführlich behandelt und dargestellt. Inhalt: Recht und Moral - Formale Positionen zum Verhältnis Rechtsethik - Recht - Materiale Rechtsethik/Politische Gerechtigkeit - Kritik des normativen Individualismus - Die Dreizonentheorie politischer Gerechtigkeit. (shrink)

Dietmar Wetzel unternimmt eine diskurskritisch-vergleichenden Lektüre zweier Theorielinien der neueren Sozialphilosophie: identitäts- versus alteritätsorientierte Konzepte. Das Denken des Ethischen und des Politischen wird dabei anhand einer Beschäftigung mit Schlüsselbegriffen, Konstellationen und Figuren der Gegenwartsgesellschaft thematisch an Gerechtigkeit, Geschlecht, Dritte(m) und Gemeinschaft ausgerichtet. Soziologische Essays, dem Intellektuellen, der Hausfrau, dem Grenzpolizisten und dem Flüchtling gewidmet sind, komplementieren die Analysen. So kann gezeigt werden, daß differenztheoretische Positionen (Lévinas/Derrida) den Begriff der Gerechtigkeit um Aspekte der Fürsorge und der moralischen Gefühle erweitern müssen (...) (Benhabib, Cornell). Da im Übergang der Ich-Anderer-Beziehung zu "ordentlichen Bezügen" das Dritte eine grundlegende Rolle spielt, läßt sich Gemeinschaftsbildung nicht mehr im Sinne natural bzw. religiös begründeter Nachbarschaft (Kommunitarismus), sondern nur als stets neu zu legitimierende und variierende Kultivierung von Andersheit begreifen. (shrink)

We investigate the expressive power of Parikh's Game Logic interpreted in Kripke structures, and show that the syntactical alternation hierarchy of this logic is strict. This is done by encoding the winning condition for parity games of rank n. It follows that Game Logic is not captured by any finite level of the modal -calculus alternation hierarchy. Moreover, we can conclude that model checking for the -calculus is efficiently solvable iff this is possible for Game Logic.

We investigate the expressive power of Parikh's Game Logic interpreted in Kripke structures, and show that the syntactical alternation hierarchy of this logic is strict. This is done by encoding the winning condition for parity games of rank n. It follows that Game Logic is not captured by any finite level of the modal μ-calculus alternation hierarchy. Moreover, we can conclude that model checking for the μ-calculus is efficiently solvable iff this is possible for Game Logic.

In addition to its two world wars, the rapid decolonization after 1947 has been the most important phenomenon of the 20th century. The two wars led to the decline of the European colonial empires and speeded up decolonization. This process has spawned more than one hundred new nations which in many cases did not exist in this way before. It also fixed territorial boundaries, most of which have remained unaltered ever since. In the course of decolonization constitutions have been made (...) which have also survived unless they have been suspended by military coups. Many of these constitutions bear the stamp of the process of decolonization because they were framed with a view to facilitating the transfer of power. Usually the grant of independence was preceded by various steps in the devolution of power which left their traces in the constitutional documents. Since this devolution implied the prescription of administrative procedures, these constitutional documents often contain a great deal of contingent detail, whereas ‘normal’ constitutions are restricted to statements of fundamental rights and basic principles. This led to ironies of fate such that the Independence of India Act, which subsequently formed the basis of the Indian constitution, is the longest act ever passed by the British Parliament, which is itself based on an unwritten constitution. (shrink)

When seeking to coordinate in a game with imperfect information, it is often relevant for a player to know what other players know. Keeping track of the information acquired in a play of infinite duration may, however, lead to infinite hierarchies of higher-order knowledge. We present a construction that makes explicit which higher-order knowledge is relevant in a game and allows us to describe a class of games that admit coordinated winning strategies with finite memory.

The inclusion of the history and philosophy of science in science teaching is widely accepted, but the actual state of implementation in schools is still poor. This article investigates possible reasons for this discrepancy. The demands science teachers associate with HPS-based teaching play an important role, since these determine teachers’ decisions towards implementing its practices and ideas. We therefore investigate the perceptions of 8 HPS-experienced German middle school physics teachers within and beyond an HPS implementation project. Within focused interviews these (...) teachers describe and evaluate the challenges of planning and conducting HPS-based physics lessons using collaboratively developed HPS teaching materials. The teachers highlight a number of obstacles to the implementation of HPS specific to this approach: finding and adapting HPS teaching material, knowing and using instructional design principles for HPS lessons, presenting history in a motivating way, dealing with students’ problematic ideas about the history of science, conducting open-ended historical classroom investigations in the light of known historical outcomes, using historical investigations to teach modern science concepts, designing assessments to target HPS-specific learning outcomes, and justifying the HPS-approach against curriculum and colleagues. Teachers' perceived demands point out critical aspects of pedagogical content knowledge necessary for confident, comfortable and effective teaching of HPS-based science. They also indicate how HPS teacher education and the design of curricular materials can be improved to make implementing HPS into everyday teaching less demanding. (shrink)

To integrate social robots in real-life contexts, it is crucial that they are accepted by the users. Acceptance is not only related to the functionality of the robot but also strongly depends on how the user experiences the interaction. Established design principles from usability and user experience research can be applied to the realm of human–robot interaction, to design robot behavior for the comfort and well-being of the user. Focusing the design on these aspects alone, however, comes with certain ethical (...) challenges, especially regarding the user’s privacy and autonomy. Based on an example scenario of human–robot interaction in elder care, this paper discusses how established design principles can be used in social robotic design. It then juxtaposes these with ethical considerations such as privacy and user autonomy. Combining user experience and ethical perspectives, we propose adjustments to the original design principles and canvass our own design recommendations for a positive and ethically acceptable social human–robot interaction design. In doing so, we show that positive user experience and ethical design may be sometimes at odds, but can be reconciled in many cases, if designers are willing to adjust and amend time-tested design principles. (shrink)

The constitutions of the decolonized new nations were marked by the process of the devolution of power. This process had an impact on the agenda setting and arena setting embedded in these constitutions. ‘Agenda’ refers to the conduct of political affairs and ‘arena’ to the delimitation of the powers of Parliament, the design of constituencies, etc. As a special feature, federalism was introduced by several constitutions. It emerged as a device for the gradual devolution of power. In some instances it (...) proved to be a permanent asset (India), in others it was contested (Nigeria) or rejected (Rhodesia). None of the new constitutions contained adequate provisions for the civilian control of the armed forces. The armed forces were simply taken for granted and their potential political role disregarded. But in many new nations political power was soon usurped by the armed forces and constitutional government was suspended. (shrink)

In den 1980er Jahren wurde das Erhabene im Kontext der Debatten um die Postmoderne wiederentdeckt. Dabei konzentrierte man sich auf die Theorien Burkes und Kants, in denen das Schöne dem Erhabenen gegenübergestellt wird. Die Geschichte des Erhabenen in der Frühen Neuzeit dagegen blieb weitgehend im dunkeln. Diese Geschichte wird hier dargestellt, wobei die Studie von der These ausgeht, daß für diesen Zeitraum gerade nicht die Dichotomie von Schönem und Erhabenem zentral ist, sondern die Opposition zweier Modelle des Sublimen selbst: das (...) Erhabene des Ps.-Longin und die Dreistillehre der klassischen Rhetorik. (shrink)

The target article by Byrne & Russon treats imitation as an achievement that originates from observation. In my commentary I propose extending the database to the role of listening. Referring to current studies on song learning in birds, I suggest that at least some features of this accomplishment also may be based on learning by imitation.

I like Cowan's review of STM properties and especially his suggestions on the role of attention. I missed, however, a consideration of studies which provide evidence for STM properties in animals. In my commentary, I argue that such evidence can elucidate the biological basis of storage limitations, validating this view by discussing mechanisms which constrain the acquisition of serial information in songbirds.

Dietmar Zaefferer Institutfiir Deutsche Philologie Universitdt Munchen Schellingstr. 3 D-8000 Munchen 40 Semantic universals are the properties the ...

This article improves our understanding of the reasons underlying the intellectual migration of scientists from existing cognitive domains to nascent scientific fields. To that purpose we present, first, a number of findings from the sociology of science that give different insights about scientific migration. We then attempt to bring some of these insights together under the conceptual roof of an actor-based approach linking expected utility and diffusion theory. Intellectual migration is seen as the choice of scientists who decide under uncertainty (...) and on the base of estimations about probabilities, costs, and benefits of the migration. The resulting choice model can be used as a heuristic base for further exploration of the subject. (shrink)

Nicht zu Unrecht gilt die Behandlung von Angsterkrankungen als die Paradedisziplin der Verhaltenstherapie. Hier wie auch generell zeigt sich die VT dabei aber als zersplittert in eine Vielzahl von Einzelmethoden: Verschiedene Lernformen – Einsichtslernen, Konditionierungslernen und Habituationslernen - werden in ihrem Beitrag zu Angsterkrankungen isoliert voneinander konzipiert. Entsprechend stehen auch auf diesen Lernformen basierende Therapiemethoden für sich. Dadurch werden wichtige Synergiepotenziale verschenkt. Menschliches Lernen, auch und gerade das Lernen und Verlernen von pathologischer Angst, ist aber immer ein ganzheitlicher Prozess. Der (...) Artikel skizziert eine ganzheitliche Psycho-Logik der Eskalation und Chronifizierung pathologischer Angst unter integrierendem Einbezug der o.g. Lernformen. Hieraus leitet sich eine verfahrensintegrierende VT ab, die die etablierten Behandlungsmethoden so kombiniert, dass Synergiegewinne entstehen, was an einem Fallbeispiel verdeutlicht wird. Den theoretischen Hintergrund bildet die Theorie der Selbstorganisation komplexer Systeme, insbesondere die Synergetik – ein Feld, in dem wichtige Aspekte der Gestalttheorie aufgehoben sind. It is not without reason that the treatment of anxiety disorders is considered the showpiece of behavioral therapy. Here as well as in general, however, the BT shows itself fragmented into a multitude of individual methods: Different forms of learning - insight learning, conditioning learning and habituation learning - are designed in isolation from each other in their contribution to anxiety disorders. Correspondingly, treatment methods based on these forms of learning stand for themselves. This gives away important synergy potential. Human learning, also and especially learning and unlearning of pathological anxiety, is always a holistic process. The paper outlines a holistic psycho-logic of the escalation and chronification of pathological anxiety, integrating the above mentioned forms of learning. This leads to the derivation of a method-integrating BT, which combines the established treatment methods in such a way that synergy gains are achieved, as illustrated by a case study. The theoretical background is formed by the theory of the self-organization of complex systems, in particular synergetics - a field in which important aspects of gestalt theory are implied. (shrink)

Normative ethics concerns the criticism and justification of morality, law, and other systems of norms. This book develops a normative ethical theory based on individuals and offers a third way beyond the dominant paradigms of Kantianism and Utilitarianism. This theory can assist us in answering concrete ethical questions. The book discusses, for example, the existence of duties to oneself, the permissibility of paternalistic decisions for others, and the status of supererogatory actions. It also considers various problems in bioethics. Key features: (...) Development of a new normative ethical theory Up-to-date overview of the topic Written in clear and comprehensible style Provides answers to concrete ethical problems Also of interest for doctors, lawyers, and economists ". (shrink)

The article tries to inquire a third way in normative ethics between consequentialism or utilitarianism and deontology or Kantianism. To find such a third way in normative ethics, one has to analyze the elements of these classical theories and to look if they are justified. In this article it is argued that an adequate normative ethics has to contain the following five elements: (1) normative individualism, i. e., the view that in the last instance moral norms and values can only (...) be justified by reference to the individuals concerned, as its basis; (2) consideration of the individuals’ concerns and interests—aims, desires, needs, strivings—insofar as they have a justificatory function; (3) a pluralism of references of these concerns and hence of moral norms and values to all possible elements of actions; (4) the necessity of a principle of aggregation and weighing with regard to these concerns; (5) finally, as a central principle of aggregation and weighing, the principle of relative reference to self and others, operating as a generalizing meta-principle that guides the application of concrete principles and decisions. (shrink)