The ‘Arguments Instead of Intuitions’ Account of Thought Experiments: Discussion of The Myth of the Intuitive by Max Deutsch

After decades of receiving a lot of attention on the epistemological level, the so-called ‘problem of intuitions’ is now in the center of debates on the metaphilosophical level. One of the reasons for this lies in the unfruitfulness of the epistemological discussions that recently subsided without producing any significant or broadly accepted theory of intuitions. Consequently, the metaphilosophical level of discussion of the ‘problem of intuitions’ inherits the same difficulties of the epistemological level. The significance of Max Deutsch’s book The Myth of the Intuitive is his effort to resolve these problems in a clear and persuasive way. He is not only trying to debunk problems behind the vagueness of the ‘intuition talk’ by drawing important distinctions that usually go under the radar in the contemporary literature, but also develops his own account of philosophical methodology. In this paper I will present some of his arguments against the traditional view of intuitional methodology, as well as his own solutions to the presented problems. Regardless of Deutsch’s insightful account of the ‘problem of intuitions’, I find that some difficulties in his own proposal are inherited from the unresolved issues of intuitions on the epistemological level

GUEST EDITORS\u27 NOTE

This thematic issue of Psychological Topics provides a collection of 12 articles covering empirical and theoretical contributions to the interdisciplinary field of psychology of music. Diverse topics in this field include processing and responding to music, as well as music-related behaviours such as listening to, performing and creating music that are examined in children and adults, musicians and non-musicians, in fundamental and applied contexts. The collection of articles presented in this issue reflects the diversity of topics and different methodology and study designs that researchers in the field of psychology of music use. This special issue brings two review articles, one about musicality in infancy and the other about flow in music performance, and one theoretical paper on expectancy in music. Nine articles present empirical studies. Research questions include perception of consonance and dissonance in music, perceived and induced emotions with music and moving images, music-evoked emotions in children, importance of self-determination theory concepts for solo-performance, personality and creative self-beliefs, multicultural effectiveness and artistic preferences, social influence in rating music, role of singing in well-being and comparison of funeral music characteristics in different cultures. We hope that this special issue will offer something of interest for readers already acquainted with the field of psychology of music, but also provide an interesting insight and reading for those just learning about this field. We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for all the authors who contributed to this issue, as well as all academic reviewers. We would also like to thank the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board for their support and assistance. Finally, we would like to give special thanks to the family of Professor Emeritus Sandra Trehub, who has sadly passed away before this issue was finished, for making it possible that her contribution to this issue could be published. It is a great honour for us that Professor Trehub’s review article about musicality in infancy, to which she dedicated her career, opens this special issue

Singing and Well-Being Indicators

Previous studies have indicated that there are positive effects of music and singing on well-being in adults. The aim of our study was to examine the associations between singing characteristics and well-being indicators (positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction). The study participants were 221 people (75.1% female) between 18 and 70 years (M = 31.94, SD = 12.89) who were at the time actively involved in any kind of singing activities. Singing characteristics, namely, frequency of singing, singing alone or with others and importance of singing were measured by a questionnaire designed for the purpose of this research. Croatian adaptation of the shortened form of The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson & Clark, 1994) was used for measuring positive and negative affect, while The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985) was used for general life satisfaction. We examined the associations between singing characteristics and well-being indicators using correlational and regression analyses. Results of both analyses showed that people who considered singing highly important had higher life satisfaction, and that singing with others was associated with less negative affect. However, these associations were small in size, explaining 2.7% and 6.3% of well-being variance after controlling for age. In line with previous research, when there are significant effects of singing on well-being, they are in direction that singing is associated with higher well-being

GUEST EDITORS\u27 NOTE

This thematic issue of Psychological Topics provides a collection of 12 articles covering empirical and theoretical contributions to the interdisciplinary field of psychology of music. Diverse topics in this field include processing and responding to music, as well as music-related behaviours such as listening to, performing and creating music that are examined in children and adults, musicians and non-musicians, in fundamental and applied contexts. The collection of articles presented in this issue reflects the diversity of topics and different methodology and study designs that researchers in the field of psychology of music use. This special issue brings two review articles, one about musicality in infancy and the other about flow in music performance, and one theoretical paper on expectancy in music. Nine articles present empirical studies. Research questions include perception of consonance and dissonance in music, perceived and induced emotions with music and moving images, music-evoked emotions in children, importance of self-determination theory concepts for solo-performance, personality and creative self-beliefs, multicultural effectiveness and artistic preferences, social influence in rating music, role of singing in well-being and comparison of funeral music characteristics in different cultures. We hope that this special issue will offer something of interest for readers already acquainted with the field of psychology of music, but also provide an interesting insight and reading for those just learning about this field. We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for all the authors who contributed to this issue, as well as all academic reviewers. We would also like to thank the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board for their support and assistance. Finally, we would like to give special thanks to the family of Professor Emeritus Sandra Trehub, who has sadly passed away before this issue was finished, for making it possible that her contribution to this issue could be published. It is a great honour for us that Professor Trehub’s review article about musicality in infancy, to which she dedicated her career, opens this special issue

The Relationship between Personality and Creative Self-Beliefs at Different Levels of Personality Hierarchy

In recent decades, research has shown that one set of individual factors contributing to creative self-beliefs are personality traits, with openness showing the strongest relationship. However, these associations have been studied at higher levels of the personality hierarchy and mostly in non-musician samples. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between personality (measured at factor and facet levels) and two types of creative self-beliefs, trait-like creative self-efficacy (tCSE) and creative personal identity (CPI), in a sample of a cappella singers. A total of 128 individuals (64% women) participated in the study. Participants were members of 18 conveniently sampled traditional Croatian a cappella groups. Personality factors and facets were measured with the BFI-2 questionnaire (Soto & John, 2017), while creative self-beliefs were measured with the Short Scale of Creative Self (Karwowski et al., 2018). At the factor level, openness had the highest correlation with both tCSE and CPI. At the facet level, the highest correlations with tCSE were found for creative imagination, an openness facet, and energy level, an extraversion facet, while with CPI for all openness facets, creative imagination, aesthetic sensitivity and intellectual curiosity. In linear regression analyses, the only significant predictors of CPI were openness at the factor level and creative imagination at the facet level. Significant predictors of tCSE were openness and neuroticism at the factor level and creative imagination and sociability at the facet level. Personality facets explained more variance in both types of creative self-beliefs than factors

THE PROBLEM OF THE A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IN THE DISPUTE BETWEEN EMPIRICISM AND RATIONALISM

U radu branim tezu da racionalnoj intuiciji kao izvoru opravdanja a priori treba dati važno mjesto unutar epistemologije i filozofije općenito, ali da one unutar okvira racionalističkih i empirističkih teorija nisu adekvatno objašnjene. Stoga veći dio rada posvećujem izlaganju empirističkih i racionalističkih teorija te iznosim glavne probleme s kojima se te teorije suočavaju. Empirističke teorije, odričući intuicijama status izvora opravdanja a priori gube na plauzibilnosti svojih objašnjenja na koji način određene propozicije znamo neovisno o iskustvu, bilo da se radi o umjerenoj ili radikalnoj verziji empirizma. Racionalističke teorije, s druge strane, koristeći se primarno apriornim metodama „u naslonjaču“ ne uspijevaju na adekvatan način objasniti što su intuicije, kako one funkcioniraju, te odgovoriti na pitanje zašto bismo ih smatrali izvorom znanja a priori, odnosno onima koji nas vode istinitim vjerovanjima. Dakle, najveći problem u suvremenoj epistemologiji je činjenica da opravdajni status samih intuicija kao izvora opravdanja a priori i metode na koju se filozofi u svojoj argumentaciji pozivaju, nikada nije u dovoljnoj mjeri razjašnjen.In my dissertation I defend the thesis that rational intuition, as a source of a priori justification, should be given an important place within the epistemology and philosophy in general, and that they have not been adequately explained within the framework of rationalists’ and empiricists’ theories. Consequently, most of the work I dedicate to the presentation of their theories and emphasizing the main problems they are dealing with. Empiricists’ theories, whether they are moderate or radical version of empiricism in question, by renouncing intuitions their status of the source of a priori justification, lose plausibility of their explanations of how certain propositions are known independently of experience. Rationalists’ theories, on the other hand, by using primarily a priori methods of “armchair thinking”, fail to adequately explain what intuitions are, how they function, and to answer the question why we should consider them as a source of a priori knowledge, that is, why we should consider them as those that are truth conducive. So, the main problem in modern epistemology is the fact that evidential (justificational) status of intuitions, as a source of a priori justification, and method to which the philosophers in their argumentation appeal, is never fully explained

THE PROBLEM OF THE A PRIORI KNOWLEDGE IN THE DISPUTE BETWEEN EMPIRICISM AND RATIONALISM

U radu branim tezu da racionalnoj intuiciji kao izvoru opravdanja a priori treba dati važno mjesto unutar epistemologije i filozofije općenito, ali da one unutar okvira racionalističkih i empirističkih teorija nisu adekvatno objašnjene. Stoga veći dio rada posvećujem izlaganju empirističkih i racionalističkih teorija te iznosim glavne probleme s kojima se te teorije suočavaju. Empirističke teorije, odričući intuicijama status izvora opravdanja a priori gube na plauzibilnosti svojih objašnjenja na koji način određene propozicije znamo neovisno o iskustvu, bilo da se radi o umjerenoj ili radikalnoj verziji empirizma. Racionalističke teorije, s druge strane, koristeći se primarno apriornim metodama „u naslonjaču“ ne uspijevaju na adekvatan način objasniti što su intuicije, kako one funkcioniraju, te odgovoriti na pitanje zašto bismo ih smatrali izvorom znanja a priori, odnosno onima koji nas vode istinitim vjerovanjima. Dakle, najveći problem u suvremenoj epistemologiji je činjenica da opravdajni status samih intuicija kao izvora opravdanja a priori i metode na koju se filozofi u svojoj argumentaciji pozivaju, nikada nije u dovoljnoj mjeri razjašnjen.In my dissertation I defend the thesis that rational intuition, as a source of a priori justification, should be given an important place within the epistemology and philosophy in general, and that they have not been adequately explained within the framework of rationalists’ and empiricists’ theories. Consequently, most of the work I dedicate to the presentation of their theories and emphasizing the main problems they are dealing with. Empiricists’ theories, whether they are moderate or radical version of empiricism in question, by renouncing intuitions their status of the source of a priori justification, lose plausibility of their explanations of how certain propositions are known independently of experience. Rationalists’ theories, on the other hand, by using primarily a priori methods of “armchair thinking”, fail to adequately explain what intuitions are, how they function, and to answer the question why we should consider them as a source of a priori knowledge, that is, why we should consider them as those that are truth conducive. So, the main problem in modern epistemology is the fact that evidential (justificational) status of intuitions, as a source of a priori justification, and method to which the philosophers in their argumentation appeal, is never fully explained

Sex difference in written verbal fluency task among adolescents

Verbal fluency tasks have been widely used in clinical neuropsychology and they are important indicators for different conditions. The aim of this study was to examine sex difference in written verbal fluency task in a sample of adolescents from different cultures than those studied so far, using stimulus letters specific for the language of that culture. Participants were high-school students (N=233, 40% males), aged between 14 and 19 years (M=16.66, SD=1.26). Participants were asked to produce as many words as they can, longer than three letters, starting with letters K and M. These letters were chosen according to Mimica et al. (2011) study on appropriate phonological verbal fluency stimulus letters for use with Croatian speaking individuals. Scores of females and males obtained for letters K and M were compared using ANOVA. Females performed better with Cohen d 0.68 for letter K and 0.54 for letter M. This sex difference in verbal fluency in adolescence might be related to sex differences in the regional timing of brain maturation or to sex difference in writing speed. Future studies should further test alternative explanations for this sex difference in adolescence, which seems to become smaller or disappear in adulthood