52 research outputs found
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Behavior Pattern Indexing
Judgment Space Methodology in Behavior Pattern Indexing Judgment space methods are applied to the problem of identifying, distinguishing, and automatically processing descriptions of behavior patterns which are of interest to criminal justice agencies. This methodology provides continuous, quantitative indexing in contrast to the traditional discrete, qualitative indexing. It offers the following advantages for research and evaluation. (a) A quick screening for improving the quality of the data base (b) A sensitive and distinctive dependent variable for studying criminal behavior as a function of significant influences or merely change over time (c) Empirical derivation of indexing categories (d) A benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of behavioral indexing and retrieval systems. The specific products of the project include the following. (a) Parametric analyses of criminal episodes (b) Two behavioral indexing systems (c) A functional computerized Modus Operandi File, using the Colorado Bureau of Investigation data base (d) Empirical tests of the system for purposes (a), (b), and (d), above
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Religion Without Doctrine
This report is a transcript of a talk delivered to the First Unitarian Fellowship, Boulder, Colorado on November 5, 1978. "The main reason I'm here today is that Earlene suggested a general topic that would be of interest to this group, and it's one that I have had some experience with in a different context, and that topic is, "How do you do without doctrine?" I've had a lot of experience doing without doctrine in practicing psychology, in conceptualizing science, in theorizing, and so forth. So as somebody who has been through some of the hard knocks of getting along without doctrines, I thought that I might share some of the ideas that I've found useful in other areas, and then lay upon you the task of transferring -- if you can some of those ideas to the specific issue of religion and spiritual life.
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Representation, Evaluation, and Research
The initial presentation of ideas in this paper were in "What Actually Happens". In this paper, Ossorio presents additional examples for integrating methodology and theory (or 'methodological' formulation and 'substantive' formulation) in pursuit of a unified practice in the behavioral sciences
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Appraisal
The concept of appraisal is one of the most widely used concepts in Descriptive Psychology . However, it. has appeared to be a rather slippery notion. In part, this appearance reflects an insufficiently precise placement of the concept within the overall conceptual structure . In turn, the placement problem reflects the fact that the concept of appraisal was introduced into the Descriptive Psychology literature in some half a dozen different places at different times, independently. As a result, there is some question as to whether the same concept is involved in each of these cases. Thus, it is appropriate to review the several usages and examine their alignment. The paradigmatic uses of the term "appraisal" appear in (a) the definition of "appraisal," (b) the formulation of emotional behavior, (c} the Judgment Diagram, (d} the Actor-Observer-Critic schema, (e) the formulation of the phenomenon of status assignments, and (f) the formulation of consciousness and altered states of consciousness. These and other uses are reviewed and explicated below
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Ex Post Facto: The Source of Intractable Origin Problems and Their Resolution
This report is a transcript of an address to the Society for Descriptive Psychology at its third Annual Conference in 1981 at Boulder, Colorado
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What There Is, How Things Are
This report is an extension of a presentation at the Society for Descriptive Psychology Annual Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado, September, 1996 and is a revision of LRI Report No. 49
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Notes on Behavior Description
The concept of a Person was presented in an earlier report (LRI Report #3) as a preliminary introduction to a foundational discipline for behavioral science designated as Descriptive Psychology. In the present report the concept of behavior description is developed in greater detail.</p
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State of Affairs Systems: Theory and Technique for Automatic Fact Analysis
The present report was written in 1971. The intent was to delineate an information processing system of an advanced type which would be capable of duplicating some of the essential characteristics of human behavior and some important achievements currently accomplished only by human beings. Probably the system described herein (the "State of Affairs System") would be classified by most interested persons under the category of "Artificial Intelligence". Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the State of Affairs System is that the system is based directly on a conceptualization of persons and their behavior rather than on the usual 'theories dealing with computability, data structure, language, or prograrrming. Both its information-processing power and its general lack of intelligibility to members of the computing community stem from this feature
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Pathology
The Deficit Model of pathology is presented in contrast to the traditional Medical Model and Behavioral Model. The structure of the Deficit Model as a Descriptive-Psychology formulation is given in some detail. Explanations of pathology are contrasted with the concept of pathology itself. The social, normative, judgmental, and relativistic aspects of pathology and pathology attributions are discussed. The conceptual structure of explanations of pathology is explicated and the relation of pathology to personal problems is discussed. The current psychiatric taxonomy, DSM III, is critically analyzed and the relation of the Deficit Model to the DSM III approach is analyzed. The value of classificatory schemes is discussed
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Conceptual-Notational Devices: The PCF and Related Types
When we acquire a concept there is an extended family of possible ways of acting on it. We may, for example, use it in recognizing instances or non-instances and treating them accordingly. We may also use it in hypothesizing, imagining, predicting, wondering, instructing, speculating, asking, wishing, demanding, denying, pondering, or asserting. And more. In general, the acquisition of a concept opens up behavioral possibilities. It adds to our behavior potential. For example, the acquisition of the concept of a Person gives us the behavioral possibilities of a person. (Compare: the acquisition of the concept of chess gives us the behavioral possibilities of a chess player.) In Descriptive Psychology the formulation of the Person Concept and of more detailed subject matter is accomplished by means of a number of notational devices. One reason for this strategy is that since concepts have no possible truth value, statements are never involved in an essential way in the conceptual formulations themselves, but at most appear in some accompanying commentaries or illustrations. As a result, the possibilities of straightforward discursive presentation are very limited, and so some alternative is required. Because notational devices of verbal and other sorts are public and communicable, they play an essential part in the public and communicable character of concepts. Because of this essential connection, and also for certain heuristic purposes, the notational devices used in Descriptive Psychology are generally designated as conceptual-notational devices. We also distinguish between particular conceptual-notational devices and the more general types of which they are exemplars. The latter are designated as conceptual-notational device types. Our present concern is with four related device types. These are (1) the definition, (2) the paradigm case formulation, (3) the parametric analysis, and (4) the calculational system. Various exemplars of each of these are found in the literature of Descriptive Psychology. One reason for considering thes~ as a group is that each has some relevance to the problem of introducing a subject matter without any essential reference to any other subject matter or dependence on any other subject matter. A second reason is that these four device types are systematically related to one another. The domain within which these relationships have a place will require further elucidation at a later time. I expect to have more to say about it in "The Behavior of Persons.
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