Week 2

According to Nomy Arpaly, the statement that "mental illness is just like diabetes" is:

• A completely accurate and helpful analogy for understanding mental disorders.

• Potentially misleading because it suggests mental disorders are radically different from other mental states, and because the comparison is too broad.

• Helpful because both mental illness and diabetes are caused by physical entities.

• Useful because it reduces the stigma associated with mental disorders.

Arpaly argues that mental states differ from non-mental bodily states in that mental states:

• Are always undesirable.

• Can be judged as warranted or unwarranted, and have content that is causally efficacious.

• Are purely physical, while non-mental states are not.

• Cannot cause each other.

What does Arpaly mean by "content efficacy?"

• The effectiveness of a medication in treating a mental disorder.

• The ability of a mental state to cause a physical change.

• The way in which the content or meaning of a mental state plays a role in causing another mental state or behavior.

• The biological basis of mental states.

Reason-responsiveness, as described by Arpaly, is:

• The same as content efficacy.

• A type of causation that is not related to mental states.

• A specific type of content efficacy that involves an inference based on the logical implications of a mental state.

• The ability to respond to medical treatment for mental disorders.

According to Lennard Davis, the concept of the "normal" was largely developed by:

• Psychologists in the 20th century.

• Statisticians like Adolphe Quetelet and Francis Galton in the 19th century.

• Philosophers during the Enlightenment.

• Medical professionals studying disease.

How did Galton's work change the understanding of statistical distributions?

• He showed that all human traits are equally distributed.

• He proved that error was not a factor in human traits.

• He focused on the average to define the norm, rather than ranking traits.

• He shifted the focus from the "error curve" to the "normal distribution" and emphasized ranked order

The concept of 'ableism' as discussed by Fiona Kumari Campbell, refers to:

• The study of disability from the perspective of disabled people.

• A system that privileges able-bodied and able-minded experiences and marginalizes those who do not conform.

• The discrimination faced by people with disabilities.

• The idea that disability is a natural part of human diversity.

What is the key difference between "bio-looping" and "classificatory looping," according to the lecture material?

• Bio-looping refers to changes in how people are classified, while classificatory looping refers to biological changes.

• Bio-looping is when biology changes in response to mental states, while classificatory looping is when the classification of people leads to changes in the way those people behave or are perceived by others.

• Bio-looping only applies to physical illness, whereas classificatory looping only applies to mental illness.

• Bio-looping is a term coined by Arpaly, and classificatory looping is a term coined by Hacking.

The lecture material describes "feeblemindedness" as:

• A clear and consistent category with a stable definition.

• A biologically based condition with a single identified cause.

• An example of an "interactive kind" whose meaning and application has changed over time through looping effects.

• A condition that is no longer recognized by medical professionals.

According to the lecture on oral histories, what is a key benefit of using them in research?

• They are more objective than traditional interviews.

• They are easier to analyze statistically than other data.

• They provide in-depth personal narratives and challenge dominant narratives.

• They eliminate the biases of the researcher.