Yours or mine? Ownership and memory

An important function of the self is to identify external objects that are potentially personally relevant. We suggest that such objects may be identified through mere ownership. Extant research suggests that encoding information in a self-relevant context enhances memory (the so-called 'self-reference effect'), thus an experiment was designed to test the impact of ownership on memory performance. Participants either moved or observed the movement of picture cards into two baskets; one of which belonged to self and one which belonged to another participant. A subsequent recognition test revealed that there was a significant memory advantage for objects that were owned by self. Acting on items (i.e., moving them) had no impact on memory. Results are discussed with reference to the importance of self-object associations in cognition.     

My face or yours? Event-related potential correlates of self-face processing

The neural basis of self-recognition is mainly studied using brain-imaging techniques which reveal much about the localization of self-processing in the brain. There are comparatively few studies using EEG which allow us to study the time course of self-recognition. In this study, participants monitored a sequence of images, including 20 distinct images of their own face, a friend’s face and a stranger’s face articulating different speech sounds, while EEG was recorded from 64 scalp electrodes. Differences in the ERP waveforms were observed very early on, with increased N170 and VPP amplitude to self relative to both friend and stranger measured over posterior and fronto-central sites, respectively. This ‘self effect’ was also marked at ∼250 ms where P2/N2 amplitude was significantly reduced for self-faces. By comparison, differences between friend and stranger faces did not emerge until 250 ms and beyond, where a more conventional ‘familiarity effect’ was observed. The data also point to a ‘less lateralized’ representation of self over posterior sites. These findings are consistent with both behavioral and fMRI studies which suggest that self-face processing is ‘special’ and are discussed with reference to EEG studies of face processing.     

Is It Me or My Brain? Depression and Neuroscientific Facts

This article considers the roles played by brain images (e.g., from PET scans) in mass media as experienced by people suffering from mental illness, and as used by scientists and activist groups in demonstrating a biological basis for mental illness. Examining the rhetorical presentation of images in magazines and books, the article describes the persuasive power that brain images have in altering the understanding people have of their own body—their “objective self.” Analyzing first-person accounts of encounters with brain images, it argues that people come to understand themselves as having neurotransmitter imbalances that are the cause of their illnesses via received facts and images of the brain, but that this understanding is incomplete and in tension with the sense that they are their brain. The article concludes by querying the emergence of a “pharmaceutical self,” in which one experiences one's brain as if on drugs, as a new form of objective self-fashioning.     

Will Improving My Marriage Improve My Sleep?

An essential component to overall health and well-being is sleep. Likewise, being happily married is associated with better physical, mental, and emotional health. In the present study, we examined links between marital satisfaction (MS) and aspects of sleep quality (SQ) among married individuals (N = 88) aged 39 to 64 years. Data were collected at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Regression analyses showed that MS at baseline was positively associated with overall SQ and sleep disturbance frequency at baseline and was negatively associated with minutes to fall asleep at follow-up. Results suggested that participants with greater MS at baseline reported better overall SQ at baseline and falling asleep faster at follow-up. However, results varied when controlling for other relevant covariates (e.g., age, depression, pain). Additionally, a negative change in MS between baseline and follow-up was a positive predictor of sleep disturbance frequency at follow-up, suggesting that participants whose MS decreased over time were more likely to report more frequent sleep disturbances 6 months later. Findings indicate that MS is linked with various aspects of SQ in married, middle-aged adults. Clinical implications, limitations of the current study, and areas for future research are discussed.     

Is Character Fate,or Is There Hope to Change My Personality Yet?

Different perspectives on personality development propose a range of possible degrees to which traits are free to change, from hardly at all to very much. This essay reviews the empirical evidence on just how consistent and changeable personality traits are across the life course. To gain a thorough perspective on personality trait development, we review developmental studies that focus on three different types of change: rank‐order consistency, mean level change, and individual level change. Starting in late childhood, personality traits exhibit modest levels of rank‐order consistency that increase with age. In addition personality traits show mean level changes, especially in young adulthood, that are consistent with the idea of increasing maturity. Finally, despite these general trends in personality continuity and change, there is evidence that individuals may change in ways that contradict general trends and that these individual differences in change are related to life experiences.     

My people,right or wrong? Minimal group membership disrupts preschoolers’ selective trust

When preschoolers decide to trust one speaker over another, how does group membership influence their tracking of speaker reliability? In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds were assigned to arbitrary groups of no social significance (0055 and 0170) and asked to endorse novel object labels provided by two ingroup members, one of whom was reliable and the second of whom was unreliable. Children selectively trusted the more reliable informant. In Experiment 2, we asked whether ingroup status or reliability would determine children's choices and found that 4-year-olds failed to trust reliable outgroup members over unreliable ingroup members (or vice versa). Experiment 3 showed that the failure of trust in Experiment 2 was not due to the mere inclusion of both ingroup and outgroup members: children presented with a control paradigm in which the ingroup members were reliable trusted reliable ingroup members over unreliable outgroup members. Children's use of reliability as an indicator of future credibility therefore appears disrupted when outgroup status and reliability are in conflict, even when group membership is arbitrary.     

Who Gets a Place in Person-Space?

We notice a number of interesting overlaps between the views on personhood of Ifeanyi Menkiti and Marya Schechtman. Both philosophers distance their views from the individualistic ones standard in western thought and foreground the importance of extrinsic or relational features to personhood. For Menkiti, it is ‘the community which defines the person as person’; for Schechtman, being a person is to have a place in person-space, which involves being seen as a person by others. But there are also striking differences. Schechtman sees this aspect as expanding the scope of personhood to infants and those who are severely mentally disabled. Menkiti thinks that there is a line to be drawn at some point between those humans that are persons and those who are not. We consider the cases offered in questioning how the dispute between the two views should be resolved.     

Are My Temporal Parts Agents?

When we think about ethics, we normally focus on a particular sort of agent: the individual person. Some philosophers have argued that we should rethink the limits of what counts as an ethically relevant unit of agency by expanding outward, and claiming that groups of people can have normative reasons for action. In this paper, I explore whether we can go in the other direction. Are there sub-personal beings who count as agents with their own reasons for action? In particular, might the temporal parts of persons, beings like “me-in-my-twenties,” be thought of as normative agents? This idea, I argue, has deep attractions, and deep, but surmountable, challenges. And if we do accept this idea, I argue, this can indirectly help to support the case for thinking that groups can have reasons for action.     

What is the Place of Clinicians’ Religious or Spiritual Commitments in Psychotherapy? A Virtues-Based Perspective

Value neutrality in psychotherapy is widely acknowledged to be a myth, and a majority of US physicians report that their religious faith influences their practice. Most attention to therapists’ religious and spiritual commitments has focused on ethical boundaries, transference/countertransference dynamics and questions about how to relate religious and psychological truth. No consensus exists about the legitimate place in psychotherapy of clinicians’ differing value commitments. Therapists’ virtues are vitally important in psychotherapy, not least in the relational and aspirational process by which the patient identifies with the therapist as they engage together in confronting obstacles which the patient has been unable to surmount alone. Among the individual and cultural factors that shape a therapist’s virtues are spiritual traditions, which encourage preferred or characteristic virtues. Arguably, these include for Jews, communal responsibility and critical thought; for Christians, love and grace; for Muslims, reverence and obedience; for Buddhists, equanimity and compassion; for Hindus, appreciation of Dharma and Karma; and for secularists, respect for scientific evidence and intelligibility. These have differing implications for treatment, as illustrated through the use of a hypothetical case. Attention to differing spiritual and religious virtues in a pluralistic culture offers opportunities for creative dialogue, collaborative teaching and interdisciplinary research.     

Humiliate My Enemies or Mock My Friends? Applying Disposition Theory of Humor to the Study of Political Parody Appreciation and Attitudes Toward Candidates

The research examines politically entertaining media through a mass communication lens, applying the disposition theory of humor toward the study of political parody appreciation and the effects of exposure to varied humor types on political attitudes. The analyses rely on experimental data (N = 269) collected in 2013. The results of the first analysis suggest that the interaction of disposition and exposure to different types of humor significantly influences variation in political parody appreciation. The findings from the second analysis show that negative affect toward the opposing candidate, or the presumed victor of a humorous situation, can dampen attitudes toward the victim given exposure to critical humor. The strategic implications for campaigns looking to engage with humor are discussed.     

Sledging in Sport—Playful Banter,or Mean-spirited Insults? A Study of Sledging’s Place in Play

Abstract

Sledging, or ‘trash talk’ or ‘chirping’, as it’s known in other parts of the world, has long been part of competitive sport. However, more recent times have seen the issue of sledging, and its place in sport, debated with many athletes, fans and academics arguing that sledging has moved outside the notion of ‘sportsmanship’ and gone beyond light hearted, good natured banter. They argue it is now characterized as hurtful, insulting, offensive and intimidating – a tactic that has moved beyond fair play and, in many instances, no longer acceptable. This paper seeks to explore this issue in greater depth. In particular, this paper seeks to ask, ‘is sledging part of play, or is it a characteristic of play’s corruption?’ The argument proceeds by adopting a conception of play grounded in the work of Johan Huizinga. Play may be understood as a core component of even professional sport, not least in that play lies at the moral core of the ‘spirit of sport’ in fairplay and respect for one’s opponents. Using examples to illuminate the changing nature of play and sledging, it will be argued that sledging in its modern form leads to the corruption of this ‘spirit of sport’. The insights of sports and philosophy academics and scholars are drawn upon, as are the insights of surveyed sports fans and amateur athletes who highlight their views on sledging and its place in modern sport. By doing so, sledging’s role in sport and its most dominant characteristics, according to those to watch professional sport and play at the community level, become clear, helping to articulate the difference between a form of sledging that is still playful and a part of play, and sledging that is characteristic of play’s corruption.     

My Mother: My Best Friend? Adults’ Relationships with Significant Others Across the Lifespan

In order to investigate the significance of adults’ relationship to their parents, this relationship is compared to relationships with siblings, friends, partners, and children. German adults (N = 902) between the ages of 20 and 86 completed the Network of Relationships Inventory (Furman and Buhrmester 1992). Participants felt most supported by their partners, followed by their children, mothers, friends, fathers, and siblings. Conflicts were more frequently found within the family (especially with the partner, followed by children, mothers, fathers, and siblings) than with friends. Except for partner relationships, both conflict and support decreased with age. Concerning relative power within their relationships, partners, mothers, and siblings are seen as equals, friends and especially fathers are perceived as more powerful, and children as less, yet increasingly powerful. Regarding all relationship types and relationship qualities, the differences between women and men were small.     

Persuasion or Alignment?

Persuasion is a fact of social life, one upon which positive and negative views can be taken. Argumentative rhetoric is often functionally defined as aiming to persuade. Different views on persuasion are taken in argumentative studies, and many other disciplines focus on persuasion. This article takes an “inter-discursive” view of argumentation, and, following the “Hamblin’s trend”, suggests a possible replacement for the concept of persuasion by the inter-discursive concept of alignment.     

Caste or Christ?

This article offers empirical research using qualitative methodology to identify the presence of the caste system in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South Asia. The findings are based on the interviews of ten participants aged 18 to 36 from at least four language groups: Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam. All the participants volunteered to participate in the study. Three among the ten did face-to-face interviews, and the remaining seven participants were interviewed online through the Zoom platform. The findings suggest a need to expose and eliminate the discrimination and shame caused by the caste system if the church is to remain faithful to Christ's teaching of equality among the human family.