SOME PRAGMATIC TENDENCIES IN THE THOUGHT OF WANG YANG-MING

One of the chief benefits to civilization stemming from comparative studies of different philosophical traditions is the possibility of discovering convergences of opinion which offer evidence of continuity in human experience across cultural boundaries and thus provide some measure of corroboration for these opinions. This, of course, is not to say that important divergences of opinion should either be ignored or politely passed over. On the contrary, the more clearly differences are apprehended, the more likely it is that they can be discussed for the purpose of determining whether they may be complementary rather than contradictory. The convergences, however, insofar as we can discover them, should be given the attention they deserve since they transcend boundaries and point in the direction of a deeper unity pertaining not only to this or that particular tradition but to the cause of humanity itself.     

LIFE AS EMERGENT AGENTIAL SYSTEMS: TENDENCIES WITHOUT TELEOLOGY IN AN OPEN UNIVERSE

Life is a relationship among various kinds of agents interacting at different scales in ways that are multifarious, complex, and emergent. Life is always a part of an ecological embedding in communities of interaction, which in turn structure and influence how life evolves. Evolution is essential for understanding life and biodiversity. Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution suggests a way of examining “tendencies” without “teleology.” In this paper I reexamine that work in light of recent concepts in evolutionary ecology, and explore how agential aspects of life are essential for understanding how emergence provides a basis for a process‐based metaphysics of life. In support of this project, I will explore how the major transitions of life on Earth have proceeded through increasing levels of cooperation among agents (e.g., mitochondria in animal cells forming a mutualistic relationship), which have allowed further emergences and complexity to evolve. This complexity always, however, emerges in the context of ecological relationships and a nonteleological evolutionary process. Yet, while nonteleological, the progression of life thus far on this planet seems to hold the promise of certain tendencies that seem inherent in life itself.     

EFFECTS OF DOMINANCE TENDENCIES ON FLOOR HOLDING AND INTERRUPTION BEHAVIOR IN DYADIC INTERACTION1

Eighteen dyads (10 female and eight male), each composed so as to have one member who scored high and one who scored low on a test of personality dominance, were given a cooperative problem-solving discussion task lasting fifteen minutes. The persons with the more dominant personalities held the floor more and attempted more interruptions in proportion to their partners’ total amounts of speaking time than did those with less dominant personalities. There was also evidence that the high dominant subjects were more successful in completing their interruption attempts, although this result fell somewhat short of statistical significance. Despite the fact that the trend of the results appeared to be consistently stronger among males, there were no significant sex differences. Implications of the findings for the interpersonal communication theory of Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967) are discussed.     

GROUP GUIDANCE IN AN EMPLOYMENT SERVICE SETTING

Since socialization is a learned process, it has been hypothesized that through a group experience individuals might be assisted to develop improved interpersonal relationships, improved self-confidence, and more relevant work attitudes and, thus, might be assisted to improve their employability. A questionnaire was devised in order to study the utilization and practice of group guidance in an Employment Service setting.     

儿童同伴群体活动中的性别排斥

实验一以图片为材料研究了儿童同伴群体活动中的性别刻板印象。实验二以情景故事法研究了儿童在不同排斥情景中发生性别排斥的原因即其与性别刻板印象的关系。被试为幼儿园大班、2年级和5年级儿童。结果发现,（1）在同伴群体活动中三个年龄段的儿童都存在着明显的性别刻板印象。（2）同伴群体活动中的性别排斥行为并不是由性别刻板印象引起的。（3）儿童会以道德和亲社会行为为理由接纳异性儿童,会因为群体认同、群体功效和刻板印象而排斥异性儿童。     

COMMUNICATING PEER FEEDBACK IN A TASK GROUP

Through an analysis of a feedback session among members of a small task-oriented group, the multifaceted nature of feedback was explored. Dynamism, trust, clarity, mood, and criticism emerged as important underlying dimensions of peer feedback. Additionally, this study explored the communicator style in giving feedback. Significant communicative differences across group members were found in their manner of giving feedback. Effectiveness of feedback was significantly related to the feedback's dynamism and with a verbally assertive style. This study appears to demonstrate that both feedback content and form influence judgments of feedback effectiveness.     

THE EFFECTS OF GROUP PRESSURE IN PERCEPTION

Une réplique interculturelle des études de Asch (1952) et de Whittaker et Meade (1967) sur l'influence de la pression sociale sur la distorsion du jugement a été effectuée avec un groupe de sujets des îles Fiji provenant de deux races dominantes. Les résultats dénotent une tendance au conformisme plus marquée chez les sujets de cette culture et particulièrement chez les femmes.     

STRUCTURES OF EVIL ENCOUNTERED IN PASTORAL COUNSELING

This essay explores some relationships between social structures or systems and the internal psychological structures or systems of individuals. After defining evil, pastoral counseling, and structures or systems, I present examples of persons affected by social systems of power who have sought counseling. I present a form of counseling known as Internal Family System Therapy (IFS) and show with an extended example how I have worked with clients using this approach. In this process the client is guided to use “Self‐leadership” in healing and transforming inner conflict between various subpersonalities or “parts.” I then compare the IFS approach to one used by mediators in community conflict transformation and peacebuilding.     

群体决策过程中的信息取样偏差

一般认为,决策群体的优势是能综合各个成员拥有的不完整信息,形成对所有决策备择方案的无偏差的认识,从而作出最佳选择。但“群体讨论中的有偏差信息取样模型’认为,群体在决策中往往表现出倾向于讨论两种信息：(1)各成员讨论前都拥有的信息;(2)支持成员在讨论前所偏好的信息。该实验通过模拟人员选拔决策形式的实验室实验,对这一模型的假设进行验证。研究结果表明,大多数群体选择了一开始受到大多数成员支持的候选人,而非实际的最佳人选;群体讨论非但未纠正,反而加强了成员对候选人原有的歪曲印象。     

同伴关系与社会行为：社会测量学分类方法在中国儿童中的适用性研究

本研究应用科威和道吉（１９８３）的社会测量学分类方法,对具有不同同伴关系的儿童的行为特征进行了考察、结果表明,与西方心理学文献一致,受欢迎儿童具有较强的社会能力和积极的行为品质,被拒绝儿童倾向于具有攻击性、破坏性和学习困难。此外,被忽略儿童容易表现羞怯与焦虑行为,缺乏同伴之间的亲密感,而有争议儿童则具有积极和消极行为品质“两重性”。这一研究提供了社会测量学分类方法在中国文化中的有效性的初步证据。     

NATURALISTIC METHODOLOGY IN AN EMERGING SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY: LOTZE AND FECHNER IN THE BALANCE

The development of a methodologically naturalistic approach to physiological and experimental psychology in the nineteenth century was not primarily driven by a naturalistic agenda. The work of R. Hermann Lotze and G. T. Fechner help to illustrate this claim. I examine a selected set of central commitments in each thinkers philosophical outlook, particularly regarding the human soul and the nature of God, that departed strongly from a reductionist materialism. Yet, each contributed significantly to the formation of experimental and physiological psychology. Their work was influenced substantively by their respective philosophical commitments. Nevertheless, the evaluation of the merits of their specific proposals, Fechner's psychophysics and Lotze's local sign hypothesis respectively, did not depend upon sharing their metaphysical views regarding the human soul or the nature of God. A moderate, but significant, distinction between the contexts of discovery and of justification aids in understanding this balancing act.     

INTERRESPONSE TIME STRUCTURES IN VARIABLE-RATIO AND VARIABLE-INTERVAL SCHEDULES

The interresponse-time structures of pigeon key pecking were examined under variable-ratio, variable-interval, and variable-interval plus linear feedback schedules. Whereas the variable-ratio and variable-interval plus linear feedback schedules generally resulted in a distinct group of short interresponse times and a broad distribution of longer interresponse times, the variable-interval schedules generally showed a much more continuous distribution of interresponse times. The results were taken to indicate that a log survivor analysis or double exponential fit of interresponse times may not be universally applicable to the task of demonstrating that operant behavior can be dichotomized into bouts of engagement and periods of disengagement.     

LOGICAL STRUCTURES AND LANGUAGES IN THINKING PROCESSES1

L'auteur pense qu'il serait possible de pousser plus à fond L'étude des processus de pensée si L'on spécifiait la structure logique et le mode de présentation (langage) des instruments expérimentaux utilisés. Une série de 20 problèmes a été conçue selon ces exigences, et administrée à 150 adultes des deux sexes. Parmi ces 20 problèmes, il y en a 16 qui correspondent à 4 structures logiques et 4 langages différents. Les sujets résolvent ces problèmes en posant des questions: ces questions définissent la tactique des sujets. Les tactiques sont notées d'après la quantité d'information demandée, la redondance, le nombre de questions posées, les inversions dans L'ordre séquentiel des questions, et les questions non pertinentes. Quelques détails sont donnés sur les propriétés du système de notation utilisé; celui-ci dépend de la structure logique des problèmes. On procède à une analyse de variance pour chacun des quatre problèmes isomorphes, construits selon la même structure, mais présentés dans quatre langages différents. Une analyse factorielle a été réalisée qui permet d'identifier nettement les facteurs qui dépendent du langage utilisé pour des problèmes de structure différente et les facteurs qui sont liés aux caractéristiques de la structure utilisée. L'auteur propose une classification des langages selon leurs propriétés. Il évoque le problème de L'interaction entre langage et structure logique, qui pourrait être traité dans des recherches ultérieures. Il discute les avantages qu'on obtient en analysant la tactique des sujets plutôt que leur réponse finale.     

GROUP RESEARCH TRENDS IN SOCIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

We report the results of an archival study of group research published in three organizational psychology journals (Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Academy of Management Journal) from 1975 through 1994 Moreland, Hogg, and Hains (1994), in a review of three social psychology journals (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin), suggested there is an increasing enthusiasm for the social psychological study of groups However, their data relations. We tested the proposal that research traditionally viewed as intragroup (e g, group performance) has been taken up by organizational psychologists. Our data support this contention, as the publication Pattern for intragroup research topics in the three organizational journals was an inverse of that reported by Moreland et al. Results are discussed in terms of historical and interdisciplinary     

AN ENCOUNTER GROUP AND CHANGES IN COUNSELORS' VALUES1

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of encounter group treatment on the values and value systems of 24 employment service counselors. A time series own control design was used. Treatment consisted of 27 hours in encounter groups over a three-week period. Thirty-six value rankings were obtained before and after treatment, and again six months later. There was greater change in instrumental than terminal values during and after treatment. Contrary to expectation, personal and conservative values became more important than social and liberal values after treatment. Most value changes during treatment did not persist six months later.     

SACRIFICIAL AGAPE AND GROUP SELECTION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY

Human altruistic behavior has received a great deal of scientific attention over the past forty years. Altruistic‐like behaviors found among insects and animals have illumined certain human behaviors, and the revival of interest in group selection has focused attention on how sacrificial altruism, although not adaptive for individuals, can be adaptive for groups. Curiously, at the same time that sociobiology has placed greater emphasis on the value of sacrificial altruism, Protestant ethics in America has moved away from it. While Roman Catholic ethics has a longstanding tradition emphasizing an ordering of love, placing love of self second only to love for God, Protestant ethics in America has adopted a similar stance only recently, replacing a strong sacrificial ethic with one focusing on mutual regard for self and others. If sociobiology is correct about the significance of sacrificial altruistic behaviors for the survival of communities, this shift away from sacrificial agape by American Christianity may cut the community off from important resources for the development of a global ethic crucial for the survival of that faith community and humankind itself.