BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: D. Newell Williams ed., A Case Study of Mainstream Protestantism: The Disciples' Relation to American Culture, 1880–1989, Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Maurice Wiles, Christian Theology and Inter-religious Dialogue Michael A. Fahey, SJ, Ecumenism: A Bibliographical Overview     

“This project is mad”: Descartes,Derrida, and the notion of philosophical crisis

In “Cogito and the History of Madness,” Derrida maintains that crisis is endemic to philosophy rather than being, as Husserl forcefully argued, a temporary condition that can and must be overcome through the resources of reason. A reflection on the place of madness in Descartes's Meditations serves as the point of departure for demonstrating that Derrida has done an injustice to philosophy; and a comparison of Derrida's views with the thought of Husserl, Heidegger, and Nietzsche reveals that Derrida's position in “Cogito and the History of Madness” entails a sacrifice of the notion of responsibility that lies at the center of meaningful historical action.     

SHORT NOTICES

Short Notices:
Mary E. Mills, Images of God in the Old Testament
Tod Linafelt and Timothy K. Beal, God in the Fray: A Tribute to Walter Brueggemann
Kari Latvus, God, Anger and Ideology: The Anger of God in Joshua and Judges in Relation to Deuteronomy amd the Priestly Writings (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 279)
Edwin D. Freed, The Stories of Jesus' Birth: A Critical Introduction (The Biblical Seminar 72)
David B. Capes, Old Testament Yahweh Texts in Paul's Christology (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2 Reihe, 47)
Gerard O'Daly, Platonism Pagan and Christian: Studies in Plotinus and Augustine
Alistair McFayden and Marcel Sarot, Forgiveness and Truth: Explorations in Contemporary Theology     

The Impact of Race,Racial Attitude,and Gender on Reactions to the Criminal Trial of O. J. Simpson1

Opinions about the criminal trial of O. J. Simpson, as well as general racial attitude, were assessed in different samples of African Americans and Whites in three studies: during jury selection (Study 1), after closing arguments (Study 2), and after the jury verdict was reached (Study 3). We assessed the effects of respondent race, gender, and general racial attitude on case opinion factors and guilt judgments at each point in time. Race was strongly related to case opinions and guilt judgments in all three studies. Racial attitude related significantly to guilt judgments only in Study 1 for Blacks and in Study 3 for Whites. Guilt judgments of Whites were more strongly predicted by the case opinion factors than were those of African Americans. General racial attitudes and opinions about the criminal justice system were more positive for Blacks in Studies 2 and 3, while they did not differ across studies for Whites. A hindsight bias was found for Whites but not for African Americans. Race had a more powerful impact than did gender. Across-study comparison suggested that very few respondents changed their views appreciably over the year-long trial.     

Interpreting the Butterfly Dream

This paper follows the tradition of treating Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream episode as presenting a version of skepticism. However, unlike the prevalent interpretations within that tradition, it attempts to show that the skepticism conveyed in the episode is more radical than it has been conceived, such that the episode can be read as a skeptical response to Descartes’ refutation of skepticism based on the Cogito, ergo sum proof. The paper explains how the lack of commitment in Zhuangzi to the dubious assumption about ‘I’ that it necessarily refers to something existing to which Descartes seems to uncritically adhere allows Zhuangzi to doubt what for Descartes is absolutely indubitable: I exist.     

Beyond cognition: predicting health risk behaviors from instrumental and affective beliefs.

OBJECTIVE: Two studies assessed the relative contribution of affective and instrumental beliefs to the prediction of 2 risk behaviors: driving above the speed limit and smoking. DESIGN: Both studies took the form of large-scale questionnaire surveys (Study 1, N=292; Study 2, N=500) measuring instrumental and affective beliefs and self-reported behavior. In both cases, behavior was also measured objectively. OUTCOME MEASURES: In Study 1, speeding behavior was measured via infrared camera along sections of road with 30 mph, 40 mph, and 60 mph speed limits. Self-reports of speeding in these same contexts represented a 2nd dependent variable. In Study 2, level of smoking was measured via a carbon monoxide monitor, and participants were asked to indicate the number of cigarettes they smoked in a week. RESULTS: In Study 1, positive and negative instrumental and affective beliefs were significant predictors of self-reported speed. The most powerful predictor was negative affective beliefs. Observed speed was predicted by negative affective beliefs only. In Study 2, the significant predictors of self-reported smoking and objective measures of smoking were positive and negative affective beliefs. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate the importance of affective beliefs across 2 health risk behaviors. Implications for social cognition models and interventions are discussed.     

Preschoolers can recognize violations of the Gricean maxims

Grice (Syntax and semantics: Speech acts, 1975, pp. 41-58, Vol. 3) proposed that conversation is guided by a spirit of cooperation that involves adherence to several conversational maxims. Three types of maxims were explored in the current study: 1) Quality, to be truthful; 2) Relation, to say only what is relevant to a conversation; and 3) Quantity, to provide as much information as required. Three- to five-year-olds were tested to determine the age at which an awareness of these Gricean maxims emerges. Children requested the help of one of two puppets in finding a hidden sticker. One puppet always adhered to the maxim being tested, while the other always violated it. Consistently choosing the puppet that adhered to the maxim was considered indicative of an understanding of that maxim. The results indicate that children were initially only successful in the Relation condition. While in general, children performed better at first in the Quantity condition compared with the Quality condition, 3-year-olds never performed above chance in the Quantity condition. The findings of the present study indicate that preschool children are sensitive to the violation of the Relation, Quality, and Quantity maxims at least under some conditions.     

Response-restriction analysis: II. Alteration of activity preferences

We used response-restriction (RR) assessments to identify the preferences of 7 individuals with mental retardation for a variety of vocational and leisure activities. We subsequently increased their engagement in nonpreferred activities using several procedures: response restriction per se versus a Premack-type contingency (Study 1), supplemental reinforcement for engagement in target activities (Study 2), and noncontingent pairing of reinforcers with nonpreferred activities (Study 3). Results indicated that preferences are not immutable and can be altered through a variety of relatively benign interventions and that the results of RR assessments may be helpful in determining which types of procedures may be most effective on an individual basis.     

Effects of written emotional expression: the role of positive expectancies.

OBJECTIVE: Writing in an emotional way about stressful or traumatic experiences has beneficial effects on emotional well-being and physical health. Yet the mechanisms that underlie these effects still need to be explored. Integrating research on the effects of positive expectancies, the authors suggest that positive effects of written emotional expression may, in part, depend on expectancies induced by writing about emotional experiences. DESIGN: Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In both studies, participants wrote about either an upsetting event or trivial issues. After the writing period, participants rated their expectancies that the writing intervention would improve (or impair) their emotional well-being over time. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Study 1 assessed the emotional impact of an upsetting event, whereas Study 2 assessed subjective reports of physical symptoms. In both studies, outcome variables were collected both before and 6 weeks after the writing intervention. RESULTS: The results showed that (a) writing about upsetting experiences induced higher positive expectancies than writing about trivial issues and (b) expectancies associated with written emotional expression were related to a reduction in the emotional impact of an upsetting event (Study 1) and to a reduction in physical symptoms (Study 2). CONCLUSIONS: There may be 2 alternative ways to render written emotional expression effective in reducing negative emotions: (a) by rendering an emotional experience more meaningful and (b) by inducing positive affect regulation expectancies.     

Moral hypocrisy: appearing moral to oneself without being so.

How can people appear moral to themselves when they fail to act morally? Two self-deception strategies were considered: (a) misperceive one's behavior as moral and (b) avoid comparing one's behavior with moral standards. In Studies 1 and 2 the authors documented the importance of the 2nd strategy but not the 1st. Among participants who flipped a coin to assign themselves and another participant "fairly" to tasks, even a clearly labeled coin that prevented misperception did not produce a fair result (Study 1). Inducing behavior-standard comparison through self-awareness did (Study 2). Study 3 qualified the self-awareness effect: When moral standards were not salient before acting, self-awareness no longer increased alignment of behavior with standards. Instead, it increased alignment of standards with behavior and produced less moral action. Overall, results showed 3 different faces of moral hypocrisy.     

震前生活事件、创伤程度对中学生震后心理应激状况的影响

采用青少年生活事件量表（ASLEC）、自编震后创伤程度调查表和PTSD自评量表对汶川地震区413名中学生进行问卷调查,探讨震前生活事件、创伤程度对震后心理应激反应的影响。结果表明：中学生PTSD症状有显著的性别差异,女生高于男生;震前生活事件、创伤程度的各维度与PTSD症状反应总分相关显著;学习压力、暴露和丧失程度均对再体验有显著的正向影响;学习压力、受惩罚、其他、暴露和丧失程度对逃避及麻木有显著影响;学习压力、其他、暴露和丧失程度对过度觉醒有显著的正向影响;震前生活事件对PTSD症状反应有重要的影响     

The name-pronunciation effect: Why people like Mr. Smith more than Mr. Colquhoun

Names are rich sources of information. They can signal gender, ethnicity, or class; they may connote personality characteristics ranging from warmth and cheerfulness to morality. But names also differ in a much more fundamental way: some are simply easier to pronounce than others. Five studies provide evidence for the name-pronunciation effect: easy-to-pronounce names (and their bearers) are judged more positively than difficult-to-pronounce names. Studies 1–3 demonstrate that people form more positive impressions of easy-to-pronounce names than of difficult-to-pronounce names. Study 4 finds this effect generalizable to ingroup targets. Study 5 highlights an important real-world implication of the name-pronunciation effect: people with easier-to-pronounce surnames occupy higher status positions in law firms. These effects obtain independent of name length, unusualness, typicality, foreignness, and orthographic regularity. This work demonstrates the potency of processing fluency in the information rich context of impression formation.     

Essays on <Emphasis Type="Italic">More Than Life Itself</Emphasis>

I comment on the preceding essays in this current thematic issue of Axiomathes, essays that discuss my 2009 book More Than Life Itself: A Synthetic Continuation in Relation Biology.     

Lichtenberg,Joseph D.; Lachmann,Frank M.; Fosshage,James L.: A spirit of Inquiry. Communication in Psychoanalysis. The Analytic Press,Hillsdale, N.J.; London, 2002.

Abstract

Karl Landauer (1885-1945) was an important and gifted psychoanalyst among the names later to become illustrious in the early developmental stages of the psychoanalytic movement in South West Germany; in the subsequent havoc of the Third Reich he was persecuted in Bergen-Belsen and later perished. He was trained by Freud and accepted as a member of the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society in 1913. After the First World War he settled in Frankfurt am Main and started a Study Group to which such prominent analysts as Georg Groddeck in Baden-Baden, Heinrich Meng in Stuttgart, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann and Erich Fromm in Heidelberg and Frankfurt were associated. In 1929 this Study Group founded the Frankfurt Psychoanalytical Institute under the same roof as the Institute for Social Research and under the auspices of the Social Philosopher Max Horkheimer. There were mutual and manifold influences between the research fields of Psychoanalysis and Social Sciences. Landauer specialised in affect theory. Both Institutes were compelled to close at the hands of the National Socialists; Landauer's subsequent fate is moving and exemplary.     

Age simulation in perceptual and cognitive functioning: age progression to 80 years in a college sample.

The effect of age stimulation by 40 college students was examined by age progression to 80 yr. through the use of instructions to imagine. The results indicated no age progression effects on the cognitive tasks (Vocabulary, Spatial Relation, and Digit Span). However, there were significant decrements in performance on the perceptual task (Hidden-figures Test) under the age progression conditions. Data suggest age progression may be a worthwhile technique in the assessment of age-related perceptions. The discrepancy between the simulated perceptual and cognitive performance could have been due to negative stereotypes regarding visual perception and loss of speed in the elderly.     

Blood donation is an act of benevolence rather than altruism.

OBJECTIVES: Blood donation is described as an archetypal altruistic behavior, and recruitment/retention campaigns emphasize altruism. Here, a benevolence hypothesis for blood donation (both the donor and recipient benefit) rather than the altruism hypothesis (only the recipient gains) is proposed. DESIGN: Three United Kingdom-based studies contrasted benevolence and altruism: (a) a 6-month prospective study of blood donor behavior (Study 1: N = 957), (b) a cross-sectional study of blood donors' intentions (Study 2: N = 333), and (c) an experimental study examining the effect of benevolent and altruistic messages on willingness to help across high- and low-cost helping behaviors for committed and noncommitted blood donors (Study 3: N = 200). MAIN OUTCOME: Donor behavior and intentions-willingness. MEASURES: Beliefs in personal and societal benefit (Time 1) and actual donations (Time 2) were assessed in Study 1; beliefs in benevolence, altruism, hedonism, and kinship along with donation intentions were assessed in Study 2; and empathy, donor commitment, and willingness to donate blood, money, fund-raise, and staff a telephone helpline were assessed in Study 3. RESULTS: Beliefs in personal rather than societal benefit predicted actual future donation. A path model showed that only beliefs in benevolence were associated with intentions to donate. Committed blood donors were more willing to donate blood when exposed to a benevolent message rather than an altruistic one. This effect was not observed for other forms of helping. CONCLUSIONS: The benevolence hypothesis is supported, suggesting that blood donor motivation is partly selfish. Blood donation campaigns should focus on benevolent rather than purely altruistic messages.     

WHAT MATTERS IN SURVIVAL?

Abstract: I examine Derek Parfit's claim that it doesn't matter whether he survives in the future, if someone survives who is psychologically connected to him by “Relation R.” Thus, were his body to perish and be replaced by an exact duplicate, both physically and psychologically identical to him, this would be just as good as “ordinary” survival. Parfit takes the corollary view that replacement of loved ones by exact duplicates is no loss. In contrast, Peter Unger argues that we place nontransferable value in the lives of individual persons. I argue that the question of the preferability of Relation R over identity is unanswerable at present, as such hypothetical situations are too far removed from our experience to allow any reliable responses. I contrast cases involving artifacts, where we can make informed judgments concerning whether a given object's value would be transferred to a duplicate.     

Luck And Equality: Richard J. Arneson

Does it make sense to hold that, if it is bad that some people are worse off than others, it is worse if those who are worse off come to be so through sheer bad luck that it is beyond their power to control? In her contribution to this symposium, Susan Hurley cautions against a closely related fallacy: from the fact that people have come to an unequal condition through unchosen bad luck, it does not follow that, if we aim to undo the influence of unchosen luck, we ought to institute equality of condition. Forswearing the fallacy that Hurley analyses is compatible with answering the question affirmatively, and more generally with holding that principles of distributive justice should be sensitive to the distinction between chosen and unchosen bad luck. This essay explores how this might be done.     

ONCE MORE. . .

Books reviewed:
A.J. Heschel (ed. and trans.), G. Tucker. Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations. Reviewed by David R. Blumenthal
Robert Murray. Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition. Reviewed by Augustine Casiday