The Endowment—Institutional Affinity Effect

The endowment effect occurs when ownership of a good leads consumers to value the good more than its market value. Students who were given College of Business Administration insignia mugs to keep valued them significantly more than students who were given the same mugs to examine and return (nonendowment condition). The endowment effect also occurred for plain white mugs. Students who were given plain white mugs to keep valued them more than students who were given the same mugs to examine and return. Ownership of insignia mugs not only resulted in the endowment effect but also resulted in an institutional affinity effect: Students provided higher satisfaction ratings with the College of Business Administration than did students endowed with plain white mugs and students in nonendowed conditions. This study demonstrates the impact of the endowment effect on institutional affinity for insignia goods. However, the tandem endowment-affinity effect occurs at the attitude formation stage, not when an attitude has already been formed.     

The contingency argument—A reply

Conclusion Brian Medlin has excluded the possibility of something being self-explanatory in anything but a logical sense. Hence any non-logical necessity has always to be in terms of something other than the explicand. In this context, the principle of sufficient reason cannot escape contraction to a form so patently useless that no proponent of the contingency argument would want to employ it. Many of the objections in Section 4 have point, however, only against an argument which uses such an unacceptable form of the principle. The objections in Section 5 are directed against an argument framed in the only other way allowable under Medlin’s dichotomy, but which is of no use to the theist, for the simple-reason that its conclusion is not existential in the required (present actuality) sense. Objections against such an argument would concern the theist only if their validity were so wide as to embrace a truly existential argument as well. As we have-seen it is in just that case that they break down. In neither Section 4 nor 5, therefore, does the article come to grips with the contingency argument. The objections leave it untouched, because neither of Medlin’s notions of contingency and necessity corresponds to that which is operative in the argument.     

The initial interview—Part II

Compiled and edited from lectures on Psychoanalytic Technique given by the late Karen Horney at the American Institute for Psychoanalysis during the years 1946, 1950, 1951 and 1952. Further lectures in this series will appear in subsequent issues of the Journal.     

The new experimental aesthetics—The beginning or the end?

In reference to recent work in aesthetics from a scientific perspective, Berlyne coined the phrase the new experimental aesthetics. Berlyne's contributions to this research area are discussed in terms of the philosophical, theoretical, and methodological issues central to the current literature. The paper concludes with a consideration of the future prospects for experimental aesthetics.This paper was presented at a symposium in honor of Daniel E. Berlyne at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, August 27, 1977. The presentation of this paper was supported by a grant from York University.     

TOCRS—The therapy-oriented computer record system

A computerized system has been developed to provide treatment records for patients in the Duke Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic. Demographic, diagnostic, and therapeutic data are incorporated into a concise summary provided to the therapist for each patient visit. Variables were carefully chosen to capture essential therapeutic information while minimizing the burden of data entry on the therapist. Suggestions by the users have led to a number of modifications in the system, including the addition of special data-keeping functions for therapy groups and record generations of summary reports for clinicians and administrators. Essential information is gathered in a format well suited to analysis by standard computerized statistical techniques. Record keeping, in this fashion, provides an information base that describes the process of psychiatric treatment.     

The examination of labels—a beginning

Unclear terminology is a major problem for the study of anomalies, and ambiguous definitions of reality and consciousness make it particularly difficult to discuss anomalous phenomena. Researchers have used the term near-death experience to describe four different kinds of incidents. To avoid confusion, we need new labels for experiences that differ in their relationship to death and near-death and in their transformative potential.     

The Evil Eye—An Ancient Superstition

This paper describes and discusses the ancient superstition of the Evil Eye. The author describes his own personal childhood introduction to the subject of the Evil Eye which years later instigated his scholarly inquiry. The history of this very geographically widespread folk belief is elaborated upon, along with common manifestations as they appear in a number of different countries and cultures. Some of the methods used to thwart the negative effects of the Evil Eye are enumerated. Relevant psychodynamics and common expressions of the Evil Eye superstition are elucidated upon.     

The biology of technology—An exploratory essay

The primary objective of this essay is to establish a basis for the development of a socio-biological approach to understanding the phenomenon of technological society and technical change, one that also serves to bridge the gap that has grown between natural science and social theory. The objective stems from the belief that an ecological crisis is looming that will require a new form of pragmatism from which new instruments for analysis, evaluation, and implementation can emerge and which, of necessity, will be multidisciplinary in character. One possible intellectual framework is proposed, that of a biology of technology, a conceptualization of human organization woven from an unlikely mix of theoretical perspectives. The most consequential of these is structural determinism, a tenet of autopoietic theory (also known as the biology of cognition). Other elements, including actor network theory, a metatheory of technology, and cognitive anthropology are explored before proceeding to consider some implications should the thesis be adopted. Peter Bond directs Lawton David Associates, a firm offering speciality consulting and learning facilitation services in business strategy, knowledge, innovation management. Prior to this he was director of Studies for Technology and Manufacturing Management at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Originally a materials scientist, he moved from industry to commerce in 1980 becoming an advisor to regional government on new technologies and later business development manager of a venture capital provider. Current interests include the practical application of complexity science to organization development and technical change.     

The ordinary language argument against skepticism—pragmatized

Philosophical Studies - I develop a new version of the ordinary language response to skepticism. My version is based on premises about the practical functions served by our epistemic words. I end...     

The square of opposition — A new approach

Summary The theory of the square of opposition has been worked out many centuries ago as a part of Aristotelian logic of terms.In spite of its inexactness (for instance it is not possible to decide whether the termsquare of opposition is a logical or a metalogical term) this theory is included without any changes in the usual elementary course of logic.The author defines the square of opposition in the language of the logic of propositions (see Def. 1.000) and derives from this definition the usual laws of the square of opposition and several new theorems.     

The Third Curriculum—from a Christian Perspective

According to Michel Serres, and those who support his views about education, the truly educated person is one who has been exposed to the so-called Third Curriculum. This conviction is evaluated from the vantage point of a Christian view of reality, education, and the curriculum. The author concludes that while Third-Curriculum thinking appears to be innovative and creative, its two central tenets of interdisciplinarity and dialogical thinking are not quite so new. He also concludes that the Third-Curriculum theory is still too vague, inconsistent, and programmatic to be seriously considered for implementation in schools. Its postmodern refusal to acknowledge the divine, law-subjected orderliness of creation as well as its tendency to reduce the God-given diversity in reality to only one or two aspects of reality are contrary to convictions underlying the Christian view of the curriculum and curriculum design.     

Surgical patents and patients — The ethical dilemmas

It is obvious that every inventor should be rewarded for the intellectual effort, and at the same time be encouraged to successively improve his or her discovery and to work on subsequent innovations. Patents also ensure that patent owners are officially protected against intellectual piracy, but protection of intellectual property may be difficult to accomplish. Nevertheless, it all comes down to this basic question: Does a contradiction exist between medical ethics and the “Medical and Surgical Procedure Patents” system? It may well turn out that medical-procedure patents can have a negative influence on the standard of medical care. Medical-method patents may also interfere with the physician-patient relationship. At present, physicians do not question the usefulness of patent protection for medicines, biotechnology, equipment and devices, but they strongly oppose it for surgical procedures.     

The Music of Ritual Practice—An Interpretation

Music is an important philosophical theme in Confucian writings, one that is intimately related to ritual. But the relationship between music and ritual requires clarification. This paper seeks to argue for a general sense of music that reflects a particular aspect of ritual that has to do with performance. There is much material available in classical texts, such as the 'Record of Music' ('Yueji'), that allows for nuanced explications of the musical qualities of such performances. Thus explicated, those musical terms provide for a way of speaking about the overall effects of ritual that is not bound to specific choreographic details or particular ritual rules. Finally, it is suggested that the Confucian notion of ren ?? could be usefully compared to the generalised notion of music.     

The Perceptions of Terminated Ministers Scale—Revised

The Perceptions of Terminated Ministers Scale—Revised (PTM-R), a 15-item measure of perceptions of termination appropriate to members of clergy, was developed for use among researchers studying how clergypersons perceive the effects of forced termination events. To examine the reliability and validity of the measure, three samples of clergy were assessed using the PTM and PTM-R. The three samples used Barfoot et al.’s (2005) working definition of forced pastoral exits. Their definition does not distinguish between being fired or forced to resign. Each participant was asked to specify whether they were fired or forced to resign. Recently, Tanner et al. (2012) offered a new definition of forced termination: “Forced termination is the result of a process of involuntary removal of paid and non-paid clergy-persons that results from a period of traumatic and demeaning psychological and emotional abuse” (p. 14). Data analysis among all three samples supports the reliability and validity of the scale and commends it for further use among clergy who have experienced forced termination.     

The Evolutionary Significance of the Primary Process—The Freudian Concept and Its Revision

Freud’s Lamarckian beliefs contributed to his theory of instincts, as well as his concepts regarding the unconscious primary process. Freud’s theory of the primary and secondary process is fundamentally biological, as he placed it within an evolutionary context and hypothesized that the two systems were distinguished by free and bound psychic energy. Freud’s distinction between the primary and secondary process is one of the few psychoanalytic theories that has been confirmed by science. We believe that Freud was correct in maintaining that the primary process is of earlier evolutionary origin than the secondary process. But Freud failed to recognize the distinction between primary-process thinking that occurs in dreams and that which occurs in the waking state. In the waking state, the primary process is not wish fulfilling, as Freud believed, but functions as an inference making tool utilizing metaphor and metonymy. As such, rapid, unconscious primary process thinking is at the heart of our survival.