Cross-cultural differences in the refusal to accept a small gift: the differential influence of reciprocity norms on Asians and North Americans

Asians are more likely than North Americans to refuse a small gift that is offered to them by a casual acquaintance. Five experiments confirmed this difference and explored the reasons for its occurrence. Asians, who are inclined to think of themselves in relation to others, are more likely than North Americans to invoke a reciprocity norm in exchanging gifts with casual acquaintances, and they refuse a gift in order to avoid the feeling of indebtedness they would experience if they cannot reciprocate. North Americans, however, who are inclined to think of themselves independently of others, are more likely to base their acceptance of the gift on its attractiveness without considering their obligation to reciprocate. These cultural differences are not evident when the gift is offered by a close friend with whom individuals have a communal relationship. Implications of our findings for miscommunication between members of different cultures are discussed.     

Trait aggressiveness and situational provocation: a test of the traits as situational sensitivities (TASS) model

In this article, the authors propose and test an interactionist model of personality functioning. The model maintains that many traits function in a threshold-like manner, such that less situational strength is needed to evoke a trait-relevant response in people who are high on the trait than in those who are low on the trait. Because of these different sensitivities, people who are high on a trait are more reactive to moderate provocation than are those who are low on a trait, but the opposite is true when strong provocation is compared to moderate provocation. Three studies are reported showing how the model can be used to understand the nature of aggression.     

The Role of Notations in Mathematics

The terms of a mathematical problem become precise and concise if they are expressed in an appropriate notation, therefore notations are useful to mathematics. But are notations only useful, or also essential? According to prevailing view, they are not essential. Contrary to this view, this paper argues that notations are essential to mathematics, because they may play a crucial role in mathematical discovery. Specifically, since notations may consist of symbolic notations, diagrammatic notations, or a mix of symbolic and diagrammatic notations, notations may play a crucial role in mathematical discovery in different ways. Some examples are given to illustrate these ways.

     

Processing of global and local information in memory

The experiments reported in this paper were designed to test how global and local information are processed by the memory system. When subjects are required to match a given letter with either a previously presented large capital letter or the small capital letters comprising it, (1) responses to the global level (i.e. the big letter) are faster than responses to the local level (i.e. the small letters), and (2) responses to the latter level only are affected by the consistency between the large and the small letters (Experiment 2), a pattern similar to that obtained in perception (Experiment 1). Such results obtain when subjects are required to attend to only one level with a short ISI between the first and second stimulus, but not when a longer ISI is used (Experiment 5) or when subjects are required to attend to both levels at the same time (Experiments 3 and 4). The results are discussed in the light of a model that postulates a temporal precedence of the global information over the local one at the perceptual level.     

An ethics of suffering: does it solve the problems we want to solve?: commentary

Erich H. Loewy proposes to elevate the moral obligation to prevent and relieve suffering to the level of a prima facie moral duty by delineating which beings are of primary moral worth and which are of secondary moral worth. Sentient beings have a capacity to suffer and are therefore of primary moral worth. Beings that are insentient cannot suffer; therefore such beings are only of secondary moral worth. Objects of secondary moral worth include patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) and brain-dead patients. This proposal, he says, would solve a number of problems in clinical bioethics. First, it would help to clarify our moral duties at the bedside. And secondly, by creating a hierarchy of moral values, it helps to differentiate which patients are owed our primary allegiance and resources. Despite his extensive and painstaking proof, I believe several questions remain about the use of the "capacity of sentient beings to suffer" as a basis for a universal grounding in ethics.     

Gay people and government security clearances. A social science perspective

Lesbian and gay male applicants routinely are denied government security clearances or are subjected to unusually lengthy and intensive investigation. This article reviews social science data relevant to the principal justifications that have been offered for this policy and presents the following conclusions: (a) Lesbians and gay men are no more likely than heterosexuals to suffer from a personality disorder or emotional stress, or to be psychologically unstable; (b) lesbians and gay men are no more likely than heterosexuals to be unduly sensitive to coercion, blackmail, or duress; (c) lesbians and gay men are no more likely than heterosexuals to be unwilling to respect or uphold laws or regulations, or to be unreliable or untrustworthy. Three major flaws are discussed that underlie current government policies toward gay applicants for security clearances: (a) Groups rather than individuals are screened for undesirable characteristics; (b) applicants are rejected on the basis of problems created by government policies themselves; and (c) homosexual applicants are scrutinized according to criteria that are not applied similarly to heterosexual applicants. An alternative hypothesis, that experience with stigma actually may increase a gay applicant's ability to maintain secrecy, is discussed. Finally, some consequences of current policies are noted.     

Error patterns in a chord keyboard response task

Errors in a serial choice-reaction time experiment employing two-finger chord responses to alphabetic stimuli are shown to be distributed in a significantly non-random fashion. Two factors are postulated which are relevant to prediction of the error response. These are the presence or absence of a common finger, and the difference in finger separation, between the actual and the required response. It is suggested that the chord response is coded in terms of a pattern (the distance between the two response components). Responses which mirror the correct response about the centre of the hand are also shown to be significantly more frequent.     

Selective nontarget inhibition in Multiple Object Tracking

We previously reported that in the Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) task, which requires tracking several identical targets moving unpredictably among identical nontargets, the nontargets appear to be inhibited, as measured by a probe-dot detection method. The inhibition appears to be local to nontargets and does not extend to the space between objects—dropping off very rapidly away from targets and nontargets. In the present three experiments we show that (1) nontargets that are identical to targets but remain in a fixed location are not inhibited and (2) moving objects that have a different shape from targets are inhibited as much as same-shape nontargets, and (3) nontargets that are on a different depth plane and so are easily filtered out are not inhibited. This is consistent with a task-dependent view of item inhibition wherein nontargets are inhibited if (and only if) they are likely to be mistaken for targets.     

Secession: The Case of Quebec

ABSTRACT I argue that people have a right to self-determination when they are plainly predominant in a certain territory and do not violate the civil liberties of minorities. But there is no self-determination without the preservation of self-identity and the cultural preservation that goes with its secure existence. So to preserve autonomy and self-determination people must preserve their cultural identity and this cannot be securely sustained in modern conditions without a nation-state concerned to nourish that identity. Such considerations support a right to secession when certain conditions are met. The conditions are that the people in question have a cultural identity, live in a distinct territory which they have inhabited for a long time, form an extensive majority, and respect the civil liberties of the minorities living in that territory (as well as elsewhere). Where they are such a group they have a right to secede from a larger state to which they are historically attached. These conditions, I argue, are met in Quebec.     

Why some are perceived as more confident and more insecure, more reckless and more cautious, more trusting and more suspicious, than others: Enriched and impoverished options in social judgment

In line with the principle of compatibility, when making social judgments, people tend to focus on personality attributes compatible with the trait under consideration. Better known, orenriched, personages are more likely to present attributes that are compatible with a particular trait than are personages about whom little is known. As a result, enriched personages are more likely to have various, sometimes even conflicting, traits attributed to them. This hypothesis is supported by a number of studies that compare the frequency with which some people are chosen as being better described by opposite trait adjectives than are others. Celebrities more often have both of a pair of opposing adjectives ascribed to them than do less well known figures. Similarly, subjects judge themselves to be better described by either of a pair of opposite adjectives than is a person who is relatively unknown in their lives. The implications for social judgment and for everyday decisions are discussed.     

Conceptions of the self and others across time

People are full of plans, goals, hopes, and fears-future-oriented thoughts that constitute a significant part of the self-concept. But are representations of others similarly future oriented? Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate that the future is seen as a larger component of the self than of another person. Study 2 found that because self-identity is tied to an unrealized future, the self is thought to be less knowable than others in the present. Study 3 indicates that people believe that others need to know who they are striving to be in order to be understood-more so than they believe they need to know others' strivings to understand them. Studies 4a and 4b tested an important implication of these findings, that because so much of who they are is tied to the future, people believe they are further from their ideal selves than others are. Implications for judgment and decision making are discussed.     

Causal essentialism and the identity of indiscernibles

Causal essentialists hold that a property essentially bears its causal and nomic relations. Further, as many causal essentialists have noted, the main motivations for causal essentialism also motivate holding that properties are individuated in terms of their causal and nomic relations. This amounts to a kind of identity of indiscernibles thesis; properties that are indiscernible with respect to their causal and nomic relations are identical. This can be compared with the more well-known identity of indiscernibles thesis, according to which particulars that are qualitatively indiscernible are identical. Robert Adams has developed a well-known objection to this thesis by considering a series of possibilities involving nearly qualitatively indiscernible particulars that naturally leads to a possibility involving qualitatively indiscernible particulars. I argue that we can construct parallel cases involving a series of possibilities involving properties that are nearly indiscernible with respect to their causal and nomic relations that naturally lead to possibilities involving properties that are indiscernible with respect to their causal and nomic relations. The same features that make Adams’ argument forceful also carry over to my cases, giving us a powerful objection to the causal essentialist identity of indiscernibles thesis.     

The analysis of drawing from memory performance in brain-damaged patients

The drawing from memory task is frequently used in cognitive neuropsychology to investigate visual processing impairments. However, in surprising contrast to most other neuropsychological tests, the analyses of results on this task are most often based solely on qualitative judgements about the normality of a patient's performance. In most case reports, these judgements are not made with reference to normative data and are not made by individuals who are impartial with respect to the study (that is, using a blind rating procedure). There are several grounds for arguing that such analyses are inadequate. First, seemingly abnormal drawings made by a patient may well be within the range of performance shown by control subjects. Second, judgments that are not based on a blind rating procedure are likely to be influenced by knowledge about the patient's performance on other tasks. We describe an alternative assessment procedure that addresses both of these concerns.     

Sources of confidence judgments in implicit cognition

Subjective reports of confidence are frequently used as a measure of awareness in a variety of fields, including artificial grammar learning. However, little is known about what information is used to make confidence judgments and whether there are any possible sources of information used to discriminate between items that are unrelated to confidence. The data reported here replicate an earlier experiment by Vokey and Brooks (1992) and show that grammaticality decisions are based on both the grammatical status of items and their similarity to study exemplars. The key finding is that confidence ratings made on a continuous scale (50%—100%) are closely related to grammaticality but are unrelated to all of the measures of similarity that were tested. By contrast, confidence ratings made on a binary scale (high vs. low) are related to both grammaticality and similarity. The data confirm an earlier finding (Tunney & Shanks, 2003) that binary confidence ratings are more sensitive to low levels of awareness than continuous ratings are and suggest that participants are conscious of all the information acquired in artificial grammar learning.     

Prophetic Revelations in Near-Death Experiences

Prophetic revelations in near-death experiences (NDEs) are a fourth type of flashforwards. Prophetic revelations are similar to another type of flashforward called the prophetic vision, which was identified in 1982 by Kenneth Ring. Like prophetic visions, prophetic revelations are a phenomenon in which NDErs are given a knowledge of the earth's future; they have a global or world focus. Prophetic revelations differ from prophetic visions in that events in the earth's future are told or revealed to the NDEr by a deceased relative or some otherworld person during their NDE, rather than in a visual display, and they are less detailed. Four categories of flashforwards have now been identified. In addition to the prophetic revelation and the prophetic vision are the other flashforwards, the personal flashforward and the otherworld personal future revelation (OPFR). The major features that distinguish these different flashforwards are their focus (global or personal), method of delivery, and detail. All flashforward types occur in a small number of cases and during deep NDEs.     

Birth order, sex of child, and perceptions of parental favoritism

Many studies have examined factors that influence discriminative parental solicitude. Sex, birth order, and age of the mother are a few factors demonstrated to influence levels of parental investment (especially as measured by offspring self-report). One indicator of a high level of parental investment is being a parental favorite. Using self-reports from a sample of several hundred young adults, we secured support for two hypotheses related to the influence of birth order and sex on parental favoritism. Fathers are not perceived as having a favorite child more often than are mothers, but are more likely to favor female children than are mothers. Mothers are perceived to be more likely to favor female children in blended sibships. Both mothers and fathers are perceived as favoring genetically-related children. The results also suggest that the birth order of the parental favorite varies with the birth order of the participant. Firstborns and lastborns report a pattern of favoritism that suggests parents favor firstborn and lastborn children. The discussion addresses limitations of the methodology and presents directions for future research.     

COST-BENEFIT CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING AMONG CROSS-VALIDATION METHODS

There are two general methods of cross-validation: (a) empirical estimation, and (b) formula estimation. In choosing a specific cross-validation procedure, one should consider both costs (eg. inefficient use of available data in estimating regression parameters) and benefits (eg. accuracy in estimating population cross-validity). Empirical cross-validation methods involve significant costs, since they are typically laborious and wasteful of data, but under conditions represented in Monte Carlo studies, they are generally not more accurate than formula estimates. Consideration of costs and benefits suggests that empirical estimation methods are typically not worth the cost, except in a limited number of cases in which Monte Carlo sampling assumptions are not met in the derivation sample. Designs which use multiple samples to estimate the cross-validity of a single regression equation are clearly preferable to single-sample designs; the latter are never expected to be more accurate than formula estimates and thus are never worth the cost. Multi-equation designs are more accurate than single equation designs, but they appear to estimate the wrong parameter, and thus are difficult to interpret.     

Group belongingness and procedural justice: social inclusion and exclusion by peers affects the psychology of voice

The authors focus on the relation between group membership and procedural justice. They argue that whether people are socially included or excluded by their peers influences their reactions to unrelated experiences of procedural justice. Findings from 2 experiments corroborate the prediction that reactions to voice as opposed to no-voice procedures are affected more strongly when people are included in a group than when they are excluded from a group. These findings are extended with a 3rd experiment that shows that people who generally experience higher levels of inclusion in their lives respond more strongly to voice as opposed to no-voice procedures. It is concluded that people's reactions to procedural justice are moderated by people's level of inclusion in social groups.     

Improving communication between health and infant mental health professionals utilizing ongoing Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups

This article discusses the use of Collaborative Peer Supervision Groups (CPSG) to promote ongoing professional development for those who work with infants, toddlers, and their families. Our model's strength and clinical utility result from its three major components: (a) a relationship‐based perspective that acknowledges the important role that feelings and emotions play across the life span, (b) a peer supervision model that helps to ensure that no individual or discipline is “the expert,” and (c) a collaborative case‐based continuing‐education experience. Salient features of forming and maintaining a CPSG group are discussed including access to a Web site containing many key start‐up and evaluation materials. Existing barriers to effective communication between disciplines are discussed as are specific methods to structure case data. Additional tools to help anchor a CPSG are considered as are methods of evaluation. Two case presentations are considered to illustrate group process. Lessons learned from such groups are highlighted. Our intent is to provide sufficient background material so that others with a similar interest will be comfortable starting and maintaining a CPSG group on their own. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.