Adolescents' approval of peer and spousal retribution in their culture vs. other cultures: The role of group stereotypes

This study examined whether negative group stereotypes similarly affect adolescents' reasoning about peer and spousal retribution in interpersonal situations. Findings from cognitive domain theory, school violence, family violence, and group stereotyping and prejudice literatures were used to examine this. The sample of adolescents was drawn from northern and central Israel and consisted of 1,168 Arab and Jewish students (grades 7–11). A quasi‐experimental between‐subject design was used, in which the students in each grade were randomly assigned to one of two peer retribution scenarios and one of two spousal retribution scenarios. In each scenario, only the ethnicity of the peers and married couples depicted in the story was systematically altered. The study was a 2 (Arab/Jewish respondent) 2 (peer retribution scenarios) 2 (spousal retribution scenarios) factorial design. The findings provide evidence that Arab and Jewish students have negative stereotypes about one another; however, these group stereotypes did not affect their judgments and justifications about peer and spousal retribution. Jewish and Arab students judged peer retribution similarly, but differed in their judgments of spousal retribution. However, altering the ethnic background of the individuals in the scenarios did not affect respondents' judgments. This suggests that respondents in both groups did not base their judgments on negative stereotypes about the out‐group, but instead were focusing on the behavioural act itself. Overall, the vast majority of respondents condemned retribution based on moral, social conventional and personal reasons. This inquiry provides evidence that it was the number of justifications endorsed within a specific domain that distinguished Arab and Jewish respondents. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Southern Roles in Global Nanotechnology Innovation: Perspectives from Thailand and Australia

The term ‘nano-divide’ has become a catch-phrase for describing various kinds of global nanotechnology inequities. However, there has been little in-depth exploration as to what the global nano-divide really means, and limited commentary on its early nature. Furthermore, the literature often presents countries from the Global South as ‘passive’ agents in global nanotechnology innovation—without the ability to develop endogenous nanotechnology capabilities. Yet others point to nanotechnology providing opportunities for the South to play new roles in the global research and development process. In this paper I report on the findings of a qualitative study that involved the perspectives of 31 Thai and Australian key informants, from a broad range of fields. The study was supplemented by a survey of approximately 10% of the Thai nanotechnology research community at the time. I first explore how the global nano-divide is understood and the implication of the divide’s constructs in terms of the roles to be played by various countries in global nanotechnology innovation. I then explore the potential nature of Southern passivity and barriers and challenges facing Southern endogenous innovation, as well as an in-depth consideration of the proposition that Southern countries could be ‘active’ agents in the nanotechnology process. I argue that it is the nano-divide relating to nanotechnology research and development capabilities that is considered fundamental to nanotechnology’s Southern outcomes. The research suggests that Southern countries will encounter many of the traditional barriers to engaging with emerging technology as well as some new barriers relating to the nature of nanotechnology itself. Finally, the research suggests that nanotechnology may offer new opportunities for Southern countries to enter the global research and development picture.     

The fragile nature of the speech-perception deficit in dyslexia: natural vs synthetic speech

A number of studies reported that developmental dyslexics are impaired in speech perception, especially for speech signals consisting of rapid auditory transitions. These studies mostly made use of a categorical-perception task with synthetic-speech samples. In this study, we show that deficits in the perception of synthetic speech do not generalise to the perception of more naturally sounding speech, even if the same experimental paradigm is used. This contrasts with the assumption that dyslexics are impaired in the perception of rapid auditory transitions.     

Selfish genes vs. selfish people: Sociobiology as origin myth

The sociobiological version of human evolution is criticized as excessively reductionistic and focused on reproductive competition. An alternative version of evolutionary psychology is proposed based on the premise that the most important feature of human evolutionary history is selection for small group living. The structural requirements of group survival can account for fundamentally social motives characteristic of the human species such as cooperation, conformity, and group loyalty.Adapted from a symposium presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, October 13, 1990, Buffalo, New York.     

Staff programmer vs. system: The issues

Hiring a staff programmer who programs specific experiments makes the least demands on the user, but the laboratory throughput is limited. Developing a high-level user-programmed system permits high throughput, but entails considerable effort and certain risks. Details and examples illustrate the issues.     

Technology vs. science: The cognitive fallacy

There are fundamental differences between the explanation of scientific change and the explanation of technological change. The differences arise from fundamental differences between scientific and technological knowledge and basic disanalogies between technological advance and scientific progress. Given the influence of economic markets and industrial and institutional structures on the development of technology, it is more plausible to regard technological change as a continuous and incremental process, rather than as a process of Kuhnian crises and revolutions.     

存在与本质——伊斯兰哲学中的本体论之争

存在和本质问题是伊斯兰哲学史上的核心问题之一,围绕着二者本体论地位的争论一直持续至今。本文从阿维森纳关于存在—本质区分与联系的论述开始,介绍和分析这一问题所引发的分歧和争论,以及后期伊斯兰形而上学的主流传统何以转向存在优先论。     

Traditional Education and Creativity in an Afro-Arab. Islamic Culture: The Case of Sudan

This study investigated the differing effect upon creativity of traditional and modern education in the Sudan. The salient characteristics of the two types are presented, with a brief discussion of their likely effects. Four creativity tests, suitably modified for local conditions, were administered to 264 male and female students, with an age range of 15–20 years. The results indicated that the group receiving modern education performed significantly better than the traditionally educated group on two of the four creativity tests, but with equal performance on one test. The traditionally educated group performed significantly better on the fourth test. The discussion suggests there are a number of factors, both sociocultural and methodological, which may account for these findings.     

The cyclopean eye vs. the sighting-dominant eye as the center of visual direction

In three experiments, competing hypotheses concerning the center of visual direction were examined with the stimuli used in the Card test which requires a subject to position the card with a hole so that a target can be seen. Each experiment used six right- and six left-sighting-eye subjects. In Experiment 1, the aperture and the target were collinear with the sighting eye. The mean apparent locations of the aperture when the target was fixated, and of the target when the aperture was fixated, were consistent with only the cyclopean-eye hypothesis; that is, the 95% confidence intervals of these means contained the predicted values from the cyclopean-eye hypothesis but not those from the sighting-eye hypothesis. In Experiment 2, subjects moved the card from the side of the nonsighting eye, and in 88% of the trials it was stopped when the nonsighting eye viewed the target. In Experiment 3, the target was viewed through the aperture with both the sighting and nonsighting eye in six different stimulus arrangements. The 95% confidence intervals of all 12 mean apparent locations of the targets contained the predicted values from the cyclopean-eye hypothesis but none of those from the sighting-eye hypothesis. These results are compatible with the cyclopean-eye hypothesis, and we therefore conclude that the sighting eye is not the center of visual direction.     

The Expansion of Epistemology: The Metaphysical vs. the Practical Approach

From the perspective of world philosophy, one phenomenon of the 20th century is quite intriguing. Certain philosophers in China as well as in the West, finding the traditional conception of epistemology too narrow-minded, argued that its scope should be expanded. The Chinese way of expanding epistemology might be called the metaphysical approach, and the Western way the practical approach. In this article, I will first give an outline of both approaches and then try to demonstrate that a substantial dialogue can be created between them. By focusing on the problem of the articulation of what we know, I will make the metaphysical approach and the practical approach engage each other and thus prove to be mutually complementary.     

Demons are everywhere: The effects of belief in pure evil,demonization, and retribution on punishing criminal perpetrators

Do preconceived beliefs about evil influence perceptions and punishments of those who harm others? We examined the effects of belief in pure evil (BPE), demonization, and belief in retribution on punishment of a stereotypically (vs. non-stereotypically) evil criminal. Participants punished the stereotypically evil perpetrator more (i.e., greater recommended jail time, opposition to parole, and support for his execution) because of increases in demonization (i.e., greater perceptions of the criminal as wicked, evil, and threatening), but not increases in retributive feelings. However, regardless of the criminal’s exhibited stereotypically evil traits, greater BPE predicted harsher punishment of the perpetrator; both greater demonization and stronger retributive feelings mediated the relationship between BPE and severe punishments. Further, effect sizes indicated BPE (vs. the evilness manipulation) more strongly predicted demonization and punishment. Thus, some individuals naturally see perpetrators as demons, and retributively punish them, whether or not there is more explicit stereotypic evidence of their evil dispositions.     

Creativity in an Indigenous Afro-Arab Islamic Culture: The Case of Sudan

The present study attempted to appraise creativity in the indigenous Sudanese culture, which is formed by a complex integration and interaction of various social and cultural factors, mainly of African, Arab, and Islamic origin. More specifically, the study investigated the concept of creativity in a conformist culture, the problem of using Western tests and the problem of modernization. Also it attempted to find answers to some crucial questions: What is the scope available for creative expression in a tight sociocultural system? How could creativity coexist with conformity? What form of creativity can exist in the indigenous sociocultural system?