Life satisfaction and sex-role concept

The purpose of the present survey study was to investigate the relationship between life satisfaction and sex-role concept. Two hundred and seventeen respondents completed a two-part questionnaire, which consisted of the Life Satisfaction Survey, designed by the authors, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. General satisfaction with life was found to be a function of the level of satisfaction derived from various aspects of life, particularly aspects chosen as the most important. Consistent with previous studies, general satisfaction with life is positively associated with education level, income level, and being married. In contrast to previous findings, age is not negatively correlated with overall satisfaction, and a significant difference between males and females showed up. As predicted, sex-role concept was found to be a useful construct in explaining the differential importance of various domains of life as well as the relative contribution of those domains to the individual's overall satisfaction with life. Psychologically masculine people choose as important and enjoy more the instrumental aspects of life; psychologically feminine people choose as important and enjoy more the socioemotional aspects of life; psychologically androgynous people choose as important and enjoy more both the instrumental and socioemotional aspects of life.The research presented here was supported by NSF Grant 77-160107, principal investigator Morton Deutsch. The authors wish to thank Morton Deutsch and Gary Bridge for their guidance and helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. The assistance of Gidi Shichman. Kenneth Kressel, Joan Grosser, Lotti Tartell, Derry Ann Moritz, and Trinity Church on the Green—New Haven is also gratefully acknowledged.     

The concept of the person and the value of life

The concept of the person has come to be intimately connected with questions about the value of life. It is applied to those sorts of beings who have some special value or moral importance and where we need to prioritize the needs or claims of different sorts of individuals. "Person" is a concept designating individuals like us in some important respects, but possibly including individuals who are very unlike us in other respects. What are these respects and why are they important? This paper sets out to answer these questions and to develop a coherent and useful concept of the person.     

张三丰的生命观浅论

对人体生命的终极关怀是道家、道教共同的基本取向,阐述生命之理、探究延生之道乃是道人乐此不倦的事业。一代“隐仙”、武当道祖张三丰,一生仙游四方,留下许多道迹道论,清代道仙李西月曾整理《张三丰先生全集》八卷,以示后人,内容极为丰富。其中“重人贵生”的生命意识是其思想中最具影响力和社会价值的成就,也是道教“生命学”园地的一朵奇葩。一、道化性命的生命生成论何谓“生命”?生命如何产生?生命的本质是什么?与儒学的天命说、佛学的空幻说不同,道家、道教均坚持道生合一论。认为,道是万物的本原,是万物之母,所谓“道生一,一生二,二…     

Cultural influences on children's understanding of the human body and the concept of life

This study aimed to identify the age by which children begin to demonstrate a biological understanding of the human body and the idea that the purpose of body functioning is to maintain life. The study also explored the influence of education, culturally specific experiences and religion on knowledge acquisition in this domain. Children aged between 4 and 7 years from three different cultural backgrounds (White British, British Muslim, and Pakistani Muslim) were interviewed about the human body and its functioning. At least half of the 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds in each cultural group, and almost all 6‐ to 7‐year‐olds, referred to the maintenance of life when explaining organs' functions and so were classified as ‘life theorizers’. Pakistani Muslim children gave fewer biological responses to questions about organs' functions and the purpose of eating and breathing, but referred to life more than their British counterparts. Irrespective of cultural group, older children understood organ location and function better than younger children. These findings support Jaakkola and Slaughter's (2002, Br. J. Dev. Psychol., 20, 325) view that children's understanding of the body as a ‘life machine’ emerges around the ages of 4–5 years. They also suggest that, despite many similarities in children's ideas cross‐culturally, different educational input and culturally specific experiences influence aspects of their biological understanding.     

The Satisfaction With Life Scale and the emerging construct of life satisfaction

Since its introduction in 1985, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985 Larsen, RJ, Diener, E and Emmons, RA. 1985. An evaluation of subjective well-being measures. Social Indicators Research, 17: 1–18. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has been heavily used as a measure of the life satisfaction component of subjective well-being. Scores on the SWLS have been shown to correlate with measures of mental health and to be predictive of future behaviors such as suicide attempts. In the area of health psychology, the SWLS has been used to examine the subjective quality of life of people experiencing serious health concerns. At a theoretical level, extensive research conducted since the last review (Pavot & Diener, 1993 Pavot, W and Diener, E. 1993. Review of the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Psychological Assessment, 5: 164–172. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) has more clearly articulated the nature of life satisfaction judgments, and the multiple forces that can exert an influence on such judgments. In this review, we examine the evolving views of life satisfaction, offer updated psychometric data for the SWLS, and discuss future issues in the assessment of life satisfaction.     

The disease concept of alcoholism: The persistence of an outmoded scientific paradigm

This paper discusses the reasons for the persistence of the disease model of alcoholism in the face of increasing evidence contradicting its basic assumptions. Data from in‐depth interviews with former problem drinkers are used to illustrate the ways in which the disease model: 1) shapes the empirical reality from which data for its support are derived, 2) implies methodological strategies which limit the possibility of its refutation and 3) blinds its supporters to the meaning of anomalous data. Implications for the immediate future of the disease model are discussed.     

The concept of life satisfaction across cultures: An IRT analysis

The present study examined measurement equivalence of the Satisfaction with Life Scale between American and Chinese samples using multigroup Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Multiple indicator multiple cause model (MIMIC), and Item Response Theory (IRT). Whereas SEM and MIMIC identified only one biased item across cultures, the IRT analysis revealed that four of the five items had differential item functioning. According to IRT, Chinese whose latent life satisfaction scores were quite high did not endorse items such as “So far I have gotten the important things I want in life” and “If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.” The IRT analysis also showed that even when the unbiased items were weighted more heavily than the biased items, the latent mean life satisfaction score of Chinese was substantially lower than that of Americans. The differences among SEM, MIMIC, and IRT are discussed.     

Children’s scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept

Although curiosity is an undeniably important aspect of children’s cognitive development, a universally accepted operational definition of children’s curiosity does not exist. Almost all of the research on measuring curiosity has focused on adults, and has used predominately questionnaire-type measures that are not appropriate for young children. In this review we (a) synthesize the range of definitions and measures of children’s curiosity and (b) propose a new operational definition and measurement procedure for assessing and advancing scientific curiosity in young children. In the first part of the paper, we summarize Loewenstein’s (1994) review of theoretical perspectives on adult curiosity, and critically evaluate a wide range of efforts to create and implement operational measures of curiosity, focusing mainly on behavioral measures of curiosity in children. In the second part, we return to Loewenstein’s theory and present an argument for adopting his “information-gap” theory of curiosity as a framework for reviewing various procedures that have been suggested for measuring children’s exploratory curiosity. Finally, we describe a new paradigm for measuring exploratory curiosity in preschool children, defining curiosity as the threshold of desired uncertainty in the environment that leads to exploratory behavior. We present data demonstrating the reliability and validity of this measure, discuss initial results on developmental differences in young children’s curiosity, and conclude with a general summary and suggestions for future research.     

Beard's concept of neurasthenia and Freud's concept of the actual neuroses

Beard's concept of neurasthenia and Freud's concept of the actual neuroses are described and evaluated critically. Despite differences in the content of their theories, especially in the role of sexual factors and sexual mechanisms, there are important formal and logical similarities. Both Beard and Freud incorrectly identified the causes of the neuroses being studied; both used inadequate methods of assessing the strengths of the causal factors; and the central theoretical concepts of both were equally vacuous. Freud adopted the same method of study as did Beard, but does not seem to have been influenced directly by him.     

The threshold model of scientific change and the continuity of scientific knowledge

The continuity thesis of the Pozna school threshold model of the growth of scientific knowledge is considered in the light of the example of Van der Waals' and Boyle-Mariotte's laws. It is argued — using both traditional logical means and the structuralist reconstruction of the example — that the continuity thesis does not hold.A distinction between a historical and a systematic point of view is introduced and it is argued that the continuity thesis of the threshold model presupposes the systematic point of view. However, looking at matters from the systematic point of view need not yield the original theory, looked at from the historical point of view. Applied to the case of Van der Waals/Boyle-Mariotte laws, it turns out that the latter law is not a true idealizing special case of the former, contrary to the continuity thesis.