What it means to be general cultural

Published and unpublished research with the Vocational Interest Inventory based on Anne Roe's interest scheme supported separating the General Cultural area out of the RIASEC framework. It emerged as a distinct fusion of certain verbal-artistic and social tendencies, and, as an occupational group, takes social scientists away from Roe's Science group. General Cultural provides a bridge in career counseling between interests and cognitive variables because of the repeated association of CUL scores with academic achievement and persistence.     

What does it mean to use someone as "a means only": rereading Kant.

Debates about commodification in bioethics frequently appeal to Kant's famous second formulation of the categorical imperative, the formula requiring us to treat the rational (human) being as "an end in itself" and "never as a means only." In the course of her own treatment of commodification, Margaret Jane Radin observes that Kant's application of this formula "does not generate noncontroversial particular consequences." This is so, I argue, because Kant offers three different--and largely incompatible--interpretations of the formula. One focuses on the obligation to preserve rational willing; the second stresses respect for human (physical) dignity and integrity; the third views respect for others as "ends in themselves" as primarily involving a willingness to govern one's conduct by a procedure of impartial co-legislation. Only the third of these interpretations, I conclude, offers a reasonable and coherent approach to moral judgment about the limits of commodification.     

What it is like to see: A sensorimotor theory of perceptual experience

The paper proposes a way of bridging the gapbetween physical processes in the brain and the 'felt'aspect of sensory experience. The approach is based onthe idea that experience is not generated by brainprocesses themselves, but rather is constituted by theway these brain processes enable a particular form of'give-and-take' between the perceiver and theenvironment. From this starting-point we are able tocharacterize the phenomenological differences betweenthe different sensory modalities in a more principledway than has been done in the past. We are also ableto approach the issues of visual awareness andconsciousness in a satisfactory way. Finally weconsider a number of testable empirical consequences,one of which is the striking prediction of thephenomenon of 'change blindness'.     

Contextualizing social identity in considerations of what it means to be a nurse

This paper describes research which provide the context for a discussion of how social representations can circumscribe identity possibilities and render feasible certain groups evaluations. Specifically, a research approach is advocated in which Social Identity and Social Representation Theory are integrated within single complementary paradigm, (Breakwell, 1993). A brief but critical examination of both theoretical traditions is ofered as the backdrop to this. A case study is described as a means of illustrating the unique potential of the integrated paradigm to predict and explain the meaning of social identity and the evaluations it affords. An investigation is then described involving 178 nurses ranging from Trainee to Charge Nurse status. Nurses were invited to use Q-sorts to describe the meaning of their group membership. As predicted from having identified the types of social representation of nurses available, two diferent identity orientations emerged: a communal-interpersonal (Patient Centred) and instrumental-intergroup (Professional Distinctiveness). The communal-interpersonal identity orientation was most typical of the lower status trainee nurses and also female nurses. In turn, higher status nurses and also male nurses, articulated a primarily instrumental-intergroup identity orientation. The evaluations signalled by group membership were also predictable from the identity orientations exhibited.     

Programmed instruction: What it is and how to do it

Five behaviorological features of programmed instruction are outlined: behavioral objectives, reinforcement, activity rate: high and relevant, successive approximation, and mastery progression. Each of these topics is explained, and examples are given to illustrate the differences between programmed instruction and the more common transmission model of teaching. A final section provides suggestions on specific techniques of successive approximation.     

Cosmopolitanism and What it Means to be Human: Rethinking Ancient and Modern Views on Discerning Humanity

This paper takes a conceptual look at cosmopolitanism and the related issue of what it means to be human in order to arrive at an alternative conceptual framework which is free from empiricist assumptions. With reference to a discussion on Homer’s Iliad, the author develops a ‘humanist’ model of discerning humanity. This model is then compared and contrasted with Martha Nussbaum’s version of cosmopolitanism. The notion of ‘aspect-seeing’ discussed by Wittgenstein in the second part of the Philosophical Investigations is also examined in order to shed light on what it involves to discern humanity. Finally, racism is discussed from the philosophical perspective elaborated in order to highlight its distinctive conceptual features. It is hoped that this paper can refocus our attention on important issues concerning the basis of what it means to see human beings as human beings.     

Finding a place to be: ethnic identity exploration of Asian Americans

This paper examines the nature of ethnic identity development by analyzing published autobiographical accounts of 39 Asian Americans. Focusing on what previous research indicates is a four-stage ethnic identity formation process, this investigation of the last two stages--ethnic emergence and ethnic identity incorporation--revealed a pattern of exploration and decision-making that results in greater understanding of self-identity and greater self-acceptance as a member of an ethnic minority. The process revealed by the narrators began with a willingness to face previously unaddressed ethnic identity issues, leading to the search for membership in a new and more satisfying group. After a period of exploration, and finding that they were not fully comfortable with either the mainstream American or ethnic culture, the narrators discovered the ethnic minority American group--Asian Americans. The narrators described their movement through these stages to achieve an Asian American identity as positive and self-validating. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for education and counseling.     

When talking makes you feel like a group: The emergence of group-based emotions

Group-based emotions are emotional reactions to group concerns and have been shown to emerge when people appraise events while endorsing a specific social identity. Here we investigate whether discussing a group-relevant event with other group members affects emotional reactions in a similar way. In two experiments, we confronted participants with an unfair group-relevant event, while manipulating their social identity and whether they discussed the event or an unrelated topic. Our major finding is that having group members discuss the unfair group-relevant event led to emotions that were more negative than in the irrelevant discussion and comparable to those observed when social identity had been made salient explicitly beforehand. Moreover, it also generated group-based appraisals of injustice (Experiment 1) and group-based identity (Experiment 2). This research sheds new light not only on the consequences of within-group sharing of emotions for the unfolding of intergroup relations but also on the nature of group-based emotions.     

They call it like they see it: spontaneous naming and attention to shape

Two experiments explore children's spontaneous labeling of novel objects as a method to study early lexical access. The experiments also provide new evidence on children's attention to object shape when labeling objects. In Experiment 1, the spontaneous productions of 21 23- to 28-month-olds (mean 26;28) shown a set of novel, unnamed objects were analyzed both in terms of the specific words said and, via adult judgments, their likely perceptual basis. We found that children's spontaneous names were cued by the perceptual feature of shape. Experiment 2 examines the relation between spontaneous productions, name generalizations in a structured task, and vocabulary development in a group of children between 17 and 24 months of age (mean 21;6). Results indicate that object shape plays an important role in both spontaneous productions and novel noun generalization, but contrary to current hypotheses, children may name objects by shape from the earliest points of productive vocabulary development and this tendency may not be lexically specific.     

‘If it makes you feel good it must be right’: Embodiment strategies for healthy eating and risk management

The following arguments are constructed around the encounter of embodied experiences and societal discourses. On the basis of an ethnographic study of 34 Danish consumers, we present different consumers' strategies in relation to their perception of healthy food and management of food‐related health risk. Drawing on a subsample representing particular subject positions in relation to healthy eating, we argue for an increased role of embodiment in consumers' risk handling. The study shows that because of the overload of information, consumers increasingly turn to personal experiences and bodily feelings as the instrument and strategy for evaluating possible health risk and benefit. Furthermore, the study shows how these evaluations are related to broader political and socio‐economic issues as well as closely intertwined with notion of trust and mistrust. Through embodied feelings, consumers navigate and negotiate their position in relation to social discourses of health and risk. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Man, I feel like a woman: when and how gender-role motivation helps mind-reading

Two experiments were undertaken with 3 goals: (a) to determine whether manipulating the desirability of including empathy as part of one's gender-role identity motivates accurate mind-reading, (b) to ascertain whether target readability moderates the strength of this effect, and (c) to test whether these effects are mediated by the complexity of perceivers' inferential strategies. Participants viewed videotapes of 2 couples discussing relationship problems and attempted to infer each partner's thoughts and feelings. Both experiments demonstrated that motivation improved accuracy when male and female perceivers valued the empathy-relevant aspects of the traditional female gender role. However, as predicted, high levels of motivation facilitated the accurate reading of easy targets but not of difficult targets. Several mediational models were tested, the results of which showed that the complexity of perceivers' attributions mediated the link between motivation and mind-reading accuracy.