What Can Austin Tell Us about Truth?

In recent discussions of the problem of truth, Austin's views have been largely overlooked. This is unfortunate, since many of his criticisms aimed at Strawson's redundancy theory carry over to more recent incarnations of deflationism. And unlike contemporary versions of the correspondence theory of truth, Austin's manages properly to situate truth in its conceptual neighbourhood wherein it belongs to “a whole dimension of different appraisals which have something or other to do with the relation between what we say and the facts.” A proper analysis of truth cannot be given apart from a broader study of speech acts.     

‚Mirroring‘ the Ethics of Biobanking: What Analysis of Consent Documents Can Tell Us?

Biobanks have been recognized as a key research infrastructure and how to approach ethical questions has been a topic of discussion for at least a decade by now. This article explores the characteristics of donors’ participation in European biobanks as reflected in the consent documents of a selection of different biobanks from various European countries. The primary aim of this study is to understand how donors are informed about their participation in biobanking. Also the paper discusses what the most important thematic issues of information are to be given to the biobank participants and how this information should be presented in the consent documents. For these purposes, we analyse consent documents from 14 biobanks in 11 countries for six ethically relevant issues: (1) model of consent, (2) scope of future research, (3) access to medical data, (4) feedback to the participants, (5) consent withdrawal, and (6) role of research ethics committee. In order to compare different trends of informing donors of human biological material and medical data, we interpret the six analysed issues in the context of respect to donor’s autonomy paradigm. Although the results of the paper reflect the heterogeneity of biobank consent document policies applied in different European countries, we uncovered some trends and suggested several examples of good practices to balance the interests of the donors with those of the researchers and future patients.     

The Life Satisfaction of Dual-Earner Mothers and Fathers: Does Flexible Scheduling Matter?

Work and family scholarship emphasizes flexible scheduling policies as a key solution to the challenges faced by workers navigating the work–family interface. Despite making life easier for workers, very little research has considered how such policies relate to life satisfaction, especially in terms of how gender comes into play. This study examines how both the availability of flexible scheduling options and the actual use of such policies are differentially related to the life satisfaction of dual-earner mothers and fathers. To address this research question, we use data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce conducted in the United States (N = 211 dual-earner fathers and 284 dual-earner mothers). Results show that flexible scheduling availability is unrelated to the life satisfaction of fathers and mothers. In contrast, flexible scheduling use is significantly and positively related to life satisfaction for dual-earner mothers, but negatively related to the life satisfaction of dual-earner fathers. Explanations for these findings are discussed.     

What do Suicide Survivors Tell Us They Need? Results of a Pilot Study

Few studies have examined the natural coping efforts used by suicide survivors, or have identified specific problems and needs survivors experience following the death of a significant other by suicide. In the present study, we used a newly developed needs assessment survey to examine four areas of natural coping efforts: practical, psychological, and social difficulties; formal and informal sources of support; resources utilized in healing; and barriers to finding support since the loss. Sixty-three adult survivors of suicide were recruited from suicide survivor conferences and support groups. Results indicate that participants experienced high levels of psychological distress since the suicide, including elevated symptoms of depression, guilt, anxiety, and trauma. Participants experienced substantial difficulties in the social arena (e.g., talking with others about the suicide). The majority of the sample viewed professional help as beneficial; although many informal sources of support were also valued (e.g., one-to-one contact with other survivors). Depression and a lack of information about where to find help served as barriers to help-seeking behaviors for our participants. Participants who reported higher levels of functional impairment were more likely to report higher levels of psychological distress, social isolation, and barriers to seeking help. Future research with a longitudinal and more inclusive sample is needed to build on these preliminary findings and to provide a solid foundation for evidenced-based interventions with survivors.     

What Do Implicit Measures Tell Us? Scrutinizing the Validity of Three Common Assumptions

ABSTRACT— Experimental paradigms designed to assess "implicit" representations are currently very popular in many areas of psychology. The present article addresses the validity of three widespread assumptions in research using these paradigms: that (a) implicit measures reflect unconscious or introspectively inaccessible representations; (b) the major difference between implicit measures and self-reports is that implicit measures are resistant or less susceptible to social desirability; and (c) implicit measures reflect highly stable, older representations that have their roots in long-term socialization experiences. Drawing on a review of the available evidence, we conclude that the validity of all three assumptions is equivocal and that theoretical interpretations should be adjusted accordingly. We discuss an alternative conceptualization that distinguishes between activation and validation processes.     

What Can 1 Million Trials Tell Us about Visual Search?

In a typical visual search experiment, observers look through a set of items for a designated target that may or may not be present. Reaction time (RT) is measured as a function of the number of items in the display (set size), and inferences about the underlying search processes are based on the slopes of the resulting RT × Set Size functions. Most search experiments involve 5 to 15 subjects performing a few hundred trials each. In this retrospective study, I examine results from 2,500 experimental sessions of a few hundred trials each (approximately 1 million total trials). These data represent a wide variety of search tasks. The resulting picture of human search behavior requires changes in our theories of visual search.     

How Comparable are the Gallup World Poll Life Satisfaction Data?

This paper explores the degree to which the new data on life satisfaction from the Gallup World Poll are comparable to those used in previous empirical studies, predominantly those from the World Values Survey. Differences might arise due to the timing and anchoring of questions in the Gallup data. The paper identifies a set of large outlier countries, and estimates suggest that the two datasets tend to generate rather different results, questioning the degree to which they measure the same concept.     

Gratitude and Athletes’ Life Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness

Life satisfaction is a critical index of well-being and is well documented in the literature as a means of protecting athletes from stress. However, minimal research has focused on the factors that contribute to life satisfaction in sports. Accordingly, we adopted the positive psychology perspective and proposed that gratitude would relate to athletes’ life satisfaction. Additionally, we further suggested that mindfulness would strengthen the relationship between gratitude and athletes’ life satisfaction. Athletes completed measurements, and the results, which indicated that athletes with higher levels of gratitude exhibited increased life satisfaction when they had higher levels of mindfulness, supported our expectations. The implications and applications are discussed in terms of mindfulness.     

What Does the Development of Fresh Expressions of Church in the UK Tell Us about Mission Today?

This article explores the significance of the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK since the ground‐breaking Mission‐Shaped Church report was published by the Church of England in 2004. After reviewing the background to this report, the article explores some of the report's central themes and examines some of the more recent research on the movement's impact in the UK. It then highlights six ways in which fresh expressions continue to be significant as a missionary response in a post‐Christian context. These include the movement's theological underpinnings, its reassessment of key questions in ecclesiology, its commitment to local and contextual mission, and the emergence of a predominantly lay leadership. In recognizing that the movement is still in a state of evolution, the article concludes by suggesting some areas of continuing debate and challenge for the future.     

Are Happiness and Life Satisfaction Different Across Religious Groups? Exploring Determinants of Happiness and Life Satisfaction

This study explores whether different religions experience different levels of happiness and life satisfaction and in case this is affected by country economic and cultural environment. Using World Value Survey (from 1981 to 2014), this study found that individual religiosity and country level of development play a significant role in shaping people’s subjective well-being (SWB). Protestants, Buddhists and Roman Catholic were happier and most satisfied with their lives compared to other religious groups. Orthodox has the lowest SWB. Health status, household’s financial satisfaction and freedom of choice are means by which religious groups and governments across the globe can improve the SWB of their citizens.     

Comparative Latent State–Trait Analysis of Satisfaction with Life Measures: The Steen Happiness Index and the Satisfaction with Life Scale

The variance in satisfaction with life can be broken down into trait- and state-like components. We ran tests to determine if a new scale for the measurement of satisfaction with life, the Steen Happiness Index (SHI), was more sensitive to situational changes than the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), which is currently used as a gold standard, with well-established state–trait characteristics. The study consisted of 292 young adults aged 18–35, who were recruited and interviewed three times with 5-month intervals at their places of residence. They completed a set of questionnaires involving the SHI and the SWLS. A latent autoregressive state–trait model showed an adequate fit, χ² (56) = 81.35, p = .02, χ²/df = 1.45, RMSEA = .06, CFI = .98, SRMR = .06. The results indicated that the two scales are strongly correlated on the trait level (r = .98) and on the occasion-specific level (between r = .53 and r = .65) variables. For both scales, stable and occasion-specific influences determine inter-individual differences. For both scales, it is not possible to predict half of the variance by either traits or states measured earlier in time.     

The Many Faces of Life Satisfaction among Finnish Young Adults’

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of general life satisfaction among Finnish young adults, and to clarify the way in which life satisfaction is constructed. In order to explore these aims, the following research questions were specified: (1) What is the level of general life satisfaction among young Finnish adults?, (2) Which factors in young adults’ phase of life and social surroundings are related to their life satisfaction?, (3) Is it possible to find distinct groups of young adults among whom life satisfaction can be seen as differently constructed? If so, in what way are those groups different from each other? What kinds of factors are related to group members’ life satisfaction? The data for the study were gathered via a questionnaire. The subjects consisted of 192 Finnish young adults born in 1968, living throughout the country. The results showed the level of life satisfaction among Finnish young adults to be similar to that of the Finnish population in general. The two main factors underlying life satisfaction were found to be social relation-ships and factors related to working-life contexts. In addition, the study identified five distinct groups (three groups of women, two groups of men) which differed from each other, both in their levels of life satisfaction and in the factors underlying life satisfaction. The groups varied in the importance for life satisfaction that they attached to marital partnerships, friends, health, and hobbies. The results were seen as supporting the assumption that life satisfaction is a socially constructed phenomenon.     

The Pleasant Life, the Engaged Life, and the Meaningful Life: What about the Balanced Life?

Martin Seligman, in his very popular book Authentic Happiness (Seligman 2002), argued that authentic happiness is derived from three major sets of experiences in life, namely experiencing pleasantness regularly (the pleasant life), experiencing a high level of engagement in satisfying activities (the engaged life), and experiencing a sense of connectedness to a greater whole (the meaningful life). In this paper, we maintain that balance in life contributes significantly to subjective well-being. Balance contributes to subjective well-being because of the satisfaction limit that people can derive from a single life domain. People have to be involved in multiple domains to satisfy the full spectrum of human development needs. Different life domains tend to focus on different human developmental needs. More specifically, balance contributes to subjective well-being because subjective well-being can only be attained when both survival and growth needs are met. High levels of subjective well-being cannot be attained with satisfaction of basic needs or growth needs alone. Both needs have to be met to induce subjective well-being.