Dual processes of emotion and reason in judgments about moral dilemmas

We report the results of two experiments that show that participants rely on both emotion and reason in moral judgments. Experiment 1 showed that when participants were primed to communicate feelings, they provided emotive justifications not only for personal dilemmas, e.g., pushing a man from a bridge that will result in his death but save the lives of five others, but also for impersonal dilemmas, e.g., hitting a switch on a runaway train that will result in the death of one man but save the lives of five others; when they were primed to communicate thoughts, they provided non-emotive justifications for both personal and impersonal dilemmas. Experiment 2 showed that participants read about a protagonist's emotions more quickly when the protagonist was faced with a personal dilemma than an impersonal one, but they read about the protagonist's decision to act or not act equally quickly for personal and impersonal dilemmas.     

Self-disclosure and liking: Effects for senders and receivers1

This experiment tested the social reward potential of self-disclosure and its impact on a receiver's attraction towards the sender. Further, a sender self-perception effect was tested. Just as a receiver is speculated to use the intimacy level of a disclosure as an indication of sender regard and trust, the self-perception hypothesis maintains that the sender also uses intimacy level to self-attribute liking and trust for the receiver. A forced-compliance procedure with college males was used to have a sender subject send either a high or low intimacy self-disclosure essay. Consistent with the social reward and self-perception hypotheses were measures of sender's behavior as trusting and measures of feelings during the disclosure process. General measures of liking and trust were not successful, however.     

Self-disclosure reciprocity,liking and the deviant

Conflicting predictions were derived from social exchange theory about the role of social attraction and the reciprocity norm on mutual self-disclosure in dyadic relationships. Sixty-six female subjects were exposed to one of three levels of disclosure input: conventional-low disclosure, conventional-high disclosure, or devianthigh disclosure. In support of the reciprocity norm prediction, willingness to disclose personal information was a positive function of the amount of disclosure input from another person, regardless of the degree of liking for the initial discloser.     

PANNENBERGS POLANYIANISM: A RESPONSE TO JOHN V. APCZYNSKI

Abstract. John V. Apczynski, while presenting a helpful analysis of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Michael Polanyi, does not succeed in showing that Pannenberg's theology is incoherent. Contrary to Apczynski, I hold that Pannenberg's concern for theoretic assertions is not extrinsic but intrinsic and central to his program. Moreover, this concern does not rest directly upon the cultural dominance of impersonal knowing but is a countering of the theological overreaction against it. Polanyi has pioneered the critique of impersonal knowledge, but in Pannenberg's judgment much theology tends to espouse too cheaply the Polanyian elevation of faith as ground of knowing. Pannenberg, while appreciating the relative justification of Polanyi's work, is attempting to thematize afresh—in interesting contrast to Polanyi and, for instance, Paul Tillich—the public, rational structure of faith.     

Gender differences in moral judgment and the evaluation of gender-specified moral agents

Whether, and if so, how exactly gender differences are manifested in moral judgment has recently been at the center of much research on moral decision making. Previous research suggests that women are more deontological than men in personal, but not impersonal, moral dilemmas. However, typical personal and impersonal moral dilemmas differ along two dimensions: Personal dilemmas are more emotionally salient than impersonal ones and involve a violation of Kant’s practical imperative that humans must never be used as a mere means, but only as ends. Thus, it remains unclear whether the reported gender difference is due to emotional salience or to the violation of the practical imperative. To answer this question, we explore gender differences in three moral dilemmas: a typical personal dilemma, a typical impersonal dilemma, and an intermediate dilemma, which is not as emotionally salient as typical personal moral dilemmas, but contains an equally strong violation of Kant’s practical imperative. While we replicate the result that women tend to embrace deontological ethics more than men in personal, but not impersonal, dilemmas, we find no gender differences in the intermediate situation. This suggests that gender differences in these type of dilemmas are driven by emotional salience, and not by the violation of the practical imperative. Additionally, we also explore whether people think that women should behave differently than men in these dilemmas. Across all three dilemmas, we find no statistically significant differences about how people think men and women should behave.     

The implicit sociometer effect and the moderating role of relational self‐construal

The present study examined how negative feedback influenced implicit self‐evaluations and how individuals' level of relational self‐construal (RelSC) moderated these relationships. One hundred Chinese university students completed the relational‐interdependent self‐construal scale and were randomly assigned into one of three conditions (social exclusion, personal failure, or control). After receiving the manipulation, participants completed two Brief Implicit Association Tests (BIATs) that measured their implicit self‐liking and self‐competence. The results indicated that people with a highly RelSC typically had higher implicit self‐liking, but they decreased their implicit self‐liking more than those with a low RelSC after experiencing social exclusion. However, RelSC did not influence the effect of personal failure on implicit self‐liking. In addition, RelSC was not associated with implicit self‐competence in any situation.     

Laughing and liking: Exploring the interpersonal effects of humor use in initial social interactions

Humor is a common interpersonal phenomenon that may positively influence the trajectories of social interactions. In two social interaction experiments, we examined the association between humor and liking. The first study was a secondary analysis of data from a prior experiment (originally conducted for another purpose) in which unacquainted participants engaged in a self‐disclosure task and rated each other on various dimensions, including humor. In Experiment 2, unacquainted mixed‐sex dyads participated in a series of either humorous or similar but non‐humorous tasks. In both studies, humor was positively associated with liking and closeness; perceived reciprocal liking and enjoyment of the interaction mediated the association between humor and liking. Likewise, we found a positive association between liking and humor. Men and women did not differ in self‐reported humor use. The findings suggest that humor is a mechanism used to establish connections with others across all relationships and for both sexes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The mere exposure effect and recognition memory

This investigation explores the relationship between liking ratings and recognition performance for obscure classical and Russian music melodies. Past studies have explored if awareness of stimulus presentation affects the mere exposure effect (MEE) (Bornstein, 1989; Bornstein & D'Agostino, 1992). We investigate if the type of awareness (i.e., "remembering" an actual occurrence of hearing the melody vs. "knowing" that one is familiar with the melody in a more general, less contextualised sense; Tulving, 1985) affects the MEE. In Experiment 1, we administered the liking test and the recognition test within the same test block and found that liking ratings for "remembered" melodies were on average higher than those for melodies that were merely "known". Although the recognition data replicate the findings of Gardiner, Kaminska, Dixon, and Java (1996) whereby remember and know responses to a given stimulus react differently to repetition from one to three trials, liking data did not vary with the degree of exposure. In addition, our adoption of the recognition category "guess" resulted in a pattern of results that is not only different from previous studies but illustrates the importance of judged, instead of true, old/new status in determining liking. The basic findings of Experiment 1 were replicated in Experiment 2 in which the liking test was conducted prior to the recognition test. Implications of these findings for theories of MEE are discussed.     

Trusting strangers: The benefits of reciprocal self-disclosure during online computer-mediated communication and mediating role of interpersonal liking

Reciprocal self-disclosure has reportedly been associated with increased interpersonal trust. However, existing research mainly focuses on online disclosure between acquaintances and overlooks the types of reciprocal disclosure, especially in the initial interactions between strangers communicating online. This study aimed to investigate how three types of reciprocal self-disclosure (turn-taking reciprocity, extended reciprocity and non-reciprocity) contribute to trust and the mechanism of positive interpersonal liking, and whether any effect was instant and stable or increased across two interactions during computer-mediated communication (CMC). Participants were assigned to one of the three reciprocal disclosure conditions and engaged in online interactions. Self-reported and behavioural results demonstrated higher levels of interpersonal trust and liking in the second interaction phase than in the first across all conditions. The turn-taking reciprocity condition showed higher interpersonal trust than did the extended condition, and higher interpersonal liking than did the extended and non-reciprocity conditions; this effect was apparent in both interactions. These findings help us understand the relationship between online self-disclosure and interpersonal trust, suggesting that certain patterns of communication with strangers (e.g., turn-taking reciprocity) may foster more positive social outcomes during CMC over time, while demonstrating the importance of immediacy in synchronous conversations.     

Disclosure reciprocity and liking as a function of gender and personalism

Evidence is presented that: (1) Liking and reciprocal disclosure for males and females are mediated by personalistic attributions; however, the predicted pattern was obtained for females on a willingness-to-disclose measure and for males on an appropriateness-to-disclose measure. (2) Females disclosed at higher levels of intimacy than males. Specifically, two studies are presented that show that the effect of disclosure intimacy and attribution on reciprocity and liking are influenced by subject sex, and may include sex differences in subjects' perception of the sex of the recipients of their liking and disclosure. An appropriateness-of-disclosure higher order interaction in Study II involved partner sex, intimacy, and attribution. It seemed that disclosers were careful in choosing their audience. When appropriateness of disclosing is the question, it is not so important who is doing the disclosing as who is receiving the disclosure. These findings may help to clarify the mixed evidence regarding sex differences in self-disclosure behaviors.     

MARKETS AND MORALITY

For most of human history, economic systems were personal in nature—people normally interacted with people they knew personally and knew well. Today's modern market economies are impersonal—people normally interact with people they do not know personally. The historical movement from personal to impersonal systems was necessary for societies to develop the specialization of labor needed for modern production technologies. That is, the high standards of living in the developed world are due to these impersonal systems. However, the ethical systems theologians apply to modern market systems were developed for personal societies and are often inappropriate for impersonal societies. In this article, we develop the differences between personal and impersonal systems, examine the writings of a number of theologians who are very critical of market economies, and attempt to show how a different ethical approach is needed.     

Mimicking disliked others: Effects of a priori liking on the mimicry‐liking link

The sharing of bodily states elicits in mimicker and mimickee corresponding conceptualisations, which facilitates liking. There are many studies showing the relatedness of mimicry and liking. However, the mimicry‐liking link has not been investigated under conditions in which the mimickee is liked or disliked a priori. In two studies, we examined moderating effects of a priori liking on the mimicry‐liking link. Liking was measured via self‐report measures (Studies 1 and 2) and behavioural measures using a virtual environment technology (Study 2). Results showed that when participants intentionally mimicked a disliked person, liking for that person was not improved, whereas when participants mimicked a liked person, liking for that person increased. These effects were shown to be mediated by affiliation. These studies not only provided further evidence of a link between mimicry and liking, but also demonstrated that this relationship is moderated by a priori liking. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The experiences of therapy from the perspectives of carers of people with dementia: An exploratory study

Design: Interviews were conducted with six carers of people with dementia about their experience of receiving counselling/psychotherapy. Interviews were conducted in the carer's own home, and data were analysed thematically using a narrative approach. Findings: Three themes were identified from the data: ‘Still doing the best I can’ (identified as losses and processes of personal growth); ‘Feeling connected and being understood’ (identified as attributes believed to be important within the therapeutic relationship); and ‘Wanting to share information’ (identified as sharing information with someone ‘neutral’). Carers placed emphasis on the age of the therapist and the amount of therapist self‐disclosure. Attending counselling and/or psychotherapy also helped the carer to find a ‘safe space’ to disclose and share concerns. Discussion: Carer loss and personal growth are explored, together with the importance of building therapeutic relationships and, for the therapist, seeking supervision when managing personal self‐disclosure. The theme of therapist self disclosure is explored together with the importance of therapists seeking supervision when managing personal self‐disclosure.     

The ‘face’ of the il y a: Levinas and Blanchot on impersonal existence

This essay argues for a reading of Levinas’ work which prioritizes the significance of the il y a over the personal Other. I buttress this reading by using the well-documented intersections between Levinas’ work and that of Maurice Blanchot. Said otherwise, I argue that Levinas’ relationship with Blanchot (a relationship that is very much across the notion of the il y a) calls scholars of the Levinasian corpus to place the conception of impersonal existence to the forefront. To do so is to take seriously the complex relationship between Levinas’ explicitly ethical account of the face, and his phenomenological account of impersonal existence. To approach Levinas in this way (by way of his relationship with Blanchot) is to not only recognize that the ethical import of the face lies in its being without determination or nomenclature, but it is to also fully acknowledge the underlying horror of a Levinasian rendition of the ethical encounter.     

Priests as Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: The Effects of Disclosure on Empathy

This study explores the effects of disclosing a history of childhood sexual abuse on empathy for Roman Catholic priests. The research design randomly selected priests in good standing in the Roman Catholic Church from 10 locations in the United States. Three groups of priests were identified based on self-report: (a) priests who report sexual abuse and no disclosure, (b) priests who report sexual abuse and disclosure, and (c) priests who report no sexual abuse. The three groups were compared using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index dimensions of perspective-taking, empathic concern, and personal distress as the dependent variable. The data was analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression to examine the incremental contributions for the different sets of independent variables. Results indicate that empathy was not exclusively associated with disclosing sexual abuse. The need for earlier intervention, education, and assistance for priests in disclosing childhood sexual abuse is discussed.     

Professional Growth Versus Personal Growth of Salespeople: A General Systems Model

Abstract

This study was designed to test a general systems model of growth, specifically how professional growth contributes to personal growth and vice versa. After a discussion of general systems models, two hypotheses were identified for testing. Hypothesis One dealt with personality traits of personal growth as being indicators of professional growth; Hypothesis Two focused on age as it contributes to professional growth and ultimately to personal growth. Several indicators of personal growth were correlated with indicators of professional growth to test Hypothesis One, which was ultimately supported. Hypothesis Two was tested using ANOVA with several well- known professional growth measures and age as independent variables, with self-esteem measures and inner/other-directedness measures as dependent variables. Hypothesis Two was not supported.     

Experimental disclosure and its moderators: a meta-analysis

Disclosing information, thoughts, and feelings about personal and meaningful topics (experimental disclosure) is purported to have various health and psychological consequences (e.g., J. W. Pennebaker, 1993). Although the results of 2 small meta-analyses (P. G. Frisina, J. C. Borod, & S. J. Lepore, 2004; J. M. Smyth, 1998) suggest that experimental disclosure has a positive and significant effect, both used a fixed effects approach, limiting generalizability. Also, a plethora of studies on experimental disclosure have been completed that were not included in the previous analyses. One hundred forty-six randomized studies of experimental disclosure were collected and included in the present meta-analysis. Results of random effects analyses indicate that experimental disclosure is effective, with a positive and significant average r-effect size of .075. In addition, a number of moderators were identified.     

Personal and impersonal stimuli differentially engage brain networks during moral reasoning

Moral decision making has recently attracted considerable attention as a core feature of all human endeavors. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies about moral judgment have identified brain areas associated with cognitive or emotional engagement. Here, we applied graph theory-based network analysis of event-related potentials during moral decision making to reveal the personal/impersonal distinction in the organization of functional connectivity. Our results indicated that the personal task had more larger long-range connections involved in frontal regions and the right hemisphere, and higher network efficiency of some frontal electrodes such as F2 than the impersonal. These might be related to brain resource reorganization contributing to efficient conflict resolution. These findings provide new insights into neural mechanisms of moral dilemmas.     

Musical preference, deviance, and attitudes towards music celebrities

Two studies investigated the relationship among British students between liking for ‘problem’ music, indices of deviance, and scores on a slightly modified version of the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS). Study 1 indicated a positive relationship between liking for ‘problem’ music styles and psychoticism scores. Study 2 indicated that fans of ‘problem’ music scored higher than non-fans on measures of psychoticism, reactive rebelliousness, and two specific problem behaviours; that liking for ‘problem’ music was related only to psychoticism when all the indices of deviance were considered together in a multiple regression; and that fans of ‘problem’ music did not score higher on CAS measures of identification with the participants’ favourite musicians. The present data indicate a relationship outside North America between ‘problem’ music and deviance, that this might be attributable primarily to elevated psychoticism scores among listeners to this music, but that liking for ‘problem’ music was not associated with a greater tendency for participants to identify closely with licentious behaviours carried out by pop musicians.     

道德外语效应及其调节变量：来自元分析的证据

同一个道德决策情景使用外语(相比母语)呈现时, 个体会表现出更强的功利性倾向, 即道德外语效应。随着研究的深入, 结论并不一致。本研究运用元分析方法首次探讨了语言类型(母语vs. 外语)对道德判断中功利性倾向的影响, 并分析了相关的调节变量。通过文献检索及梳理, 共有19篇文献46个独立样本97个效应量符合元分析标准(N = 9672)。结果显示存在较小但稳定的道德外语效应(g = 0.23); 调节效应分析表明, 道德外语效应受故事类型的影响, 在个人道德两难故事中存在较小但稳定的外语效应(g = 0.32), 但在非个人道德两难故事(g = 0.11)与日常道德评价故事中(g = 0.12)不存在外语效应; 非个人道德两难故事中的外语效应受记分方式的影响, 多点记分在该故事类型下存在效应(g = 0.27), 二点记分不存在效应(g = 0.05); 性别和语系类型没有显著的调节效应。这些结果表明语言类型对个体面对道德困境时的选择倾向有一定程度的影响, 道德故事类型和记分方式在未来的研究中需要加以考虑。