Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication

Social cognitive theory provides an agentic conceptual framework within which to analyze the determinants and psychosocial mechanisms through which symbolic communication influences human thought, affect and action. Communications systems operate through two pathways. In the direct pathway, they promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences link participants to social networks and community settings that provide natural incentives and continued personalized guidance, for desired change. Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported. Structural interconnectedness provides potential diffusion paths; sociocognitive factors largely determine what diffuses through those paths.     

The Postself and Terror Management Theory: Reflecting on After Death Identity Buffers Existential Threat

In contemporary secular societies, ideas of an afterlife have become quite diverse, ranging from secular to religious and spiritual conceptions. In this article, an experimental study is reported in which the postself, a person's imagination of an after-death reputation, is tested as a protective buffer against mortality salience effects within a largely secular sample of participants. Before inducing mortality salience, the postself was affirmed or not affirmed. Results show that this reflection on personal continuity after death eliminates the effects of mortality salience on the accessibility of death-related thoughts. The discussion focuses on how the postself (the self will succeed death) relates to the more general concept of symbolic immortality (the self is part of a cultural worldview that will succeed death). Moreover, the relation between the postself and religiosity is discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Existentialism,Self Theory and the Existential Self

Self theory is reductionistic: it brackets off “real” reality and leaves it in metaphysical realms. Existentialism views both subjective and external reality as contained in existence. Rogers' theory is deterministic to the extent that it is built on causal constructs. The non-deterministic, holistic, and teleological assumptions of the existentialists may help strengthen self theories. For example the term existential self would combine self-as-doer and self-as-object, making such constructs as self-concept, self structure, individual, and organism unnecessary. The individual's experience or perception would not have to be caused by a self-definition, but would be for the purpose of something, i.e., his intentions or goals.     

Existential Trauma Therapy with Men After a Heart Attack

An existential trauma therapy treatment approach with men who are recovering from a heart attack is described as well as the treatment elements within the approach. Single-subject design case material is provided to evaluate and illustrate the described treatment approach.     

Social Psychological Models of Choice Behavior and Drivers' Left Turns

Abstract

The authors reanalyzed data from a simulated left-turn experiment (P. A. Hancock, J. K. Caird, S. Shekhar, & M. Vercruyssen, 1991) to test the adequacy of the nonlinear Gray-Tallman satisfaction balance model of choice behavior (L. N. Gray & I. Tallman, 1984) in predicting left turns. Participants (Hancock et al., 1991) were 40 experienced U.S. drivers who were exposed to simulated oncoming traffic; the size of the vehicle (motorcycle, compact vehicle, full-sized vehicle, delivery truck), its speed (10-70 mph, or 16-112 kmph), and the intervehicle time gap (3-9 s) varied. Hancock et al. (1991) measured (a) the likelihood of a left turn and (b) the occurrence of a collision. The probability of a left turn was greater for larger intervehicle time gaps and for oncoming smaller vehicles traveling at higher speeds. The Gray-Tallman (1984) model explained 69% of the variation in turning versus 57% for a linear regression model. In making decisions people tend to treat the values and costs affecting choices in a multiplicative, rather than linear, fashion. The Gray-Tallman model also has the potential for incorporating, both theoretically and mathematically, an unlimited range of potential values and costs that may influence left turn decisions.     

阿格妮丝·赫勒的生存选择理论及当代意义

阿格妮丝.赫勒在其道德理论三部曲《一般伦理学》、《道德哲学》和《个性伦理学》中,沿着克尔凯郭尔提出的"生存三境界"及其选择理论,进一步将生存的选择本身区分为差异性范畴下生存的选择和普遍性范畴下生存的选择,从而为现代社会中"好人存在,好人何以存在?"这一道德中心问题的回答提供了坚实基础。赫勒的生存的选择理论对于生活在今天的每个人如何面对现代性困境和对道德缺失问题的解决无疑有着很重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

货币与社会交往

尽管诸如语言、手势、暗示以及具体实物等等对于社会交往来说,是不可或缺的中介;业和交换的历史联系起来研究和探讨。”[1]追溯人类社会的发展,我们可以发现,交换是人类真正走向社会化的必不可少的前提和条件。而货币恰恰是人与人之间交换活动的物化。同时,也正是货币使人与人之间的交换活动直至社会交往出现了一个质的飞跃。货币不只是一种纯粹的概念、符号或者工具,还蕴涵着人与人之间的社会交往关系。众所周知,货币是人类分工和交换日益扩大的结果。分工的愈益精细和交换的日益扩大,表征人与人之间的社会交往关系越来越广泛,越来越复杂、…     

After Moral Error Theory,After Moral Realism

Moral abolitionists recommend that we get rid of moral discourse and moral judgement. At first glance this seems repugnant, but abolitionists think that we have overestimated the practical value of our moral framework and that eliminating it would be in our interests. I argue that abolitionism has a surprising amount going for it. Traditionally, abolitionism has been treated as an option available to moral error theorists. Error theorists say that moral discourse and judgement are committed to the existence of moral properties, and that no such properties exist. After error theory is established, abolitionism is one potential way to proceed. However, many error theorists suggest that we retain moral discourse as a sort of fiction. I evaluate some attractions of both fictionalism and abolitionism, arguing that abolitionism is a plausible position. No one doubts that error theorists can be abolitionists. However, what has gone largely undiscussed is that it is open to others to be abolitionists as well. I argue that moral realists of a metaphysically robust sort can and perhaps should be abolitionists. ‘Realist abolitionism’ makes for a surprisingly neat theoretical package, and I conclude that it represents an interesting new option in the theoretical landscape.     

亲子沟通类型与青少年社会适应的关系

从北京市一所普通中学和济南市一所重点中学选取初一至高三六个年级720名学生为被试,探讨亲子沟通类型与青少年社会适应的关系。要求被试分别报告亲子沟通、学习成绩、自尊、抑郁、羞怯和问题行为的情况。结果发现:(1)在青少年与父母的沟通中,关系定向的沟通明显多于观念定向的沟通;随着年级的增长,关系定向和观念定向的沟通都有明显的增加;(2)在亲子沟通的类型中,保护型亲子沟通最多,其次为多元型亲子沟通,放任型和一致型亲子沟通最少;四种亲子沟通的年级分布存在明显的差异,初中生的放任型和保护型亲子沟通多于高中生,而高中生的多元型和一致型亲子沟通多于初中生;(3)同一种亲子沟通既可能促进青少年的积极社会适应,同时也可能增加青少年的消极社会适应。     

Existential inertia and the Aristotelian proof

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion - Edward Feser defends the ‘Aristotelian proof’ for the existence of God, which reasons that the only adequate explanation of the...     

Kierkegaard's Social Theory

Despite recent attention on the social implications of his work, little has been done to articulate a substantive Kierkegaardian social theory. In this paper, I argue that Kierkegaard's A Literary Review describes four principles of social analysis. Together they reveal the social character of Kierkegaard's thought while presenting significant challenges for more traditional ‘social readings’ of his work.     

Social Judgement Theory

This paper first explores a number of themes in the psychological system developed by the Austrian-American psychologist, Egon Brunswik, focusing on those that had a formative influence on Social Judgement Theory. We show that while perception was a recurring ground for Brunswik's empirical and theoretical work, his psychology was a psychology of cognition in the broadest sense. Next, two major themes in Social Judgement Theory— functionalism and probabilism— are described, and the elegant formulation known as Brunswik's Lens Model is introduced. Some methodological and theoretical implications of these themes are presented. The paper concludes with Hammond's Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT), which is a theory describing modes of cognition and how those modes are influenced by task characteristics.     

Existential Confrontation and Religiosity

Recent research suggests that religious intrinsicness should predict a failure to confront existential problems whereas an interactional orientation should promote the opposite influence. This study, however, demonstrated that intrinsicness is associated only with traditional religious resolutions of such difficulties and that the interactional approach is essentially unrelated to confrontation with existential realities. These data therefore failed to support claims that orthodox, intrinsic individuals are rigid in their approach to the basic existential questions of life; the data also illustrated the importance of differentiating thought content from thought process in analyzing religious influences on psychological functioning.     

Existential Sexuality and Intimacy

This article will discuss sexuality from an existentialist and constructivist point of view. Constructivism will be used as a means to grasp a dynamic understanding of sexual existence and intimate life. In fact, the author believes there is genetic character of intimacy that informs the passive and active existential choices that constitute our sexual identity. The goal of the article is to show how the social constructions that define human sexual existence are remodeled continuously by the fluid nature of intimacy.