Chicken,Eggs, and Speciation 1

Standard biological and philosophical treatments assume that dramatic genotypic or phenotypic change constitutes instantaneous speciation, and that barring such saltation, speciation is gradual evolutionary change in individual properties. Both propositions appear to be incongruent with standard theoretical perspectives on species themselves, since these perspectives are (a) non‐pheneticist, and (b) tend to disregard intermediate cases. After reviewing certain key elements of such perspectives, it is proposed that species‐membership is mediated by membership in a population. Species‐membership depends, therefore, not on intrinsic characteristics of an organism, but on relationship of an organism to others. A new definition of speciation is proposed in the spirit of this proposal. This definition implies that dramatic change is neither necessary nor sufficient for speciation. It also implies, surprisingly, that an organism can change species during its lifetime.     

Counselor Empathy; Religiosity; and Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Perspectives

Values-based conflicts, such as between counselor religiosity and ability to work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, can present a challenge for counselors and trainees who seek to provide ethical and competent care. Because empathy can facilitate understanding a client's frame of reference, the authors examined the relationships between counselor religiosity, empathy, and LGB perspectives, as well as the potential mediating effects of empathy on values conflicts. The authors discuss implications for counselor education and practice.     

Self‐Compassion,Self‐Esteem,and Well‐Being

This article focuses on the construct of self‐compassion and how it differs from self‐esteem. First, it discusses the fact that while self‐esteem is related to psychological well‐being, the pursuit of high self‐esteem can be problematic. Next it presents another way to feel good about oneself: self‐compassion. Self‐compassion entails treating oneself with kindness, recognizing one’s shared humanity, and being mindful when considering negative aspects of oneself. Finally, this article suggests that self‐compassion may offer similar mental health benefits as self‐esteem, but with fewer downsides. Research is presented which shows that self‐compassion provides greater emotional resilience and stability than self‐esteem, but involves less self‐evaluation, ego‐defensiveness, and self‐enhancement than self‐esteem. Whereas self‐esteem entails evaluating oneself positively and often involves the need to be special and above average, self‐compassion does not entail self‐evaluation or comparisons with others. Rather, it is a kind, connected, and clear‐sighted way of relating to ourselves even in instances of failure, perceived inadequacy, and imperfection.     

Anscombe,Zygotes, and Coming‐to‐be

In some quarters, it is held that Anscombe proved that a zygote is not a human being on the basis of an argument involving the possibility of identical twins, but there is surprisingly little agreement on what her argument is supposed to be. I criticize several extant interpretations, both as interpretations of Anscombe and as self‐standing arguments, and offer a different understanding of her conclusion on which the non‐specificity of creation processes and their goals is at issue.     

Attention,extraversion, and stimulus—personality congruence

In this study Ss classified as extraverts, ambiverts or introverts on the Maudsley Personality Inventory looked at photographs rated as extravert, ambivert, or introvert for as long as they wished. It was hypothesized that there would be a tendency for Ss to look relatively longer at pictures congruent with their personality characteristic. Support for this hypothesis was found in a significant picture by personality interaction. Extraverts clearly looked longer at extravert pictures and introverts showed a very s light preference for introvert pictures. Ambivert pictures were looked at the longest by all groups. This high looking time for ambivert pictures and the small difference between the looking time at extravert and introvert pictures by introvert Ss is explained in terms of greater complexity of the ambivert and extravert pictures used in this experiment.     

Specularity,brightness, achromatic color—and orthogonality

For objects under the same illumination, the more specular object appeared brighter. This occurred irrespective of an object’s apparent achromatic color, the distance at which it was viewed, the level of illumination, the method used for collecting observations, and other conditions. Also, when identical specular objects were differently illuminated, the one under the higher illumination, with the higher maximal luminances, appeared brighter. In the five experiments, which involved 340 subjects subdivided into 17 groups, large fields of view and real spaces were used. The results supported the conclusion that apparent brightness and achromatic color are orthogonal phenomena, and that in four of these experiments increased apparent brightness was correlated to, if not determined by, maximal specular luminances without regard to achromatic colors and diffuse luminances. This conclusion was necessarily modified by a fifth experiment, which showed that if placed under sufficiently high levels of illumination, less specular surfaces appeared brighter than more specular surfaces. This was taken to mean that a total account of the apparent brightness of surfaces would depend on an undiscovered algorithm involving maximal specular and diffuseluminances and their areal extents. With regard to the validity of the studies, the subjects were shown to have phenomenally discriminated brightness from glossiness and glare. Finally, phenomenal gloss and glare were found to be correlated to a surface’s level of specularity.     

Fear‐then‐relief,mindlessness, and cognitive deficits

The assumption that mindlessness underlies the effectiveness of the ‘fear‐then‐relief’ social influence technique has been verified in four studies. The first two experiments indicated that compliance of those experiment participants who were made to function on the thoughtful level under a ‘fear‐then‐relief’ condition decreases to the level observed in the control group. The other two experiments were to analyze the cognitive functioning of people who at first experience fear and then a sudden and unexpected relief. The first of these experiments indicated that the amount of time needed to detect the expression of emotion on other persons' faces is prolonged, and the second of these latter two experiments that the participants' arithmetical abilities are impaired (mental addition and subtraction of three two‐digit numbers). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐Construals,Motivation, and Feedback‐Seeking Behaviors

The current study explores the relations between individualism, motivation, and feedback‐seeking behaviors. Specifically, we examined how three motivational factors (i.e., status‐striving, achievement‐striving, and affiliation‐striving) mediated or moderated the relations between individualism and feedback‐seeking behaviors. Data were collected from 154 Singaporean undergraduate students across two time periods. Results indicated that only status motivation mediates the individualism–feedback‐seeking relation. Affiliation was found to moderate that same relation but only for a specific subset of feedback‐seeking behaviors. The implications of these findings for performance management and development are discussed.