Those Who Leave and Those Who Feel Left: The Complexity of Quaker Disaffiliation

Unprogrammed Friends (Quakers) in Britain provide an interesting counter-example within the sociology of religion, particularly with regard to their patterns of believing and belonging. Due to its permissive belief patterns and conformist behavioural patterns, the group has been described in terms of a 'double-culture', as a group which behaves as both sect and denomination in alternate spheres of church life. The paper reports on a study of British Quakers who have resigned their Membership in the last five years. Quakers leave either because they are 'de-convinced' or because, in a group which places emphasis on continuing revelation, they are grieving the loss of what has passed before. A third type resigns because they feel the group is too slow to support new revelation. In these latter two cases, the disaffiliated feel left by the group. This typology is placed across the concept of the double-culture to give six types of ex-Quaker and to show how conservative or progressive thinking in each sphere of the double-culture may lead to different patterns of resistance to resignation from the group. Recent work on the Quaker group as an 'implicit sect' is briefly considered to examine how this new thinking affects the typology of church-leavers. It is suggested that the extended typology of the disaffiliated challenges conceptions of the disaffiliated as a single group and that it could be usefully employed in studying other religious groups.     

John Nash: The Sufferings of Those Who Loved Him

This article, as a sequel to three previous papers on John Nash by Capps (2003, 2004a, & 2004b), focuses on the other side of Nashs beautiful mind by examining the sufferings of those who loved him. Nashs mistress and wife, appear to have suffered the most by Nashs narcissistic and paranoid schizophrenic tendencies due to his noncommittal and disrespectful attitudes. Nashs exploitive and experiential ways of relating to his close male friends (special friendships) seemed to have caused much pain and agony in at least two of his special friends. In addition, Nashs two sons also suffered from his lack of affection and responsibility. Thus it is crucial for people in mental health professionals as well as in pastoral care and counseling not only to care for the mentally ill but also for those who are around him or her.     

Differences Between Rape Victims Who Report and Those Who Do Not Report to a Public Agency1

The purpose of this study was to identify the variables that predict whether or not a rape victim will report to either a social service agency and/or the police. One hundred seventy-nine female rape victims who either reported or did not report completed a questionnaire that assessed (1) perceived outcomes of reporting a rape, (2) social expectations to report or not report, (3) individual characteristics of the victim, and (4) situational characteristics of the rape. Perceived outcomes, social expectations, and certain situational characteristics effectively predicted reporting behavior. Theoretical explanations for the findings and implications for increasing the likelihood that victims will report are discussed.     

A Comparison of Residents Who Moved Versus Those Who Remained Prior to Restart of Three Mile Island1

This study examines the importance of attitudinal and demographic variables in discriminating those residents who had moved prior to the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1985 from those who remained. Findings indicate that movers and stayers were discriminated by demographic factors, age, and length of residence in the vicinity. Movers and nonmovers also differed in the interrelatedness of their attitudes pertaining to environmental threat and perceived control. Among those who left, perceived threat of radiation was associated with lack of control; among those who stayed, perceived control was related to faith in experts. This difference was related to a possible defensive adaptation to environmental threat through disassociation of sense of control from worry about environmental threat by those who remained in the area.     

Coping with Rejection: Derogating Those Who Choose Us Last

Interpersonal rejection poses a threat to people's identities as competent, desirable individuals. This study examined the possibility that people buffer themselves against the implications of rejection by derogating those who reject them and by concluding that the rejector did not know them well. Participants were led to believe that a team captain had selected them either first or last for a laboratory team, then rated the captain and indicated how well he or she knew them. Results showed that, compared to those who were selected first for the team, participants who were selected last rated the team captains less positively, were less interested in having them as friends, and indicated that the captains knew them less well. Mediational analyses suggested that ratings of the captains were mediated by perceived rejection and that derogation helped to maintain participants' positive affect following rejection.     

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn: Depression as Political Resistance

In this essay, I explore the political significance of depression, particularly as a prominent form of resistance to conditions of life under contemporary global capitalism. After noting the political context of the second beatitude, which suggests a form of mourning that bears witness to public suffering, I assert that under the current dominance of the disease model, depression has lost its political voice. This loss is of grave concern given evidence that the culture of late capitalism (neoliberalism) has initiated a global epidemic of depression. I reframe depression as the final cry of souls diminished under these conditions. Finally, I denote the qualities of such souls, illustrating with a pastoral psychotherapy case summary. A dream presented during the termination phase not only provides a clinical presentation of the attributes of souls under neoliberal governance, but suggests how voice may ultimately be restored even when depression has become unconscious.     

The Nature of Stereotypes II: A Multiple-Process Model of Evaluations1

A model integrating 3 theoretical perspectives regarding how stereotypes influence person perception was tested. The theories included evaluative extremity theories, assumed characteristics theory, and expectancy violation theory. Predictions were assessed by manipulating the ethnicity, personal appearance, and speech style of target job applicants. These applicants were rated by 109 judges. Results showed that: (a) Judges evaluated job applicants far more on the basis of their personal appearance and speech style than on the basis of their ethnicity; (b) the range of evaluations of African American applicants was larger than the range of evaluations of White applicants; and (c) overall, judges evaluated the African American applicants more favorably than the White applicants. Results strongly supported the model integrating the 3 theories. We discuss the applicability of the model to other research and naturalistic situations.     

"兼和"之道及其道者的学术品格

在近百年中国哲学的学术春秋中 ,张岱年先生无疑是一位兼综思想学术、融合古今中西、贯通道德文章的哲学大师。先生九五华诞在望 ,由清华大学刘鄂培教授等共同完成的《综合创新———张岱年先生学记》 (以下简称《学记》)一书 ,收入清华“世纪人文学术史研究丛书”正式刊行。承蒙作者惠赠 ,乃将自己的读后感受整理成篇 ,写下来留作记念 ,以答谢张先生多年来对我的指点和教养。先生 2 0余岁时便出道哲坛 ,至今已是独步风雨逾 70余载 ,雄文日月越四百万言。如此人生学术 ,非一部学术史记所能再现 ,已然成为当代中国学术史研究的一个重要课题。…     

Punishing Those Responsible for the Prison Abuses at Abu Ghraib: The Influence of the Negative Reciprocity Norm (NRN)

The negative reciprocity norm (NRN) is the personal moral code specifying retaliation as a proper response to wrongdoing ( Eisenberger, Lynch, Aselage, & Rohdieck, 2004 ). We examined the role of negative reciprocity in interpreting and reacting to the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib. Results showed that people who believed that American soldiers behaved wrongly at Abu Ghraib were more likely to view punishing the soldiers responsible as a highly moral response and were less likely to contribute money to a charitable organization that helps American soldiers. These relationships were only present among those highly endorsing the negative reciprocity norm.     

Those Who Don't Know Speak: Translations of the Daode jing by people who do not know Chinese

This essay discusses selected English translations of the Daode jing by people who do not know Chinese, and criticizes them on three counts: they rely heavily on earlier translations; they fail any basic test of accuracy; and they distort and simplify the philosophy of the original. The paper concludes by considering why publishers continue to market such works, and why readers consume them.     

Evaluations of pleasurable experiences: The peak-end rule

Prior research suggests that the addition of mild pain to an aversive event may lead people to prefer and directly choose more pain over less pain (Kahneman, Fredrickson, Schreiber, & Redelmeier, 1993). Kahneman et al. suggest that pain ratings are based on a combination of peak pain and final pain. Similarly, people rate a happy life that ends suddenly as being better than one with additional years of mild happiness (Diener, Wirtz, & Oishi, 2001), even though the former objectively consists of less pleasure than the latter. Applying these concepts to material goods, we investigated the impact of positivity and timing on the retrospective evaluations of material goods. We found strong evidence that the peak-end rule applies to both material goods and pain.     

Aggression and Heat: The Mediating Role of Negative Affect1

Sixty-four undergraduate males received either very postive or very negative personal evaluations from an attitudinally similar or dissimilar stranger, and were then given an opportunity to aggress against this person by means of electric shock. Half were exposed to these stimuli under comfortably cool environmental conditions, while half were so treated under uncomfortably hot conditions. It was predicted that aggression toward the victim would increase as the degree of negative affect induced among subjects by the experimental conditions increased up to moderate levels, but that beyond this point, further increments in negative affect would actually tend to inhibit such behavior. A significant (p < .007) curvilinear relationship between negative affect and aggression supported these predictions, and suggested that such affect mediates the influence of high ambient temperatures on human aggression.     

The Fears of Evaluation About Performance (FEAP) Task: Inducing Anxiety-Related Responses to Direct Exposure to Negative and Positive Evaluations

Fears of negative and positive evaluation (i.e., evaluative fears) manifest within performance-based situations (e.g., public speaking, group presentations), particularly among those experiencing social anxiety. Within these performance-based situations, individuals experiencing such evaluative fears frequently display a variety of impairments (e.g., avoidance, nervousness) that might manifest within and across various settings (e.g., employment, school). How do those who experience these fears react to in-the-moment feedback about their performance? We constructed the Fear of Evaluation About Performance (FEAP) task to examine ecologically valid experiences with anxiety when reacting to positive and negative feedback. During the task, participants gave a speech, and subsequent to this and in counterbalanced order, received positive and negative feedback about their speech, with continued assessment of anxiety-related arousal throughout the task. We tested the FEAP task among 127 adults, who provided self-reports of fears of positive and negative evaluation before completing the task. Fears of positive evaluation uniquely predicted arousal following receipt of positive feedback, whereas fears of negative evaluation uniquely predicted arousal following receipt of negative feedback. Relative to participants receiving positive feedback first, those receiving negative feedback first experienced elevated post-feedback arousal, followed by a steep decline in arousal post-positive feedback. Conversely, participants receiving positive feedback first experienced a buffer effect whereby arousal post-negative feedback remained low, relative to the arousal experienced post-negative feedback among those who received negative feedback first. We expect the FEAP task to inform basic science on fears of negative and positive evaluation, as well as treatment planning in applied clinical settings.     

Evaluations and grassroots politics: The case of Switzerland

The Swiss political system is unique in Europe, both as regards the widely developed rights of its citizens to take a direct hand in the political process and as regards the strong tradition of federalism and the broad-based powers of the Cantons, despite their smallness. Seen in this way, Switzerland, therefore, offers interesting illustrative material for investigating the “strain” placed by “grassroots politics” on the institutional design of evaluations. Werner Bussmann, Ph.D, is director of the “Effectiveness of Public Policies” (NFP 27) research program funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, in Bern, Switzerland. He also holds a post at the Federal Office of Justice. His research interests include intergovernmental relations, evaluation and organizational learning.     

Interviewers’ Moods and Evaluations of Job Applicants: The Role of Applicant Qualifications1

Participants were induced to experience positive affect, negative affect, or no shift in current affect. Then they conducted a simulated job interview with an applicant (actually an assistant) who appeared to be highly qualified, ambiguously qualified, or unqualified for the job in question. It was predicted that interviewers’ moods would exert the strongest influence on ratings of the applicant when this person's qualifications were ambiguous. Results offered partial support for this hypothesis. When the applicant's qualifications were ambiguous, participants induced to experience positive affect rated this person higher on several dimensions than participants induced to experience negative affect. When the applicant appeared to be highly qualified for the job, in contrast, interviewers’ moods had no significant effect on their ratings of this person. Contrary to expectations, however, interviewers’ moods significantly influenced ratings of the applicant when this person appeared to be unqualified for the job in question. In this condition, participants induced to experience positive affect actually rated the applicant lower than those induced to experience negative affect. Several mechanisms that may have contributed to these results (e. g., tendencies toward mood maintenance, adoption of a positive-test strategy) are examined. In addition, practical implications of these findings for conducting job interviews and for the use of various impression-management techniques by applicants are discussed.     

Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Biases the Outcomes of Clinical Trials of Medications

Pharmaceutical companies fund the bulk of clinical research that is carried out on medications. Poor outcomes from these studies can have negative effects on sales of medicines. Previous research has shown that company funded research is much more likely to yield positive outcomes than research with any other sponsorship. The aim of this article is to investigate the possible ways in which bias can be introduced into research outcomes by drawing on concrete examples from the published literature. Poorer methodology in industry-funded research is not likely to account for the biases seen. Biases are introduced through a variety of measures including the choice of comparator agents, multiple publication of positive trials and non-publication of negative trials, reinterpreting data submitted to regulatory agencies, discordance between results and conclusions, conflict-of-interest leading to more positive conclusions, ghostwriting and the use of ??seeding?? trials. Thus far, efforts to contain bias have largely focused on more stringent rules regarding conflict-of-interest (COI) and clinical trial registries. There is no evidence that any measures that have been taken so far have stopped the biasing of clinical research and it??s not clear that they have even slowed down the process. Economic theory predicts that firms will try to bias the evidence base wherever its benefits exceed its costs. The examples given here confirm what theory predicts. What will be needed to curb and ultimately stop the bias that we have seen is a paradigm change in the way that we treat the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the conduct and reporting of clinical trials.