Dissidents and Innocents: Hard Cases for a Political Philosophy of Boycotts

In this article, I distinguish boycotts from other kinds of superficially similar types of actions, and argue that boycotts involve at least coordinated activity on the part of the members of a group to abstain on moral grounds from otherwise normal interaction with the members of another group. Boycotts in their minimal forms do not face high justificatory hurdles, since they involve the exercise of freedom of speech, along with the exercise by members of the boycotting group of basic rights and freedoms, such as the right to associate, freedom of movement, and the like. The justificatory hurdles are greater, though not insurmountable, when boycotts involve the coercion of members of the boycotting group who either disagree with the grounds for boycott, or with the appropriateness of boycotting as a strategy to bring about a morally desirable change, or when they involve defeating the reasonable expectations of members of the boycotted group. I describe the justificatory challenges in both these cases, as well as the ways in which they can be met.     

Stigmatized‐Identity Cues: Threats as Opportunities for Consumer Psychology

In their review of the literature on stigmatized‐identity cues, Chaney, Sanchez, and Maimon (2019—this issue) summarize evidence that stigmatized‐identity threat and safety cues drive consumer behavior through their effects on consumers’ inferences about the company's ideology and their consequential impact on feelings of belonging. The authors also identify various factors that moderate the relationship between these identity cues and consumers’ belonging perceptions. In our commentary, we identify future research opportunities by: (a) encouraging efforts to broaden the proposed framework to account for stigmatized identities defined in terms of consumption activities, (b) highlighting concepts and relationships that may require re‐examination or deeper understanding, and (c) proposing additional consumer behaviors that punish or reward companies that use stigmatized‐identity threat and safety cues, respectively.     

Parsimonious Structural Equation Models for Repeated Measures Data,with Application to the Study of Consumer Preferences

Recent research reflects a growing awareness of the value of using structural equation models to analyze repeated measures data. However, such data, particularly in the presence of covariates, often lead to models that either fit the data poorly, are exceedingly general and hard to interpret, or are specified in a manner that is highly data dependent. This article introduces methods for developing parsimonious models for such data. The underlying technology uses reduced-rank representations of the variances, covariances and means of observed and latent variables. The value of this approach, which may be implemented using standard structural equation modeling software, is illustrated in an application study aimed at understanding heterogeneous consumer preferences. In this application, the parsimonious representations characterize systematic relationships among consumer demographics, attitudes and preferences that would otherwise be undetected. The result is a model that is parsimonious, illuminating, and fits the data well, while keeping data dependence to a minimum.     

Locus of Control for Consumer Outcomes: Predicting Consumer Behavior1

In order to predict which persons approach the task of shopping strategically, we constructed a measure of locus of control focused specifically on consumer behaviors and outcomes. Psychometric evaluations of the 14-item Consumer Locus of Control scale indicated that it was a reliable instrument whose characteristics were replicated in two separate samples. The scale was used to predict shopping behavior ranging from impulsive to strategic. The measure of consumer locus of control was significantly related to consumer behavior, whereas measures of economic and generalized locus of control proved to be unrelated to shopping effort, planning, and product knowledge. The more internal their consumer control beliefs, the more likely were subjects to be planful and purposive in the act of shopping.     

Conflict Transformation, Stigma, and HIV-Preventive Structural Change

Over the prior decade, structural change efforts have become an important component of community-based HIV prevention initiatives. However, these efforts may not succeed when structural change initiatives encounter political resistance or invoke conflicting values, which may be likely when changes are intended to benefit a stigmatized population. The current study sought to examine the impact of target population stigma on the ability of 13 community coalitions to achieve structural change objectives. Results indicated that coalitions working on behalf of highly stigmatized populations had to abandon objectives more often than did coalitions working for less stigmatized populations because of external opposition to coalition objectives and resultant internal conflict over goals. Those coalitions that were most successful in meeting external challenges used opposition and conflict as transformative occasions by targeting conflicts directly and attempting to neutralize oppositional groups or turn them into strategic allies; less successful coalitions working on behalf of stigmatized groups struggled to determine an appropriate response to opposition. The role of conflict transformation as a success strategy for working on behalf of stigmatized groups is discussed.     

Structural Realism, Scientific Change, and Partial Structures

Scientific change has two important dimensions: conceptual change and structural change. In this paper, I argue that the existence of conceptual change brings serious difficulties for scientific realism, and the existence of structural change makes structural realism look quite implausible. I then sketch an alternative account of scientific change, in terms of partial structures, that accommodates both conceptual and structural changes. The proposal, however, is not realist, and supports a structuralist version of van Fraassen’s constructive empiricism (structural empiricism).     

Accomplishing Structural Change: Identifying Intermediate Indicators of Success

Coalitions are routinely employed across the United States as a method of mobilizing communities to improve local conditions that impact on citizens’ well-being. Success in achieving specific objectives for environmental or structural community change may not quickly translate into improved population outcomes in the community, posing a dilemma for coalitions that pursue changes that focus on altering community conditions. Considerable effort by communities to plan for and pursue structural change objectives, without evidence of logical and appropriate intermediate markers of success could lead to wasted effort. Yet, the current literature provides little guidance on how coalitions might select intermediate indicators of achievement to judge their progress and the utility of their effort. The current paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of various indicators of intermediate success in creating structural changes among a sample of 13 coalitions organized to prevent exposure to HIV among high-risk adolescents in their local communities.     

Developing Instruments for Use in Counseling

This article describes the author's experiences and roles in developing four career-oriented measures. The first effort, translating the Ramak into English, proved to be a failure. The second and third efforts, the development of the Career Decision Scale and the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI), have been more successful. The fourth, the Task Specific Scale of Occupational Self-Efficacy, is still underway, and its usefulness remains to be seen. In sketching these experiences, an attempt is made to show both how proper test development steps are to be followed as well as to indicate that research and development activities can logically grow out of one's personal experience.     

Consumer neuroscience for marketing researchers

Purpose

For many consumer neuromarketing researchers, the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging has been the most preferred neuroscience technique. However, electroencephalography, eye tracking, and implicit measurements are becoming increasingly popular market research methods due to rapid technological improvements and reduced costs.

Design

This article is an overview of the most commonly used consumer neuroscience techniques in marketing research.

Findings

Many peer‐reviewed journal articles in the consumer neuroscience literature usually provide only a brief summary of the actual functions of each neuroscience technique used in their research. Throughout the consumer neuroscience and marketing research literature, there is a lack of comprehensive evaluation of the relative merits of all neuroscience research tools. There is no rigorous analysis of the relative appropriateness of all the neuroscience, physiological, and biometric research tools currently used in consumer neuroscience market research.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that provides a comprehensive review of all relevant neuroscience techniques with a proper explanation of their functions and utility for different types of research. Each individual neuromarketing research tools' strengths and weaknesses are analysed for particular types of marketing research questions and highlights some of the key research papers and authors for interested researchers to follow up.     

Internalization as the Change Process

Abstract

The process of change can be understood from a variety of perspectives. Using the case of a self-mutilating woman whose educational, social, and psychological impairments resulted from years of childhood abuse and neglect, this article demonstrates an object relational perspective whereby internalized “bad” self and object representations are modified and replaced by more benign internalizations. Additionally, a wide variety of techniques are suggested and illustrated, including those that represent our strong social work training coupled with interventions that are more usually associated with psychodynamic psychotherapy.     

Belief Change as Propositional Update

This study examines the problem of belief revision, defined as deciding which of several initially accepted sentences to disbelieve, when new information presents a logical inconsistency with the initial set. In the first three experiments, the initial sentence set included a conditional sentence, a non-conditional (ground) sentence, and an inferred conclusion drawn from the first two. The new information contradicted the inferred conclusion. Results indicated that conditional sentences were more readily abandoned than ground sentences, even when either choice would lead to a consistent belief state, and that this preference was more pronounced when problems used natural language cover stories rather than symbols. The pattern of belief revision choices differed depending on whether the contradicted conclusion from the initial belief set had been a modus ponens or modus tollens inference. Two additional experiments examined alternative model-theoretic definitions of minimal change to a belief state, using problems that contained multiple models of the initial belief state and of the new information that provided the contradiction. The results indicated that people did not follow any of four formal definitions of minimal change on these problems. The new information and the contradiction it offered was not, for example, used to select a particular model of the initial belief state as a way of reconciling the contradiction. The preferred revision was to retain only those initial sentences that had the same, unambiguous truth value within and across both the initial and new information sets. The study and results are presented in the context of certain logic-based formalizations of belief revision, syntactic and model-theoretic representations of belief states, and performance models of human deduction. Principles by which some types of sentences might be more “entrenched” than others in the face of contradiction are also discussed from the perspective of induction and theory revision.     

Power as a Structural Phenomenon

In an effort to inform empowerment theory and research, this paper provides a structural conception of power. First, we examine the essential features present in three dominant conceptions of power in community psychology: social power, psychopolitical power, and relational power. Next, commonalities in the key features of power identified by these conceptions are explored and pared down to yield a more parsimonious conception of power that is grounded only in the structural pattern of relationships through which resources are exchanged. Drawing on social exchange theory, we offer a method for measuring this streamlined, structural conception of power that allows for its more precise examination. Finally, we discuss the implications of a structural conception and measurement of power for targeting and facilitating empowering processes and evaluating empowered outcomes.     

从学科不同结构层次的变化看针灸学的发展

经络学说作为传统针灸学的核心内容没有任何实质性发展.经络学说中的基本概念、基本原理的认识并没有获得任何质的深化.但传统针灸学内经验一类的从属性内容获得了极大丰富.现代针灸学理论体系的建立作为针灸学核心创新的标志;其发展和完善依然任重道远.针灸学必须要有可靠的技术和科学的指导理论.     

Some Appraised Instruments of Values for Counselors

The article by Kavanagh reviews several instruments that have been available for some time but perhaps neglected by counselors. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of these items, he concludes that their judicious use can help toward the upgrading of counseling effectiveness. Clark Power 's addendum introduces what could be called the forefront of values assessment. He looks at the varied values needs of the counselor and researcher and offers information about material that is still being researched or has recently become available.