Can relativism be reconciled with realism and causalism?

This paper deals with two fundamental assumptions of the Strong programme in the sociology of knowledge and the theoretical (im) possibility of their co‐existence with the general relativist tendency of this programme. The first assumption is the realist thesis introduced into the Strong programme through the materialist presupposition that sense experience is reliable and humans are able to learn about the regularities of the non‐social world in order to survive. The second assumption is the causal principle. Arguments developed in this paper lead to the conclusion that neither realism nor causalism can be reconciled with relativism. In both cases inconsistency is brought about by a tension between scientific perspective and relativism, between an external approach aiming at objective, universal, and causal explanation of what is studied, on the one hand, and the internal, relativist and reflexive, hermeneutical understanding of the human, on the other hand. The belief that the sociology of knowledge can be at the same time scientific, like the natural sciences, and relativist, like certain philosophies but not the natural sciences, is not sufficiently justified in the Strong programme.     

Self‐esteem and culture: Differences in cognitive self‐evaluations or affective self‐regard?

Although people from East Asian countries consistently report lower self-esteem than do those from Western countries, the origins of this difference are unclear. We conducted two studies to illuminate this issue. Study 1 found that Chinese participants appraised themselves less positively than American participants on a cognitive measure of self-evaluations, but cultural differences were absent on a measure of affective self-regard. Moreover, cultural differences in global self-esteem were eliminated once cognitive self-evaluations were statistically controlled. Study 2 found that cultural differences in modesty underlie cultural differences in cognitive self-evaluations. These findings suggest that Chinese feel as positively toward themselves as Americans do, but are less inclined to evaluate themselves in an excessively positive manner.     

Should your lips be zipped? How therapist self‐disclosure and non‐disclosure affects clients

Is therapist self‐disclosure a therapeutic technique or a therapeutic mistake? Is it useful? Is it ethical? This study attempts to address this controversy among therapeutic modalities by asking clients about their perceptions of self‐disclosure and non‐disclosure. Eighteen people (16 women, two men), currently in therapy in two Canadian cities, generated 157 incidents of both disclosure and non‐disclosure. The incidents were first coded as helpful or unhelpful. Cross‐tabulation of the results showed that disclosures were more than twice as likely to be experienced as helpful; non‐disclosures were twice as likely to be unhelpful (χ² (3, N=157) = 14.439, p≤0.002). One‐quarter of these incidents was coded by two independent raters; inter‐rater reliability was high (Pearson corr. ranged from 0.755 to 1.0, p≤0.01). The data was then sorted, using the Constant Comparison method, into themes, starting with, but not limited to, the themes suggested by the literature. The greatest single effect was on the therapeutic alliance, both positive and negative. Clients’ perceptions of helpful disclosures and non‐disclosures generally supported therapists’ rationales. There was also some evidence that when clients found disclosures unhelpful, the reasons also supported theoretical rationales against disclosing. Rather than simply supporting either position in the controversy, this study suggests that skill, or lack of it, was the intervening variable that affected the perceptions of both techniques. Further research on the effects of skill on both disclosure and non‐disclosure are warranted. This study has implications for both researchers and practitioners.     

Do core self‐evaluations and trait emotional intelligence predict subjective well‐being in dental students?

We examined unique associations between surface personality traits of emotional intelligence, core self‐evaluations, and subjective well‐being in dental students. A cross‐sectional study of 218 undergraduates showed that trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and core self‐evaluations (CSE) predicted subjective well‐being controlling the Big Five personality traits. Structural equation modeling showed that trait EI and the neuroticism component of CSE better predicted affective components of subjective well‐being, and cognitive CSE traits (self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and locus of control) better predicted life satisfaction, the cognitive component of subjective well‐being. These findings demonstrate the utility of a parallel‐process approach that specifies differential prediction of cognitive and affective subjective well‐being components.     

Group polarization and choice‐dilemmas: how important is self‐categorization?

Self‐categorization proponents (e.g., Turner, 1991 ) assume that group polarization occurs because discussants wish to differentiate themselves from outgroup positions and implicitly think of such groups even when they are not specifically mentioned. Ingroup/outgroup salience is thought to heighten such effects. To examine this view, we had participants discuss Choice Dilemma items either with or without explicit knowledge of outgroup positions. Contrary to a self‐categorization account, this manipulation of outgroup salience did not affect the degree of group polarization. In addition, rating measures revealed little spontaneous consideration of outgroup positions on the part of participants, nor was consideration of outgroup positions related to degree of polarization. Group members did show evidence of ingroup identification, but this identification was unrelated to participants' post‐discussion conformity to the group consensus. Taken as a whole, these results suggest distinct limits to the self‐categorization interpretation of group polarization involving Choice Dilemmas. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Friend or Foe?: Bernard Williams and Political Constitutionalism

Res Publica - This article looks at Bernard Williams’s relevance to particular debates in constitutional theory about the legitimacy of two competing models of institutional design:...     

Effort‐reward‐imbalance,overcommitment and self‐reported health: Is it the interaction that matters?

In recent years, the effort‐reward‐imbalance (ERI) model has become widely used as a framework for examining job characteristics and employee's health. The present study tested the predictive validity of the ERI model's components ‐ ERI, over‐commitment (OC) and their interaction ‐ on the basis of self‐reported health outcomes. In a cross‐sectional study, data were obtained from 1,587 employees working in the aircraft manufacturing industry in southern Germany. Results suggested that all components of the ERI model (effort‐reward‐ratio, effort, reward and over‐commitment) are associated with health‐related quality of life, vital exhaustion, depression and quality of sleep. The separate variables effort and reward explained more of the observed variance than the effort‐reward ratio. No interaction between ERI and OC in predicting measurements of self‐reported health could be found. The findings suggest (1) that the ERI ratio does not provide more information than the separate use of the variables effort and reward, and (2) that there are main effects of ERI and OC but no interaction effect on employees' health. Implications for theory and applied research are discussed.     

Training self‐assessment and task‐selection skills to foster self‐regulated learning: Do trained skills transfer across domains?

Students' ability to accurately self‐assess their performance and select a suitable subsequent learning task in response is imperative for effective self‐regulated learning. Video modeling examples have proven effective for training self‐assessment and task‐selection skills, and—importantly—such training fostered self‐regulated learning outcomes. It is unclear, however, whether trained skills would transfer across domains. We investigated whether skills acquired from training with either a specific, algorithmic task‐selection rule or a more general heuristic task‐selection rule in biology would transfer to self‐regulated learning in math. A manipulation check performed after the training confirmed that both algorithmic and heuristic training improved task‐selection skills on the biology problems compared with the control condition. However, we found no evidence that students subsequently applied the acquired skills during self‐regulated learning in math. Future research should investigate how to support transfer of task‐selection skills across domains.     

Are Chinese narcissists disagreeable? Evidence from self‐ and peer‐ratings of agreeableness

Many studies have found that narcissism is negatively related to agreeableness in Western samples. Four experiments explored this relationship in a Chinese population. In Study 1, 228 junior high school students reported their narcissism and Five Factor Personality traits. In Study 2, participants recruited through the internet completed the measures of narcissism and agreeableness. In Study 3, 145 college students completed the measures of narcissism and agreeableness, as well as self‐esteem and social desirability. In Study 4, 204 senior high school adolescents reported their own narcissistic and agreeableness personality traits. They also received peer‐ratings of agreeableness. We found that narcissism was positively related with self‐reported agreeableness (Study 1, 2 and 4), but not with other ratings of agreeableness (Study 4). Chinese narcissists perceived themselves as agreeable, and their self‐perceptions of agreeableness were more positive than their peers rated them. We discuss the current findings in relation to the Chinese cultural context and underscore cultural roots of narcissism.     

Verbal self‐instructions in task switching: a compensatory tool for action‐control deficits in childhood and old age?

This study examined the influence of verbal self-instructions on age differences in task switching. Task-switching ability, measured as the difference between performance in single-task blocks and in mixed-task blocks in which participants switch between two tasks (mixing costs), increases during childhood and decreases in old age. To measure the influence of language on task switching, we compared conditions in which participants either (a) named the next task to be performed (i.e. task-relevant verbalization), (b) verbalized words not related to the task at hand (i.e. task-irrelevant verbalization), or (c) did not verbalize (control condition). Results indicated that mixing costs were substantially reduced under task-relevant verbalization and increased under task-irrelevant verbalization. Moreover, age-related differences in mixing costs were increased when the use of inner speech was disrupted and were reduced when participants performed task-relevant verbalization. These findings suggest that verbal self-instructions are a useful tool for retrieving the next task goal and for reducing action-control deficits in younger children and older adults.     

Who's to blame? Narcissism and self‐serving attributions following feedback

The study examined the relationship between narcissism, performance attributions, and negative emotions following success or failure. As expected, narcissistic individuals showed more self‐serving attributions for their performance in an intelligence test than less narcissistic individuals: compared with less narcissistic individuals, narcissists revealed a stronger tendency to attribute success to ability and failure to task difficulty. In contrast to this, less narcissistic participants tended to show the opposite pattern by ascribing failure, but not success, to their ability. Additionally, anger and depression could be predicted by an interaction of performance feedback and performance attributions. Mediation analyses revealed that the attribution dimensions ‘task difficulty’ and ‘ability’ mediated the effect of narcissism on anger and depression following failure feedback. The results provide support for the theoretical assumption that attributional processes might, at least to some extent, explain the often reported relation between narcissism and negative emotions following failure. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural differences in self‐recognition: the early development of autonomous and related selves?

Fifteen‐ to 18‐month‐old infants from three nationalities were observed interacting with their mothers and during two self‐recognition tasks. Scottish interactions were characterized by distal contact, Zambian interactions by proximal contact, and Turkish interactions by a mixture of contact strategies. These culturally distinct experiences may scaffold different perspectives on self. In support, Scottish infants performed best in a task requiring recognition of the self in an individualistic context (mirror self‐recognition), whereas Zambian infants performed best in a task requiring recognition of the self in a less individualistic context (body‐as‐obstacle task). Turkish infants performed similarly to Zambian infants on the body‐as‐obstacle task, but outperformed Zambians on the mirror self‐recognition task. Verbal contact (a distal strategy) was positively related to mirror self‐recognition and negatively related to passing the body‐as‐obstacle task. Directive action and speech (proximal strategies) were negatively related to mirror self‐recognition. Self‐awareness performance was best predicted by cultural context; autonomous settings predicted success in mirror self‐recognition, and related settings predicted success in the body‐as‐obstacle task. These novel data substantiate the idea that cultural factors may play a role in the early expression of self‐awareness. More broadly, the results highlight the importance of moving beyond the mark test, and designing culturally sensitive tests of self‐awareness.     

Can language prime culture in Hispanics? The differential impact of self‐construals in predicting intention to use a condom

The highly influential theory of planned behavior suggests that norms and attitudes predict an important antecedent of behavior: intention. Cross-cultural research suggests that culturally influenced self-construals can be primed and differentially affect behaviors that are influenced by norms and attitudes. The purpose of this experiment was twofold: (1) To investigate whether language functions as a prime for culture in Hispanics, and (2) if so, if norms and attitudes differentially predict condom use intention. Fluent English-Spanish bilingual participants (N = 145) of Mexican descent were randomly assigned to answer questionnaires in English and Spanish. Subjective norms and private evaluations towards condom use were assessed and their relative strength in predicting condom use intention was evaluated. Results suggest that language can prime culture and affect the relative accessibility of culture-relevant norms and self-construals in Hispanics. Moreover, consistent with our expectations, norms and attitudes differentially predicted condom use intention.     

Can We Be Self‐Deceived about What We Believe? Self‐Knowledge,Self‐Deception,and Rational Agency

Abstract: This paper considers the question of whether it is possible to be mistaken about the content of our first‐order intentional states. For proponents of the rational agency model of self‐knowledge, such failures might seem very difficult to explain. On this model, the authority of self‐knowledge is not based on inference from evidence, but rather originates in our capacity, as rational agents, to shape our beliefs and other intentional states. To believe that one believes that p, on this view, constitutes one's belief that p and so self‐knowledge involves a constitutive relation between first‐ and second‐order beliefs. If this is true, it is hard to see how those second‐order beliefs could ever be false. I develop two counter‐examples which show that despite the constitutive relation between first‐ and second‐order beliefs in standard cases of self‐knowledge, it is possible to be mistaken, and even self‐deceived, about the content of one's own beliefs. These counter‐examples do not show that the rational agency model is mistaken—rather, they show that the possibility of estrangement from one's own mental life means that, even within the rational agency model, it is possible to have false second‐order beliefs about the content of one's first‐order beliefs. The authority of self‐knowledge does not entail that to believe that one believes that p suffices to make it the case that one believes that p.     

Working together or separately? The role of identity and cultural self‐construal in well‐being among Japanese youth

Young people develop a sense of personal identity during the transition to adulthood, a time when individuals choose and adhere to a specific set of goals, values, and beliefs. In addition, in many contemporary Asian societies, youth are expected to acquire and balance traditional and Western cultural views of the self — that is, independent and interdependent self‐construal. To understand the relationships between the personal and cultural facets of the transition to adulthood, this study examined (a) associations between personal identity and well‐being and (b) the possible moderating role of cultural self‐construal (independence and interdependence) in this link. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 520 Japanese university students (52.6% female). The results indicated that personal identity predicted each dimension of well‐being, suggesting that the importance of personal identity in promoting youth's well‐being can be understood as a universal phenomenon. Moreover, because the moderating role of self‐construal in the links between identity and well‐being was found to be limited, personal identity can be viewed as operating separately from self‐construal in well‐being to a large extent. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Is regret for inaction relatively self‐enhancing?

Previous accounts of regret suggest that people report greater regret for inaction than for action because the former is longer lasting and more painful than the latter. We suggest instead that the tendency for people's greatest regrets to concern inaction more than action may be due to the relatively self‐enhancing nature of regrets for inaction. In Study 1 we asked people to think about their greatest recent regret and to code it as being due to action or inaction. In Study 2 participants described their greatest regret from across their entire life. In both studies we observed an inaction effect only amongst individuals high in self‐esteem (HSE). In Study 2 we found that the inaction effect was confined to HSE people whose greatest regret was personal in nature. These results support the claim that regret for inaction is relatively self‐enhancing and suggest that the inaction effect found in real‐life regrets may be due, in part at least, to the self‐enhancement goals of HSE individuals. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.