Qualia: They’re Not What They Seem

Whether or not qualia are ways things seem, the view that qualia have the properties typically attributed to them is unjustified. Ways things seem do not have many of the properties commonly attributed to them. For example, inverted ways things seem are impossible. If ways things seem do not have the features commonly attributed to them, and qualia do have those same features, this looks like good reason to distinguish the two. But if your reasons for believing that qualia have the features are epistemically on a par with reasons for believing that ways things seem have the features, and you know that ways things seem do not have the features, then those reasons cannot justify your belief that qualia have the features. I argue that the reasons are epistemically on a par in this way.     

Rosy with Sider? The Case of the Metaphysical Liar

An important trend in contemporary metaphysics denies that the structure of natural language is an important datum for investigating fundamental structure. Ted Sider proceeds on this basis to propose a metaphysical semantics for natural language. Within this framework he argues that natural language and a fundamental, ‘jointcarving’, language could be subject to distinct logics. Developing an argument of Hartry Field’s, I show that Sider’s preferred option of fundamental classicality combined with non-fundamental non-classicality trivialises within the framework of Siderian metaphysical semantics. The position can be saved only by revising key claims about truth and metaphysical semantics. This has serious implications for methdology in the metaphysics of logic.     

Will They or Won’t They? Secret Telling in Interpersonal Interactions

This study investigated predictors of within-gender secret telling. Eighty-eight participants were exposed to either a “positive” or a “negative” secret about another individual. Just under 20% of participants told the secret. Conscientiousness, secret condition, empathy, and the conscientiousness by secret condition interaction had effects on the rate of secret telling, χ² (5,82) = 17.78, p = .003, AIC = 80.60. Conscientiousness had a negative effect on secret telling among participants that told the “negative” secret.     

Do They Get What They Want or Are They Stuck With What They Can Get? Testing Homophily Against Default Selection for Friendships of Highly Aggressive Boys. The TRAILS Study

In this study a homophily selection hypothesis was tested against a default selection hypothesis, to answer whether preferred and realized friendships of highly aggressive boys differed. In a large peer-nomination sample, we assessed who highly overt aggressive, low prosocial boys (n = 181) nominated as friends (preferred friendships) and who among the nominated friends reciprocated the friendship (realized friendships). These preferred and realized friendships were compared with those of less aggressive (n = 1,268) and highly aggressive but also prosocial boys (bi-strategics; n = 55). Results showed that less aggressive boys preferred peers low on aggression, whereas highly aggressive and bi-strategic boys preferred peers not particular high or low on aggression. In line with default selection, highly aggressive boys ended up with aggressive peers even though that was not their preference. In general, received support proved an important determinant of highly aggressive, bi-strategic, and less aggressive boys’ preferred and realized friendships. Especially highly aggressive boys preferred emotionally supportive friends, but ended up with the least supportive peers. In sum, for friendships of highly overt aggressive boys, the evidence favors default selection over homophily selection.     

Exploring Traumas in the Development of Talent: What Are They,What Do They Do,and What Do They Require?

It has recently been argued that performers benefit from trauma (i.e., memorable challenges) during development. To deepen knowledge in this area, we explored perceived traumas in the development of 20 senior-international performers with a multimethods, temporal-based design. Results showed that perceived traumas were primarily sports based, recognized from onset of investment, associated with immediately negative but ultimately positive impact, and negotiated through skills that were brought to, rather than generated by, these experiences. The findings provide an interesting contrast to messages in other early trauma-focused research and promote focus on the process and mechanisms of responding to and recovering from traumatic experiences.     

Twice Migrants in Canada: Who Are They and How Do They Perform Economically?

Immigrants known as “twice migrants” are those who arrive in Canada via an intermediate country, that is, not directly from their country of birth. With a focus on large contemporary immigrant groups in Canada—South Asians, Chinese and Filipinos in particular—this study develops socio-economic profiles of twice migrants and assesses their economic performance in comparison to that of direct migrants. The study uses custom tables of multiple national level datasets as well as qualitative interviews with a selected group of twice-migrant families to arrive at its findings. The results show that relative to direct migrants, twice migrants were older, more likely to speak a Canadian official language, slightly more educated and more skilled. These human capital characteristics did not however fully translate into economic success. Political and economic situations both in the country of birth and the country of last place of residence affect the flow of twice migration. Lack of job opportunities in Canada forced many twice migrant families to split between two countries.     

Taking People as They Are?

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Is God a Liar? (Genesis 2-3)--and Related Matters

Do some interpretations of Genesis 2–3 have the effectthat God is made out to be a liar? It has been suggested thatthis would be the result of the present writer's proposals.The subject is not one belonging to narrow biblical research;rather, it has roots in the history of theology and raises importantphilosophical questions.     

Will They Stay or Will They Go? Exploring a Customer-Oriented Approach To Employee Retention

Keeping or losing the best workers can be critical to whether an organization can maintain a competitive advantage and whether operations in the organization run smoothly and efficiently. Simply stated, if the best workers are not retained, an organization can be negatively affected from the operational to the strategic level. This article focuses on employee retention from the perspective of a customer-based model. This approach considers employees as internal customers of management and the model provides organizations ways to influence whether employees decide to stay or go. Additionally, the model distinguishes retention practices based upon the value of employees to the organization. Measurement and application issues are identified along with directions for future research.     

“They suffer mainly from reminiscences”

Shame is a universal affect that everyone would like to avoid. Responses to trauma include profound experiences of shame, which re-emerge in the transference and can be recognized in reciprocal countertransference responses. Primitive defense mechanisms associated with borderline states such as projection, projective identification and splitting, are often encountered during the course of intensive psychotherapies involving traumatic shame. Attempts to avoid shame reactions may involve regressive reactions, even in non-borderline individuals. Shame avoidance may produce transference-countertransference enactments leading to a negative therapeutic reaction. Addressing shame-related issues may be difficult for both therapist and patient, but ultimately are essential for productive therapy and recovery from trauma.     

Creative Prisoners: Do They Exist?

One frequently suggested motive for creative work is awareness of mortality. This article reviews some suggestions about ways in which death might serve as such a motive, and also proposes other motives. It is hypothesized that death might provide both a drive that initiatives creative activity, and also incentives that finished products try to achieve, As well, its specific role and importance probably changes with age.     

Suicide Terrorists: Are They Suicidal?

Are suicide terrorists suicidal? A review of the worldwide literature on suicide terrorism uncovered five published empirical studies describing data collected from potential suicide terrorists or the surviving friends and families of deceased terrorists. The many discrepancies uncovered between suicide terrorists and other suicides on key factors known to underpin suicidality, suggest that such terrorists are not truly suicidal and should not be viewed as a subgroup of the general suicide population. Nonetheless, methods developed by suicidologists, such as the psychological autopsy, will help increase our understanding of the individual and group factors that underpin suicide terrorism.     

Widows' Spiritual Journeys: Do They Quest?

SUMMARY

Two studies examined the spiritual experiences of older women shortly after their husbands' deaths. The central question was, in the process of becoming and being a widow, do the older women begin a reflective dialogue with existential questions and initiate spiritual journeys as recent widows? One study is based on the widows within a random sample of older adults. The second study involved in-depth interviews with 15 recent widows. Both studies included Batson's measures of means, ends, and quest religious orientations. There was more evidence of an “ends” (intrinsic) orientation among the widows than “means” (extrinsic) for religious involvement; there was also no change over time in these orientations. Their quest orientation, however, became significantly less prevalent in the follow-up. It seems that women indeed quested, and by follow-up engaged their faith for religious consolation. Data from Study 2 revealed two themes: religious involvement provided a sense of continuity and direction, and through faith and prayer the women were able to (re)find meaning and purpose to life.     

Alcohol-Involved Rapes: Are They More Violent?

Alcohol's psychological, cognitive, and motor effects contribute to rape. Based on theory and past research, we hypothesized that there would be a curvilinear relationship between the quantity of alcohol consumed by perpetrators and how aggressively they behaved. Moderate levels of intoxication encourage aggressiveness; however, extreme levels severely inhibit cognitive and motor capacity. We also hypothesized that victims' alcohol consumption would have a curvilinear relationship to their resistance. These hypotheses were examined with data from 132 college women who had been the victims of attempted or completed rape. Although there was a curvilinear result for perpetrators, the slope of the curve suggested that aggressiveness was worst when no alcohol or the highest levels of alcohol were consumed. There was a negative linear relationship between victims' alcohol consumption and resistance. Difficulties associated with accurately assessing degree of intoxication from survey data are discussed and suggestions are made for improving alcohol measurement in rape research.     

Do They Know How Happy They Are? On the Value of Self-Rated Happiness of People With a Mental Disorder

Quality of life is often measured using questions about happiness. This method presumes that respondents are able to judge their life. Research suggest that this is typically the case, but this is not to say that everybody can. In that context one may doubt whether people with a mental disorder can judge their life adequately. Happiness can be rejected as a indicator for quality of life for people with mental disorders, because of affective and cognitive distortions. We therefore checked the validity of happiness and satisfaction measures in the context of mental disorders. Psychiatric diagnoses were determined at baseline and at 12 and 36 months follow-up in a representative sample (N = 7,076) of the Dutch population, using a full Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Respondents indicated how often they had felt happy during the past month and how satisfied they were with their lives in general. The measurements have a satisfactory concurrent, ecological and predictive validity for people with mental disorders. Though the level of happiness is lower among the people with mental disorders, conditions for happiness and contentment appear to be similar.     

Folk Platitudes as the Explananda of Philosophical Metaethics: Are They Accurate? And Do They Help or Hinder Inquiry?

The field of metaethics, the branch of moral philosophy that examines the nature and status of morality, is rich in theoretical diversity. Nonetheless, a majority of professional philosophers embrace a subset of theories that affirm the existence of objective moral facts. I suggest that this may be related to the very method that philosophers use to construct metaethical theories. This method involves analyzing how ordinary people think and argue about morality. Analysis of ordinary moral discourse is meant to reveal common platitudes (or truisms) about the nature of morality itself, including the platitude that morality trades in objective moral facts. But do philosophers investigate ordinary moral discourse in any systematic way? How do they arrive at such platitudes? On what grounds are they justified? In this paper, I critically examine these questions and argue that a) any such platitudes need to be investigated systematically through empirical research and b) philosophers ought to be engaged in this research themselves.