Is tenderness a basic emotion?

The article presents the case to consider tenderness a basic emotion, using the criteria proposed by Ekman (in Handbook of cognition and emotion, Wiley, England, 1999). The first part of the article reviews the relationship between tenderness and the related concepts of love and empathy. The next section reviews evidence concerning whether tenderness meets some of Ekman’s criteria. The last section reports an experiment testing whether tenderness meets Ekman’s criterion of distinct subjective experience. Participants watched scenes designed to induce different emotions. Results showed that a scene could induce high levels of tenderness and low levels of joy if that scene also induced high levels of sadness. These results suggest that the subjective experience of tenderness is distinct from that of joy.     

儿童经济现象认知的研究进展

经济现象广泛存在于社会生活,对经济现象的认知是儿童社会认知的重要组成部分。儿童对经济现象的认知包括对基本经济概念、经济原则、经济规律和经济行为的认知等。研究表明,儿童对基本经济概念的理解随着年龄的增长而不断发展,但是受环境和经验因素的影响,存在跨文化的差异。儿童对不同经济概念理解的发展是不同步的。儿童可能很早就出现对基本经济概念内隐性的理解。儿童对经济原则和经济规律的理解也是随着年龄的增长而不断发展的,并且和他们对基本经济概念的理解息息相关。储蓄行为是一种重要的经济行为。12岁的儿童能够理解储蓄的多重目的,并仍处于发展之中。     

Subjective Wellbeing and Income: Empirical Patterns in the Rural Developing World

A commonality in the economics of happiness literature is that absolute income matters more for the subjective wellbeing of people at low income levels. In this article, we use a large sample of people in rural areas of developing countries with relatively low income levels to test whether subjective wellbeing an increasing function of absolute income in our sample, and to analyze the existence of adaptation and social comparison effects on subjective wellbeing. Our sample includes 6,973 rural households in 23 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The average total income per adult equivalent in our sample was US$ 1555, whereas levels of subjective wellbeing resembled levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We find that, despite low levels of absolute income, levels of subjective wellbeing of our respondents resemble levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We also find remarkable similarities in many of the determinants of subjective wellbeing previously tested. Our data show that absolute income covariates with subjective wellbeing, but—as for richer samples—the magnitude of the association is lower once we control for adaptation and social comparison. Finally, our results suggest that social comparison has a stronger effect than adaptation in explaining the subjective wellbeing of our sample. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptation and social comparison even at low levels of absolute income.     

A standard conceptual framework for the study of subjective time

Research on the mental representation of time (‘subjective time’) has provided broad insights into the nature of time perception and temporal processing. As the field comprises different scientific disciplines, such as psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience, studies differ with regard to the basic terms and concepts used. For this reason, research on subjective time lacks a coherent conceptual system. We argue that research in the field of subjective time should aim at establishing such a system, i.e., a more standardized terminology, in order to strengthen its theoretical basis and to support an efficient communication of results. Based on key empirical findings and concepts that are commonly (but inconsistently) used in the literature, we argue for a conceptual framework for the study of subjective time that differentiates between three types of mental representations of time: basic temporal processing, time perception in terms of passage, and time perception in terms of duration.     

Quality of Life in Old Age: Problematic Issues

Quality of Life (QoL) is a concept widely used in gerontology, as well as in other fields such as anthropology, health sciences, psychology, sociology and political sciences. Historically, although Aristotle is considered as an antecedent, the term QoL emerged in about the sixties in scientific literature. In the field of ageing, it is considered as an outcome of projects, programmes, services or policies and is used for describing populations, contexts and individuals. QoL is considered by most experts as a multidimensional concept involving multiple domains (health, psychological, social and environmental), containing objective and subjective components. Nevertheless, in recent years, QoL has been reduced to the subjective appraisal, to health or to subjective psychological attributes such as well-being, happiness or life satisfaction. Moreover, conceptual confusions can be found between QoL and other concepts related to positive ageing. In this conceptually-driven paper, after reviewing a set of expert and lay conceptualizations of QoL and identifying the diversity of its components, three critical issues will be discussed: its reduction to health or to the subjective appraisal of a set of domains, the confusion of QoL with other subjective or positive concepts and, finally, its methodological reductionism to self-reports as an exclusive procedure for QoL data collection. From these criticisms some conceptual and methodological suggestions are proposed.     

Conceptualizations of valence and instrumentality: A fourfold model

Within the framework of valence-instrumentality (VI) theory, a fourfold model is developed to predict the contribution which is made by one outcome of an alternative to the valence of that alternative. The proposed model uses four subjective conditional probabilities which are based on the presence and absence of an alternative, and on the occurrence and nonoccurrence of an outcome. Valence is defined as the difference between the attractiveness values of the occurrence of an alternative (or an outcome) and the nonoccurrence of an alternative (or an outcome). Also, differences between subjective probabilities replace instrumentalities. Alternative valence-instrumentality formulations are analyzed in relation to the proposed fourfold model. The proposed model can be understood as a consistent application of Vroom's model (1964, Work and motivation, New York: Wiley), while other models are judged to be relatively deficient. The fourfold model, in combination with a matrix formulation of expectancy concepts, addresses a number of criticisms of VI theory and makes possible a test of the theory within the limits of its own assumptions.     

Behavioral economics of drug self-administration and drug abuse policy.

The concepts of behavioral economics have proven useful for understanding the environmental control of overall levels of responding for a variety of commodities, including reinforcement by drug self-administration. These general concepts are summarized for application to the analysis of drug-reinforced behavior and proposed as the basis for future applications. This behavioral agenda includes the assessment of abuse liability, the assay of drug-reinforcer interactions, the design of drug abuse interventions, and the formulation of drug abuse public policy. These separate domains of investigation are described as part of an overall strategy for designing model projects to control drug use and testing public policy initiatives.     

福利经济学的伦理选择

本文依据效率与伦理两个基本标准探讨了福利经济学对于经济运行体系的伦理选择问题。首先分别讨论了福利经济学参照两个基本标准对于经济运行体系进行伦理选择的具体情况。其次分析了福利经济学在参照第二个基本标准对于经济运行体系进行伦理选择时所遇到的理论困难及其原因,即仅仅依据功利主义伦理基础的狭窄理论框架与包含道义主义伦理学在内的广阔的价值世界之间的矛盾。最后指出:通过引入道义主义伦理学作为福利经济学的伦理基础之一,特别是通过引入伦理妥协的方法解决经济学的功利主义基础与道义主义基础之间的矛盾,便可以扩展福利经济学的理论框架,消除福利经济学在参照第二个基本标准对于经济运行体系进行伦理选择时所遇到的理论困难,使福利经济学能够在新的意义上同时参照两个基本标准对于经济运行体系进行有效的伦理选择。     

Re-conceptualizing Risk in Genetic Counseling: Implications for Clinical Practice

Risk communication is an important component of genetic counseling. However, many authors have noted that after genetic counseling, subjective risk frequently does not match the objective risk provided by the counselor. This inevitably leads to the conclusion that the risk communication process was not “effective”. There has been much discussion about how this problem can be better addressed, such that our clients recall numeric risks more accurately after genetic counseling. This article draws on the risk and probability literature from other fields (including psychology, economics, philosophy and climate change) to deconstruct the concepts of “risk” and risk perception to attempt to expand upon and develop thought and discussion about and investigation of the risk communication process in genetic counseling.     

Ways of probing situated concepts

Two ways of eliciting conceptual content have been to instruct participants to list the intrinsic properties that concept exemplars possess or to report any thoughts that come to mind about the concept. It has been argued that the open, unconstrained probe is better able to elicit the situational information that concepts contain. We evaluated this proposal in two experiments comparing the two probes with regard to the content that they yield for object concepts at the superordinate and basic levels. The results showed that the open probe was better able to elicit situated conceptual knowledge and point out differences in the representations of superordinate and basic concepts.     

On the subjectivity of personality theory.

Every theorist of personality views the human condition from the unique perspective of his own individuality. As a consequence, personality theories are strongly influenced by personal and subjective factors. These influences are partially responsible for the present day lack of consensus in psychology as to basic conceptual frameworks for the study of man. The science of human personality can achieve a greater degree of consensus and generality only if it begins to turn back on itself and question its own psychological foundations. The role of subjective and personal factors in this field can be studied and made more explicit by means of a psychobiographical method which interprets the major ideas of personality theories in the light of the formative experiences in the respective theorists' lives. This method is briefly illustrated by an examination of the influence of personal experiences on theoretical concepts in the work of Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, Wilhelm Reich, and Gordon Allport. The subjective factors disclosed by psychobiographical analysis can bee seen to interact with influences stemming from the intellectual and historical context within which the theorist work. The psychobiographical study of personality theory is only one part of a larger discipline, the psychology of knowledge, which would study the role of subjective and personal factors in the structure of man's knowledge in general.     

I’m Happy, Hope You’re Happy Too.

While most empirical studies show stable and high levels of subjective well-being in Western societies, other studies have documented an apparently contradictory feeling of a loss of sense of community and high levels of discontent with the way society functions. Based on an analysis of the Social Cohesion Indicators survey (SCIF, Belgium), we demonstrate that subjective well-being and one’s view on society are two distinct concepts. Both measurements are related, however, with some spill-over effects from individual well-being toward the assessment of society. Most notably, ethnocentrism does not have an impact on subjective well-being, but it has a strong negative impact on the view on society. Ethnocentrism has a strong effect on the distribution of discontent with society. We hypothesize that ethnocentric actors might still be satisfied with their own living conditions, but that they feel increasingly alienated from the culturally diverse society they live in.     

Structure of the Indonesian Emotion Lexicon

Based on a prototype approach to emotion concepts, two studies were conducted: (1) to identify the mental state words that Indonesian speakers are most certain name emotions ( perasaan hati ) and (2) to map the hierarchical and family-resemblance structure of the top 124 emotion concepts. As in an earlier study of emotion terms in American English (Shaver, Schwartz, Kirson, & O'Connor, 1987), cluster analysis of sorting data collected in Indonesia revealed five basic-level emotion categories: cinta (love), senang (happiness), marah (anger), kawatir/takut (anxiety/fear), and sedih (sadness). Also in line with the American results, the five basic-level categories formed two large categories at the superordinate level: positive emotions and negative emotions. Each of the five basic-level categories contained several subordinate-level categories, totaling 31 in all. The results suggest that the emotion lexicons, and corresponding conceptualizations of the emotion domain, in Indonesia and the U.S.A. are similar at the superordinate and basic levels but somewhat variable at the subordinate level. This outcome – like other kinds of psychological research on emotions and emotion concepts – suggests that the gross structure of representations of the emotion domain are similar worldwide, perhaps for biological reasons, but that different cultures make different fine-grained distinctions and emphasize different subordinate-level emotion concepts.     

Studies in subjective probability IV: probabilities, confidence, and luck

Probably because of formal advantages, probabilities are often regarded as more basic than other dimensions of attitudes towards uncertain events (beliefs, confidences, doubts, statements of hope and fear, good and bad luck etc.). In a series of experiments, some of these concepts were empirically compared by asking students to give their views on a variety of uncertain events, ranging from future examinations to lotteries. Confidence turned out to be closely related to perceived chance, but very imperfectly to the subjective probability of the event in question, except when all outcomes are judged equally due to chance. Judgments of good and bad luck were still more independent of the probabilities involved, even in a chance situation, It is concluded that subjective probability plays a secondary role in assessments of confidence as well as of luck, and is poorly suited as a common measure of the varieties of subjective uncertainty. A final experiment suggests the subjective and statistical conceptions of uncertainty to have partially opposing connotations. "An uncertain future" seems to be subjectively interpreted as an open future, restricted possibilities of prediction.     

The mind-brain relationship: the emergent self

This paper explores the mind-brain relationship, using insights from contemporary neuroscience. It seeks to investigate how our brains become who we are, how subjective experience arises. In order to do this some explanation is given of the basic concepts of how the brain produces our subjective mental life. Current neuropsychological and neurobiological understanding of early brain development, memory, emotion and consciousness are explored. There is also an attempt at mapping the mind-brain-self relationship from a uniquely Jungian perspective. Clinical material is included in order to show the relevance of these insights to our work in the consulting room, arguing the value of the affect-regulating, relational aspects of the analytic dyad that forge new neural pathways through emotional connection. Such experience forms the emotional scaffolding necessary for the emergence of reflective function.     

From Spontaneous to Planned Urban Development and Quality of Life: the Case of Ho Chi Minh City

This paper studies the quality of life (QOL) that residents perceive in typical urban patterns in Ho Chi Minh City. Its major focus is to examine the improvement in the QOL through public intervention into the urban development process. There are four findings. First, moderate government intervention to correct market failures in areas where spontaneous urban development has occurred generates similar levels of satisfaction to areas with planned development. Second, urban planning is important as housing values and subjective satisfactions in planned areas are higher than those in spontaneous development areas. Third, redevelopment negatively affects the QOL in areas undergoing redevelopment. Finally, the contrast between the housing value and the subjective life satisfaction in spontaneous development areas undergoing redevelopment shows the problem of relying on the revealed preference assumption in traditional economics and the need for having alternative approaches.     

Some reciprocal roles between behavior analysis and institutional economics in post-darwinian science

Behavior analysis and institutional economics are viewed as having common origins in the early 20th century effort to benefit from the conceptual revolution spurred by Darwin's synthesis. Institutional economics, initiated by Thorstein Veblen, appears to have failed to develop a progressive scientific technology, while behavior analysis has done so. It is suggested that institutional economics has been held back by lack of a synthesizing scientific mechanism that elucidates the relation between technological and ceremonial processes, the two cultural forces described by Veblen. The theory of institutional economist C. E. Ayres, built on Veblen's distinction, is used to clarify the concepts of technological and ceremonial processes for the reader. An analysis of the behavioral processes that might underlie the cultural processes described by Veblen/Ayres suggests that the experimental analysis of behavior has provided concepts that might function as a synthesizing mechanism for the social sciences and, in particular, institutional economics. The Veblen/Ayres dichotomy, now seen in terms of underlying behavioral processes, is used to examine the field of behavior analysis in terms of its origins, its relation to psychology and its current state. The paper concludes with a few practical suggestions as to how behavior analysts might work to enhance survival.     

Integrating Basic and Advanced Fieldwork With Academic Coursework

This paper presents a model for integrating academic and clinical learning in allied health. In this model (which is based on the TAR - teaching, application, reinforcement - approach) two levels of fieldwork are used: an introductory level which begins prior to and continues throughout a theory course, and an advanced level which follows successful completion of that course. Both levels are linked to the theory course through a series of workbooks, clinical exercises, and seminars. The introductory level fieldwork begins as a one-week full-time clinical placement, with structured activities focusing on the observation of five basic concepts. These concepts are then explored theoretically in the first part of the theory course, applied during the weekly continuation of the introductory fieldwork, and reinforced in a weekly seminar. Mastery of the five basic concepts provides a foundation for related advanced concepts presented in the latter part of the theory course, applied through specific assignments at the advanced level of fieldwork, and reinforced in a biweekly college seminar concurrent with the three-month fieldwork.     

Preference for reinforcers under varying schedule arrangements: A behavioral economic analysis

The field of behavioral economics combines concepts from economics and operant conditioning to examine the influence of schedules or price on preference for reinforcers. Three case studies are reported in which behavioral economic analyses were used to assess relative preference for reinforcers shown by people with intellectual disabilities when schedule requirements varied. The studies examined (a) preference for different reinforcers, (b) substitutability of reinforcers, and (c) changes in preference as a function of schedule requirements.