Transcending Technology: Looking at Futurology as a New Religious Movement

This article argues that futurology is a new religious movement. Futurologists propose that the changes taking place in technology will radically alter human nature in the near future. The movement has its share of charismatic leaders, authoritative texts, and notions of salvation. I do not attempt to refute the vision of the future put forth by the futurologists themselves, but assume that their view of the future will unfold as they see it. This allows me more easily to gauge futurology's future relationship with religion. Rational choice theory is employed as a tool to discern whether futurology has the potential to be competitive when it enters the market-place of religions. I argue that, if the science behind it is perfected, futurology poses a real challenge to traditional religion.     

Believing in Make-Believe: Looking at Theater as a Metaphor for Psychotherapy

In this essay, I explore the theatrical dimensions of psychotherapy. I argue that many of the historical, practice-related, and conceptual connections between theater and therapy often are only alluded to in the literature, but rarely made explicit. In doing so, however, it seems apparent that, as a metaphor for psychotherapy, theater perhaps offers a more appropriate fit than those narrative and conversational metaphors that have been employed so far. Proposing that theater is, in fact, the metaphor on which psychotherapy bases itself, I briefly examine some of its implications for how therapy might be conceptualized and performed. I conclude by inviting other therapists to consider — by openly acknowledging theater as a metaphor for psychotherapy — if they might then become more engaging, creative, and imaginative in their work.     

Looking at faces: first-order and second-order features as determinants of facial appearance

The encoding and relative importance of first-order (discrete) and second-order (configural) features in mental representations of unfamiliar faces have been investigated. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (KYST) was carried out on similarity judgments of forty-one photographs of faces (homogeneous with respect to sex, race, facial expression, and, to a lesser extent, age). A large set of ratings, measurements, and ratios of measurements of the faces was regressed against the three-dimensional KYST solution in order to determine the first-order and second-order features used to judge similarity. Parameters characterizing both first-order and second-order features emerged as important determinants of facial similarity. First-order feature parameters characterizing the appearance of the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth, and second-order feature parameters characterizing the position of the eyes, spatial relations between the internal features, and chin shape correlated with the dimensions of the KYST solution. There was little difference in the extent to which first-order and second-order features were encoded. Two higher-level parameters, age and weight, were also used to judge similarity. The implications of these results for mental representations of faces are discussed.     

Looking backward at the socialist utopia

Utopia and Anti‐Utopia in Modern Times, by Krishan Kumar, Basil Blackwell, 1987, x + 506 pages, hb £24.50     

Looking at pictures but remembering scenes.

Ss tend to remember close-up photographs as having had extended boundaries (Intraub & Richardson, 1989). Three alternate explanations were tested: object completion, distortion toward a perceptual schema, and normalization toward a prototypic view. In three experiments, 55-130 undergraduates viewed 16 close-up, prototypic, or wide-angle views of objects for 15 s each. Immediately or 48 hr later, they rated test pictures on a 5-point scale as "same", "closer up", or "father away." Results ruled out object completion because boundary extension occurred when the picture contained no incomplete objects. Immediate tests supported the perceptual schema hypothesis because all unidirectional distortions involved boundary extension. Delayed tests were more suggestive of a memory schema effect because wide-angle pictures yielded boundary restriction. A two-component model of picture processing is proposed.     

Looking as a Measure of Attraction1

Byrne's reinforcement theory of attraction is almost exclusively based upon studies that use the Interpersonal Judgment Scale (IJS) as their measure of attraction. The present study used Byrne's general experimental procedure but employed an unobtrusive “looking” measure of attraction as well as the more familiar IJS measure. The degree of attitude similarity between women subjects and a female stranger was not significantly related to the IJS measure of attraction but was significantly related to the proportion of looking time measure (p < .01). This was true for both subjects who verbalized and did not verbalize awareness of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent measures of the study.     

Looking at Work Motivation from a Wider Angle

Work motivation tends to have been studied from the narrow perspective of the work organisation, and of the individual viewed as a member of the organisation, and to have ignored the social world outside. There is however a growing body of research demonstrating the interaction between work and other aspects of individual psychological and social life. The implications of such research for practice and research on work motivation are explored.     

伦理学视野中的所有制问题

所有制问题是经济伦理研究中的一个重要问题。如何确立所有制评价的伦理标准 ,对所有制问题进行伦理审视 ,探求道德完善的现代所有制形式 ,有助于为我国的经济改革提供必要的伦理支持和价值导向。     

Computer-Assisted Careers Guidance Systems as Decision Support Systems

'Decision support systems' are computer systems which are aimed at improving decisions made by managers. An examination of the literature on decision support systems suggests that there are similarities between these systems and computer-aided careers guidance systems. These similarities —and differences -are explored, and a number of ways in which each approach might learn from the other are suggested.     

A gandhian model of health: Looking at Alzheimer's disease

Mahatma Gandhi was often criticized for mixing religion, politics, economics, and health. However, it was his very insistence on the fundamental interrelationship of all aspects of life that gives his ideas such relevance for today's problems. This paper focuses on his views on health and attempts to develop a Gandhian model of health that has relevance for us today. This model is then specifically applied to the vexing problem of Alzheimer's disease, and an ongoing therapeutic trial that is based on this model is described.     

Gaze Patterns When Looking at Emotional Pictures: Motivationally Biased Attention

Pictures of either emotionally neutral, pleasant (affectionate), or unpleasant (threat and injury) scenes were paired with nonemotional control pictures and presented for 3 s, while eye fixations were monitored. Preferential attention to the emotional picture of eah pair occurred at an early processing stage: The probability of placement of the first fixation and the proportion of viewing time during the first 500 ms were higher for both pleasant and unpleasant pictures than for neutral pictures, whereas later fixation location and time were not differentially affected. This suggests that, when emotional and nonemotional stimuli are presented simultaneously, emotional meaning captures initial overt orienting and engages attention early, as measured by gaze direction and duration. The possibility that this effect could be accounted for by perceptual differences—such as luminance and complexity—between emotional and neutral pictures was ruled out.     

从司徒雷登看传教士和传教运动

司徒雷登是近代基督教传教士的典型人物。他一生做了两件对中国社会有影响的大事,一是办教育,尤其是成功创办燕京大学,获得中美各界赞誉;二是当美国驻华大使,以失败告终。他在中国办教育、出任大使,是为了同一个目的:以基督教精神改造中国。他爱中国,但更爱美国。他努力融合中西文化,提倡基督教本色化。从司徒雷登身上,可以看出:中国近代基督教传教运动是列强对外扩张的组成部分,而传教士往往是出于宗教热情参与其中。传教士主观上是传教,客观上促进了中西文化交流。今天,在殖民体系崩溃、全球经济一体化、区域文化多元化的时代背景下,依附于殖民体系的"差传"模式已成历史,取而代之的只能是相互交流和合作。