Method and Explanation in History and in Social Representations

A commonly held point of view defines a discipline as a science if it uses inductive and/or deductive methods in studying phenomena in question, because these methods, it is believed, will enable generalization of findings. Both history and theory of social representations study unique phenomena and therefore, for these disciplines, induction and deduction are unsuitable methods of exploration. History and theory of social representations treat a historical event and a social psychological phenomenon, respectively, as dynamic, systemic and one of its kind. Using relational epistemologies, these disciplines produce context-dependent and context-specific knowledge. Whilst similarities among historical, as well as among social psychological occurrences do exist, they do not yield themselves to inductive generalization. Studies of unique cases require different kinds of generalization; rather than generalising to populations, they pose questions about generalizability, or transferability, with respect to theories of other historical events or social psychological phenomena.     

Protestants and Family Planning

There is evidence supporting the hypothesis that the historically favorable views of Protestants regarding the practice of family planning are changing among selected sub-groups. Such an attitudinal shift among Protestants has been rarely investigated by social scientists. This literature review represents an initial step in examining the phenomenon. A profile of Protestants' historical views of family planning will be presented first, followed by a discussion of the recent questioning of this group's favorable attitudes towards the practice. Additionally, research literature on contraceptive behavior and fertility patterns will provide empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis.     

Invoking history to teach about the scientist-practitioner gap

The scientist-practitioner gap refers to the division between psychologists who believe that clinical practice should be heavily informed by empirical studies and those who believe clinical judgment and intuition should be paramount. Although the gap widened in the late 1980s and early 1990s, owing to the recovered memory controversy, the intradisciplinary schism between scientists and practitioners significantly predates this particular debate. Without an appreciation of the historical context of the term's emergence, however, students may come to regard the scientist-practitioner gap as a discrete and recent phenomenon. In this paper, the historical and philosophical roots of the gap are described, and it is argued that an appreciation of the historical circumstances from which the term emerged can enable students to better appreciate the past, present, and future of the discipline.     

Understanding the phenomenon: a comparative study of compassion of the West and karuna of the East

This article aims to bring some understanding to the phenomenon called compassion. The use of particular linguistic expressions to denote the phenomenon of compassion in the East and West can confuse us, as those terms are embedded in unique cultural settings. This article undertakes a historical, etymological, and philosophical exploration of the terms, compassion and karuna (an Eastern equivalent of compassion). The article will include a short literature review of these concepts and an investigation of the differences and similarities between them. The concluding speculation is that the Western perspective on compassion is founded on an individualistic, self-centred vision, and the karuna of the East is founded on a communitarian, non-self based vision.     

UNEQUAL ATTENDANCE: THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RACE, ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY CUES, AND ABSENTEEISM

Although prior evidence has demonstrated racial differences in employee absenteeism, no existing research explains this phenomenon. The present study examined the roles of 2 diversity cues related to workplace support—perceived organizational value of diversity and supervisor–subordinate racial/ethnic similarity—in explicating this demographic difference among 659 Black, White, and Hispanic employees of U.S. companies. Blacks reported significantly more absences than their White counterparts, but this difference was significantly more pronounced when employees believed their organizations placed little value on diversity. Moreover, in a form of expectancy violation, the Black–White difference was significant only when employees had racially similar supervisors (and thus would expect their companies to value diversity) and perceived that the organization placed little value on diversity.     

‘Ndrangheta in Lombardy: Culture and Organizational Structure

This work aims at thoroughly studying a phenomenon that today is still not really discussed (i.e., the criminal organization called ‘Ndrangheta). We will particularly deal with the culture and organizational structure of this Mafia phenomenon and analyze its new territories of infiltration and domination (the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy) after its migration from its original territory (the region of Calabria in Southern Italy). From the review of the existing literature on ‘Ndrangheta, we can actually point out that the contributions on the theme deal with the Mafia phenomenon, circumscribing it in its original territory, therefore mostly adopting a sociological and historical viewpoint. Up to today, nobody addressed ‘Ndrangheta outside these territorial boundaries and adopting a psychological viewpoint, which is the one this contribution starts from. In more specific terms, a text is analyzed, which is composed by the reports of the pre-trial detention order called Crimine-Infinito [Endless Crime], promoted by investigators in 2010 and so far one of the most relevant actions to fight against ‘Ndrangheta.     

Crossan on the Couch, Along with the Rest of Us: Part Two: Six Proposals Toward a New Paradigm for a Psychologically Realistic Approach to the Search for the Historical Jesus as Suggested by the Work of Hal Childs

Building on the theoretical basis spelled out in my first article on Hal Childs' The Myth of the Historical Jesus and the Evolution of Consciousness, the present article engages in dialogue with Crossan's 2000 autobiography, A Long Way From Tipperary. The dialogue focuses on six proposals emerging from Childs' work that advocate the inclusion of psychological realism in rethinking the task, practice, and outcome of historical Jesus research. The six proposals are as follows: first, that psychological realism is an essential part of historical realism; second, that unconscious factors are to be considered at work in the viewer as well as in the viewed in historical Jesus research; third, that every reconstruction of the historical Jesus is mythic; fourth, that the preunderstanding that the Jesus scholar brings to historical Jesus research is generated within a hermeneutical circle constituted by a vast web of relationships, purposes, and meanings that include every aspect of the scholar's life; fifth, that the final goal of historical Jesus research is not the facts about the historic Jesus, but the meaning of these facts as archetypal images for self-understanding, world-understanding, and the evolution of consciousness; and sixth, that the purpose of the Gospel is to evoke new archetypal projections in the reader that can lead to new incarnations of the archetypal Self awakened and informed by the story of Jesus, often as recovered by the Jesus historian.     

Can more business ethics teaching halt corruption in companies?

Abstract

This article deals with the question of whether an increased teaching of business ethics can/will have a positive effect on the fight against corruption in companies. It is written from a (South) African perspective. Statistics about the alarming state of corruption in South African businesses are provided in the beginning. A Hegelian approach to the problem, in terms of which theory can and does influence practice, is compared to a Marxist approach, in terms of which theory is only a reflection of practice. The author chooses a position that mediates between these two extremes. In the end, he develops a model that relies heavily on the idea of an ethics of responsibility that draws on Aristotle’s idea of phronesis (practical wisdom based on deliberation). The practical implications of these ideas for the utilization of business ethics teaching in companies are consequently spelt out. While more teaching of this discipline cannot guarantee better morals in a company, it can better equip all involved to deal with the ever-increasing moral problems that business people have to deal with.     

The Ancient Argumentative Game: τóπoι and loci in Action

In classical logic and rhetoric the strategies of argumentation known as topoi played a crucial role. Yet, topoi refer there to different kinds of strategies that this study intends to explain synoptically. Main focus will be on passages from Aristotle and Cicero. Indeed, these sources contain examples and theoretical considerations, which provide the basis for a general investigation of the complex phenomenon of topoi in the ancient world. Four main types of topoi will be juxtaposed and discusses comparatively as a way to inspire historical reconstructions of the system of topoi, as well as modern theory formation on argumentation where topoi still receive much attention.     

Psychoanalysis, psychoanalysis appropriated, psychoanalysis applied

The assumptions which predominate in the reading of psychoanalytic theory differ from those involved in listening to the patient in the psychoanalytic process. A weakness of much applied psychoanalysis is that these two sets of assumptions are confused and theoretical certainty is substituted for clinical exploration. This difference in assumptions is illustrated by the different assumptions about the signifier in two poems. In Freud's work on Leonardo, both attitudes toward the signifier are present, but the clinical aspect is located in Freud's method, not in his historical construction. The problems of maintaining a similar clinical stance in applied psychoanalysis are explored, and Freud's tendency toward historical certainty is speculatively considered as an instance of the parallelism phenomenon.     

Disability in Female Immigrants with Ritually Inflicted Genital Mutation

There have been 200,000 immigrants to the United States from African and Arab countries in the past decade that practice extensively disabling ritual genital mutilation. many of these women are severely disabled not only by the social constraints placed upon them by their culture, but by chronic pain syndrome and mobility impairment. They only rarely present at conventional medical facilities, being prevented from doing so by protective/dominant men, and further by the fact that they have little or no expectation that their specialized medical problems will be either understood or dealth with compassionately. The disabling immediate and long term medical consequences of female genital mutilation are described, most particularly in relation to menstruation and childbirth. Its significance as a social phenomenon is explained in historical terms and in terms of the values of the societies in which it is tenaciously entrenched. The question of how a working relationship with these immigrant women may be established is discussed.     

消费决策过程如何彰显社会地位?基于最优化决策策略的视角

彰显社会地位是消费者行为的一项基本动机。以往的消费心理学研究大量聚焦产品特征如何彰显社会地位(即令观察者产生高社会地位的推断), 却很少探讨消费决策过程这一购买决策中不可忽视的重要因素对社会地位推断有何影响。本研究试图构建一个基于最优化决策过程信息的社会地位推断模型, 系统探讨: (1)最优化决策过程能否及如何彰显消费者的社会地位; (2)彰显社会地位动机是否为消费者进行最优化决策的原因之一; (3)最优化决策过程如何通过社会地位推断影响观察者后续的消费行为。本研究将为社会地位推断研究提供新的视角, 扩展最优化决策研究的外延, 并从全新的角度揭示最优化决策的内涵。     

Dreaming,cognition, and physical illness: Part I

Part I of a two part article on the effect upon dreaming on physical illness briefly explores the historical medico-philosophical antecedents of the notion that dreams can be diagnostic of bodily disease. Modern sleep research findings relating REM sleep to physiologic changes are also explored. The controversy of whether dreams are merely the consequence of random brain activity or whether they are a valid psychological phenomenon is discussed. Six contemporary views of the function of REM sleep are outlined. A seventh view of dreaming, that of a “cognitive monitoring system” is suggested. Like earlier historical notions, it is suggested that dreaming is a cognitive activity that processes bodily cues indicating illness or disease. Part II. presents a clinical compendium of dreams relating to Part I.     

Spinoza on the Problem of Akrasia

Abstract: Two common ways of explaining akrasia will be presented, one which focuses on strength of desire and the other which focuses on action issuing from practical judgment. Though each is intuitive in a certain way, they both fail as explanations of the most interesting cases of akrasia. Spinoza's own thoughts on bondage and the affects follow, from which a Spinozist explanation of akrasia is constructed. This account is based in Spinoza's mechanistic psychology of cognitive affects. Because Spinoza's account explains action asissuing from modes of mind that are both cognitive and affective, it captures the intuitions that motivate the two traditional views while avoiding the pitfalls that result from their one-sided approaches. This project will allow us a fuller understanding of Spinozist moral psychology. In addition to this historical value, the Spinozist theory may offer a satisfactory explanation of certain hard cases of akrasia while avoiding the problems be set by other theories. For this reason, the Spinozist account could also be seen as a useful contribution to our philosophical understanding of the phenomenon of akrasia.     

Le « test par CDD » comme frein au fonctionnement des entreprises

In France, in order to evaluate job applicants, some employers use short term contract before recruiting on a long term contract. The present study aims to compare companies having this practice and others. More precisely, we will appreciate the level of recruitment difficulties and the degree of fundamental error of attribution according companies. Results indicate that companies having “test by CDD” have more recruitment difficulties and more fundamental error of attribution to explain these failures.     

Self-Healing Forces and Concepts of Health and Disease. A Historical Discourse

The phenomenon of self-healing forces has again and again challenged doctors in the different historical periods of medical science. They relied on effects of self-healing forces in diagnosis and therapy. They also tried to explain these effects based on the current model of organism. The understanding of this phenomenon has always influenced the understanding of therapy and played a role in defining the concept of health and disease. In the 17th and 18th century the idea of self-healing force was interpreted as a phenomenon related to the organic forces, whereas in the 19th century the explanation was reduced to a materialistic mechanism. Nowadays the knowledge of heath-shock-proteins open the way of a new understanding of the organic defense mechanisms. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Before the measurement of prejudice: Early psychological and sociological papers on prejudice

Given its renown, many psychologists and sociologists likely consider the publication of Gordon Allport's ( 1954 / 1979 ) seminal book The Nature of Prejudice as the inauguration of the psychological study of prejudice. However, we have uncovered rarely‐cited, published papers (starting in 1830) that provide a wealth of speculation on prejudice even before psychologists/sociologists attempted to measure it (circa 1925). Thus, this paper intends to discuss early published work on prejudice in psychology and sociology by focusing on three key questions: a) when did psychologists/sociologists recognize prejudice as a psychological phenomenon, b) when did psychologists/sociologists recognize prejudice as a phenomenon in need of study, and c) what were the historical and personal conditions that gave rise to the interest in prejudice? In short, the seeds of prejudice research were maturing for some time before Allport's seminal book and the first attitudinal studies on prejudice, although these earlier works are seldom cited. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Syncretic Spirituality: Islam in Indigenous Australia

Far from being an exclusively present-day, let alone post-9/11, phenomenon, Islam in Indigenous Australia has a set of historical precedents. Focusing on three early waves of Muslim sojourners and immigrants, the article begins with an overview of the long and complex history of Indigenous engagement with Islam. Introducing readers to a broad spectrum of Indigenous identification with Islam, it examines the kin-based or informal absorption of Islamic values that occurs particularly among those with Muslim forbears (a process termed “kinversion”). The article then turns from the primarily historical material to an investigation of the contemporary experience of Islam in Indigenous Australian lives. As Islam is among the fastest growing religions in the world today, an increased rate of conversion to Islam among Indigenous communities might simply be a sign of the times. This is not, however, the case. There are uniquely Australian circumstances that inform it, and for some Indigenous people an identification with Islam has provided an alternative route back to their Indigenous roots.     

IT企业员工多层次承诺对离职意向的影响

IT企业的高离职率成为信息技术行业面临的一大难题,本研究运用问卷调查了浙江IT企业员工的多层次承诺(组织承诺、团队承诺和职业承诺)及其离职意向。结果发现,IT企业员工组织承诺是影响离职意向的重要因素;同时IT企业员工的团队承诺和职业承诺是组织承诺影响离职意向的缓冲变量。其中,团队承诺越高,组织承诺对离职意向的影响就越大;而职业承诺越低,组织承诺对离职意向的影响就越大。最后对IT企业的员工的管理提出了建议。