Ethics and Intuitions: A Reply to Singer

In a recent paper, Peter Singer suggests that some interesting new findings in experimental moral psychology support what he has contended all along—namely that intuitions should play little or no role in adequate justifications of normative ethical positions. Not only this but, according to Singer, these findings point to a central flaw in the method (or epistemological theory) of reflective equilibrium used by many contemporary moral philosophers. In this paper, we try to defend reflective equilibrium from Singer’s attack and, in part, we do this by discussing Singer’s own favoured moral methodology as outlined in his Practical Ethics. Although basing ethics solely on (certain kinds of) intuitions certainly is problematic, we argue, basing it solely on ‘reason’ gives rise to similar problems. The best solution would arguably be one which could strike a balance between the two—but, we suggest, this is precisely what reflective equilibrium is all about.     

Exploring the Impact of Religious Beliefs,Leadership, and Networks on Response and Recovery of Disaster-affected Populations: A Case Study from Indonesia

Although religion often comprises a central component of the social and cultural make-up of communities in developing countries affected by disasters, there is often limited understanding of how religious faith, religious leaders, and religious institutions contribute to vulnerability and resilience in the post-disaster period. Using a case study related to the earthquake in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2006, our research examined the role of faith and religion from the perspective of affected populations, including individuals, religious leaders, and academics. The research suggests complexity in fatalistic thinking and the role of religious activities, where both vulnerability and resilience co-existed. The nature of religious leadership was found to be highly dependent on the individual, although leaders primarily saw their roles as supporting the psychological recovery of the affected population. Examining religious institutions suggests that physical structures, collective engagement in activities, networks, and theological perspectives provided opportunities for initiatives aiming at disaster risk reduction, although not all of these aspects remain functional in the aftermath of disasters. The article concludes by discussing the importance of incorporating religious faith and institutions in disaster risk reduction programming and unifying messages between faith and non-faith organizations.     

Role Stress,Exhaustion, and Satisfaction: A Cross‐Lagged Structural Equation Modeling Approach Supporting Hobfoll's Loss Spirals

This study applies Hobfoll's notion of loss spirals to argue for a reciprocal relationship between role stress and 2 of its most commonly studied consequences: exhaustion and satisfaction. By means of structural equation modeling and a cross‐lagged design of 116 business managers, the researchers found support for a relationship between role stress and exhaustion. They also found that satisfaction influences role stress, a relationship that the existing literature has not examined. The study contributes a more complex understanding of the relationship between role stress and its modeled outcomes than has been achieved previously.     

Turning stressors into something productive: an empirical study revealing nonlinear influences of role stressors on self‐efficacy

This study suggests that stressors can be productive for self‐efficacy and that the influence of stressors on self‐efficacy is nonlinear. Analyses were conducted with ordinary least squares regression on a dataset covering responses from 311 deans in Swedish secondary schools. Results support the hypothesized U‐shape relationship between role conflict and self‐efficacy and the inverted U‐shape relationship between role ambiguity and self‐efficacy. Thus, findings offer evidence for nonlinear effects of stressors on the level of incumbents' self‐efficacy. This research has implications for further research focused on the association between role stressors and self‐efficacy.     

Atonement Retributivism

In this article I will illustrate how concepts such as wrongdoing, guilt, remorse, penance, atonement, reconciliation, forgiveness and punishment are interlinked in a pattern which is reminiscent of the way pieces in a jigsaw puzzle are interlinked with each other. I would like to label this conceptual “puzzle” atonement retributivism. Atonement retributivism should not be regarded as a theory, justifying punishment. Rather, it is an illustration of a vocabulary which illuminates how deeply rooted punishment is in our moral lives. This illustration shows that classical and modern theories on punishment have redefined punishment in a way which tears it apart from its conceptual roots. One practical consequence of this philosophical mistake is that the moral aspects of punishment are not recognized by our modern legal system. Hence, punishment no longer serves as penance and thus has lost its moral content.     

Integration and segregation of prior outcomes in risky decisions

Two experiments were conducted to test if a prior outcome influences the likelihood to accept a current gamble. Undergraduate students participating as subjects imagined that they on a fictitious betting day at a horse-race track did not gamble in the prior race, that they gambled and won, or that they gambled and lost. Subjects rated in one session the likelihood of gambling in the current race. In another session they rated how satisfied they would be with not gambling, with winning, and with losing, respectively. The results of Experiment 1 showed that as compared to no prior outcome the ratings of likelihood of gambling increased after a gain and decreased after a loss. This was explained by the assumption, supported by the ratings of satisfaction, that the prior outcome only affected the satisfaction with the expected loss of the current choice, making it less negative after a gain and more negative after a loss. These results were replicated in Experiment 2. In addition, if subjects did not know with certainty the outcome of a previous choice to gamble, the likelihood to accept the current gamble and the ratings of the satisfaction with its expected outcomes were largely unaffected.     

Preattentive bias for snake words in snake phobia?

Stroop interference and skin conductance responses (SCRs) for words related to snakes, spiders, flowers, and mushrooms were studied in a group of women (n=40) with snake phobia who were randomised to a stress or no-stress condition. The 21 low-stress snake phobics showed Stroop interference for unmasked (but not for masked) snake words, compared with 21 age- and sex-matched controls. Stroop interference was not significantly different between high-stress and low-stress snake phobics. No support for stronger SCRs for masked snake words was found in snake phobics in a lexical decision task with masked presentations of the same words. The lack of a masked Stroop interference in snake phobics suggests a possible difference in cognitive-emotional mechanisms underlying specific phobia vs. other anxiety disorders that deserves further investigation.     

Different corticostriatal patterns of L-DOPA utilization in patients with untreated schizophrenia and patients treated with classical antipsychotics or clozapine

Positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to be of great importance in elucidating the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs. In psychotic patients L-[11C]DOPA PET has been used to demonstrate some differences in dopaminergic activity compared with that in healthy volunteers. Ten healthy volunteers were investigated with PET and L-[11C]DOPA. Ten drug-free patients with psychosis, nine stable schizophrenics treated with clozapine, and nine stable patients treated with classical antipsychotics were also investigated with L-[11C]DOPA. Principal-component analysis was employed for the analysis of L-[11C]DOPA Ki values across a number of corticostriatal brain regions. These data revealed a significant three-component model with clear-cut separation between healthy controls and patients with unmedicated schizophrenia. Stable optimal treatment with either classical neuroleptics or clozapine partially, albeit differentially, reversed the aberrant patterns seen in drug-free schizophrenia. It can thus be concluded that schizophrenia is associated with abnormal patterns of L-[11C]DOPA utilization in corticostriatal systems. Treatment with clozapine or classical neuroleptics induces partial, albeit differential, normalization of the abnormal patterns seen in untreated schizophrenia.     

The development of therapeutic attitudes during and after psychotherapy training

The aim of this study was to explore changes in psychotherapeutic attitudes of students during training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and the first few years after it. Forty-six students were asked to answer a therapeutic identity questionnaire at three times during training and at one time after it. Twenty-one students completed the questionnaire on all four occasions. The questionnaire assessed attitudes on nine scales relating to beliefs about curative elements in psychotherapy, therapeutic style, and basic assumptions about psychotherapy and human nature. At the beginning of training, students had a clear psychoanalytical orientation, similar to that of their supervisors. From the last year of training, after supervision had ended, and continuing during the post-training period, students distanced themselves from the psychoanalytical orientation and their supervisors toward a more eclectic position. This development may reflect the formation of an autonomous therapeutic identity.