On Being a Mindful Authoritarian: Is Need for Cognition Always Associated with Less Punitiveness?

Previous research shows that the motivation to be mindful is associated with less intolerance toward deviant and stigmatized groups. The present research examines authoritarianism as a possible moderator of this seemingly robust finding. We obtained consistent evidence from two studies that authoritarianism (right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation) moderates the relationship between need for cognition and punitiveness. Among low authoritarians, need for cognition was negatively associated with punitiveness and dispositional attribution of crimes and positively associated with support for rehabilitation of criminals. However, among high authoritarians, the pattern reversed. These results are discussed in the context of some recent advances in the understanding of motivated social cognition.     

Attributionally more complex people show less punitiveness and racism

Based on past findings that attributionally more complex people make less fundamental attribution error, it was hypothesized that they would show less punitiveness and racism. In a study of 102 undergraduates, this hypothesis received robust support. The effect of attributional complexity was significant in two different punitiveness measures, a rehabilitation support measure, and two different racism measures. Also, this effect still held when demographic variables, crime victimization history, and need for cognition were statistically controlled. Moreover, attributional complexity mediated the effect of need for cognition and gender on punitiveness and racism. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Exclusionary Practices in Sport Journalism

The relatively low percentage of women and minority sport journalists suggests dynamics of exclusion. We used J. Acker’s (1990, 1992) theory about gender and organizations to examine several interrelated processes in the construction of gender andethnicity in sport journalism. Acker named 4 processes that inform these constructions:division of labor, images and discourses, interactions, and identity work. We held semistructured interviews with 15 experienced journalists/editors who worked in the sport departments of either national newspapers, commercial television, or public television. The results indicate that, although the journalists asserted that the meanings given totheir ways of doing journalism are ideologically neutral, these 4 processes do construct gender and ethnicity in overlapping and interrelated ways. In the discussion, we place these results in their context and focus on this contradiction between desirable and actual neutrality.     

Exploring self‐esteem of Hong Kong Chinese adults cardiac diseases

Low self‐esteem appears to be both a vulnerability factor for cardiac diseases and a result of cardiac diseases. Thus enhancing self‐esteem might facilitate recovery and/or help to prevent recurrence. Since some evidence suggests that self‐esteem might even serve as an important gauge of cardiac rehabilitation, it is therefore important to know more of the construct of self‐esteem to enable the planning of a more promising rehabilitation process. This paper explores the source and basis of the self‐esteem of Hong Kong Chinese with cardiac diseases. One hundred and fifty‐two adults with cardiac diseases and 146 adults not suffering from any major illness participated in this study. The Adult Source of Self‐Esteem Inventory (ASSEI) (Elovson & Fleming, 1989), open‐ended questions on self‐evaluation, and interviewing were the major procedures used to identify the sources and basis of the self‐esteem of persons with and without cardiac diseases. The subjects' important life aspects were identified through interpreting their responses to open‐ended questions and interviews. Moreover, a structured questionnaire on their subjective perceptions of importance and satisfaction in different life areas was used to identify the relationships between discrete self‐concept variables. Factor analysis of their responses to the 20 ASSEI items revealed four factors, namely, Interpersonal Relationship, Personal Quality, Physical Self, and Personal Achievement. We also examined and compared the means and ranks of the ASSEI items as indicated by the subjects. Content analysis of open‐ended questions further confirmed the self‐esteem domains of persons with cardiac diseases. The discrepancy of ideal‐actual physical abilities was found to be more prominent in the cardiac group. It was also found that family is an important entity to Chinese individuals with cardiac diseases. Implications of the findings to rehabilitation of persons with cardiac diseases were also discussed.     

Two Kinds of Mental Realism

I argue that there is a distinction to be drawn between two kinds of mental realism, and I draw some lessons for the realism-antirealism debate. Although it is already at hand, the distinction has not yet been drawn clearly. The difference to be shown consists in what realism is about: it may be either about the interpretation of folk psychology, or the ontology of mental entities. I specify the commitment to the fact-stating character of the discourse as the central component of realism about folk psychology, and from this I separate realism about mental entities as an ontological commitment towards them. I point out that the two views are mutually independent, which provides the possibility of considering folk psychology as not being in cognitive competition with scientific psychology. At the end I make a tentative suggestion as to how to interpret the former in order to avoid this conflict.     

Wheatstone-Panum limiting case: occlusion, camouflage, and vergence-induced disparity cues.

We examined effects of binocular occlusion, binocular camouflage, and vergence-induced disparity cues on the perceived depth between two objects when two stimuli are presented to one eye and a single stimulus to the other (Wheatstone-Panum limiting case). The perceived order and magnitude of the depth were examined in two experimental conditions: (1) The stimulus was presented on the temporal side (occlusion condition) and (2) the nasal side (camouflage condition) of the stimulus pair on one retina so as to fuse with the single stimulus on the other retina. In both conditions, the separation between the stimulus pair presented to one eye was systematically varied. Experiment 1, with 16 observers, showed that the fused object was seen in front of the nonfused object in the occlusion condition and was seen at the same distance as the nonfused object in the camouflage condition. The perceived depth between the two objects was constant and did not depend on the separation of the stimulus pair presented to one eye. Experiment 2, with 45 observers, showed that the disparity induced by vergence mainly determined the perceived depth, and the depth magnitude increased as the separation of the stimulus pair was made wider. The results suggest that (1) occlusion provides depth-order information but not depth-magnitude information, (2) camouflage provides neither depth-order nor depth-magnitude information, and (3) vergence-induced disparity provides both order and magnitude information.     

From Classical Studies towards Epistemology: The Work of József Balogh

In this paper, I introduce a prominent classical scholar, József Balogh, whose work can be read as a significant contribution to the historiography of ancient, and in some sense modern, philosophy. Following a summary biography, I sketch the relevance of Balogh's interpretation of Augustine. I draw some analogies between his and Eric Havelock's treatment of the problems in ancient philosophy, and argue that the obvious similarities between them have a common origin, namely the perspective of the orality/literacy chasm which both treated, in connection with their research into Augustine and Plato, as crucial. Subsequently, I show how the problem of reading aloud, which Balogh was the first to treat systematically, has acquired significance in some current debates in philosophy.     

Conversation,relevance, and argumentation

This paper deals with the explanation the maxim of relevance provides for the way utterances in argumentative discourse follow each other in an orderly and coherent fashion. Several senses are distinguished in which utterances can be considered relevant. It is argued that an utterance can be considered relevant as an interactional act, as an illocutionary act, as a propositional act, and as an elocutionary act. These four kinds of relevance manifest the rational organization of discourse, which is aimed at bringing about mutual alignment between the participants, enabling them jointly to work out certain interactional outcomes that are acceptable to both of them.