Beyond Positivist Ecology: Toward an Integrated Ecological Ethics

A post-positivist understanding of ecological science and the call for an “ecological ethic” indicate the need for a radically new approach to evaluating environmental change. The positivist view of science cannot capture the essence of environmental sciences because the recent work of “reflexive” ecological modelers shows that this requires a reconceptualization of the way in which values and ecological models interact in scientific process. Reflexive modelers are ecological modelers who believe it is appropriate for ecologists to examine the motives for their choices in developing models; this self-reflexive approach opens the door to a new way of integrating values into public discourse and to a more comprehensive approach to evaluating ecological change. This reflexive building of ecological models is introduced through the transformative simile of Aldo Leopold, which shows that learning to “think like a mountain” involves a shift in both ecological modeling and in values and responsibility. An adequate, interdisciplinary approach to ecological valuation, requires a re-framing of the evaluation questions in entirely new ways, i.e., a review of the current status of interdisciplinary value theory with respect to ecological values reveals that neither of the widely accepted theories of environmental value—neither economic utilitarianism nor intrinsic value theory (environmental ethics)—provides a foundation for an ecologically sensitive evaluation process. Thus, a new, ecologically sensitive, and more comprehensive approach to evaluating ecological change would include an examination of the metaphors that motivate the models used to describe environmental change.

Aristotle's Four Causes of Action

Aristotle's typical procedure is to identify four causes of natural changes. Intentional action, a natural change, has standardly been treated as an exception: most think that Aristotle has the standard causalist account, according to which an intentional action is a bodily movement efficiently caused by an attitude of the appropriate sort. I show that action is not an exception to Aristotle's typical procedure: he has the resources to specify four causes of action, and thus to articulate a powerful theory of action unlike any other on offer.     

Cognitive behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (CBT‐SP): Implications for meeting standard of care expectations with suicidal patients

Accumulating evidence supports the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for suicide prevention (CBT‐SP) as an empirically supported treatment approach for suicidal patients. In light of these findings, several procedures pulled from CBT‐SP have been recommended for standard care with suicidal patients. The present article provides an overview of the procedures used in CBT‐SP and discusses how these procedures meet, or even exceed, standard of care expectations for outpatient mental healthcare clinicians. Finally, the relevance of clinician fidelity to the CBT‐SP model when evaluating standard of care expectations is discussed.     

Statutory reform is associated with improved court practice: results of a tri-state comparison

PURPOSE: This study investigates the impact of statutory reform in adult guardianship on court practice. METHODS: Case files for 298 cases of adult guardianship were reviewed in three states with varying degrees of statutory reform: MA (no reform), PA (major amendments in 1992), and CO (full re-enactment of statute per UGPPA in 2000). Five court practices associated with progressive statutory reform were studied: (1) diversion to less restrictive alternatives; (2) minimal and appropriate use of emergency procedures; (3) presence of the alleged incapacitated person at the hearing; (4) use of functional evaluation; (5) use of limited orders. RESULTS: CO more frequently utilized all five practices, whereas PA used diversion to less restrictive alternatives and less frequent emergency procedures, but not other practices. MA files rarely showed evidence for use of any of these reforms. IMPLICATIONS: Statutory reform may improve court practice. More study of the effects of reform on court practices, and the vulnerable adults served by these courts, is needed.     

Smoking in movies, implicit associations of smoking with the self, and intentions to smoke

We examined whether identifying with a film character who smokes increases implicit associations of the self with smoking. Undergraduate men were randomly assigned to view film clips in which the male protagonist either smoked or did not smoke. We measured subsequent levels of self-smoking associations using a reaction time task, as well as self-reported beliefs about smoking and smokers. Greater identification with the smoking protagonist predicted stronger implicit associations between the self and smoking (for both smokers and nonsmokers) and increased intention to smoke (among the smokers). Stronger implicit self-smoking associations uniquely predicted increases in smokers' intentions to smoke, over and above the effects of explicit beliefs about smoking. The results provide evidence that exposure to smoking in movies is causally related to changes in smoking-related thoughts, that identification with protagonists is an important feature of narrative influence, and that implicit measures may be useful in predicting deliberative behavior.     

The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences

What are the positive and negative consequences of telecommuting? How do these consequences come about? When are these consequences more or less potent? The authors answer these questions through construction of a theoretical framework and meta-analysis of 46 studies in natural settings involving 12,883 employees. Telecommuting had small but mainly beneficial effects on proximal outcomes, such as perceived autonomy and (lower) work-family conflict. Importantly, telecommuting had no generally detrimental effects on the quality of workplace relationships. Telecommuting also had beneficial effects on more distal outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, turnover intent, and role stress. These beneficial consequences appeared to be at least partially mediated by perceived autonomy. Also, high-intensity telecommuting (more than 2.5 days a week) accentuated telecommuting's beneficial effects on work-family conflict but harmed relationships with coworkers. Results provide building blocks for a more complete theoretical and practical treatment of telecommuting.     

Metaphor,Religious Language,and Religious Experience

Is it possible to talk about God without either misrepresentation or failing to assert anything of significance? The article begins by reviewing how, in attempting to answer this question, traditional theories of religious language have failed to sidestep both potential pitfalls adequately. After arguing that recently developed theories of metaphor seem better able to shed light on the nature of religious language, it considers the claim that huge areas of our language and, consequently, of our experience are shaped by metaphors. Finally, it considers some of the more significant implications of this claim for our understanding of both religious language and religious experience.     

The generation effect: A meta-analytic review

The generation effect refers to the finding that subjects who generate information (e.g., produce synonyms) remember the information better than they do material that they simply read. Meta-analytic techniques were used to summarize 445 effect sizes over 86 studies, thereby assessing the magnitude and 11 potential moderators of the generation effect. The size of the generation effect across the 86 studies was .40--a benefit of almost half a standard deviation of generation over reading. The variability of the effect size due to moderator type was substantial, and we attempted to use this information to clarify several theories that have been proposed to explain the generation effect.