Analogical reasoning in handling emerging technologies: the case of umbilical cord blood biobanking

How are we individually and as a society to handle new and emerging technologies? This challenging question underlies much of the bioethical debates of modern times. To address this question we need suitable conceptions of the new technology and ways of identifying its proper management and regulation. To establish conceptions and to find ways to handle emerging technologies we tend to use analogies extensively. The aim of this article is to investigate the role that analogies play or may play in the processes of understanding and managing new technology. More precisely we aim to unveil the role of analogies as analytical devices in exploring the "being" of the new technology as well the normative function of analogies in conceptualizing the characteristics and applications of new technology. Umbilical cord blood biobanking will be used as a case to investigate these roles and functions.     

Perception of control over anxiety mediates the relation between catastrophic thinking and social anxiety in social phobia

Cognitive models of social phobia (social anxiety disorder) assume that individuals with social phobia experience anxiety in social situations in part because they overestimate the social cost associated with a potentially negative outcome of a social interaction. Some emotion theorists, on the other hand, point to the perception of control over anxiety-related symptoms as a determinant of social anxiety. In order to examine the relationship between perceived emotional control (PEC), estimated social cost (ESC), and subjective anxiety, we compared three alternative structural equation models: Model 1 assumes that PEC and ESC independently predict social anxiety; Model 2 assumes that ESC partially mediates the relationship between PEC and anxiety, and Model 3 assumes that PEC partially mediates the relationship between ESC and anxiety. We recruited 144 participants with social phobia and administered self-report measures of estimated social cost, perceived anxiety control, and social anxiety. The results support Model 3 and suggest that "costly" social situations are anxiety provoking in part because social phobic individuals perceive their anxiety symptoms as being out of control.     

Leadership, collective personality, and performance

By viewing behavior regularities at the individual and collective level as functionally isomorphic, a referent-shift compositional model for the Big 5 personality dimensions is developed. On the basis of this compositional model, a common measure of Big 5 personality at the individual level is applied to the collective as a whole. Within this framework, it is also hypothesized that leadership (i.e., transformational, transactional, and passive) would predict collective personality and that collective personality would be significantly related to collective performance. The results supported these hypotheses using a sample of franchised units. On the basis of recent research at the individual level, several interactions among the various personality dimensions were hypothesized and supported. Implications are discussed.     

Task Performance and Satisfaction: Evidence for a Task- By Ego-Orientation Interaction1

A significant body of research has documented two achievement goal orientations that individuals can adopt prior to performing a particular task. These orientations have typically been referred to as “task-oriented” or “ego-oriented,” each of which has different implications for task performance and related perceptions. The majority of this research has considered individuals either task- or ego-oriented. There is initial evidence, however, that the two goal orientations may be independent and, therefore, that they may interact to predict various outcomes. The central finding of this study was that task- and ego-orientations did interact to influence task satisfaction and performance. Specifically, high task satisfaction was reported by individuals who had at least a moderately high degree of task orientation irrespective of the level of ego orientation. Alternatively, the most effective performance was observed for individuals who had a dominant achievement goal orientation, regardless of whether it was a task- or ego-orientation. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Everyday temptations: an experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-control

How often and how strongly do people experience desires, to what extent do their desires conflict with other goals, and how often and successfully do people exercise self-control to resist their desires? To investigate desire and attempts to control desire in everyday life, we conducted a large-scale experience sampling study based on a conceptual framework integrating desire strength, conflict, resistance (use of self-control), and behavior enactment. A sample of 205 adults wore beepers for a week. They furnished 7,827 reports of desire episodes and completed personality measures of behavioral inhibition system/behavior activation system (BIS/BAS) sensitivity, trait self-control, perfectionism, and narcissistic entitlement. Results suggest that desires are frequent, variable in intensity, and largely unproblematic. Those urges that do conflict with other goals tend to elicit resistance, with uneven success. Desire strength, conflict, resistance, and self-regulatory success were moderated in multiple ways by personality variables as well as by situational and interpersonal factors such as alcohol consumption, the mere presence of others, and the presence of others who already had enacted the desire in question. Whereas personality generally had a stronger impact on the dimensions of desire that emerged early in its course (desire strength and conflict), situational factors showed relatively more influence on components later in the process (resistance and behavior enactment). In total, these findings offer a novel and detailed perspective on the nature of everyday desires and associated self-regulatory successes and failures.     

When East meets West: a longitudinal examination of the relationship between group relative deprivation and intergroup contact in reunified Germany

Intergroup contact and group relative deprivation have both been shown to play a key role in the understanding of intergroup relations. Nevertheless, we know little about their causal relationship. In order to shed some light on the directionality and causality of the relationship between intergroup contact and group relative deprivation, we analysed responses by East and West Germans from k= 97 different cities, collected 6 (N(T)(1) = 1,001), 8 (N(T)(2) = 747), and 10 years (N(T)(3) = 565) after reunification. Multi-level cross-lagged analyses showed that group relative deprivation at T1 led to more (rather than less) intergroup contact between East and West Germans 2 years as well as 4 years later. We found no evidence for the reverse causal relationship, or moderation by group membership. Furthermore, admiration mediated the positive effect of relative deprivation on intergroup contact for both East and West Germans. This intriguing finding suggests that intergroup contact may be used as a proactive identity management strategy by members of both minority and majority groups.     

Born in the USA: how immigrant generation shapes meritocracy and its relation to ethnic identity and collective action

Endorsing meritocracy can make low-status group members more accepting of inequality. This study examined whether rejecting meritocracy is related to increased ethnic identification among Latino immigrants, and whether identity in turn is related to increased support for collective action. We hypothesize that these relationships depend upon immigrant generation. A survey was conducted with 184 first- and second-generation Latino immigrants in New York City. Second-generation Latinos endorsed meritocracy less than those in the first generation, at least in part because they perceived that other Americans viewed their group in a less positive light (i.e., lower public regard). Further, meritocracy was negatively linked to ethnic identity and, through it, support for collective action among the second generation. Among the first generation, meritocracy was not related to ethnic identity and was positively related to support for collective action. We discuss the implications of growing up near the bottom of the U.S. social hierarchy for ethnic identity and collective action.     

Toward a Cognitive-Behavioral Classification System for Mental Disorders

As is true for its predecessors, the recently published DSM-5 uses arbitrary criteria and cutoffs to define categories of mental disorders that are of questionable validity and that provide no guidance for treatment. Recently, the NIMH introduced an alternative classification system, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Both the DSM-5 and the RDoC initiative make the strong assumption that psychological problems are expressions of specific latent disease entities. In contrast, the complex causal network approach conceptualizes psychological problems as mutually interacting, often reciprocally reinforcing, elements of a complex causal network. The cognitive behavioral model offers a classification framework that is compatible with the complex causal network approach and provides a treatment-relevant alternative to the latent disease model that is the basis for the DSM-5 and the RDoC initiative.