What do our critical practices say about the nature of morality?

A prominent argument for moral realism notes that we are inclined to accept realism in science because scientific inquiry supports a robust set of critical practices—error, improvement, explanation, and the like. It then argues that because morality displays a comparable set of critical practices, a claim to moral realism is just as warranted as a claim to scientific realism. But the argument is only as strong as its central analogy—and here there is trouble. If the analogy between the critical practices of science and morality is loosely interpreted, the argument does not support moral realism—for paradigmatically constructivist discourses like fashion display the relevant critical practices just as well. So if the argument is to have force, the realist must say more about why the critical practices of morality are sufficiently like those of science to warrant realism. But this cannot be done—moral inquiry differs from scientific inquiry in too many important ways. So the analogy with the critical practices of science fails to vindicate moral realism. But there are further lessons: in looking closely at the critical practices of our moral discourse—and in comparing them to the critical practices of science and fashion—we gain insight into what is distinctive about morality objectivity and moral metaphysics.     

Assertion and safety

Safety is a notion familiar to epistemologists principally because of the way in which it has been used in the attempt to cast light on the nature of knowledge. In particular, some have argued that an important constraint on knowledge is that one knows p only if one believes p safely. In this paper, I use safety for a different purpose: to cast light on the nature of assertion. I introduce what I call the safety account of assertion, according to which one asserts p properly only if one asserts p safely. The central idea is that an assertion’s propriety depends on whether one could easily have asserted falsely in a similar case. I argue that the safety account is well motivated, since it neatly explains our intuitions about a wide range of assertions of different kinds. Of particular interest is the fact that the account explains our intuitions about several kinds of assertions which appear to raise problems for well-known rival accounts.     

Adolescent intelligence and socio-economic wealth independently predict adult marital and reproductive behavior

Counter-intuitively, sociobiological and evolutionary theories predict a negative relationship between g and reproduction when applied to modern humans. Although existing research has documented this dysgenic trend, the association between g and socio-economic factors presents a confound that has not systematically been addressed in prior research. Based on a sample of 325,252 individuals drawn from the nationally representative Project Talent database, we examined the unique effects of g and socio-economic wealth, assessed in adolescence, on marital and reproductive behavior over the next 11 years. Results show that both g and socio-economic wealth have unique, independent negative effects on marital and reproductive behavior such that individuals of higher intelligence and higher wealth delay marriage and reproductive longer than those of lower intelligence and wealth. The effect of g was slightly stronger than that of wealth, though for both variables much of their influence was mediated by educational attainment. Consistent with sociobiological theory, these dysgenic effects were stronger among females than males.     

Self-Construing In Former Child Soldiers

This article presents a repertory grid study of young people who had experienced civil war in Sierra Leone, some as child soldiers and others as noncombatants. Unexpected findings included that the former combatants viewed themselves more favorably than did noncombatants. The findings are discussed in terms of individual and social construing processes, drawing on narratives and interview and focus group responses obtained from the participants in the larger investigation of which this study was part. Particular consideration is given to the role of forgiveness.     

Personal Constructs of Mind-Body Identity in People Who Experience Medically Unexplained Symptoms

“Medically unexplained symptoms” (MUS) refers to chronic physical symptoms without a clear medical cause, which produce significant levels of distress and functional impairment. This project modified the repertory grid technique to explore how twenty participants experiencing MUS construed self and others in bodily and psychological ways. Findings suggested that symptoms are well integrated within participants' wider mind–body construct systems. Increased distance between how self in general is construed compared to self when symptoms are worst was associated with reduced anxiety. Measuring intrapersonal and interpersonal implicative dilemmas suggested that moral and relational construing of identity is affected by MUS.     

Reconstructing An Erection and Elaborating Ejaculation: Personal Construct Theory Perspectives on Sex Therapy

Abstract

Personal construct psychotherapy has rarely been applied to sexual disorders. In this paper a constructivist approach is contrasted with alternative methods of treating such problems on three related dimensions concerning whether it (1) is introspective or extraspective, (2) views the complaint as representing a personal construction or faulty mechanism, or (3) aims toward personal or normative goals. It will be illustrated by reports of the treatment of two men presenting with sexual complaints, and its technical eclecticism will be compared with integrative trends in sex therapy.     

Understanding the multiframe caricature advantage for recognizing facial composites

Eyewitnesses often construct a “composite” face of a person they saw commit a crime, a picture that police use to identify suspects. We described a technique (Frowd, Bruce, Ross, McIntyre, & Hancock, 2007) based on facial caricature to facilitate recognition of these images: Correct naming substantially improves when composites are seen with progressive positive caricature, where distinctive information is enhanced, and then with progressive negative caricature, the opposite. Over the course of four experiments, the underpinnings of this mechanism were explored. Positive-caricature levels were found to be largely responsible for improving naming of composites, with some benefit from negative-caricature levels. Also, different frame-presentation orders (forward, reverse, random, repeated) facilitated equivalent naming benefit relative to static composites. Overall, the data indicate that composites are usually constructed as negative caricatures.     

Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Party Identification, and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Student Evaluations of the Clinton-Lewinsky Story

This study explored the relationship among undergraduates' right-wing authoritarianism (as measured by the RWA scale), attitudes toward feminism, party identification, gender, and attitudes about the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship. Factor analysis yielded three subscales, reflecting participants' evaluations of Clinton's morality, the affair, and Kenneth Starr (the independent counsel). Republican identification was related to each subscale and also mediated the relationship between RWA and two subscales, which illustrates how party identification channels the expression of personality variables in partisan contexts. In addition, RWA—especially those items tapping aggression—was directly related to negative evaluations of Clinton, which suggests a punitiveness going beyond the mere channeling of opinions by party identification. Attitudes toward feminism were unrelated to the subscales, possibly because feminism supporters viewed Clinton's policies positively but his behavior negatively. However, females did give significantly lower evaluations of Clinton and the affair.     

Measurement of newcomer socialization: Construct validation of a multidimensional scale

A construct validation approach was taken to develop a primary measure of newcomer socialization that addresses shortcomings with a prior scale (Chao, Kelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994). Three separate groups of subject matter experts reviewed items to ensure the content validity of the Newcomer Socialization Questionnaire (NSQ). Studies 1 and 2 examined the NSQ’s psychometric properties using employed students and organizational newcomers as participants, respectively. Results illustrate scale reliability, factor structure, convergent and discriminant validity, and correlations with criterion variables. The NSQ measures three dimensions or domains of newcomer socialization: the organization, the group and the job/task. In addition, both factual knowledge and knowledge of expected role behaviors are assessed within each domain. Thus, the NSQ provides a useful measurement tool for researchers and practitioners interested in examining direct outcomes of being socialized.