Gender Categories as Dual-Character Concepts?

Seminal work by Knobe, Prasada, and Newman (2013) distinguished a set of concepts, which they named “dual-character concepts.” Unlike traditional concepts, they require two distinct criteria for determining category membership. For example, the prototypical dual-character concept “artist” has both a concrete dimension of artistic skills, and an abstract dimension of aesthetic sensibility and values. Therefore, someone can be a good artist on the concrete dimension but not truly an artist on the abstract dimension. Does this analysis capture people's understanding of cornerstone social categories, such as gender, around which society and everyday life have traditionally been organized? Gender, too, may be conceived as having not only a concrete dimension but also a distinct dimension of abstract norms and values. As with dual-character concepts, violations of abstract norms and values may result in someone being judged as not truly a man/woman. Here, we provide the first empirical assessment of applying the dual-character framework to people's conception of gender. We found that, on some measures that primarily relied on metalinguistic cues, gender concepts did indeed resemble dual-character concepts. However, on other measures that depicted transgressions of traditional gender norms, neither “man” nor “woman” appeared dual-character-like, in that participants did not disqualify people from being truly a man or truly a woman. In a series of follow-up studies, we examined whether moral norms have come to replace gender role norms for the abstract dimension. Implications for the evolution of concepts and categories are explored.     

Leader-Follower Congruence in Need for Achievement and Work Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange

While several studies have investigated the effect of employees’ need for achievement on their work-related outcomes, how leader-follower congruence in need for achievement is related to critical workplace outcomes remains underexplored. Integrating person-environment theory and similarity-attraction theory, this study investigated the influences of leader-follower congruence in need for achievement on followers’ job performance and job well-being through the mediating effect of leader-member exchange (LMX). Using cross-level polynomial regression and response surface analysis to analyze the data from 391 leaders and 1,124 followers, we found that leader-follower congruence in need for achievement had a positive effect on followers’ job performance and job well-being though the mediating role of LMX. The theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed.     

佛教文化化解中年知识分子心理压力情况的调查与分析

我国正在经历着一场深刻的社会转型,中年知识分子承受着严重的心理压力,佛教文化对缓解这种压力发挥了积极的作用.本文就中年知识分子利用佛教文化化解心理压力的现状、机制和前景做一点探讨.     

印度教生命论

印度教认为生命源于最高神梵,梵作为最高真实和永恒所在,统摄宇宙.万物生命为梵所赐,其生命构成皆为五大元素,一切生命皆平等,皆值得尊重,皆具神圣性.人类个体生命存在是整个大宇宙生命轮回的一个驿站,人生过程就是不断在神力的引导之下实现生命的更高层次的神圣化,以期回归最高终极.