Tactile contact and evaluation of the toucher

The authors investigated the effect of touch on a person's evaluation of the toucher in a field setting. In the context of selling a 2nd-hand car, the authors instructed a male seller to slightly touch (or not touch) a man who was interested in the car. After the participant left the seller, a female confederate solicited him, asking him to evaluate the car seller on various dimensions. The results showed that for each dimension that the participants evaluated, the touch condition was associated with statistically higher positive evaluations of the toucher than the no-touch control condition.     

The influence of materialism and ideal body internalization on body‐dissatisfaction and body‐shaping behaviors of young men and women: Support for the Consumer Culture Impact Model

Exposure to media images of the ‘body‐perfect’ ideal has been partly blamed for the pursuit of thinness among women and muscularity among men. Research has largely overlooked the materialistic messages frequently associated with these images. We present findings from two studies with Icelandic students aged 18–21, one focusing on young women (n = 303) and one on young men (n = 226), which test associations of materialistic and body‐perfect ideals with body dissatisfaction and excessive body shaping behaviors. In both studies, the internalization of materialistic values is strongly linked to the internalization of body‐perfect ideals: the thin‐ideal for young women, and the muscular‐ideal for young men. A materialist value orientation also predicted body dissatisfaction in both studies, and was linked to body shaping behaviors, albeit differently for young women and men. Thus, the research identifies materialism as a further correlate of both body dissatisfaction and excessive body‐shaping behaviors. The findings support Dittmar's ( 2008 ) Consumer Culture Impact Model, which proposes that the body‐perfect and ‘material good life’ ideals jointly impact well‐being.     

The role of verbal memory in regressions during reading is modulated by the target word’s recency in memory

During reading, a number of eye movements are made backward, on words that have already been read. Recent evidence suggests that such eye movements, called regressions, are guided by memory. Several studies point to the role of spatial memory, but evidence for the role of verbal memory is more limited. In the present study, we examined the factors that modulate the role of verbal memory in regressions. Participants were required to make regressions on target words located in sentences displayed on one or two lines. Verbal interference was shown to affect regressions, but only when participants executed a regression on a word located in the first part of the sentence, irrespective of the number of lines on which the sentence was displayed. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the effect of verbal interference on words located in the first part of the sentence disappeared when participants initiated the regression from the middle of the sentence. Our results suggest that verbal memory is recruited to guide regressions, but only for words read a longer time ago.     

Crystallization acceleration of amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 alloy by fluxing technique

The effect of fluxing on the structure and the crystallization of amorphous Fe₄₀Ni₄₀P₁₄B₆ alloy has been studied. Subjected to fluxing, the incubation time upon isothermal crystallization decreases, whereas, the onset crystallization temperature upon non-isothermal crystallization (with constant heating rate) decreases, and crystallization peaks become less sharp. via structural characterization, it is considered that fluxing promotes relaxation of the system; the atomic structure becomes more similar to the corresponding crystallized phase, thus alleviating the transient effect on nucleation and accelerates the crystallization.     

Momentary Return of the Cosmic Unconscious: The Nature of Zen/Chan Enlightenment

Zen/Chan, which used to be a Far Eastern philosophy-cum-religion, has evolved into a global cultural phenomenon. Despite the many views expressed by numerous thinkers in the world, the consensus on Chan and Chan enlightenment remains an agnostic Oriental mysticism. By exploring Chan and enlightenment from a combined perspective of history, philosophy, psychology, religion and linguistics, this article proposes a hitherto unexpressed view. Chan enlightenment is a prenatal physico-psychological existence, which grows out of a fetal subject’s perception of the womb. Although this primordial mode of perception is unconscious, it is cosmic in nature because for the fetal subject the womb is the whole world with which it feels to be at one. This unconscious oneness may be termed the ‘cosmic unconscious’. Once born, no one can return to the prenatal mental state, but through personal cultivation and Chan practice one can experience a fleeting moment of the cosmic unconscious. In the final analysis, the essence of Chan enlightenment is a momentary return of the cosmic unconscious. It is, therefore, not a great wisdom which enables one to have a profound understanding of the self and the world, but a non-wisdom induced by a return to the prenatal primal being of life.     

儿童状态社会创造性的跨文化研究:基于中美文化的比较

从中国和美国中部地区选取小学儿童236人,采用状态社会创造性开放问卷和教师领导方式结构式问卷考察了儿童状态社会创造性的文化差异及其与教师领导方式的关系。结果表明:(1)总体上,美国儿童在社会性问题解决中表现出较强的流畅性和变通性等创造性思维品质,但中国儿童表现出较强的适当性、有效性和冒险性等社会适应和人格状态;(2)状态社会创造性总体上存在着国别与年级之间的交互作用,美国的四年级儿童状态社会创造性得分显著高于五年级儿童;(3)教师领导方式的各个维度均不存在显著的预测作用。中美儿童的状态社会创造性既有相似之处又有不同之处。     

Joan as Jesus: A Feminist Theological Analysis of Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc

The aim of this article is to explore Carl Theodor Dreyer's portrayal of Joan of Arc in his film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) as a female Christ‐figure. At the same time I argue that the film can serve as an important dialogue partner in ongoing christological discourse. The conclusion is that Dreyer's Joan provides a vivid image of Jesus Christ that challenges our fixation on Jesus’ maleness, and helps us to understand better what we really mean when we claim that God, dressed in flesh, became human, like us, female or male.     

Job demands and work–family conflict in preschool teachers: The buffering effects of job resources and off-job recovery experiences

Current Psychology - Drawing on the job demands-resources model and effort-recovery model, this two-wave study among preschool teachers explored whether job demands (i.e., workload and surface...