Minimal Disagreement

Philosophia - In the recent debate about the semantics of perspectival expressions (predicates of taste, aesthetic adjectives, moral terms, epistemic modals, epistemic terms etc.), disagreement has...     

A Forward Bias in Human Profile-Oriented Portraits

The spatial composition of human portraits obeys historically changing cultural norms. We show that it is also affected by cognitive factors that cause greater spontaneous attention to what is in front rather in the back of an agent. Scenes with more space in front of a directed object are both more often produced and judged as more aesthetically pleasant. This leads to the prediction that, in profile-oriented human portraits, compositions with more space in front of depicted agents (a “forward bias”) should be over-represented. By analyzing a large dataset (total N of 1,831 paintings by 582 unique identified European painters from the 15th to the 20th century), we found evidence of this forward bias: Painters tended to put more free space in front of, rather than behind, the sitters. Additionally, we found evidence that this forward bias became stronger when cultural norms of spatial composition favoring centering became less stringent.     

幼儿外倾性与攻击行为的关系:自我控制和母亲温暖教养的调节作用

本研究以上海市某幼儿园的237名3~6岁幼儿为被试,请母亲填写幼儿气质及教养方式问卷,幼儿园教师评定幼儿的攻击行为,探讨幼儿外倾性与攻击行为的关系,以及自我控制和母亲温暖教养方式在其中的保护作用。结果表明,自我控制和母亲温暖可以调节幼儿外倾性与攻击行为的关系。与较低的自我控制和母亲温暖的幼儿相比,幼儿较高的自我控制和母亲温暖,可以弱化外倾性与攻击行为的正向关联。结果揭示了自我控制和母亲温暖对幼儿外倾性具有保护作用,有助于减弱这些个体的攻击行为。     

Blame-Laden Moral Rebukes and the Morally Competent Robot: A Confucian Ethical Perspective

Science and Engineering Ethics - Empirical studies have suggested that language-capable robots have the persuasive power to shape the shared moral norms based on how they respond to human norm...     

何不宽以待己?自悯的作用机制及干预

自悯是指个体在面对失败、不足或遭受苦难时, 自己向自己表达同情或怜悯的能力。自悯对个体的身心健康具有显著的促进作用。从作用机制来看, 自悯不仅可以通过减少个体适应不良的情绪调节策略, 促进适应性的情绪调节策略来对个体产生积极影响; 还可能通过调节个体压力反应的生理指标来维持自身内稳态, 促进适应。自悯相关干预技术主要包括正念自悯训练、怜悯聚焦疗法等。未来研究应继续探讨自悯的作用机制, 采用多样化的自悯测量方式和研究方法, 通过更为严谨的研究设计并在中国文化背景下对自悯干预的临床效果进行评估。     

溢出-交叉视角下工作狂对配偶孤独感的影响

基于溢出-交叉的视角,采用工作狂量表、工作家庭冲突量表、孤独感量表对国内242个双职工家庭进行调查,探索工作狂对配偶孤独感的影响及其中介机制。结果表明,工作狂正向影响工作家庭冲突,继而正向影响配偶的孤独感,但是丈夫工作狂对妻子孤独感的直接影响不显著,而妻子工作狂对丈夫孤独感存在显著的直接影响,即丈夫工作家庭冲突完全中介丈夫工作狂对妻子孤独感的影响,而妻子工作家庭冲突部分中介妻子工作狂对丈夫孤独感的影响。此外,孤独感在双职工夫妻之间存在显著的相互交叉影响。     

Applicability of olweu' aggression inventory in a sample of chinese primary school children

A sample of Chinese children in Grade 4 (155 boys and 135 girls with an average age of 10.3 years) completed Olweu' Aggression Inventory, an instrument developed for the assessment of aggressive and aggression controlling behavior tendencies in a Western culture. Results indicated that the questionnaire gave quite meaningful information when used with the Chinese children. Two interpretable factors, general aggression and aggression control, were derived; the pattern of factor loadings was essentially the same for boys and girls. The internal consistency reliabilities of the two factor scales were in the 0.80s and 0.70s, respectively. Overall, the findings indicated that there were distinct measurable individual differences among Chinese children in the domain of aggression—in spite of strong societal pressures against aggressive behavior and towards aggression control. However, some results suggested that aggression was a somewhat more global, or less differentiated, phenomenon for the Chinese as compared with the Swedish children. The two main factor scales were related meaningfully to other self report dimensions such as positive attitude to school and negative relations with parents. In all probability, the pattern of findings gave a valid picture of the behavior and attitudes of the Chinese children: By and large they were nonaggressive, well-behaved, ambitious, friendly, prosocial, and exerted strong control over aggressive feelings and behavior tendencies. In possible conflicts with adults, they were likely to take a humble and submissive attitude. These findings agree well with the impressions of Western observers and with what can be expected on the basis of the typical socialization patterns found in the People's Republic of China. Furthermore, quite marked sex differences in aggression were obtained and a partial correlation analysis showed that the higher aggression level of the boys could only to a very limited degree be explained by their lower level of aggression control or inhibitions. Generally, the sex differences in aggression were interpreted to reflect genetic variations in basic predispositions in boys and girls that had been subtly enlarged by more or less clear, sex-linked differences in environmental conditions.     

Doubts on Spirituality: Interpreting Waldorf ritual

To investigate whether some kinds of kindergartens are better than others at bringing order, calm and stability to children's lives is, though not without its problems, fairly straightforward: the kinds of behaviour that count as evidence are relatively uncontroversial. Researchers can apply themselves, without too many qualms, to figuring out how kindergartens do it. Where spiritual development is concerned, because many kindergartens are already differentiated by religious or spiritual orientation - Jewish, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Waldorf, etc. - there is a temptation similarly to focus on how it is achieved. Relationships between the approaches and distinctive methodologies are prime areas for investigation. But such research might be premature. Any answer to the question 'To what extent have children been spiritually changed?' needs some agreement on the kinds of things we take as evidence of spiritual change. There are few signs of such agreement. This presents researchers, and also teachers, with a problem in proving their claims. In this article we try to substantiate this doubt by reflecting on some of our own research on Waldorf education. It too focused on 'how' and identified 'ritual' as a crucial factor in the Waldorf approach but we gradually realized that the epistemological issue was prior and had to be addressed.     

Development of infants’ intuitions about support relations: sensitivity to stability

Can infants perceive stability when a supported box is put on a supporting box in a balanced position? In Experiment 1, 41 infants saw three events. In a stable event, the supported box was put on a wide supporting box in a balanced position. In an unstable event, the supported box was put on a narrow supporting box in a balanced position. In an impossible event, the supported box was put on the extreme end of a wide supporting box. Infants 4 to 6.5 months old looked equally at all three events. Infants 6.5 to 10 months old looked slightly longer at the impossible event than at the other events. Infants 10 to 13 months old looked reliably longer at the unstable and impossible events than at the stable event. The results of Experiment 2 indicate that these differences in looking times did not come from differences in stimulus configurations between the events. These results suggest that infants above 10 months old are sensitive to stability of support relations.     

Editorials

Ecclesiastical Quidditch , by TedPeters.
Oops! A Mistake with a Moral , by John Benson
Pronouns , by Gilbert Meilaender
Reflective Pronouns , by Ted Editorself
Proceed at Your Own Risk . . . , by Elizabeth Purdum