Perceived warmth and competence of others shape voluntary deceptive behaviour in a morally relevant setting

The temptation to deceive others compares to a moral dilemma: it involves a conflict between the temptation to obtain some benefit and the desire to conform to personal and social moral norms or avoid aversive social consequences. Thus, people might feel different levels of emotional and moral conflict depending on the target of the deception. Here we explored, in a morally relevant setting, how social judgements based on two fundamental dimensions of human social cognition – ‘warmth’ and ‘competence’ – impact on the decision to deceive others. Results revealed independent effects for warmth and competence. Specifically, while people are less inclined to deceive for self-gain those individuals they perceive as warm, they also tend to lie more to highly competent others. Furthermore, the perceived warmth and competence modulated the general tendency to reduce deceptive behaviour when there was a risk of disclosure compared to when the lying was anonymous, highlighting the importance of these judgements in social evaluation processes. Together, our results demonstrate that the emotional costs and personal moral standards that inhibit engagement in deceptive behaviour are not stable but rather malleable according to the target and the consequences of the deception.     

The Interaction of Language‐Specific and Universal Factors During the Acquisition of Morphophonemic Alternations With Exceptions

Using the artificial language paradigm, we studied the acquisition of morphophonemic alternations with exceptions by 160 German adult learners. We tested the acquisition of two types of alternations in two regularity conditions while additionally varying length of training. In the first alternation, a vowel harmony, backness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix. This process is grounded in substance (phonetic motivation), and this universal phonetic factor bolsters learning a generalization. In the second alternation, tenseness of the stem vowel determines backness of the suffix vowel. This process is not based in substance, but it reflects a phonotactic property of German and our participants benefit from this language‐specific factor. We found that learners use both cues, while substantive bias surfaces mainly in the most unstable situation. We show that language‐specific and universal factors interact in learning.     

Peer counseling in an online chat service: a content analysis of social support

In a recently launched one-on-one chat service for young people with psychosocial problems, young peer volunteers (ages 16-23) have a leading role in the conversations, comparable to the role of counselors in web-based and telephone-based child help-line services. A content analysis of the chat conversations showed that the contribution of the peer counselors in the confidential chat sessions satisfied the various quality criteria of the service. Moreover, the peer counselors offered the young people who visited the site varied types of social support. The variety of types of social support appeared a stronger predictor of the quality ratings than the length of the conversation or the quantity (instead of variety) of social support, which emphasizes the importance of multidimensional social support in online conversations.     

武力的伦理：抵御攻击与暴力

对于那些将伦理或道德仅仅理解为温和、克制、温柔以及（如果是一种行动上的）软弱（无能）的人而言,“武力的伦理”这一表述可能貌似是一种逆喻。联想到“说服的力量”这一表述,一个人确实可以说我们所指的是精神的力量或思想的力量。但是我要有所保留,我所指的是一般意义上的暴力,包括精神的力量,但主要是武力本身,     

Social Exchange Theory: Dynamics of a System Governing the Dysfunctional Family and Guide to Assessment

Examined is a social psychological model of family discordance. Theories derive in part from exchange theory and from operant principles of behavior. First reviewed are tenets of social exchange theory based in traditional systems analysis (ecosystems). Conceptually presented is how human relations are interdependent on resources of supply and demand. Family patterns are shared by unspoken rules governing givers and takers of resources, forming an imperfect market economy that balances or imbalances family life. Properties of family ecology clearly specify intervening variables contributing to family breakdown. Second, an application of social exchange theory integrates operant principles of reinforcement and punishment as predictors of family disintegration. Punishing and rewarding exchanges are explored in alcoholic families. Operant contingencies significantly magnify the inequity and nonreciprocity of love, affection, and general nurturing between parent and child. Implications are offered for clinical assessment.     

Cultural context and substance abuse in Hispanic adolescents

Much emphasis has been placed on the significant substance abuse problem being faced by Hispanic as well as other minority youth in the United States. However, little research has focused on the relative importance of culturally determined factors in the development of substance abuse in Hispanic youths. In this study, we propose an approach to measuring cultural factors through the activity orientations that youths endorse. We studied over 4000 Mexican-American and Mexican youths living along the U.S.-Mexico border with respect to their recent drug use, problem drug use, depressive symptomatology, and their activity orientation. While culturally related activity orientation does significantly increase risk for substance abuse, we found that symptoms of distress/depression and sociodemographic factors exerted a stronger effect on these youths.     

Toward Unity in Psychology: The Experimental Synthesis of Behaviour

The current state of fragmentation of psychology is discussed in the context of Kuhn's paradigms. Schools of psychology are considered analogous to paradigms, although Kuhn would not think of psychology as a paradigmatic science. Schools gave origin to systems of psychology (neo-behaviourism, neo-psychoanalysis, dialectic-materialistic psychology, and humanistic psychology). A unifying paradigm, the experimental synthesis of behaviour, is presented as a programme. It is derived from the experimental analysis of behaviour. It is not an eclectic approach, but a new paradigm with the aim of unifying psychology as a science. Its main characteristics and advantages are discussed.     

Die Philosophie und das Marxsche Erbe

What is the fate of philosophy as the spiritual weapon of the proletariat in changing reality when it is clear that the communist experiment has failed? The question pertains above all to the heritage of Marx's theory, not to Marxism and Marxism-Leninism. The latter are party-inspired and -dominated and aspire to be schools of philosophy, whereas Marx did not seek to create a philosophy but to realize philosophy in the material world. For Marx, philosophy and emancipation go hand in hand: man is emancipated when philosophy is realized in the world. The fate of the Marxian idea is set off against the development of dialectical materialist philosophy and Marxist social theory. In this way, the ground is laid for the conclusion that what is properly philosophical in Marx is restricted to a philosophy of history attendant on a theory of economic development. The conclusion is subject to the caveat that as yet unpublished notes by Marx about the true nature of dialectic may in fact reveal a more far-reaching philosophical conception. The realization of philosophy seems like a romantic illusion against the background of the events in Germany in autumn 1989. The working masses have elected capital as the basis of their future social existence, thus putting paid to the Marxian theme of class struggle. The fundamental conclusion is that Marx's vision of the task of philosophy is vitiated by a deep-rooted ambivalence: on one hand it is the ‘head’ of emancipation but on the other hand it neglects, indeed supresses, historical details, as shown by the example of the dialectic of class struggle and class exchange. This kind of suppression, neglect, comes to the fore in Marx's writing whenever he substitutes his romantic vision of the deprived proletariat for social science. This blind eye to detail is at the root of the later ideologization of Marxist theory and its subordination to local party interests.