Beyond the Conflict: Religion in the Public Sphere and Deliberative Democracy

Traditionally, liberals have confined religion to the sphere of the ‘private’ or ‘non-political’. However, recent debates over the place of religious symbols in public spaces, state financing of faith schools, and tax relief for religious organisations suggest that this distinction is not particularly useful in easing the tension between liberal commitments to equality on the one hand, and freedom of religion on the other. This article deals with one aspect of this debate, which concerns whether members of religious communities should receive exemptions from regulations that place a distinctively heavy burden on them. Drawing on Habermas’ understanding of churches as ‘communities of interpretation’, we explore possible alternatives to both the ‘rule-and-exemption’ approach and the ‘neutralist’ approach. Our proposal rests on the idea of mutual learning between secular and religious perspectives. On this interpretation, what is required is (i) the generation and maintenance of public spaces in which there could be discussion and dialogue about particular cases, and (ii) evaluation of whether the basic conditions of moral discourse are present in these spaces. Thus deliberation becomes a touchstone for the building of a shared democratic ethos.     

Latent state–trait theory: An application in sport psychology

ObjectiveQuestionnaires are often applied in sports psychology to measure a person's trait or state. However, the extent to which the questionnaire captures differences because of trait or state influences is often unclear. The latent state–trait (LST) theory offers the opportunity to separate both variance sources. This separation allows estimating specific reliability coefficients.DesignThe present paper gives a theoretical introduction to LST and its basic ideas. Using a real data set with N = 156 athletes we exemplify the steps necessary to derive the LST coefficients. All athletes filled out a comprehensive inventory assessing competitive anxiety on two occasions.MethodThe data are analysed with structural equation models based on LST principles.ResultsThe results confirm the questionnaire's trait saturation.ConclusionFinally, results are discussed in light of practical and theoretical implications.     

Output order in immediate serial recall

In two experiments, we examined the effect of output order in immediate serial recall (ISR). In Experiment 1, three groups of participants saw lists of eight words and wrote down the words in the rows corresponding to their serial positions in an eight-row response grid. One group was precued to respond in forward order, a second group was precued to respond in any order, and a third group was postcued for response order. There were significant effects of output order, but not of cue type. Relative to the forward output order, the free output order led to enhanced recency and diminished primacy, with superior performance for words output early in recall. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 using six-item lists, which further suggests that output order plays an important role in the primacy effect in ISR and that the recency items are most highly accessible at recall.     

Numerical reproduction in pigeons

Pigeons were trained to match the number of responses made during a production phase to the number of keylight flashes (2, 4, or 6) in a previous sample phase. In Experiment 1, there were 2 conditions in which the flashes were programmed to occur at a constant rate or within a constant overall duration. For both conditions, although accuracy was relatively low, responding increased linearly with flash number and coefficients of variation decreased. Positive transfer to novel numbers was obtained only when test and baseline trials had the same temporal organization, but multiple regressions revealed significant control by number independently of temporal cues. In Experiment 2, flashes were programmed to occur pseudorandomly to degrade the validity of temporal cues. Results were similar to in Experiment 1. A prototype response class model accounted for the major features of the data. According to the model, responses during the production phase are shaped into higher order units that are associated with different stimulus numbers and function as a rough category scale of numerosity.     

高、低强迫症状个体的词语再认差异

比较了高强迫症状（High obsessive compulsive symptom, HOC）和低强迫症状（Low obsessive compulsive symptom, LOC）被试对于不同类型词语（强迫症敏感词、情绪词和中性词）再认成绩和记忆信心的差异。结果发现,HOC组记忆保存量显著低于LOC组（p<0.05）,表明HOC组对强迫症敏感词存在一定的偏好;通过对被试反应信心的检测和信号侦察论的应用,发现HOC组对中性词再认正误的判断觉察能力（d’值）低于LOC组（边缘显著：p＝0.054）;在正确反应信心上,被试类型和词语类型间存在交互作用,F(1,22)=4.60,p<0.05。本研究认为HOC组辨别能力的缺损可能导致其记忆信心方面的降低,这种假设还需要进一步的认知和脑功能研究来证实。     

抑郁症状阳性人群的初始沙盘特征

采用病例对照研究设计,探讨抑郁症状阳性人群初始沙盘特征。结果显示：抑郁症状阳性组在总数、动物、人物、建筑物、交通工具、植物类沙具使用少于对照组;抑郁症状阳性组沙盘空间领域使用少于对照组;抑郁症状阳性组在从哪里开始、对沙的态度、有无蓝色露底、是否使用桥、自己感觉是否满意、自我像是否在其中和主题场景上与对照组比较差异有统计学意义;沙盘主题特征回归分析显示进入抑郁症状阳性回归方程的沙盘主题特征变量有忽视、威胁、流动和能量。抑郁症状阳性人群在沙盘游戏中有特征性表现,初始沙盘具有临床心理评估的功能和价值。     

组织心理所有权、基于组织的自尊对积极组织行为的影响

采用自编的组织心理所有权、基于组织的自尊和积极组织行为等有效量表调查45家生产型企业共2566名员工,以检测组织心理所有权、基于组织的自尊对积极组织行为的影响。结果发现组织心理所有权、基于组织的自尊和积极组织行为之间有显著的正相关,组织心理所有权、基于组织的自尊对积极组织行为有显著正向预测作用,其中基于组织的自尊在组织心理所有权与积极组织行为之间起显著的部分中介作用。尤其是对组织及个人声誉或成就的心理所有权感对员工积极组织行为各个因素有显著正预测作用,基于组织的自尊在投入行为、主动行为和谋取人际和谐行为上影响效应更为显著。这意味着增强员工组织心理所有权感,培育员工主人翁意识和组织归属感,重视基于组织的自尊,提升员工的组织价值感和自豪感等措施有利于提升企业组织和个体绩效。     

个人与组织价值观匹配对员工工作投入、组织支持感的影响

采用问卷调查法,考察个人与组织价值观匹配和员工的工作满意度、工作投入、组织支持感以及离职意向之间的关系。对33家生产型企业798名员工进行了问卷调查,通过对数据的统计分析,结果表明：个人与组织价值观匹配对员工的工作满意度、工作投入和组织支持感具有显著的正向预测作用,对员工的离职意向具有显著的负向预测作用。