The capacity for selective concentration on color versus form of consonants

The concept of active exclusion or inhibition of some stimuli while focusing on others has been largely ignored or rejected in recent work in the field of attention. As part of an ongoing series of studies involving five posthypnotically cued levels of mental concentration, it was possible to test the capacity for active blurring of one stimulus attribute (form) while simultaneously perceiving another attribute (color) accurately. In lowered concentration conditions three highly trained hypnotic Ss were dramatically successful in blurring the form and thereby impairing identification of colored consonants flashed tachistoscopically at speeds ranging from 300 msec down to 50 msec—without any concomitant loss in accuracy of identification of the color in which the letter was printed. Among a supplemental series of control experiments, it was further demonstrated that the active inhibitory process can be reversed so as to act upon color but not form; and that the Ss were unable to duplicate these feats in the waking state without benefit of posthypnotic programming. A theoretical interpretation of the findings, in terms of a conceptual model of the mind, is offered.     

Advocating Worker Justice

Catholic moral theology possesses a number of tools that can be employed to promote worker justice. Some of these tools, such as Catholic social teaching on solidarity and workers’ rights, have been used to this end before. However, advocates of workers’ rights have seldom utilized other concepts, such as cooperation in evil, scandal, and evangelization. This essay provides a theoretical introduction to several tools in the “toolkit” of Catholic ethicists, engaging contemporary scholarship on them. It then applies the concepts to two cases in order to demonstrate their usefulness in the struggle for worker justice. Both cases involve Catholic universities, which means the ethical concepts introduced from the Catholic moral tradition should have normative status for these institutions. The first case entails a divestment campaign at the University of Notre Dame. The second case confronts the unjust treatment of adjunct faculty members at Catholic colleges and universities.     

THE INFLUENCE OF SEXUALLY VIOLENT RAP MUSIC ON ATTITUDES OF MEN WITH LITTLE PRIOR EXPOSURE

This article is among the first to focus on commercially available, sexually violent rap music, so-called "gangsta" rap (GR) and its influence on attitudes toward women. Collegiate males with little experience with GR were exposed to GR music, lyrics, both, or neither. Thus the effect of GR music and lyrics were isolated from each other and from acculturation to GR. Collapsing across all attitude measures, neither lyrics alone nor lyrics with music resulted in significantly more negative attitudes toward women than music-only or no-treatment control conditions. Participants in the lyrics conditions had significantly greater adversarial sexual beliefs than no-lyrics participants, however.     

How contextual and individual characteristics influence psychological needs satisfaction: The critical roles of political skill and political will

This two-study research package investigates the interactive effects of perceptions of organizational politics, political skill, and political will on psychological need satisfaction, which has been shown to predict a number of different important organizational outcomes. Drawing primarily on social/political influence and self-determination theories, we propose that although perceptions of organizational politics (i.e., as an important situational or contextual variable) can demonstrate need-thwarting effects for some, its effects can be need-satisfying for those individuals with high levels of political skill and political will. In Study 1, we analyze a sample of 142 individuals to demonstrate that possessing political skill attenuates the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics on psychological need satisfaction. In Study 2, we analyze a sample of 420 individuals to demonstrate that respondents with high levels of both political skill and political will experience their highest levels of need satisfaction in highly political environments. Theoretical contributions, limitations and future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.