The role of language familiarity in voice identification

Four experiments examined the effects of language characteristics on voice identification. In Experiment 1, monolingual English listeners identified bilinguals' voices much better when they spoke English than when they spoke German. The opposite outcome was found in Experiment 2, in which the listeners were monolingual in German. In Experiment 3, monolingual English listeners also showed better voice identification when bilinguals spoke a familiar language (English) than when they spoke an unfamiliar one (Spanish). However, English-Spanish bilinguals hearing the same voices showed a different pattern, with the English-Spanish difference being statistically eliminated. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that, for English-dominant listeners, voice recognition deteriorates systematically as the passage being spoken is made less similar to English by rearranging words, rearranging syllables, and reversing normal text. Taken together, the four experiments confirm that language familiarity plays an important role in voice identification.     

Exploring the career construction interview for vocational personality assessment

This mixed-methods study explored the validity and usefulness of the Career Construction Interview (CCI) with college students (n = 83) from a midsize Southern university. Using Pearson's r correlations, comparisons were made between the three-letter RIASEC Strong Interest Inventory (SII) theme code and RIASEC theme codes derived from coding the CCI narratives of the participants. Results indicated moderate correlation between the CCI and SII participant results.     

CBT and Behavioural Medicine: On Definitions,Applications and Practical Considerations

Abstract

In the late seventies, behavioural medicine was conceptualized as a promising area for the application of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) to medical problems. Although many studies have been published in which CBT has been applied to somatic conditions, they do not always call it behavioural medicine. It is uncertain if the term “behavioural medicine” is the most appropriate to use in the future; its impact on medicine and psychology can be questioned. However, in this paper it is concluded that CBT has great potential in the treatment of somatic conditions. In addition, practical considerations when applying CBT in multidisciplinary somatic team situations are discussed. A combined “scientist-practitioner” role is seen as especially promising for the introduction of CBT in a context wider than isolated research studies.     

On the significance of Hannah Arendt's the human condition for sociology

Arendt's book is an analysis of the vita activa, which comprises the three human activities of labor, work, and action. Her presentation involves a critique of modern and current conceptions of them and of many other social phenomena, and an emphasis on distinctions customarily neglected. The interpretation of her book, disregarding the many factual statements it contains, proceeds in a theoretical vein, analyzing her major conceptions, and then turns practical, asking what we as social scientists who listen to her must do (focusing on “behavior” and “action”, “values”, the means‐end scheme, and man's historicity and dualism). The paper concludes with a brief explication of areas of research seen to emerge out of Arendt's work.     

The Moral Problem of Risk Impositions: A Survey of the Literature

This paper surveys the current philosophical discussion of the ethics of risk imposition, placing it in the context of relevant work in psychology, economics and social theory. The central philosophical problem starts from the observation that it is not practically possible to assign people individual rights not to be exposed to risk, as virtually all activity imposes some risk on others. This is the ‘problem of paralysis’. However, the obvious alternative theory that exposure to risk is justified when its total benefits exceed its total costs faces the standard distributional challenges of consequentialism. Forms of contractualism have been proposed as a solution, but how exactly such theories can be formulated remains problematic, especially when confronted with the difficult cases of mass, novel, risk such as climate change.