The Differential Effects of Stress on Voter Turnout

While everyone deals with stressful situations on a daily basis, individuals have different behavioral reactions to that stress. We argue that life stress also affects individuals’ political behavior, but this effect is contingent on their past political involvement. While individuals familiar with and engaged in the political process are unaffected when confronted with stress in life, individuals who are not routinely involved in the electoral process are more likely to disengage from politics. To test the differential effects of stress on the likelihood of political involvement, we fielded two experiments, one preceding the U.S. presidential election of 2012 and the second preceding the 2013 municipal election in a small Midwestern American town. We find that when triggered to consider life stressors unrelated to politics, individuals without a history of past participation in politics are less likely to vote while individuals who are habitual voters are unaffected.     

Is it possible to experimentally determine the extension of cognition?

Various analytical tools originally developed for theories of mechanistic explanation have recently been imported into the ongoing debate on the hypothesis of (extracerebrally) extended cognition (HEC). One such tool that appears particularly relevant to that debate is Craver’s mutual manipulability account of constitution (MM), most of all because it promises to settle the debate on experimental grounds. This paper investigates whether it is possible to deliver on that promise. We first find that, far from grounding an experimental evaluation of HEC, MM is conceptually incompatible with both internalist and externalist accounts of cognition. Next, we propose a suitable modification of MM, MM*, but it turns out that MM* presupposes rather than produces clarity on the extension of cognition. Moreover, subject to MM* the inference to constitution is radically empirically underdetermined. Finally, we argue that our results can be generalized and conclude that, for principled reasons, it is impossible to experimentally determine whether cognitive processes have extracerebral constituents. Determining the extension of cognition is an inherently pragmatic matter.     

E-Mental-Health

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit den Chancen und Risiken von neuen Technologien und computervermittelter Kommunikation in der psychosozialen Versorgung. Es wird zunächst ein Überblick über die technischen Voraussetzungen sowie die gesetzlichen und ethischen Bedingungen gegeben, die den Rahmen für die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen setzen. Im Anschluss daran werden exemplarisch einige Ansätze vorgestellt, die bereits der Forderung nach Evaluation nachkommen. Dabei wird zwischen Offline- und Onlineangeboten unterschieden. Es wird diskutiert, wie zukünftige Entwicklungen für eine Optimierung der Versorgung genutzt werden können, beispielsweise im Rahmen von gestuften Behandlungskonzepten. Schließlich werden Perspektiven erörtert, die der Einsatz neuer Technologien für die Psychotherapieforschung eröffnet.     

哲学：世纪末的回顾与前瞻

H.约纳斯(Hans Jonas,1903-1993)是当代著名的生态哲学家和责任伦理学家.上世纪20年代,他曾是胡塞尔和海德格尔的学生,因此他的思想的现象学背景也较为明显.本文是他于1992年5月25日在德国慕尼黑摄政王剧院所做的一个报告,该报告属于"世纪之末"的报告系列.这篇报告充满了这位世纪哲学老人的经历与感想、明察与希望、警示与告诫,而且基本上是在与现象学家的对话中完成的.约纳斯于一年之后辞世.这个报告可能是他生前的最后一次讲演.     

莱布尼兹与技术

莱布尼兹不仅是哲学家、数学家,而且还在科学技术上拥有许多重要发明.特别是他所发明的二进制,是所有计算机技术的基础.因此,把莱布尼兹看作信息时代之父并不是没有道理的.本文阐述了莱布尼兹在他的科学技术发明中所体现的系统论思想、科学工具化思想和他关于机器的比喻.作者进一步提出,在科技高度发展的今天,人作为具有自由本质的存在者,必须对自己的行动和技术后果负有责任.我们必须追问技术带来的弊端,并给予技术哲学以应有的地位.     

The ‘why’ and ‘why not’ of job search behaviour: their relation to searching,unemployment experience,and well‐being

Two studies (n = 273 and 254) used self‐determination theory (SDT) to examine unemployed people's motivation both to search and not to search for a job. The self‐regulation questionnaire format (Ryan & Connell, 1989) was used to assess participants' autonomous and controlled job‐search motivation (the ‘why’ of job search) as well as their amotivation for searching. Additionally, both autonomous and controlled motivation for not searching (the ‘why not’ of job search) was assessed. Results provide validity for these five motivational constructs and indicate, in line with SDT, that the constructs predicted reports of search behaviour, affective experiences, and well‐being. The addition of autonomous and controlled motivation for not searching contributed additional predictive power beyond the motivational constructs that focused only on searching. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Process arrangements for variety,retention, and selection

This article argues that process management aimed at introducing variety, retention, and selection into complex decision-making processes can make a substantial contribution to improving them. It also describes process arrangements for variety, retention, and selection. He received his Ph. D. in public administration at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. He is also program director at the Netherlands School of Public Administration and director of the TUD research program on multi actor systems. His research concerns networks and network-organizations, with a strong focus on governance and management issues in networks. He is the author on a number of internationally recognized books on these issues. His conceptual approach of these issues has been applied in research on the open source movement, frequency allocation, the design of policy instruments and mediation (e.g. interconnection disputes). He is program leader of the Bsik research program Next Generation Infrastructures. He holds the post of chair research within the faculty.     

Einfluss des Behandlungssettings auf den Gesundungsverlauf

Even though managed care systems research emerged as an important field in psychotherapy research in the last years, studies examining the effects of its psychotherapeutic measures on outcome are still rare, especially in Germany. Little is known about the effectiveness of psychotherapy in different treatment settings, i. e. whether and how patients in outpatient psychotherapy differ from inpatients in respect to initial impairment status and pace of improvement. Two longitudinal data sets—inpatient (N=759) and outpatient (N=521)—were used to scrutinize these questions. Results yielded no differences between treatment settings as to patients’ initial impairment. A linear model adequately represented the mean course of improvement in inpatient psychotherapy. For outpatient psychotherapy, a bipartite linear model for treatment and for the follow-up period proved more appropriate. During 1 year, patients in both settings attained a similar amount of improvement. However, pace of in-treatment improvement was 10 times faster in the inpatient setting. Initial impairment substantially predicted the course of psychological improvement in both treatment settings.     

Internetbasierte Vorbereitung auf eine station?re psychosomatisch-psychotherapeutische Behandlung

Background

Encouraged by promising results of online aftercare programs, this study adapted the concept of internet-based minimal interventions in order to use the time between referral and actual admission to inpatient treatment. The online intervention includes information about the hospital and the treatment and sections which aim to enhance motivation, provide support and allow contact.

Methods

A comprehensive cohort study was conducted with 379 participants in the randomized subcohort. Primary endpoint was the speed of change of the physical, mental and social impairment and of the psychological well-being in the first 2 weeks of inpatient treatment as well as the rates of reliable change 2 weeks after admission.

Results

Both the control and intervention group of the randomized subcohort showed statistically significant improvements in health status. No significant difference in the rate of change was found. The degree of achieved improvement in the physical impairment was equal to the expected intervention effect. A difference in the rates of change was found for the psychological well-being: the intervention group showed 19% more reliable improvements.

Conclusions

The study design and the contents of the intervention were accepted by the patients. The internet-based intervention can help to prepare for treatment and to shorten the settling-in period.