What’s in a Dao?: Ontology and Semiotics in Laozi and Zhuangzi

The present essay examines the conflicting ontological assumptions that one can find behind the word dao in the texts of the Laozi and Zhuangzi and argues that the relative indifference to these texts toward whether or not dao has an ontic reality should not be considered a flaw of early Daoism. Rather, the historical process by which the term dao collects various possible ontological implications can be thought of as a philosophical stance in its own right. That is, if the terms which one is obliged to use in discussing the immaterial necessarily hide, at least as much as they explain, the nature of Being, then it is a reasonable response to decline to ground one??s ethics in an ontology, and that while the resulting philosophy may not qualify as a fully-adumbrated system, this does not diminish its potential usefulness.     

High arousal and low arousal work-related positive affects and basal cardiovascular activity

Basal cardiovascular activity may be modulated by positive affect activation levels. In the current study, it was hypothesized that work-related high arousal positive affect (HAPA) will have a U-shaped association with basal cardiovascular activity and low or un-aroused positive affect (LAPA) will be negatively associated with basal cardiovascular activity. Participants were 1807, apparently, healthy adults. HAPA and LAPA were assessed with the Job-related Affective Well-being Scale. Outcome measures were resting heart rate (HR), systolic (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels. Results for HAPA supported the hypothesized relationships, such that HR and SBP were lower when HAPA was at moderate levels, but higher when HAPA was at high or low levels. LAPA was negatively associated with SBP and DBP. Our findings suggest that HAPA and LAPA have differential consequences regarding cardiovascular function.     

The associations of the Five Factor Model of personality with inflammatory biomarkers: A four-year prospective study

This study evaluated the associations of the Five Factor Model of personality with two inflammation biomarkers, C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, and the possible moderating effects of common health-related behaviors (physical activity and smoking) concurrently and over four years, while adjusting for socio-demographic and health status. Participants were individuals who underwent a health examination at two points of time, T1 (n = 1709) and T2 (n = 923), about four years apart. Regression analyses uncovered positive associations between Neuroticism and Extraversion with two inflammatory biomarkers at baseline (T1) and over time (T2) and increases in their levels over time. Additionally, a synergistic interaction of neuroticism and physical inactivity was associated with higher levels of inflammation biomarkers at both time periods. Openness was negatively associated with inflammation biomarkers at T1 and T2, but not with changes in their levels. No significant associations were found for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The results suggest that personality traits might be involved in the inflammatory process both concurrently and over time, and thus indicate a possible mechanism by which personality traits might influence health, especially cardiovascular disease risk.     

Icarianism,Masochism, and Sex Differences in Fantasy

May's theory that the female fantasy pattern is masochistic and moves from deprivation to enhancement, while the male fantasy pattern is Icarian and moves in the opposite direction, is critically reviewed. His study was replicated using 12 Icarian male, 12 non-Icarian male, and 12 sadomasochistic female Ss, 8 TAT cards, and a different scoring system in addition to May's. Results failed to support May's conclusions that a) males fantasy abrupt failure more than females, b) females fantasy resurgence after failure more than males, or c) either male or female fantasies regularly move in the directions predicted. It is concluded that May's findings were produced by specific stimulus effects rather than being characteristic of spontaneous fantasy.     

Brain activation during semantic processing in autism spectrum disorders via functional magnetic resonance imaging

Language and communication deficits are core features of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), even in high-functioning adults with ASD. This study investigated brain activation patterns using functional magnetic resonance imaging in right-handed adult males with ASD and a control group, matched on age, handedness, and verbal IQ. Semantic processing in the controls produced robust activation in Broca's area (left inferior frontal gyrus) and in superior medial frontal gyrus and right cerebellum. The ASD group had substantially reduced Broca's activation, but increased left temporal (Wernicke's) activation. Furthermore, the ASD group showed diminished activation differences between concrete and abstract words, consistent with behavioral studies. The current study suggests Broca's area is a region of abnormal neurodevelopment in ASD, which may be linked with semantic and related language deficits frequently observed in ASD.     

To work or not to work: nonfinancial employment commitment and the social desirability bias

The so-called "lottery question," which asks whether individuals would stop or continue working if there were no economic reasons to do so, was used to evaluate non-financial employment commitment. Data were collected through a survey conducted among a representative sample of the adult population in Israel. The sample included 501 respondents, who were interviewed via telephone in their homes by professional interviewers from a national survey agency. The additional contribution of social desirability to the prediction of nonfinancial employment commitment, beyond the contribution of age, is significant. There is a higher likelihood of indicating a desire to continue working under conditions of high social desirability rather than under those of low social desirability. It is suggested that, in order to examine the actual scope of nonfinancial employment commitment, some measures of detecting or reducing the social desirability bias should be taken.     

Test-retest reliability of the relative work centrality measure

The Meaning of Work International Research Team in 1987 developed the Relative Work Centrality measure, on which individuals divide 100 points among five major domains (work, leisure, community, religion, and family) in their lives, based on their relative centrality. The present study examined the test-retest reliability of this measure in a convenience sample of 96 Israeli full-time workers over a 4-wk. period. The sample consisted of 41.7% men and 58.3% women, of whom 48.9% were married. The participants had a mean age of 36.0 yr. (SD = 11.5) and a mean education of 14.9 yr. (SD = 2.5). The Spearman rank correlation coefficients for work, leisure, community, religion, and family at Time 1 and Time 2 were, respectively, .66, .76, .64, .76, and .82. These values indicate a fairly high test-retest reliability of the Relative Work Centrality measure and support the notion that this measure can also be applied to assess the relative centrality of each of the other four major life domains, in addition to work.     

Who's Afraid of Rap: Differential Reactions to Music Lyrics1

This research examines the recent public outcry against violent rap songs. It was hypothesized that rap music receives more negative criticism than do other types of music, regardless of the actual content of the lyrics. Participants read a violent lyrical passage and were led to believe that it was either a rap song or a country song. They then responded to how offensive and dangerous they thought the song was. The results support the hypothesis. When a violent lyrical passage was represented as a rap song, reactions to the lyrics were significantly more negative. Age, whether or not the participants had children, and the participants’ music tastes and buying habits were all significantly related to whether or not this biased judgment occurred. The findings are briefly discussed in terms of various models of racism and stereotyping.     

Developmental dyslexia: Electrophysiological evidence of clinical subgroups

Event-related potentials (ERPs) to word and to musical-chord stimuli were recorded in 13 dyslexic boys and 13 age-matched normal readers. Normal readers and dyslexics whose reading handicaps involved visual-spatial processing deficits had greater word versus musical-chord ERP waveform differences over the left as compared to the right hemisphere. Dyslexics whose reading difficulties were related to auditory-verbal processing deficits did not exhibit this asymmetry. These results are interpreted as supportive of the hypothesis that the latter group of dyslexics has failed to develop normal left hemisphere specialization for processing of auditory-linguistic material.     

On the aggregation across subjects in analyzing individual choice behavior

Authors dealing with models of individual choice behavior often point out the pitfalls of using group data to test such models. However, it is possible to derive properties of the choice behavior of the population based on these models of individual choice behavior. The present paper develops a procedure for the aggregation of choice data which takes into account individual differences. The utility of using aggregated choice data and the properties of the present procedure in comparison to other methods which utilized group data in analyzing choice behavior are discussed.