Quantum Theory and the Boundary between Science and Spirit: Some Remarks from a Friend of Kabbalah

Physicists and philosophers argue whether quantum theory has spiritual implications. The vast majority of opinions are at two extremes: Some contend that quantum theory has absolutely no spiritual implications whatsoever, whereas others assert that it forms the very basis of a modern spirituality and can be directly applied to the human condition. It is this article's contention that neither extreme is correct. Quantum theory does have spiritual implications—a fact that its founders intuited and its enemies, Einstein preeminent among them, considered prima facie evidence of its as yet undiscovered flaws. Quantum theory has proven itself against all challenges more successfully than any other scientific theory, but its spiritual implications are extremely subtle. It provides a boundary to the materialistic, deterministic worldview and shows that there must be more to reality than that, but is inherently incapable of providing evidence as to the nature of what lies beyond that boundary.     

Getting Down to Business Talk,Gaze, and Body Orientation During Openings of Doctor-Patient Consultations

This study examines the openings of British general-practice medical consultations. The authors use conversation analysis to analyze how doctors' and patients' practices of gaze and body orientation organize interaction such that doctors routinely initiate the sequence wherein patients disclose their chief complaint. Gaze and body orientation communicate levels of engagement with and disengagement from courses of action. As doctors and patients accomplish regular tasks preparatory to dealing with patients'chief complaints, doctors use gaze and body orientation to communicate that they are preparing but are not yet ready to deal with those compkints. In response, patients wait for their doctors to solicit their chief complaint. These findings have implications for research on nonverbal communication, interactional asymmetry, and power.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPECTANCIES AND JOB BEHAVIOR FOR WHITE AND BLACK EMPLOYEES

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between effort-reward expectancy (Porter and Lawler, 1968) and job behavior for white and black employees. It was found, first, that the blacks in this study tended to see a greater connection between hard work and rewards than did the whites. However, the ethnic groups did not differ in the rated importance they attributed to these rewards. It was also found that the relationship between expectancy and work motivation criteria was generally low for both samples. The interpretation of expectancy-criterion correlations as possible indicators of importance was explored.     

Perceptions of attitudinal similarity in ethnic groups in the U.S.: ingroup and outgroup homogeneity effects

The outgroup homogeneity phenomenon was examined by having majority group members (White Americans) judge the variability in attitudes about intergroup relations in their own group and one outgroup (African Americans). A preliminary study found the threat of the attitude statements to the group doing the judging seemed to affect whether or not participants showed outgroup or ingroup homogeneity. For the present study, statements about ethnic group relations were prerated to obtain two sets of items that aroused either high or low threat to White Americans. White students judged the homogeneity of these items for their own group and for African Americans. Outgroup homogeneity was found for the low threat items and ingroup homogeneity was found for the high threat items. This study demonstrates that the homogeneity effect depends on the threat of the attitude content to the group doing the judging. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

LYING PERSON-TO-PERSON ABOUT LIFE EVENTS: A COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK FOR LIE DETECTION

Undetected lies of prospective or current employees cost business billions of dollars annually. The ability to detect these lies would be of immense benefit. Several recent reports have called for research on new, theoretically based methods of lie detection. In response, we tested the Activation-Decision-Construction Model of lying ( Walczyk, Roper, Seeman, & Humphreys, 2003 ) according to which response time is a cue to deception. Participants were tested person-to-person. In Experiment 1, half lied to questions probing recent episodic memories. The other half answered honestly. Liar-truth teller response time differences were observed between subjects. Discriminant analyses demonstrated the value of response time for uncovering deceit. Those highest in social skills were the quickest liars. In Experiment 2, lying was shown to take longer than truth telling within subjects, and within-subject response time standard deviations were shown to be converging cues to deception. Based on these data and the ADCM, a Time-Restricted Integrity Confirmation (Tri-Con) framework for lie detection is proposed that might one day provide cost effective lie detection for business.     

Prostitution,Sexual Autonomy,and Sex Discrimination

Feminist critics of the stigmatization of prostitution such as Martha Nussbaum and Sybil Schwarzenbach argue that the features of the practice do not, or at least need not, differ essentially from those of other more respected sorts of labor. I argue that even the least degraded forms of the current practice of prostitution remain objectionable on feminist grounds because patrons demand a semblance of sexual self‐expression that engages discriminatory beliefs about women's sexuality.     

Predicting conflict within romantic relationships during the transition to adulthood

We conducted a retrospective study between 1997 and 2000 with 200 participants in the Children in the Community Study at their mean age of 29 (range: 27–31 years). Participants completed detailed narrative interviews about their transition to adulthood and described monthly levels of partner conflict that had occurred between ages 17 and 27. Data from these interviews were used to investigate the developmental trajectory and predictors of conflict in romantic relationships. Multilevel growth models showed that partner conflict increased between ages 19 and 25 and then declined slightly. Parental divorce, low parental socioeconomic status, being an only child, being divorced, being married, cohabiting, and having biological offspring were associated with elevated partner conflict. Different patterns of association between these variables and partner conflict were observed in men and women.