IDENTITY,RELATION R,AND WHAT MATTERS

This paper offers a challenge to Derek Parfit's thesis that one ought to have no preference between these two otherwise identical situations: 1. I continue to go on living as before, and 2. I do not survive, but am replaced by a duplicate, psychologically continuous to my present self (i.e. an R-related duplicate). I point out that virtually all psychologically normal persons regard some inanimate objects as being ‘irreplaceable’ (such that no copy could adequately substitute). I then propose that in every such case, this judgment is based on the subject's regarding some person as likewise irreplaceable. It would follow that any such subject would have to reject Parfit's thesis.     

Getting it Right

In addition to noting significant differences of interpretation between me and Kristopher Norris on understanding classic just war thought and judging its importance, this Comment flags errors of fact and faulty logic in the Norris essay.     

Similarities and Differences in Precipitating Events Between Black and Anglo Suicide Attempts

ABSTRACT: The rapid rise in suicide among young Blacks in America the past decade is of increasing concern to mental health practitioners and suicidologists. While there are some similarities among suicide attempts by Blacks and Whites, the pattern is that Black suicide attempters are distinctly more youthful. This exploratory study tests the hypothesis that the precipitating events for young Blacks who consider, plan, and attempt suicide is more likely to be “the loss or threatened loss of a love partner in the context of a negative value-orientation and intragroup pressures” than among Anglo suicide attempters. Specific strategies are recommended that use a family perspective for assisting Blacks who consider, plan and attempt suicide.     

EVIDENCE THAT GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SOCIAL DOMINANCE ORIENTATION RESULT FROM GENDERED SELF-STEREOTYPING AND GROUP-INTERESTED RESPONSES TO PATRIARCHY

Numerous studies have found that, compared to women, men express higher levels of social dominance orientation (SDO), an individual difference variable reflecting support for unequal, hierarchical relationships between groups. Recent research suggests that the often-observed gender difference in SDO results from processes related to gender group identity. We hypothesized that two aspects of gender group identity could account for men's higher SDO relative to women's: responses to patriarchy that reflect the interests of the gender ingroup (as measured by hostile and benevolent sexism) and self-stereotyping in gendered terms. We found the gender difference in SDO was fully mediated by gender differences in feminine self-stereotyping, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism. The discussion addresses implications for social dominance theory's treatment of gender and the complexity of social-contextual forces that produce gender differences in SDO.     

An assessment of factors contributing to instrumental performance for sexual reward in the rat

Male and female rats were gonadectomized, implanted in adulthood with capsules containing either testosterone propionate (TP) or cholesterol, and were trained to lever press for access to an oestrous female. When lever press performance was tested in extinction, only the male rats implanted with TP displayed significantly higher levels of responding than controls, demonstrating that lever pressing for oestrous females as a reward is sexually dimorphic. Ejaculation patterns from a separate assessment of these rats' copulatory ability were significantly correlated with their instrumental performance. In a second experiment, "masculinized" females exposed to TP postnatally and given TP implants responded in extinction at mean levels equivalent to those exhibited by adult males that were either intact or castrated with androgen replacement. These data suggest that organizational steroid exposure perinatally affects the actual reward value assigned to oestrous females inadulthood, in combination withconsummatory sexual experience.