Sexuality and cyberporn: Towards a new agenda for research

This article presents theoretical considerations based on cultural analysis approaches to studying pornography and sexuality as a means of starting to suggest a new agenda for cyberporn research. By bringing to the forefront concepts of how subjectivity and sexuality are produced within the computer/Internet apparatus, I hope to diversify the focus in cyberporn research away from social science approaches and pre-Foucaultian assumptions of the subject which obscure understandings of new media and cyberporn use. Through a summary of visual culture studies and reception studies of pornography, I argue that cyberporn must be understood as contingent within the encoding and decoding processes and discourses of sexuality (Foucault) in which it is produced and consumed. My focus here is the home office/terminal as the site of reception/cyberporn use. While there is potential for a great variety of cultural analytic approaches to the study of cyberporn and how new media use influences sexuality, I end with specific suggestions for researching cyberporn reception in the home. The computer’s allure is more than utilitarian or aesthetic; it is erotic. Instead of a refreshing play with surfaces, as with toys or amusements, our affair with information machines announces a symbiotic relationship and ultimately a mental marriage to technology. Rightly perceived, the atmosphere of cyberspace carries the scent that once surrounded Wisdom. The world rendered as pure information not only fascinates our eyes and minds, but also captures our hearts. We feel augmented and empowered. Our hearts beat in the machines. This is Eros. (Michael Heim, The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality)     

小学生的品德不良行为及其心理与行为适应问题研究

运用测量法和问卷法,以某市357名小学生为对象,探讨了小学生的品德不良行为及其心理问题与行为适应性问题,并揭示了它们之间相互的关系。结果发现:小学生的品行不良、心理健康问题和行为适应问题都存在显著的年级差异,并受学习成绩的显著影响:成绩差的学生在这些问题上最严重;且品行不良和学习问题存在显著的性别差异;小学生的品德不良水平与许多心理问题之间存在显著相关;五年级是一个转折点:在品德不良行为和许多心理问题中都是高峰,随后开始下降。     

工作倦怠的测量及其干预研究综述

工作倦怠不仅会给组织和家庭带来消极的影响,而且会严重损害个体的身心健康,因而有必要采取措施进行干预。文章首先描述工作倦怠的定义,接着对其测量进行介绍,然后在此基础上分析其相关的影响因素,并指出如何实现有效的干预,最后对研究的热点进行了展望。     

从朋党、会党到政党的嬗变——论传统中国政治参与方式的现代转换

中国传统社会中朋党和秘密会党的产生以及生存,与传统中国的政治制度紧密相连,而从朋党(或言之派系)、秘密会党到现代政党的转变,不仅反映出传统中国政治制度上的革命性变迁,同时也折射出民众在政治结社、政治参与方式以及参政观念上的改变,这无疑是晚清至民国民众政治生活的最重大变化。政治参与方面的本质性变化是政治发展的核心要素,民众结社能力的提高无疑对政治发展具有极其重要的意义,而传统中国独特的政治参与方式——朋党、会党在晚清的政治现代化运动中向政党转变的轨迹,凸显了传统社会普通民众政治参与方式、结社活动在现代化过程中所发生的质的飞跃。本文尝试对这一重大的历史变迁进程作一个较为全面的梳理。     

论巴黎外方传教会对天主教中国本土化的影响

巴黎外方传教会档案材料显示,巴黎外方传教会的形成是十七世纪罗马为了落实天主教远东本土化政策和力排葡萄牙远东保教权而采取的一系列努力行动的结果。虽然巴黎外方传教会在传教经费来源上与法国政府具有一定的资助关系,但就其本质而言,它首先是一个在组织上直属于罗马的传教团体(Association),而非宗教修会(Congrégation),其主要目的是协助传信部建立远东土著教会,因此巴黎外方传教会入华对天主教中国本土化过程曾经产生过推动作用。     

Processing demand modulates the effects of spatial attention on the judged duration of a brief stimulus

How does attention influence the judged duration of a brief stimulus? In the four experiments reported here, we show that the effect of spatial attention on duration judgment depends on the processing demand of the concurrent nontemporal task. When participants had to perform a speeded letter discrimination task in addition to duration rating, the judged duration was longer at a cued location than at an uncued location, regardless of whether the cue was exogenous or endogenous. However, when the same stimuli were presented but no concurrent nontemporal task was required, duration was judged to be shorter at the cued location, as compared with the uncued locations. Furthermore, although spatial attention influenced duration judgment, no object-based attentional effects were found. These findings suggest that, although spatial attention plays an important role in the judged duration of a briefly presented stimulus, its effect is mediated by the processing demand of the task.     

Calculating and graphing within-subject confidence intervals for ANOVA

The psychological and statistical literature contains several proposals for calculating and plotting confidence intervals (CIs) for within-subjects (repeated measures) ANOVA designs. A key distinction is between intervals supporting inference about patterns of means (and differences between pairs of means, in particular) and those supporting inferences about individual means. In this report, it is argued that CIs for the former are best accomplished by adapting intervals proposed by Cousineau (Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 1, 42–45, 2005) and Morey (Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 4, 61–64, 2008) so that nonoverlapping CIs for individual means correspond to a confidence for their difference that does not include zero. CIs for the latter can be accomplished by fitting a multilevel model. In situations in which both types of inference are of interest, the use of a two-tiered CI is recommended. Free, open-source, cross-platform software for such interval estimates and plots (and for some common alternatives) is provided in the form of R functions for one-way within-subjects and two-way mixed ANOVA designs. These functions provide an easy-to-use solution to the difficult problem of calculating and displaying within-subjects CIs.     

Optimal sample sizes for precise interval estimation of Welch’s procedure under various allocation and cost considerations

Welch’s (Biometrika 29: 350–362, 1938) procedure has emerged as a robust alternative to the Student’s t test for comparing the means of two normal populations with unknown and possibly unequal variances. To facilitate the advocated statistical practice of confidence intervals and further improve the potential applicability of Welch’s procedure, in the present article, we consider exact approaches to optimize sample size determinations for precise interval estimation of the difference between two means under various allocation and cost considerations. The desired precision of a confidence interval is assessed with respect to the control of expected half-width, and to the assurance probability of interval half-width within a designated value. Furthermore, the design schemes in terms of participant allocation and cost constraints include (a) giving the ratio of group sizes, (b) specifying one sample size, (c) attaining maximum precision performance for a fixed cost, and (d) meeting a specified precision level for the least cost. The proposed methods provide useful alternatives to the conventional sample size procedures. Also, the developed programs expand the degree of generality for the existing statistical software packages and can be accessed at brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/ supplemental.     

Heuristic Value of Eclecticism in Theory Development: The Case of Piagetian-Vygotskian <Emphasis Type="Italic">dialogue</Emphasis> about Proportional Reasoning

Køppe’s proposition of four layers in theoretical building are used here in the exploration of a specific case of eclectic combination, the use of Piagetian and Vygotskian general approaches to the analysis of proportional reasoning as a cognitive mathematical ability. It is proposed here that the eclectic consideration of these contributions depends on the consideration of their specificity, in the sense that they highlight different aspects of the phenomenon under scrutiny, and also on the consideration of the coherence between this eclectic convergence and premises in terms of schools of thought under which each contribution is framed. We conclude proposing in accordance to S. Køppe’s proposal that eclecticism can be valuable and heuristic in theory development, but this contribution will depend largely on the effort in establishing careful relations between the four layers of theory-building.     

Online Responsibility: Bad Samaritanism and the Influence of Internet Mediation

In 2008 a young man committed suicide while his webcam was running. 1,500 people apparently watched as the young man lay dying: when people finally made an effort to call the police, it was too late. This closely resembles the case of Kitty Genovese in 1964, where 39 neighbours supposedly watched an attacker assault and did not call until it was too late. This paper examines the role of internet mediation in cases where people may or may not have been good Samaritans and what their responsibilities were. The method is an intuitive one: intuitions on the various potentially morally relevant differences when it comes to responsibility between offline and online situations are examined. The number of onlookers, their physical nearness and their anonymity have no moral relevance when it comes to holding them responsible. Their perceived reality of the situation and ability to act do have an effect on whether we can hold people responsible, but this doesn’t seem to be unique to internet mediation. However the way in which those factors are intrinsically connected to internet mediation does seem to have a diminishing effect on responsibility in online situations.