Silencing,Psychological Conflict,and the Distinction Between Virtue and Self-Control

According to many virtue ethicists, one of Aristotle’s important achievements was drawing a clear, qualitative distinction between the character traits of temperance (sophrosyne) and self-control (enkrateia). In an influential series of papers, John McDowell has argued that a clear distinction between temperance (or virtue, in general) and self-control can be maintained only if one claims that, for the virtuous individual (but not for the self-controlled), considerations in favor of actions that are contrary to virtue are “silenced.” Some virtue ethicists reject McDowell’s silencing view as offering an implausible or inappropriate picture of human virtue, but they argue that (contra McDowell) virtue can still be clearly distinguished from self-control by the absence of motivational conflict alone. In this paper, I argue that this criticism of McDowell is at most half right. If the silencing view is false, so that virtue can have a cost and the virtuous person can justifiably feel negative emotions in response to that cost, there is no principled reason why the virtuous person cannot also have motivational conflict. So, if one rejects the silencing view, then one must allow that the distinction between virtue and self-control is at most a matter of degree.

     

Intraclass correlation associated with therapists: estimates and applications in planning psychotherapy research

It is essential that outcome research permit clear conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of interventions. The common practice of nesting therapists within conditions can pose important methodological challenges that affect interpretation, particularly if the study is not powered to account for the nested design. An obstacle to the optimal design of these studies is the lack of data about the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), which measures the statistical dependencies introduced by nesting. To begin the development of a public database of ICC estimates, the authors investigated ICCs for a variety outcomes reported in 20 psychotherapy outcome studies. The magnitude of the 495 ICC estimates varied widely across measures and studies. The authors provide recommendations regarding how to select and aggregate ICC estimates for power calculations and show how researchers can use ICC estimates to choose the number of patients and therapists that will optimize power. Attention to these recommendations will strengthen the validity of inferences drawn from psychotherapy studies that nest therapists within conditions.     

Contrasting Regulatory Focus and Reinforcement Sensitivity: A Daily Diary Study of Goal Pursuit and Emotion

This study examined the moderating effects of motivational orientation on daily affect and goal pursuit. Based on recent revisions to Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, measures of BIS (BIS-r and Fight-Flight-Freeze System or FFFS), BAS, and regulatory focus (Promotion and Prevention) were administered to 84 college students who participated in a 14-day diary study. Diary items assessed goal-directed activities and positive and negative affect (PA and NA). Results showed that higher FFFS and Promotion were consistently associated with higher NA and PA, respectively, and FFFS was also associated with avoidance of responsibilities. Higher Promotion predicted greater daily goal progress and tendencies to rate goals as more promotion- and prevention-focused. Relationships between daily goal-directed activities and both sadness and satisfaction were moderated by BIS-r. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, low BAS Reward Responsiveness predicted increased enthusiasm with greater goal progress. A trend in the data showed evidence of regulatory fit in daily activities predicted by both Promotion and Prevention. Implications for the theoretical and practical distinctions between measures of motivational orientation are discussed.     

The expression of the genes of aggressiveness in mice: The effect of androgen on aggression and sexual behavior in females

Female mice of strains selectively bred for aggressiveness or nonaggressiveness were injected with testosterone propionate (TF′) at the age of 2 days and as adults, or they were injected as adults only. Aggressive and sexual behavior was then tested with female, receptive female, and male partners before, during, and after the latter TP treatment. The females that had received both TP treatments displayed as much or as little aggression as males of the same strain, leading to the conclusion that aggressiveness genes are not linked with the male sex chromosome, even though they depend on it for their expression. The sexual behavior of the females of both strains that had received both TP treatments was altered to the male type. In the females of the aggressive strain even adult treatment alone was sufficient for this change. Aggressiveness and male sexual behavior would seem to be determined separately, although aggressiveness facilitates the display of male sexual behavior.     

TIME, (COM)PASSION,AND ETHICAL SELF-FORMATION IN EVANGELICAL HUMANITARIANISM

This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentation and ethical self-formation. I use the case of World Vision and its early leaders to unpack genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism. Rather than seeking to identify American evangelicalism’s normative ethical stance, I aim to expand the discussion in anthropology of ethics on ethical self-formation through examining the tensions, reflections, and processes of becoming among evangelical humanitarians. In doing so, I examine two focal areas of ethical self-formation among early World Vision leaders. The first is oscillation between and mixing of passion and compassion frameworks in the American evangelical imagination. Second, I identify a range of temporal frames that evangelicals draw on to make sense of and formulate ethical responses to human needs encountered abroad.     

Emotional stressors among volunteers operating a diaconal suicide-prevention crisis line in Norway: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Despite the worldwide proliferation of suicide-prevention crisis-line networks, there is limited in-depth knowledge of how the volunteer call responders experience and manage emotional stressors. The study’s purpose was to explore emotional stressors related to operating a diaconal suicide-prevention crisis line, and how these are managed in daily operations. In this qualitative study, 27 volunteers were interviewed in four focus groups. The material was analysed using systematic text condensation. The participants experienced emotional stressors related to being unable to actively intervene, encountering traumatised callers and feeling uncertain about representing the Church. They used a combination of personal coping strategies and organisational support factors. Implications for training and practice are further discussed.