Heidegger and the source of meaning

Sandra Lee Bartky criticises the account of meaning contained in Heidegger's ontology in Being and Time. In her view, Heidegger must choose between the claim that meaning is received and the claim that it is created, but is unable to do so. This paper argues that Bartky's criticism is misconceived, by showing that meaning, as Heidegger understands it, is necessarily both created and received. According to a number of influential commentators, the ultimate source of meaning is das Man – Heidegger's conception of the social world. This paper initially considers, but ultimately rejects, the view that the source of meaning, as Heidegger presents it, is social. Instead, this paper argues that meaning is rooted in what Heidegger calls ‘letting be’. Letting be articulates a distinctive relationship between the human being (Dasein) and entities. This relationship, it is argued, accommodates the notion of meaning as both received and created, by reconstituting these terms within a context that defines the human being as an interpreting entity, therefore showing that letting be should be understood as the ultimate source of meaning in Heidegger's ontology.     

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation versus Conventional Treatment: Neurodevelopmental and Social Outcomes at 24 Months

The purpose of this prospective, controlled study was to compare neurodevelopmental and social outcomes at 2 years of age for children treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO; n = 25) to those of children with severe respiratory illness treated with conventional methods (CT; n = 16) and to matched, healthy full-term (FT; n = 29) children. Mothers' parenting attitudes and children's mental, motor, language, exploratory play, and social competence skills were assessed. A retrospective chart review was also undertaken to further describe the groups with respect to the results of neuroimaging, audiologic, and neuromotor examinations. The FT group had significantly higher mental, motor, and language scores as compared to the ECMO and CT groups. Groups did not differ on measures of behavior, social competence, exploratory play skills, or parental attitudes. Specifically for the ECMO group, there was a trend toward language being more problematic than other areas of development. In general, the data demonstrate that severe respiratory complications, regardless of type of treatment, place children at increased risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties.     

Gratitude and Good Government

I attempt to show that it is notphilosophically incompetent to ground politicalobligation in feelings of gratitude. But theargument needs to be stated carefully.Gratitude must be distinguished fromreciprocity. It applies only to good governmentwhich provides benefits to citizens for whichthey ought to feel grateful. It applies only tocitizens who accept that their feelings ofgratitude are properly demonstrated by anacceptance on their part of the duties ofcitizenship. It does not apply to citizenswhose benefits are purchased at the expense ofthe unjust treatment of fellow citizens.     

Development and validation of the Shy Bladder and Bowel Scale (SBBS)

Currently research exploring paruresis and parcopresis, anxiety relating to urinating and having bowel motions in public respectively is limited. While there are several validated measures of paruresis, no valid measure assessing parcopresis is currently available. The present study investigates the development and validation of the Shy Bladder and Bowel Scale (SBBS) which assesses both paruresis and parcopresis. Two participant groups were utilised to validate this scale, a student psychology cohort (n = 387) and a public cohort (n = 334). An eight-item two-factor model was identified in the psychology cohort and confirmed in the public cohort. The two-factor SBBS was found to be a valid and reliable measure of paruresis and parcopresis. Paruresis and parcopresis-related concerns were associated with social anxiety in both cohorts. Subscales for both paruresis and parcopresis (i.e. difficulty, interference and distress) were positively correlated, suggesting individuals are likely to report similar levels of concerns across both conditions. Further, individuals self-identifying with either paruresis or parcopresis reported significantly higher scores on the respective SBBS subscales than non-identifying paruresis and parcopresis individuals. The SBBS also demonstrated strong test–retest reliability in a small sample of adults (n = 13). Overall, the developed scale provides clinicians and researchers with a valuable tool to evaluate both paruresis and parcopresis.     

Beauvoir on Women's Complicity in Their Own Unfreedom

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir argues that women are often complicit in reinforcing their own unfreedom. But why women become complicit remains an open question. The aim of this article is to offer a systematic analysis of complicity by focusing on the Heideggerian strands of Beauvoir's account. I begin by evaluating Susan James's interpretation of complicity qua republican freedom, which emphasizes the dependent situation of women as the primary cause of their complicity. I argue that James's analysis is compelling as far as it goes, but that it implies complicity is the inevitable outcome of women's current existence and fails to adequately account for Beauvoir's claim that women actively embrace their own unfreedom. I then draw out the Heideggerian strands of Beauvoir's analysis, demonstrating how this enables us to systematize Beauvoir's account of women's oppressive situation with her claims regarding the active role women can play in reinforcing their own unfreedom. I argue that this approach preserves the strengths of the republican interpretation, but provides a better account of cases where complicity may not be inevitable and yet some women still act to reinforce rather than resist their own unfreedom.     

Towards an evidence‐base for student wellbeing and mental health: Definitions,developmental transitions and data sets

Against a background of huge changes in the world of university and college students since the turn of the millennium, together with a multitude of reports on student mental health/wellbeing, this article argues that the field of student mental health is hampered by the imprecise use of terms, a rush to action by universities in the absence of a robust evidence‐base, and a lack of overall coordination and collaboration in the collection and use of data. In response, we argue for clearer and more consistent use of definitions of, as well as differentiations between, student wellbeing and mental health, for a longitudinal approach to the student body that captures their developmental transitions to and through university, and a strategic and systematic approach to the use of bona fide measures in the collection of data on wellbeing and on the process of outcomes in embedded university counselling services. Such a coordinated approach will provide the necessary evidence‐base upon which to develop and deliver appropriate support and interventions to underpin and enhance the quality of students’ lives and learning while at university or college.     

Using Public Service Announcements to Change Behavior: No More Money and Oil Down the Drain1

Radio and television offer promising media for addressing large‐scale social problems. Unfortunately, very few mass‐media messages have utilized social psychological theories of persuasion and influence. This article summarizes 2 studies that evaluated the effectiveness of a state‐sponsored public service announcement aimed at reducing improper disposal of used motor oil among do‐it‐yourself oil changers. Study 1 was a field experiment with 120 oil changers in San Diego County. Inertial resistance and low perceived behavioral control were identified as obstacles to proper disposal. In Study 2 , we used the disrupt‐then‐reframe technique to successfully overcome these obstacles and promote proper disposal of used oil. The results underscore the usefulness of empirically validated persuasion techniques in changing behavior via mass media.     

Anti-egalitarians for Obama? Group-dominance motivation and the Obama vote

The election of the first Black president was a watershed moment in American race relations, and many Obama voters saw their choice as affirming and furthering the dream of racial equality. However, the present study provides evidence that Obama also garnered votes from an unlikely source: those wishing to maintain racial disparities. Data from a longitudinal study of the election suggest that, while some anti-egalitarian voters opposed Obama due to his perceived “foreignness,” others voted for him in order to underwrite the hierarchy-enhancing claim that US racism has been eliminated. Anti-egalitarianism was only associated with an increased tendency to vote for Obama among individuals who claimed that his victory signals the end of racism.     

Measuring human social perception directly

The perception of social behavior is direct when ecological correlates which specify a pattern are not manpulated. Spatial and temporal information appear to be two major correlates which facilitate human perception of ongoing social action. When these two correlates are disrupted in some fashion, the resulting action is ambiguous and its perception requires cognitive mediation on the part of the observers. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to current social perception theory and research.     

Conditioning and the placebo effect: The effects of decaffeinated coffee on simple reaction time in habitual coffee drinkers

An experiment is reported in which reaction time was repeatedly assessed in six subjects (habitual coffee drinkers) up to 90 min after the administration of decaffeinated coffee (i.e. placebo), 250 mg caffeine in coffee and at equivalent times on control days. As predicted reaction time was shorter (but not significantly so) immediately after the administration of the two coffee preparations. This finding was taken to support the hypothesis that through a process akin to classical conditioning, drug effects may become associated with the cues that precede and are concurrent with their administration. The findings are critically assessed and related to previous studies. Finally, it is argued that the conditioning hypothesis can account for a number of clinical findings about the placebo response as observed in therapeutic trials.