Are There Distinctively Moral Reasons?

A dogma of contemporary normative theorizing holds that some reasons are distinctively moral while others are not. Call this view Reasons Pluralism. This essay looks at four approaches to vindicating the apparent distinction between moral and non-moral reasons. In the end, however, all are found wanting. Though not dispositive, the failure of these approaches supplies strong evidence that the dogma of Reasons Pluralism is ill-founded.     

Consumer behaviour and the toilet: Research on expulsive and retentive personalities

During the last five decades, a number of studies have attempted to draw from psychoanalytic theory to examine the relationship between evacuation disorders and a person's character. According to Freud's original conceptualization, early or harsh toilet training leads children to develop an anal retentive personality, characterized by the tendency to control their bowels as well as their material possessions; by contrast, liberal toilet training leads children to develop an anal expulsive personality, characterized by the tendency to excessively relieve faeces, as well as be being careless, messy, and inclined to dispose of old products and buy new ones. Although toilet training may not be responsible, these sets of traits do cohere. To empirically examine these hypotheses, we studied the personality traits and consumption habits of people suffering from different bowel disorders. By means of semistructured interviews, we analysed the personality characteristics, sociodemographic backgrounds, and peculiar consumption habits of people suffering from constipation and diarrhoeic syndromes. The results show that constipated people tend to be obstinate, excessively concerned with hygiene, and inclined toward retaining possessions, whereas diarrhoeic people tend to be careless, disorganized, and disposed to share their possessions with others. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results and indicate avenues for future research.     

Willingness to Seek Treatment Among Black Students With Anxiety or Depression: The Synergistic Effect of Sociocultural Factors With Symptom Severity and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Anxiety and depressive disorders are among the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders, yet they remain largely undertreated in the U.S. and Black adults are especially unlikely to seek or receive mental health services. Symptom severity has been found to impact treatment-seeking behaviors as have sociocultural factors. Yet no known research has tested whether these factors work synergistically to effect willingness to seek treatment. Further, emerging data point to the importance of transdiagnostic risk factors such as intolerance of uncertainty (IU). IU may be negatively related to seeking treatment given that Black adults may be uncertain whether treatment might benefit them. Thus, the current study examined the relations between symptom severity/IU and willingness to seek treatment for anxiety/depression problems and the impact of key sociocultural variables (i.e., cultural mistrust–interpersonal relations [CMI-IR], perceived discrimination [PED]) on these relations among 161 (85% female) Black undergraduates. Consistent with prediction, symptom severity was positively related to willingness, but unexpectedly, IU was positively related. There was a significant Symptom Severity × CMI-IR interaction such that severity was positively related to willingness among students with lower cultural mistrust, but not higher mistrust. There were also significant IU × PED interaction such that IU was positively related to willingness among students with lower PED, but not higher PED. Results highlight the importance of considering the interplay between symptom severity, transdiagnostic vulnerability factors, and sociocultural variables when striving to identify factors related to treatment seeking behaviors among anxious and/or depressed Black students.     

Facial expressions as performances in mime

That facial expressions are universal emotion signals has been supported by observers agreeing on the emotion mimed by actors. We show that actors can mime a diverse range of states: emotions, cognitions, physical states, and actions. English, Hindi, and Malayalam speakers (N?=?1200) viewed 25 video clips and indicated the state conveyed. Within each language, at least 23 of the 25 clips were recognised above chance and base rate. Facial expressions of emotions are not special in their recognisability, and it is miming that may be the universal human ability.     

Associations between childhood biomedical factors,maternal smoking,personality traits,Body and Mass Index and the prevalence of asthma in adulthood

Objective: The study set out to investigate socio-economic, biomedical, health and behavioural and psychological factors in childhood and adulthood associated with the prevalence of asthma in adulthood, drawing data from The National Child Development Studies (NCDS), a birth cohort in the UK.

Design: The National Child Development Study, a nationally representative sample of 17,415 babies born in Great Britain in 1958 and followed up at 7, 11, 33 and 50 years was used.

Main Outcome Measure: The prevalence of asthma at age 50 was the outcome measure. The analytic sample consists of 5118 participants with complete data on a set of measures at birth, at ages 7, 11, 33 and 50 years.

Results: Using logistic regression analyses, results showed that childhood asthma (OR = 6.77: 4.38–10.48, p < .001) and respiratory symptoms (OR = 1.83: 1.18–2.86, p < .01), maternal smoking during pregnancy (OR = 1.26: 1.00–1.59, p < .05), Body and Mass Index (BMI) (OR = 1.03: 1.02–1.05, p < .001), traits Neuroticism (OR = 1.13: 1.01–1.21, p < .05) and Conscientiousness (OR = 0.76: 0.76–0.96, p < .01), as well as sex (OR = 1.49: 1.15–1.94, p < .001) were all significantly associated with the prevalence of asthma in adulthood.

Conclusion: The study shows that both childhood and adulthood psychological and sociological factors are significantly associated with the prevalence of asthma in adulthood, though more work need to be done in this area.     

On an Observer’s Reaction to Hearing of Someone Harming Him or Herself

Anthropological studies in India inspired the idea of a distinct domain of moral purity, but a precise characterization of that domain has been elusive. One proposal based on current theorizing in psychology is that prototypical purity violations are self-harming actions, which are perceived as disgusting and immoral whether done accidentally or intentionally. In three studies (Ns?=?400, 80, 132), we examined judgments of self-harming actions in two cultural groups—American and Indian. There was little support for the proposed characterization of the purity domain: Self-harms were slightly to modestly immoral for Indians and Americans. Both Indians and Americans found self-harms to be sad, not disgusting. And intentionality influenced how immoral and how sad the action was judged. Instead, the findings supported a view that all immorality, including those concerning self-harm, depends on perceived harm.     

Intention as action under development: why intention is not a mental state

This paper constructs a theory according to which an intention is not a mental state but an action at a certain developmental stage. I model intention on organic life, and thus intention stands to action as (e.g.) tadpole stands to frog. I then argue for this theory by showing how it overcomes three problems: intending while (1) merely preparing, (2) not taking any steps, and (3) the action is impossible. The problems vanish when we see that not all actions are mature. Just as some frogs (such as tadpoles) are immature frogs, some actions (such as intentions) are immature actions.     

Schools can improve motivational quality: Profile transitions across early foreign language learning experiences

Elementary school is as much about developing attitudes as competence. With this fact in mind, the Japanese national government established a plan to enhance elementary school students’ motivation for learning English. The success of this program has, however, not been empirically tested. This study aimed to assess the longitudinal, discrete development of Japanese elementary school students’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language. A cohort of 513 Japanese elementary students participated in the study across 2 years of school. Students responded to surveys regarding the quality of their motivation at three time points, and their engagement at two time points. Latent profile analysis followed by latent profile transition analysis was used to assess the sample for latent subgroups. With subgroups established at three time points, a Mover–Stayer model was tested to estimate the movement of students among the subgroups across three time points and 2 years of elementary school education. Three theoretically consistent latent subgroups were observed at each of the time points. Based on theory and past empirical research, the subgroups (presented from least to most adaptive) were labeled: Poor Quality, High Quantity, and Good Quality. Across the three measurements, an overall shift of students to higher quantity and quality motivational subgroups was observed. This study provides evidence that the low-stakes, high-interest approach currently undertaken may have the desired effect of improving students’ motivation to learn across 2 years of schooling. Implications for both practice and national policy are discussed.