Sources of distinctiveness: position,difference and separateness in the identities of Anglican parish priests

We investigated the implications of three sources of distinctiveness—position, difference and separateness—for identity and subjective well‐being in a survey of 149 Anglican parish priests. Distinctiveness was examined within parish and clergy comparative contexts. Each source contributed substantially and uniquely to ratings of the distinctiveness associated with identity elements in each context. Parish‐context position was emphasised within identity and was positive for affect, while parish‐context separateness was negative for affect. Distinctiveness in the clergy context was not emphasised within identity and was unrelated to affect. This shows that distinctiveness is not a unitary construct: extending existing theories (Breakwell, 1993 ; Brewer, 1991 ; Triandis, 1995 ), we argue that different forms of distinctiveness will have different implications for identity and well‐being according to culture and context. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infants' responses to mothers' imitative behaviors

Several investigators have suggested that young infants' smiles and vocalizations following their mothers' imitative behaviors might reflect infant recognition that the mother's behavior is imitative or at least contingent. This study investigated whether infants smile and vocalize more frequently subsequent to maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior during both spontaneous and imitative face-to-face interactions. Fourteen 3 1/2-month-old infants and their mothers were videotaped in these two face-to-face interaction situations. The infants vocalized more frequently during the imitative situation and infant vocalizations plus simultaneous smiling, and vocalizations occurred more often following maternal imitative than non-imitative behavior. Although these data suggest that infant vocalizations and simultaneous smiles and vocalizations may reflect the infants' recognition of maternal imitative behavior, they do not establish definitively that it is the imitation per se vs. the contingency aspect that is recognized by the infant.     

试析德国纳粹人体实验的道德逻辑

德国纳粹人体实验与德国现代伦理思想中的超人道德和种族主义思想密切相关。超人道德是纳粹人体实验的“意志-伦理”基础,种族主义则是纳粹人体实验的“科学—伦理”依据。     

Evolution of the African American Family Personality: Considerations for Family Therapy

Both internal and external factors help to determine the personality of the African American family. Personality traits of the African American family include adherence to historical values, diversity in family structure, and family communication. A review of the history of the African American family from its African roots to contemporary America is presented here.     

Ethical principles and cultural integrity in health care delivery: Asian ethnocultural perspectives in genetic services

The tradition of Western thought is not always ubiquitous when working within the context of different ethnocultural populations, particularly that of Asian culture, and often poses ethical quandaries for health care professionals engaged in genetic services. For example, understanding the Asian ethnocultural perspective of patient autonomy, informed consent, and nondirective counseling from the Western perspective may be inappropriate and compromise cultural integrity and the delivery of effective genetic services because: (1) A distinction exists between the role of Asian (collective) autonomy vs. Western (individual) autonomy in the decision-making process. (2) The medical model is complementary to Asian expectations and respect of authority and may result in an uninformed consent to genetic professional's recommendations. (3) Misinterpretations of the normative decision-making process, misconceptions of normalcy, and the limits of tolerance of nondirective counseling may result in less effective treatment and compliance. Therefore, we suggest that acknowledging the impact of ethnicity and culture on ethical principles as applied in genetic services is essential in the assessment and delivery of ethically and culturally appropriate health care.     

Predicting cognitive control from preschool to late adolescence and young adulthood

In this longitudinal study, the proportion of time preschoolers directed their attention away from rewarding stimuli during a delay-of-gratification task was positively associated with efficiency (greater speed without reduced accuracy) at responding to targets in a go/no-go task more than 10 years later. The overall findings suggest that preschoolers' ability to effectively direct their attention away from tempting aspects of the rewards in a delay-of-gratification task may be a developmental precursor for the ability to perform inhibitory tasks such as the go/no-go task years later. Because performance on the go/no-go task has previously been characterized as involving activation of fronto-striatal regions, the present findings also suggest that performance in the delay-of-gratification task may serve as an early marker of individual differences in the functional integrity of this circuitry.     

Reexamining personal, social, and cultural influences on compliance behavior in the United States, Poland, and Hong Kong

Researchers have extended the literature on strategies of gaining compliance with a request to incorporate cultural variations into the analytic framework. In the present investigation, the authors sought to go beyond previous studies of the factors increasing compliance rates by reexamining how researchers conceptualize and measure personal, social, and cultural influences on compliance behavior in the United States, Poland, and Hong Kong. The authors found that different levels of compliance were affected by culture, principles of influence, and the individual's personal orientation of idiocentrism/allocentrism (I/A). In the present study, the authors extended previous cross-cultural work by decomposing the I/A into 2 separate individual difference variables: normative perceptions and evaluative perceptions. The interaction of person and situation on compliance showed the power of situational demands and the strength of different aspects of personal collectivism. Different patterns of compliance at the culture level revealed the importance of culture in shaping this behavioral tendency. Thus, the authors' integration of personal, social, and cultural influences provided an interactive model to help researchers explain compliance more comprehensively.     

Do automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of romantic partner, mother, and self relate to adult romantic attachment?

Three studies tested the expectation that automatic reactions elicited by the mental representation of one's current romantic partner, mother, and self relate to adult romantic attachment. Adult romantic attachment was assessed using multiple measures, and individual differences in automatic reactions were assessed by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Studies 1 and 2 showed that automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of current romantic partner, but not by thoughts of self, were related to adult romantic attachment assessed at a specific (i.e., within one's current romantic relationship) and general level (i.e., across all romantic relationships). The pattern of results was stronger among individuals identified as attachment-schematic. Studies 2 and 3 showed that automatic reactions elicited by thoughts of one's mother were related to adult romantic attachment assessed at a general level. In all three studies, results did not differ depending on how adult romantic attachment was conceptualized (four styles vs. two dimensions).