Group status, perceptions of threat, and support for social inequality

Members of high-status groups have been shown to favor social inequality, but little research has investigated the boundary conditions of this phenomenon. In the present article we suggest that perceived intergroup threat moderates the relationship between group status and support for social inequality (i.e., social dominance orientation), especially among highly identified group members. In Study 1, Democrats and Republicans rated their party’s relative status and were later exposed to a leading US. Presidential candidate from the opposing party (high threat) or their own party (low threat). In Study 2, university students were made to believe that their school had high or low status and were then presented with threatening or non-threatening information about a rival institution. The results of both studies supported the prediction that status only increases preferences for group-based inequality under conditions of high threat and high ingroup identification.     

Median decision techniques as an alternative to the classical statistical inference test

In the research area, the criterion to test a hypothesis is frequently the distance of each subject from the mean of the distribution. This concept of distance is constantly used and re-used as a source of evidence in the search for significant contrasts with respect to models of theoretical probability. This paper proposes a number of ideas regarding the use of new distance indicators related to statistics that rely less heavily on parametric assumptions, in particular, the use of median confidence intervals. We have simulated via EXCEL different data samples for a design of two independent groups under 15 different conditions in two different situations: mean equality and mean differences. The results showed the high sensitivity of the comparison of the confidence intervals, especially if a strict decision criterion is used. However, we did not obtain good results for sensitivity. In fact, in some cases, the comparison of the confidence intervals of the mean worked better than those of median.     

The effects of realistic threat and group identification on social dominance orientation

Based on social identity and intergroup threat theories, we argue that social dominance orientation (SDO) can increase as a result of realistic threat, or perceived obstacles to the ingroup’s position and general welfare. However, this effect should be strongest among highly-identified group members, who are particularly concerned with protecting their ingroup against threat. Study 1 found that among non-Asian Americans, racial group identification moderated the relationship between perceptions of realistic threat from Asian Americans and SDO. Study 2 replicated Study 1 using an experimental, rather than correlational, design. Using different social groups, Study 3 showed that non-science college majors who identified strongly with their field of study exhibited higher SDO after being made to feel threatened by science majors. The results from these studies have implications for research on the meaning and antecedents of SDO.     

Significant other primes and behavior: motivation to respond to social cues moderates pursuit of prime-induced goals

Significant others can automatically activate a variety of goals, including goals that significant others have for an individual and the individual's personal goals that are associated with the significant others. Across three studies, this article shows that the effects of significant other primes (i.e., mother, roommate) on behavior depend on individual differences in both personal goals and responsiveness to social cues (i.e., self-monitoring, need to belong). Specifically, individuals who are motivated to respond to social cues assimilate to a goal that their primed significant other has for them, regardless of whether they personally hold the goal. Individuals not so motivated, on the other hand, assimilate to the goal only when it is one that they also personally hold. Implications of these findings for research on the prime-to-behavior relationship and interpersonal goal pursuit are discussed.     

Time-dependent modulation of inhibitory avoidance memory by spermidine in rats

The polyamines, spermine, spermidine, and putrescine, are a group of aliphatic amines that may act as physiological modulators of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Although the modulatory role of polyamines in NMDA receptor function has long been known, the effects of polyamines on learning and memory only recently began to be unraveled. In the present study, we investigated the effect of bilateral infusions of spermidine (0.02-2 nmol), a polyamine agonist, into the CA1 region of the rat dorsal hippocampus on inhibitory avoidance learning 30 min pre-training, immediately post-training, 6 h post-training, or 10 min pre-test. Bilateral microinjections of 0.2 nmol spermidine prolonged step-down latencies compared to the respective control group when administered 30 min pre-training or immediately post-training. These results provide evidence that the modulatory effects of spermidine on the acquisition and/or early consolidation of memory of inhibitory avoidance tasks in the hippocampus occur within a limited time window.     

On Bourbaki’s axiomatic system for set theory

In this paper we study the axiomatic system proposed by Bourbaki for the Theory of Sets in the Éléments de Mathématique. We begin by examining the role played by the sign \(\uptau \) in the framework of its formal logical theory and then we show that the system of axioms for set theory is equivalent to Zermelo–Fraenkel system with the axiom of choice but without the axiom of foundation. Moreover, we study Grothendieck’s proposal of adding to Bourbaki’s system the axiom of universes for the purpose of considering the theory of categories. In this regard, we make some historical and epistemological remarks that could explain the conservative attitude of the Group.     

Self-ambivalence and resistance to subtle self-change attempts

Recent research has demonstrated the malleability of self-views to subtle situational influence but has not uncovered features of the self-concept representation that make it susceptible to such change. Using research on attitude ambivalence as a foundation, the current article predicted that the self would be most likely to respond to a subtle change induction when the targeted self-beliefs were objectively ambivalent (e.g., possessed both positive and negative features). Using self-esteem conditioning (Experiment 1) and outgroup stereotype priming (Experiment 2), it was found that people were more susceptible to subtle change inductions as objective self-ambivalence increased. Notably, the consistency between dominant self-views (positive or negative) and the change induction did not influence these results. These effects held for objective ambivalence, but not subjective ambivalence, and only when the objective ambivalence measure was relevant to the change induction. Mechanisms of the observed moderation and the implications of self-ambivalence for understanding self-change are discussed.     

The Unrealized Eschatology of Michel Henry: Theological Gestures from his Phenomenological Aesthetics

This study responds to readings of Michel Henry’s eschatology as over-realized through an analysis of his frequently neglected phenomenological aesthetics in Seeing the Invisible: On Kandinsky in light of the theological articulation of his phenomenology of life. It argues for a distinctly unrealized thrust to his program by foregrounding the notion of monumental art and the rootedness of human praxis, artistic and otherwise, in concrete sensible reality. The conclusion suggests that Henry’s project, while theologically problematic, opens a path towards the development of a theological phenomenological cosmology when supplemented.