Why the other-race effect matters: Poor recognition of other-race faces impacts everyday social interactions

What happens to everyday social interactions when other-race recognition fails? Here, we provide the first formal investigation of this question. We gave East Asian international students (N = 89) a questionnaire concerning their experiences of the other-race effect (ORE) in Australia, and a laboratory test of their objective other-race face recognition deficit using the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). As a ‘perpetrator’ of the ORE, participants reported that their problems telling apart Caucasian people contributed significantly to difficulties socializing with them. Moreover, the severity of this problem correlated with their ORE on the CFMT. As a ‘victim’ of the ORE, participants reported that Caucasians' problems telling them apart also contributed to difficulties socializing. Further, 81% of participants had been confused with other Asians by a Caucasian authority figure (e.g., university tutor, workplace boss), resulting in varying levels of upset/difficulty. When compared to previously established contributors to international students' high rates of social isolation, ORE-related problems were perceived as equally important as the language barrier and only moderately less important than cultural differences. We conclude that the real-world impact of the ORE extends beyond previously identified specialized settings (eyewitness testimony, security), to common everyday situations experienced by all humans.     

Murphy on Postmodernity, Science, and Religion

Nancey Murphy claims that a shift in "thinking strategy" from modern to postmodern modes of thought makes it easier to exhibit the intellectual respectability of theology vis-à-vis the sciences. Her case for this proposition depends on modernist interests, most notably in systematizing the sciences for reasons that have their origin in Plato's divided line.     

Personality and Religion a study among 8‐11 year olds

A sample of 166 year four, year five and year six pupils completed the Francis scale of attitude toward Christianity together with the short‐form Revised Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data extend the findings of previous research by demonstrating that psychoticism is the dimension of personality fundamental to individual differences in religiosity among a sample of children as young as 9‐11 years of age.     

IF OUR GENES ARE FOR US,WHO CAN BE AGAINST US? THOUGHTS OF A PRAGMATIST ON SCIENCE AND MORALITY

Abstract. The philosopher Michael Ruse accounts for the difference between hypothetical and categorical imperatives, and thus the origin of distinctively moral obligations like that of altruism, in genetic terms. This is part of an attempt to develop a philosophy that takes Darwin seriously by substituting respectable scientific entities, specifically those of evolutionary biology, for suspect theological or philosophical ones, like God or the transcendental ego, as a basis for addressing philosophical questions. Pragmatists take Darwin seriously, but in a very different way from that proposed by Ruse. Darwin introduced a “logic” into the study of living things—including human beings, the human mind, and culture— that leads philosophers to ask new and different questions about morality rather than trying to supply new answers to the same old questions. This essay contrasts these two different ways of taking Darwin seriously for purposes of philosophy and claims certain advantages for the pragmatist way over Ruse's.     

Interactions Between Goal Instability and Social Support on College Freshman Adjustment

The authors examined the moderating effect of goal instability on the benefits of components of perceived social support on entering freshmen's academic and personal adjustment. A significant interaction was identified between goal instability and two components of social support: appraised and belonging. Low goal-directed individuals reporting low appraised social support reported lower levels of personal adjustment than did high goal-directed individuals with the same level of appraised social support. In addition, high goal-directed individuals reporting a high sense of belonging reported greater personal adjustment than did high goal-directed individuals with low reported sense of belonging. Implications for the role of goal directedness and social support on improving college adjustment are discussed.     

Enhancement Programs for Entering University Majority and Minority Freshmen

In this study the authors evaluated the relative effects of two enhancement programs for minority and White entering freshmen. Minorities had greater satisfaction ratings and awareness of individual differences. Students showed improved adjustment regardless of treatment condition, suggesting comparable effects for a 10-week classroom-structured adjustment program.