An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Exercise Among Older Adults1

One hundred five older adults enrolled in exercise classes were recruited from local YMCAs. Exercise behavior was measured 1, 3, and 9 months after beginning the exercise class. Intentions were not a significant predictor of exercise behavior, probably because of a lack of variance; most people intended to exercise. The direct measures of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, however, explained 9% of exercise behavior at 1 month. They did not significantly explain behavior at 3 and 9 months. When the indirect measure of subjective norms explained 18% of exercise behavior at 1 month. The indirect measure of perceived behavioral control accounted for 27% of the variance at 1 month and 10% at 3 months.     

Range of acceptable stimulus intensities: An estimator of dynamic range for intensive perceptual continua

The dynamic range (DR) of a sensory system is the span (usually given in log units) from the lowest to highest intensities over which a continuously graded response is evoked, and may be a distinctive feature of each such system. Teghtsoonian (1971) proposed that, although DR varies widely over sensory systems, itssubjective size (SDR) is invariant. Assuming the psychophysical power law, the exponent for any continuum is given by the ratio of subjective span to DR, both quantities expressed logarithmically. Thus, exponents are inversely related to DR and may be interpreted as indexes of it. Because DR can be difficult or even dangerous to measure directly, we sought to define a smaller range representing some fixed proportion of DR that could be used in its place to test the hypothesis of an invariant subjective range. Observers manipulated the intensities of five target continua to produce the broadest range they found acceptable and reasonably comfortable, a range of acceptable stimulus intensities (RASIN). Combined with an assumed constant SDR (derived from previous research), RASINs accurately predicted exponents obtained by magnitude production from the same observers on the five continua, as well as exponents reported in the literature.     

Moral Expertise?: Constitutional Narratives and Philosophical Argument

Using the bench trial of Colorado's Amendment 2 as an example, this article focuses on the more general question of expert testimony in moral philosophy. It argues that there is indeed expertise in moral philosophy but argues against admitting such expert testimony in cases dealing with what John Rawls terms "constitutional essentials" and 'matters of basic justice." Developing the idea of public reason inherent in the Rawlsian concept of political liberalism, the article argues that philosophers can and should speak out on public issues, if they do so with due respect for certain restrictions, but that they should not serve as expert witnesses on core constitutional questions, since doing so suggests that they claim a type of authority that would require fellow citizens to defer to their views. Such claims to authority in basic ethical matters threaten the mutual respect for divergent comprehensive doctrines that lies at the core of political liberalism. Philosophers have a duty to serve the public good, and they perform this service in fruitful ways. But they should refuse a public role that appears incompatible with equal respect for the committed ethical searching of their fellow citizens.     

Education for Citizenship in an Era of Global Connection

Higher education makes an importantcontribution to citizenship. In the UnitedStates, the required portion of the ``liberalarts education' in colleges and universitiescan be reformed so as to equip students for thechallenges of global citizenship. The paperadvocates focusing on three abilities: theSocratic ability to critize one's owntraditions and to carry on an argument on termsof mutual respect for reason; (2) the abilityto think as a citizen of the whole world, notjust some local region or group; and (3) the``narrative imagination,' the ability to imaginewhat it would be like to be in the position ofsomeone very different from oneself. The paperdiscusses the role of the ``liberal arts'curriculum in U.S. education and asks howEuropean universities, with their differentstructure, might promote these three abilities.     

Eroticism for the masses: Japanese manga comiss and their assimilation into the U.S.

In this article, we describe translated Japanese comics or “manga” with sexual content. Because in the West comics have been treated as junk culture, they lack canons for critical analysis. We have developed methods for analyzing manga that focus on objective assessment of content, on reader subjectivity, and on how the emotional tenor of the artwork is created. We briefly review some history of Japanese art and culture, in which sexuality has always been a legitimate subject for art and which forms the cultural underpinnings of manga. We summarize the erotic themes and visions of manga with sexual content, including heterosexual courtship and consummation, female and male homosexuality, sadomasochism, transvestitism, incest, and bestiality. Critics of manga argue that it glorifies rape, a view we could not confirm. We identified 87 stories with rape or sexual assault; 80 (92.0%) show the woman or others taking violent, often murderous, revenge on sexual attackers. We also analyze visual modalities for depicting men and women. In common with older Japanese aesthetic traditions, the manga we have seen depict women as beautiful, powerful, and erotic. Finally, we suggest that manga functions as an art form by mobilizing the reader’s involvement with the characters, especially female characters, in a complex narrative framework in which sexuality is a positive virtue for men and, especially, for women. We conclude that manage contains some of the finest erotic art being produced in the world today for sheer power, elegance, and drama. Some of this material was presented at the Western Regional Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, San Diego, CA, April 6–9, 2000.