THE VACUITY OF POSTMODERNIST METHODOLOGY

Abstract: Many of the philosophical doctrines purveyed by postmodernists have been roundly refuted, yet people continue to be taken in by the dishonest devices used in proselytizing for postmodernism. I exhibit, name, and analyse five favourite rhetorical manoeuvres: Troll's Truisms, Motte and Bailey Doctrines, Equivocating Fulcra, the Postmodernist Fox Trot, and Rankly Relativising Fields. Anyone familiar with postmodernist writing will recognise their pervasive hold on the dialectic of postmodernism and come to judge that dialectic as it ought to be judged.     

The Lessons of the Development of the First APA Ethics Code: Blending Science,Practice, and Politics

The Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association (APA) is a bedrock of the profession. The contextual factors of society affect the Ethics Code of the APA, resulting in an ever-changing document. The context of the reorganization of the APA after World War II created an initial impetus toward a formalized code. A key contextual feature of the Code's development was the use of the Critical Incident Technique, which was based in the empirical aspirations of the psychological field. This article explores the historical context around the APA's decision to draft an ethics code, reviews its development, and discusses its role for psychologists today.     

Divided attention: An undesirable difficulty in memory retention

How can we improve memory retention? A large body of research has suggested that difficulty encountered during learning, such as when practice sessions are distributed rather than massed, can enhance later memory performance (see R. A. Bjork & E. L. Bjork, 1992). Here, we investigated whether divided attention during retrieval practice can also constitute a desirable difficulty. Following two initial study phases and one test phase with Swahili–English word pairs (e.g., vuvi–snake), we manipulated whether items were tested again under full or divided attention. Two days later, participants were brought back for a final cued-recall test (e.g., vuvi–?). Across three experiments (combined N = 122), we found no evidence that dividing attention while practicing retrieval enhances memory retention. This finding raises the question of why many types of difficulty during practice do improve long-term retention, but dividing attention does not.     

Exploitation as Domination: A Response to Arneson

In a recent paper in this journal, Richard Arneson criticizes the domination account of exploitation and attributes it to me and Allen Wood. In this paper, I defend the domination account against Arneson's criticisms. I begin by showing that the domination view is distinct from the vulnerability‐based view defended by Wood. I also show that Alan Wertheimer's influential account of exploitation is congenial to the domination view. I then argue that Arneson's own fairness‐based view of exploitation generates false negatives and trivializes the concept of exploitation, rendering it entirely parasitic on the notion of unfairness.     

Empowering Change Agents: Youth Organizing Groups as Sites for Sociopolitical Development

In addition to social action campaigns, some youth organizing groups provide formative learning experiences which engage youth in relevant sociopolitical issues through critical approaches. These groups support sociopolitical development (SPD), a self and socially‐oriented process which influences youth personally, politically, and professionally into adulthood. This study explored how youth organizing experiences influenced SPD in the professional domain, applying an empowerment lens. Phenomenologically‐based interviews were conducted with former sexual health education youth organizers and adult program staff. Former youth participants chose socially‐oriented career paths influenced by the group's empowering approach to sexual health education and advocacy. They related meaningful sociopolitical learning experiences (e.g., interpersonal, educational, and civic engagement) to empowerment outcomes (e.g., political efficacy, critical awareness, and participatory behaviors) which informed career decisions. Professionally, participants sought to empower others as the group empowered them, drawing upon youth organizing social and human capital as they worked toward this aim. Combining sociopolitical and empowerment theorizing, the study adds to what is known about how purposefully designed youth organizing experiences support long‐term development outcomes for individuals. Viewed as socially‐oriented career development sites, youth organizing groups build capacity for social change beyond the groups themselves. Implications for youth organizing scholars and practitioners are provided.     

Talent Development in Elite Junior Tennis: Perceptions of Players,Parents, and Coaches

This study examined players,' parents,' and coaches' perceptions of talent development in elite junior tennis. Nine participants (three athletes aged 13–15 yrs, four parents, and two coaches) were engaged in semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed verbatim and subjected to an inductive-deductive analysis procedure. Results revealed six categories associated with adult influence on talent development in tennis (Emotional Support, Tangible Support, Informational Support, Sacrifices, Pressure, and Relationships with Coaches). Overall, the results highlighted that parents appeared to fulfill the most significant roles in terms of providing emotional and tangible support (with the mother being more involved than the father). Parents were perceived as a source of pressure when they became over-involved in competitive settings. The role of the coach was focused on providing technical advice. Findings also showed that parents and players were required to make sacrifices. The main applied implication of this study is that involvement in elite junior tennis is a team effort whereby players, parents, and coaches fulfill specific roles.     

Networks,Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion

Community scholars increasingly focus on the linkage between residents’ sense of cohesion with the neighborhood and their own social networks in the neighborhood. A challenge is that whereas some research only focuses on residents’ social ties with fellow neighbors, such an approach misses out on the larger constellation of individuals’ relationships and the spatial distribution of those relationships. Using data from the Twin Communities Network Study, the current project is one of the first studies to examine the actual spatial distribution of respondents’ networks for a variety of relationships and the consequences of these for neighborhood and city cohesion. We also examine how a perceived structural measure of cohesion—triangle degree—impacts their perceptions of neighborhood and city cohesion. Our findings suggest that perceptions of cohesion within the neighborhood and the city depend on the number of neighborhood safety contacts as well as on the types of people with which they discuss important matters. On the other hand, kin and social friendship ties do not impact cohesion. A key finding is that residents who report more spatially dispersed networks for certain types of ties report lower levels of neighborhood and city cohesion. Residents with higher triangle degree within their neighborhood safety networks perceived more neighborhood cohesion.     

GENDER, JEALOUSY, AND REASON

Abstract— Research has suggested that men are especially bothered by evidence of their partner's sexual infidelity, whereas women are troubled more by evidence of emotional infidelity. One evolutionary account (Buss, Larsen, Westen, & Semmelroth, 1992) argues that this is an innate difference, arising from men's need for paternity certainty and women's need for male investment in their offspring. We suggest that the difference may instead be based on reasonable differences between the sexes in how they interpret evidence of infidelity. A man, thinking that women have sex only when in love, has reason to believe that if his mate has sex with another man, she is in love with that other. A woman, thinking that men can have sex without love, should still be bothered by sexual infidelity, but less so because it does not imply that her mate has fallen in love as well. A survey of 137 subjects confirmed that men and women do differ in the predicted direction in how much they think each form of infidelity implies the other, proposing innate emotional differences may, therefore, be gratuitous.     

Whitehead,Confucius, and the aesthetics of virtue

The most constructive response to the crisis in moral theory has been the revival of virtue ethics, an ethics that has the advantages of being personal, contextual, and, as this paper will argue, normative as well. The first section offers a general comparative analysis of Confucian and Whiteheadian philosophies, showing their common process orientation and their views of a somatic self united in reason and passion. The second section contrasts rational with aesthetic order, demonstrating a parallel with analytic and synthetic reason, and showing that rule‐based ethics comes under the former and virtue ethics under the latter. The third and final section discusses a Confucian–Whiteheadian aesthetics of virtue, focusing on love as the comprehensive virtue. The principal goal of the paper is to propose that an appropriation of Confucian virtue ethics will enhance the otherwise slow development of a Euro–American process ethics.