Difficulty of refusal to assist the outgroup nonmonotonically affects the intensity of prejudiced affect

Building on emotional intensity theory (Brehm in Pers Soc Psychol Rev 3:2–22, 1999), we propose that difficulty of engaging in prejudiced behavior should nonmonotonically influence prejudiced affect. In two experiments, we informed anti-gay participants about a gay and lesbian student organization’s need for assistance. We operationalized refusal to help the organization as a behavioral tendency motivated by the experienced prejudiced affect. To manipulate difficulty of refusing to help, in Study 1, participants were offered an opportunity to help by volunteering either 6 h (easy to refuse to help), 2 h (moderately difficult to refuse), or ½ h (very difficult to refuse) per week. In Study 2, we used the same manipulation except that the participants in the very difficult to refuse condition were asked to volunteer ½ h every other week. In both experiments, participants in the control condition were asked to help but no amount of time was specified. As predicted, prejudiced affect was a cubic function of difficulty of refusal to help: affect decreased from the control to the easy condition, increased from the easy to the moderately difficult condition, and, in Study 2, decreased from the moderate to the very difficult condition. Implications of the findings and future directions for research are discussed.     

Parent–child relationship quality and infantile amnesia in adults

The first years of life are typically shrouded by infantile amnesia, but there is enormous variability between adults in how early and how much they can remember from this period. This study examined one possible factor affecting this variability: whether the perceived quality of parent–child relationships is associated with the number of early memories young adults can retrieve, and their age at the time of their first memory. We found such associations but they were qualified by parent gender. Mother–child relationships that were more affectively intense (greater social support but also more negative interchanges) were associated with recalling more early memories, although paternal companionship was most associated with how early an individual's first memory was. Affective tone of retrieved memories was also assessed, and a greater proportion of affectively positive memories (as well as fewer affectively neutral memories for males) was associated with high parental involvement in children's lives.     

A Royal Road to Consequentialism?

To consequentialise a moral theory means to account for moral phenomena usually described in nonconsequentialist terms, such as rights, duties, and virtues, in a consequentialist framework. This paper seeks to show that all moral theories can be consequentialised. The paper distinguishes between different interpretations of the consequentialiser’s thesis, and emphasises the need for a cardinal ranking of acts. The paper also offers a new answer as to why consequentialising moral theories is important: This yields crucial methodological insights about how to pursue ethical inquires.     

Imaging God: Cyborgs, Brain‐Machine Interfaces, and a More Human Future

Abstract:  Recent developments in the neurosciences have made possible the advent of brain‐machine interfaces, potentially altering our understanding of our relationship with technology and even the very meaning of what it is to be human. This article briefly examines some of the recent developments in neuroengineering and considers the ethical implications. Working from Jesus' miracles as well as from a dynamic understanding of the image of God, I argue that the categories of healing and transformation should be employed in thinking through the implications of brain‐machine interfaces specifically and neuroengineering generally. Although the vocabulary of the cyborg may represent the newfound freedom that this technology can bring, the category of the face may serve as a reminder of the boundedness of human nature.     

FORTY YEARS LATER: WHAT HAVE WE ACCOMPLISHED?

Abstract. I examine the responses to John Caiazza's “Athens, Jerusalem, and the Arrival of Techno‐Secularism” as part of Zygon's forty‐year anniversary symposium. The responses reveal that issues of modernism and postmodernism are central to understanding the dynamic of the current science‐religion/theology dialogue and that the resistance of many of the participants to the influences of postmodernism is a sign not of its backwardness but rather of some of the weaknesses inherent in the postmodern project. This does not mean that the many insights of postmodernism should be rejected. Rather, the science‐religion/theology dialogue may be in an intellectually opportune place to construct successors to the worn label of postmodernism.     

Convergence of Character Strengths in American and Japanese Young Adults

We investigated cultural influences on the distribution of character strengths, gender differences in character strengths, and the relationship of happiness to character strengths. Young adults from the United States (n=1099) and Japan (n=308) completed the English or Japanese versions of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths. American and Japanese showed similar distributions of the 24 strengths measured: Higher strengths included love, humor and kindness, and lesser strengths included prudence, self-regulation, and modesty. Gender differences across cultures were also similar: Females were more likely than males to report strengths of love and kindness, whereas males were more likely to report bravery and creativity. In both samples, associations with happiness were found for zest, hope, curiosity and gratitude. The present study is a first step in an international study of character strengths, and we discuss the ubiquity and variation of character across culture.     

Don't Get Too Excited: Assessing Individual Differences in the Down-Regulation of Positive Emotions

A voluminous literature has documented the importance of emotion regulation for health and well-being. The studies in this literature, however, have generally focused on the down-regulation of negative affect. Few studies have examined the down-regulation of positive affect. In Study 1, we constructed a scale, the revised Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (r–RESE), which assesses both the down- and up-regulation of positive affect, in addition to the traditional down-regulation of negative affect. In Study 2, we conducted an extensive validation of the r–RESE scale, using a multimethod approach with informant ratings, to illustrate that the down-regulation of positive affect represents a process independent of each of the other forms of emotion regulation. In Study 3, we provided evidence that the ability to down-regulate positive emotions provides added predictive utility when predicting indexes of impulsivity and adjustment. Across the studies, we illustrate the potential importance of the down-regulation of positive emotions as a topic of study for the field of emotion regulation.     

Youth Cognitive Empowerment: Development and Evaluation of an Instrument

Psychological empowerment (PE) is a multicomponent construct that involves the mechanisms through which people and groups gain control over their lives and environments. Psychological empowerment has previously been operationalized using measures of sociopolitical control among young people, with findings indicating links between PE and other positive developmental outcomes. Sociopolitical control, however, is only an indicator for the emotional component of PE. Research has largely neglected the cognitive component of PE, particularly in studies of younger people. In fact, few studies to date have presented and empirically tested measurement instruments for the cognitive component of PE among youth. In this study, we adapted a measure, which previously had been validated and used among adults, for use among young people and tested it in a sample of high school students (53% female, 75% Hispanic) in an urban school in the northeastern U.S. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the hypothesized three‐factor structure of cognitive empowerment, and the measure was examined for association with the construct of social justice orientation. Results indicate an adequate fit for the second‐order factor, and an expected relationship with the related construct.