Metaphor: a paradigm for practice-based research into 'career'

This article describes the development of a practice-based methodology for researching 'career' in constructive and critical terms. It begins by suggesting that 'career' theories, both new and old, continue to be confounded by the dualism of human agency and social structure. An argument is then presented to suggest that metaphor provides a means of understanding the reflexive relationship between human actions and social systems. Based on a synthesis of constructivist and critical theory perspectives, a detailed exposition of metaphor as a paradigm for practice-based research is then provided. The emerging methodological implications for researching 'career' are then considered and an example is given of constructive and critical research in action. The article concludes by relating the methodology to careers guidance practice.     

Self-Reported Delinquency,neuropsychological deficit,and history of attention deficit disorder

This study was designed to evaluate the possibility that a pattern of cognitive deficit is associated with delinquent behavior, while avoiding some of the methodological problems of previous research. The Self- Report Early Delinquency instrument and a research battery of neuropsychological tests were administered blindly to an unselected cohort of 678 13- year- olds. Because the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder (ADD) was found at markedly elevated rates in the backgrounds of these delinquents, the possibility was examined that the neuropsychological deficits of delinquents might be limited to delinquents with histories of ADD. Although delinquents with past ADD were more cognitively impaired than non-ADD delinquents, both groups scored significantly below nondelinquents on verbal, visuospatial, and visualmotor integration skills. In addition, ADD delinquents scored poorly on memory abilities. Subjects with ADD who had not developed delinquent behavior were not as cognitively impaired as ADD delinquents, suggesting that it is the specific comorbidity of ADD and delinquency that bears neuropsychological study.This work was supported by USPHS Grant 1 R23 MH-42723-01 from the Antisocial and Violent Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit is supported by the Medical Research Council of New Zealand. Appreciation is expressed for the methodological advice of Prof. Sarnoff A. Mednick, and for the data collection efforts of Mrs. Pat Brasch, Mrs. Kathleen Campbell, Mr. Rich Poulton, and the psychometrists who administered the WISC-R.     

Stout,Rawls, and the Idea of Public Reason

Jeffrey Stout claims that John Rawls's idea of public reason (IPR) has contributed to a Christian backlash against liberalism. This essay argues that those whom Stout calls “antiliberal traditionalists” have misunderstood Rawls in important ways, and goes on to consider Stout's own critiques of the IPR. While Rawls's idea is often interpreted as a blanket prohibition on religious reasoning outside church and home, the essay will show that the very viability of the IPR depends upon a rich culture of deliberation in which all forms of reasoning can be put forth for consideration. This clarification addresses the perception that the IPR imposes an “asymmetrical burden” upon believers. In fact, the essay suggests that there are good reasons why believers, qua believers, might endorse the IPR.     

Effects of abusive supervision on employees’ innovative behavior: The role of job insecurity and locus of control

Drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory by Hobfoll, we examined the relationships between abusive supervision, job insecurity, locus of control, and employees’ innovative behavior. Using self‐reported data collected from employees among four enterprises in China (N = 641), we found that abusive supervision was positively correlated with job insecurity. In contrast, both job insecurity and abusive supervision were negatively correlated with employees’ innovative behavior, with the impact of abusive supervision on innovative behavior being mediated by its effect on job insecurity. Having an external locus of control that served as a buffering factor for employees, mitigating the relationship between abusive supervision and job insecurity. These findings complement the existing research on the impacts of abusive leadership, providing practical information for enterprises on how to enhance levels of innovation and vitality among employees.     

Teaching Islam in contemporary America: Digital ethnography and the affective challenges of Islamic studies pedagogy

In this article we address the affective dimensions and challenges of teaching about Islam and Islamic studies in the current American political and cultural environment and make two related arguments. First, we explain how the impact of certain kinds of digital media in the past few years has heightened the association of Islam with violence in the minds of many Americans, leading to a classroom affective environment characterized by the “posttraumatic” experience of knowledge about Islam. Second, we argue that the pedagogical use of digital media as a tool for ethnographic and empathic engagement with individual Muslim lives can help meet this particular teaching challenge. We show how the pedagogical employment of digital ethnography can turn the affective power of digital media into a positive learning tool, and model its responsible social and intellectual use.     

Over‐selective Responding in a Diagnostic Judgment Task

Medical diagnoses are often made on the basis of the presence of multiple symptoms. However, little is known about how the presence of multiple simultaneous symptoms may influence a bias in determining which symptoms are identified, in part due to a lack of an experimental analogue of this process. The current article presents a laboratory analogue of this process and explores whether over‐selectivity influences the ability to identify symptoms indicative of particular illnesses. In two experiments, participants completed a diagnosis task that required them to rate the degree to which symptoms predicted illnesses, with predictor symptoms being presented either singly or in compound. In both experiments, over‐selectivity was observed; one symptom of the compound received lower ratings, compared to the other element of the compound and the single predictor, while the other component received comparable ratings with the element. These findings are discussed in relation to associative accounts of over‐selectivity and as a procedure to study biases in medical decision making.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Latent inhibition and context change in psychometrically defined schizotypy

The disruption of latent inhibition within the schizophrenia spectrum has often been interpreted either as a result of increased attentional distractibility (attentional account) or as a result of deficient interference of past associations (associative account). The aim of the present investigation was to test competing predictions, as derived from the above theoretical accounts. In a visual search paradigm of latent inhibition, accuracy was examined as a function of prior experience with the target, and psychometrically defined schizotypy. In Experiment 1 (N=60), no context change was introduced. In accord with past evidence, latent inhibition was found to be intact in low-, but disrupted in high-schizotypy scorers, a result predicted both by attentional and associative accounts. In Experiment 2 (N=60), a context change was introduced. As predicted by past evidence, latent inhibition was disrupted in low-schizotypy scorers. However, latent inhibition was found to be intact in high-schizotypy scorers, a finding accommodated by attentional, but not associative accounts. Theoretical implications and alternative interpretations are also considered.     

Making sense of surprise: an investigation of the factors influencing surprise judgments

Surprise is often defined in terms of disconfirmed expectations, whereby the surprisingness of an event is thought to be dependent on the degree to which it contrasts with a more likely, or expected, outcome. The authors investigated the alternative hypothesis that surprise is more accurately modeled as a manifestation of an ongoing sense-making process. In a series of experiments, participants were given a number of scenarios and rated surprise and probability for various hypothetical outcomes that either confirmed or disconfirmed an expectation. Experiment 1 demonstrated that representational specificity influences the relationship that holds between surprise and probability ratings. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the inclusion of an enabling event lowers surprise ratings for disconfirming outcomes. Experiment 3 explored the reason for this effect, revealing that enabling events lower surprise by reducing uncertainty, thus enhancing ease of integration. Experiment 4 evaluated the contrast hypothesis directly, showing that differences in contrast are not correlated with differences in surprise. These results provide converging support for the view that the level of surprise experienced for an event is related to the difficulty of integrating that event with an existing representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Stonewalling through Schizophrenia: An Anti-Gay Rights Culture in Hong Kong?

With its British colonial legacy and Chinese make-up, Hong Kong provides a stimulating stadium and lens through which to examine the validity of the use of “culture” in arguing against homosexuality and the development and protection of the rights of sexual minorities. After a brief account on the legal developments in Hong Kong on homosexuality, this article examines how the argument that Hong Kong has an inherently anti-gay rights culture, which simultaneously emphasizes Confucianism and Christianity, and which the government then uses to stonewall the development and protection of the rights of sexual minorities, merely illuminates an underlying schizophrenia as to what that culture actually is. In the process of my diagnosis, I will also discuss whether Confucianism and Christianity indeed oppose homosexuality and sexual minority rights.