Defying Unjust Authority: An Exploratory Study

This research explores the psychological factors potentially involved in fostering disobedience to an unjust authority. Our paradigm was modeled after that of the Utrecht Studies on Obedience (Meeus and Raaijmakers European Journal of Social Psychology 16:311-324, 1986) in which participants are ordered to give each of 15 increasingly hostile comments to a participant/victim whenever he fails a trial. Although 30% of our sample followed commands to insult the other participant (confederate), the majority did refuse to do so at some point in the escalating hostility sequence. Our procedure utilized conditions known from prior research to increase the ratio of disobedience to obedience: proximity of teacher to learner plus remote authority. In order to better understand some of the cognitive and affective processes that may predict such defiant behaviour, we utilized a variety of measures, among them, behavioural observations, individual difference assessments, and in depth post-experimental interviews.     

Task switching under predictable and unpredictable circumstances

Task switching was examined under predictable and unpredictable circumstances. In the first two experiments (in predictable conditions), the upcoming task was determined by the trial sequence. In unpredictable conditions, this task was signaled by the stimulus. Under speeded conditions, participants had to judge either the parity of a digit or the vowel/consonant nature of a letter. On bivalent trials, a digit and a letter were presented. On univalent trials, a task-relevant character occurred alongside a task-irrelevant character (e.g., "&"). Task-switching costs were found, and response times were generally slower on bivalent than on univalent trials. This crosstalk effect was reduced when a task repetition was expected. In the final experiment, trial predictability was defined according to whether a task precue was presented prior to or concurrently with the trial stimulus. Contrasting patterns of crosstalk effects were obtained and are discussed in terms of exogenous and endogenous factors that affect task switching.     

The dark side of visual awareness in sport: Inattentional blindness in a real-world basketball task

Most research in the field of decision making in sports has focused on the bright side of visual attention and has not taken the dark side of visual awareness into account. Understanding the costs of such inattention should be complementary to the study of how attention facilitates perception. In the present study, we provide evidence for the existence of inattentional blindness (IB) in a real-world basketball setting among adults (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we found that players with hardly any basketball experience were more likely to experience IB in a real-world basketball setting, as compared with experienced athletes. Improving the ecological validity of the setting by enhancing the perception-action coupling (Experiment 3) and increasing task difficulty (Experiment 4) did not appear to affect the occurrence of IB among experienced athletes. IB can be considered a limitation of the visual system, but it also highlights a critical aspect of visual processing, which allows us to remain focused on the important aspects of the world. But as is shown in the present experiments, it is possible to induce an attentional set—for example, by sport-specific instructions—that leads to players’ missing important game-relevant information.     

Deception Within Adolescent Sexual Conduct

Deception is presented as a “design to defeat a design” (Thompson 1986, p 64) where one actor purposefully changes the environment with the intention on generating a less adaptive response from another actor. The shared context combined with the indeterminacy of meanings makes deception not only possible, but also an important strategy for adaptation. In this regard not all deception temporarily causes individuals to reorganize their meaning making hierarchy around the changes made by the other party. Different uses of deceptions are explored with regards to adolescent sexual conduct, as their complex and quickly changing representations necessitate social recognition and adaptation.     

Making Life: A Comment on ‘Playing God in Frankenstein’s Footsteps: Synthetic Biology and the Meaning of Life’ by Henk van den Belt (2009)

“Van den Belt recently examined the notion that synthetic biology and the creation of ‘artificial’ organisms are examples of scientists ‘playing God’. Here I respond to some of the issues he raises, including some of his comments on my previous discussions of the value of the term ‘life’ as a scientific concept.”     

Can the Created Co‐Creator Be Lutheran?A Response to Svend Andersen

Abstract : The author responds to Svend Andersen's article in this journal 43: 4(Winter 2004) 312–23, “Can Bioethics Be Lutheran?” in which Andersen criticizes the concept of humans as created co‐creators, particularly because it asserts an equality between God and humans; he recommends in its place Luther's concept of humans as God's co‐operators or co‐workers. It is argued here that the created co‐creator meets the critique offered. The concept can be both theologized and secularized, which Andersen overlooks. The concept can be integrated into the Christian theology of divine creation, but it introduces irony into theological formulation which is necessary, and which the idea of “God's co‐operators” fails to do. Finally, the chief and most difficult theological issues are framed: Why does God create co‐creators? and How can they receive grace within a Lutheran framework?