On Leaving Flatland and Honoring Maslow

Abstract

This article is about the failure of humanistic psychology to live up to the challenge of Maslow's basic idea of levels of psychospiritual development. Too many humanistic writers are still living in Flatland, where there are no levels, no differences in ways of looking at the world, no grades of consciousness. Some examples are given. This article argues that it would be more in keeping with Maslow's humanistic legacy to acknowledge an evolutionary hierarchy of thought in action. Ken Wilber shows how this could be taken even further. Some examples are given of what this might look like in practice.     

Perceived facial adiposity conveys information about women's health

Although several prominent theories of human facial attractiveness propose that some facial characteristics convey information about people's health, empirical evidence for this claim is somewhat mixed. While most previous research into this issue has focused on facial characteristics such as symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism, a recent study reported that ratings of facial adiposity (i.e., perceptions of fatness in the face) were positively correlated with indices of poor physical condition in a sample of young adults (i.e., reported past health problems and measures of cardiovascular fitness). These findings are noteworthy, since they suggest that perceived adiposity is a potentially important facial cue of health that has been overlooked by much of the previous work in this area. Here, we show that ratings of young adult women's facial adiposity are (1) better predicted by their body weight than by their body shape (Studies 1 and 2), (2) correlated with a composite measure of their physical and psychological condition (Study 2), and (3) negatively correlated with their trait (i.e., average) salivary progesterone levels (Study 3). Together, these findings present further evidence that perceived facial adiposity, or a correlate thereof, conveys potentially important information about women's actual health.     

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) selectively bred to differ in avoidance behavior also differ in response to novelty stress, in glycemic conditioning, and in reward contrast

The behavior of the Syracuse high avoidance (SHA) and Syracuse low avoidance (SLA) rats, selectively bred by Brush (F. R. Brush, J. C. Froehlich, & P. Sakellaris, 1979, Behavior Genetics, 9, 309-316) to differ in avoidance behavior, was examined in several different tasks. The SLA rats showed a greater elevation in plasma glucose when exposed to a novel environment; after 7 days of exposure to this environment there was evidence of habituation in the SHA rats but not in the SLA rats; the SHA rats showed a hyperglycemic conditioned response in a glycemic conditioning procedure, the SLA rats showed no evidence of conditioning but had higher overall levels of plasma glucose; both strains showed reliable successive negative contrast effects in consummatory behavior when shifted from 32 to 4% sucrose, but the contrast was larger in the SLA rats; the administration of chlordiazepoxide eliminated negative contrast in the SLA rats but had no effect on contrast in the SHA rats; and the SLA rats were reliably heavier than the SHA rats. The behavioral differences were considered in the context of differences in emotional reactivity between the two strains.     

The meaning and measurement of self-disclosure

Self-disclosure is defined by Jourard as 'accurate portrayal of the self to others'. Jourard's theory states that people do not know themselves; his measure, the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (JSDQ), assumes that they do. Self-disclosure in Jourard's theoretical sense is not satisfactorily measured by the JSDQ, nor by such behavioural measures as rating people on the length of time they speak on personal topics. More adequate measures are discussed, based mainly on the principles of expressive consistency and of focusing on the dominant process, self-disclosing or self-alienating, rather than on the content which is disclosed or concealed.     

The technical and democratic approaches to risk situations: Their appeal,limitations, and rhetorical alternative

Because of the increasing number of man-made hazards in contemporary life, as well as the growing number of disastrous industrial accidents, interest in risk communication has burgeoned. Consequently, scholars and practitioners need to understand two of the more common responses to risk situations, the technical and democratic. This paper describes these two responses, identifies types of individuals likely to prefer each, and explains why, historically and sociologically, they are so intuitively compelling for many people. Arguing that both responses to risk situations are ultimately unconducive to rational discourse, the paper identifies problematic assumptions about communication that underlie both. The paper then sketches an alternative model of risk communication that recognizes the distinct features of communication in risk-ridden situations, describes ways in which communicators can identify characteristic tensions and goals in these situations, and specifies how to use research-supported heuristics for diagnosing the principal obstacles to their communicative goals and selecting the best strategies to address these obstacles.     

A multicultural framework in counsellor training: A preliminary evaluation

The multicultural module of a postgraduate Diploma in Counselling was evaluated. The evaluation focused both on former students' experience of the relevance of multiculturalism to their counselling and on which of three perspectives on multiculturalism they most agreed with. The findings confirmed and illustrated the relevance of multiculturalism to practice. The counsellors also expressed a clear preference for an integrationist perspective, with a structuralist approach their second choice.     

Motor constancy and the upsizing of handwriting

Although handwriting can vary in size, it remains remarkably similar in form, demonstrating motor constancy (equivalence). A consideration of changes in writing size may indicate: (1) how rescaling is accomplished, and (2) those invariant features that remain constrained under size variation. In the experiment reported here nine participants wrote the word “minimum” (without dotting “i’s”) in cursive text, under three size conditions on a SmartBoard. The standard deviation of stroke slope did not change its relationship to mean stroke slope, but stroke durations and lengths did vary. Kinematic analysis indicated that the number of submovements, their efficiency, and their kinematic structure varied across the three writing size conditions. The results suggested that motor constancy does not merely reflect a simple change in a single parameter of scale.     

Alcohol consumption and computer blackjack

The authors considered compliance with a decision aid that E. Thorp (1966) designed to minimize loss in a gambling paradigm under different levels of risk or impairment. Twenty adult men (aged 18-46) completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; H.R. Lesieur & S. B. Blume, 1987) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; J. P. Allen, D. E Reinert, & R. J. Volk, 2001) and then played a computer blackjack program before and after ingesting alcohol. The decision aid (online Basic advice) increased players' compliance with optimal play and also increased players willingness to wager more at high stakes. Participants attained a mean peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.048%. Alcohol increased the rate of play. After consuming alcohol, participants appeared to spend less time on their decisions and were more reliant on support. The authors explained these results in terms of an alcohol-induced myopia that enhances responses to salient cues.     

Semantic self-knowledge and the vat argument

Philosophical Studies - Putnam’s vat argument is intended to show that I am not a permanently envatted brain. The argument holds promise as a response to vat scepticism, which depends on the...     

The impact of surface projection on military tactics comprehension

This experiment assessed how displaying information onto different surfaces (flat vs. raised) influenced the performance, workload, and engagement of cadets answering questions on military tactics. Sixty-two cadets in a within-subjects design each answered 24 tactics-related questions across 2 conditions (12 on flat, 12 on raised) which were measured by accuracy and time on task. After each set of 12 questions, the cadets took postsurveys assessing engagement, measured by a modified User Engagement Scale and the System Usability Scale, and workload measured by the NASA-TLX. Findings indicated that raised terrain surface led to reduced workload and increased engagement and time on task as compared to the flat terrain surface. A practice effect drove performance metrics (time on task and accuracy), where the learner performed better on the second surface type displayed. This research contributes to expanding the literature base that supports alternative display methods to increase engagement and augment instruction of military tactics tasks.