Beyond freedom and dignity at 40: comments on behavioral science, the future, and chance (2007)

Forty years after the publication of Beyond Freedom and Dignity (Skinner, 1971) and the continuing growth of behavior analysis, the future of humanity and the role of behavioral science in that future remain uncertain. A recent paper by Chance (2007) documented a shift in Skinner's views during the last years of his life. Skinner had long advocated a science and technology of behavior for finding and engineering solutions to cultural and global problems and advancing human development. This optimism had given way under a gradual realization that the science of behavior was in fact showing how such problems were unlikely to be solved in time to avert a variety of possible disasters. Chance described nine behavioral phenomena that appear to interfere with effective problem-solving behavior on a large scale and in effective time frames. These phenomena are reviewed toward an analysis of common themes. Research is also reviewed that involves nonverbal, verbal, and cultural contingencies that may lead to applications designed to address the common themes. Problems and strategies of implementation are also discussed. The challenges are daunting, but may nevertheless be regarded as technical problems best suited for a science and technology of behavior.     

Bidirectional relations between different forms of prosocial behaviors and substance use among female college student athletes

Bidirectional, longitudinal relations between alcohol and marijuana use and prosocial behaviors in women college student athletes were examined. Participants were 187 female college students (M_age = 19.87 years; 91% White) who completed questionnaires on their use of marijuana and alcohol, and six forms of prosocial behaviors across 6 years (2004–2010). The findings yield overall evidence that earlier marijuana use predicted lower levels of most specific forms of prosocial behaviors for women athletes in later young adulthood. Early expressions of altruistic behaviors predicted less marijuana use in later young adulthood. Expression of public prosocial behaviors early in young adulthood predicted higher levels of hazardous drinking in late young adulthood. These novel findings have important implications for links between prosocial development and substance use in women college athletes.     

The Integration of Personal Identity,Religious Identity,and Moral Identity in Emerging Adulthood

The present study investigated the relative roles of identity structure (i.e., personal identity) and identity contents (i.e., religious identity and moral identity) in predicting emerging adults’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors. The sample included 9,495 college students. A variable-centered analysis (path analysis) used personal identity, religious identity, and moral identity as predictors of prosocial and antisocial behavior and tested interactions of personal identity with religious identity and moral identity. Moral identity was the strongest predictor of both behaviors, and religious identity and moral identity both interacted with personal identity in predicting antisocial behavior. A person-centered analysis (latent profile analysis) found three classes: integrated, moral identity–focused, and religious identity–focused, with integrated being most adaptive on both outcomes.     

The Hard Road to Presentism

It is a common criticism of presentism – the view according to which only the present exists – that it errs against truthmaker theory. Recent attempts to resolve the truthmaker objection against presentism proceed by restricting truthmaker maximalism (the view that all truths have truthmakers), maintaining that propositions concerning the past are not made true by anything, but are true nonetheless. Support for this view is typically garnered from the case for negative existential propositions, which some philosophers contend are exceptions to truthmaker maximalism. In this article, we argue that a ‘no truthmakers’ approach to the truthmaker objection is critically flawed.     

Personhood,consciousness, and god: how to be a proper pantheist

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion - In this paper I develop a theory of personhood which leaves open the possibility of construing the universe as a person. If successful, it removes...     

Determining the Effectiveness of an Alcohol Intervention Program With Greek College Students

The authors examined the perception of college students from Greek organizations on the effectiveness of an alcohol intervention program that included gender‐specific programming. Significant reductions in risky alcohol use were found in men who attended and evaluated the program as helpful.     

Dissonant emotions,divergent outcomes: Constructing space for emotional methodologies in development

Movimento para a liberdade das mulheres na prostituição (Movimento) and União para a protecção dos direitos dos trabalhadores (União) are mobilising for human rights around sex work and prostitution in Latin America. After a year of working with both groups, my relationship with Movimento broke down; meanwhile the relationship with União flourished and from it emerged intensive and productive ethnographic experiences and a large and rich dataset. The paper asks why this happened and why the two groups responded so differently to the same research proposal. The paper contributes to understandings of emotional methodologies in three related ways. Firstly, it emphasises the importance of considering collective emotion, emotional hues and identities at the organisational scale when designing and implementing research projects. Secondly, it demonstrates how affective ties based on these emotional hues produce space. Thirdly, it argues that incorporating emotions into both our analyses and methodologies can challenge orthodox constructions of subjects in development as rationalistic and atomistic actors.     

Use of social network sites and instant messaging does not lead to increased offline social network size, or to emotionally closer relationships with offline network members

The effect of Internet use on social relationships is still a matter of intense debate. This study examined the relationships between use of social media (instant messaging and social network sites), network size, and emotional closeness in a sample of 117 individuals aged 18 to 63 years old. Time spent using social media was associated with a larger number of online social network "friends." However, time spent using social media was not associated with larger offline networks, or feeling emotionally closer to offline network members. Further, those that used social media, as compared to non-users of social media, did not have larger offline networks, and were not emotionally closer to offline network members. These results highlight the importance of considering potential time and cognitive constraints on offline social networks when examining the impact of social media use on social relationships.