Situated Behavior and the Place of Measurement in Psychological Theory

Measured values of human behavior may entail contradictory attributes of wave and particle by analogy with the wave/particle attributes of the electron. 1/f scaling is the wave attribute in this analogy and punctate data points are the particle attribute. One consequence of the wave/particle duality in physics was to elevate measurement to a primary place in physical theory, and one purpose of the present analogy is to likewise elevate measurement to a primary place in psychological theory. Another purpose is to emulate Robert Shaw's creative use of analogies, consistent with the brief quotation that begins this article.     

Culture at the Heart of Coping with HIV/AIDS

This study explored the manner in which a South African informal community coped with living with HIV/AIDS by relying on existing assets and local resources. A case study research design applying participatory reflection and action principles was used. Focus group/workshop sessions were conducted with ten selected female educators from the community. In addition, individual interviews with stakeholders and other members of the community (n=31, males=6, females=25) were also carried out. Supplemental data collection methods included observation, visual techniques, field notes and a reflective journal. The study found that community members coped with HIV/AIDS by relying on culture and family, faith in God, religiosity and prayer. Inner strength, hope, optimism and expectancy appeared to be key resources for informal settlement residents.     

HARD-BOILED ZEN: JANWILLEM VAN DE WETERING’S THE JAPANESE CORPSE AS BUDDHIST LITERATURE

ABSTRACT

Though many studies of the contemporary Buddhist literature exist, such studies often limit their purview to canonised, ‘high-brow’ authors. In this article, I read Janwillem van de Wetering’s The Japanese Corpse, a detective novel, for how it portrays Zen Buddhism. I show that The Japanese Corpse portrays Zen as non-dualist and amoral: good and bad are arbitrary categories that impede spiritual freedom. Likewise, characters’ identities are fluid, not fixed. The novel shows this by insistently associating Zen with sex and violence, and by the use of dramatic motifs. However, the novel also excludes women, particularly Japanese women, from spiritual attainment, instead essentialising them as the sexual objects of the hard-boiled detective story. As a matrix of conflicting values, The Japanese Corpse thus turns out to be a case study of Buddhist modernism, and of challenges of detective fiction as world literature.     

The Effect of Posture on Early Reaching Movements

Infants of about 5 months of age who have just mastered the ability to reach succeed more frequently in contacting an object when they are seated upright than when they are supine or reclined. That effect of posture disappears in the subsequent months. Whether that effect can be attributed either to insufficient muscular strength or to insufficient control over the mechanically unstable arm was the subject of the present investigation. Kinematics and electromyography (EMG) of reaching movements of 8 sitting and supine infants at 12, 16, and 20 weeks of age were recorded. Maximum levels of shoulder torque as well as kinematic stability measures were similar in both postures. Coactivation levels and the frequency of on-off switching of muscles turned out to be higher in the sitting than in the supine posture. The authors suggest that the difference in reaching behavior resulted from the degree of error in the feedforward control signal that was allowed by the different postures rather than either insufficient muscular strength or insufficient control over the mechanically unstable arm.     

Visual Consciousness and The Phenomenology of Perception

Ideally, psychological and phenomenological studies of visual experience should be mutually informative. In that spirit, this article outlines parts of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty's phenomenological view of visual experience as a kind of independently active opaque bodily synthesis, and uses those views to (a) help ground and extend Alva Noë's rejection of the “snapshot” theory of visual experience in favor of a more enactive view of visual content, (b) critique a failing of Noë's account, and (c) show how the assumptions underlying more internalist and Cartesian views of visual experience can illegitimately creep in even when they are being carefully criticized.     

Validation of Assessment for Learning Questionnaires for teachers and students

Background. Assessment can be a powerful force in promoting student learning. Still, few measures exist to gauge Assessment for Learning (AFL) in the classroom. Literature on AFL suggests that it encompasses both a monitor to track student progress as well as a scaffold to show or help students recognize in what areas they need to improve. Aims. Based on a review of recent attempts to measure the AFL, we constructed Assessment for Learning Questionnaires for Teachers (TAFL‐Q) and for students (SAFL‐Q) for evaluating perceptions regarding AFL practices in classrooms using matching items. Sample. The total sample included 1,422 students (49% girls, 51% boys) and 237 teachers (43% females, 57% males) in lower vocational secondary education. Methods. The 28‐item questionnaires were examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using EQS on one random half of the sample. The CFA was cross‐validated on the second half. Measurement invariance tests were conducted to compare the students and teacher versions of the questionnaires. Results. CFA revealed a stable second‐order two‐factor structure that was cross‐validated: perceived monitoring, and perceived scaffolding subsumed under a common factor: AFL. Tests for measurement invariance showed that the parallel constructs were measured similarly for both students and teachers. Conclusion. The TAFL‐Q and SAFL‐Q capture the construct AFL in two subscales: Monitoring and Scaffolding, and allows for comparisons between teacher and student perceptions. The instruments can be useful tools for teachers and students alike to identify and scrutinize assessment practices in classroom.     

Do you really expect me to apologize? The impact of status and gender on the effectiveness of an apology in the workplace

We examine the effectiveness of apology following a workplace offense, as influenced by the achieved or ascribed status (i.e., professional status or gender) of the parties involved. A total of 780 undergraduates participated in a scenario experiment. The results demonstrate that apologizing is more effective than not apologizing. Yet apology is most effective when the apologizer is a male, a manager or is a male apologizing to a female. Moreover, apology expectancy mediates the relationships between the apologizer's status and the apology's effectiveness: Apologies are less expected from managers and males than from subordinates and females, and the less expected they are, the greater their effectiveness. Apology expectancy has a unique effect unrelated to the apologizer's sincerity and perceived motive.     

Volunteer work in youth organizations: predicting distinct aspects of volunteering behavior from self‐ and other‐oriented motives

This study examined the impact of motivational underpinnings of volunteerism on self‐reported volunteer behaviors and satisfaction. Data from 153 volunteers in youth organizations supported a two‐dimensional structure of self‐ and other‐oriented motives. Self‐oriented motives were more important in explaining in‐role volunteer behavior, while other‐oriented concerns were also important in predicting extra‐role volunteer behavior and satisfaction. These findings are discussed in the context of a functional approach to volunteerism and linked to recent findings regarding the role of self‐ and other‐oriented motives from the organizational literature. Suggestions for recruiting and motivating young volunteers in youth development organizations are presented.