The Gender Belief System,Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation,and Heterosexuals' Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men

We tested hypotheses drawn from three theoretical perspectives—gender belief system, authoritarianism, and social dominance—concerning heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Data from 122 male and 131 female heterosexual college students with mostly White, middle-class backgrounds indicated that constructs postulated by all three perspectives played important roles in predicting attitudes: Gender differences in attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were mediated by social dominance orientation and gender-role beliefs, indicating that gender role beliefs may act as legitimizing myths to justify antigay attitudes. Authoritarianism had both a direct relationship to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and an indirect relationship mediated by gender-role beliefs.     

Constructions and Reconstructions: Latino Parents' Values for Children

There is a fair amount of support for the premise that parents construct their child-related values from the ethnic cultural models that are available to them. There are also indications that personal experiences play a role in the construction of values. However, this latter influence has not been well-researched. We reconstructed the child-related values of a sample of Mexican American and Puerto Rican parents of young children with disability to describe parent-held values and to examine the extent to which having a child with a disability impacted on these values. Analysis of parental ratings and of their narratives indicated substantial consistency across gender, civil status, and country of origin. Disability appeared to have a small and diffused impact on the values. Ratings differed significantly on the basis of the language of interview, and the definitions that parents offered also showed an effect of interaction with the Anglo American culture. However, an in-depth examination of these differences indicated that they were mostly restricted to labeling. The basic values of parents remained fairly consistent. This finding has substantial implications for research and practice. Equivalence of meaning should not be assumed across populations.     

Factors Associated with Support for Adolescent Access to Contraception Among Mexican Catholic Parents

Journal of Religion and Health - We used a nationally representative survey of 2186 Mexican Catholic parents to assess two outcomes: support for adolescent access to modern contraception and...     

Horses are sensitive to baby talk: pet-directed speech facilitates communication with humans in a pointing task and during grooming

Animal Cognition - Pet-directed speech (PDS) is a type of speech humans spontaneously use with their companion animals. It is very similar to speech commonly used when talking to babies. A survey...     

Poincaré’s Classification of Hypotheses and Their Role in Natural Science

In the introduction to his famous book, La Science et l’hypothèse, Poincaré remarks on the necessary role and legitimacy of hypotheses. He establishes a triple classification of hypotheses, dividing them into verifiable, useful, and apparent. However, in chapter 9, entitled ‘Les hypothèses en physique’, he gives a slightly different triadic classification: natural hypotheses, indifferent hypotheses, and real generalizations. The origin of this second classification is a lecture given at the International Congress of Physics, Paris, 1900. What are the similarities and differences between these two classifications? My main purpose is to provide a possible equivalence between the two classifications in order to clarify the role of hypotheses in Poincaré’s epistemology of natural science. The discussion will be based on the two fundamental texts mentioned above and on the contrast between Poincaré’s use of the notion of hypothesis and that of some of his contemporaries.     

Health,justice and happiness during childhood

Health is certainly a valuable asset in the life of every human being and of particular relevance for a flourishing childhood. As empirical research concerning the social determinants of health shows, its distribution can, at least to a certain extent, be influenced by the way a society is arranged. Many philosophers now acknowledge that a fair distribution of health has to be a central part of a just society and they discuss to what extent a right to health can be justified. However, they do not typically distinguish between physical and mental health and neglect the special problems arising from these distinct, though related, perspectives. In this paper, we argue in favour of such a distinction and ask whether a minimally just society ought to include mental health among the goods that are to be distributed in a fair way among its children. Furthermore, we investigate the relationship between mental health and happiness and ask whether making mental health a subject of justice implies that children are entitled not only to a healthy but also to a happy childhood. Despite the positive impact of happiness on the lives of children, we conclude that happiness cannot be incorporated into a functional theory of justice, since it does not fully meet the criteria of objectivity, measurability and influenceability.