IS MY FEELING YOUR PAIN BAD FOR OTHERS? EMPATHY AS VIRTUE VERSUS EMPATHY AS FIXED TRAIT

The purpose of this article is to (1) critique the primary arguments given by Paul Bloom and Jesse Prinz against empathy, and (2) to argue instead that empathy is best understood as a virtue that plays an important but complicated role in the moral life. That it is a virtue does not mean that it always functions well, and empathy sometimes contributes to behavior that is partial and unfair. In some of their writings, both Bloom and Prinz endorse the view that empathy is a fixed trait, but there is little reason to think this, and the studies that they cite do not support this view. Further, a number of recent studies suggest the opposite: our empathic reactions are malleable and subject to environmental effects and learning. Although our capacities for cognitive and emotional empathy are clearly not sufficient for being moral, I argue that they are functionally necessary traits that, like other virtues, must be cultivated correctly.     

Evaluation of a Combined Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Interpersonal Process Group in the Psychotherapy Training of Clinical Psychologists

It is now widely acknowledged that both content and process elements of psychotherapy play a part in client treatment outcomes. Despite this, there are pressures on Australian clinical psychology training programs to teach evidence‐based approaches in a relatively short time frame. Producing clinical psychology graduates who have an adequate level of competence in evidence‐based practice and meeting the demands of professional accreditation requirements can mean that less time is available to teach the process elements of psychotherapy. The aim of this study was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of a clinical psychology psychotherapy training program that combines an interpersonal process group with a cognitive behavioural therapy training model that incorporates self‐reflection and self‐practice. Eleven participants who participated in the training in 2008 completed the Counseling Self‐Estimate Inventory at pre‐ and post‐training. Significant improvements on the majority of the subscales of this inventory were found. A separate sample of nine trainees and clinical psychology registrars who also previously completed the program attended individual interviews in 2010 aimed at gaining their perspective regarding various aspects of the program. Self‐practice of cognitive behavioural therapy techniques was found to be important in the identification and management of trainees’ own core beliefs, and to their appreciation of how challenging this process may be for clients. The interpersonal process group was described by participants as enhancing their competency as psychotherapists. Common themes included the experience of anxiety and a high level of emotion, and understanding how this experience might be similar for clients; increased self‐awareness; and increased competence in process issues. Many participants believed the process and content components of training were equally important to their development as psychotherapists.     

Do Subtle Linguistic Interventions Priming a Social Identity as a Voter Have Outsized Effects on Voter Turnout? Evidence From a New Replication Experiment

An ongoing debate in political psychology is about whether small wording differences have outsized behavioral effects. A leading example is whether subtle linguistic cues embedded in voter mobilization messages dramatically increase turnout. An initial study analyzing two small‐scale field experiments argued that describing someone as a voter (noun) instead of one who votes (verb) increases turnout rates 11 to 14 points because the noun activates a person's social identity as a voter. A subsequent study analyzing a large‐scale field experiment challenged this claim and found no effect. But questions about the initial claim's domain of applicability persist. The subsequent study may not have reproduced the conditions necessary for the psychological phenomenon to occur, specifically the electoral contexts were not competitive or important enough for the social identity to matter. To address the first of these critiques, as well as other potential explanations for different results between the first two studies, we conduct a large‐scale replication field experiment. We find no evidence that this minor wording change increases turnout levels. This research provides new evidence that the strategy of invoking the self does not appear to consistently increase turnout and calls into question whether subtle linguistic cues have outsized behavioral effects.     

The Use of Social Psychology in Rural Development? Two Readings of Rural Business Owners' Values

Rural development refers to diverse attempts being made to address the problems of rural communities. In Finland, rural development leans heavily on entrepreneurship and small business development. Rural development processes have a strong social psychological component that entails that psychological knowledge is crucial for rural development agents. Nevertheless, psychological knowledge has also been criticised for simplifying highly complex development processes and overstating the role of internal psychological factors. In this paper, we argue that, regarding the relevance and utility of psychological knowledge, the question is not only how extensively different factors are taken into account but also how knowledge about psychological factors is read and interpreted. In this paper, we focus on Finnish rural business owners' values and demonstrate that value survey data can be read from two different social psychological perspectives: those of substantialism and relationalism. Although data and the conducted analyses are kept constant, the two readings produce differing types of knowledge of rural business owners' values; one reveals what business owners ‘truly’ are like and the other informs how to best communicate with business owners. Both readings are potentially useful for rural development work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

拥挤研究进展——概念、理论与影响因素

拥挤是环境心理学的重要研究领域,其内涵是对密度和空间限制的主观体验。拥挤影响因素主要包括物理、社会、个人因素,拥挤可导致过度生理唤醒、负面社会行为和＂失动机＂。现有拥挤理论从环境刺激和个体行为反应等多个角度对拥挤进行了阐释。文章最后提出了中国文化背景下拥挤的未来研究方向。     

试论"生理-心理-伦理-社会"相结合的大学生心理健康教育模式

提出了"生理-心理-伦理-社会"相结合的大学生心理健康教育模式,指出这种模式是建立在健康新概念的指导下,全面考虑了影响心理健康的各种因素,以当代大学生心理健康的现状与原因为基础和依据的具有中国特色的大学生心理健康教育模式.     

心理学:人力资源管理和开发的一条独特途径

企业竞争中其他资源的无差异化导致了人力资源成为关注的热点问题。研究人力资源问题时,心理学应该突出自己的学科特点和优势：从个体关怀的角度出发;回答“为什么”的问题;重视理论与实务之间的联系;强调意识层面的问题。要想对管理实践起到切实的指导作用,应该掀起一场心理学理论和知识的工具化和可操作化运动。     

Moral Utilitarianism and Attitudes Toward Animals

The majority of studies investigating attitudes toward animals have underscored the role of demographic and personality factors. The study of the role of general moral worldviews on attitudes toward animals represents an important complementary perspective. In the current study, we analyzed the relationship between moral utilitarianism toward humans and attitudes toward animals. In psychological and neuroscientific studies, moral utilitarianism has been shown to be related to empathy deficits. We expected that utilitarian decision making would be related to the endorsement of an instrumental representation of animals. We measured utilitarianism with the trolley problem, a hypothetical moral dilemma widely used in the psychological study of moral reasoning. A sample of 20,474 French adults answered an online survey measuring attitudes toward animals and moral decision making involving human beings. Results showed that irrespective of participants’ age and gender, there was a slight relationship between utilitarianism measured by the trolley dilemma and the endorsement of an instrumental representation of animal. Limitations and implications for future research are considered.     

死亡心理:外部防御还是内在成长?

对西方主要的死亡心理研究进行了回顾和比较分析,不同的死亡心理研究在研究传统、研究对象和研究方法方面存在差异。但是根据研究的侧重点,可以总结出死亡心理的核心内涵:外部防御和内在成长。对死亡的抽象认知产生死亡焦虑,死亡焦虑产生死亡恐惧、自我保护、外在价值导向等外部防御反应;对死亡的具体认知产生死亡反省,死亡反省产生死亡接受、亲社会动机和行为、内在价值导向等内在成长反应。作者以死亡心理的两类反应为框架,综述了近5年来新的研究证据,并对该领域当前研究的局限和未来研究方向进行了分析。