Personal Identity, Fission and Time Travel

One problem that has formed the focus of much recent discussion on personal identity is the Fission Problem. The aim of this paper is to offer a novel solution to this problem.

The Enhanced Agentic Diversity Perspective (EADP): An appeal for Co-creating an accommodative social space so that diversity unlocks innovativeness rather than problems

We propose in this article an Enhanced Agentic Diversity Perspective (EADP), which is derived from the concept of agentic resources in social relational theory. EADP recognizes that all human beings are equally agents, that agentic expressions differ due to variation of individual access to power resources (individual, relational and cultural) and that the current social conditions serve to promote agentic diversity by enhancing all the three domains of power resources. In addition, EADP comprises a proposal for the development of accommodative social spaces. We argue that only in an accommodative social space can diversity unlock innovation; otherwise, it serves as a source for conflict. A constructive, nonhierarchical account of diversity, such as EADP is needed under current social conditions for the optimal becoming of idiosyncratic human agents as well as human society as a whole.     

Struggling with self: The personal projects of students seeking psychological counselling

Personal projects can be described as self-articulated goals and related sequences of actions. In order to investigate what kind of personal projects people with psychological problems have, and how they work on them, 28 counselling client students, 44 students of psychology, and 45 students of technology completed a Finnish version of Little's (1987) Personal Project Inventory. The results showed that the clients scored lower on project accomplishment than other groups. Their personal projects were frequently self-related, while those of the technology students were often task-related. The higher their sense of coherence, self-esteem, mental health and life satisfaction, the more subjects expected to accomplish their projects, the more frequently they described task-related projects, the less negative affect they reported, and the less frequently they described self-related projects. These results suggest that psychologically distressed individuals struggle with self-related projects and have problems in accomplishing their projects.     

How transport users perceive personal safety apps

Fear of crime and a perceived sense of being unsafe have the potential to discourage individuals from using public transport. This paper presents analysis of the results of a survey on aspects of personal safety apps and how individuals perceive them in relation to their personal safety, privacy and their preference to purchase them. It explores their willingness to download for free or purchase such an app, their impression of features that an app might include such as revealing their location, how they would rate police force monitoring if included as a feature of the app and finally how they would rate a personal safety app against other technologies used to improve perceived transport user safety. The results show that the majority of respondents would consider downloading a personal safety app. Lower levels of engagement with technology, a higher level of education, being resident in the city of Dublin (as opposed to surrounding regions) and privacy concerns tended to make females less likely to consider downloading the app. These findings were not repeated for males. The results suggest that younger respondents were more likely to be negatively impacted by the inclusion of a facility to report location in an emergency on the app, while the older age groups were more likely to be unaffected. For the location tracking feature, cluster membership, gender and resident outside Dublin were significant. Less than half of the respondents would be negatively influenced in their decision to buy the app if a cost of €1.79 were introduced. When respondents were asked about the inclusion of police monitoring as a feature of the app, the results suggested that police monitoring had a more definite effect on perceived personal safety than on privacy.     

Disagreeing about who we are

ABSTRACT

One argument that has been suggested for conventionalism about personal identity is that it captures that certain disagreements about personal identity seem irresolvable, without being committed to the view that these disagreements are merely verbal. In this paper, I will take the considerations about disagreement used to motivate conventionalism seriously. However, I will use them to motivate a very different, novel, and as yet unexplored view about personal identity. This is the view that personal identity is a non-representational concept, the nature of which isn’t to be accounted for in terms of what entity it represents, but its non-representational role. I highlight that we find structurally very similar concerns about disagreement in another philosophical debate, namely in meta-ethics. But, in meta-ethics, such sorts of considerations are, traditionally, thought to support one distinctive view: meta-ethical expressivism, a non-representational view about normative thought and discourse. This suggests that we should take a similar view seriously for personal identity. I also develop what such an unfamiliar view might look like, using expressivism as a template. On this view, judgements about personal identity are plans that regulate who to hold accountable.     

Novelty as Opportunity and Risk: A Situated Cognition Analysis of Psychological Control and Novelty Seeking

Novel products present unknown opportunities as well as unknown risks. Past research suggested that low psychological control highlights risks and reduces the adoption of novel products. Consistent with a situated cognition perspective, we show that this depends on the specifics of low control. Across five studies, novelty seeking was lower after consumers thought about instances of low (vs. high) personal influence, but higher after consumers thought about instances of low (vs. high) predictability of the world. Thinking about a lack of personal influence increased the perceived importance of personal capability and in turn impaired the exploration of novel options, whereas thinking about an unpredictable world increased the perceived importance of preparedness for an unknown future and in turn the exploration of novel options. Throughout, perceiving low personal influence benefited familiar products, whereas seeing the world as unpredictable benefited novel products. This highlights that understanding consumers' responses to a lack of control requires joint consideration of the specifics of threat and task, consistent with situated cognition principles.     

Route learning with augmented reality navigation aids

Current trends point towards the development and implementation of augmented reality (AR) navigation assistance systems for drivers. Previous research has found augmented reality can benefit driving performance, but the impact of AR on route learning (spatial knowledge acquisition) has received less attention. The current study used simulated driving scenarios to determine how the type of navigation aid device used (i.e., paper map, electronic map, and AR system) affected driving performance and route learning of 62 driving adults. Route learning was examined at landmark, route, and survey levels. The hypotheses tested were that AR would improve driving performance but diminish route learning compared to paper map use; and that AR would outperform electronic map use in both driving performance and route learning. Results indicated that paper map use led to poorer driving performance and greater route learning. However, map recognition may have been a confounding factor in higher level spatial knowledge acquisition with paper map use. Driving performance and route learning were similar for drivers using the electronic map and AR, but some differences suggested that drivers have reduced uncertainty and hesitation while using AR to navigate in unfamiliar areas.     

The use of interest and competence scores to predict educational choices of Chinese high school students

This study examined how interest, perceived competence (i.e., efficacy), and prestige preference, as measured by the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI; Tracey, 2002), contributed to the classification of Chinese high school students with different education orientations. It was hypothesized that interest, efficacy, and prestige would yield a significantly higher correct classification hit rate of students with different educational orientations than would be expected by chance, and that the combined set of the interest, efficacy, and prestige predictors would contribute significantly more variance than interest scores alone or the efficacy scores alone in predicting students' educational orientations. Findings suggested that the interest and competence scores of the PGI based on both the Holland RIASEC model as well as the 4-type (People, Things, Data, and Ideas) model were able to discriminate among students in three educational orientation groups: Arts and Humanities, Business, and Science. The PGI interest and competence scores of students in these educational orientation groups were consistent with the expected theoretical direction. The findings were supportive of the concurrent validity of the PGI for senior high school students in Hong Kong. Theoretical and practice implications were discussed.     

How personal resources predict work engagement and self‐rated performance among construction workers: A social cognitive perspective

Traditionally, research focussing on psychosocial factors in the construction industry has focused mainly on the negative aspects of health and on results such as occupational accidents. This study, however, focuses on the specific relationships among the different positive psychosocial factors shared by construction workers that could be responsible for occupational well‐being and outcomes such as performance. The main objective of this study was to test whether personal resources predict self‐rated job performance through job resources and work engagement. Following the predictions of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and the motivational process of the Job Demands‐Resources Model, we expect that the relationship between personal resources and performance will be fully mediated by job resources and work engagement. The sample consists of 228 construction workers. Structural equation modelling supports the research model. Personal resources (i.e. self‐efficacy, mental and emotional competences) play a predicting role in the perception of job resources (i.e. job control and supervisor social support), which in turn leads to work engagement and self‐rated performance. This study emphasises the crucial role that personal resources play in determining how people perceive job resources by determining the levels of work engagement and, hence, their self‐rated job performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Personal and social factors that influence pro‐environmental concern and behaviour: A review

We review the personal and social influences on pro‐environmental concern and behaviour, with an emphasis on recent research. The number of these influences suggests that understanding pro‐environmental concern and behaviour is far more complex than previously thought. The influences are grouped into 18 personal and social factors. The personal factors include childhood experience, knowledge and education, personality and self‐construal, sense of control, values, political and world views, goals, felt responsibility, cognitive biases, place attachment, age, gender and chosen activities. The social factors include religion, urban–rural differences, norms, social class, proximity to problematic environmental sites and cultural and ethnic variations We also recognize that pro‐environmental behaviour often is undertaken based on none of the above influences, but because individuals have non‐environmental goals such as to save money or to improve their health. Finally, environmental outcomes that are a result of these influences undoubtedly are determined by combinations of the 18 categories. Therefore, a primary goal of researchers now should be to learn more about how these many influences moderate and mediate one another to determine pro‐environmental behaviour.