Philosophy, the “unknown knowns,” and the public use of reason

There are not only true or false solutions, there are also false questions. The task of philosophy is not to provide answers or solutions, but to submit to critical analysis the questions themselves, to make us see how the very way we perceive a problem is an obstacle to its solution. This holds especially for today’s public debates on ecological threats, on lack of faith, on democracy and the “war on terror”, in which the “unknown knowns”, the silent presuppositions we are not aware of, determine our acts.     

Bias at school: Perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination among Latino and European American children

Latino and White/European American children (N = 99; 5–11 years of age) participated in a study designed to examine their perceptions of racial/ethnic discrimination in educational settings. Children heard scenarios involving two children of different races/ethnicities, one who received a more positive outcome from a teacher than the other. Children were then asked about the reasons for the differential outcomes. The role of (a) situational information (i.e., the race/ethnicity of the children and teacher in the story, and information about the teacher's past choices); (b) social-cognitive abilities (i.e., theory of mind); and (c) child characteristics (i.e., child's race/ethnicity and racial/ethnic attitudes) in facilitating children's attributions to discrimination was assessed. Results indicated that children most frequently attributed differential outcomes to the quality of work or the ability of students. Children were most likely to make an attribution to discrimination when the teacher rewarded a same-race/ethnicity child and had a history of similar behavior. Children's attention to situational information was moderated, however, by their social-cognitive abilities. Children's own race/ethnicity and ethnic attitudes also affected their perceptions of discrimination.     

关于医学人文教学几个问题的认识

文化素质教育与人文教育有联系,但也有区别;对人文精神的理解,存在东方与西方、传统与现在的差异;人文精神的核心是人是一切的根本,人的生命、思想、理想应当受到关爱和尊重;人文精神或人文主义包括理念层次和实践层次;人文精神是一种普世价值而主要不是意识形态;人文知识不等于人文素养,医学人文教育的目标是提升学生对生命的尊重与关爱;医学人文教育应当渗透到医学专业教育之中。     

Expertise, Evaluative Motivation, and the Structure of Citizens' Ideological Commitments

Political psychologists have typically argued that ideological commitments are structured in a bipolar fashion, where a positive evaluation of conservative objects implies a negative evaluation of liberal objects (and vice versa). Individual differences in conformity to this pattern are usually attributed to an ability-related variable, i.e., political expertise . Departing from this strict focus on ability, this study examines the hypotheses that an important motivational variable—the need to evaluate , or the desire to form opinions of objects as "good" or "bad"—would (1) predict deviations from ideological bipolarity, even controlling for expertise; and (2) moderate the relationship between expertise and deviations from bipolarity. Data from two national surveys provided evidence for these hypotheses and indicated that the results extended to deviations from bipolarity in evaluations of presidential candidates and political parties.     

Globalization, Neo-Liberalism and Community Psychology

A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a “barometer of community changes”, to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).     

The development of intergroup bias in childhood: how social norms can shape children's racial behaviours

The present research examined the developmental course of racial behaviours in childhood. It tested the hypothesis that White children's expressions of racial prejudice do not necessarily decline in middle childhood due to the development of particular cognitive skills but that instead, as argued by the socio-normative approach, children older than seven will go on expressing prejudiced attitudes under appropriate conditions. This would be explained by the presence of an anti-racism norm, along with the existence of values promoting equal rights, which impede blatant expressions of racism. In the first study 283 White children aged 6-7 and 9-10 years performed a task of resource allocation to White and Black target children in conditions of high (White interviewer was present) or low (White interviewer was absent) salience of the anti-racist norm. The 6- to 7-year-old children discriminated against the Black target in both conditions whereas older children discriminated against the Black child only when the anti-racist norm was not salient. In Study 2, 187 White children aged 6-7 and 9-10 years performed the same resource allocation task in conditions of explicit activation of similarity vs dissimilarity or egalitarian vs merit-based norms regarding race relations. Supporting the hypothesis of the role of racist or anti-racist norms on the expression of intergroup discrimination, results have again shown that 6- to 7-year-old children discriminated against the Black target in both conditions while older children presented significantly different prejudiced/nonprejudiced behaviours consistent with the activated norms. These results were discussed in terms of the need for a reanalysis of the assumptions and research results of the cognitive-developmental theory and of further developments in the socio-normative approach regarding the development of prejudice in childhood.     

Understanding the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured political orientation: The moderating role of political sophistication

Researchers have argued that to understand more fully political orientation, non-reactive measures similar to those used in the broader implicit attitudes literature should be explored. Recently, the nature of the relation between explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes has been a topic of considerable discussion, with researchers stressing the importance of when explicit and implicit measures are related and when they are not. In the present research, the relation between explicit and implicit political orientation, and the potential moderating role of political sophistication was investigated. Participants (N = 116) completed an explicit measure of political orientation, a liberal–conservative Implicit Association Test (IAT), and a test of political knowledge. Results showed that explicit and implicit political orientation scores were moderately correlated (r = .48) with each other. Moreover, results from regression analyses showed that the association between explicit and implicit political orientation was moderated by political knowledge scores, such that the positive association was stronger among participants with a greater knowledge of politics.     

Racial Discrimination: A Continuum of Violence Exposure for Children of Color

This article reviews and examines findings on the impact of racial discrimination on the development and functioning of children of color in the US. Based on current definitions of violence and child maltreatment, exposure to racial discrimination should be considered as a form of violence that can significantly impact child outcomes and limit the ability of parents and communities to provide support that promotes resiliency and optimal child development. In this article, a conceptual model of the effects of racial discrimination in children of color is presented. The model posits that exposure to racial discrimination may be a chronic source of trauma in the lives of many children of color that negatively influences mental and physical outcomes as well as parent and community support and functioning. Concurrent exposure to other forms of violence, including domestic, interpersonal and/or community violence, may exacerbate these effects. The impact of a potential continuum of violence exposure for children of color in the US and the need for future research and theoretical models on children’s exposure to violence that attend to the impact of racial discrimination on child outcomes are discussed.     

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Adolescents

The prevalence of most adult psychiatric disorders varies across racial/ethnic groups and has important implications for prevention and intervention efforts. Research on racial/ethnic differences in the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and disorders in adolescents has been less consistent or generally lacking. The current study examined the prevalence of these symptom groups in a large sample of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in which the three major racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. (White, Black, and Hispanic/Latino) were well-represented. Hispanic females reported experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety, and reputational aggression than other groups. Black males reported the highest levels of overtly aggressive behavior and also reported higher levels of physiologic anxiety and disordered eating than males from other racial/ethnic groups. Hispanic females also exhibited higher levels of comorbidity than other racial/ethnic groups.     

哈贝马斯科技伦理观述评——哈贝马斯《作为"意识形态"的技术与科学》解读

哈贝马斯关于科学技术执行着意识形态的职能的思想,进一步发展了霍克海默和马尔库塞的科学伦理思想。同时这又是他试图进行历史唯物主义“重建”的序曲。哈贝马斯通过对韦伯的合理化的伦理观进行解析和批判,提出了交往关系的伦理解释框架,辨析了科学技术意识形态化的社会制度背景,并认为,只有随着资本主义生产方式的出现,制度框架的合理性才能直接同社会劳动系统联系在一起。科学技术成为第一位的生产力使国家干预活动的增加,同时技术与科学具有意识形态的作用。哈贝马斯揭示了晚期资本主义社会科学技术发展的新动向,也可以引发我们对科学技术的合理应用的思考。然而,在哈贝马斯关于科学技术意识形态化的批判中,的确存在着方法论的误区。