A Capuchin monkey (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>) recognizes when people do and do not know the location of food

In a previous study, Kuroshima and colleagues demonstrated that capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) learned to discriminate between a "knower" who inspected a box for food, and a "guesser" who did not. The aim of the present study was to specify whether the subjects learned a simple conditional discrimination or a causal relationship that seeing leads to knowing. In experiment 1, we introduced five types of novel containers to two subjects. Each container was of different shape and color. The subjects gradually learned to reach toward the container the knower suggested. In experiment 2, we diversified the behavior of the knower and the guesser. In experiment 3, in order to eliminate the possibility of discrimination based on differences in the magnitude and the complexity of two trainers, we equated their behaviors. One subject adapted to the novel behaviors of the knower and the guesser, successfully discriminating the two trainers. Thus this monkey clearly learned to use the inspecting action of the knower and the non-inspecting action of the guesser as a discriminative cue to recognize the baited container. This result suggests that one capuchin monkey learned to recognize the relationship between seeing and knowing.     

Introducing ethics and engineering: the case of Delft University of Technology

This article focuses mainly on (1) the policy of Delft University of Technology since 1992 as regards the university-wide introduction of a compulsory course on ethics and engineering, and (2) the ideal structure of such a course, including the educational goals of the course. Dr. G. J. Scheurwater is Senior policy-advisor to the Board of Delft University of Technology. Prof. S. J. Doorman is Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Ethics of Delft University of Technology.     

Confidentiality and paradox: the location of ethical space

Implicit in Jung's alchemical metaphor of the vas bene clausum is the idea of an analytic frame with a space inside it for something vital, a relationship between two selves, to develop. For this to happen, analysts must respect their patients' rights to confidentiality. The paper explores the analyst's state of mind and the intrapsychic processes that are constellated when struggling with ethical dilemmas about issues of confidentiality in analytic work. The author suggests that at times when analysts consider breaking confidentiality, there is often a disturbing inner conflict between their moral principles (codes of ethics) and their internal personal ethical attitude. At these difficult moments, the mutuality of the work and the vas bene clausum can be significantly disrupted. The analyst tries to find a third position, a mental and emotional ethical space where the subjective and the objective, the ethical and the unethical can become more companionable bedfellows.     

Social Dominance and Social Identity in the United States and Israel: Ingroup Favoritism or Outgroup Derogation?

American and Israeli university students completed questionnaires in their native languages assessing ingroup identification, social dominance orientation (SDO), and ingroup and outgroup affect. The interrelationships among the variables were examined for high- and low-status groups in three intergroup contexts: whites and Latinos in the United States, Ashkenazim and Mizrachim in Israel, and Jews and Arabs in Israel. Theoretical predictions of social identity theory and social dominance theory were tested. Results indicated that for all high- and low-status groups, stronger ingroup identification was associated with more positive ingroup affect, and for nearly all groups, higher SDO was associated with more negative affect toward the low-status group. In addition, SDO was positively associated with ingroup identification for all high-status groups, and negatively associated with ingroup identification for almost all low-status groups. Explanations for cross-cultural differences in the factors driving group affect are suggested, and theoretical refinements are proposed that accommodate them.     

Inequalities in Health and Intergenerational Equity

In the popular folklore three-score-years-and-ten is treated as a fair innings for people, and thereby serves as an informal reference point for judgements about distributive justice within a community. But length of life alone is an insufficient basis for such judgements - a person's health-related quality-of-life also needs to be taken into account. If one of the objectives of public policy is to reduce inequalities in lifetime health, it will be demonstrated that this is very likely to require systematic discrimination against the older members of a community. The notion of community solidatity will also be tested, because a decision will need to be made as to whether the same fair innings applies to all members of the community, or whether some are entitled to more than others. The strength of the fair innings principle is that it brings these issues to the fore in a systematic way which should ais their resolition in a practical context.     

Justice and Game Advantage in Sporting Games

This paper is a case study of what Jon Elster calls "local justice"; particular schemes of justice which, on a relatively autonomous basis, are designed and implemented by institutions and practices to meet particular preferences and goals. The paper suggests an interpretation of the role of justice in sporting games. First, a framework for examinations of schemes of local justice is suggested. Second, norms are suggested that express the requirements that have to be met in order to consider a sporting game as just. The discussion shows that sports are characterized by a particular blend of meritocratic justice in which goods and burdens are distributed according to performance, and a non-meritocratic distribution through which goods and burdens arise as matters of chance. The essay concludes by arguing that the optimal blend of meritocratic justice and chance results in the realization of not merely fair sporting games, but of exciting and good games as well.     

In Defense of Individualism

This paper offers a programmatic philosophical articulation of moral and political individualism. This individualism consists of two main components: value individualism and rights individualism. The former is the view that, for each individual, the end which is of ultimate value is his own well-being. Each individual's well-being has ultimate agent-relative value and the only ultimate values are these agent-relative values. The latter view is that individuals possess moral jurisdiction over themselves, i.e., rights of self-ownership. These rights (along with other rights individuals may come to possess) constrain the manner in which agents may pursue value. For this reason, the articulated individualism is an constrained individualism. Sketches of arguments are offered for both value and rights individualism. And it is argued that the sole legitimate function of legal/political institutions is to further delineate and protect the rights of individuals. However, the paper is also concerned to indicate why this radical moral and political individualism does not have many of the features or implications that are commonly ascribed to it. In this connection, I seek to show how this social doctrine accords with individuals' having concern for the well-being of others, with the emergence of relationships among individuals that have both instrumental and non-instrumental value, with a degree of responsibility for self and others that is often thought to be antithetical to individualism and, in general, with a flourishing of civil order.     

Relations between social comparison orientation and adjustment in Chinese adolescents: Moderating effects of initial adjustment status

This 1‐year longitudinal study examined relations between social comparison orientation (SCO) and socioemotional adjustment and academic achievement. A sample of Grades 7 and 8 students (N = 336, initial M age = 14.08 years) in China participated in the study. Data were collected from self‐reports, peer assessments and school records. It was found that early SCO positively contributed to later academic achievement. Moreover, the relations between early SCO and later socioemotional adjustment were moderated by the initial status of adolescents. Specifically, SCO was positively associated with social competence and negatively associated with depression in initially competent and well‐adjusted adolescents, but the pattern of the associations was opposite in initially incompetent and poorly adjusted adolescents. The results indicate that whereas SCO may contribute directly to academic achievement, its contributions to socioemotional development might depend on adolescents' initial status in adjustment.     

The role of posttraumatic fear and social support in the relationship between trauma severity and posttraumatic growth among adolescent survivors of the Yaan earthquake

Middle school students in Lushan county (N = 315) were assessed 6 months after the Yaan earthquake using a trauma severity questionnaire, a posttraumatic fear questionnaire, a social support questionnaire and a posttraumatic growth inventory to examine the effects of posttraumatic fear and social support in the relationship between trauma severity and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The results showed that posttraumatic fear mediated the relationship between trauma severity and PTG, and social support moderated the relationship between posttraumatic fear and PTG. These findings suggested that trauma severity could be positively associated with PTG in a direct way or in an indirect way through posttraumatic fear. Moreover, posttraumatic fear had a positive relation to PTG under the condition of high social support level, whereas the relation was non‐significant when the level of social support was low. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for adolescents after trauma.