Governance Processes and Change Within Organizational Participants of Multi-sectoral Community Health Care Alliances: The Mediating Role of Vision,Mission, Strategy Agreement and Perceived Alliance Value

Multi-sectoral community health care alliances are organizations that bring together individuals and organizations from different industry sectors to work collaboratively on improving the health and health care in local communities. Long-term success and sustainability of alliances are dependent on their ability to galvanize participants to take action within their ‘home’ organizations and institutionalize the vision, goals, and programs within participating organizations and the broader community. The purpose of this study was to investigate two mechanisms by which alliance leadership and management processes may promote such changes within organizations participating in alliances. The findings of the study suggest that, despite modest levels of change undertaken by participating organizations, more positive perceptions of alliance leadership, decision making, and conflict management were associated with a greater likelihood of participating organizations making changes as a result of their participation in the alliance, in part by promoting greater vision, mission, and strategy agreement and higher levels of perceived value. Leadership processes had a stronger relationship with change within participating organizations than decision-making style and conflict management processes. Open-ended responses by participants indicated that participating organizations most often incorporated new measures or goals into their existing portfolio of strategic plans and activities in response to alliance participation.     

Predictability influences whether outcomes are processed in terms of original or relative values

Previous studies have provided insights into the representations of original and relative values and the influence of predictability on decision making. However, whether the predictability of outcomes can influence the processing manner of outcomes (i.e. whether the outcomes are processed in terms of original or relative values) is still unknown. To investigate this issue, we had participants perform a monetary decision task which resulted in two outcomes with the same relative values but different original values in either a predictable or unpredictable condition, while recording event-related potentials (ERP). ERP results showed that the outcome processing in the unpredictable condition elicited more positive deflections in the time window of 300–500 ms (P300) than did those in the predictable condition. More importantly, the outcome with high original value elicited a greater P300 component than did that with low original value in the unpredictable condition even though these two outcomes had the same relative values, while in the predictable condition no significant difference was observed between ERPs elicited by the two outcomes even though their original values were different. These results suggest that the outcomes might be processed in terms of relative values in the predictable condition but original values in the unpredictable condition.     

人文医学与医学人文之概念比较和价值探析

近年来,伴随着医学人文学科的发展,学界对医学人文和人文医学的研究也不断深入。医学人文和人文医学的内涵与定义也为学界广为关注和研究。将这两个关注度较高、且存在争议的词进行概念比较、分析差别,以明辨研究内容,建立医学和人文学科交叉研究的研究基础。在争辩医学人文与人文医学概念的过程中,更应当注意的是医学和人文的关系,并以之建立关于医学的人文价值评判,以医学人文为基础,探析医学和人文学科的交互融合,通过价值评判推进人文对医学的影响,实现人文真正的走进医学,走进临床。     

汉代象数易学的理论价值与历史地位

易学发展史上的汉代象数易学,就其理论形态、思维方式、思想特征而言,具有鲜明、典型的时代性与范导性.作为汉代经学核心的有机组成部分的汉代象数易学,对汉代哲学与文化、社会与政治等方面,都产生了广泛与深远的影响.然而,长期以来,人们对汉代象数易学在易学与哲学史上的理论价值与历史地位的认识,或者未能引起足够的重视,或者缺乏客观公允的评判.本文从"立足《周易》象数系统,确立天人之学新形态"、"深化儒家社会政治思想,强化政治指导功能"、"深化整体性和谐理念,凸显和谐价值理想终极诉求"等方面,深入地分析并揭示了汉代象数易学的理论价值与历史地位.     

NATURAL GOODNESS,RIGHTNESS, AND THE INTERSUBJECTIVITY OF REASON: REPLY TO ARROYO,CUMMISKEY, MOLAND,AND BIRD‐POLLAN

Abstract: In response to Arroyo, I explain my position on the concept of “natural goodness” and how my use of that concept compares to that of Geach and Foot. An Aristotelian or functional notion of goodness provides the material for Kantian endorsement in a theory of value that avoids a metaphysical commitment to intrinsic values. In response to Cummiskey, I review reasons for thinking Kantianism and consequentialism incompatible, especially those objections to aggregation that arise from the notion of the natural good previously described. In response to Moland, I explain why I think Hegelian worries about the supposed emptiness of the Kantian self do not apply to my account. And in response to both Moland and Bird‐Pollan, I argue that, contrary to the view of some Hegelians, the intersubjective normativity of reason is not something developed through actual social relations; rather, it is something essential to an individual's relations with himself or herself.     

An application of belief‐importance theory with reference to trait emotional intelligence,mood, and somatic complaints

Petrides, K.V. (2011). An application of belief‐importance theory with reference to trait emotional intelligence, mood, and somatic complaints. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 161–167. This article describes the basic principles of belief‐importance (belimp) theory and tests them in two empirical studies. Belimp theory hypothesizes that personality traits confer a propensity to perceive convergences and divergences between our belief that we can attain goals and the importance that we place on these goals. Belief and importance are conceptualized as two coordinates, together defining the belimp plane. Four distinct quadrants can be identified within the belimp plane (Hubris, Motivation, Depression and Apathy), broadly corresponding to the personality dimensions of trait emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, neuroticism and introversion. Study 1 (N = 365) defines the four quadrants in relation to goals about financial security and shows that they score differently on trait emotional intelligence, mood and somatic complaints. Study 2 (N = 230) defines the quadrants in relation to goals about appearance and, separately, in relation to goals about popularity, and replicates the findings of the first study. Strategies and requirements for testing belimp theory are presented, as are a number of theoretical and practical advantages that it can potentially offer.     

Hungry for love: the influence of self-regulation on infidelity

The current research examines the effect of self-regulation on the likelihood of committing infidelity. Thirty-two college students in exclusive romantic relationships interacted through a private chat room with an opposite-sex confederate. Prior to this interaction, a food-restriction task depleted half the participants of self-control. As predicted, depleted levels of self-regulation increased the likelihood of infidelity. Specifically, depleted participants were more likely to both accept a coffee date from and supply a personal telephone number to the confederate than non-depleted participants. Weakened self-control may be one potential cause for the levels of infidelity occurring in romantic partnerships today.     

Value Domains of Turkish Adults and University Students

Abstract

The authors identified the basic dimensions of contemporary values among Turkish university students and adults and explored gender and group (adults vs. students) differences in the importance attributed to particular value types. The authors administered a composite value survey to 101 students from different departments of Middle East Technical University and 101 adults from different parts of Ankara. Factor analysis yielded 5 value domains: self-enhancement, tradition-religiosity, universalism, benevolence, and normative patterning, supporting S. H. Schwartz's (1992) motivational value dimensions. Compared with the students, the adults attributed more importance to the tradition-religiosity, normative patterning, and benevolence domains. Gender similarities were more important than gender differences. The results are discussed with reference to the studies of values in the literature and prevalent social change in the social structure of Turkish society.     

The Impact of Value Similarity and Power on the Perception of Threat

Threat perception is a powerful tool in international and intergroup conflict. Realists in international relations argue that the perception of threat in intergroup conflict is a function of power asymmetries between groups. In contrast, social constructivists in international relations suggest that a shared sense of identity or similarity can reduce, and in some cases eliminate, perceptions of intergroup threat. Consequently, threat perception might be influenced by both the value similarities and the power asymmetries between the ingroup and the outgroup. In this article, we present an attempt to test empirically how individuals evaluate the similarity of cultural and political values compared with another nation (outgroup) and assess its implications for cooperation among states in the international system. The results of two experiments demonstrate that both power and perceived value similarity play an important role in threat perception among states and discuss implications for future research.     

Operant Variability: A Conceptual Analysis

Some researchers claim that variability is an operant dimension of behavior. The present paper reviews the concept of operant behavior and emphasizes that differentiation is the behavioral process that demonstrates an operant relation. Differentiation is conceived as change in the overlap between two probability distributions: the distribution of reinforcement probability as a function of some response property (S distribution) and the probability distribution of the response property itself (R distribution). This concept implies that the differentiation process can be measured only if S distribution and R distribution are both established on the same response property. To determine whether the differentially reinforced behavioral variability fits the proposed concept of operant behavior, I examine the main procedures (lag n and threshold procedures) and the main dependent variable (U value) employed in the studies of operant variability. Because lag n and threshold procedures establish their S distributions on properties distinct from U value, differentiation cannot be measured over the change in U value. I conclude that studies of operant variability have failed to provide a direct demonstration that variability is an operant dimension of behavior. Hence, studies in which measures of variability provide a basis to measure differentiation can better support the claim that variability is an operant dimension of behavior.