Diminishing Solidarity

Cases of acts of solidarity can be divided into at least two groups. Solidarity in a narrow sense of the term refers to what I label project-related solidarity; it is prevalent in the modern world at least as much as it was found in past worlds. In contrast, the philosophical discussions of "solidarity" refer to the altruism and mutuality typically found in close human relationships. This concept of "solidarity" is theoretically unfruitful and even misleading. I propose to abandon the term "solidarity" in order to regain sight of the individual phenomena. When these are taken into consideration, a return to the community is no longer called for. I rather argue that modern societies are perfectly capable of inspiring feelings of loyalty and civic virtues, though not by resorting to the old sources of "solidarity". Modern forms such as free associations, participation and, not least, the existence of a liberal society itself are sufficient. Public discussions of solidarity are additionally distorted by frequent appeals to a normative sense of the term. The argument put forward in this collectivist context that an obligation of solidarity results from gratefulness to the community is not found to be convincing. Individuals are not obliged to be grateful to a nation in a way that would be normatively binding.     

Prenatal discrimination of a male and a female voice uttering the same sentence

Using a habituation/dishabituation procedure, near-term foetuses (36-39 weeks gestational age) were tested in a low variability HR state, to examine whether they could discriminate between a male and a female voice repeatedly uttering the same short sentence. Prosody and loudness of the two voices were controlled. Once the foetal heart rate (HR) habituated to the first voice, the effect of a second voice was investigated in two experimental conditions: male/female voice and female/male voice. HR variations after the onset of the second voice were compared to those occurring in two control conditions in which the same voice was presented twice (male/female voice and female/female voice). Highly conservative statistical criteria taking each subject's pre-stimulus HR variability into account showed that most foetuses exposed to the voice change displayed decelerative cardiac changes, with no significant difference between the two conditions. These HR decelerations were found in the first seconds following the onset of the new voice, and reached their peak amplitude within 10 s in most subjects. These responses lasted more than 10 s for two-thirds of the experimental subjects. Mostly transient HR accelerations and only a few decelerative changes were recorded in the control subjects. Furthermore, mean amplitudes of these changes were significantly lower than the HR decelerations induced by the new voice in the experimental conditions, suggesting that the latter were not spontaneous HR modifications but rather cardiac responses to the voice change. It is argued that near-term foetuses may perceive a difference between voice characteristics of two speakers when they are highly contrasted for fundamental frequency and timbre.     

Teacher rated problems and school ability tests in relation to preschool problems and parents'' health information at school start. A study of first-graders

The reliability of assessments at four and six years of age in identifying teacher rated problems in behaviour, concentration, motor skill and school achievement was investigated in a study of first-graders. Relationships between preschool data and school ability tests, and between parents' information at school start and teacher ratings were also studied. Problems noted in preschool and school were often present in more than one area. Multiple problems at four and six years were strong predictors of later school problems, but preschool assessments of separate areas could not in general predict problems in corresponding areas in school. However, cross situational concentration deficits at the age of six did reliably identify concentration problems in the first grade, at the age of seven.     

Sports specific metacognitions and competitive state anxiety in athletes: A comparison between different sporting types

This study investigated the relationship between sport related metacognitions with state anxiety dimensions, and compared how sporting categories affected these variables, among an online sample of athletes (N = 187). A MANOVA revealed there were significant differences between sporting types in metacognitive beliefs relating to the utility of rumination and arousal, the need to control thoughts, and levels of somatic anxiety. Correlations and multiple regressions showed that that in contrast to the relationships with self-confidence, cognitive and somatic state anxiety were positively associated with specific dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, but negatively related to metacognitive processes. Overall, these findings highlight that: (a) athletes might adopt metacognitions to meet the different cognitive demands of sport types; and (b) metacognitions are in part responsible for the occurrence of state anxiety and self-confidence during competitions. The findings of this study have implications toward how researchers and sports practitioners approach the comprehensive nature of competitive anxiety.     

Reactions to social and non‐social novelties in 2‐year‐olds

The purpose of this study is to investigate the internal structure of behavioural inhibition [cf. Goldsmith, H.H. and Campos, J.J. (1990). Child Development, 61 , 1944–1964]. Observations of 45 2‐year‐olds’ approaching/positive reactions, inhibited/negative reactions, and latencies, when encountering strangers as well as unfamiliar objects, are made in a laboratory setting. The intercorrelations between the six different measures, obtained from the observations, are analysed by means of a multitrait–multimethod matrix. It is concluded, from inspection of the matrix, that aggregations of data into indexes covering different reactions (approaching/positive reactions, inhibited/negative reactions, and latency) and settings (stranger and objects), respectively, are appropriate. To further validate the different indexes, assessments of concurrent variables (separation reactions, reactions to physical intrusion, reactions in a new setting, and maternal ratings of reactions to strangers) are used. The results indicate that all reactions to both social and non‐social novelties can be assigned to one construct, which is in line with the assumption made by Kagan and his co‐workers about behavioural inhibition. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Michele M. Moody-Adams, Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture, and Philosophy
Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, The Attack of the Blob: Hannah Arendt's Concept of the Social
Susan Haack, Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate     

Kindred spirits: Influences of siblings' perspectives on theory of mind

Two experiments were conducted to examine the development of a theory of mind in 265 children aged 3 to 5 years from families of varied size. Even after verbal mental age was controlled, those who had a sibling aged 12 months to 12 years outperformed only-children in both experiments. However, the presence of a very young infant, or of siblings who were teenagers or young adults, exerted no benefit. Also, in contrast to some previous studies, younger child siblings and twins were just as helpful as older child siblings. The presence of multiple child siblings of varied ages above and below that of the participant predicted advanced theory of mind development over and above the effects of own age and verbal ability, despite the fact that neither overall family size nor birth order were significant predictors. These findings were reconciled with those of previous sibling constellation research around a model of family social influences in which the opportunity to play, converse, and disagree in distinctively childish ways with brothers and sisters provides unique insights into the workings of the human mind.     

嫉妒研究的现状、特点和趋势分析

根据1981-1998年国际心理学领域关于嫉妒研究的论著,从理论和实证角度对当代嫉妒研究成果进行分类研究,旨在阐明国际嫉妒研究的现状,分析和概括其研究特点和发展趋势.