Attitudes and cognitive distances: On the non-unitary and flexible nature of cognitive maps

Spatial relations of our environment are represented in cognitive maps. These cognitive maps are prone to various distortions (e.g., alignment and hierarchical effects) caused by basic cognitive factors (such as perceptual and conceptual reorganization) but also by affectively loaded and attitudinal influences. Here we show that even differences in attitude towards a single person representing a foreign country (here Barack Obama and the USA) can be related to drastic differences in the cognitive representation of distances concerning that country. Europeans who had a positive attitude towards Obama’s first presidential program estimated distances between US and European cities as being much smaller than did people who were skeptical or negative towards Obama’s ideas. On the basis of this result and existing literature, arguments on the non-unitary and flexible nature of cognitive maps are discussed.     

员工为什么不建言:基于中国文化视角的解析

在中国背景下,员工常常对问题视而不见或不敢表达.立足于中国文化视角,对这种状况分析得出,中庸思维不利于自我冒进式建言;较高的面子意识和人情观念,促使员工更多关注自身和被建言者的面子保全,往往选择保留自己的观点;集体主义关注组织和谐的特征不利于组织中建言行为的发生;权力距离抑制建言行为的表达;长期观念可能也会抑制建言行为的表达.未来研究应进一步明确具体文化因素对建言行为的影响及其发生机制.     

How much is too much? Understanding the role and function of violence and its manifestation in the consulting room: intensive psychotherapy with a latency-aged boy

The aim of this article is to explore and lend meaning to the role and function of violence in children, in particular boys, who have had disturbing and traumatic early experiences. Psychoanalytic thinking about the role and function of violence, as well as its impact and management in the consulting room, will be central features of this exploration. In a research project involving a single case study, a number of clinical concepts emerged that have potential ramifications for child psychotherapists working with children exhibiting violent and challenging behaviour. The clinical concepts emerged via the application of grounded theory research methodology to clinical data and contribute to the thinking and theory of Meltzer’s use of ‘temperature and distance’ as a means of understanding and regulating emotional states in the therapeutic setting. ‘Time’ and ‘space’ were additional clinical concepts that emerged. These four concepts are considered crucial elements in providing the child psychotherapist with the means to apply transformative and modifying processes to the un-processed and raw externalisation of primitive, violent impulses.     

个人权力感对进谏行为的影响机制：权力认知的视角

基于权力的情境聚焦理论, 研究从权力认知的视角探讨了在中国背景下, 政府组织中员工个人权力感知与他/她对上级的进谏行为的关系及其作用机制和边界条件。通过对苏南等地区政府组织的306名机关工作人员及其直接上级配对成组取样, 采用层级回归等数据分析方法。研究结果发现, 员工的个人权力感知与其进谏行为之间成正相关, 并且这种关系是以认知灵活性和心理可得性为中介起作用的。个人权力感知与中介变量之间的关系又受到员工的权力距离倾向的正向调节影响, 即权力距离倾向越大, 这种正向关系越强。文章还讨论了所得结果的意义及未来研究。     

Mental representations of social status

How do people think about social status? We investigated the nature of social status and number representations using a semantic distance latency test. In Study 1, 21 college students compared words connoting different social status as well as numbers, which served as a control task. Participants were faster at comparing occupations and numbers that were semantically farther apart relative to those more closely related. In Study 2, we examined the semantic distance effect for a social status category, for which participants have as much knowledge of, as with numbers. We asked 15 US Navy Midshipmen to compare the social status associated with different ranks in the Navy as well as compare number magnitudes. Participants were fastest when comparing ranks far in status relative to ranks close in status. These findings reveal that humans have mental representations of social status that share properties with that of number.     

Effectiveness of an ethics course delivered in traditional and non-traditional formats

This paper details a three-credit-hour undergraduate ethics course that was delivered using traditional, distance, and compressed formats. OLS 263: Ethical Decisions in Leadership is a 200-level course offered by the Department of Organizational Leadership and Supervision in the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Students in engineering, technology, business, nursing, and other majors take the course. In an effort to determine student perceptions of course and instructor effectiveness, end-of-course student survey data were compared using data from traditional, distance, and compressed sections of the course. In addition, learning outcomes from the final course project were evaluated using a standardized assessment rubric and scores on the course project. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the “Ethics and Social Responsibility in Engineering and Technology” meeting, New Orleans, 2003.     

"米制"的时间层次网络结构研究

本研究通过两个实验来对米制时间顺序标码的层次网络结构的性质进行了探讨。研究结果表明,米制时间顺序标码系统要进行多层分组,由日子组成月份,由月份组成年份,最终形成了一个客观的、精确的层次网络的结构。不同层次的项目之间因加工方式的不同而出现了层次效应或者越界效应,同一层次的项目还在继续进行分组,不同小组之间出现了距离效应;被试对米制的时间信息标码层次网络表征的加工,是采用了“顶层一底层”的方向;对两个刺激项目进行直接比较判断或运算这两种加工的难易是不同的;本研究中没有发现方向效应。     

The Professor and the Saint

I review James E. Dittes' scholarship on St. Augustine through the perspective of my experiences as a student in his seminar on The `Theologies' of Freud and Jung, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Throughout this review, I emphasize Dittes' personal engagement with Augustine, and note his unabashed introspection as a mode of theological reflection.     

Opportunities of online analysis1

The question of whether tele-analysis is an acceptable way of conducting analysis has been discussed since it has become available. Merchant (2016) and others concluded that ‘the essentials of a genuine analytic process are not necessarily precluded’ (p. 1). In this paper, the author goes a step further and examines potential advantages of tele-analysis. There may be benefits for patients with a history of physical or sexual abuse who value the distance. The potential for a ‘safe place’ for work with erotic transference is also examined. In a further section the author is interested in allowing the analyst the freedom to practise in an authentic way, congruent with their personality. Also explored is the concept of the interactive field including the technological medium, which is subject to synchronistic events. Finally, the author gives examples of a deep connection between patient and analyst which came about despite the physical distance.