Between Open-minded Critical Thinking and Closed-minded Allegiance: Educational Tensions in Societies Involved in Intractable Conflict

In modern democratic societies, one of the main roles of education is to promote critical thinking and open-mindedness. However, this objective can sometimes be seen as clashing in many societies with another one of education's primary objectives—to inculcate in the younger generation a set of common values and beliefs that reinforces collective identity. The current article examines the tension between these two educational goals—fostering open-mindedness and critical-thinking skills, on the one hand, and promoting closed-minded national identity, on the other hand, in the context of intractable conflicts. In particular, we offer an analysis of the unique challenges of nurturing open-minded and critical thinking among students in the presence of processes and content common in education systems of conflict-ridden societies. These challenges are discussed in relation to the role that open-mindedness and critical thinking could play in promoting peace-building processes were they not hindered by nationalistic educational approaches designed to ensure unwavering support of the conflict.     

Jung and Mr. Punch as mythologems

This paper explores how we can make our own mythological version of ‘Jung’ say whatever we want. Excessive veneration gets in the way of his theories being allowed to stand on their own. Understanding ‘Jung’ as a mythologem provides a way out of this intoxication with identification by letting us recollect and re‐connect to the Collective Unconscious.     

Alignment and commitment in joint action

Important work on alignment systems has been applied to philosophical work on joint action by Tollefsen and Dale. This paper builds from and expands on their work. The first aim of the paper is to spell out how the empirical research on alignment may be integrated into philosophical theories of joint action. The second aim is then to develop a successful characterization of joint action, which spells out the difference between genuine joint action and simpler forms of coordination based on alignment. I begin by introducing the empirical research and two definitions of joint action. I then argue that instead of using this research in conjunction with Searle’s account of collective intentionality, as Tollefsen and Dale suggest, we would be better served by applying this research to Gilbert’s account of plural subjects. In the final sections I distinguish between alignment, coordination, and joint action, clarify the roles of joint commitment and sub-personal alignment in joint action, and argue that these concepts are both consistent and mutually supportive. Combining these two research programs gives us an account of joint action that does justice to both the empirical and philosophical research.     

Linking cheating in school and corruption

Introduction

Previous research suggests a link between academic cheating and corruption. However, no prior empirical studies examined this link with cross-cultural data.

Blame game in private investigation reports: The case of Deloitte examination at Telenor VimpelCom

Business and public organisations hire fraud examiners to conduct private investigations when there is suspicion of misconduct or financial crime. Fraud examiners carry out their investigation based on a mandate. Often, individuals in the organisation are suspects. The blame game hypothesis is concerned with factors that cause blame attribution to some individuals but not to others. In this case study, only executives were blamed who had not disclosed corruption information to a major shareholder and to the chief executive officer.     

The evolving normative dimensions of ‘riot’: Towards an elaborated social identity explanation

The question of how normative form changes during a riot, and thus how collective behaviour spreads to different targets and locations, has been neglected in previous research, despite its theoretical and practical importance. We begin to address this limitation through a detailed analysis of the rioting in the London borough of Haringey in 2011. A triangulated analysis of multiple sources of data (including police reports, media accounts, and videos) finds a pattern of behaviour shifting from collective attacks on police targets to looting. A thematic analysis of 41 interview accounts with participants gathered shortly after the events suggests that a shared anti‐police identity allowed local postcode rivalries to be overcome, forming the basis of empowered action not only against the police but to address more long‐standing grievances and desires. It is argued that collective psychological empowerment operated in a ‘positive feedback loop’, whereby one form of collective self‐objectification (and perceived inability of police to respond) formed the basis of further action. This analysis of the development of new targets in an empowered crowd both confirms and extends the elaborated social identity model as an explanation for conflictual intergroup dynamics.     

"A right to lead": The role of leader legitimacy on group reactions to transgressive leadership

Research on the transgression credit shows that groups may sometimes turn a blind eye to ingroup leaders who transgress moral norms. Although there is substantial research investigating the underlying criteria of what makes a “good” leader, research often neglects to investigate the role of followers in leader-group dynamics. In this paper, we offer a novel approach to transgressive leadership by proposing that leader legitimacy is a key factor that determines whether followers’ reactions to transgressive leaders are positive or negative. Across two experiments, participants ascribed transgression credit only to transgressive ingroup leaders perceived as legitimate (Studies 1–2, total n = 308). Transgressive illegitimate leaders were viewed as more threatening to the group, were targeted for formal punishment, received less validation for their behavior, triggered negative emotions (anger and shame), and raised higher consensus for their removal from the leadership position than did legitimate leaders. This effect also occurred irrespective of the absence of formal social control measures implemented toward the transgressive leader (Study 2). Mediation analysis showed that leader illegitimacy triggered stronger feelings of group threat and stronger negative emotions which, consequently, fuelled agreement with collective protest against the transgressive leader. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Positive and Negative Peace as Predictors of Pandemic Preparedness: Evidence from a Micro- and Macro-Level Investigation During the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated unprecedented human loss and financial difficulties worldwide. In line with recent calls for social sciences to help collective efforts to address COVID-19, we investigated the link between peace and pandemic preparedness, advancing the literatures on negative (i.e., absence of direct violence) and positive peace (i.e., absence of structural violence and presence of equality) and governments' crisis preparedness as well as crisis relief efforts. Two studies tested whether both positive and negative peace predict pandemic preparedness, operationalized as COVID-19 tests, cases, and positivity rates, during the onset of the pandemic. Study 1 did so at the national level across 155 countries; Study 2 did so at a local level, across 3144 counties within the United States. Even after controlling for population size, population density, GDP, and amount of air travel, higher levels of both negative and positive peace predicted a greater number of COVID-19 tests per one million people, fewer overall COVID-19 cases, and a lower positivity rate. These findings point to the possibility that by promoting peace, governments and the international community could potentially become better prepared to handle future pandemics and other crises.     

未来心理时间的新取向：集体未来思考

集体未来思考是指想象一个尚未发生的群体事件,其与集体记忆之间存在着复杂的相互作用。目前对集体未来思考的研究发现它的记忆基础更多为语义记忆。而有关集体未来思考的脑机制研究则相对较少,但在遗忘症患者中发现个体未来思考和集体未来思考是可分离的,并且非海马依赖的未来场景构建与集体未来思考可能存在重要联系。未来研究应该注重不同文化背景下的集体未来思考,探讨其产生条件及影响因素,并加强在正常人群中神经机制的研究,以更好地揭示集体未来思考的实质。