Preregistration Is Neither Sufficient nor Necessary for Good Science

To address widespread perceptions of a reproducibility crisis in the social sciences, a growing number of scholars recommend the systematic preregistration of empirical studies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to an epistemological dialogue on the value of preregistration in consumer research by identifying the limitations, drawbacks, and potential adverse effects of a preregistration system. After a brief review of some of the implementation challenges that commonly arise with preregistration, we raise three levels of issues with a system of preregistration. First, we identify its limitations as a means of advancing consumer knowledge, thus questioning the sufficiency of preregistration in promoting good consumer science. Second, we elaborate on why consumer science can progress even in the absence of preregistration, thereby also questioning the necessity of preregistration in promoting good consumer science. Third, we discuss serious potential adverse effects of preregistration, both at the individual researcher level and at the level of the field as a whole. We conclude by offering a broader perspective on the narrower role that preregistration can play within the general pursuit of building robust and useful knowledge about consumers.     

Deterrence and Coercive Diplomacy: The Contributions of Alexander George

Alexander George was a towering figure who made path breaking and enduring contributions to political psychology, international relations, and social science methodology. I focus on George's closely related research programs on deterrence and coercive diplomacy, with special attention to the importance of the asymmetry of motivation, strategies for "designing around" a deterrent threat, the controllability of risks, images of the adversary, signaling, the sequential failure of deterrence, the role of positive inducements along with coercive threats, and the need for actor-specific models of the adversary. In the process, I highlight other elements of George's theoretically and methodologically integrated research program: his conceptions of the proper role of theory; his emphasis on the infeasibility of a universal theory and the need for conditional generalizations that are historically grounded, sensitive to context, bounded by scope conditions, and useful for policy makers; and the indispensability of process tracing in theoretically driven case studies.     

PANTHEISM RECONSTRUCTED: ECOTHEOLOGY AS A SUCCESSOR TO THE JUDEO‐CHRISTIAN,ENLIGHTENMENT, AND POSTMODERNIST PARADIGMS

The Judeo‐Christian, Enlightenment, and postmodernist paradigms have become intellectually and ethically exhausted. They are obviously failing to provide a conceptual framework conducive to eliminating some of humanity's worst scourges, including war and environmental destruction. This raises the issue of a successor, which necessitates a reexamination of first principles, starting with our concept of God. Pantheism, which is differentiated from panentheism, denies the existence of a transcendent, supernatural creator and instead asserts that God and the universe are one and the same. Understood via intuition, modern cosmology, and other natural sciences, it offers an alternative worldview that posits the divine and sacred nature of the universe/creation. By asserting the fallacy of the creator/creation dichotomy and any attempts to anthropomorphize or personalize God, pantheism precludes hubris stemming from erroneous notions of divine favoritism. The links between Judeo‐Christianity and the Enlightenment are traced and a case made that the latter has resulted in the equally erroneous and hubristic notion of human ascendancy to a Godlike status, with the concept of progress providing a secular version of the Christian belief in salvation. By reestablishing the natural sciences’metanarrative, even as it asserts the divinity of the material universe, pantheism simultaneously demotes postmodernism and reconciles science with religion. Pantheism provides a theological foundation for deep ecology and also stakes out a viable third position in relation to the ongoing dispute between advocates of intelligent design and the scientific establishment.     

中医科学危机与对策

我国中医药资源非常丰富。但是,中医把中医药资源放在思辨的辨证论治理论框架上。实证的现代医药风暴袭来,取代了中医在国家医学的主体地位,截走了国际中药市场,我国甚至已成为中药净进口国家。中医陷入自我实现的科学危机。辨证论治理论僵化中医学术性质和中医观念、抑制中医生产力、阻碍中医技术产品创新和市场交流,严重阻碍中医药经济发展。所以,批判以辨证论治为核心的错误中医理论,是化解中医科学危机的战略决策。     

重大自然灾害后快速心理危机干预

重大自然灾害后,使用心理危机干预的专业方法,利用心理危机快速反应专家服务组,给受灾者带来常规社会救援不能解决的紧急心理救护和进一步的心理援助,使不幸的人们在绝望中鼓起勇气、获得希望,并与他们一起共同度过人生中这段最艰难的时刻。面对灾难,危机干预是利国利民的重要事务,是政府对灾难后受灾人群进行人文关怀和构建和谐社会的直接体现。     

品牌不安全感的危害机制与化解策略

品牌不安全感是指消费者对某品牌存在潜在或现实威胁的主观感知和担忧。以往文献中, 与品牌不安全感有关的研究主要隐含在两个领域：一是以产品伤害危机为中心的品牌心智变化研究; 二是以企业伦理责任为中心的品牌心智变化研究。但这两个领域都尚未揭示消费者品牌不安全感的实质、心理表征、危害机制和预警功能等。品牌不安全感是消费者回避或拒绝某品牌的心理根源之一。因此基于产品伤害事件频发的事实和品牌心智理论, 有必要对品牌不安全感作系统研究, 具体探索品牌不安全感的本质内涵、导致品牌不安全感的威胁源、品牌不安全感的心理表征、危害机制、预防和化解策略、以及品牌心理安全管理理论等问题。     

Identification of Matrices in Science and Engineering

Engineering science is a scientific discipline that from the point of view of epistemology and the philosophy of science has been somewhat neglected. When engineering science was under philosophical scrutiny it often just involved the question of whether engineering is a spin-off of pure and applied science and their methods. We, however, hold that engineering is a science governed by its own epistemology, methodology and ontology. This point is systematically argued by comparing the different sciences with respect to a particular set of characterization criteria. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

中国化:我国心理学的挑战与机遇

现代主流心理学的源头主要是西方传统文化背景下的近代科学 ,其学科危机亦主要是由于盲目借鉴西方近代科学的人性观以及方法论所致。我国心理学要想摆脱这样的困境 ,就必须加强文化分析的方法 ,从中国传统文化中吸取有价值的思想 ,开辟一条新的发展道路 ,即心理学的中国化之路。这样 ,我国的心理学便能在东西方两大文化的浇灌下健康发展     

Dealing with missed opportunities: Action vs. state orientation moderates inaction inertia

Inaction inertia refers to the effect that missing a more attractive opportunity decreases the likelihood to act on an attractive current opportunity in the same domain. We studied the influence of how people cope with negative decision outcomes (i.e., action vs. state orientation) on this inaction inertia effect. Experiment 1 used an experimental induction of action vs. state orientation and confirmed our prediction that state oriented people showed more inaction inertia than action oriented people. Experiment 2 replicated these results with a measure of chronic action orientation and showed a mediating effect of valuation of the current opportunity. Experiment 3 showed that temporal segregation of the current from the missed opportunity decreased inaction inertia effects for state oriented, but not for action oriented people. We discuss the implications of these results for the inaction inertia and action vs. state orientation literatures.     

The exact vs. approximate distinction in numerical cognition may not be exact, but only approximate: How different processes work together in multi-digit addition

Two types of calculation processes have been distinguished in the literature: approximate processes are supposed to rely heavily on the non-verbal quantity system, whereas exact processes are assumed to crucially involve the verbal system. These two calculation processes were commonly distinguished by manipulation of two factors in addition problems: the identity of the target and the distance of the distractor. However, in all previous studies, these two factors were not manipulated independently. In this fMRI study, we could disentangle the two factors by using a different (two-digit) number stimulus set. Both behavioral and neurofunctional data suggest that the cognitive processes involved could be best explained by the (independent) factors target and distractor distance. Based on these data we suggest that the exact/approximate distinction does not seem to be as generally valid as previously assumed. We conclude that this study may be a starting point for a closer examination of the experimental, procedural and strategic conditions of when the exact/approximate distinction is valid and when it is not.