Defining ‘Dead’ in Terms of ‘Lives’ and ‘Dies’

What is it for a thing to be dead? Fred Feldman holds, correctly in my view, that a definition of ‘dead’ should leave open both (1) the possibility of things that go directly from being dead to being alive, and (2) the possibility of things that go directly from being alive to being neither alive nor dead, but merely in suspended animation. But if this is right, then surely such a definition should also leave open the possibility of things that go directly from being dead to being neither alive nor dead, but merely in suspended animation. I show that Feldman’s own definition of ‘dead’ (in terms of ‘lives’ and ‘dies’) does not leave this possibility open. I propose a new definition that does.     

Community types and mental health: a multilevel study of local environmental stress and coping

Research has found that neighborhood structural characteristics can influence residents' mental health. Few studies, however, have explored the proximal reasons behind such influences. This study investigates how different types of communities, in terms of environmental stressors (social and physical disorder and fear of crime) and social resources (informal ties and formal organizational participation), affect well-being, depression, and anxiety in adult residents. Data are from a survey of 412 residents nested in 50 street blocks. Block stressors and resources were cluster analyzed to identify six block types. After controlling for several individual- and block-level characteristics, results from multilevel models suggest that in communities facing relatively few stressors, higher levels of formal participation are associated with better mental health. Because high levels of formal participation were not found in communities with higher levels of stressors, the impact of participation in such contexts could not be examined. However, results suggest that in communities where stressors are more common, isolation from neighbors may have a protective effect on mental health.     

A general method for computing hierarchical component structures by Goldberg’s Bass-Ackwards method

Goldberg [Goldberg, L. R.(in press) Doing it all Bass-Ackwards: The development of hierarchical factor structures from the top down. Journal of Research in Personality] has recently described a novel method for computing hierarchical component structures via a “top down” design. He calls his method the “Bass Ackwards” approach to distinguish it from more common “bottom up” methods for obtaining hierarchical solutions. Using simple matrix equations, in this commentary I demonstrate that the end result of a Bass Ackwards analysis—that is, the correlations between component scores from different levels of a hierarchy—can be calculated without calculating the actual component scores. By avoiding component-score calculation, Goldberg’s method (a) can be applied to any data set in which a correlation matrix is available, and (b) can be applied to factor scores rather than estimated factor scores. Goldberg suggests that the Bass Ackwards method represents a useful tool for elucidating the underlying dimensionality and latent structure (rotation in hyperspace) of a data set. Computer code is reported in the Appendix A of this article to help personality researchers more fully evaluate this claim in empirical and simulated data.     

Three dimensions of coping and a look at their evolutionary origin

Serious problems persist concerning the conceptualization and measurement of the coping construct. This study examines the properties and factor structure of the COPE questionnaire, one of the most widely used instruments to measure coping, in a sample of 471 patients. A series of exploratory factor procedures are applied at the item- and scale-level, and the resulting solutions are tested both by their congruence with previously published structures and by confirmatory techniques. Our finding of three robust, generalizable, and parsimonious second-order dimensions—Engagement, Disengagement, and Help-Seeking—challenges the original structure. The results are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, on the assumption that the recognition of coping as the activation of vestigial defenses may make a substantial contribution to clarifying its functions and organization.     

The Minority-Majority Conundrum in Northern Ireland: An Orange Order Perspective

Researchers have argued that, depending on the framing of the Northern Ireland conflict, each group could either be a minority or a majority relative to the other. This complicates macrosocial explanations of the conflict which make specific predictions on the basis of minority or majority positions. The present paper argues that this conundrum may have arisen from the inherent variability in microidentity processes that do not fit easily with macroexplanations. In this paper the rhetoric of relative group position is analysed in political speeches delivered by leading members of an influential Protestant institution in Northern Ireland. It is apparent that minority and majority claims are not fixed but are flexibly used to achieve local rhetorical goals. Furthermore, the speeches differ before and after the Good Friday Agreement, with a reactionary "hegemonic" Unionist position giving way to a "majority-rights power sharing" argument and a "pseudo-minority" status giving way to a "disempowered minority" argument. These results suggest a view of the Northern Ireland conflict as a struggle for "symbolic power," i.e., the ability to flexibly define the intergroup situation to the ingroup's advantage.     

微观发生法:聚焦认知变化

微观发生法通过在变化发生的整个过程中对行为进行高密度观察和反复试验分析,可以提供关于认知变化的路线、速率、广度、来源以及变化模式的多样性等方面的精细信息,对于理解心理变化的机制有重要意义。该文论述了从发生法到微观发生法的演变过程、微观发生法的研究设计及其合理性与有待解决的问题。     

The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Within contemporary psychology there is increasing interest in the role of religion on behaviour and psychological functioning. Such interest can be attested to by the growth in the number of pertinent books and articles that have been published and also the development of new self-report measures of religiosity. The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is one such recently developed measure. It is a brief self-report measure comprising 10 items that were designed to measure strength of religious faith regardless of religious denomination or affiliation. Although Plante and Boccaccini (1997a, 1997b) have provided some preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the scale, the factor structure of the scale has not yet been examined. The aim of the present paper was to confirm the factor structure of the scale. The hypothesised one-factor model was tested using confirmatory factor analytic methods. Data from a sample of 106 Northern Irish undergraduate university students were examined using confirmatory factor analytic methods. A one-factor model was tested and accepted on the basis of fit statistics, therefore supporting the hypothesised unidimensional structure of the scale. The present results provide further evidence that the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is psychometrically sound and therefore it can be recommended for further use by researchers interested in the construct of strength of religious faith.     

城镇职工医疗保险改革面临的问题与对策

我国政府已明确提出城镇职工基本医疗保险制度的改革目标,虽然改革已取得了一些进展,但距改革目标仍有相当差距。采用政治分析方法,分析了目前医改所面临的主要问题与原因,并在借鉴国际医疗保障制度改革启示的基础上,进一步探讨解决问题和推进改革进程的思路。     

《易经》与“心理分析”——重访爱诺思

作者以爱诺思的易经研究及富有特色的《周易》译本．作为一个例子,来反映《易经》对心理分析的彤响。     

Building Collaborative Capacity in Community Coalitions: A Review and Integrative Framework

This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of 80 articles, chapters, and practitioners' guides focused on collaboration and coalition functioning. The purpose of this review was to develop an integrative framework that captures the core competencies and processes needed within collaborative bodies to facilitate their success. The resulting framework for building collaborative capacity is presented. Four critical levels of collaborative capacity—member capacity, relational capacity, organizational capacity, and programmatic capacity—are described and strategies for building each type are provided. The implications of this model for practitioners and scholars are discussed.