Invited Review—Survey of Value‐Focused Thinking: Applications,Research Developments and Areas for Future Research

Criteria are the central focus of multi‐criteria decision analysis. Many authors have suggested using our values (or preferences) to define the criteria we use to evaluate alternatives. Value‐focused thinking (VFT) is an important philosophy that advocates a more fundamental view of values in our decision making in our private and professional lives. VFT proponents advocate starting first with our values and then using our values to create decision opportunities, evaluate alternatives and finally develop improved alternatives. It has been 20 years since VFT was first introduced by Ralph Keeney. This paper surveys the VFT literature to provide a comprehensive summary of the significant applications, describe the main research developments and identify areas for future research. We review the scope and magnitude of VFT applications and the key developments in theory since VFT was introduced in 1992 and found 89 papers written in 29 journals from 1992 to 2010. We develop about 20 research questions that include the type of article (application, theory, case study, etc.), the size of the decision space (which, when given, ranged from $200K to billions of dollars), the contribution documented in the article (application benefits) and the research contributions (categorized by preferences, uncertainties and alternatives). After summarizing the answers to these questions, we conclude the paper with suggestions for improving VFT applications and potential future research. We found a large number of significant VFT applications and several useful research contributions. We also found an increasing number of VFT papers written by international authors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How to Stand for Something: Toward a Genealogy of Exemplars

This paper responds to the focus issue on exemplarity that includes contributions by Kyle Lambelet, Brian Hamilton, and Gustavo Maya. The paper calls attention to ancient, medieval, and modern precedents that ought to inform our thinking about the ethical and political significance of exemplars.     

新时代“健康优先”的三重理论逻辑

新时代我国施行“健康优先”在理论上合乎天然的逻辑。基于法理逻辑、价值逻辑和生产逻辑构建一个三重维度的分析框架。公民的生命权、健康权和发展权的保障和维护,是从微观个体层面催生“健康优先”的法理逻辑。汇聚到人民群众层面,“健康优先”与“以人民为中心”的发展思想共轭产生“以人民健康为中心”的理念,其价值逻辑不言自明。“健康优先”的生产逻辑体现在着眼于“现实的人”这一具有能动性的生产要素,既有利于人力资本的“再生产”,也有利于改善和提升健康人力资本。

     

我国医学人文教育的价值取向

基于价值哲学范畴的价值取向概念,探讨我国医学人文教育的实践目标。紧密结合临床医学专业教学实践和临床医学人文教学实践,从解析现代医学目的、塑造医学人文品格、构建和谐医患关系三个维度,论证医学人文教育与医学专业教育的融合点,认识医学活动主体、客体的特征及其相互关系,拓宽医学教育实践的内涵与外延,建构医学教育主体、客体和医疗实践主体、客体的同轴目标,增加医学行为主体的软实力提升路径,化除医患关系不和谐的医方瑕疵。     

患者主体意识在现代医学语境中的价值困境分析

患者主体意识在现代医学语境中出现了话语权的失落和自证困难,这可能引起患者的不满。对主客二分的生物医学模式教条和僵化的运用是这一困境产生的主要原因。临床医生仍习惯于将疾病作狭义的生物学理解,造成了对患者主观陈述的轻视。若想突破困境,需要认识到医学具有科学和治疗手段的不同属性,在临床中加强医生对患者的理解与尊重,回归病人的真实世界,构建医患的共同决策环境,借鉴传统中医学身心一体的哲学思想,积极转换理念,探索新的路径。     

汉代象数易学的理论价值与历史地位

易学发展史上的汉代象数易学,就其理论形态、思维方式、思想特征而言,具有鲜明、典型的时代性与范导性.作为汉代经学核心的有机组成部分的汉代象数易学,对汉代哲学与文化、社会与政治等方面,都产生了广泛与深远的影响.然而,长期以来,人们对汉代象数易学在易学与哲学史上的理论价值与历史地位的认识,或者未能引起足够的重视,或者缺乏客观公允的评判.本文从"立足《周易》象数系统,确立天人之学新形态"、"深化儒家社会政治思想,强化政治指导功能"、"深化整体性和谐理念,凸显和谐价值理想终极诉求"等方面,深入地分析并揭示了汉代象数易学的理论价值与历史地位.     

An application of belief‐importance theory with reference to trait emotional intelligence,mood, and somatic complaints

Petrides, K.V. (2011). An application of belief‐importance theory with reference to trait emotional intelligence, mood, and somatic complaints. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 161–167. This article describes the basic principles of belief‐importance (belimp) theory and tests them in two empirical studies. Belimp theory hypothesizes that personality traits confer a propensity to perceive convergences and divergences between our belief that we can attain goals and the importance that we place on these goals. Belief and importance are conceptualized as two coordinates, together defining the belimp plane. Four distinct quadrants can be identified within the belimp plane (Hubris, Motivation, Depression and Apathy), broadly corresponding to the personality dimensions of trait emotional intelligence, conscientiousness, neuroticism and introversion. Study 1 (N = 365) defines the four quadrants in relation to goals about financial security and shows that they score differently on trait emotional intelligence, mood and somatic complaints. Study 2 (N = 230) defines the quadrants in relation to goals about appearance and, separately, in relation to goals about popularity, and replicates the findings of the first study. Strategies and requirements for testing belimp theory are presented, as are a number of theoretical and practical advantages that it can potentially offer.     

Hungry for love: the influence of self-regulation on infidelity

The current research examines the effect of self-regulation on the likelihood of committing infidelity. Thirty-two college students in exclusive romantic relationships interacted through a private chat room with an opposite-sex confederate. Prior to this interaction, a food-restriction task depleted half the participants of self-control. As predicted, depleted levels of self-regulation increased the likelihood of infidelity. Specifically, depleted participants were more likely to both accept a coffee date from and supply a personal telephone number to the confederate than non-depleted participants. Weakened self-control may be one potential cause for the levels of infidelity occurring in romantic partnerships today.     

Value Domains of Turkish Adults and University Students

Abstract

The authors identified the basic dimensions of contemporary values among Turkish university students and adults and explored gender and group (adults vs. students) differences in the importance attributed to particular value types. The authors administered a composite value survey to 101 students from different departments of Middle East Technical University and 101 adults from different parts of Ankara. Factor analysis yielded 5 value domains: self-enhancement, tradition-religiosity, universalism, benevolence, and normative patterning, supporting S. H. Schwartz's (1992) motivational value dimensions. Compared with the students, the adults attributed more importance to the tradition-religiosity, normative patterning, and benevolence domains. Gender similarities were more important than gender differences. The results are discussed with reference to the studies of values in the literature and prevalent social change in the social structure of Turkish society.     

The Impact of Value Similarity and Power on the Perception of Threat

Threat perception is a powerful tool in international and intergroup conflict. Realists in international relations argue that the perception of threat in intergroup conflict is a function of power asymmetries between groups. In contrast, social constructivists in international relations suggest that a shared sense of identity or similarity can reduce, and in some cases eliminate, perceptions of intergroup threat. Consequently, threat perception might be influenced by both the value similarities and the power asymmetries between the ingroup and the outgroup. In this article, we present an attempt to test empirically how individuals evaluate the similarity of cultural and political values compared with another nation (outgroup) and assess its implications for cooperation among states in the international system. The results of two experiments demonstrate that both power and perceived value similarity play an important role in threat perception among states and discuss implications for future research.