外部环境资源短缺对员工薪酬奖励偏好的影响与机制

以往关于时间与金钱奖励选择问题的探讨主要从员工工龄视角着手。但这一视角不能直接解释外部环境资源短缺时, 员工对时间与金钱奖励选择偏好的差异问题。本文依据生命史理论, 探讨外部环境资源(如就业资源和自然资源)短缺与否对员工选择时间和金钱奖励偏好的影响及内在机制。本文以即将步入职场的大学生和企业员工为样本, 发现不管是外在就业资源短缺还是外在自然资源短缺都会促使员工更加偏好金钱而非时间奖励, 内在机制是外部环境资源短缺时人们的心理表征更具体, 并且这一现象在高物质主义者身上更为明显(实验1和2)。本文结尾讨论了对资源短缺、时间和金钱等研究领域的理论突破与推进。     

植入前遗传学诊断中性别选择的伦理辩护

植入前遗传学诊断（PGD）是在胚胎植入子宫前进行遗传学检查的新技术。它可对植入胚胎进行性别选择,从而引发了会增加我国出生人口性别比的担忧。通过对PGD性别选择伦理风险的分析,指出其用于医学需要时不会对性别比造成危害。但在实施过程中需要医生、患者及社会全体人员共同参与,避免该技术用于非医学目的的需要。     

Local effects of delayed food

Five pigeons were trained on a procedure in which seven concurrent variable-interval schedules arranged seven different food-rate ratios in random sequence in each session. Each of these components lasted for 10 response-produced food deliveries, and components were separated by 10-s blackouts. We varied delays to food (signaled by blackout) between the two response alternatives in an experiment with three phases: In Phase 1, the delay on one alternative was 0 s, and the other was varied between 0 and 8 s; in Phase 2, both delays were equal and were varied from 0 to 4 s; in Phase 3, the two delays summed to 8 s, and each was varied from 1 to 7 s. The results showed that increasing delay affected local choice, measured by a pulse in preference, in the same way as decreasing magnitude, but we found also that increasing the delay at the other alternative increased local preference. This result casts doubt on the traditional view that a reinforcer strengthens a response depending only on the reinforcer's value discounted by any response-reinforcer delay. The results suggest that food guides, rather than strengthens, behavior.     

Teacher report and direct assessment of preferences for identifying reinforcers for young children

Teachers were asked to identify and rank 10 preferred stimuli for 9 toddlers, and a hierarchy of preference for these items was determined via a direct preference assessment. The reinforcing efficacy of the most highly preferred items identified by each method was evaluated concurrently in a reinforcer assessment. The reinforcer assessment showed that all stimuli identified as highly preferred via the direct preference assessment and teacher rankings functioned as reinforcers. The highest ranked stimuli in the direct assessment were more reinforcing than the teachers' top-ranked stimuli for 5 of 9 participants, whereas the teachers' top-ranked stimulus was more reinforcing than the highest ranked stimulus of the direct assessment for only 1 child. A strong positive correlation between rankings generated through the two assessments was identified for only 1 of the 9 participants. Despite poor correspondence between rankings generated through the teacher interview and direct preference assessment, results of the reinforcer assessment suggest that both methods are effective in identifying reinforcers for toddlers.     

《周易·剥》卦爻辞重诂

“剥”之义有二:《彖》释“柔变刚”,即“柔剥落刚”。“剥”读“bō”。《大象》释“山附于地”,象征“刚被剥倒在床”。“剥”读“pū”。二者结合,为“剥”之全义。爻位不同,象征“剥(pū)床”原因有别:“初”因足受剥(bō)伤而剥(pū)床;“二”因膝受剥(bō)伤而剥(pū)床;“四”因腹受剥伤而剥(pū)床。自汉代以降,将上述二义不恰当地剪接,其结果变成了“剥(bō)床”,混淆了“剥”的主客体,有违卦旨爻义,诂中遗憾由此而生。     

Intransitivity and Vague Preferences

This paper is concerned with intransitivity in normative rational choice. It focuses on a class of intransitivities which have received little attention, those involving vague preferences. “Vague preferences” are defined in terms of vague predicates such as “red” or “bald.” Such preferences appear common, and intransitive indifference is argued to be an unavoidable feature of them. Such preferences are argued to undermine intransitive strict preference also. Various formal theories of vagueness are applied to an example of vague preferences, but none of them provide a justification for the transitivity axiom. For helpful comments on earlier drafts and discussions of this material, I am very grateful to John Broome, Rosanna Keefe, Matthew Kramer, Stuart Rachels, Jochen Runde and Adrian Walsh. I owe a large debt to John O’Neill, who suggested an earlier version of the “Tragedy of the Disappearing Commons” example.     

Religious and National Identity after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement

National and religious identification processes can be seen as the basis of the conflict in Northern Ireland, and over the course of the conflict preferred social and political identities became increasingly oppositional and entrenched. This paper reviews this evidence using population-level studies of self-categorized national and religious identity. In an attempt to explore the bases of these identities, two interrelated qualitative studies examining the constructions of national and religious identification are reported. The findings presented suggest the continuing predominance of national and religious identities that have generally been constructed as opposing. Evidence of complete overlap of the identities is evidenced in conflation of religion and nationality in adolescents' essays. Theoretical sampling of adults living on the border between Northern Ireland, the republic of Ireland, and those in mixed marriages highlight the strategic use of national and religious identities that may act to support divisions in post-Agreement Northern Ireland.     

Coordination of multiple memory systems

On the basis of lesions of different brain areas, several neural systems appear to be important for processing information regarding different types of learning and memory. This paper examines the development of pharmacological and neurochemical approaches to multiple memory systems from past studies of modulation of memory formation. The findings suggest that peripheral neuroendocrine mechanisms that regulate memory processing may target their actions toward those neural systems most engaged in the processing of learning and memory. In addition, measurements of acetylcholine release in different memory systems reveals extensive interactions between memory systems, some cooperative and some competitive. These results imply that many neural systems, often characterized as relatively independent, may in fact interact extensively, blurring the dependencies of different memory tasks on specific neural systems.     

DO CONDITIONAL REINFORCERS COUNT?

Six pigeons were trained on a procedure in which seven components arranged different food-delivery ratios on concurrent variable-interval schedules each session. The components were unsignaled, lasted for 10 food deliveries, and occurred in random order with a 60-s blackout between components. The schedules were arranged using a switching-key procedure in which two responses on a center key changed the schedules and associated stimuli on two side keys. In Experiment 1, over five conditions, an increasing proportion of food deliveries accompanied by a magazine light was replaced with the presentation of the magazine light only. Local analyses of preference showed preference pulses toward the alternative that had just produced either a food-plus-magazine-light or magazine-light-only presentation, but pulses after food deliveries were always greater than those after magazine lights. Increasing proportions of magazine lights did not change the size of preference pulses after food or magazine-light presentations. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of correlations between food ratios and magazine-light ratios: In Condition 6, magazine-light ratios in components were inversely correlated (-1.0) with food ratios, and in Condition 7, magazine-light ratios were uncorrelated with food ratios. In Conditions 8 and 9, pecks also produced occasional 2.5-s flashes of a green keylight. In Condition 8, food and magazine-light ratios were correlated 1.0 whereas food and green-key ratios were correlated -1.0. In Condition 9, food and green-key ratios were correlated 1.0 whereas food and magazine-light ratios were correlated -1.0. Preference pulses toward alternatives after magazine lights and green keys depended on the correlation between these event ratios and the food ratios: If the ratios were correlated +1.0, positive preference pulses resulted; if the correlation was -1.0, preference pulses were negative. These results suggest that the Law of Effect has more to do with events signaling consequences than with strengthening responses.     

Using simultaneous presentation to increase vegetable consumption in a mildly selective child with autism

A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of adding condiments on the consumption of previously rejected foods (vegetables). Adding condiments produced increased food acceptance across three food items. Data are discussed in relation to conditioned food preferences and establishing operations.