Premigration ethnic and national identities: Jewish adolescents planning emigration from Russia and Ukraine to Israel

The ethnic and national identities of Jewish high‐school adolescents planning emigration from Russia and Ukraine to Israel were investigated about six months before their emigration. The national identities of adolescent emigrants (n = 243) were compared with those of non‐emigrant Russian and Ukrainian adolescents (n = 740). The emigrants’ attitude to their country of origin was less positive and their identification with Russians and Ukrainians was weaker as compared with the non‐emigrant adolescents. In addition, the attitude of the emigrants towards Israel was more positive than their attitude to Russia or Ukraine. Finally, the emigrants’ strongest identification was with the Jewish people, followed by identification with Israelis, while their weakest identification was with Russians and Ukrainians. Israeli and Jewish identities of the emigrant adolescents were positively correlated, and they were independent of the Russian and Ukrainian identities. Perceived discrimination was negatively correlated with the emigrants’ attitude to Russia or Ukraine, and it was positively correlated with the emigrants’ identification with Israelis and with the Jewish people. Jewish ethnicity was correlated with identification with Jewish people; however, it was not correlated with any component of the Israeli or Russian/Ukrainian identities. The study results indicate that in the premigration period emigrants form a multidimensional system of ethnic and national identities, which reflects their partial detachment from their homeland and affiliation with the country of provisional immigration. This premigration identity system may be termed “anticipatory” (cf. Merton, 1968), because it is not based on real contact with the country of provisional immigration, but rather on the emigrants’ expectations. On the other hand, the premigration identities are reactive, in the sense that they reflect the emigrants’ reaction to the perceived discrimination they experience in their country of origin. The results of the present study are discussed in light of social identity theory.     

国际健康目标与卫生改革的新导向——重视预防保健的作用

由于认识到卫生系统的大部分资源主要花费在疾病的治疗上,这种资源配置不当不仅导致巨额医疗费用负担和低效率,并没有获得好的健康结果;因此,近年许多发达国家的健康目标与卫生改革出现了一个新的导向,日益重视预防保健的作用;并采取优先选择的方式,确保资源优先配置给对人群健康最需要、资源投入最具有成本效果的保健服务。这种改革已取得了一些成效。这一改革导向对我国正在进行的医药卫生体制改革的制度设计与政策开发提供了启示。     

我的导师是病人

从事矫形外科(骨科)30余年,主持实施各种肢体残疾、骨科疑难杂症的外科手术治疗2万多例,在矫形外科领域创造了多个国际和全国第一,形成了具有中国特色、疗效奇特、医疗费低廉的下肢残缺修复与功能重建技术体系,我的系列创新、专业发展,身心与文化成长经历证明了一个道理——患者是我的导师。     

孔、孟所论“圣人”异同考

孔子心目中的"圣人"要求德、位兼备,而在孟子那里则更加注重于对德的要求。孟子所论"圣人"与孔子有所不同,可以说是孟子因应了从"犹秉周礼"至"杀人盈城"这一现实的形势、因应了"距杨墨"这一思想层面的形势以及为更加便于教化等因素影响而造成的。于孔子、孟子之间,从郭店楚简《五行》篇"德之行"五与"行"四等论述看,其中就已有了突出"圣"之德性的趋势。     

战国侠义精神

战国时期涌现出来了众多的侠义之士,体现在他们身上的侠义精神引起了强烈的震撼和迅猛的扩展。《韩非子》认为,不要名,不为利,张扬个性,豪放肆意,蔑视权贵,敢于反抗是他们品质。司马迁认为,志向高远,仁义诚信,仗义行侠,轻死重气等是战国侠义精神的核心内涵。班固认为,战国侠义精神是充满了反抗的精神,其"温良泛爱,振穷周急,谦退不伐"等品质难得可贵。     

The experience of altered states of consciousness in shamanic ritual: The role of pre-existing beliefs and affective factors

Much attention has been paid recently to the role of anomalous experiences in the aetiology of certain types of psychopathology, e.g. in the formation of delusions. We examine, instead, the top-down influence of pre-existing beliefs and affective factors in shaping an individual’s characterisation of anomalous sensory experiences. Specifically we investigated the effects of paranormal beliefs and alexithymia in determining the intensity and quality of an altered state of consciousness (ASC). Fifty five participants took part in a sweat lodge ceremony, a traditional shamanic ritual which was unfamiliar to them. Participants reported significant alterations in their state of consciousness, quantified using the ‘APZ’ questionnaire, a standardized measure of ASC experience. Participants endorsing paranormal beliefs compatible with shamanic mythology, and those showing difficulty identifying feelings scored higher on positive dimensions of ASC experience. Our findings demonstrate that variation in an individual’s characterisation of anomalous experiences is nuanced by pre-existing beliefs and affective factors.     

Emotional and self‐esteem consequences of perceiving discrimination against a new identity group

With a sample of Asian international students, the consequences of perceiving pervasive discrimination against one's in‐group were examined by experimentally manipulating perceived discrimination (pervasive vs rare) and group identification (low vs high). We report evidence that supports and integrates aspects of two contrasted models; namely, the discounting model and the rejection–identification model. Consistent with both models, the effects of perceiving discrimination on one's psychological well‐being depended on the level of group identification. Nevertheless, after reading about pervasive discrimination, low (vs high) identifiers reported less depressed affect, consistent with the discounting model. However, they also reported lower self‐esteem, consistent with the rejection–identification model.     

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE REALISTIC UTOPIA OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract: Human rights developed in response to specific violations of human dignity, and can therefore be conceived as specifications of human dignity, their moral source. This internal relationship explains the moral content and moreover the distinguishing feature of human rights: they are designed for an effective implementation of the core moral values of an egalitarian universalism in terms of coercive law. This essay is an attempt to explain this moral‐legal Janus face of human rights through the mediating role of the concept of human dignity. This concept is due to a remarkable generalization of the particularistic meanings of those “dignities” that once were attached to specific honorific functions and memberships. In spite of its abstract meaning, “human dignity” still retains from its particularistic precursor concepts the connotation of depending on the social recognition of a status—in this case, the status of democratic citizenship. Only membership in a constitutional political community can protect, by granting equal rights, the equal human dignity of everybody.     

The effect of state extraversion on four types of affect

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of state extraversion on different types of affect. Ninety six participants were instructed to be extraverted or introverted in a 10‐minute dyadic discussion. State extraversion had a strong effect on positive affect and smaller (but still strong) effects on pleasant and activated affect, with these latter two effects almost equal in magnitude. This pattern of findings appears to increase confidence that the effect of state extraversion is genuine rather than the result of construct overlap, in that extraversion's effect on positive affect is not dominated by its effect on activated affect. No support for reward sensitivity as a potential explanatory mechanism was found. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.