Haybron on Mood Propensity and Happiness

Daniel Haybron has made an original contribution to philosophical discussions of happiness. He has put forward a theory that identifies happiness with moods and the propensity to experience moods. Haybron’s contribution deserves a critical examination. The first section of my paper is interpretive. I show how Haybron uses the concepts of ‘central affective states’ and ‘mood propensity’ to define happiness. The second and third sections of the paper are critical. They focus on the inclusion of mood propensity in Haybron’s theory. In the second section I argue that his theory fails because there is an example that shows a subject can be happy even when that subject does not have a positive mood propensity. In the third section of the paper, I consider Haybron’s objection that the case in question is ‘object-specific’ and that it is not ‘emotionally-based’. I discuss both of these technical terms in detail. Moreover, I argue that a modified version of the counter example accommodates these technical terms while retaining the persuasiveness of the original example.

Mask-wearing increases present-mindedness

Besides health consequences, in what subtle ways do mask-wearing affect our psychology? In this research, we explored whether the experience of mask-wearing, like other disruptive visceral states (e.g., hunger), affects our time perspective. In two experiments (total N = 596), we examined if mask-wearing temporarily generates present-mindedness (more focus on present than future). Study 1 found that mask-wearing (vs. no-mask) lowered considerations about the future, which was mediated by a sense of stuffiness. Study 2 extended this finding and examined whether the effect spillovers to other time-relevant judgments, such as ideals about a good life. Again, when experiencing stuffiness because of mask-wearing, people were more likely to favor pleasure in current life than future life meaning. Our finding implies that concrete visceral experience (stuffiness) linked with the pandemic may shape our mind in subtle, unforeseen ways.     

MIRRORS, PORTALS, AND MULTIPLE REALITIES

Abstract. A biogenetic structural explanation is offered for the cross-culturally common mystical experience called portalling , the experience of moving from one reality to another via a tunnel, door, aperture, hole, or the like. The experience may be evoked in shamanistic and meditative practice by concentration upon a portalling device (mirror, mandala, labyrinth, skrying bowl, pool of water, etc.). Realization of the portalling experience is shown to be fundamental to the phenomenology underlying multiple reality cosmologies in traditional cultures and is explained in terms of radical re-entrainment of the neurological systems mediating experience in the brain. Phenomenological experiments with mirror portalling devices from both the Tibetan and the Tsimshian religious traditions are reported.     

The cognitive load of physical activity in individuals with high and low tolerance to effort: An ecological paradigm to contrast stepping on the spot and stepping through space

Performing a physical activity means dealing with the challenges and difficulties occurring during the task. The more a person possesses the cognitive ability to deal with the complexity of the task, the more that person will be able to face the difficulties in activity regulation. However, no studies have been designed to investigate the cognitive dimension of physical activity. In the present study, we present an original in-task methodology that offers the means to assess the cognitive and physical load of a physical activity. Through the application of a dual task paradigm, we report in-task changes in cognitive abilities and physiological experiences in low and high tolerant individuals during the practice of one of two whole-body stepping tasks. The findings confirmed that stepping through space is a physical activity that requires more cognitive resources and is perceived as more cognitively and physically challenging than stepping on the spot. We demonstrated also that the tolerance to effort, which is a psychological factor, plays a non-negligible role in the way the activity sessions were experienced. The affective states in low tolerant individuals were always more negative than those reported by high tolerant individuals. Our findings argue for the existence of a cognitive dimension to physical activity with tolerance to effort being a moderator of individuals’ affective experience to exercise.     

略论春秋战国时期齐国相任的人才思想

春秋战国时期,周王室衰微,各诸侯国为国家的发展和壮大,政体先后向中央集权方向演变,围绕着中央权力机构的系统分化和进一步完善,其人才体制出现了新的特点,重视“中央之人”的选任,尤重相的任置。本文试以春秋战国时期的齐国为例,来分析相任的人才理念的形成、贯彻及社会影响等。     

Positive affect moderates inhibitory control and positive affect following a single bout of self-select aerobic exercise

PurposeResearch suggests that individual differences in baseline cognitive performance moderates subsequent cognitive benefits following a single bout of exercise. The present study seeks to evaluate additional moderating mental states – specifically positive affect – on inhibitory control and affect following exercise.MethodsUsing a within- and between-participants pre-post cross-over design, eighty university students (54 females; 21.7 ± 2.7 years old) completed a flanker task and affect measures before and after a single bout of aerobic exercise at a self-selected intensity or studying for class (15-min) on separate days. Groups of high-positive affect (HPA; n = 41) and low-positive affect (LPA; n = 39) were determined based on a median split of positive affect measures prior to the exercise bout.ResultsThe HPA group revealed shorter reaction time (RT) from before to after exercise and rest with no difference observed between exercise and rest. The LPA group revealed shorter RT after exercise compared to before exercise and after rest. For accuracy, the LPA group improved performance during the exercise session compared to the rest session to a level comparable to the HPA group. Lastly, positive affect decreased in the LPA and HPA groups from before to after rest; however, only the LPA group’s positive affect increased from before to after exercise.ConclusionIndividuals with low positive affect experience greater cognitive and positive affect improvements following acute aerobic exercise at a self-select intensity, further supporting intraindividual differences in mental states as a mechanism for subsequent cognitive and affective benefits encompassing healthy behaviors of exercise.     

Young children's moral judgments of commission and omission related to the understanding of Knowledge or Ignorance

This study examined developmental change in young children's moral judgments of commission and omission related to mental states, especially knowledge or ignorance. 4–5 and 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds (n=67) made moral judgments about the tasks related to the understanding of knowledge or ignorance. The tasks were also composed of two types of acts: commission or omission. The results showed that the both age groups understood knowledge and ignorance, but that the older group made moral judgments based on this understanding more similar to adults compared to the younger group. There was not an age difference concerning whether the acts were of commission or omission. These findings indicate that there is no difference for young children in the difficulty in moral judgments of acts of commission and omission related to mental states, whereas there is a developmental difference in using the understanding of knowledge or ignorance for making moral judgments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Make sure you keep our house safe!’ Thematic analysis of a children's psychotherapy group

This paper describes a systematic thematic analysis of one particular latency-aged children's group and includes a discussion about potentially helpful outcomes measures. The impetus for our small, practice-based qualitative research project came from the two papers by Reid (1999) and Canham (2002) about children's psychotherapy groups, particularly Canham's (2002) paper, ‘Group and gang states of mind’. Canham and Reid used Bion's theories of group functioning as the basis of their technique with children's groups. We felt that it would be an interesting follow-on from Reid and Canham's findings to explore in some detail the specific therapeutic factors involved in a shift from paranoid–schizoid to depressive functioning in group therapy. We hoped that this might give us some helpful clinical indications as to the circumstances in which group rather than individual psychotherapy and parallel parent work should be considered as the treatment of choice. The paper concentrates exclusively on group work with latency-aged children, therefore referring mainly to the limited number of papers published about psychoanalytic group therapy with this age group.     

Chimpanzees know what others know, but not what they believe

There is currently much controversy about which, if any, mental states chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates understand. In the current two studies we tested both chimpanzees’ and human children’s understanding of both knowledge-ignorance and false belief - in the same experimental paradigm involving competition with a conspecific. We found that whereas 6-year-old children understood both of these mental states, chimpanzees understood knowledge-ignorance but not false belief. After ruling out various alternative explanations of these and related findings, we conclude that in at least some situations chimpanzees know what others know. Possible explanations for their failure in the highly similar false belief task are discussed.