Situation Trait Relevance, Trait Expression, and Cross-Situational Consistency: Testing a Principle of Trait Activation

An interactionist principle of trait activation is proposed, emphasizing situation trait relevance (i.e., opportunity for trait expression) as a moderator of trait–behavior relations and cross-situational consistency (CSC). One hundred fifty-six students completed trait measures and expressed intentions in 10 scenarios targeted to each of five traits (e.g., risk taking). Trait–intention correlations within scenario sets were themselves correlated with mean situation trait relevance ratings provided by 26 proficient judges; CSCs in intentions (45 correlations per trait) were correlated with an index of shared trait relevance in situation pairs. In support of trait activation, (a) trait–intention relations for three traits were higher in more relevant situations (e.g., second-order r = .66 for risk taking) and (b) CSCs were higher in scenarios jointly high in targeted trait relevance (e.g., second-order r = .55 for risk taking). Discussion highlights applications of trait activation in diverse research domains.     

动机与情境对不同自控水平儿童学业求助的影响

本实验以小学儿童为被试,研究了在不同动机取向和情境条件下的不同自我控制水平儿童的学业求助行为。结果表明：（１）单独无自尊压力的解难题情境比群体压力情境导致更多的求助行为。（２）低自控儿童比高自控儿童产生更多的执行性求助,但主要表现在单独无自尊压力的情境下。（３）在群体压力情境下,自我卷入的儿童比任务卷入的儿童表现出更多的求助行为。（４）在单独无自尊压力的情境下,任务卷入的儿童比自我卷入的儿童表现出     

Normatively demanding creatures: Hobbes,the Fall and individual responsibility

This paper explores an internal relation between wrong-doing and the ability to think in moral terms, through Hobbes’ thought. I use his neglected retelling of our ‘original sin’ as a springboard, seeing how we then discover a need to vindicate our own projects in terms shared by others. We become normatively demanding creatures: greedy for normative vindication, eager to judge others amid the difficulties of our world. However there is, of course, no choice for us but to choose our own principles of judgment, or at least some authority to provide these. Unconvinced by Hobbes’ remedies, I conclude with one implication for moral philosophy@ a need to look rather differently at agency and responsibility. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Intention and Responsibility in Double Effect Cases

I argue that the moral distinction in double effect cases rests on a difference not in intention as traditionally stated in the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE), but in desire. The traditional DDE has difficulty ensuring that an agent intends the bad effect just in those cases where what he does is morally objectionable. I show firstly that the mental state of a rational agent who is certain that a side-effect will occur satisfies Bratman's criteria for intending that effect. I then clarify the nature of the moral distinction in double effect cases and how it can be used to evaluate the moral blameworthiness of agents rather than the moral status of acts. The agent's blameworthiness is reduced not by his lack of intention but by his desire not to bring about the side-effect, and the 'counterfactual test' can be used to determine whether he desires the effect in acting. In my version, the DDE has its rationale in virtue ethics; it is not liable to abuse as the traditional version is; and it makes more plausible distinctions when applied to standard examples.     

在亲／反社会情境下儿童对说谎的理解及其道德评价的研究

本研究比较了幼儿及小学儿童在亲社会与反社会情境下对说谎/说真话的理解及幼儿对其所作的道德评价上的年龄差异.结果表明自4岁开始儿童能够明确地理解说谎/说真话,并作出相应的道德判断.但3岁幼儿无论是对说谎/说真话概念的判断,还是道德评价,不能对行为与言语作明确的区别.习俗性特征对说谎概念判断的影响始于9岁.     

模糊容忍性：研究回顾、现状与展望

模糊容忍性是个体或群体面对一系列不熟悉的、复杂的、或不一致的线索时,对模棱两可的环境刺激信息进行知觉和加工的方式。基于国内外相关研究,文章回顾了模糊容忍性的概念界定和研究历史,认为当前研究现状集中于模糊容忍性的测量及其与组织、文化、个体认知和其他人格变量之间的关系方面。其中,模糊容忍性与创造性的关系尤其值得关注。文章据此给出了未来开展该领域研究的几点建议。     

社会信息加工领域中的情境模型理论

自Wyer和Srull把情境模型理论引入社会信息加工领域以来,情境模型理论成了社会信息加工研究的热点,其自身结构和加工机制也得到研究者的不断完善。该文简要介绍了情境模型理论的内容、结构及其基本假设。即情境模型代表人们在社会信息加工过程中形成的关于具体事件和情节的知识,并且通常在社会信息的理解过程中自动建立。这种模式一旦建立,就为理解新信息及作出相应的判断提供基础。情境模型包括三种基本信息:时空框架、实体集合及实体之间的各种相互关系。认为人们在理解信息的过程中至少需要建构5个维度,即:(1)空间,(2)时间,(3)实体,(4)因果,(5)目的。在此基础上,文章讨论了情境模型理论的未来研究方向。     

时间信息在情景模型建构中的作用

考察时间信息在情景模型建构中的作用 ,探讨被试能否把一系列相关的事实整合进基于时间组织的情景模型中。实验一、二考察明确的空间信息条件下 ,被试能否把绝对和相对的时间信息整合到情景模型中 ;实验三考察无明确的空间信息条件下 ,被试能否把绝对的时间信息整合到情景模型中。运用扇效应研究的提取干扰技术评定是否出现了整合。 3个实验结果一致表明 ,当几个相关的事实发生在相同的时间段时 ,都发现被试建构了基于时间的情景模型的证据。实验三结果同时也表明 ,无明确的空间信息的条件下 ,阅读材料中时间信息本身足以使被试建构基于时间组织的情景模型。     

Effects of situational demand in the role-play assessment of assertive behavior

Assertive and nonassertive subjects role played responses to interpersonal situations of known response difficulty in which various types of assertions were appropriate to evaluate the interactive effects of demand and difficulty on assertive performance. Subjects responded as they normally would (low demand) and as if they had just finished an extensive assertive training program (high demand). Role-play data, rated for overall assertion, revealed that (a) subjects were more assertive under high than low-demand; (b) assertive performance varied with situational difficulty; and (c) self-reports of assertive ability predicted behavior only when role-play situations were easy or demand low, and high demand had preceded low demand. It was concluded that assertive performance is strongly influenced by situational and cognitive variables, that self-reports predict behavior only in specific assessment circumstances, and that role plays tend to measure maximal, rather than typical, performance. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications concerning the validity of role-play assessment procedures.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual convention of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Toronto, Canada, November 1981.     

TOWARD AN EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF MEANING

Abstract. I will discuss some of the implications of the ongoing Darwinian revolution for theology as a constructor and interpreter of human meaning. Focus will be directed toward the following issues: How should we best understand ourselves in the new, evolutionary cosmos? What are the problems with the kind of genetic reductionism espoused by neo-Darwinism? How are those problems resolved by the “relational” understanding of life made available by thermodynamics and ecology? How do we generate meaning-structures in this relationally-constituted cosmos? Finally, how do these developments enrich our understandings of responsibility—to each other and to our private conceptions of God?