There is more than one level in color naming — A reply to Zollinger (1984)

Summary It is argued that the structure of the Munsell solid is not sufficient to explain the evolution of color terms as Zollinger (1984) has argued. A manifold model of color perception is described with a local metric structure of discriminability and a global categorical structure. This model elucidates the interdependency of the different levels of constraints on color naming and permits the integration of experimental results which cannot be explained in the model underlying Zollinger's (1984) color-metric argument for the emergence of turquoise.     

Distinctions that mystify: Technology versus economy and other fragmentations

The separation of technological and economic science has maintained the illusion that knowledge itself, when applied to nature, can generate industrialization. The implicit equation “TECHNOLOGY=NATURE plus KNOWLEDGE” ignores the social component of (UNEQUALO EXCHANGE. A global, thermodynamic perspective reveals that world market prices are an intrinsic aspect of the reproduction of industrial technomass. Global exchange rates have to guarantee a net transfer of “exergy” (free energy) to industrial sectors, and industrial technology, as the art of managing these thermodynamic profits, thus remains confined to a restricted social space. The accelerating destruction of the biosphere can only be checked by breaking the entropy-rewarding logic of general-purpose money. The ideas on which this article is based have grown out of a research project sponsored by the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSFR).     

Relative costs and statistical power in the extreme groups approach

The relationship between variables in applied and experimental research is often investigated by the use of extreme (i.e., upper and lower) groups. Recent analytical work has provided an extreme groups procedure that is more powerful than the standard correlational approach for all values of the correlation and extreme group size. The present article provides procedures to optimize power by determining the relative number of subjects to use in each of two stages of data collection given a fixed testing budget.The opinions or assertions contained herein are those of the writers and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department.Edward F. Alf, Jr. is also affiliated with the Department of Psychology, San Diego State University.     

Die Geschichte der „Stellungnahme zur psychoanalytischen Therapie“

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Designing Rites to Re-enchant Secularized Society: New Varieties of Spiritualized Therapy in Contemporary Sweden

Detraditionalization in late modernity in Western society has affected the domains of both traditional religion and clinical psychotherapy. Sweden, which is said to be one of the most secularized societies in the world, instead, has allowed the public domain to be colonized by new, spiritualized practices. Sold as therapy, the services of new spiritual leaders offer anti-stress techniques to prevent burnout, or leaders are trained to develop their leadership in coaching activities. New varieties of spiritualized therapy are rapidly increasing in contemporary Sweden, typical of which is to have added healing rhetoric to their agenda, such as “find your inner self” or “develop your inner potential.” Four common denominators seem to guide these practices: self-appointed leaders, individual-centered rites, realization of one’s Self, and intense emotions. We might also add a fifth aspect: profit. Rites have become a commodity and are sold as liberating practices for burnt-out souls or for people in pursuit of self-realization.     

Leaders in Selling and Sales Management: Elbert Hubbard

With the current uncertainty in the job market, coupled with an emphasis on customer satisfaction and long-term business relationships, there is a renewed interest in salespeople who are highly involved in their jobs. Before any convincing research in this area can be undertaken, a psychometrically sound scale of salesperson job involvement must be available. Our paper provides an assessment in a sales setting of three versions of the most widely used job involvement scale—the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) scale. Results suggest that all three versions have serious flaws and should be used with extreme caution. While one study is never enough to make final recommendations, a classic scale development project with salespeople may be beneficial.     

Großgruppenidentität und psychosoziale Abwehr

The following considerations have their source in more than 25 years experience with intercultural contacts in teaching and research in China and with psychoanalytic therapies with patients from foreign cultures. They may broaden the inner space of the psychoanalyst by a new dimension, which is not systematically reflected due to the integration of each in the own large group identity but influences the unconscious aspects in the work with people from foreign cultures. The concepts of psychosocial defence (S. Mentzos), of large group identity (V. Volkan) and of the ethnic unconscious (G. Devereux) are helpful instruments for understanding restrictive countertransference reactions, which handicap not only the work in the psychoanalytic setting, but also all intercultural relations.     

Better than average and better with time: relative evaluations of self and others in the past,present, and future

Evaluations of self and others in the past, present, and future were examined by asking 385 students to rate themselves or an acquaintance relative to their peers on a number of personality traits. We predicted, and found, evidence for self‐enhancement, as most participants regarded themselves superior to ‘most others’ at all points in time. We also found a better than average improvement effect, as participants considered themselves more superior now, than they were in the past, and expected to become even more superior in the future. Expected improvement in the future was larger than improvement over an equal span of time in the past. It is suggested that favorable self‐constructions are possible to the extent that the past and the future are perceived as ambiguous. Singular acquaintances were also rated better than most others, and were believed to improve over time, but their rate of improvement in the future was smaller than the expected improvement for oneself. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managers’ and Subordinates’ Evaluations of Feedback Strategies: The Critical Contribution of Voice1

This study investigated 87 managers’ and 91 subordinates’ evaluations of a range of strategies for delivering performance feedback in the workplace. The managers and subordinates rated 8 written vignettes describing different feedback strategies on a number of variables (perceived effectiveness, perceived risk, level of enactment demand, and congruence of strategy for managers). Feedback strategies that used an invitation for the subordinate to reply to the negative feedback were evaluated as more effective and managerially congruent, and less risky than were the other strategies. However, strategies requiring bidirectional communication (e.g., invitations to reply), as opposed to unidirectional communication (e.g., praise), were generally perceived as more demanding to enact.