Prior research indicates that time perspective (TP; views of past, present and future) is related to decision making style. By contrast, no prior study considered relations between time perspective and decision-making competence. We therefore investigated associations between dimensions of the Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (S-ZTPI) and performance on the Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) battery in a sample of older adults (60-90 years, N = 346). A structural equation model involving four A-DMC components as indicators of a general DMC factor (...) and the six TP dimensions as the predictors revealed a significant negative association between the Present Fatalistic dimension and DMC. Given that age-related differences were apparent in DMC and that Present Fatalistic orientation increased with age, we tested a model by which the age-related differences in DMC were mediated by age-related differences in Present Fatalistic attitudes and in working memory. The results were consistent with full mediation of the age effects, with Present Fatalistic and working memory jointly accounting for a substantial amount of the variance in DMC (51%). The finding that DMC among older adults, in particular more cognitively demanding aspects such as applying decision rules, can be undermined by increased present fatalistic attitudes and declines in working memory is discussed in terms of theoretical frameworks highlighting the contribution of both motivational and cognitive factors to effective decision making. (shrink)

This individual differences study examined the relationships between three executive functions (updating, shifting, and inhibition), measured as latent variables, and performance on two cognitively demanding subtests of the Adult Decision Making Competence battery: Applying Decision Rules and Consistency in Risk Perception. Structural equation modelling showed that executive functions contribute differentially to performance in these two tasks, with Applying Decision Rules being mainly related to inhibition and Consistency in Risk Perception mainly associated to shifting. The results suggest that the successful application (...) of decision rules requires the capacity to selectively focus attention and inhibit irrelevant (or no more relevant) stimuli. They also suggest that consistency in risk perception depends on the ability to shift between judgement contexts. (shrink)

Humanitarian organisations often work alongside those responsible for serious wrongdoing. In these circumstances, accusations of moral complicity are sometimes levelled at decision makers. These accusations can carry a strong if unfocused moral charge and are frequently the source of significant moral unease. In this paper, we explore the meaning and usefulness of complicity and its relation to moral accountability. We also examine the impact of concerns about complicity on the motivation of humanitarian staff and the risk that complicity may lead (...) to a retreat into moral narcissism. Moral narcissism is the possibility that where humanitarian actors inadvertently become implicated in wrongdoing, they may focus more on their image as self-consciously good actors than on the interests of potential beneficiaries. Moral narcissism can be triggered where accusations of complicity are made and can slew decision making. We look at three interventions by Médecins Sans Frontières that gave rise to questions of complicity. We question its decision-guiding usefulness. Drawing on recent thought, we suggest that complicity can helpfully draw attention to the presence of moral conflict and to the way International Non-Governmental Organisations can be drawn into unintentional wrongdoing. We acknowledge the moral challenge that complicity presents to humanitarian staff but argue that complicity does not help INGOs make tough decisions in morally compromising situations as to whether they should continue with an intervention or pull out. (shrink)

Objective: To assess the psychological distress of healthcare providers working in the field of obstetrics during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and to identify factors associated with psychological distress at the individual, interpersonal, and organizational level.Design: Cross-sectional survey study.Setting: Four University hospitals in Italy.Participants: HCPs working in obstetrics, including gynecologists, residents in gynecology and obstetrics, and midwives.Methods: The 104-item survey Impatto PSIcologico COVID-19 in Ostetricia was created by a multidisciplinary expert panel and administered to HCPs in obstetrics in May 2020 (...) via a web-based platform.Main Outcome Measures: Psychological distress assessed by the General Health Questionnaire-12 included in the IPSICO survey.Results: The response rate to the IPSICO survey was 88.2%, and that for GHQ-12 was 84.4%. Just over half of the GHQ-12 respondents reported a clinically significant level of psychological distress. Psychological distress was associated with either individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors in dealing with the pandemic.Conclusions: Results confirm the need for monitoring and assessing the psychological distress for HCPs in obstetrics. Interventions at the individual, interpersonal, and organizational level may relieve the psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and foster resilience skills in facing emotional distress. (shrink)

We examined spontaneous external offloading in a study requiring participants to plan the shortest route to connect locations on maps while satisfying ordering constraints. We manipulated map difficulty (low/high) and the possibility for participants to offload cognition by allowing/not allowing them to use a pen during planning (offloading/no offloading). Participants used more types of offloading strategies in the high (vs. low) difficulty maps and showed a better performance in the offloading (vs. no offloading) condition in the high difficulty maps only. (...) However, even in the low difficulty maps, cognition was offloaded, especially when participants solved the high difficulty maps first (perseveration effect). The use of offloading strategies and offloading-supported planning performance were positively related with visual search ability, while performance in the no offloading condition was positively related with spatial working memory. Findings show that offloading strategies are spontaneously deployed in a partly adaptive way in route planning on maps. (shrink)

We propose a new integrative framework of external time monitoring in prospective memory (PM) tasks and its relation with performance. Starting from existing empirical regularities and our theoretical analysis, the framework predicts that external monitoring in PM tasks comprises a first stage of loose monitoring to keep track of the passage of time, and a subsequent stage of finer-grained monitoring, based on interval reduction, to meet the PM deadline. Following our framework, we predicted and observed in three different datasets (N (...) = 375): (1) a marked increase in external monitoring frequency in the final part of the period of the PM task, well captured by a proportional rate exponential growth function; (2) a positive association between individual compliance with this monitoring pattern and PM performance; (3) a positive relation between monitoring frequency in the time window immediately preceding the PM deadline and PM performance at the individual level; and (4) good individual compliance with an interval reduction pattern in external monitoring, especially in the time window closer to the PM deadline. These results support the proposed integrative framework, which has the potential to foster future research on external monitoring in PM and in other fields of cognitive science. (shrink)

Conjectures for the text of three passages in Martial (5, 11, 1; 5, 20, 6-7; 5, 38, 3), with critical notes on the ‚new Gaius‘, inst. 3, 154a-b (P.S.I. XI, 1182, A14-B42).

Detrás del velo del derecho positivo. Sobre Il diritto contro se stesso. Saggio sul positivismo giuridico e la sua crisi, por Massimo La Torre En su última obra –Il diritto contro se stesso. Saggio sul positivismo giuridico e la sua crisi-– Massimo La Torre sostiene una tesis muy precisa: si no queremos que el derecho sea sólo violencia organizada, es oportuno distanciarse del positivismo jurídico. El riesgo, sin embargo, es que el antipositivismo acabe “tirando el bebé con el agua de (...) la bañera”. El derecho moderno, de hecho, toma forma en la dialéctica entre la moral y el poder, entre lo que se decide y quién decide, en términos habermasianos: entre la “legitimidad” y la “positividad”. No es en absoluto seguro que esta dialéctica pueda conciliarse practicando únicamente el positivismo jurídico, sobre todo si esto aplasta la “legitimidad” sobre la “positividad”. Pero incluso un antipositivismo que se incline demasiado por la moral, por lo que se decide, en definitiva por la “legitimidad" solamente, acabaría cayendo en un error exactamente igual y opuesto al del positivismo. (shrink)

In this article, I argue that fregean approach to semantics, like that of modelling semantics, doesn’t have the conceptual tools to define the notions of truth and reference. The reason is that these programs ignore what Wittgenstein taught us, namely the link between meaning and use. More specifically, I intend to show how a theory of descriptive language can only be constructed by clarifying the connection between the notions of linguistic game, meaning and description. But how can this connection be (...) clarified? Wittgenstein, in the second phase of his thought, had never been interested in a theory of this type, and all his reflections on use and meaning had the sole purpose of “curing” from that essentialist attitude that had characterized the Tractatus, and which still today characterizes almost the whole analytic philosophy. This means that it is not in Wittgenstein's thought that we can find such a theory, but in Moritz Schlick’s works, who attempted to build a theory of linguistic meaning based on the connection between the notions of image, use and verification. (shrink)

This article was inspired by the recent publication of a volume that brings together the Italian translation of Das Heilige and other important writings of Rudolf Otto. It explores in particular the reception of this theologian and philosopher of religion's thought in Italy during the first half of the twentieth century by such important figures as Ernesto Buonaiuti, Benedetto Croce, Giovanni Miegge and Piero Martinetti.

A dispetto della stroncatura di Aristotele, Ippone, nel V secolo a.C., si dimostra un pensatore ben inserito nelle correnti culturali più vive ed interessanti del suo secolo. Accomunato ai Milesi per aver posto l’acqua come principio di tutte le cose, è stato considerato anche un pitagorico per aver affermato l’importanza del gioco dei contrari nel nascere e nell’evolversi delle cose. In realtà, queste caratterizzazioni si dimostrano piuttosto generiche, e l’appartenenza a questa o a quella scuola non dà ragione della specificità (...) della sua posizione nell’ambiente culturale mediterraneo e magno-greco, specificità ben rinvenibile anche nella scarsezza delle testimonianze. Più che l’acqua, per Ippone, ammesso che abbia voluto stabilire un’arché di tutte le cose, è l’umido a giocare un ruolo fondamentale nell’essere e nel divenire delle cose. In questo articolo si tenta anche di tracciare un profilo della storia dell’umido, dai Milesi a Eraclito, ad Alcmeone, a Diogene di Apollonia, fino a Democrito. E si vuole inoltre sottolineare come esso rientri anche nel campo specifico delle sue riflessioni, incentrate soprattutto nel campo biologico ed embriologico, riflessioni sempre obbedienti, più che a teorie generali, all’osservazione dell’esperienza concreta. (shrink)

Ce texte est le chapitre II de l'ouvrage de G. Gasparini, Tempi e ritmi nella società del Duemila, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2009. Nous remercions Giovanni Gasparini et les éditions FrancoAngeli de nous avoir autorisé à le reproduire ici. La cultura temporale La velocità è uno dei tratti-chiave e degli aspetti più caratteristici e pervasivi delle società industrializzate. In qualunque modo si vogliano definire tali società, la velocità di svolgimento raggiunta nelle operazioni, negli spostamenti e (...) - Sociologie – Nouvel article.