Accumulating evidence for the unique social, behavioral, and physical health benefits of positive emotion and related well-being constructs has led to the development and testing of positive psychological interventions (PPIs) to increase emotional well-being and enhance health promotion and disease prevention. PPIs are specifically aimed at improving emotional well-being and consist of practices such as gratitude, savoring, and acts of kindness. The purpose of this narrative review was to examine the literature on PPIs with a particular focus on positive emotion (...) outcomes. We evaluated the evidence on the effects of PPIs on positive emotion specifically, and discussed the range of evidence regarding the relative responsiveness of emotion measures to PPIs in order to gain a better understanding of the specific emotional pathways through which PPIs influence psychological and physical well-being. We conclude with recommendations for best evaluating effects of PPIs on positive emotion outcomes. (shrink)

This article sets out a new conception of ‘property as an asset of resilience’. Building on Fineman’s emphasis on ‘webs’ of resilience, and applying insights from Actor-Network Theory and Resilient Property Theory, we examine how the rhetorical claims asserted by owners and non-owners, individually and collectively, and the ways that law recognizes and endorses those claims, affect the production of property-as-resilience. Applying Fineman’s framework, we argue that the ‘embodiment’ and ‘embeddedness’ of human vulnerability is revealed by the necessary and inevitable (...) relationship we have with land, housing and place. Everyone—including homeless people—must ‘be’ somewhere (embodiment); however, it is our ability to access ‘assets of resilience’ through our social embeddedness in institutional structures and relationships that mitigates (or not) our experience and life opportunities. In this article we analyze the nature of real property as an asset of resilience, the consequences of exclusionary concepts of ownership for how resilience is allocated, and the implications for how we think and talk about ‘exclusion’ and ‘inclusion’ in property theories and property law. We consider the roles that states perform in the allocation of property as an asset of resilience: both directly, through the protection and enforcement of private property rights and official narratives about the nature of private property; and indirectly, as owners leverage the hinterland of privilege extended to ‘ownership’ and owners to deepen their own networks of resilience. (shrink)

The negative impact of adverse experiences in childhood on neurodevelopment is well documented. Less attention however has been given to the impact of variations in “normative” parenting behaviors. The influence of these parenting behaviors is likely to be marked during periods of rapid brain reorganization, such as late childhood. The aim of the current study was to investigate associations between normative parenting behaviors and the development of structural brain networks across late childhood. Data were collected from a longitudinal sample of (...) 114 mother-child dyads (54% female children,Mage 8.41 years, SD = 0.32 years), recruited from low socioeconomic areas of Melbourne, Australia. At the first assessment parenting behaviors were coded from two lab-based interaction tasks and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the children were performed. At the second assessment, approximately 18 months later (Mage 9.97 years, SD = 0.37 years) MRI scans were repeated. Cortical thickness (CT) was extracted from T1-weighted images using FreeSurfer. Structural covariance (SC) networks were constructed from partial correlations of CT estimates between brain regions and estimates of network efficiency and modularity were obtained for each time point. The change in these network measures, from Time 1 to Time 2, was also calculated. At Time 2, less positive maternal affective behavior was associated with higher modularity (more segregated networks), while negative maternal affective behavior was not related. No support was found for an association between local or global efficacy and maternal affective behaviors at Time 2. Similarly, no support was demonstrated for associations between maternal affective behaviors and change in network efficiency and modularity, from Time 1 to Time 2. These results indicate that normative variations in parenting may influence the development of structural brain networks in late childhood and extend current knowledge about environmental influences on structural connectivity in a developmental context. (shrink)

Although scholars have invoked the escalation framework as a means of explaining the occurrence of numerous organizationally undesirable behaviors on the part of decision makers, to date no empirical research on the potential influences of escalating commitment on the likelihood of unethical behavior at the individual level of analysis has been reported in either the escalation or the ethical decision-making literatures. Thus, the main purpose of this project is to provide a theoretical foundation and empirical support for the contention that (...) escalating commitment situations can induce unethical behavior in decision makers. An experimental research design utilizing a computerized investment task was administered to 155 undergraduate business majors as a means of assessing the hypotheses presented here. Results from a hierarchical logistic regression analysis found strong support for the contention that exposure to an escalation situation increases the likelihood of unethical behavior on the part of decision makers. Further, results also supported previous ethical decision-making findings by confirming the effects of locus of control (LOC) on ethical behavior. Specifically, the data indicated that individuals with an external LOC orientation were significantly more likely to select the unethical option than were individuals with an internal LOC orientation. Interestingly, support was not found for the effects of Machiavellianism or gender on ethical decision-making. (shrink)

Ouija board sessions are illustrious examples of how subjective feelings of control – the Sense of Agency - can be manipulated in real life settings. We present findings from a field experiment at a paranormal conference, where Ouija enthusiasts were equipped with eye trackers while using the Ouija board. Our results show that participants have a significantly lower probability at visually predicting letters in a Ouija board session compared to a condition in which they are instructed to deliberately spell out (...) words with the Ouija board planchette. Our results also show that Ouija board believers report lower SoA compared to sceptic participants. These results support previous research which claim that low sense of agency is caused by a combination of retrospective inference and an inhibition of predictive processes. Our results show that users in Ouija board sessions become increasingly better at predicting letters as responses unfold over time, and that meaningful responses from the Ouija board can only be accounted for when considering interactions that goes on at the participant pair level. These results suggest that meaningful responses from the Ouija board may be an emergent property of interacting and predicting minds that increasingly impose structure on initially random events in Ouija sessions. (shrink)

Experiential evidence shows that pain is associated with common meanings. These include a meaning of threat or danger, which is experienced as immediately distressing or unpleasant; cognitive meanings, which are focused on the long-term consequences of having chronic pain; and existential meanings such as hopelessness, which are more about the person with chronic pain than the pain itself. This interdisciplinary book - the second in the three-volume Meanings of Pain series edited by Dr Simon van Rysewyk - aims to better (...) understand pain by describing experiences of pain and the meanings these experiences hold for the people living through them. The lived experiences of pain described here involve various types of chronic pain, including spinal pain, labour pain, rheumatic pain, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, complex regional pain syndrome, endometriosis-associated pain, and cancer-related pain. Two chapters provide narrative descriptions of pain, recounted and interpreted by people with pain. Language is important to understanding the meaning of pain since it is the primary tool human beings use to manipulate meaning. As discussed in the book, linguistic meaning may hold clues to understanding some pain-related experiences, including the stigmatisation of people with pain, the dynamics of patient-clinician communication, and other issues, such as relationships between pain, public policy and the law, and attempts to develop a taxonomy of pain that is meaningful for patients. Clinical implications are described in each chapter. This book is intended for people with pain, their family members or caregivers, clinicians, researchers, advocates, and policy makers. (shrink)

Joseph A. Bracken, S.J,. is one of the more significant North American theologians of the past 40 years. With 12 monographs, two edited or co-edited volumes, over 150 articles, numerous professional and popular conference presentations and media appearances, he is one of the foremost interlocutors in contemporary theological discourse. Having developed and consistently defended a comprehensive and intellectually rigorous worldview that combines the modern and classical Christian worldviews, Bracken has accomplished an invaluable service to the academy, the church, and the (...) world. He has not favored a particular theological or philosophical system, past or present. Instead, he culls what he judges to be true and good in a myriad of seemingly prima facie noncompossible thinkers and systems with divergent programs. Synthesizing the Catholic intellectual tradition and process-relational metaphysics, Bracken also incorporates aspects of German and Anglo-American Idealism, Pragmatism, recent philosophy of science, and a litany of past and present theologians and philosophers. The present volume is a Festschrift to honor Bracken’s career and accomplishments. It differs from the standard Festschrift genre in that the contributors, while certainly explicating and reflecting upon various aspects of his comprehensive worldview, offer their original contributions n a variety of topics. They do in dialogue with Bracken’s positions, simply as starting points, not as end points. The common theme of the Festschrift, then, is serious reflection on and in some cases critique of Bracken’s comprehensive process-relational, Catholic, and Trinitarian worldview and its pertinence for work in contemporary theology from a given perspective. Yet there is a certain richness coming from the diverse perspectives of the contributors whose work intersects with Bracken’s, and not always in terms of process thought per se. The contributors come from diverse backgrounds, not only in process and Roman Catholic theology but also including even other academic disciplines. They represent a balance of senior and junior scholars, and of genders. (shrink)

Here, we report on a quasi-experimental study to explore the applicability and perceived benefits of the CRAFT program, which is based on mindfulness, yoga, positive psychology, and emotional intelligence, to improve higher education student musicians’ health and well-being during the lockdown. A subset of student musicians at a Higher Conservatory of Music in Spain followed the CRAFT program during the academic year 2019/2020, 1 h per week as part of their curriculum. Students enrolled in CRAFT-based elective subjects formed the CRAFT (...) program group, while other students represented the control group. The onset of the national lockdown elicited by the COVID-19 pandemic occurred halfway through the program, which was subsequently delivered in an online format. We administered an online survey to explore the effect that the exposure to the CRAFT program had in terms of how participants dealt with various health and well-being concerns arising from the COVID-19 lockdown. There was a significantly higher proportion of proactive participants in the CRAFT program group, 92%, than in the control group, 58%, in terms of implementing practices to improve their health and well-being during the lockdown. Additionally, significantly more participants acknowledged perceived benefits from their practices in the CRAFT program group, 78%, than in the control group, 52%. Among proactive participants, yoga/meditation was the most implemented in the CRAFT program group, followed by exercise, and other yoga/meditation practices, whereas in the control group, exercise and Alexander technique-based practices were the most applied. In the CRAFT program group, the highest rate of perceived benefits was from yoga/meditation CRAFT-based practices, 51%, followed by exercise, 32%, and other yoga/meditation practices, 27%, whereas in the control group, benefits were reported by 29% of exercising participants and 16% for those having practiced the Alexander technique. A similar pattern was observed when excluding participants with previous yoga/meditation experience. This study revealed how participants can independently apply learned skills from the CRAFT program in response to a naturally occurring life event of unprecedented global impact, suggesting that previous exposure to mindfulness and yoga is likely to have a beneficial effect on how young adults react towards exceptionally stressful conditions. (shrink)

In this preliminary study, the authors extend Swanson's concept of normative myopia (the propensity of executives to downplay or ignore the values at stake in their decision making) by using it as a point of reference for studying executives' preference for high pay dispersion. Specifically, the authors designed a survey to examine hypothesized relationships among myopia, personality, and executives' preference for highly stratified organizational pay structures. Data from 133 executive respondents suggest that myopic executives tend to prefer top-heavy compensation systems. (...) In addition, the findings point to an inverse relationship between the personality factor Agreeableness and normative myopia, with the former offsetting the latter. The authors reject the alternative hypothesis that gender influences both agreeableness and myopia and conclude with some implications for business and society, including Swanson's proposition that normative myopia at the top contributes to a neglectful form of corporate social performance. (shrink)

Written with the general reader in mind, this collection will prove useful by both scholar and student, and will lead the general reader to encounter one of the ...

It has been well documented how language-specific cues may be used for word segmentation. Here, we investigate what role a language-independent phonological universal, the sonority sequencing principle (SSP), may also play. Participants were presented with an unsegmented speech stream with non-English word onsets that juxtaposed adherence to the SSP with transitional probabilities. Participants favored using the SSP in assessing word-hood, suggesting that the SSP represents a potentially powerful cue for word segmentation. To ensure the SSP influenced the segmentation process (i.e., (...) during learning), we presented two additional groups of participants with either (a) no exposure to the stimuli prior to testing or (b) the same stimuli with pauses marking word breaks. The SSP did not influence test performance in either case, suggesting that the SSP is important for word segmentation during the learning process itself. Moreover, the fact that SSP-independent segmentation of the stimulus occurred (in the latter control condition) suggests that universals are best understood as biases rather than immutable constraints on learning. (shrink)

Théologien, historien, philosophe, sociologue et homme politique libéral, Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923) fait partie du groupe des théologiens protestants allemands appelé " Ecole de l'histoire des religions ". Revendiquant l'héritage de Kant et de Schleiermacher, proche de Max Weber et du néo-kantisme de l'Ecole de Bade, Troeltsch est le théoricien classique du néo-protestantisme. Surtout connu en France comme sociologue de la religion, il est redécouvert aujourd'hui comme philosophe et théologien, éclipsé un temps par Barth, l'existentialisme et Heidegger. Les huit essais rassemblés (...) ici sont écrits à l'horizon d'une réflexion sur le religieux marquée par les sciences humaines et sociales et par une conscience accusée de la pluralité des formes de la religion. Troeltsch y dessine un programme qui inscrit délibérément la théologie dans une perspective historique, tout en s'efforçant d'articuler approche empirique et interrogation touchant les jugements de valeur. Il récuse ainsi toute tentative pour faire valoir un domaine théologique réservé : non seulement le christianisme n'est pas la religion dans sa forme achevée ou " absolue ", mais les tentatives pour déterminer une " essence " du christianisme par-delà ses inscriptions socioculturelles diverses devront également être refusées. En désenclavant la réflexion théologique, Troeltsch oblige à redéfinir son objet et son statut : elle ne sera plus explicitation du croire, mais devra esquisser une théorie du christianisme précisant le statut, la fonction et les limites du religieux dans une modernité marquée par la diversification des instances de rationalisation et de légitimité. Ce faisant, son propos tranche avec les discours théologiques dominants dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, tant en protestantisme qu'en catholicisme. Et il ouvre à nouveau la question d'une pertinence sociale et culturelle du religieux et du théologique. A l'heure où les paradigmes modernes se trouvent en profonde interrogation sur eux-mêmes et où la question religieuse fait retour - peut-être pour le meilleur mais souvent pour le pire -, la lecture de Troeltsch peut apporter une contribution bienvenue à un ensemble de questions parmi les plus centrales de notre temps. Publiés pour la première fois en français, les textes présentés ici sont accompagnés d'un important appareil de commentaires historiques aidant le lecteur à reconstituer le contexte et la genèse des débats en cause. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic threatened our physical health, alongside our mental and social wellbeing. Social distancing requirements, which are necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, increased social isolation by limiting social interactions that are an essential part of human wellbeing. In this study, we examined the stress caused by COVID-19 early on in the pandemic through the lens of sociability among a large sample of preservice educators. We found that individuals who have higher sociability experienced greater COVID-19 stress. This study (...) also contributed to prior literature which has sought to relate pandemic-related stress to demographic group differences. We found no significant relationship between demographic membership and COVID-19 stress. This study is among the first, however, to demonstrate that vulnerability to pandemic stress varies as a function of sociability. Implications of these findings and ways people can better cope with pandemic isolation are discussed. (shrink)

The fourteen authors in this collection used phenomenology and hermeneutics to conduct deep inquiry into perplexing and wondrous events in their work and personal lives. These seasoned scholar-practitioners gained remarkable insight into areas such as health care and illness, organ donation, intercultural communications, high-performance teams, artistic production, jazz improvisation, and the integration of Tai Chi into education. All authors were transformed by phenomenology's expanded ways of seeing and being.

L'homme ne serait donc qu'une machine! Non seulement son corps ne serait qu'une mécanique biologique, mais son esprit lui-même ne serait qu'un phénomène d'ordre matériel... Reléguée au rang de chimère idéologique toute hypothèse d'une conscience immatérielle invitant à des considérations religieuses ou métaphysique (survie de l'âme, libre-arbitre...)! Cette thèse courageuse et avant-gardiste, émise en 1748 par La Mettrie, médecin et philosophe français, avait a priori tout pour séduire les penseurs des Lumières, alors en pleine contestation du magistère spirituel et moral (...) de l'Eglise et relais philosophiques de la révolution empirique et rationnelle du newtonisme. Ce fut pourtant le rejet, la condamnation et l'ostracisme général, de Voltaire aux Encyclopédistes ; et l'auteur dut s'exiler! Pourquoi une telle attitude? De quoi les Lumières ont-elles eu peur? En quoi la thèse de La Mettrie contrevenaient-elles à un non-dit intime de leurs discours? En rejetant le Dieu judéo-chrétien omniprésent dans le monde d'antan et législateur de la vie des hommes, les Lumières n'avaient-elles pas, en réalité, effectué un transfert de sacralité et de transcendance vers autre chose? Vers l'Esprit humain, la Raison cartésienne - restant ainsi prisonniers du paradigme idéaliste de la métaphysique platonicienne?... Marc Muller se propose, au travers d'une relecture de l'oeuvre de La Mettrie et plus particulièrement de L'Homme-Machine, de rechercher la clef de ce rejet apparemment paradoxal de la part des penseurs des Lumières et de leurs héritiers. Car, bien au-delà de la question analytique de la matérialité de l'esprit (res cogitans), La Mettrie nous invite à penser ce qui peut fonder l'être humain en tant que simple "homme-machine" et défendre une morale sociale immanente qui ne reposerait pas sur des dogmes métaphysiques et idéalistes - remise en cause du magistère moral des " intellectuels " qui s'avéra insupportable aux Penseurs des Lumières... (shrink)

Après les Grecs, les questions esthétiques ont longtemps été subordonnées à la théologie. Il faut attendre le XVIIIe siècle pour voir surgir une nouvelle philosophie de l'art, sous la forme de considérations d'allures esthétiques cherchant à s'émanciper de la théologie. Ce retour du discours philosophique à l'art est contemporain de la naissance de l'esthétique, et de la crise moderne ouverte par Kant : celle de la scission entre l'être du sujet et sa pensée (sa conscience). Ce livre cherche les traces (...) de l'effraction esthétique de l'art, dans le discours philosophique, en lisant à rebours les philosophes de la première et de la seconde modernité (Kant et Nietzsche), ceux de la dernière modernité (Benjamin, Adorno), ceux d'après la fin de la modernité (Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida), et de la postmodernité (Lyotard, Rancière). Comment ces philosophes ont-ils laissé s'inscrire, parfois à leur insu ou à leur corps défendant, l'écriture moderne de l'art, la césure, la fragmentation, le morcellement venus de l'Autre, de l'inconnu, de l'inconscient? Comment l'effraction esthétique atteint-elle la sensibilité et la pensée, jusque dans leurs conditions de possibilité et leurs limites?"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Marc Richir est l'un des phénoménologues les plus importants de sa génération. Ces conversations avec Sacha Carlson sont d'abord l'occasion de revenir sur son itinéraire philosophique et intellectuel. Il s'y explique pour la première fois sur sa formation et sur les sources initiales de sa pensée, de celles qui ont éveillé son mouvement. Au fil de la discussion, il reprend en outre les thèmes principaux de son oeuvre, à savoir le phénomène comme rien que phénomène, le simulacre, l'épochè phénoménologique (...) hyperbolique, le sublime, l'affectivité, l'architectonique, l'institution symbolique, etc. Sans sacrifier à la vulgarisation, mais en restant fidèle à l'exigence du dialogue philosophique qui invite à étayer le propos sur des exemples concrets, ces conversations ouvrent non seulement sur une retraversée de l'oeuvre et de ses moments fondamentaux, mais aussi sur une méditation, dans le présent de la parole échangée, où le phénoménologue s'explique sur son rapport avec d'autres champs de recherche, comme l'anthropologie, la psychanalyse, les mathématiques, la physique, l'art, le politique et l'histoire. (shrink)

Dans ce séminaire qui s'adresse à tous et ne suppose rien, Marc Crépon lit et nous fait lire Le Monolinguisme de l'autre un texte bref, paradoxal et terriblement actuel de Jacques Derrida. Il s'agit, tout compte fait, de 'l'enjeu politique de ce temps': comment défendre la différence linguistique, celle du français comme celle du moldave ou de l'ukrainien, sans céder au nationalisme? Je n'ai qu'une langue, écrit Jacques Derrida, et ce n'est pas la mienne. Il faut comprendre comment et (...) pourquoi 'une langue, ça n'appartient pas'. À partir de ce constat: l'identité, telle que fantasmée et revendiquée par certains discours nationalistes, est une fiction, Marc Crépon propose une éthique et une politique du dire, de l'écrire, du traduire."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

L’oeuvre maîtresse de Gérard Siegwalt invite le lecteur à entrer dans une expérience théologique exigeante et originale. Quelles expériences apparaissent les plus marquantes et les plus signifiantes pour l’avenir du propos théologique contemporain? Quels réflexes peut-on reprendre pour aujourd’hui?

Il y a dans la violence que doivent aujourd’hui affronter nos sociétés une dimension propre à la langue. Quiconque a fait l’apprentissage de l’éducation doit reconnaître au creux de sa propre expérience la manière dont la langue façonne, modèle, impose. Quant au XXe siècle, il s’est chargé de nous montrer comment la langue peut condamner à une mort certaine. C’est cette dimension propre au langage que se propose d’explorer le philosophe Marc Crépon, convaincu que le nœud de toute violence (...) tient d’abord dans la langue et l’usage que nous en avons. S’il chemine avec Kafka, Lévinas, Singer ou Derrida, ce n’est pas seulement parce que chacun d’entre eux s’est en son temps insurgé contre les détournements de la langue, préludes aux plus grands crimes commis contre l’humanité, constituant un réservoir d’expériences, pour prévenir les prochains massacres. C’est aussi parce que leur œuvre affirme la vocation de l’écriture : celle qui fait de la littérature et de la philosophie l’arme ultime pour démasquer, au coeur de la langue, la violence et la haine dont celle-ci est porteuse. Affirmer la vocation de l’écriture, c’est retourner la langue contre elle-même, désamorcer ses potentialités meurtrières en l’ouvrant à l’échange, à la responsabilité, à l’humanité, quand celle-ci se fixe autrui et le monde comme buts. Normalien, agrégé de philosophie, Marc Crépon est directeur de recherches au CNRS et directeur du département de philosophie à l’École normale supérieure. Il a notamment publiéLe Consentement meurtrier. (shrink)

« Les récits entendus pendant la Commission Charbonneau ont mis en lumière les manquements éthiques dans le monde de l’ingénierie, ce qui a eu l’effet d’une bombe au Québec. Certains témoignages ont aussi révélé des défaillances au sein des institutions, comme l’Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. Dix ans après la publication du rapport de la Commission, sommes-nous à l’abri d’une nouvelle crise éthique? Comment repenser notre lien à l’éthique au sein de cette profession? L’éthique et le génie québécois poursuit deux (...) grands objectifs. D’abord, il expose en quoi les institutions québécoises du génie peuvent, et doivent, être perfectionnées au fil du temps. De l’évolution du statut juridique d’ingénieur jusqu’à la gestion de crises, en passant par la promotion de certains idéaux, ces institutions doivent entretenir une quête constante d’excellence. Ensuite, cet ouvrage explique en quoi la délibération éthique, et son caractère moral, est en partie affectée par l’état des institutions du génie. En effet, celles qui sont en piètre état peuvent être une source de conflits éthiques pour les professionnels et professionnelles. Ces conflits sont illustrés avec différentes études de cas, portant notamment sur les loyautés multiples, la corruption grise et la protection de l’environnement. Chaque chapitre propose des questions complémentaires permettant au lecteur de poursuivre ses réflexions sur les sujets abordés. Bien que cet ouvrage ait d’abord été pensé pour les étudiants et étudiantes en génie au Québec, il intéressera aussi les membres des ordres professionnels ou toute personne qui étudie l’histoire et l’amélioration des institutions québécoises. »--Quatrième de couverture. (shrink)

Reductionism as a scientific methodology has been extraordinarily successful in biology. However, recent developments in molecular biology have shown that reductionism is seriously inadequate in dealing with the mind-boggling complexity of integrated biological systems. This title presents an appropriate balance between science and philosophy and covers traditional philosophical treatments of reductionism as well as the benefits and shortcomings of reductionism in particular areas of science. Discussing the issue of reductionism in the practice of medicine it takes into account the holistic (...) and integrative aspects that require the context of the patient in his biological and psychological entirety. The emerging picture is that what first seems like hopeless disagreements turn out to be differences in emphasis. Although genes play an important role in biology, the focus on genetics and genomics has often been misleading. The consensus view leads to pluralism: both reductionst methods and a more integrative approach to biological complexity are required, depending on the questions that are asked. * An even balance of contributions from scientists and philosophers of science - representing a unique interchange between both communities interested in reductionism. (shrink)