BackgroundValue sensitivity – the ability to recognize value-related issues when they arise in practice – is an indispensable competence for medical practitioners to enter decision-making processes related to ethical questions. However, the psychological competence of value sensitivity is seldom an explicit subject in the training of medical professionals. In this contribution, we outline the traditional concept of moral sensitivity in medicine and its revised form conceptualized as value sensitivity and we propose an instrument that measures value sensitivity.MethodsWe developed an instrument (...) for assessing the sensitivity for three value groups in a four step procedure: 1) value identification ; 2) value representation ; 3) vignette construction and quality evaluation ; and 4) instrument validation by comparing nursing professionals with hospital managers.ResultsWe find that nursing professionals recognize and ascribe importance to principle-related issues more than professionals from hospital management. The latter are more likely to recognize and ascribe importance to strategy-related issues.ConclusionsThese hypothesis-driven results demonstrate the discriminatory power of our newly developed instrument, which makes it useful not only for health care professionals in practice but for students and people working in the clinical context as well. (shrink)

Research on environmental-decision making is usually based on utilitarian models, which imply that people's decisions are only influenced by the outcomes. This research provides evidence for values and moral positions that reflect nonconsequentialist rather than consequentialist views. In doing this, this article refers to “sacred values,” which are values that are seen as not-substitutable and nontradable. Two studies were designed to examine evidence for sacred values and their role on act versus omission choices within the environmental domain. The studies revealed (...) that sacred values were closely associated with preferences for actions, trade-off reluctance, deontological focus, and position of moral universalism. The results suggest that it is important to account for sacred values and nonconsequentialist views in environmental decision-making research. (shrink)

The principles of biomedical ethics – autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice – are of paradigmatic importance for framing ethical problems in medicine and for teaching ethics to medical students and professionals. In order to underline this significance, Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress base the principles in the common morality, i.e. they claim that the principles represent basic moral values shared by all persons committed to morality and are thus grounded in human moral psychology. We empirically investigated the relationship (...) of the principles to other moral and non-moral values that provide orientations in medicine. By way of comparison, we performed a similar analysis for the business & finance domain. (shrink)

This volume provides an overview of the most recent developments in empirical investigations of morality and assesses their impact and importance for ethical thinking. It involves contributions of scholars both from philosophy, theology and empirical sciences with firm standings in their own disciplines, but an inclination to step across borders-in particular the one between the world of facts and the world of norms. Human morality is complex, and probably even messy-and this clean distinction becomes blurred whenever one looks more closely (...) at the various components that enable and influence our moral actions and ethical orientations. In that way, morality may indeed be located between facts and norms-and an empirically informed ethics that is less concerned with analytical purity but immerses into this moral complexity may be an important step to make the contributions of ethics to this world more valuable and relevant. (shrink)

Moral Enhancement wird von einer Reihe einflussreicher Bioethiker propagiert, zum Teil mit dem Anspruch, dass nur dadurch die Menschheit vor ihrem selbstverschuldeten Untergang zu retten sei. Nachdem begründete Zweifel an der Eignung der zum Moral Enhancement vorgeschlagenen Psychopharmaka aufgekommen sind, wurden neurochirurgische Interventionen, insbesondere die Tiefe Hirnstimulation, vorgeschlagen. Diese Ad-hoc-Vorschläge stützen sich auf eine Handvoll neurochirurgischer Eingriffe an geistig schwer behinderten Menschen sowie die Psychochirurgie des letzten Jahrhunderts. In diesem Aufsatz geht es erstens um die Frage, ob Moral Enhancement durch (...) neurochirurgische Methoden überhaupt möglich ist und, wenn ja, inwiefern, und zweitens um die Frage nach dessen ethischer Vertretbarkeit, sofern es möglich ist. Mit den bisher vorgeschlagenen Methoden des neurochirurgischen Moral Enhancement könnte man zwar Aggressionen oder den Sexualtrieb reduzieren, sodass weniger Selbstkontrolle erforderlich wäre, um moralisch angemessen zu handeln. Theoretisch denkbar, aber bisher nicht durch empirische Evidenz gestützt, ist, dass neurochirurgische Eingriffe die Selbstkontrolle verbessern könnten. Nach dem Modell der moralischen Intelligenz von Carmen Tanner und Markus Christen lässt sich zeigen, dass dadurch allenfalls eine Komponente der moralischen Intelligenz verbessert werden könnte, nämlich die moralische Standhaftigkeit. Keiner der bisherigen Vorschläge zielt dagegen auf die Verbesserung der anderen vier Komponenten, also des moralischen Kompasses, der moralischen Sensibilität, der moralischen Urteilsfähigkeit und der moralischen Motivation. Ein umfassendes Moral Enhancement durch neurochirurgische Eingriffe ist mit den gegenwärtig verfügbaren oder vorgeschlagenen Methoden also nicht möglich. Allenfalls lässt sich in Zukunft durch Closed-Loop-Systeme, die bestimmte Impulse automatisch herunter regeln, ein moralkonformeres Verhalten erreichen. Eine nur technisch induzierte Verhaltensverbesserung wäre allerdings höchstens unter Zugrundelegung eines utilitaristischen Moralverständnisses als moralische Verbesserung anzuerkennen. (shrink)

No. 93: PAPELES SEMÁNTICOS Estudio de los papeles semánticos a partir de un enfoque tipológico, intentando unificar las distintas propuestas y analizar en profundidad el significado y la utilidad de esta etiqueta.

Using the scope of justice perspective (Deutsch in J Soc Issues 31(3):137–149, 1975 ; Opotow in Conflict, cooperation, and justice: essays inspired by the work of Morton Deutsch, 1995 , J Soc Issues 52:19–24, 1996 ), we examined whether and how the relationship between perceived discrimination against minorities at work (i.e., racial minorities and females) and citizenship behavior toward minorities can be modified by personal value for diversity. Based on a survey of 173 employees, unexpectedly, we found a negative relationship (...) between perceived discrimination against minorities at work and citizenship behavior toward minorities. However, consistent with our expectations and the scope of justice, we found that the negative relationship was attenuated for those high in personal value for diversity. (shrink)

Los juegos funerales en honor de Patroclo presentan como componente estructural el catálogo de los contrincantes en tres versiones diferentes. El presente trabajo analiza el modo en que este componente estructural revela los aspectos accidentales o inexplicables de la existencia humana desde la perspectiva de la ética homérica The Funeral Games in honor of Patroclus shows the catalogue of contenders as a structural component in three different versions. The present work analyzes the way in which this structural component reveals accidentals (...) or unexplainable aspects of human life from the point of view of Homeric Ethic. (shrink)

The subject of “The Other”, the different one always generated conflicts more or less serious in the history of humanity, without proposals of any resolution. In the measure in that The Other questions, by similitude or by difference, the identity in which the subject is sustained, that questioning make unstable that precarious construction, and because of this, it converts itself in the opposer. In this study, we will find, in the text of Il Visconte Dimezzato by Italo Calvino, the subject (...) of the Otherness/Alterity, analyzing from the semiotic point of view the reactions and behaviors of each one of the two characters and of the members of the society in which they live. The starting point of the story by Italo Calvino is that in a war between Austria and the Turks, the Viscount Medardo di Terralba as a consequence of a canon shot remains divided vertically into two halves and both halves survive. One of the two halves is very bad and the other is very good. Each one of the two halves sees in the other one “The Other”, feeling itself “The One” but incomplete and desiring to turn to be “The Same” as it was before being divided by the canon shot. (shrink)

El actual Derecho Penal de la seguridad que se expresa en el populismo punitivo tiene un sesgo orientado a la persecución penal de los delitos callejeros, violentos, mientras que los delitos del poder y los negocios discurre con mayor tolerancia de la sociedad y de los operadores jurídicos, porque se realizan en contextos normalizados. Para sustentar esta tesis, se analiza qué entiende mayoritariamente la sociedad por delincuencia grave, la visibilidad de los delitos y las estadísticas criminales, principalmente. Este análisis nos (...) lleva a la consideración de que la percepción del daño social, el miedo a ser víctimas de delitos, la tolerancia social hacia determinados comportamientos, los medios de comunicación que construyen estereotipos, la visibilidad que se muestra en las estadísticas, todo ello conjugado, da lugar a una construcción social del contenido material de delincuencia grave de manera selectiva, orientado hacia los delitos contra las personas, dejando fuera de foco los delitos socioeconómicos. (shrink)

Este trabajo intenta analizar la concepción, naturaleza jurídica y garantía de los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, en América Latina, así como las condiciones y medidas que pueden contribuir a su efectividad. Presenta tambien una propuesta de indicadores que pueden utilizarse en la supervision de la efectividad de esos derechos y de la proteccion que ellos han alcanzado, proporcionando información sobre la situactón latinoamericana y caribeña actual.

Las artes visuales, marginadas de otras áreas del conocimiento, por la fragmentación epistemológica propi-ciada por el positivismo y con afán de responder al desarrollo vertiginoso y complejo de nuevas tecnologías, han perdido la más importante de sus tareas, la reflexión. La especulación sobre la acción artística y la entrega de juicios críticos acerca de sus manifestaciones implica la introspección y el pensar sobre sus procesos y parámetros de desarrollo. Imaginar y crear en las artes visuales se ha convertido en las (...) reacciones espontáneas resultantes de la intuición del instante, olvidando etapas importantes de concentración, abstracción, especulación y transformación de la experiencia estética. Hoy las artes son la provocación de una cadena de reacciones físicas: repulsión, sorpresa, rechazo, etc., de las transgresiones a la forma y no al fondo, hay un abismo entre el pensamiento y la razón. Hay un olvido de los contenidos, por los que lucharon Klee, Kandinsky, Arnheim o Gombrich y que hizo comprensible la obra de Cézanne, Duchamp o Beuys. Se trata de una reflexión sobre la importancia del dominio epistemológico en las artes visuales, una llamada a regresar a su conceptualización y a reconstruir la filosofía y la teoría del arte visual de nuestro tiempo. Estas disciplinas tienen un aspecto teórico referente a los conceptos que las sustentan, un aspecto técnico concerniente a los medios por los cuales se crea la obra o la acción artística y un aspecto poético, que establece un nexo entre quien crea la obra y quienes la perciben y contemplan, éstos entre sí y entre éstos y la obra. Lo anterior requiere de los conocimientos indis-pensables para reconocer y comprender tanto el excedente de sentido de las artes visuales como la socialización sus valores culturales, son indispensables las estructuras y concepciones teóricas porque, de un mismo objeto o acción se dan diversas interpretaciones igualmente válidas, siempre y cuando estén sustentadas cognoscitivamente. Las artes visuales son una unidad de saber, un conjunto de conocimientos unificados merced a ciertos principios, pero no es un cuerpo de verdades cerradas, al contrario, se hallan en relación permanente y dinámica con otros ámbitos cognoscitivos, influyen en algunos y son influenciadas por otros. La conceptuación de las artes visuales es valiosa porque tiene efectos directos en la forma de pensamiento, en la conducta y en las acciones y decisiones de los seres humanos, en virtud de que se conciben como generadoras de valores y bienes culturales. (shrink)

Hearing loss in old age, which often goes untreated, has far-reaching consequences. Furthermore, reduction of cognitive abilities and dementia can also occur, which also affects quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the hearing performance of seniors without hearing complaints with respect to speech perception in noise and the ability to localize sounds. Results were tested for correlations with age and cognitive performance. The study included 40 subjects aged between 60 and 90 years with not self-reported (...) hearing problems. The subjects were screened for dementia. Audiological tests included pure-tone audiometry and speech perception in two types of background noise which was either co-located or spatially separated from the target speech. Sound localization ability was assessed and hearing performance was self-evaluated by a questionnaire. Speech in noise and sound localization was compared with young normal hearing adults. Although considering themselves as hearing normal, 17 subjects had at least a mild hearing loss. There was a significant negative correlation between hearing loss and dementia screening score. Speech perception in noise decreased significantly with age. There were significant negative correlations between speech perception in noise and DemTect score for both spatial configurations. Mean SRTs obtained in the co-located noise condition with amplitude-modulated noise were on average 3.1 dB better than with continuous noise. This gap-listening effect was severely diminished compared to a younger normal hearing subject group. In continuous noise, spatial separation of speech and noise led to better SRTs compared to the co-located masker condition. SRTs in MSNF deteriorated in modulated noise compared to continuous noise by 2.6 dB. Highest impact of age was found for speech perception scores using noise stimuli with temporal modulation in binaural test conditions. Mean localization error was in the range of young adults. Mean amount of front/back confusions was 11.5% higher than for young adults. Speech perception tests in the presence of temporally modulated noise can serve as a screening method for early detection of hearing disorders in older adults. This allows for early prescription of hearing aids. (shrink)

Electrical brain activity modulation in terms of changes in its intensity and spatial distribution is a function of age and task demand. However, the dynamics of brain modulation is unknown when it depends on external factors such as training. The aim of this research is to verify the effect of deductive reasoning training on the modulation in the brain activity of healthy younger and older adults ( (mean age of 21 ± 3.39) and (mean age of 68.92 ± 5.72)). The (...) analysis reveals the benefits of training, showing that it lowers cerebral activation while increasing the number of correct responses in the trained reasoning task (). The brain source generators were identified by time-averaging low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) current density images. In both groups, a bilateral overactivation associated with the task and not with age was identified. However, while the profile of bilateral activation in younger adults was symmetrical in anterior areas, in the older ones, the profile was located asymmetrically in anterior and posterior areas. Consequently, bilaterality may be a marker of how the brain adapts to maintain cognitive function in demanding tasks in both age groups. However, the differential bilateral locations across age groups indicate that the tendency to brain modulation is determined by age. (shrink)

Previous research has shown that inconsistencies across repeated interviews do not indicate deception because liars deliberately tend to repeat the same story. However, when a strategic interview approach that makes it difficult for liars to use the repeat strategy is used, both consistency and evasive answers differ significantly between truth tellers and liars, and statistical software (binary logistic regression analyses) can reach high classification rates (Masip et al., 2016b ). Yet, if the interview procedure is to be used in applied (...) settings the decision process will be made by humans, not statistical software. To address this issue, in the current study, 475 college students (Experiment 1) and 142 police officers (Experiment 2) were instructed to code and use consistency, evasive answers, or a combination or both before judging the veracity of Masip et al.'s ( 2016b ) interview transcripts. Accuracy rates were high (60% to over 90%). Evasive answers yielded higher rates than consistency, and the combination of both these cues produced the highest accuracy rates in identifying both truthful and deceptive statements. Uninstructed participants performed fairly well (around 75% accuracy), apparently because they spontaneously used consistency and evasive answers. The pattern of results was the same among students, all officers, and veteran officers only, and shows that inconsistencies between interviews and evasive answers reveal deception when a strategic interview approach that hinders the repeat strategy is used. (shrink)

The category of expressive speech acts has traditionally proven elusive of definition in contrast to other types of speech acts. This might explain why this group of speech acts has been less researched. The present paper aims to redress this imbalance by analysing the expressive speech acts performed by two groups of university students in two educational chats, carried out in English or in Spanish, respectively. The main purpose of the study is to find out if students express their emotions (...) when interacting online and, if the use of their mother tongue or not affects their performance of expressive speech acts in terms of frequency and type. To this purpose, Weigand’s taxonomy of speech acts was followed, since it provides a more systematic delimitation of the traditional category of “expressive acts”. Her distinction between emotives and declaratives was thus applied to the dataset under scrutiny. Results show that students opt for performing declarative acts but refrain from expressing their own emotions in an educational setting. As for the use of English or Spanish, no significant differences were observed, which reveals that the use of their mother tongue does not seem to affect the kind of acts performed. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to analyse Spanish conversational structure, more concretely, to investigate in depth the role of the third move, or follow-up, outside classroom discourse. Since first introduced by Sinclair and Coulthard, the follow-up move has attracted a great deal of attention, as proved by numerous studies. However, these studies have mostly focused on English while Spanish has been neglected. The present study intends to fill in this gap by analysing a corpus of 50 conversational exchanges in (...) Peninsular Spanish. The analysis is qualitative and based on Tsui’s conversational framework, which has proved methodologically useful. As results will show, the presence or absence of the third move in Spanish conversations seems to rely heavily on a gender-based distinction. (shrink)

Information asymmetries are regarded as the main obstacle for consumers to buy responsibly. CSR labels are considered the best tool to give consumers information about the brand's social and environmental performance. Yet, the information and credibility gap associated to the labels may render labels useless. This study aims to unveil the relationship of Spanish consumers with CSR labels, in order to assess the posited consequences of the information and credibility gap. To do so, 385 consumers were interviewed at the main (...) shopping centers in Madrid. The findings support the hypothesized gaps, which leads to recommend public policies in order to improve the effectiveness of CSR labels as an information tool. (shrink)

Red-2 is a computer program for red-cell antibody identification, a piece of "normal science". Abstracting from Red-2, a general problem solving mechanism is described that is especially suited for performing a form of abductive inference or best explanation finding. A problem solver embodying this mechanism synthesizes composite hypotheses by combining hypothesis parts. This is a common task of intelligence, and a component of scientific reasoning. The work addresses the question, 'How is science possible?' by showing how a simple but powerful (...) form of hypothesis synthesis is computationally feasible. (shrink)

Esta obra se concentra en cuatro temas cruciales de la formación de docentes, tanto antes como durante el servicio y en la enseñanza en diferentes áreas y niveles educativos. En primer lugar, se aborda el asunto de las creencias que los docentes tienen sobre el proceso educativo, las cuales parecen influir en la práctica profesional que estos desarrollan y, por lo tanto, deberían recibir la atención explícita de los procesos de formación de docentes que deseen promover prácticas específicas. El segundo (...) tema de la obra es la relación entre la formación de docentes y la política pública que la rige. En particular, se analizan las reformas curriculares implementadas por varias licenciaturas en universidades privadas colombianas, en respuesta a reformas a la normatividad sobre las condiciones de calidad que a las que deben ajustarse todas las licenciaturas del país. El tercer tema analizado es en qué medida los docentes en educación superior van más allá del dominio de su saber disciplinar atribuyendo importancia a la pedagogía, la didáctica y la práctica reflexiva en su propia práctica docente. Finalmente, se discuten aspectos de la formación de docentes relacionados con los procesos vividos y los retos encontrados por los docentes al entrar en la profesión, su socialización en la comunidad docente, sus identidades como maestros y su motivación para ser docentes. Vale la pena señalar que las contribuciones a este libro comparten el uso de metodologías cualitativas y presentan los resultados de historias de vida, entrevistas, observaciones, y análisis documentales, entre otros. (shrink)

Esta obra analiza las maneras en que las diferentes nociones inspiradas en el Sumak Kawsay (Buen Vivir) / Suma Qamaña (Vivir Bien) se han desarrollado en dos ámbitos específicos, el político-institucional y el académico, tanto en la República del Ecuador como en el Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. Con este aporte se busca dar cuenta de otras formas de conocer y de reproducir el conocimiento entre dos lugares, a partir de comprensiones concretas y diversas, con el propósito de que los saberes (...) y prácticas propios en los que se ha inspirado el Buen Vivir / Vivir Bien, permitan establecer un diálogo intercultural entre occidente y el mundo amerindio. Así mismo, contribuye a repensar la construcción de escenarios diversos para reivindicar y visibilizar a quienes no han sido tenidos en cuenta en la construcción de Estado y las políticas públicas, lo cual permite hacer planteamientos desde nuevos marcos epistemológicos que intentan consolidar el pensamiento complejo."--Back cover. (shrink)

Objetivo. Verificar si el procesamiento semántico de estímulos visuales complejos, como la repetición, la identidad, el orden y la doble incongruencia, es recursivo o computable. Sujetos y métodos. Veintisiete universitarios respondieron a un paradigma adaptado N400 con cinco condiciones, cada una con 80 tareas, mientras se registraba su actividad cerebral con un gorro de 64 electrodos. Resultados. Dos ventanas temporales de 400 a 550 ms y de 550 a 800 ms se analizaron mediante un contraste ANOVA del factor condición por (...) regiones de interés. Además, se calculó la solución inversa de las ventanas mediante tomografía electromagnética de baja resolución para identificar las fuentes corticales subyacentes a los potenciales eléctricos. Se corroboran diferencias significativas (p< 0, 05) en los potenciales N400 y P600 en áreas frontales y centroparietales asociadas a los operadores lógicos estudiados. Conclusión. Se confirma que el procesamiento cerebral de imágenes complejas (congruentes/incongruentes) es modulado por la repetición, la identidad y el orden, pero no por la negación. Por consiguiente, se puede decir que el procesamiento semántico de imágenes complejas es semicomputable. (shrink)

The main idea of this paper is that memories are the key elements of our identity and in order to access these elements it is sometimes necessary to use different techniques. Music is one of them and the education of the mind represents a safe direction to define and our cultural identity regardless the various social pressures.