Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceiving The Poster: How Suspicion Of Motives May Impact Perceptions Of Potential Allies Engaging In Online Activism, Kathrina Z. Durante

Honors Theses

Social media posts signaling support for various social and racial justice movements have emerged as an important aspect of social media use. However, little research has investigated how these posts and the social media users behind them are perceived by members of disadvantaged groups﹘those the messages are presumably intended to “help.” Though the post’s content and poster’s identity are likely important, the primary aim of this study is to investigate an individual difference variable in the perceiver, specifically disadvantaged group members’ Suspicion of Motives Index (SOMI) scores, which measure a general tendency to perceive White individuals’ attempts at non-prejudice to …

Patriotism And Democratic Education, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether patriotism has a valuable part to play in the educational system of a democratic society is now a highly contentious matter. This chapter argues that it does, principally because such a society is a kind of cooperative practice that requires its members to enact, enforce, and – in most cases – obey the laws that govern their self-governing polity. Democracies rely on rules, and especially the rule of law, to provide the reasonably clear expectations necessary to coordinate public activities and to overcome collective-action problems. By encouraging citizens to set aside personal advantage and play a cooperative part in …

Individual Differences In Processing Of Garden-Path Sentences: The Role Of Obsessive- Compulsive Personality Traits, Antonio Cardoso

Honors Theses

A great deal of previous research has investigated the real-time processing and offline interpretation of garden path (GP) sentences. This work has shown that GP sentences cause substantial processing disruptions, as revealed by regressive eye movements during reading, as well as incorrect answers to comprehension questions. The current study was designed to investigate whether variability in the processing of GP sentences could be explained by individual differences in personality traits, specifically obsessive-compulsive personality traits. In an eyetracking while reading experiment, participants read GP sentences with both a comma manipulation and a verb type manipulation. Results replicated previous findings in that …

Core Concepts In Heroism Science, Volume Two, Scott T. Allison

Bookshelf

What lies at the core of heroism?

This book attempts to answer this daunting question. To understand the core of heroism – the forces underlying it – let’s first examine what heroism is at its surface. On the outside, heroism is a behavior, or set of behaviors. These actions are directed toward helping others, and they go beyond expectation and are considered by most people to be extraordinary (Franco, Blau, & Zimbardo, 2011). In addition, heroism involves taking great risks and making exceptional sacrifices (Allison, Goethals, & Kramer, 2017). We observe these extreme helping behaviors and we admire them -- …

Stakeholder Management: A Managerial Perspective, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Andrew C. Wicks

Management Faculty Publications

Scholars and practitioners have acknowledged the practical relevance of stakeholder theory as it has been applied to management. This chapter provides a brief foundation for understanding the basic principles of stakeholder management and some of its best known tools, including the development of an enterprise strategy, identification and prioritization of stakeholders, and measurement of the value firms create with and for stakeholders. We then share insights about implementation of stakeholder management based on interviews with high-level executives from a variety of well-known companies. We found that stakeholder principles have been applied in a variety of ways and under various labels. …

[Introduction To] The Romance Of Heroism And Heroic Leadership, George R. Goethals, Scott T. Allison

Bookshelf

Heroes permeate our culture. From superheroes on screen to the everyday heroics of our public services, the word 'hero' is a familiar descriptor in every form of media. But what makes a hero? And what makes heroes 'heroic'?

Leadership experts George R. Goethals and Scott T. Allison explore how the romantic conceptions of heroes and heroic leaders are constructed, both in real life and in our heads. Looking at the dichotomy of heroism and villainy, they offer insights into Donald Trump's ascension to the U.S. presidency, particularly detailing the correspondence between the needs of the U.S. public and the promises …

When Does The Positivity Effect Emerge? : Age-Related Emotional Biases At Encoding And Retrieval, Hannah Wolfe

Honors Theses

The Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) posits that as their future time perspective shrinks, older adults tend to be more motivated by emotionally meaningful goals and therefore experience what is called the “positivity effect” with age (Carstensen, 2006). The positivity effect had been studied in both attention biases (Isaacowitz et al., 2006a) and memory biases (Kensinger, 2008), with older adults dwelling longer on and better remembering the positive stimuli over the negative. Yet, few studies have measured emotional biases at both the encoding and retrieval phases, which is why this study uses eye-tracking to determine whether any biases in gaze patterns …

The Performance Implication Of Obsessive Work Passion: Unpacking The Moderating And Mediating Mechanisms From A Conservation Of Resources Perspective, Dejun Tony Kong, Violet T. Ho

Management Faculty Publications

Work passion is an important determinant of work performance. While harmonious work passion (HWP) shows its consistent predictive value, obsessive work passion (OWP) appears to have a mixed relationship with work performance. To address this puzzle, we integrate research on OWP and emotional exhaustion with conservation of resources (COR) theory. Specifically, we argue that OWP determines emotional exhaustion, whose relationship with work performance is attenuated by leader-member exchange (LMX). By conducting a field study with a sample of 262 U.S. employees, we found supportive evidence, even when controlling for psychological detachment from work. The findings somewhat reconcile the inconsistent results …

New Insights Into William James's Personal Crisis In The Early 1870s: Part Ii. John Bunyan And The Resolution & Consequences Of The Crisis, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article, the second in a two-part sequence, will cast new light on the strong possibility that John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress played a previously unrecognized role in inspiring James’s means of defense against the frightening hallucination and panic fear that characterized his well-known personal crisis in the early 1870s. It will also present an argument about the influence of his defensive measures upon his subsequent views on the nature and importance of attention and will in human life. Along the way, it will identify James’s specific, newly discovered copy of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and the specific, newly discovered …

New Insights Into William James’S Personal Crisis In The Early 1870s: Part 1. Arthur Schopenhauer And The Origin & Nature Of The Crisis, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article, the first in a two-part sequence, will cast new light on the well-known “crisis of William James” by presenting evidence regarding the previously unrecognized role of Arthur Schopenhauer’s thought in shaping and intensifying the way in which James experienced this crisis. It will also relate Schopenhauer’s influence to prior issues that had concerned James, and in an appendix it will provide an overview of other areas in which Schopenhauer seems to have influenced James, both during and after his personal crisis. The second article in this sequence will present evidence in support of the strong possibility that John …

A Moralist In An Age Of Scientific Analysis And Skepticism: Habit In The Life And Work Of William James, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

In this chapter I will review how James got from his earlier position, which so readily fit the scientific and skeptical tenor of his age, to his later position, and I will indicate how the views he began to articulate by the mid-1870s became central to the doctrines he presented in his magisterial Principles of Psychology (1890) and in his subsequent work in psychology and philosophy. Along the way I will make it clear that even before 1872, when he was attending lectures and doing physiological research in Harvard's Medical School, James was a deeply engaged advocate of philosophy, which …

[Introduction To] Heroes: What They Do & Why We Need Them, Scott T. Allison, George R. Goethals

Bookshelf

Abraham Lincoln, Princess Diana, Rick in Casablanca--why do we perceive certain people as heroes? What qualities do we see in them? What must they do to win our admiration? In Heroes, Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals offer a stimulating tour of the psychology of heroism, shedding light on what heroism and villainy mean to most people and why heroes--both real people and fictional characters--are so vital to our lives. The book discusses a broad range of heroes, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino, Senator Ted Kennedy, and explorer Ernest Shackleton, plus villains such …

Visions And Values: Ethical Reflections In A Jamesian Key, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to provide a quick survey of William James's views on the plurality of visions that humans have regarding reality, as a background for more extensive discussions of his views on the plurality of values that orient human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as his views on the enactment of those values through active resistance to the ways things are and the risk-taking involved in striving to improve the human condition. Consonant with pluralism itself, I intend this discussion to open up rather than close off further considerations of James's views on ethics.

Between Pierce (1878) And James (1898): G. Stanley Hall, The Origins Of Pragmatism And The History Of Psychology, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

This article focuses on the 20-year gap between Charles S. Peirce's classic proposal of pragmatism in 1877-1878 and William James's equally classic call for pragmatism in 1898. It fills the gap by reviewing relevant developments in the work of Peirce and James and by introducing G. Stanley Hall, for the first time, as a figure in the history of pragmatism. In treating Hall and pragmatism, the article reveals a previously unnoted relation between the early history of pragmatism and the early history of the "new psychology" that Hall helped to pioneer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Crisis Rhetoric : A Theory Of Communication In Times Of Crisis, Eric D. Loepp

Honors Theses

We conducted an experiment to assess the effect of presidential rhetoric in a time of crisis. Our study was based in part on terror management theory, which posits that subtle reminders of death (mortality salience) lead to increased support of leaders an authority figures. Subjects were randomly placed in either a mortality salient condition or control condition. We also composed two speeches - one charismatic and one non-charismatic - and subjects were randomly assigned to hear one of the two. Based on elements of terror management theory, we hypothesized that in a time of crisis the charismatic speech would be …

Instead Of Erklären And Verstehen: William James On Human Understanding, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Perhaps more than any other American psychologist and philosopher, William James (1842-1910) was intimately familiar with contemporary European thought and debate, including the discussion of Erklären and Verstehen advanced by Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) and others around the turn of the twentieth century. Even before this discussion was initiated, James had been dealing with related issues, pondering alternative solutions, and formulating his own original views on human understanding. These views coalesced in a distinctive approach to cognition. Fundamental to this approach was a belief in possibility and probability as innate features of the physical as well as mental manifestations of the …

The Missing Person In The Conversation: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., And The Dialogical Self, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Wiley (2006) has argued for a relationship between pragmatism and the dialogical self, noting that both are rooted in the thought of William James and Charles S. Peirce. This commentary delves into the possible connection between James’s and Peirce’s ideas as well as the probable influence of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., on the development of dialogical conceptions of the self.

Psychology, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Psychology, in a general sense, is age-old, extending back across all cultures to the beginnings of recorded time. The healing arts of ancient doctors and the conceptual musings of ancient sages often pointed toward factors that would be considered psychological today. Nevertheless, psychology in its specifically modern sense dates from the second half of the nineteenth century, when a self-consciously scientific, academic, professional discipline took shape in Europe and North America. This multiplex discipline grew and flourished in particular in the United States, where more than forty experimental laboratories, associated programs of research and study, and institutionalized means of communication, …

Race, Trust, Altruism, And Reciprocity, George W. Dent Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Objects, Meanings, And Connections In My Life And Career, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

On the wall of my home-office in Richmond, Virginia, are pictures of St. Francis of Assisi, William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and William James. This may seem an odd collection to others. To me, it seems natural and right. Though I didn't plan the collection - each picture having gone up at a separate time - I see now that these four objects represent central meanings and connections in my life. Apparently even a relatively reflective academic can be too busy living his life to spend much time ruminating on the relations that hold it together. Yet I find …

On The Conceptual And Linguistic Activity Of Psychologists: The Study Of Behavior From The 1890s To The 1990s And Beyond, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

In the early twentieth century psychology became the study of "behavior." This article reviews developments within animal psychology, functional psychology, and American society and culture that help explain how a term rarely used in the first years of the century became not only an accepted scientific concept but even, for many, an allencompassing label for the entire subject matter of the discipline. The subsequent conceptual and linguistic activity of John B. Watson, Edward C. Tolman, Clark L. Hull, and B.F. Skinner, as they attempted to explain "behavior" throughout the course of the twentieth century, is then discussed. Finally, the article …

Egon Brunswik (1903-1955), David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Austrian and American psychologist. Brunswik stood at the nexus of several philosophical and psychological traditions, created his own distinctive psychology, and died without foreseeing the influence of his· concepts and methods. Yet more than forty years after his death by suicide, certain of his ideas and techniques are still being explored and used.

Johann Friedrich Herbart, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

German philosopher, psychologist, and educator. Herbart was among the first, early in the nineteenth century, to propose a mathematical psychology. Coming after Immanuel Kant's claim (in his Metaphysische Angangsgriinde der Naturwissenschaft [Metaphysical Foundation of Natural Science], Riga, 1786) that there could be no such discipline, this was a bold proposal. which kept alive the eighteenth-century quest for a science of psychology. Even though Herbart himself denied the possibility of an experimental psychology, and despite the fact that his own psychology (as a branch of applied metaphysics) was largely conjectural, his example inspired subsequent scholars to work toward a quantitative, experimental …

The Social Basis Of Emotion: Affective Consequences Of Social Comparisons With Competitive And Cooperative Others, Celinda M. Reese

Master's Theses

The present research explores the affective consequences of social comparisons made by cooperators and competitors. Participants (75 males, 90 females) were randomly assigned to either a cooperative or competitive condition in which they either performed better or worse than a partner. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in a particular situation and then report their emotional reaction to the scenario. Consistent with R. Lazarus' cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, participants in the cooperative condition reported anger when their partner's actions hindered goal attainment but reported joy when the partner promoted goal attainment. Consistent with T. Wills' theory of downward social …

Psychology, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although the discipline of psychology, in its contemporary form, is only a century old, psychology's historical antecedents reach back to the beginnings of civilization. Whether defined as the study of the soul or the study of human faculties, as it was in earlier times, or as the study of consciousness, mind, or behavior, as it has been over the past hundred years, psychology has dealt with some of the fundamental questions and issues pertaining to the functions, processes, and mechanisms of human and animal nature.

William James On The Self And Personality: Clearing The Ground For Subsequent Theorists, Researchers, And Practitioners, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

The fundamental basis of William James's psychology - the rock-bottom foundation on which it is constructed - is "the stream of thought" or "the stream of consciousness. " ¹* The first and preeminent characteristic of our flowingly continuous experience of "thought" or "consciousness," James (1890/1983d) said, is that it is personal (pp. 220-224). Every thought, every psychological experience, is mine, or hers, or his, or yours. For this reason, he suggested, "the personal self rather than the thought [or consciousness] might be treated as the immediate datum in psychology" (p. 221).² Indeed, James was strongly convinced that "no …

Metaphor, Theory, And Practice In The History Of Psychology, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

In these chapters we have seen that neuropsychological discourse has been advanced by the use of metaphors from telecommunications, control systems engineering, computer science, holography, and other developments in parallel distributed processing (Pribram, Chapter 2); that theoretical discussions of the emotions have revolved around metaphors of inner feelings, physiological responses, vestiges of animal nature, diseases of the mind, driving forces, and social roles (Averill, Chapter 3); that treatments of motivation have portrayed the human person as a pawn, an agent, a natural entity, an organism, or a machine (McReynolds, Chapter 4); that a vast array of cognitive metaphors have been …

The Future Of Elderly Women : Psychosocial Factors Influencing The Aging Transition, Michelle Dever

Honors Theses

In the U.S. today there is an increasing number of elderly in the population. There are over twenty million persons who are 65 years of age and older. It is predicted that there will be over 32 million older Americans by the year 2000. There has been a greater increase in the number of older women compared to men with women having a greater life expectancy also. The effects of aging on individuals and their ability to adapt to society needs to examined in our society today. There is a special need to study elderly women and the difficulties they …

Residence, Perceived Latitude Of Choice And Desired Control Among The Long-Livin, Steven R. Shank

Master's Theses

Perceived control, perceived choice, and residential setting are important factors which need to be addressed in research involving long-living. The focus of this study was to determine the relationships among thee variables. The search for an interaction between residential setting (either high or low constraining) and perceived choice and its effect on perceived control distinguishes this study from previous research.

The Cult Of Empiricism In Psychology, And Beyond, Stephen Toulmin, David E. Leary

Psychology Faculty Publications

At some stage in it's development, any field of intellectual discussion or scientific speculation may reach a point at which it begins to generate large numbers of "empirical" questions, that is, questions whose answers must refer to carefully documented observations, or even to controlled experiments. In physics, this happened most strikingly in the course of the seventeenth century; in biology, the comparable stage was not reached until around 1770, rising to its peak in the course of the nineteenth century (Toulmin, 1972; Toulmin & Goodfield, 1962); whereas in psychology, it has become customary-though a trifle arbitrary-to argue that this happened …