Two studies demonstrate that a dispositional proneness to disgust (“disgust sensitivity”) is associated with intuitive disapproval of gay people. Study 1 was based on previous research showing that people are more likely to describe a behavior as intentional when they see it as morally wrong (see Knobe, 2006, for a review). As predicted, the more disgust sensitive participants were, the more likely they were to describe an agent whose behavior had the side effect of causing gay men to kiss in (...) public as having intentionally encouraged gay men to kiss publicly— even though most participants did not explicitly think it wrong to encourage gay men to kiss in public. No such effect occurred when subjects were asked about heterosexual kissing. Study 2 used the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Nosek, Banaji, & Greenwald, 2006) as a dependent measure. The more disgust sensitive participants were, the more they showed.. (shrink)

The uniquely human emotion of disgust is intimately connected to morality in many, perhaps all, cultures. We report two studies suggesting that a predisposition to feel disgust is associated with more conservative political attitudes, especially for issues related to the moral dimension of purity. In the first study, we document a positive correlation between disgust sensitivity and self-reported conservatism in a broad sample of US adults. In Study 2 we show that while disgust sensitivity is associated with more conservative attitudes (...) on a range of political issues, this relationship is strongest for purity-related issues—specifically, abortion and gay marriage. (shrink)

This article shows that Rabbi Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz, a major eighteenth-century kabbalist, Orthodox rabbi and Enlightenment thinker, who merged Lurianic Kabbalah with Kantian philosophy, attempted to describe God and the world in terms of formal grammars and abstract information processes. He resolves a number of Kant's dualistic views by introducing prophecy as a tool that allows a mystic's mind to perform transfinite hypercomputation and to obtain a priori knowledge about things usually known only a posteriori. According to Hurwitz, the reality (...) consists of Divine names, which generate an infinite network of recursive string rewriting systems, some of which are identical to what is known today as Lindenmayer systems. Hurwitz is also one of the first thinkers, who raised questions about non-human and artificial intelligence. (shrink)

Despite the wealth of recent work implicating disgust as an emotion central to human morality, the nature of the causal relationship between disgust and moral judgment remains unclear. We distinguish between three related claims regarding this relationship, and argue that the most interesting claim (that disgust is a moralizing emotion) is the one with the least empirical support.

In recent years, the field of virtual reality (VR) has shown tremendous advancements and is utilized in fields ranging from entertainment, scientific research, social networks, artistic creation as well as numerous approaches to employ VR for psychotherapy. While the use of VR in psychotherapy has been widely discussed, little attention has been given to the potential of this new medium for art therapy. Artistic expression in virtual reality is a novel medium which offers unique possibilities, extending beyond classical expressive art (...) mediums. Creation in virtual reality includes options such as three-dimensional painting, an immersive creative experience, dynamic scaling and embodied expression. In this perspective paper, we present the potentials and challenges of virtual reality for art therapy and outline basic principles for its implementation. We focus on the novel qualities offered by this creative medium (the virtual environment, virtual materials and unreal characteristics) and on the core aspects of virtual reality (such as presence, Immersivity, point of view and perspective) for the practice of art therapy. (shrink)

We address two questions regarding the relationship between political ideology and responses to threatening or aversive stimuli. The first concerns the reason for the connection between disgust and specific political and moral attitudes; the second concerns the observation that some responses to threat (i.e., neuroticism/anxiety) are associated with a moreleft-wingpolitical orientation.

Why do women sellers in product markets receive lower prices than men sellers when selling the same identical products? This Article investigates the effects of cultural beliefs about competence, desert and trust on market interactions with women and men sellers. We use an experimental approach to show that the prices people are willing to pay for the exact same product are affected by cultural beliefs about gender; when a woman sells a gift card, she is likely to receive five percent (...) less for it, compared to when a man does. Our analysis further suggests that it is beliefs about women’s relative competence and moral entitlement that drive the gender price gap in product markets. When the participants in the experiment were presented with information that suggested that the woman seller was a competent or entitled seller, no gender price differences were found between such women sellers and their equally qualified male counterparts. Nonetheless, information about the trustworthiness of sellers did not decrease the gap between women and men sellers. This suggests that price gaps between women and men in product markets are not generated by beliefs about the trustworthiness of women and men. (shrink)

Aesthetic cosmopolitanism is conceptualized here as a cultural condition in which late modern ethno-national cultural uniqueness is associated with contemporary cultural forms like film and pop-rock music, and as such it is produced from within the national framework. The social production of aesthetic cosmopolitanism is analyzed through elaborations on Bourdieu's field theory, as an outcome of the intersection of and interplay between global fields of art and fields of national culture. A sociological explanation for the emergence of aesthetic cosmopolitanism is (...) proposed. It focuses on claims by social sectors within national contexts for status and recognition of their own contemporary cultural uniqueness. (shrink)

One of the surprises from genome sequencing projects is the apparently small number of predicted genes in different eukaryotic cells, particularly human. One possible reason for this ‘shortage’ of genes is multiple distribution of proteins; a single protein is targeted to more than one subcellular compartment and consequently participates in different biochemical pathways and might have completely different functions. Indeed, in recent years, there have been reports on proteins that were found to be localized in cellular compartments other than those (...) initially attributed to them. Furthermore, the phenomenon of highly uneven isoprotein distribution was recently observed and termed ‘eclipsed distribution’. In these cases, the amount of one of the isoproteins, in one of the locations, is significantly minute and its detection by standard biochemical and visualization methods is masked by the presence of the dominant isoprotein. In fact, the minute amounts of eclipsed proteins can be essential. Since detecting eclipsed distribution is difficult, we assume that this phenomenon is probably more common than currently recorded. Hence, developing methods for localization and functional detection of eclipsed proteins is a challenge in cell biology research. Finally, eclipsed distribution may lead to cellular pathologies as has been suggested to occur in human disorders such as Prion diseases and Alzheimer. This review provides a short description of the eclipsed distribution phenomenon followed by an overview of protein distribution mechanisms, examples of eclipsed distribution and experimental approaches for revealing these elusive proteins. BioEssays 29:772–782, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.. (shrink)

Research in School-Based Art Therapy has been widely discussed in recent years, and the number of studies that examine staff perceptions and the special characteristics of art therapy within the education system has risen considerably. The current study explored the critical issue of adolescent clients’ perceptions of art therapy in school, from their point of view as clients. The methodology and data analysis were conducted according to the principles of Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). The sample was composed of 12 adolescent (...) clients, aged 14–18 (M = 16), who took part in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings were organized into five domains that emerged from the interviews: referrals and initial engagement with therapy, the setting within school, the nature of art therapy at school, the relationship with the art therapist, and the impact of art therapy on these clients. The analysis revealed that although some participants initially agreed to art therapy because it got them out of class and let them have fun instead, they realized after a period of time of art therapy that they were engaged in a personal and emotional process focusing on them which allowed them to express their feelings without the fear of judgment. Participants at times used the word “mother” to describe their relationship with the art therapist, and stated that the presence of the art therapist at school made them feel safer and helped them deal with day-to-day problems. School-based... (shrink)

This mixed method study (Explanatory Design - the Participant Selection Model) investigated the use of joint drawing (the Family Squiggle) as a family climate assessment tool for hearing families who have a deaf / hard of hearing (D/HH) child. The goal was to evaluate the possibilities of applying a quantitative approach to characterize the pictorial phenomena produced by hearing families who have a D/HH child, and then apply qualitative research approaches to better understand the meaning of these phenomena. Twenty-eight hearing (...) families (parents and child) whose child was diagnosed as D/HH and used hearing devices (hearing aids, implant) were recruited along with 16 families with a hearing child of a similar age enrolled in a mainstream school. The sessions involved a joint drawing followed by a family interview. In the quantitative stage, pictorial phenomena for which there was a significant association between the phenomena and the group of families were defined. These were: (1) The number of dominant images, (2) Images occupying less than a quarter of the page. (3) Images with accentuated outlines. (4) Moderate colorfulness with four to five colors in each drawing. (5) Minimal representation of the face. (6) Concrete rather than creative titles. (7) Muting of conflictual themes. (8) Images reminiscent of hearing devices (hearing aids, implant). In the qualitative phase, interviews were conducted with the hearing families with a D/HH child to better understand the meaning of these pictorial phenomena. The findings suggest that each of these phenomena represent the preoccupation of the family with deafness / being hard of hearing, capture a certain aspect of family dynamics, and together provide a broader and deeper picture of the family climate and the interactions between the child's family and hearing. This assessment tool may thus be utilized when verbal tools cannot be easily applied. (shrink)

Studies have underscored the complexity of the encounter between ultra-Orthodox society and psychotherapy, as well as the challenges involved in developing a therapeutic relationship in cross-cultural therapy. However, there is scant research on therapy for ultra-Orthodox children, especially when it comes to arts therapies that take place in a cross-cultural setting. The current study examined the perceptions of 17 arts therapists who are not ultra-Orthodox, and who currently work or have previously worked with ultra-Orthodox children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with (...) the therapists and analyzed using the principles of Consensual Qualitative Research. The study covered four domains: perceptions of the significance and objectives of arts therapy with ultra-Orthodox children; the influence of the cultural difference between therapist and client on the emotional experience and the therapeutic relationship; the use of arts in therapy; systemic aspects. The findings indicate significant perceptual and value-based disparities between therapists and clients, which pose difficulties and challenges to all participating parties and require therapists to be highly sensitive. Aside from the difficulties, the findings suggest that this cultural difference may also have certain advantages for clients as well as therapists. The findings likewise attest to the multifaceted process of change that is taking place within Haredi society in its attitude toward psychotherapy in general and arts therapy in particular. (shrink)

A popular view in philosophy of science contends that scientific reasoning is objective to the extent that the appraisal of scientific hypotheses is not influenced by moral, political, economic, or social values, but only by the available evidence. A large body of results in the psychology of motivated-reasoning has put pressure on the empirical adequacy of this view. The present study extends this body of results by providing direct evidence that the moral offensiveness of a scientific hypothesis biases explanatory judgment (...) along several dimensions, even when prior credence in the hypothesis is controlled for. Furthermore, it is shown that this bias is insensitive to an economic incentive to be accurate in the evaluation of the evidence. These results contribute to call into question the attainability of the ideal of a value-free science. (shrink)

The college hookup scene is a profoundly gendered and heteronormative sexual field. Yet the party and bar scene that gives rise to hookups also fosters the practice of women kissing other women in public, generally to the enjoyment of male onlookers, and sometimes facilitates threesomes involving same-sex sexual behavior between women. In this article, we argue that the hookup scene serves as an opportunity structure to explore same-sex attractions and, at least for some women, to later verify bisexual, lesbian, or (...) queer sexual identities. Based on quantitative and qualitative data and combining queer theory and identity theory, we offer a new interpretation of women’s same-sex practices in the hookup culture. Our analysis contributes to gender theory by demonstrating the utility of identity theory for understanding how non-normative gender and sexual identities are negotiated within heteronormatively structured fields. (shrink)

Many researchers, including Clarke and Beck, describe the human numerical system as unitary. We offer an alternative view – the coexistence of several systems; namely, multiple systems existing in parallel, ready to be activated depending on the task/need. Based on this alternative view, we present an account for the representation of rational numbers.

In this article the authors examine the ways in which the definition of work as paid employment has affected women's health research, the knowledge and understanding of the relationships between women's work and health, and health and social policies. The authors argue for research and public policy based on an expanded definition of women's work, a redefinition that goes beyond employment to reflect the multiple contexts and dimensions of women's work as well as the diversity and differences among women.

I Zum Begriff „Intertextualität“ Als eines der herausragendsten Merkmale des literarischen Werkes Yoel Hoffmanns ist die ausgesprochen dichte Verwobenheit seines Textes mit Intertexten, seine Intertextualität, zu nennen. Verschiedentlich wurde auf diese Eigenschaft Hoffmannscher Schriften hingewiesen und hier und dort zeigten Literaturwissenschaftler auch Verbindungen zu Werken anderer Autoren auf. Die Frage aber nach der Beschaffenheit dieser Intertextualität, mehr noch nach dem Sinn dieser literarischen Praxis Hoffmanns wurde bisher nicht gestellt. Im Folgenden beabsichtige ich, auf diese Frage zu antworten.

When The Sound of One Hand Clapping came out in Japan in 1916 it caused a scandal. Zen was a secretive practice, its wisdom relayed from master to novice in strictest privacy. That a handbook existed recording not only the riddling koans that are central to Zen teaching but also detailing the answers to them seemed to mark Zen as rote, not revelatory. For all that, The Sound of One Hand Clapping opens the door to Zen like no other book. (...) Including koans that go back to the master who first brought the koanteaching method from Japan to China in the eighteenth century, this book offers, in the words of the translator, editor, and Zen initiate Yoel Hoffmann, "the clearest, most detailed, and most correct picture of Zen" that can be found. What we have here is an extraordinary introduction to Zen thought as lived thought, a treasury of problems, paradoxes, and performance that will appeal to artists, writers, and philosophers as well as Buddhists and students of religion. (shrink)