scholarly journals Identification of Six Emergent Types Based on Cognitive and Affective Constructs that Explain Individuals’ Relationship with the Biosphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7614
Author(s):  
Andrea Marais-Potgieter ◽  
Andrew Thatcher

To address the pathological human–nature nexus, psychological processes that impact this relationship need to be further understood. Individual differences related to personality, values, worldviews, affect, and beliefs are likely to influence how people relate to the natural world. However, there is a lack of empirically-based ecopsychological research exploring multiple individual attributes. Understanding individual differences enables the strategic design of planetary-focused interventions, such as advocacy, policy, and technology development. Using a theoretical model that incorporates intrinsic, affective, cognitive, and behavioral constructs, this study sought to identify and describe different types of people and their relationship with the biosphere. Seven hundred and fifty-three people completed an online quantitative questionnaire battery. Results from the cluster analyses of the cognitive and affective constructs showed that six heterogeneous types existed. Their different descriptive expressions of intrinsic, affective, cognitive, and behavioral constructs provide a deeper understanding of each type’s relationship with the biosphere.

Author(s):  
Donatella della Porta ◽  
Massimiliano Andretta ◽  
Tiago Fernandes ◽  
Eduardo Romanos ◽  
Markos Vogiatzoglou

The second chapter covers the main characteristics of transition time in the four countries: Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. After developing the theoretical model on paths of transition, with a focus on social movement participation, the chapter looks at social movements and protest events as turning points during transition, covering in particular the specific movement actors, their organizational models, and their repertoires of action and frames. The chapter focuses on two dimensions: the role of mobilization in the transition period, which implies the analysis of how elites and masses interact, ally, or fight with each other in the process, and the outcome of transitions as continuity versus rupture of the democratic regime vis-à-vis the old one. It concludes by elaborating some hypotheses on how different modes of transition may produce different types and uses of (transition) memories.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-181
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Huemer

AbstractI address the question of whether naturalism can provide adequate means for the scientific study of rules and rule-following behavior. As the term “naturalism” is used in many different ways in the contemporary debate, I will first spell out which version of naturalism I am targeting. Then I will recall a classical argument against naturalism in a version presented by Husserl. In the main part of the paper, I will sketch a conception of rule-following behavior that is influenced by Sellars and Haugeland. I will argue that rule-following is an essential part of human nature and insist in the social dimension of rules. Moreover, I will focus on the often overlooked fact that genuine rule-following behavior requires resilience and presupposes an inclination to calibrate one’s own behavior to that of the other members of the community. Rule-following, I will argue, is possible only for social creatures who follow shared rules, which in turn presupposes a shared (first-person plural) perspective. This implies, however, that our scientific understanding of human nature has to remain incomplete as long as it does not take this perspective, which prima facie seems alien to it, into account.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Grebenshchikova

Technoethics is a new, but rapidly developing field of ethical reflection of technoscience. It can claim to unite the various ethical projections of the science and technology development in a common approach. One of the starting points of understanding this role of technoethics may be NBIC-convergence. The ethical dimensions of the NBIC-projects is represented in these sub-areas of applied ethics as a nanoethics, bioethics, neuroethics and ICT ethics. In this article particular attention is paid to the biomedical field, which is a prime example of innovative high technology, as well as the interaction of different types of ethics.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Ashton ◽  
André Gouws ◽  
Marcus Glennon ◽  
THEODORE ZANTO ◽  
Steve Tipper ◽  
...  

Abstract Our ability to hold information in mind for a short time (working memory) is separately predicted by our ability to ignore two types of distraction: distraction that occurs while we put information into working memory (encoding) and distraction that occurs while we maintain already encoded information within working memory. This suggests that ignoring these different types of distraction involves distinct mechanisms which separately limit performance. Here we used fMRI to measure category-sensitive cortical activity and probe these mechanisms. The results reveal specific neural mechanisms by which relevant information is remembered and irrelevant information is ignored, which contribute to intra-individual differences in WM performance.


Author(s):  
Eirik Lang Harris

Builds up a picture of Shen Dao’s political philosophy by focusing on his analyses of the source, nature, and justification of political organization and order. I argue that his thought can only be understood by first coming to an understanding of his conception of the natural realm and how and why he believes that it is essential to model the social and political realm upon this natural realm. This understanding of nature only gets us so far, however, and must be coupled with a deeper awareness of human dispositions, primary among them that people act based on their own private interests, their strengths and abilities vary, and feelings of resentment and expectation arise when decisions are regarded as subjective. Only once these aspects of the natural world and human nature are understood and accounted for is it possible to construct a stable political realm.


2021 ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Jay L. Garfield

This chapter argues that naturalism is a virtue in an account of human experience, and thus desideratum in any ethical theory, and that Buddhist ethics is indeed naturalistic. In particular, its ethical orientation relies on no transcendent or transcendental concerns; its theory of the good is rooted in an account of human nature and the nature of the natural world, and its account of agency and responsibility is thoroughly causal. The chapter also discusses some of the aspects and implications of karma, including karmic fruition, the ways that our future lives are conditioned by our present ones, and the idea of collective karma.


Author(s):  
Christine M. Korsgaard

The Greek telos means final purpose; a teleological ethical theory explains and justifies ethical values by reference to some final purpose or good. Two different types of ethical theory have been called teleological, however. Ancient Greek theories are ‘teleological’ because they identify virtue with the perfection of human nature. Modern utilitarianism is ‘teleological’ because it defines right conduct as that which promotes the best consequences.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth L. Fox ◽  
Joseph W. Houpt

The type and amount of task demands that humans must simultaneously process and respond to influences how efficient they are in completing the tasks. Capturing how and to what degree human efficiency changes in different task environments is crucial to inform an appropriate system design. An individual-based analytic approach is necessary to accurately capture performance changes and lend practical suggestions. We can provide designers with the amount and type of task demands that we expect a person to sustain adequate performance given their unique underlying cognitive properties. We develop a metric, multi-tasking throughput (MT), that provides the extent to which a person processes tasks more efficiently, the same, or less efficiently when required to complete several different types of tasks at once. This is a cognitive-based, standardized metric; meaning it yields the relative degree of change from a baseline model that is created to accommodate to unique individual differences, numbers of tasks, and task characteristics. We quantify MT by using transformations of RTs to predict the extent that external demands of multi-tasking exceeds what the cognitive system can accommodate to thereby hindering performance. We use a real world dual-task application to highlight the apparent differences in strategy and ability across individuals and alternative task environments.


Author(s):  
Madeleine Keehner ◽  
Peter Khooshabeh ◽  
Mary Hegarty

This chapter examines human factors associated with using interactive three-dimensional (3D) visualizations. Virtual representations of anatomical structure and function, often with sophisticated user control capabilities, are growing in popularity in medicine for education, training, and simulation. This chapter reviews the cognitive science literature and introduces issues such as theoretical ideas related to using interactive visualizations, different types and levels of interactivity, effects of different kinds of control interfaces, and potential cognitive benefits of these tools. The authors raise the question of whether all individuals are equally capable of using 3D visualizations effectively, focusing particularly on two variables: (1) individual differences in spatial abilities, and (2) individual differences in interactive behavior. The chapter draws together findings from the authors’ own studies and from the wider literature, exploring recent insights into how individual differences among users can impact the effectiveness of different types of external visualizations for different kinds of tasks. The chapter offers recommendations for design, such as providing transparent affordances to support users’ meta-cognitive understanding, and employing personalization to complement the capabilities of different individuals. Finally, the authors suggest future directions and approaches for research, including the use of methodology such as needs analysis and contextual enquiry to better understand the cognitive processes and capacities of different kinds of users.


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