Philosophy of Science

Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Martin

Psychology grew out of philosophy, and the science of psychology is at the heart of how psychologists develop a body of knowledge. Despite the central role of science and philosophy in psychology, sport and exercise psychologists often ignore issues related to philosophy of science. This chapter discusses the scientific method upon which most quantitative research is based. It also discusses ontological and epistemological issues and the various philosophical assumptions that underpin research. In particular, two epistemological opposites are addressed, social constructionism and cognitivism, along with their strengths and weaknesses and resultant implications for past and future research. Because psychology is inherently the study of how and why people think and act, to completely disavow the mind as the primary cause of human agency is antithetical to the discipline and profession of psychology. Thus considerable attention is given to refuting critics who refute the primacy of the mind and its role in human behavior while still acknowledging that social, environmental, and culture factors play important roles in people’s lives.

Author(s):  
Ronald Hoinski ◽  
Ronald Polansky

David Hoinski and Ronald Polansky’s “The Modern Aristotle: Michael Polanyi’s Search for Truth against Nihilism” shows how the general tendencies of contemporary philosophy of science disclose a return to the Aristotelian emphasis on both the formation of dispositions to know and the role of the mind in theoretical science. Focusing on a comparison of Michael Polanyi and Aristotle, Hoinski and Polansky investigate to what degree Aristotelian thought retains its purchase on reality in the face of the changes wrought by modern science. Polanyi’s approach relies on several Aristotelian assumptions, including the naturalness of the human desire to know, the institutional and personal basis for the accumulation of knowledge, and the endorsement of realism against objectivism. Hoinski and Polansky emphasize the promise of Polanyi’s neo-Aristotelian framework, which argues that science is won through reflection on reality.


Author(s):  
Dawn M. Szymanski ◽  
Kirsten A. Gonzalez

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons are able to persevere and flourish despite pervasive social stigma and minority stress based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. This chapter reviews the research on LGBTQ resilience that can occur at individual, interpersonal/family, community, and contextual/structural levels. The authors describe qualitative research that has examined pathways to resilience and positive LGBTQ identity. The authors also review quantitative research on LGBTQ resilience via mediator, moderator, and moderated mediation models. Variables are described that have been found to explain or buffer the links between external and internalized minority stressors and mental health outcomes. The authors review the small but growing body of research that has begun to examine the efficacy of therapeutic interventions aimed at promoting LGBTQ resilience. Limitations are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135676672110533
Author(s):  
Sezer Karasakal ◽  
Tahir Albayrak

Despite numerous studies investigating flow experience in the adventure tourism context, there is a lack of research concentrating on tourists’ flow experience during travel. This study aims to explore the relationships amongst destination attribute perceptions, flow experience (consisting of focus attention, time distortion, and loss of self-consciousness components), and satisfaction variables. By adapting a quantitative research method, 938 data were collected from British, German, and Russian tourists visiting Antalya, Turkey. The study results reveal that destination attribute perceptions significantly affect flow experience components, which influence tourist satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are discussed, and some recommendations concerning future research are provided.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Tidbury ◽  
Steven F. Cahan ◽  
Li Chen

Purpose Board faultlines, which reflect intrinsic divisions of board members into relatively homogeneous subgroups, are associated with poor firm performance. This paper aims to extend the existing board faultline research by examining how acquisition deal size moderates the negative implications of board faultlines. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a sample of acquisitions and a quantitative research approach to conduct statistical analysis. Findings Using a sample of acquisitions announced between 2007 and 2016, this paper finds evidence suggesting that strong faultlines are associated with poorer acquisition outcomes in the long-term, but not in the short term. Further, this paper finds that the effect of faultline strength on long-term acquisition outcomes is weaker for larger acquisition deals than smaller acquisition deals. The findings are consistent with deal size moderating the relation between faultlines and acquisition outcomes. Research limitations/implications This paper addresses possible endogeneity through firm fixed effects and instrumental variable analysis. Although this paper provides evidence on the moderating role of deal size in the context of faultlines, future research could examine the role of additional moderators, such as pro-diversity, trust, board leadership and board and task characteristics. Practical implications The findings suggest that boards need to be aware of situations where the negative effects of faultlines are more likely to come to the fore. For example, faultlines are more likely to play a role in more routine, obscure monitoring than for high-profile strategic decisions. Originality/value The study is multidisciplinary as it draws on the management, organizational behaviour and psychology and finance literature. It contributes to the developing literature on faultlines in several important ways. First, this paper supports their view that faultlines have adverse effects on board performance by showing that faultlines negatively impact discrete strategic investment decisions. Second, this paper provides evidence that deals size moderates the faultline-acquisition performance relation, indicating that the role of faultlines is contextual. Third, this paper finds evidence that suggests investors do not factor in board faultlines when responding to acquisition announcements.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonali Alankarage ◽  
Nicholas Chileshe ◽  
Raufdeen Rameezdeen ◽  
David J. Edwards ◽  
Aparna Samaraweera

Purpose Building information modelling (BIM) has had a considerable impact on the socio-technical aspects of construction organisations. Culture has been considered an essential element in BIM practice. Hence, this paper aims to explore existing research relates to culture in the BIM context. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines using 104 articles published between 2011 and 2020 and directed with a descriptive and content analysis. Findings The SLR results give evidence that culture in the BIM context is still an under-researched topic. Culture has been considered as both a dependent and independent factor in the BIM domain. Organisational BIM culture is a collection of fundamental beliefs established in a BIM using organisation and passed to new employees with the use of BIM. BIM using organisations are have either weak or strong BIM cultures. Proper analysis and understanding of the BIM culture of different organisations are necessary to realise the strategies of transformation from a weak BIM culture to a strong BIM culture. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first SLR in BIM research that investigates the role of culture in the BIM setting. This study contributed to the existing body of knowledge by proposing a conceptual framework to understand and change a weak BIM culture of an organisation to a strong, matured BIM culture. This SLR serves as a future research basis in BIM-triggered culture.


Author(s):  
Felix Jäger

This essay charts the role of armor in Renaissance practices of knowledge. Since the advent of gunpowder warfare, armor was largely unfit for combat, yet still became a centerpiece of princely representation and was prominently displayed in early collection spaces. Rather than illustrating chivalric virtues or antiquarian taste, such suits in my reading signal a shift towards a physiological fashioning of learning. Through juxtaposing two key sets of armor – one ‘gothic’ suit situated in the studiolo, the other a ‘grotesque’ garniture for a chamber of curiosities –, my paper traces how these embodied settings conflated epistemological with political sensibilities. While the earlier ensemble acted as a mnemonic ‘prosthesis’ that enhanced the mind of the wearer, the latter evoked natural history imagery to remap the order of things around personal authority. Objects of armor thus spotlight the interplay of material and political culture in engineering the early modern subject.El presente ensayo traza el papel de las armaduras en las costumbres renacentistas del conocimiento. Desde la aparición de las armas de pólvora, las armaduras dejaron de ser apropiadas para el combate, si bien todavía constituyeron una pieza central de representaciones principescas y fueron ampliamente expuestas en espacios de colección. En lugar de ilustrar las virtudes caballerescas o los estilos como antigüedades, estas vestimentas señalan, a mi entender, un giro hacia el conocimiento fisiológico de la moda. A través de la yuxtaposición de dos conceptos clave de las armaduras –uno como vestimenta gótica emplazada en el studiolo (taller de arte), otro como decoración «grotesca» en una sala de curiosidades – mi texto indaga cómo estos elementos ajustados al cuerpo confrontaban las sensibilidades epistemológicas y políticas. Mientras que las primeras actuaban como una prótesis que fortalece la mente del que las usa, las segundas evocan la imaginería de la historia natural para recolocar el orden de las cosas alrededor de la autoridad personal. Las armaduras enfocan de este modo la interacción entre la cultura material y la política en el desarrollo del sujeto moderno.


Author(s):  
Brian D. Haig

Chapter 1 discusses the importance and relevance of the philosophy of science for an in-depth understanding of quantitative research methods. It outlines a philosophy of scientific realism in terms of its methodology and introduces major theories of scientific method. This introductory chapter provides key ideas that should help make sense of the treatment of the five methods dealt with in the book. Three major theories of scientific method are sketched because they figure in some of the ensuing chapters. An overview of the book is provided in terms of chapter summaries. A note for the reader is provided that indicates why a limited number of methods were selected for consideration.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario L. Small ◽  
Laura Adler

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in the relation between networks and spatial context. This review examines critically a selection of the literature on how physical space affects the formation of social ties. Different aspects of this question have been a feature in network analysis, neighborhood research, geography, organizational science, architecture and design, and urban planning. Focusing primarily on work at the meso- and microlevels of analysis, we pay special attention to studies examining spatial processes in neighborhood and organizational contexts. We argue that spatial context plays a role in the formation of social ties through at least three mechanisms, spatial propinquity, spatial composition, and spatial configuration; that fully capturing the role of spatial context will require multiple disciplinary perspectives and both qualitative and quantitative research; and that both methodological and conceptual questions central to the role of space in networks remain to be answered. We conclude by identifying major challenges in this work and proposing areas for future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-111
Author(s):  
Rahmad Hidayat ◽  
Endi Sarwoko ◽  
Andi Nu Graha

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of transformational leadership on employee performance and to analyze the mediating role of work commitment. This research is a type of quantitative research, using a questionnaire arranged with a 5 point Likert scale. The research variables consisted of transformational leadership as an exogenous variable, employee performance as an endogenous variable, and work commitment while the mediating variable. The research sample was 80 employees of PT. Kalbe Farma, Tbk. The data analysis technique uses path analysis. The results showed that transformational leadership has a direct effect on employee performance. Other findings indicate that work commitment acts as a partial mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance. Future research can develop research by including the role of organizational culture as a factor influencing commitment and performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 617-630
Author(s):  
Makoto Matsuo

PurposeAlthough positive psychology asserts that authenticity comes from identifying and using our strengths, no quantitative research has been conducted to test that relationship. This study aims to examine the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to career satisfaction and proactive behavior.Design/methodology/approachUsing a two-wave survey with nurses in two large, acute hospitals in Japan (n = 298), a structural equation model was produced.FindingsThe results show that work authenticity fully mediated between strengths use and career satisfaction, and that work authenticity partially mediated between strengths use and proactive behavior.Research limitations/implicationsAs work authenticity, career satisfaction and proactive behavior were measured at time 2, it is desirable to conduct a three-wave survey to measure these variables separately in future research.Practical implicationsIt may be imperative to recognize that employees who use their strengths are satisfied with their careers only by enhancing authenticity at work.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this study was to identify the mediating role of work authenticity in linking strengths use to both career-related well-being and proactive work behaviors.


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