The Art of Stoic Living

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-208
Author(s):  
Nancy Sherman
Keyword(s):  
Impulse Control ◽  
Moral Outrage ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Buddhist Meditation ◽  
Self Blame ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Righteous Anger ◽  
Self Talk ◽  
American Army

Meditation is key to the art of Stoic living. But it’s not Zen or Buddhist meditation. If you are meditating like an Eastern monk, you are trying to quiet the chattering mind. If you are meditating like a Stoic, you are cultivating that busy mind. How does self-talk, and often self-blame, promote calm? Stoic living also involves monitoring the onset of disruptive emotions, and some Stoic-minded teachers have designed Stoic exercises for this kind of impulse control in their classrooms. Others practice Stoicism by looking to moral exemplars. A Cato or a Socrates, as the Stoics would say. But who is a modern moral exemplar? Take Hugh Thompson, the young American Army helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai massacre. Would he be part of a Stoic pantheon? Moral outrage at the brutal massacre of 500 innocents prompted him to land his helicopter that day and stop the onslaught. Would a Stoic permit, or extoll, just action motivated by righteous anger?

scholarly journals Francisco Franco Is Back: The Contested Reemergence of a Fascist Moral Exemplar

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Francisco Ferrándiz
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Mass Graves ◽  
Francisco Franco ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Sharp Focus ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
National Reconciliation

Abstract Based on long-term ethnographic research on contemporary exhumations of mass graves from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), as well as analysis of the exhumation of Francisco Franco from the Valley of the Fallen, this paper looks at the ways in which the dictator’s moral exemplarity has evolved over time since his military victory in 1939. During the early years of his dictatorship, Franco’s propaganda machine built the legend of a historical character touched by divine providence who sacrificed himself to save Spain from communism. His moral charisma was enriched by associating his historical mission with a constellation of moral exemplars drawn from medieval and imperial Spain. After his death, his moral exemplarity dwindled as democratic Spain embraced a political discourse of national reconciliation. Yet, since 2000, a new negative exemplarity of Franco as a war criminal has come into sharp focus, in connection with the exhumation of the mass graves of tens of thousands of Republican civilians executed by his army and paramilitary. In recent years, Franco has reemerged as a fascist exemplar alongside a rise of the extreme right. To understand the revival of his fascist exemplarity, I focus on two processes: the rise of the political party Vox, which claims undisguised admiration for Franco’s legacy (a process I call “neo-exemplarity”), and the dismantling in October 2019 of Franco’s honorable burial and the debate over the treatment that his mortal remains deserve (a process I call “necro-exemplarity”).

scholarly journals The Power of the Media on Peace and Reconciliation Processes: Representing Former Enemy Groups as Moral versus Immoral Matters

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 183449092110025
Author(s):  
Ana Janković ◽  
Sabina Čehajić-Clancy
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
The Media ◽  
Group Target ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
Intergroup Behavior

The efforts of peace-building and reconciliation between historical enemies are faced with many structural and psychological obstacles. Scholars have identified mechanisms that can induce improvements in psychological aspects of intergroup relations, such as intergroup contact. However, establishing direct contact with everyone is impossible. Therefore, the mass media represents an important source through which groups learn about each other. Numerous studies have shown that stereotypical and often negative portrayals of specific social groups through the media produce or reinforce negative intergroup outcomes. In this research, the authors report results from an experimental study conducted in a post-conflict society of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( N = 119). It examined the effects of stereotypical and counter-stereotypical representations of former enemy groups (Bosniaks) through the media on intergroup behavior (reported by Bosnian Serbs). More specifically, in this research the authors explored the effects of representing out-group individuals as immoral (the stereotypical condition) and moral (the counter-stereotypical condition) on specific behavioral tendencies toward the historical enemy group. The results indicate that exposure to primarily moral information about the out-group target facilitated important positive intergroup outcomes. This study extends the literature and research on moral exemplars by demonstrating the effects on relevant intergroup outcomes whilst utilizing current (vs. historical) moral exemplar stories.

scholarly journals The ‘tapestry’ of bricolage: Extending interdisciplinary approaches to psycho-spiritual self-care research

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 205979911989841
Author(s):  
Reverend Peter Devenish-Meares
Keyword(s):  
Self Care ◽  
Workplace Stress ◽  
Heuristic Inquiry ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Care Research ◽  
Self Blame ◽  
Inquiry Process ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Self Talk ◽  
Intuitive Method

Interdisciplinary psycho-spiritual research into workplace stress and self-care is scant noting the fact that negative self-talk and harsh self-judgement stymie the search for inner meaning and self-care. To address this, this article uses an intuitive and reflection-oriented methodology to research self-care choices for the stressed and suffering worker. In particular, it breaks new ground because no workplace-based applied psycho-spiritual research uses bricolage, let alone the heuristic inquiry process which gives expression to it. Bricolage is a tapestry of ideas, themes and possibilities cobbled together to produce creative outcomes. It adapts and co-opts whatever information from whichever discipline that is necessary. This approach appears well suited to the subjective, intuitive nature of workplace stress and suffering and especially where interdisciplinary approaches to self-care are warranted. The heuristic inquiry process which is used for the first time for workplace self-care works intentionally with interior resources that may be unknown or fragmented and dialogues sensitively with inner ‘rules’ or patterns that may have become problematic. Incubation and reflective illumination produce tacit knowledge to augment healing intuition. This process is illustrated by an example. It is about a less intense focus that actively encourages tender, ‘standing apart’ from symptoms so as to allow perspectives to arise and the intuiting of transformative possibilities. From this, self-compassion, humility and meaningful detachment are re-affirmed as ways to pay self-kindly attention and address self-criticism and self-blame. The contribution of the study is threefold. First, it extends bricolage to workplace self-care by considering inner resistance and negative self-talk, both barriers to self-care. Second, it affirms the heuristic inquiry process as an intuitive method for self-care research. Third, and paradoxically, it shows that self-engagement, in a compassionate yet less intense way, can lead to self-care transformation. Finally, limitations to the study and possibilities for future research are discussed.

scholarly journals Moral-Exemplar Intervention: A New Paradigm for Conflict Resolution and Intergroup Reconciliation

2021 ◽  
pp. 096372142110130
Author(s):  
Sabina Čehajić-Clancy ◽  
Michal Bilewicz
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Intergroup Behavior

Conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation are difficult to achieve because of many social and psychological obstacles, such as people’s belief that members of a social group that is an adversary of their own group are mostly bad and essentially all the same. In this article, we introduce a novel intervention aimed at challenging these beliefs by exposing people to stories about individuals who have risked some important aspects of their lives to save the lives of other social groups’ members ( moral exemplars). The effects of this moral-exemplar intervention have been tested with field experiments in several postconflict contexts using members of real antagonistic groups. We discuss the results of these studies and three specific and important aspects of the moral-exemplar intervention: (a) its comparative advantage over existing social-psychological interventions aimed at conflict resolution and intergroup reconciliation, (b) its content and conditions, and (c) implications for future theorizing and research targeting prosocial changes in attitudes and intergroup behavior.

scholarly journals Moral exemplars for the virtuous machine: the clinician’s role in ethical artificial intelligence for healthcare

AI and Ethics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumeet Hindocha ◽  
Cosmin Badea
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
High Level

AbstractArtificial Intelligence (AI) continues to pervade several aspects of healthcare with pace and scale. The need for an ethical framework in AI to address this has long been recognized, but to date most efforts have delivered only high-level principles and value statements. Herein, we explain the need for an ethical framework in healthcare AI, the different moral theories that may serve as its basis, the rationale for why we believe this should be built around virtue ethics, and explore this in the context of five key ethical concerns for the introduction of AI in healthcare. Some existing work has suggested that AI may replace clinicians. We argue to the contrary, that the clinician will not be replaced, nor their role attenuated. Rather, they will be integral to the responsible design, deployment, and regulation of AI in healthcare, acting as the moral exemplar for the virtuous machine. We collate relevant points from the literature and formulate our own to present a coherent argument for the central role of clinicians in ethical AI and propose ideas to help advance efforts to employ ML-based solutions within healthcare. Finally, we highlight the responsibility of not only clinicians, but also data scientists, tech companies, ethicists, and regulators to act virtuously in realising the vision of ethical and accountable AI in healthcare.

scholarly journals Which moral exemplars inspire prosociality?

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyemin Han ◽  
Clifford Ian Workman ◽  
Joshua May ◽  
Payton Scholtens ◽  
Kelsie J Dawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Past Study ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
Prosocial Motivation ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Good Deeds

Some stories of moral exemplars motivate us to emulate their admirable attitudes and behaviors, but why do some exemplars motivate us more than others? We systematically studied how motivation to emulate is influenced by the similarity between a reader and an exemplar in social or cultural background (Relatability) and how personally costly or demanding the exemplar’s actions are (Attainability). Study 1 found that university students reported more inspiration and related feelings after reading true stories about the good deeds of a recent fellow alum, compared to a famous moral exemplar from decades past. Study 2A developed a battery of short moral exemplar stories that more systematically varied Relatability and Attainability, along with a set of non-moral exemplar stories for comparison. Studies 2B and 2C examined the path from the story type to relatively low stakes altruism (donating to charity and intentions to volunteer) through perceived attainability and relatability, as well as elevation and pleasantness. Together, our studies suggest that it is primarily the relatability of the moral exemplars, not the attainability of their actions, that inspires more prosocial motivation, at least regarding acts that help others at a relatively low cost to oneself.

Dopaminergics Appear to Impair Impulse Control

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (17) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
PATRICE WENDLING
Keyword(s):  
Impulse Control

Ein theoretischer Beitrag zu Self-talk in der Sportpsychologie

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Julian Fritsch ◽  
Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis ◽  
Darko Jekauc ◽  
Alexander T. Latinjak
Keyword(s):  
Self Talk

Zusammenfassung. In diesem theoretischen Artikel zum Thema Self-talk wird zunächst ein kurzer historischer Abriss gegeben, in dem auf verschiedene für das Thema relevante psychologische Theorien eingegangen wird. Darauf aufbauend wird die Unterscheidung von strategischem und organischem Self-talk, die sich in zwei verschiedenen Forschungsbereichen in der sportpsychologischen Literatur widerspiegelt, dargestellt. Im Zusammenhang mit organischem Self-talk als der Forschungsbereich, der die Messung von Self-talk während der sportlichen Aktivität beinhaltet, werden auf Zwei-Prozess-Ansätze basierende Self-talk Klassifikationen vorgestellt. Dabei wird anhand des Zusammenhanges von Self-talk und Emotionen gezeigt, dass sich die Forschung vor allem auf spontanen und zielgerichteten Self-talk als zwei Unterformen des organischen Self-talks konzentriert hat. Hinsichtlich des Forschungsfelds des strategischen Self-talks, welches Self-talk im Rahmen von geplanten Selbstinstruktionen zur Verbesserung der sportlichen Leistung untersucht, wird auf mögliche Wirkmechanismen eingegangen. Zuletzt wird die Relevanz von Self-talk in der angewandten Sportpsychologie aufgezeigt und dabei reflexive Self-talk Interventionen als eine innovative Methode beschrieben.

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