Distanced self-talk increases rational self-interest

Does stepping back to evaluate a situation from a distanced perspective lead us to be selfish or fair? This question has been of philosophical interest for centuries, and, more recently, the focus of extensive empirical inquiry. Yet, extant research reveals a puzzle: some studies suggest that adopting a distanced perspective will produce more rationally self-interested behavior, whereas others suggest that it will produce more impartial behavior. Here we adjudicate between these perspectives by testing the effects of adopting a third-person perspective on decision making in a task that pits rational self-interest against impartiality: the dictator game. Aggregating across three experiments (N = 774), participants who used third-person (i.e., distanced) vs. first-person (i.e., immersed) self-talk during the dictator game kept more money for themselves. We discuss these results in light of prior research showing that psychological distance can promote cooperation and fairmindedness and how the effect of psychological distance on moral decision-making may be sensitive to social context.

The Company Prosodic Deficits Keep Following Right Hemisphere Stroke: A Systematic Review

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to identify the presence and nature of relationships between specific forms of aprosodia (i.e., expressive and receptive emotional and linguistic prosodic deficits) and other cognitive-communication deficits and disorders in individuals with right hemisphere damage (RHD) due to stroke. Methods: One hundred and ninety articles from 1970 to February 2020 investigating receptive and expressive prosody in patients with relatively focal right hemisphere brain damage were identified via database searches. Results: Fourteen articles were identified that met inclusion criteria, passed quality reviews, and included sufficient information about prosody and potential co-occurring deficits. Twelve articles investigated receptive emotional aprosodia, and two articles investigated receptive linguistic aprosodia. Across the included studies, receptive emotional prosody was not systematically associated with hemispatial neglect, but did co-occur with deficits in emotional facial recognition, interpersonal interactions, or emotional semantics. Receptive linguistic processing was reported to co-occur with amusia and hemispatial neglect. No studies were found that investigated the co-occurrence of expressive emotional or linguistic prosodic deficits with other cognitive-communication impairments. Conclusions: This systematic review revealed significant gaps in the research literature regarding the co-occurrence of common right hemisphere disorders with prosodic deficits. More rigorous empirical inquiry is required to identify specific patient profiles based on clusters of deficits associated with right hemisphere stroke. Future research may determine whether the co-occurrences identified are due to shared cognitive-linguistic processes, and may inform the development of evidence-based assessment and treatment recommendations for individuals with cognitive-communication deficits subsequent to RHD.

Contemporary Managerial Competences. Empirical Studies in the Field of Education

The aim of the article is to identify and introduce divisions/typologies of contemporary managerial competences. The main research problem is to understand the processes taking place in business universities and their impact on shaping the next generations of managers. The article is based on the results of qualitative research inspired by the ethnography of the organization. 5-year research in the area of managerial education was conducted. The article presents competences important for various groups of the managerial education process. Specific breakdowns of these competences have been proposed. Reflections on the shaping of these competences in future managers as well as methods and ways of education are presented. The basis of empirical inquiry is qualitative material that cannot be generalized to the entire population. It is also inadvisable to draw sharp distinctions between the proposed concepts and typologies, as they are inherently fluid and ambiguous. The research was conducted over a period of 5 years, which is a unique advantage in the era of digitization and the ubiquitous domination of capitalist values. The research group is extremely broad and includes all participants / actors in the management education process.

DEVELOPING “RECOGNITION OF NEED FOR DATA” IN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

This paper describes the evolution of “recognition of need for data” and “strategical thinking”, two types of thinking identified by Wild and Pfannkuch in their Framework for Statistical Thinking in Empirical Enquiry, as well as its relevance for math teacher professional development. The research was carried out with ten in-service secondary-school math teachers during an educational experience (at Bogotá, Colombia), who, in the beginning, showed high performance in procedural knowledge of data analysis. The experience was founded on project based learning that participants proposed and conducted via a survey concerning implications of a Bill, relevant for their job context. These teachers made mistakes and showed difficulties during the two first stages of the investigative cycle, problem formulation, and research planning, due possibly to their inexperience in designing an empirical inquiry. Teacher educator’s guidance, to turn mistakes into learning opportunities and teachers’ active participation, promoted the development of statistical thinking, especially linked to the types aforementioned. Abstract: Spanish Este artículo describe el desarrollo de “reconocimiento de la necesidad de los datos” y “pensamiento estratégico”, dos de modos de razonamiento identificados por Wild y Pfannkuch (1999) en su marco para pensamiento estadístico en investigación empírica, así como su importancia en la formación de profesores de matemáticas. La investigación se lleva a cabo con diez profesores de matemáticas en ejercicio, durante una experiencia de formación (Bogotá, Colombia), quienes al inicio del curso mostraron un buen nivel de conocimiento procedimental en análisis de datos. En el marco del Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos, los profesores propusieron y desarrollaron una encuesta relacionada con las implicaciones de la implementación de un proyecto de ley, relevante para ellos. Los profesores cometieron errores y mostraron dificultades durante las dos primeras partes del ciclo investigativo, formulación del problema y planeación de la investigación, debido a su falta de experiencia en la formulación de un estudio empírico. La orientación del formador, para convertir las debilidades en oportunidades de aprendizaje, y la participación activa de los profesores favorecieron el desarrollo de razonamiento estadístico, especialmente asociado a los dos tipos de razonamientos ya mencionados.

What’s suffering got to do with it? A qualitative study of suffering in the context of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)

Background Intolerable suffering is a common eligibility requirement for persons requesting assisted death, and although suffering has received philosophic attention for millennia, only recently has it been the focus of empirical inquiry. Robust theoretical knowledge about suffering is critically important as modern healthcare provides persons with different options at end-of-life to relieve suffering. The purpose of this paper is to present findings specific to the understanding and application of suffering in the context of MAID from nurses’ perspectives. Methods A longitudinal qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured telephone interviews. Inductive analysis was used to construct a thematic account. The study received ethical approval and all participants provided written consent. Results Fifty nurses and nurse practitioners from across Canada were interviewed. Participants described the suffering of dying and provided insights into the difficulties of treating existential suffering and the iatrogenic suffering patients experienced from long contact with the healthcare system. They shared perceptions of the suffering that leads to a request for MAID that included the unknown of dying, a desire for predictability, and the loss of dignity. Eliciting the suffering story was an essential part of nursing practice. Knowledge of the story allowed participants to find the balance between believing that suffering is whatever the persons says it is, while making sure that the MAID procedure was for the right person, for the right reason, at the right time. Participants perceived that the MAID process itself caused suffering that resulted from the complexity of decision-making, the chances of being deemed ineligible, and the heighted work of the tasks of dying. Conclusions Healthcare providers involved in MAID must be critically reflective about the suffering histories they bring to the clinical encounter, particularly iatrogenic suffering. Further, eliciting the suffering stories of persons requesting MAID requires a high degree of skill; those involved in the assessment process must have the time and competency to do this important role well. The nature of suffering that patients and family encounter as they enter the contemplation, assessment, and provision of MAID requires further research to understand it better and develop best practices.

The object of inquiry and organization studies

This essay argues for reinforcing the empirical stance within organization studies by more systematically presuming non-organization. The empirical stance within organization studies thereby comes to revolve around organization as a claim made in empirical inquiries. The presumption of non-organization takes the legal principle of presumption of innocence as its paradigm. It works by placing the burden of proof on the empirical inquiries to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that what is inquired into is an instance of organization (where organization may be understood in terms of organizing, organization of something, formal organization etc.). Organization scholars may assume organization — and often for good reasons— when making a restaurant, a market, or something else object of inquiry. However, adopting the presumption of non-organization requires organization studies to make explicit what is understood by organization as well as what findings are mobilized to establish the claim that organization, in the sense subscribed to, is found. Hereby the presumption of non-organization reinforces the empirical stance as ‘a recurrent rebellion against the metaphysicians’ (van Fraassen). Metaphysics is not cancelled out by empirical inquiry, but it may be part and parcel of assumptions that inform empirical inquiry, and the presumption of non-organization calls for a recurrent test of such assumptions.

Developments in Qualitative Mindfulness Practice Research: a Pilot Scoping Review

Objectives While scholars are increasingly emphasizing the potential of qualitative mindfulness practice research (QMPR) for advancing the understanding of mindfulness practice, there has been no significant empirical inquiry looking at actual trends and practices of QMPR. Consequently, it has been impossible to direct research practices toward under-researched areas and make methodical suggestions on how to approach them. The aim of the present study was to analyze current trends and practices in QMPR in order to address these areas of need. Methods Based on a scoping review, 229 qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2019 were analyzed in regard to their disciplinary backgrounds, research questions and intentions, type of mindfulness practice, target population, as well as practices of data collection and analysis. Results A strong focus of QMPR lies in the inquiry of mindfulness-based interventions, particularly mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and adaptations. Over 10% of the publications do not fully specify the mindfulness practice. The efficacy and subjective experience of mindfulness practices constitute the dominant research interests of QMPR. Data collection is highly concentrated on practice participants and first-person data. Interpretative paradigms are the predominant analytical approach within QMPR. QMPR studies have a strong proclivity toward emphasizing the positive effects of mindfulness practice. Nine percent of all articles considered for our study did not fully disclose their analytical procedure. Adversarial research groups and pluralistic qualitative research remain scarce. Conclusions Future QMPR should (i) include second- and third-person data, (ii) include dropouts and former mindfulness practitioners, (iii) fully disclose details on the mindfulness practice and data analysis, (iv) intensify the application of critical and deconstructivist paradigms, as well as pluralistic qualitative research, and (v) build adversarial research teams.

Modal inferences in science: a tale of two epistemologies

Recent epistemology of modality has seen a growing trend towards metaphysics-first approaches. Contrastingly, this paper offers a more philosophically modest account of justifying modal claims, focusing on the practices of scientific modal inferences. Two ways of making such inferences are identified and analyzed: actualist-manipulationist modality (AM) and relative modality (RM). In AM, what is observed to be or not to be the case in actuality or under manipulations, allows us to make modal inferences. AM-based inferences are fallible, but the same holds for practically all empirical inquiry. In RM, modal inferences are evaluated relative to what is kept fixed in a system, like a theory or a model. RM-based inferences are more certain but framework-dependent. While elements from both AM and RM can be found in some existing accounts of modality, it is worth highlighting them in their own right and isolating their features for closer scrutiny. This helps to establish their relevant epistemologies that are free from some strong philosophical assumptions often attached to them in the literature. We close by showing how combining these two routes amounts to a view that accounts for a rich variety of modal inferences in science.