Which moral exemplars inspire prosociality?

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.

The Pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussion

This study is based on the investigation of the pragmatics of persuasive in Sesotho bride price discussions. The study was informed by Austin’s (1962), and Searle’s (1969) speech act theory, and politeness theory. Different linguistic expressions that denote persuasion and various classes of persuasive are used to analyse some insinuations of persuasive expressions function. This is a qualitative study which utilised different methods to collect data. Ten (10) bride price discussion meetings, as well as ten (10), structured interviews from the study areas of Leribe (ButhaButhe and Hlotse) and Berea (Teyateyaneng) districts in Lesotho were conducted. The study revealed that the speakers used various linguistic expressions to reach an agreement. The expressions used were comprehensible to the people sharing the same cultural background context.

THE INTERCULTURAL ASPECT OF DISTANCE EDUCATION IN GREECE: A CASE STUDY OF EXPLORING EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP’S REPRESENTATIONS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Intercultural education in Greece has recently been brought to the foreground, due to the worldwide migrant/refugee crisis. However, the COVID-19 pandemic outburst in 2020 forced distance education and, hence, technology utilization upon all stakeholders. In this regard, by adopting a qualitative approach and by exploring educational leaders’ representations, this paper aims to investigate whether intercultural and distance education principles can be combined in order for students with a different cultural background to continue attending their lessons, as most native students do. The findings of this study demonstrate that intercultural principles are hard or in some cases impossible to be applied in distance learning and consequently, refugee/migrant students end up falling behind or being entirely excluded from the educational process.

Differences in attitudes toward terrorists: Type of terrorist act, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background

To explore the interrelationship between terrorist acts, terrorist ethnicity, and observer gender and cultural background in Israel, we recruited 211 participants aged 19–75 years. The majority were male (63%). As for the ethnic and religious cultural background, 40% were Jewish, 40% Druze, and 20% Muslim. The participants answered questions about their demographic characteristics, read three scenarios of terrorist acts, addressed attitudes toward terrorists, and suggested the length of imprisonment. We manipulated the type of act (shooting and killing/burning religious institutions/throwing stones at cars) and terrorist ethnicity (Arab/ Jewish). The results indicate significant main effects of the manipulated variables regarding attitudes toward terrorists. Also, Muslim Arab participants expressed more negative attitudes in cases of Jewish terrorists than Arab terrorists, whereas Jewish participants expressed more negative attitudes toward Arab terrorists than Jewish terrorists. Druze participants did not differentiate between Arab and Jewish terrorists. Furthermore, in cases of Arab perpetrators, Jewish participants suggested imprisonment terms 2.4 times longer than in cases of Jewish perpetrators. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of social identity theory and dual social identification. Regarding practical implications, the findings imply the need for education and training on ethnic bias among policymakers and practitioners.

Authors’ Figurative Expressions From Two Novels: A Comparative Analysis Between RTJNA Rosso and RTJNA Blu

Stylistic analysis of the novels Reisei To Jounetsu No Aida Rosso by Ekuni Kaori and Reisei To Jounetsu No Aida Bluu by Hitonari Tsuji is an analysis of metaphorical language style as a figurative language used to express the author's thoughts, personality, and perspectives. The use of distinctive language in a work shows the characteristics of individualism and the style of each author in conveying ideas through the medium of language. This study uses the metaphorical perspective of Michael C. Halley and Stephen Ullman. The results of the analysis show that the use of an author's language style provides information about the author's cultural background and the context in which they communicate. The metaphorical language style is used by the authors to express feelings and express different thoughts and each author has a uniqueness or specialty style which can be felt in a significant way by the readers of their works.

Jan Baudouin de Courtenay w carskim więzieniu

The subject of the submitted article was a high-profile court case against the Polish linguist and columnist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay for publishing in 1913 the brochure Natsional’nyi I territorial’nyi priznak v avtonomii. Only few works have been published that fully and thoroughly expose this event from the life of a Polish-Russian scholar. The source material that I collected and developed allowed me to present the lawsuit, the trial and imprisoment of Jan Baudouin de Courtenay from the perspective of his family life (which is a novelty in previous studies). The analyzed research material consisted primarily of private documents of the Baudouin de Courtenay family, most importantly so called „Diary for the family” by Romualda Baudouin de Courtenay (the manuscript is in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw) and letters from Jan Baudouin de Courtenay to other Polish linguists. The source material also allowed me to sketch the socio-cultural background of the era, showing the activity of the St. Petersburg Polonia on the eve of the outbreak of the First War and in its first year.