Shared musical activity and perceptions of relationship commitment

Sharing music with another person involves the potential for profound emotional connection, rhythmic synchronization and coordination, and the expression of shared social and political values (among other things). We explore whether experiences of shared musical activity are associated with perceptions of communication and positive outcomes in friendships and romantic relationships, using reports from one member of the dyad. Reports of musical activities in the relationship were associated with higher levels of commitment to the relationship, with those effects mediated by perceptions of interpersonal coordination and positive communication. Surprisingly, structured musical activities (e.g., actively playing music together) were associated with lower levels of commitment, both directly and via interpersonal coordination, positive communication, and shared social values. All findings persist when controlling for other forms of shared relationship activities, thus demonstrating effects that are unique to shared musical engagement. The findings are discussed in a framework of music’s potential relational power—the Shared Musical Activities in Relationships (SMAR) model.

The Dark Side of Morality – Neural Mechanisms Underpinning Moral Convictions and Support for Violence

People are motivated by shared social values that, when held with moral conviction, can serve as compelling mandates capable of facilitating support for ideological violence. The current study examined this dark side of morality by identifying specific cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with beliefs about the appropriateness of sociopolitical violence, and determining the extent to which the engagement of these mechanisms was predicted by moral convictions. Participants reported their moral convictions about a variety of sociopolitical issues prior to undergoing functional MRI scanning. During scanning, they were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of violent protests that were ostensibly congruent or incongruent with their views about sociopolitical issues. Complementary univariate and multivariate analytical strategies comparing neural responses to congruent and incongruent violence identified neural mechanisms implicated in processing salience and in the encoding of subjective value. As predicted, neuro-hemodynamic response was modulated parametrically by individuals’ beliefs about the appropriateness of congruent relative to incongruent sociopolitical violence in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and by moral conviction in ventral striatum. Overall moral conviction was predicted by neural response to congruent relative to incongruent violence in amygdala. Together, these findings indicate that moral conviction about sociopolitical issues serves to increase their subjective value, overriding natural aversion to interpersonal harm.

The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan and Its Revision of Kurdish History

This article analysis Ali Ezzatyar’s The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan, which aims to prove how the Kurds’ supposed indisposition towards political Islam qualifies them to be the natural allies of the West and the Western powers. Supported by the two theses of shared social values and shared rivalries between the Kurds and the West, and centred around its main protagonist Ahmad Muftizadeh’s supposedly alternative form of political Islam, the book is based on two premises: a declining relationship throughout the twentieth century between Kurdish identity and Islamism, and the inconsequential nature of the relationship between Iranian Islamism and Kurdish Islamism. In contrast, and in order to save history from merely serving policy-making, this article argues that the relationships involved were determined in the wider context of the process of the modernization of Iran, in which political Islam emerged and, albeit to a limited extent, influenced the development of a religious Kurdayeti or Kurdishness represented by Muftizadeh.

Spa Society in Russian Literature, 1829–1912

The article explores the dichotomy between nineteenth-century Russian writers’ personal experiences at spas and their literary descriptions of them. In private correspondence, authors praised the effect of spa treatments on their health, and they returned year after year to these locations of leisure, calling them ‘beautiful’ or ‘charming’. Yet in their fiction and essays they were sarcastic, if not downright negative about their stays at spas. The keys to understanding such a contradiction appear to be the commercialization of fashionable spas over the course of the nineteenth century; the evolution of a system of shared social values in Russia; and the way Russian writers increasingly perceived literature as a duty towards society.

¿Está en cuestión el modelo social europeo?

Las competencias sociales pertenecen al ámbito delos Estados miembros, sin embargo se puede hablar de un modelosocial europeo que supone una unidad de valores sociales compartidos.El modelo social europeo promueve la ciudadanía social y combinael rendimiento económico, la justicia social y la solidaridad. Lacrisis económica ha erosionado los Estados del Bienestar de los paísesrescatados; se han vulnerado los derechos fundamentales de losciudadanos; y se ha puesto en evidencia a Europa ante su falta derespuesta. Este artículo trata de analizar si es necesario renovar elmodelo social europeo, si las normas de soft law y el método abiertode coordinación (MAC) son acertados y la conveniencia de un nuevoreparto de competencias entre la Unión y los Estados miembros.Asimismo, se hace referencia al nuevo Pilar Europeo de DerechosSociales, anunciado por Juncker en 2015 que se presenta como unaoportunidad para abordar la nueva dimensión social europea. Esfundamental que se garanticen los derechos fundamentales y socialespor los órganos jurisdiccionales en tiempos de crisis económica,de modo que se equilibre lo económico y lo social. Finalmente, sedebe promover la adhesión de la Unión Europea a la Carta SocialEuropea revisada en el marco del nuevo Pilar Europeo de DerechosSociales.The social competences fall within the scope of theMember States, nevertheless we may consider that a European socialmodel implies shared social values. The European social modelpromotes social citizenship and combines economic performance,social justice and solidarity. The economic crisis eroded the welfarestate of rescued countries, infringing citizens fundamental rightsand showing Europe’s lack of response. The present work aims toanalyze the need to reform the European social model, if the softlaw rules and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) are effectiveand if a new distribution of competences between the EuropeanUnion and Member States is necessary. Furthermore, particularreference is made to the new European Pillar of Social Rights, announcedby Jean-Claude Juncker in 2015, which seems to be an opportunityto address the new European social dimension. In times ofeconomic crisis, it is essential that the jurisdictional organs guaranteethe fundamental and social rights so that a balance between theeconomic and the social areas is found. Finally, the accession of theEuropean Union to the revised European Social Charter should bepromoted within the framework of the new European Pillar of SocialRights.

Civility at the Breaking Point

This paper explores the recent social phenomenon of the confrontation by critics of government officials while they are out in public, yet engaged in “private” activities, e.g. eating dinner at a restaurant, shopping in a bookstore, or getting into their cars. This paper argues that such confrontations are a symptom of the lack of trust brought on by the absence of shared social values that results in toxic forms of public discourse, the blurring of the classical liberal distinction between the public and the private realms, and the inability to hold one another responsible for the violation of self-avowed moral norms. Implicit in this argument is the conclusion that such confrontations are ineffective at best. Some have suggested more physical intermingling among people who hold conflicting political views in order to establish such trust (Haidt, Wilk). In the absence of such opportunities for intermingling, sharing our value-laden personal stories with each other, in the spirit and style of Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming, might help to create tolerance and trust among those with differing political perspectives.

Political Humour in the Social Network Sites

“Social network sites” first began to be used as new tools of political communication during the 2008 Presidential Election in the United States, and their importance became even more apparent during the Arab Spring. In the course of this, the social network sites became a new and widely discussed channel of communication. In addition to its ability to bring together people from different parts of the world by removing any time and space barriers, creates a virtual network that allows individuals with shared social values to take action in an organized manner. Furthermore, this novel, versatile and multi-faceted tool of political communication has also provided a new mean for observing various aspects of social reactions to political events. Instead of voters expressing their political views through their votes from one election to the other, we nowadays have voters who actively take part in political processes by instantly demonstrating their reactions and by directly communicating their criticisms online.

Engaging Sensibilities and the Common Good

This chapter discusses two interrelated concerns. It begins by explaining why sentencing should engage more directly and effectively with the emotions and sensibilities of its relevant audiences before considering the broader question of how it might better serve the ‘public interest’ by contributing more effectively to the ‘common good’. The discussion then explains why an ideological commitment to shared social values is considered pivotal in encouraging adherence to penal norms and influencing conduct. It suggests that embedding and sharing values within and between communities is more likely where the state takes a positive role in encouraging the development of reciprocal notions of awareness, mutual respect, and responsibility, both individual and collective. Such policies should have moral credibility and practical relevance. Important parallels between religious and secular notions of the common good are drawn, providing insights that bear directly on sentencing policy’s role in promoting social justice.