Measuring Social Value Orientation

Narrow self-interest is often used as a simplifying assumption when studying people making decisions in social contexts. Nonetheless, people exhibit a wide range of different motivations when choosing unilaterally among interdependent outcomes. Measuring the magnitude of the concern people have for others, sometimes called Social Value Orientation (SVO), has been an interest of many social scientists for decades and several different measurement methods have been developed so far. Here we introduce a new measure of SVO that has several advantages over existent methods. A detailed description of the new measurement method is presented, along with norming data that provide evidence of its solid psychometric properties. We conclude with a brief discussion of the research streams that would benefit from a more sensitive and higher resolution measure of SVO, and extend an invitation to others to use this new measure which is freely availabl

Sexual Orientation and Choice

Is there a choice in sexual orientation? [Wilkerson, William S. : “Is It a Choice? Sexual Orientation as Interpretation”. In: Journal of Social Philosophy 40. No. 1, p. 97–116] argues that sexual desires require interpretation in order to be fully constituted, and therefore sexual orientation is at least partially constituted by choice. [Díaz-León, Esa : “Sexual Orientation as Interpretation? Sexual Desires, Concepts, and Choice”; In: Journal of Social Ontology] critically assesses Wilkerson’s argument, concluding that we still lack a good argument for the claim that choice plays a role in sexual orientation. Here I examine Díaz-León’s response to Wilkerson. I introduce what I call the conceptual act theory of sexual orientation, and argue that even if interpretation were not necessary to constitute sexual desires, it is a necessary element to constitute what we call sexual orientation. However, I conclude that even if we agree that interpretation is involved in sexual orientation, it does not follow that there is a choice involved

Humane Orientation as a New Cultural Dimension of the GLOBE Project: A Validation Study of the GLOBE Scale and Out-Group Humane Orientation in 25 Countries

We validate, extend, and empirically and theoretically criticize the cultural dimension of humane orientation of the project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program). Theoretically, humane orientation is not just a one-dimensionally positive concept about being caring, altruistic, and kind to others as discussed by Kabasakal and Bodur (2004), but there is also a certain ambivalence to this concept. We suggest differentiating humane orientation toward in-group members from humane orientation toward out-group members. A multicountry construct validation study used student samples from 25 countries that were either high or low in humane orientation (N = 876) and studied their relation to the traditional GLOBE scale and other cultural-level measures (agreeableness, religiosity, authoritarianism, and welfare state score). Findings revealed a strong correlation between humane orientation and agreeableness, welfare state score, and religiosity. Out-group humane orientation proved to be the more relevant subfacet of the original humane orientation construct, suggesting that future research on humane orientation should make use of this measure instead of the vague original scale. The ambivalent character of out-group humane orientation is displayed in its positive correlation to high authoritarianism. Patriotism was used as a control variable for noncritical acceptance of one’s society but did not change the correlations. Our findings are discussed as an example of how rigid expectations and a lack of tolerance for diversity may help explain the ambivalent nature of humane orientatio

Functional Organization of Visual Cortex in the Owl Monkey

In this study, we compared the organization of orientation preference in visual areas V1, V2, and V3. Within these visual areas, we also quantified the relationship between orientation preference and cytochrome oxidase (CO) staining patterns. V1 maps of orientation preference contained both pinwheels and linear zones. The location of CO blobs did not relate in a systematic way to maps of orientation; although, as in other primates, there were approximately twice as many pinwheels as CO blobs. V2 contained bands of high and low orientation selectivity. The bands of high orientation selectivity were organized into pinwheels and linear zones, but iso-orientation domains were twice as large as those in V1. Quantitative comparisons between bands containing high or low orientation selectivity and CO dark and light bands suggested that at least four functional compartments exist in V2, CO dense bands with either high or low orientation selectivity, and CO light bands with either high or low selectivity. We also demonstrated that two functional compartments exist in V3, with zones of high orientation selectivity corresponding to CO dense areas and zones of low orientation selectivity corresponding to CO pale areas. Together with previous findings, these results suggest that the modular organization of V1 is similar across primates and indeed across most mammals. V2 organization in owl monkeys also appears similar to that of other simians but different from that of prosimians and other mammals. Finally, V3 of owl monkeys shows a compartmental organization for orientation selectivity that remains to be demonstrated in other primates

Mechanisms of two-color laser-induced field-free molecular orientation

Two mechanisms of two-color (\omega + 2\omega) laser-induced field-free molecular orientation, based on the hyperpolarizability and ionization depletion, are explored and compared. The CO molecule is used as a computational example. While the hyperpolarizability mechanism generates small amounts of orientation at intensities below the ionization threshold, ionization depletion quickly becomes the dominant mechanism as soon as ionizing intensities are reached. Only the ionization mechanism leads to substantial orientation (e.g. on the order of || > 0.1). For intensities typical of laser-induced molecular alignment and orientation experiments, the two mechanism lead to robust, characteristic timings of the field-free orientation wave-packet revivals relative to the the alignment revivals and the revival time. The revival timings can be used to detect the active orientation mechanism experimentally

View Direction, Surface Orientation and Texture Orientation for Perception of Surface Shape

Textures are commonly used to enhance the representation of shape in non-photorealistic rendering applications such as medical drawings. Textures that have elongated linear elements appear to be superior to random textures in that they can, by the way they conform to the surface, reveal the surface shape. We observe that shape following hache marks commonly used in cartography and copper-plate illustration are locally similar to the effect of the lines that can be generated by the intersection of a set of parallel planes with a surface. We use this as a basis for investigating the relationships between view direction, texture orientation and surface orientation in affording surface shape perception. We report two experiments using parallel plane textures. The results show that textures constructed from planes more nearly orthogonal to the line of sight tend to be better at revealing surface shape. Also, viewing surfaces from an oblique view is much better for revealing surface shape than viewing them from directly above

The implementation of a market orientation. Designing frameworks for managerial action

Many managers aspire to improve the degree of market orientation of their organization. In concordance with popular belief, there is scientific evidence to support the proposition that higher degrees of market orientation are associated with higher returns on investment. In this book, the author deals with the questions of what a market orientation exactly is, and how a market orientation could be implemented in an organization.Based on a longitudinal involvement in two organizations that were making attempts to implement a market orientation, the author designs a set of frameworks that can guide managerial action for the implementation of such an orientation. Taken together, these frameworks define a market orientation as a process management capability, they explain how market oriented processes relate to performance, and they specify the steps managers can take to implement market oriented processes in their organization

Goal Orientation and Ability: Interactive Effects on Self-Efficacy, Performance, and Knowledge

This study examined the direct relationship of goal orientation – and the interaction of goal orientation and cognitive ability -- with self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge in a learning context. The current paper argues that whether a particular type of goal orientation is adaptive or not adaptive depends on individuals\u27 cognitive ability. Results indicated that the direct associations of learning and performance orientations were consistent with previous research. Learning orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, performance, and knowledge, while performance orientation was negatively related to only one outcome, performance. The interactions between goal orientation and ability also supported several hypotheses. As expected, learning orientation was generally adaptive for high ability individuals, but had no effect for low ability individuals. In contrast, the effects of performance orientation were contingent on both individuals\u27 level of cognitive ability and the outcome examined. The implications of these results for future research on goal orientation are discussed