A Measure of Emotional Empathy for Adolescents and Adults

A new, multi-dimensional scale of emotional empathy is described. The scale consists of 30 items and was administered to 793 adolescents and adults. A principal components analysis yielded six meaningful factors. Alpha reliabilities for all scale scores were moderate to high, and the scales demonstrate significant relationships to a number of behavioral criteria. The new empathy scale measures emotional aspects of empathy and can be used by researchers interested in a general measure of emotional empathy as well as providing detailed sub-scales

Understanding personality through preferences in popular mass media: An archetypal approach

In the Digital Age, it may be possible to assess personality in ways beyond those traditionally employed by psychologists. This work examines individual preferences in popular or mass culture media and what they say about people\u27s psychological processes. For example, knowing that someone likes romantic comedy movies and jazz music arguably paints a more useful picture of personality than saying that one is high in both extraversion and openness. In such cases, a media-based self-description provides a clear and tangible metric of individual interests. Here, we hypothesize that one reason such preferences may reflect personality is because media and the arts make frequent use of prototypical or archetypal themes and characters in the stories they relate to their audiences, and that people resonate---i.e., respond affectively---to these thematic elements in specific ways that reflect their personalities. Two studies were performed to test the general hypothesis that people\u27s tastes in popular and mass culture media largely inform their overall personalities and behaviors. In Study 1, two similar scales measuring resonance to archetypal media were compared and a five-factor model of archetypes in mass media was validated. In Study, 2, resonant media preferences were evaluated and compared with participants\u27 self-reported current concerns (including hobbies, group memberships, personal strivings, and possible selves) in order to identify possible archetypal life themes. Results supported the idea of archetypal life themes---that people\u27s mass media preferences are related to their everyday behaviors, goals, social interests, and self-concept. In the future, pop culture-based indicators of personality such as media preferences may be used more often as assessment tools; more pragmatically, they may serve to guide individuals\u27 overall personal development

Higher-Order Discrimination

This discussion treats a set of familiar social derelictions as consequences of the perversion of a universalistic moral theory in the service of an ill-considered or insufficiently examined personal agenda.The set includes racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and class elitism, among other similar pathologies, under the general heading of discrimination. The perversion of moral theory from which these derelictions arise, I argue, involves restricting its scope of application to some preferred subgroup of the moral community of human beings. The following analysis of higher-order discrimination suggests that we often select the individuals who constitute such subgroups for reasons that we ourselves would reject on moral grounds were we to examine them carefully, but that we choose instead to put our rational resources in the service of avoiding any such examination at all costs. The implication is that arguments that truncate the scope of moral theory in fact justify bestowing the gift of moral treatment on a select few who deserve it no more than the many from whom we withhold it. Therefore, it would be precipitous to conclude that universalistic moral theory can be legitimately restricted in its practical scope of application in any way at all

American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore

Folklore has been a part of American culture for as long as humans have inhabited North America, and increasingly formed an intrinsic part of American culture as diverse peoples from Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania arrived. In modern times, folklore and tall tales experienced a rejuvenation with the emergence of urban legends and the growing popularity of science fiction and conspiracy theories, with mass media such as comic books, television, and films contributing to the retelling of old myths. This multi-volume encyclopedia will teach readers the central myths and legends that have formed American culture since its earliest years of settlement. Its entries provide a fascinating glimpse into the collective American imagination over the past 400 years through the stories that have shaped it. [From the Publisher]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1095/thumbnail.jp

Sharing is caring vs. stealing is wrong: a moral argument for limiting copyright protection

Copyright is at the centre of both popular and academic debate. That emotions are running high is hardly surprising – copyright influences who contributes what to culture, how culture is used, and even the kind of persons we are and come to be. Consequentialist, Lockean, and personality interest accounts are generally advanced in the literature to morally justify copyright law. I argue that these approaches fail to ground extensive authorial rights in intellectual creations and that only a small subset of the rights accorded by copyright law is justified. The pared-down version of copyright that I defend consists of the right to attribution, the right to have one’s non-endorsement of modifications or uses of one’s work explicitly noted, and the right to a share of the profit resulting from the commercial uses of one’s work. I also cursorily explore whether contribution to another person’s work gives rise to moral interests

Privacy and the Right to One’s Image: A Cultural and Legal History

Published as Chapter 9 in Injury and Injustice: The Cultural Politics of Harm and Redress, Anne Bloom, David M. Engel & Michael McCann, eds.https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/book_sections/1364/thumbnail.jp

Tourism Products Characteristics and Forms

The tourism product has to be packaged and priced keeping in mind the target customer. Without any doubt, tourism is the main sector that can play a significant part in achieving rapid economic growth and drastically reducing unemployment in our country. Currently, it is the largest foreign exchange earner for our country. The development of the tourism industry on a priority basis is the need of the hour.tourism product, attraction, accessibility, accommodation