Field Dependence/Independence and its Relationship to Schema Utilization during Discourse Processing

This study investigated the relationship between field dependence/independence and the ability to utilize prior knowledge during discourse processing. A sample population of thirty-one eighth grade students were given the Group Embedded Figures Test, a measure of field dependence/independence, and one of two narrative passages designed to measure the degree to which an individual utilizes prior knowledge. The scores of these two measures were analyzed to determine if there was a significant difference between the field dependents and the field independents in their performance on the constrained and unconstrained passages, measuring schema utilization. A significant difference was found in the mean score of the two groups on the constrained passage, no difference was found in their performance on the unconstrained passage. This analysis leads to the conclusion that in this testing population of eighth graders, the field independent students were better able to utilize their prior knowledge to comprehend a written passage than the field dependent students

Genetically-Driven Enhancement of Dopaminergic Transmission Affects Moral Acceptability in Females but Not in Males: A Pilot Study

Moral behavior has been a key topic of debate for philosophy and psychology for a long time. In recent years, thanks to the development of novel methodologies in cognitive sciences, the question of how we make moral choices has expanded to the study of neurobiological correlates that subtend the mental processes involved in moral behavior. For instance, in vivo brain imaging studies have shown that distinct patterns of brain neural activity, associated with emotional response and cognitive processes, are involved in moral judgment. Moreover, while it is well-known that responses to the same moral dilemmas differ across individuals, to what extent this variability may be rooted in genetics still remains to be understood. As dopamine is a key modulator of neural processes underlying executive functions, we questioned whether genetic polymorphisms associated with decision-making and dopaminergic neurotransmission modulation would contribute to the observed variability in moral judgment. To this aim, we genotyped five genetic variants of the dopaminergic pathway [rs1800955 in the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene, DRD4 48 bp variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR), solute carrier family 6 member 3 (SLC6A3) 40 bp VNTR, rs4680 in the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene, and rs1800497 in the ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (ANKK1) gene] in 200 subjects, who were requested to answer 56 moral dilemmas. As these variants are all located in genes belonging to the dopaminergic pathway, they were combined in multilocus genetic profiles for the association analysis. While no individual variant showed any significant effects on moral dilemma responses, the multilocus genetic profile analysis revealed a significant gender-specific influence on human moral acceptability. Specifically, those genotype combinations that improve dopaminergic signaling selectively increased moral acceptability in females, by making their responses to moral dilemmas more similar to those provided by males. As females usually give more emotionally-based answers and engage the “emotional brain” more than males, our results, though preliminary and therefore in need of replication in independent samples, suggest that this increase in dopamine availability enhances the cognitive and reduces the emotional components of moral decision-making in females, thus favoring a more rationally-driven decision process

The Means/Side-Effect Distinction in Moral Cognition: A Meta-Analysis

Experimental research suggests that people draw a moral distinction between bad outcomes brought about as a means versus a side effect (or byproduct). Such findings have informed multiple psychological and philosophical debates about moral cognition, including its computational structure, its sensitivity to the famous Doctrine of Double Effect, its reliability, and its status as a universal and innate mental module akin to universal grammar. But some studies have failed to replicate the means/byproduct effect especially in the absence of other factors, such as personal contact. So we aimed to determine how robust the means/byproduct effect is by conducting a meta-analysis of both published and unpublished studies (k = 101; 24,058 participants). We found that while there is an overall small difference between moral judgments of means and byproducts (standardized mean difference = 0.87, 95% CI 0.67 – 1.06; standardized mean change = 0.57, 95% CI 0.44 – 0.69; log odds ratio = 1.59, 95% CI 1.15 – 2.02), the mean effect size is primarily moderated by whether the outcome is brought about by personal contact, which typically involves the use of personal force

Attitudes Towards End-of-Life Decisions and the Subjective Concepts of Consciousness: An Empirical Analysis

Background: People have fought for their civil rights, primarily the right to live in dignity. At present, the development of technology in medicine and healthcare led to an apparent paradox: many people are fighting for the right to die. This study was aimed at testing whether different moral principles are associated with different attitudes towards end-of-life decisions for patients with a severe brain damage. Methodology: We focused on the ethical decisions about withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in patients with severe brain damage. 202 undergraduate students at the University of Padova were given one description drawn from four profiles describing different pathological states: the permanent vegetative state, the minimally conscious state, the locked-in syndrome, and the terminal illness. Participants were asked to evaluate how dead or how alive the patient was, and how appropriate it was to satisfy the patient's desire. Principal Findings: We found that the moral principles in which people believe affect not only people's judgments concerning the appropriateness of the withdrawal of life support, but also the perception of the death status of patients with severe brain injury. In particular, we found that the supporters of the Free Choice (FC) principle perceived the death status of the patients with different pathologies differently: the more people believe in the FC, the more they perceived patients as dead in pathologies where conscious awareness is severely impaired. By contrast, participants who agree with the Sanctity of Life (SL) principle did not show differences across pathologies. Conclusions: These results may shed light on the complex aspects of moral consensus for supporting or rejecting end-of-life decisions

Voices of the diaspora: a study about memories, identities and negotiations of macanese refugees between China and Brazil (1950-1977)

A migração coletiva de membros da comunidade portuguesa de Macau para o Brasil, parte da chamada Segunda Diáspora Macaense, é elaborada nesta pesquisa de acordo com as proposições de Sayad sobre a dupla condição de emigrante-imigrante do sujeito migratório. Assim, as condições que engendraram o movimento de saída da China são analisadas de modo a construir escopo interpretativo para a qualificação de tais membros como refugiados e contextualizar sua recepção e integração na sociedade brasileira entre as décadas de 1950 e 1970. Tal trajetória é estudada a partir de depoimentos que partem de elaborações individuais e coletivas sobre a experiência colonial, a assunção identitária e aspectos relativos ao deslocamento, à condição de imigrante e à integração no Brasil. O referencial teórico de análise de tais depoimentos e do contexto sócio político que emergem encontra-se nos Estudos Culturais, mais precisamente em obras da teoria pós-colonial. Apesar de não tratarem especificamente do caso chinês, as semelhanças na atuação da empresa colonialista e seus efeitos possibilitou aproximações. Isso pois os territórios colonizados, em suas experiências originais, são marcados por relações de poder, violências de toda ordem e sínteses multiculturais, de onde emergem sujeitos cindidos e hifenizados. Tal conformação societária, marcada por ambiguidades e distanciamentos, é pensada, então, em sua interface com o controverso momento político de descolonização já em meados do século XX. Particularmente em se tratando da China, o avanço do movimento revolucionário sob a liderança de Mao Tsé Tung marcou uma ruptura com o imperialismo, abrindo margem para a construção de um discurso nacional e de uma identidade chinesa em que as comunidades híbridas, consideradas estrangeiras, não eram contempladas. A ascensão do nacionalismo defensivo teve função precisa de subversão da ordem colonial e, entre outros fatores, implicou direta e indiretamente na exclusão de minorias. Considerada indesejável no cálculo do Estado em formação, a comunidade portuguesa passa a sair da China em processo diaspórico, sob a condição de refugiada. Os macaenses que vivem no Rio de Janeiro constituem parte significativa da Segunda Diáspora Macaense e são considerados aqui em seus discursos enunciativos, suas experiências nos entrelugares e estratégias de sobrevivência, tais como as negociações identitárias e práticas associativistas.The collective migration of members of the Portuguese community from Macao to Brazil, part of the so-called Second Macanese Diaspora, is elaborated in this research according to Sayad\'s proposals on the migrant-immigrant dual status of migrattion subject. Thus, the conditions that engendered the outgoing movement of China are analyzed in order to construct an interpretive scope for the qualification of such members as refugees and to contextualize their reception and integration in brazilian society between the 1950s and 1970s. Such trajectory is studied from individual and collective experiences, registered in testimonies, about the colonial way of life, identity assumption at this contexto and issues on displacement, immigrant status and non-Brazilian integration. The theoretical framework of analysis of such testimonies and the socio-political context that they emerge is found in Cultural Studies, most precisely in works developed on postcolonial theory. Although they did not deal specifically with the Chinese case, the similarities on how companies updated the colonialist enterprise and its effects provided approximations. That happens because colonized territories, in their original experiences, are marked by relations of power, violence of all orders and multicultural syntheses, from which split and hyphenated subjects emerge. This societal conformation, marked by ambiguities and distances, is then thought through an interface with the controversial political moment of decolonization occured in the middle of the twentieth century. Particularly regarding to China, the advance of the revolutionary movement under Mao Tse Tung\'s leadership marked a break with imperialism, opening the way for a construction of a national discourse and a Chinese identity in which, as foreign were not contemplated. The rise of defensive nationalism had a precise function of subversion of the colonial order and, among other factors, directly and indirectly implied the exclusion of minorities. Considered undesirable in the calculation of the State in formation, a Portuguese community starts to leave China in diasporic process, under the condition of refugee. The Macanese who live in Rio de Janeiro constitute a significant part of the Second Macanese Diaspora and they are considered here in their enunciative speeches, their experiences in the interludes and strategies of survival, such as the identity negotiations and associative practices

Voices of the diaspora: a study about memories, identities and negotiations of macanese refugees between China and Brazil (1950-1977)

A migração coletiva de membros da comunidade portuguesa de Macau para o Brasil, parte da chamada Segunda Diáspora Macaense, é elaborada nesta pesquisa de acordo com as proposições de Sayad sobre a dupla condição de emigrante-imigrante do sujeito migratório. Assim, as condições que engendraram o movimento de saída da China são analisadas de modo a construir escopo interpretativo para a qualificação de tais membros como refugiados e contextualizar sua recepção e integração na sociedade brasileira entre as décadas de 1950 e 1970. Tal trajetória é estudada a partir de depoimentos que partem de elaborações individuais e coletivas sobre a experiência colonial, a assunção identitária e aspectos relativos ao deslocamento, à condição de imigrante e à integração no Brasil. O referencial teórico de análise de tais depoimentos e do contexto sócio político que emergem encontra-se nos Estudos Culturais, mais precisamente em obras da teoria pós-colonial. Apesar de não tratarem especificamente do caso chinês, as semelhanças na atuação da empresa colonialista e seus efeitos possibilitou aproximações. Isso pois os territórios colonizados, em suas experiências originais, são marcados por relações de poder, violências de toda ordem e sínteses multiculturais, de onde emergem sujeitos cindidos e hifenizados. Tal conformação societária, marcada por ambiguidades e distanciamentos, é pensada, então, em sua interface com o controverso momento político de descolonização já em meados do século XX. Particularmente em se tratando da China, o avanço do movimento revolucionário sob a liderança de Mao Tsé Tung marcou uma ruptura com o imperialismo, abrindo margem para a construção de um discurso nacional e de uma identidade chinesa em que as comunidades híbridas, consideradas estrangeiras, não eram contempladas. A ascensão do nacionalismo defensivo teve função precisa de subversão da ordem colonial e, entre outros fatores, implicou direta e indiretamente na exclusão de minorias. Considerada indesejável no cálculo do Estado em formação, a comunidade portuguesa passa a sair da China em processo diaspórico, sob a condição de refugiada. Os macaenses que vivem no Rio de Janeiro constituem parte significativa da Segunda Diáspora Macaense e são considerados aqui em seus discursos enunciativos, suas experiências nos entrelugares e estratégias de sobrevivência, tais como as negociações identitárias e práticas associativistas.The collective migration of members of the Portuguese community from Macao to Brazil, part of the so-called Second Macanese Diaspora, is elaborated in this research according to Sayad\'s proposals on the migrant-immigrant dual status of migrattion subject. Thus, the conditions that engendered the outgoing movement of China are analyzed in order to construct an interpretive scope for the qualification of such members as refugees and to contextualize their reception and integration in brazilian society between the 1950s and 1970s. Such trajectory is studied from individual and collective experiences, registered in testimonies, about the colonial way of life, identity assumption at this contexto and issues on displacement, immigrant status and non-Brazilian integration. The theoretical framework of analysis of such testimonies and the socio-political context that they emerge is found in Cultural Studies, most precisely in works developed on postcolonial theory. Although they did not deal specifically with the Chinese case, the similarities on how companies updated the colonialist enterprise and its effects provided approximations. That happens because colonized territories, in their original experiences, are marked by relations of power, violence of all orders and multicultural syntheses, from which split and hyphenated subjects emerge. This societal conformation, marked by ambiguities and distances, is then thought through an interface with the controversial political moment of decolonization occured in the middle of the twentieth century. Particularly regarding to China, the advance of the revolutionary movement under Mao Tse Tung\'s leadership marked a break with imperialism, opening the way for a construction of a national discourse and a Chinese identity in which, as foreign were not contemplated. The rise of defensive nationalism had a precise function of subversion of the colonial order and, among other factors, directly and indirectly implied the exclusion of minorities. Considered undesirable in the calculation of the State in formation, a Portuguese community starts to leave China in diasporic process, under the condition of refugee. The Macanese who live in Rio de Janeiro constitute a significant part of the Second Macanese Diaspora and they are considered here in their enunciative speeches, their experiences in the interludes and strategies of survival, such as the identity negotiations and associative practices