From Artifacts to Human Lives: Investigating the Domain-Generality of Judgments about Purposes

People attribute purposes in both mundane and profound ways—such as when thinking about the purpose of a knife and the purpose of a life. In three studies (total N = 13,720 observations from N = 3,430 participants), we tested whether these seemingly very different forms of purpose attributions might actually involve the same cognitive processes. We examined the impacts of four factors on purpose attributions in six domains (artifacts, social institutions, animals, body parts, sacred objects, and human lives). Study 1 manipulated what items in each domain were originally created for (original design) and how people currently use them (present practice). Study 2 manipulated whether items are good at achieving a goal (effectiveness) and whether the goal itself is good (morality). We found effects of each factor in every domain. However, whereas morality and effectiveness had remarkably similar effects across domains, the effects of original design and present practice differed substantially. Finally, Study 3 revealed that, within domains, the effects of original design and present practice depend on which entities design and use items. These results reveal striking similarities in purpose attributions across domains and suggest that certain entities are treated as authorities over the purposes of particular items

When research melts down

Med lukningen af DR3-reaktoren på Risø mister Danmark sit eneste virkeligt store forskningsanlæg, som gennem fire årtier har sat dansk fysik og materialeforskning på verdenskortet. Danske, svenske og norske forskere forsøger nu at skaffe en større og mere avanceret europæisk neutronfacilitet til Øresundsregionen

Synthesis, characterization, and bulk properties of amphiphilic copolymers containing fluorinated methacrylates from sequential copper-mediated radical polymerization

The partly fluorinated monomers, 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate (3FM), 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentyl methacrylate (8FM), and 1,1,2,2-tetrahydroperfluorodecyl methacrylate (17FM) have been used in the preparation of block copolymers with methyl methacrylate (MMA), 2-methoxyethyl acrylate (MEA), and poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization. A kinetic study of the 3FM homopolymerization initiated with ethyl bromoisobutyrate and Cu(I)Br/N-(n-propyl)-2-pyridylmethanimine reveals a living/controlled polymerization in the range 80-110 degrees C, with apparent rate constants of 1.6 . 10(-4) s(-1) to 2.9 . 10(-4) s(-1). Various 3FM containing block copolymers with MMA are prepared by sequential monomer addition or from a PMMA macroinitiator in all cases with controlled characteristics. Block copolymers of 3FM and PEGMA resulted in block copolymers with PDI < 1.22, whereas block copolymers from 3FM and MEA have less controlled characteristics. The block copolymers based on MMA with 8FM and 17 FM have PDI's < 1.30. The glass transition temperatures of the block copolymers are dominated by the majority monomer, as the sequential monomer addition results in too short pure blocks to induce observable microphase separation. The thermal stability of the fluorinated poly((meth)acrylate)s in inert atmosphere is less than that of corresponding nonfluorinated poly((meth)acrylate)s. The presence of fluorinated blocks significantly increases the advancing water contact angle of thin films compared to films of the nonfluorinated poly((meth)acrylate)s. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 8097-8111, 200

From Artifacts to Human Lives: Investigating the Domain-Generality of Judgments about Purposes

People attribute purposes to all kinds of things, from artifacts to body parts to human lives. This invites the question of whether the cognitive processes underlying purpose attributions are domain-general or domain-specific. In three studies (total N = 13,720 observations from N = 3,430 participants), we examined the effects of four factors on purpose attributions in six domains: artifacts, social institutions, animals, body parts, sacred objects, and human lives. Study 1 found that original design (i.e., what something was originally created for) and present practice (i.e., how people currently use it) each influence purpose attributions in all six domains, though their relative importance differs substantially across domains. Study 2 found that effectiveness (i.e., whether something is good at achieving a goal) and morality (i.e., whether the goal is good) each influences purpose attributions, and in the same way across domains. Finally, Study 3 revealed that, within domains, the impacts of original design and present practice depend on which entity plays the role of original designer versus present user, suggesting that the apparent inter-domain differences in the impacts of these two factors might have been illusory. Overall, there are at least some respects in which purpose attributions are strikingly similar across what might seem to be very different domains