Equivalence of Narcissistic Personality Inventory constructs and correlates across scoring approaches and response formats

The prevalent scoring practice for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) ignores the forced-choice nature of the items. The aim of this study was to investigate whether findings based on NPI scores reported in previous research can be confirmed when the forced-choice nature of the NPI’s original response format is appropriately modeled, and when NPI items are presented in different response formats (true/false or rating scale). The relationships between NPI facets and various criteria were robust across scoring approaches (mean score vs. model-based), but were only partly robust across response formats. In addition, the scoring approaches and response formats achieved equivalent measurements of the vanity facet and in part of the leadership facet, but differed with respect to the entitlement facet

Awe and Wonder in Scientific Practice: Implications for the Relationship Between Science and Religion

This paper examines the role of awe and wonder in scientific practice. Drawing on evidence from psychological research and the writings of scientists and science communicators, I argue that awe and wonder play a crucial role in scientific discovery. They focus our attention on the natural world, encourage open-mindedness, diminish the self (particularly feelings of self-importance), help to accord value to the objects that are being studied, and provide a mode of understanding in the absence of full knowledge. I will flesh out implications of the role of awe and wonder in scientific discovery for debates on the relationship between science and religion. Abraham Heschel argued that awe and wonder are religious emotions because they reduce our feelings of self-importance, and thereby help to cultivate the proper reverent attitude towards God. Yet metaphysical naturalists such as Richard Dawkins insist that awe and wonder need not lead to any theistic commitments for scientists. The awe some scientists experience can be regarded as a form of non-theistic spirituality, which is neither a reductive naturalism nor theism. I will attempt to resolve the tension between these views by identifying some common ground

Verfassungen für ein modernes Europa? Untersuchungen zu Konstitutionalisierungsprozessen in Frankreich, Polen-Litauen und im Großherzogtum Toskana am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts. Vergleich und Analyse

The following seminar-paper compares two constitutions and one concept of a constitution from the end of the 18th century. Considering the first French constitution, the Constitution Française from 1791, the first “modern” European constitution, the polish Ustawa rządowa (adopted as “Government Act”) also from 1791 and a concept for a constitution initialized and elaborated by the Grand Duke of Tuscany (the last version dates from 1787), Pietro Leopoldo, the comparison will be accomplished by using four different categories describing the political and philosophical circumstances which influenced the writing of the constitutions

„Wider die Freymaurer“. Die Freimaurerei im Blickfeld von Kirche, Inquisition und weltlicher Gewalt im Zeitalter der Aufklärung

The following seminar-paper is about the relationship between a new form of community which occurred in the period of enlightenment and between important areas of society. As a matter of particular interest, the paper examines the critical relation of freemasonry and the Catholic Church and especially the national institutions of the Inquisition, which persecuted the members of the secret society in Spain, Portugal and in Italian territories

On wealth and wrongdoing: how social class influences unethical behavior

Tuesday, March 12, 2013; noon to 1 p.m.; Room D1.602. "On Wealth and Wrongdoing: How Social Class Influences Unethical Behavior". Paul K. Piff, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Scholar, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley.Social class exerts a significant influence on ethical decisions and behavior. Psychological research finds that individuals from higher social class backgrounds are more likely to prioritize themselves---their individual needs and desires relative to individuals from lower social class backgrounds, who are more likely to be sensitive to others. Guided by this work, Paul K. Piff, Ph.D., will report studies showing that higher social class is associated with increased unethical behavior, decreased altruism, and increased utilitarian moral reasoning, as well as provide data to shed light on the reasons for these class differences. The talk highlights that social class is a powerful force in the realm of ethics.UT Southwestern--Program in Ethic

An evaluation of the canonical approach: is it adequate for the task of old testament theology in christian hermeneutic endeavour?

The overarching question is: “How do we make the biblical text relevant for our present context?” The answer ultimately resides in reading the text theologically. Therefore, the question must be: “How do we read the Old Testament theologi-cally?” This article shows that the canonical approach to Scripture brings out the theological significance of the text because it allows a number of windows to illuminate the exegetical task. In the article’s consideration of literary form, it acknowledges that narrative is a sizeable window into both the historical and theological. Another window to Scriptural intentionality is found in the given shape of the Canon. The unity and, therefore, continuity of the text provide a large window to theological relevance. This article also intimates a smaller, but significant, window in aspects of biblical tradition, through programmatic themes. The Canon, however, with its varied literary forms, its tentative historical facts, and its veiled traditions, must stand out as the only constant in the theological task. Therefore the canonical approach to reading the text is indispensable to Old Testament exegesis and to Christian hermeneutics

Hands-Free Navigation in Immersive Environments for the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Indoor Navigation Systems

While navigation systems for cars are in widespread use, only recently, indoor navigation systems based on smartphone apps became technically feasible. Hence tools in order to plan and evaluate particular designs of information provision are needed. Since tests in real infrastructures are costly and environmental conditions cannot be held constant, one must resort to virtual infrastructures. This paper presents the development of an environment for the support of the design of indoor navigation systems whose center piece consists in a hands-free navigation method using the Microsoft Kinect in the four-sided Definitely Affordable Virtual Environment (DAVE). Navigation controls using the user\u27s gestures and postures as the input to the controls are designed and implemented. The installation of expensive and bulky hardware like treadmills is avoided while still giving the user a good impression of the distance she has traveled in virtual space. An advantage in comparison to approaches using a head mounted display is that the DAVE allows the users to interact with their smartphone. Thus the effects of different indoor navigation systems can be evaluated already in the planning phase using the resulting syste

Structural power and the evolution of collective fairness in social networks

From work contracts and group buying platforms to political coalitions and international climate and economical summits, often individuals assemble in groups that must collectively reach decisions that may favor each part unequally. Here we quantify to which extent our network ties promote the evolution of collective fairness in group interactions, modeled by means of Multiplayer Ultimatum Games (MUG). We show that a single topological feature of social networks-which we call structural power-has a profound impact on the tendency of individuals to take decisions that favor each part equally. Increased fair outcomes are attained whenever structural power is high, such that the networks that tie individuals allow them to meet the same partners in different groups, thus providing the opportunity to strongly influence each other. On the other hand, the absence of such close peer-influence relationships dismisses any positive effect created by the network. Interestingly, we show that increasing the structural power of a network leads to the appearance of well-defined modules-as found in human social networks that often exhibit community structure-providing an interaction environment that maximizes collective fairness.This research was supported by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) through grants SFRH/BD/94736/2013, PTDC/EEI-SII/5081/2014, PTDC/MAT/STA/3358/2014 and by multi-annual funding of CBMA and INESC-ID (under the projects UID/BIA/04050/2013 and UID/CEC/50021/2013) provided by FCT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On wealth and the diversity of friendships: high social class people around the world have fewer international friends

Having international social ties carries many potential advantages, including access to novel ideas and greater commercial opportunities. Yet little is known about who forms more international friendships. Here, we propose social class plays a key role in determining people's internationalism. We conducted two studies to test whether social class is related positively to internationalism (the building social class hypothesis) or negatively to internationalism (the restricting social class hypothesis). In Study 1, we found that among individuals in the United States, social class was negatively related to percentage of friends on Facebook that are outside the United States. In Study 2, we extended these findings to the global level by analyzing country-level data on Facebook friends formed in 2011 (nearly 50 billion friendships) across 187 countries. We found that people from higher social class countries (as indexed by GDP per capita) had lower levels of internationalism—that is, they made more friendships domestically than abroad