The cultural shaping of compassion

In this chapter, we first review the existing literature on cross-cultural studies on compassion. While cultural similarities exist, we demonstrate cultural differences in the conception, experience, and expression of compassion. Then we present our own work on the cultural shaping of compassion by introducing Affect Valuation Theory ( e.g., Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006), our theoretical framework. We show how the desire to avoid feeling negative partly explains cultural differences in conceptualizations and expressions of compassion. Specifically, the more people want to avoid feeling negative, the more they focus on the positive (e.g., comforting memories) than the negative (e.g., the pain of someone\u27s death) when responding to others\u27 suffering, and the more they regard responses as helpful that focus on the positive (vs. negative). Finally, we discuss implications of our work for counseling, health care, and public service settings, as well as for interventions that aim to promote compassion

Han sætter pris på sin krop? : mandlig prostitution i et kropsfænomenologisk perspektiv

Prostitution handler om krop og sex, og prostitution kan derfor ses som en kropslig handling. Det traditionelle syn på prostitution forbindes ofte med kvinder, men mænd kan også sælge sex, som opgavetitlen antyder. Titlen illustrerer en dobbelthed ved at kroppen kan ses som et salgsobjekt, samtidig som kroppen er forbundet med oplevelse og følelser. Spørgsmålstegnet indikerer at det ikke nødvendigvis er givet hvilke følelser som opleves i mandlig prostitution. Selvom mandlig prostitution er mindre synlig og kundskab om fænomenet virker mangelfuld, eksisterer fænomenet. Samfundets forståelse af oplevelse knyttet til prostitution minder om Descartes’ dualistiske perspektiv, som beskriver at mennesket kan skille mellem krop og følelser. Perspektivet gør det mulig at forstå prostitution som at sælge sin krop uden at måtte sælge sine følelser. I et kropsfænomenologisk perspektiv vil mennesket både have en krop og være en krop og skillet mellem krop og følelser derfor ikke en mulighed. I denne opgave tematiseres følgende problemstilling: ”Hvordan kan et kropsfænomenologisk perspektiv bidrage til at belyse oplevelse af mandlig prostitution?” Opgaven er et kvalitativt teoretisk og filosofisk studie af mandlig prostitution. Det kropsfænomenologiske perspektiv skal ses som en specialpædagogisk tilnærmelse til fænomenet og belyses ved Merleau-Pontys kropsfænomenologiske teori og filosofi. Merleau-Ponty betegnes som kroppens filosof og beskriver menneskets eksistens som en kropslig væren-i-verden. I tillæg eksemplificeres hvordan fænomenologisk metode kan bidrage til at belyse oplevelse af mandlig prostitution i det kropsfænomenologiske perspektiv ved et fænomenologisk interview med en mandlig prostitueret, som har hensigten at beskrive interviewpersonens oplevelse på en måde som indfanger helheden i oplevelsen af verden. Interviewet har bidraget til tematisering af to underproblemstillinger, og den første lyder som følgende: ”Hvordan kan kropsfænomenologien bidrage til at problematisere et dualistisk perspektiv på præmisser i mandlig prostitution?”. I et dualistisk perspektiv beskrives at prostituerede beskytter sig emotionelt ved beskyttelsesstrategier, som skiller mellem prostitutionssex uden følelser og privatsex med følelser. Dette syn forudsætter at mennesket kan skille krop og følelser og således beskytte subjektet ved objektivering af kroppen. Med passivitet som udgangspunkt og eksempel på en præmis og beskyttelsesstrategi drøftes hvordan mandlig prostitution kan opleves i lyset af kropfænomenologien. I det kropsfænomenologiske perspektiv vil den mandlige prostitueredes oplevelse være forankret i kroppen i verden både som et objekt og subjekt. Perspektivet muliggør således ikke et skille mellem krop og følelser, hvilket medfører at mandlige prostituerede enten ikke kan beskytte sig emotionelt, beskytter sig på andre måder eller ikke har brug for beskyttelse. Interviewpersonen skaber mening med at gå på kompromis med sine præmisser i sit sexsalg afhængig af kontekst. Desuden har han et andet indhold af prostitutionssex end det som traditionelt forbindes med prostitution. Prostitutionssex beskrives som præget af større grad af gensidighed og deltagelse, hvilket belyser at skillet mellem prostitutionssex og privatsex tilsløres af kontekstafhængighed og derfor bliver vanskelig at opretholde. Den anden underproblemstilling lyder således: ”Hvordan kan samfundets holdninger til mandlig prostitution udfordres i lyset af et kropsfænomenologisk perspektiv?”. Samfundets holdninger vil påvirke mandlig prostitueredes oplevelser, fordi mennesket eksisterer i verden og ikke kan ses løsrevet fra samfund, kultur og kontekst. Lovgivning, fordomme og tabuer er måder samfundet reflekterer holdninger til mandlig prostitution, som beskrives som usynlig, stigmatiseret og anonym som mulige konsekvenser af holdningerne. Påvirkningen mellem individ og samfund ses som gensidig og den mandlige prostituerede kan derfor påvirke samfundets holdninger ved at fortælle om sine oplevelser, men den mandlige prostituerede befinder sig i en allerede social verden og omgives af begreber med disponible betydninger. Det traditionelle perspektiv forudsætter at prostituerede har behov for at beskytte sig emotionelt og samfundets forståelse af mandlige prostitueredes oplevelse påvirkes af dette syn. Påvirkning af holdninger i samfundet er således dobbeltsidig, og hvis mandlig prostitution skal kunne belyses ud fra feltets mangefold og kompleksitet, må en indstillingsændring derfor også være dobbeltsidig. Det kropsfænomenologiske perspektiv kan bidrage med at belyse oplevelse af mandlig prostitution gennem problematisering af det dualistiske perspektiv for at illustrere forholdet mellem subjekt og objekt i menneskets oplevelse. Desuden kan perspektivet bidrage med at udfordre samfundets holdninger til mandlig prostitution ved at belyse oplevelsers relativitet og kontekstafhængighed for at muliggøre en indstillingsændring til prostitution og prostitutionsbegrebet. I det kropsfænomenologiske perspektiv vil mandlige prostituerede føle og opleve mere i prostitutionen end tidligere beskrevet, men spørgsmålet er om samfundet er indstillet på at høre at prostitution kan opleves som noget andet end ubehageligt

Focusing on the negative: Cultural differences in expressions of sympathy

Feeling concern about the suffering of others is considered a basic human response, and yet we know surprisingly little about the cultural factors that shape how people respond to the suffering of another person. To this end, we conducted 4 studies that tested the hypothesis that American expressions of sympathy focus on the negative less and positive more than German expressions of sympathy, in part because Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 1, we demonstrate that American sympathy cards contain less negative and more positive content than German sympathy cards. In Study 2, we show that European Americans want to avoid negative states more than Germans do. In Study 3, we demonstrate that these cultural differences in “avoided negative affect” mediate cultural differences in how comfortable Americans and Germans feel focusing on the negative (vs. positive) when expressing sympathy for the hypothetical death of an acquaintance’s father. To examine whether greater avoided negative affect results in lesser focus on the negative and greater focus on the positive when responding to another person’s suffering, in Study 4, American and German participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: (a) to “push negative images away” (i.e., increasing desire to avoid negative affect) from or (b) to “pull negative images closer” (i.e., decreasing desire to avoid negative affect) to themselves. Participants were then asked to pick a card to send to an acquaintance whose father had hypothetically just died. Across cultures, participants in the “push negative away” condition were less likely to choose sympathy cards with negative (vs. positive) content than were those in the “pull negative closer” condition. Together, these studies suggest that cultures differ in their desire to avoid negative affect and that these differences influence the degree to which expressions of sympathy focus on the negative (vs. positive). We discuss the implications of these findings for current models of sympathy, compassion, and helping

Asian Americans respond less favorably to excitement (vs. calm)-focused physicians compared to European Americans

OBJECTIVES: Despite being considered a model minority, Asian Americans report worse health care encounters than do European Americans. This may be due to affective mismatches between Asian American patients and their European American physicians. We predicted that because Asian Americans value excitement (vs. calm) less than European Americans, they will respond less favorably to excitement-focused (vs. calm) physicians. METHOD: In Study 1, 198 European American, Chinese American, and Hong Kong Chinese community adults read a medical scenario and indicated their preference for an excitement-focused versus calm-focused physician. In Study 2, 81 European American and Asian American community college students listened to recommendations made by an excitement-focused or calm-focused physician in a video, and later attempted to recall the recommendations. In Study 3, 101 European American and Asian American middle-aged and older adults had multiple online encounters with an excitement-focused or calm-focused physician and then evaluated their physicians\u27 trustworthiness, competence, and knowledge. RESULTS: As predicted, Hong Kong Chinese preferred excitement-focused physicians less than European Americans, with Chinese Americans falling in the middle (Study 1). Similarly, Asian Americans remembered health information delivered by an excitement-focused physician less well than did European Americans (Study 2). Finally, Asian Americans evaluated an excitement-focused physician less positively than did European Americans (Study 3). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that while physicians who promote and emphasize excitement states may be effective with European Americans, they may be less so with Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities who value different affective states

The religious shaping of feeling: Implications of Affect Valuation Theory

Over 80% of the world population identifies with a specific religion (Adherents. com, 2007; Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). For some individuals, this religion structures and shapes every dimension of their daily lives: what they wear, with whom they spend time, where they go, and what they eat. As important, but perhaps less overt, is how religion shapes people\u27s psyches. Indeed, one of the major functions of religion is to provide followers with a way of understanding and coping with their life circumstances (see Pargament, Falb, Ano, & Wachholtz, Chapter 28, this volume; Park, 2005). Another is to provide a guide or map for how to lead a good life (in this volume, see Donahue & Nielsen, Chapter 16, and Park, Chapter 18). A central part of coping with life and leading a good life is regulating one\u27s emotions. Indeed, several religious scholars have written about the centrality of emotion in religious experience (see Emmons, 2005a, for an excellent history of religion and emotion). For instance, ·two fundamental truths or tenets of Buddhism are that life is full of suffering, sorrow, and grief, and that the way to end this suffering is to relinquish one\u27s attachments to the material world and achieve· enlightenment (Smith, 1991). In this chapter, we explore several ways in which religion may shape people\u27s emotional lives, specifically their emotional goals, using the framework of affect valuation theory (AVT; Tsai, 2007). But first, we discuss our approach to religion

COVID-19 Risk Estimation using a Time-varying SIR-model

Policy-makers require data-driven tools to assess the spread of COVID-19 and inform the public of their risk of infection on an ongoing basis. We propose a rigorous hybrid model-and-data-driven approach to risk scoring based on a time-varying SIR epidemic model that ultimately yields a simplified color-coded risk level for each community. The risk score $\Gamma_t$ that we propose is proportional to the probability of someone currently healthy getting infected in the next 24 hours. We show how this risk score can be estimated using another useful metric of infection spread, $R_t$, the time-varying average reproduction number which indicates the average number of individuals an infected person would infect in turn. The proposed approach also allows for quantification of uncertainty in the estimates of $R_t$ and $\Gamma_t$ in the form of confidence intervals. Code and data from our effort have been open-sourced and are being applied to assess and communicate the risk of infection in the City and County of Los Angeles

Choosing a physician depends on how you want to feel: The role of ideal affect in health-related decision making

When given a choice, how do people decide which physician to select? Although significant research has demonstrated that how people actually feel (their “actual affect”) influences their health care preferences, how people ideally want to feel (their “ideal affect”) may play an even greater role. Specifically, we predicted that people trust physicians whose affective characteristics match their ideal affect, which leads people to prefer those physicians more. Consistent with this prediction, the more participants wanted to feel high arousal positive states on average ([ideal HAP]; e.g., excited), the more likely they were to select a HAP-focused physician. Similarly, the more people wanted to feel low arousal positive states on average ([ideal LAP]; e.g., calm), the more likely they were to select a LAP-focused physician. Also as predicted, these links were mediated by perceived physician trustworthiness. Notably, while participants’ ideal affect predicted physician preference, actual affect (how much people actually felt HAP and LAP on average) did not. These findings suggest that people base even serious decisions on how they want to feel and highlight the importance of considering ideal affect in models of decision making, person perception, and patient physician communication

NASAwide electronic publishing system: Prototype STI electronic document distribution, stage-4 evaluation report

This evaluation report contains an introduction, seven chapters, and five appendices. The Introduction describes the purpose, conceptual frame work, functional description, and technical report server of the STI Electronic Document Distribution (EDD) project. Chapter 1 documents the results of the prototype STI EDD in actual operation. Chapter 2 documents each NASA center's post processing publication processes. Chapter 3 documents each center's STI software, hardware, and communications configurations. Chapter 7 documents STI EDD policy, practices, and procedures. The appendices, which arc contained in Part 2 of this document, consist of (1) STI EDD Project Plan, (2) Team members, (3) Phasing Schedules, (4) Accessing On-line Reports, and (5) Creating an HTML File and Setting Up an xTRS. In summary, Stage 4 of the NASAwide Electronic Publishing System is the final phase of its implementation through the prototyping and gradual integration of each NASA center's electronic printing systems, desktop publishing systems, and technical report servers to be able to provide to NASA's engineers, researchers, scientists, and external users the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the result thereof to their work stations

Crucial role of ultraviolet light for desert ants in determining direction from the terrestrial panorama

Ants use the panoramic skyline in part to determine a direction of travel. A theoretically elegant way to define where terrestrial objects meet the sky is to use an opponent-process channel contrasting green wavelengths of light with ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Compared with the sky, terrestrial objects reflect relatively more green wavelengths. Using such an opponent-process channel gains constancy in the face of changes in overall illumination level. We tested the use of UV wavelengths in desert ants by using a plastic that filtered out most of the energy below 400 nm. Ants, Melophorus bagoti, were trained to home with an artificial skyline provided by an arena (experiment 1) or with the natural panorama (experiment 2). On a test, a homing ant was captured just before she entered her nest, and then brought back to a replicate arena (experiment 1) or the starting point (the feeder, experiment 2) and released. Blocking UV light led to deteriorations in orientation in both experiments. When the artificial skyline was changed from opaque to transparent UV-blocking plastic (experiment 3) on the other hand, the ants were still oriented. We conclude that UV wavelengths play a crucial role in determining direction based on the terrestrial surround.10 page(s