European Union's energy policy from the sustainability perspective

In this article, the authors present their views on the main issues, objectives and measures in the EU energy policy in the context of increasing relative energy scarcity and sustainable development. Aims of sustainable access to energy seem to focus on increased access to fossil fuels, which may trade-off with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and hamper the development of renewable energy resources

Comparing the environmental impact of using various energy sources in family house heating systems

Environmental impacts of using various sources of energy in heating a family house with 180 m2 of floor surface were compared by means of the SimaPro computer programme and attached to its databases, describing the environmental impacts of using typical materials and technologies. The set of compared heat energy sources comprised a ground loop, a heat pump, a liquid gas combustion furnace, an earth gas combustion furnace, a coal combustion furnace, a straw combustion furnace, a wood combustion furnace and an electric stove. After normalisation (which meant recalculating the impacts into their shares in the average impact of the kind, experienced by an average European in a year), weighting (which meant attaching arbitrary weights to three aggregate impact categories according to a methodology Eco-indicator 99 E/E) and aggregating the results into so called eco-points the wood combustion furnace turned out to have the greatest impact. It was followed by a coal burning furnace, an electric stove and an oil burning furnace. The heat pump had the smallest impact. A big impact of the wood and other biomass burning furnaces was due to a high emission of CO presumed in the used database, which can be disputed

Is Self-Other distinction malleable? Egocentric and altercentric biases in empathy are modulated by priming attachment style and similarity mindsets

Two behavioral experiment

Henryk Bukowski's Quick Files

The Quick Files feature was discontinued and it’s files were migrated into this Project on March 11, 2022. The file URL’s will still resolve properly, and the Quick Files logs are available in the Project’s Recent Activity

Penser et agir socialement sous l’émotion : une question de genre ?

Acte 1 : « Avons-nous, hommes et femmes, un même sens morale ? ». Freud affirmait que les femmes avaient une maturité morale inférieure. Kohlberg décrivait plus tard un modèle théorique du raisonnement moral appuyé par des études empiriques où y figurait la femme comme bloquée à un stade de développement inférieur à celui de l’homme car toujours sous l’emprise de ses émotions. La vision prédominante, héritée de Planton et Kant, était alors que le sens moral est de l’ordre de la raison. Acte 2 : « Le sens moral… produit de la raison ou de l’émotion ? ». Avec l’arrivée des neurosciences, il est apparu que cette vision où la raison seule permet un meilleur sens moral est erronée. Il a été démontré qu’en fait nos émotions sont un élément crucial qui nous permet d’agir et de penser de manière morale. Par ailleurs, même quand nous pensons être sous l’égide de la raison, nos émotions sont toujours là, même à un niveau inconscient, pour nous guider. C’est pourquoi émotion et raison sont intimement liées, pour le pire ou le meilleur acte moral. Acte 3 : « Penser et agir socialement sous l’émotion : une question de genre ? ». En pensant répondre à une question simple, il s’avère que la réponse devient plus complexe à mesure que nous cherchons à y répondre. De l’anatomie du cerveau, de son activité cérébrale, à l’influence de la culture, des stéréotypes, ou encore de la parentalité, les données sont contradictoires. La vision d’hier n’est plus celle d’aujourd’hui, cette dernière appelle à la nuance et à la modestie car la conclusion est : « Nous ne savons pas ! »

Socio-cognitive training impacts emotional and perceptual self-salience but not self-other distinction

• Effect of a socio-cognitive training on self-other distinction and self-salience was tested • Ss trained to imitate, inhibit imitation, or inhibit control stimuli in 2 experiments • Unlike the original study, training did not influence self-other distinction • Imitation-inhibition training increased self-salience in empathy and shape matchin

What influences perspective taking ? A dynamic and multidimensional approach

Perspective-taking (PT) performance is widely considered and assessed as a static and one-dimensional ability. This thesis provides evidence across 4 studies that PT performance fluctuates and is underpinned by two dimensions: (1) the ability to handle conflicts between our egocentric perspective and another person’s perspective and (2) the relative priority given to the processing of the egocentric perspective over another person’s perspective. We have highlighted the effects of task instructions, emotions, and motivation on PT performance. We also found that each of the two dimensions underlying PT can be specifically affected or associated with factors such as guilt, shame, narcissism, and self-reported PT habits. Finally, we found that individuals strongly vary independently on both dimensions so that some people are more or less efficient at perspectives conflict handling and others are altercentric (i.e. prioritizing the other person’s perspective) or egocentric perspective-takers. Overall, while investigating what influences PT performance, we demonstrated the theoretical relevance and usefulness of studying PT as a dynamic and multidimensional ability.(PSYE - Sciences psychologiques et de l) -- UCL, 201