Communicating Conservation Status: How Different Statistical Assessment Criteria Affect Perceptions of Extinction Risk

Although alternative forms of statistical and verbal information are routinely used to convey species’ extinction risk to policymakers and the public, little is known about their effects on audience information processing and risk perceptions. To address this gap in literature, we report on an experiment that was designed to explore how perceptions of extinction risk differ as a function of five different assessment benchmarks (Criteria A–E) used by scientists to classify species within IUCN Red List risk levels (e.g., Critically Endangered, Vulnerable), as well as the role of key individual differences in these effects (e.g., rational and experiential thinking styles, environmental concern). Despite their normative equivalence within the IUCN classification system, results revealed divergent effects of specific assessment criteria: on average, describing extinction risk in terms of proportional population decline over time (Criterion A) and number of remaining individuals (Criterion D) evoked the highest level of perceived risk, whereas the single‐event probability of a species becoming extinct (Criterion E) engendered the least perceived risk. Furthermore, participants scoring high in rationality (analytic thinking) were less prone to exhibit these biases compared to those low in rationality. Our findings suggest that despite their equivalence in the eyes of scientific experts, IUCN criteria are indeed capable of engendering different levels of risk perception among lay audiences, effects that carry direct and important implications for those tasked with communicating about conservation status to diverse publics.     

A life of fear: Sex workers and the threat of HIV in Uganda

Schoemaker J, Twikirize J. A life of fear: sex workers and the threat of HIV in Uganda The way individuals perceive their risk to certain threats influences their adoption of preventive behaviour. This study explored sex workers' perception of risk of HIV infection within the context of other serious threats. The study was carried out in Kampala, Uganda, using peer ethnography. Sex workers were well aware of their risk of HIV infection but this risk was eclipsed by other more immediate and frightening threats. Sex workers' willingness to gamble with HIV is explained by the fact that their existence is already very dangerous, and taking risks is an inherent part of their trade. Decriminalising sex work could make their lives somewhat safer, motivating them to better protect themselves, but this is unlikely to happen in Uganda. Attempting to enforce some coercive control mechanisms would not work, given the pervasive corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary, the institutions that would be responsible for implementing such control.     

《一报还一报》的伦理混乱与秩序重构中的悲喜命运转向

莎士比亚《一报还一报》一剧以克劳狄奥与朱丽叶的婚前私通为主要伦理线,展示了维也纳法治下个人私通和公共淫乱两类人的跌宕命运,着重探讨了维也纳城的伦理混乱,以及在主政者的伦理秩序重构中个人私通者由悲而喜和公共淫乱者由喜而悲的命运转向,旨在指出在西方前现代社会中,对基督教伦理规范的认同与否决定着个人的命运转向。     

李杭育寻根小说的文化认同

李杭育是新时期寻根小说的代表作家之一,其"葛川江系列小说"对民族文化中的下述正面因子进行了呈现并给予了赞许、认同的价值立场:搏击凶险、抗争自然、捍卫生命并由此喷薄强力、意志力的生存品格,执拗、倔强、坚韧的生命特质,血气、野性、自由自在、率真的生命形式,重情义、守孝道、讲仁爱、善良的伦理操守。     

历史人物伦理思想的指认依据--以梁漱溟为例

堪称伦理思想者，当有指认依据在。以梁漱溟为例，提出伦理思想的三个指认依据：一是基本稳定的形上基础；二是相对系统的伦理主张；三是较为广泛的实际影响。只有坚持论从史出，我们才有可能靠近历史人物伦理思想的历史真实和价值真实。     

网红直播带货的伦理审视

随着网络直播的兴起和网红经济的发展,"网红直播带货"成为一种新的重要营销方式,它不仅能满足人们个性化的物质需求,而且能满足个体的社交化情感诉求,但其中所潜藏的诚信缺失和个体消费成瘾等伦理失范问题较为突出。加强个人义利观教育、完善社会诚信监督机制,丰盈个体精神生活、净化社会消费风气,则是解决这些伦理问题的可行性路径。     

“围城”中的“历史人”——论李梅亭与霍华德·科克形象的伦理悖论及镜鉴意义

《围城》与《历史人》都是著名校园讽刺小说.其代表人物李梅亭与霍华德·科克都是生活在动荡时期相对平静的大学校园“围城”中的高级知识分子,他们在日常生活中言与行的矛盾、表与里的抵牾,在职场生涯中道貌岸然的显性身份表象与其庸俗无聊、滑稽可笑的隐性角色扮演形成的伦理悖论,无疑具有强烈的喜剧效果和深刻的反讽性质.由于人物所处经济、政治、文化背景不同,其伦理悖论又各具特点,李梅亭身上散发出陈腐的朱熹式伪道学气息,霍华德·科克则是在激进外表下包裹着极端利己主义.李梅亭与霍华德·科克形象蕴含的伦理悖论在知识分子中具有一定典型性,其形象既为历史存照,也对今天重塑大学灵魂、重塑知识分子健全人格具有一定镜鉴意义.     

Changes in the Factors Influencing Public Acceptance of Nuclear Power Generation in Japan Since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Public support for nuclear power generation has decreased in Japan since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011. This study examines how the factors influencing public acceptance of nuclear power changed after this event. The influence factors examined are perceived benefit, perceived risk, trust in the managing bodies, and pro‐environmental orientation (i.e., new ecological paradigm). This study is based on cross‐sectional data collected from two online nationwide surveys: one conducted in November 2009, before the nuclear accident, and the other in October 2011, after the accident. This study's target respondents were residents of Aomori, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures in the Tohoku region of Japan, as these areas were the epicenters of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the locations of nuclear power stations. After the accident, trust in the managing bodies was found to have a stronger influence on perceived risk, and pro‐environmental orientation was found to have a stronger influence on trust in the managing bodies; however, perceived benefit had a weaker positive influence on public acceptance. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.     

Perception of Earthquake Risk in Taiwan: Effects of Gender and Past Earthquake Experience

This study explored how individuals in Taiwan perceive the risk of earthquake and the relationship of past earthquake experience and gender to risk perception. Participants (n= 1,405), including earthquake survivors and those in the general population without prior direct earthquake exposure, were selected and interviewed through a computer‐assisted telephone interviewing procedure using a random sampling and stratification method covering all 24 regions of Taiwan. A factor analysis of the interview data yielded a two‐factor structure of risk perception in regard to earthquake. The first factor, “personal impact,” encompassed perception of threat and fear related to earthquakes. The second factor, “controllability,” encompassed a sense of efficacy of self‐protection in regard to earthquakes. The findings indicated prior earthquake survivors and females reported higher scores on the personal impact factor than males and those with no prior direct earthquake experience, although there were no group differences on the controllability factor. The findings support that risk perception has multiple components, and suggest that past experience (survivor status) and gender (female) affect the perception of risk. Exploration of potential contributions of other demographic factors such as age, education, and marital status to personal impact, especially for females and survivors, is discussed. Future research on and intervention program with regard to risk perception are suggested accordingly.     

Completing the Circuit: Routine,Reflection, and Ethical Consumption

Efforts to explain why some people incorporate ethical concerns into everyday shopping for food and household goods, while many do not, have so far left significant variation in “ethical consumption” unexplained. Seeking to move beyond explanations that rely mainly on differences in consumers' social class, gender, and political engagement, I draw on concepts associated with “practice theory” to argue that ethical consumption is closely tied to people's willingness and ability to spend time, while shopping, on distinct activities associated with breaking old routines and establishing new ones. The central insight of practice theory is that most consumption is the product of unconscious routine. And it is precisely because consciously departing from routine is, according to my study, a fundamentally time‐consuming process, that lack of time emerges as a crucial obstacle to translating abstract ethical concerns into concrete action as a consumer.