The notion of character friendship and the cultivation of virtue

Most theories about virtue cultivation fall under the general umbrella of the role model approach, according to which virtue is acquired by emulating role models, and where those role models are usually conceived of as superior in some relevant respect to the learners. I argue that although we need role models to cultivate virtue, we also need good and close relationships with people who are not our superiors. The overemphasis on role models is misguided and misleading, and a good antidote draws on the Aristotelian concept of character friendship. Character friendship (a) constitutes a unique form of experience in which we share a substantial way of seeing with a close other; (b) facilitates a unique form of knowledge, the knowledge of a particular person (my‐self and the other's self); (c) develops other emotions important for virtue cultivation besides admiration, such as love, shame, trust, and hope; and (d) is a praxis in which cooperative interactions and discussions function as a bridge between habituation of virtue at home and the public life. Character friendship provides necessary elements for human cultivation of virtue that the sole experience of having a role model does not.     

Issue contention and consumers’ reactions to corporate social responsibility: Challenging the dyadic assumptions

Two experiments (one fictitious on environmental CSR and one real-life on a company’s social advocacy on gun violence) were conducted to examine how issue contention affects consumers’ reactions to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Results of the two experiments suggest that while issue contention does not lower consumers’ agency, it makes consumers less likely to engage the organization based on their values and beliefs (i.e., symbolic avoidance) regardless of the organization’s viewpoints. The results also suggest that this effect does not directly extend to actual purchase intention, which indicates that actual purchase intention is confounded by both symbolic interactions and tangible factors such as price and corporate expertise. Results of the two experiments provide important implications for public relations research, challenging the dyadic assumptions of organization-public interactions and relationships and calling for further attention on inter-publics and inter-organizations dynamics.     

The relational costs of crossing class lines

How do low socioeconomic status students navigate cross-class interactions in extremely unequal contexts? Previous research has described the high costs of college integration for underprivileged students, which in turn, negatively impact academic performance and general wellbeing. These studies tend to concentrate on cultural capital costs, such as catching up with assumed middle-class or elite capital and dealing with two worlds. Less has been said about social capital costs, the costs of making friends, especially more privileged friends. Through 61 in-depth interviews with various types of students as part of a broader ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyses the experiences of low-income scholarship holders in an elite institution in a very unequal society, Colombia. Rather than isolating themselves or resorting to safe homophilic relations, they faced their new elite environment engaging with the hidden relational cost of making friends with more affluent students. In so doing, they had to overcome fears and experiences of discrimination and micro-aggressions, as well as cultural and economic capital barriers, and employed either camouflaging or disclosure strategies, sometimes becoming culturally and socially omnivorous. Symbolic belonging to the institution and the acquisition of middle-class cultural capital were among the benefits that made overcoming the costs worthy. Our results shed light on what institutions can do to reduce the costs for underprivileged students and, theoretically, unveil an important mechanism and barrier for social mobility: building cross-class ties.     

绘本教学活动中师幼言语互动质量提升研究——基于新手-专家教师对比

幼儿园绘本教学活动中良好的师幼言语互动可以有效提高教学质量和幼儿语言表达能力。本研究通过弗兰德斯互动分 析系统中的矩阵分析、比率分析、曲线分析和半结构性访谈，对比了新手教师和专家教师在绘本教学活动中的师幼言语互动情 况。主要建议：新手教师应该重塑专业认知，以理念引领发展；提升专业能力，以实践推动进步；重视专业发展，以反思促进成 长。幼儿园应该围绕教师需求，开展针对性培训；开拓学习思路，组织创新性教研。     

基于幼儿园健康教学活动视频的师幼互动分析

师幼互动作为影响学前教育质量的过程性因素之一，受到越来越多研究者的关注。本文通过对幼儿园大班健康教学活动视频案例分析，采用视频案例分析法和访谈法，立足教学情境和幼儿的学习事实，从知识建构、话语结构、具身教学等方面，研讨当前师幼互动的教学现状，发现幼儿园健康教学活动中存在教师忽视幼儿经验和认知冲突的现象，预设的问题引发的思考不多，教学活动看似是以儿童为中心，实质上仍是以教师为中心，并且教师对幼儿的身心感受关注也不多。根据这些情况，对幼儿园健康教育活动改进提出教育建议，力图为提升健康教育教学活动中的互动质量提供参照和思考。     

Serving two masters: Commitment profiles of employees in the German military reserve

Research on commitment has highlighted the importance of understanding multiple commitments to similar objects, and there is a desire to clarify the attendant complex interactions by applying a person-centred approach to commitment. Although there is a rich body of knowledge on commitment, questions regarding possible conflicts among the various types of commitment remain unanswered. Specifically, we know little about the effects of commitment to objects with similar characteristics (e.g. organizations) across domains (e.g. civil vs military). We draw on a sample of individuals in the German military reserve (N = 303) who serve voluntarily as soldiers in the armed forces and parallel work in civil organizations. We test hypotheses regarding the presence of different commitment profiles. We identified five commitment profiles and evidence for both within- and cross-domain effects of the antecedents and outcomes of commitment.     

Making sense of the parenting ‘soft/hard split’

This paper explores the common parenting style tension around nurture versus limit-setting often evident when working with families with a symptomatic child. Firstly it will delve into the parenting ‘soft/hard split’ with an overview of the literature on parenting styles. Next, it summarises the appearance of this phenomenon in the family therapy literature during its formative days, noting how Bowen, Minuchin, Haley, MRI (Bateson), and the Milan associates respond to this parent presentation in their approaches. Next, the paper outlines recent iterations of these family therapy interventions. An expanded discussion follows on Bowen theory's understanding of the parenting tension triangle. The article then outlines elements of the author's qualitative research study of parents' experience of adolescents' mental health treatment where the ‘soft/hard split’ emerged as a repeating theme. Finally, a clinical intervention based on Bowen theory, the Parent Hope Project, is outlined for how it addresses the parenting ‘soft/hard split.’ The goal is to contribute to understanding this phenomenon and its implications for clinical practice.     

Complexity as a Contract Design Factor: A Human‐to‐Human Experimental Study

Despite being theoretically suboptimal, simpler contracts (such as price‐only contracts and quantity discount contracts with limited number of price blocks) are commonly preferred in practice. Thus, exploring the tension between theory and practice regarding complexity and performance in contract design is especially relevant. Using human subject experiments, Kalkancı et al. (2011) showed that such simpler contracts perform effectively for a supplier interacting with a computerized buyer under asymmetric demand information. We use a similar set of experiments with the modification that a human supplier interacts with a human buyer. We show that human interactions strengthen the supplier's preference for simpler contracts. We find that suppliers have fairness concerns even when they interact with computerized buyers. These fairness concerns tend to be even stronger when suppliers interact with human buyers, particularly when the complexity of the contract is low. We also find that suppliers are more prone to random decision errors (i.e., bounded rationality) when interacting with human buyers. In the absence of social preferences, Kalkancı et al. identified reinforcement and bounded rationality as key biases that impact suppliers' decisions. In human‐to‐human experiments, we find evidence for social preference effects. However, these effects may be secondary to bounded rationality.