Jeffrey S. Reber

Sociobiological and Social Constructionist Accounts of Altruism: a Phenomenological Critique

Much theorizing about altruism has been undertaken within a naturalistic and deterministic sociobiological framework that has sought to explain altruistic action in terms of underlying genetic selfishness. Recently, however, social constructionist thinkers have developed an alternative to such theorizing which suggests that human action arises out of fundamentally open-ended and malleable social relationships. This paper intends to show, however, that a reductive egoism is nonetheless still at work in such accounts, typically taking the form of an underlying concern for matters of personal status and social recognition. As a response, this paper will briefly outline the work of the French phenomenologists Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Emmanuel Levinas as an example of non-reductive and fundamentally Other-oriented alternatives to both sociobiological and social constructionist accounts of altruistic action.

When God Truly Matters: A Theistic Approach to Psychology

Study of the philosophy of social science has led us to realize that many psychologists have participated in a kind of myth, known as the myth of neutrality. The primary feature of this myth is the supposition that the research findings and conceptual practices of secular psychology are essentially neutral to or compatible with various worldviews, including theism. This chapter attempts to dispel this myth. It explicates some of the more important assumptions of conventional methodology and practice and compares these assumptions to the theistic assumption of a currently and practically relevant God. Theistic conceptualizations are considerably different from secular conceptualizations. These differences, suggest the need for a theistic approach to psychology as a complement to our currently secular approach to psychology. The chapter describes how this is possible by pointing to several applied branches of this theistic approach, including other articles of this special Journal issue. Keywords:God; methodology; myth of neutrality; psychology; secular conceptualizations; social science; theistic approach

The Under-Examined Life: A Proposal for Critically Evaluating Teachers’ and Students’ Philosophies of Teaching

Teachers are encouraged to critically evaluate their philosophy of teaching and to help students recognize and examine their implicit ideas about education as well. This critical evaluation entails examining assumptions about teaching and learning, investigating the implications that follow from those assumptions, and considering alternative ideas about teaching and learning that might better fit educational objectives and practices. A four-step process is suggested that may help facilitate this form of critical analysis, attenuate any clashes of teaching philosophies that might take place between teachers and students, and reduce the unwanted compromises that often ensue.

I think she's attracted to me: The effect of men's beliefs on women's behavior in a job interview scenario

This study investigated how an attraction belief affected both a mans treatment of a woman and her responses to his treatment in an environment governed by professional norms (i.e., in a job interview scenario). Sixty male undergraduates interviewed 60 female undergraduates to assess their suitability for a teaching assistant position. A randomly selected half of the interviewers were led to believe that the woman (i.e., the applicant) was attracted to them, whereas the other half were led to believe that she was not attracted to them. Consistent with research on behavioral confirmation, interviewers elicited significantly more flirtatious behavior from applicants in the attraction belief condition than in the no-attraction belief condition. Applicants did not perceive any differences in their flirtatious behavior, suggesting an unwitting participation in the sequence of behavioral confirmation. Implications of these results for understanding the initiation of potentially sexually harassing behavior are discussed.

Mechanisms or metaphors? The emptiness of evolutionary psychological explanations

In recent decades, numerous psychological and sociological theories have been offered in the attempt to explain human cognition, motivation, and behavior in fundamentally evolutionary terms. Drawing inspiration from the Darwinian theory of natural selection, evolutionary approaches to social science argue that behavior arises primarily from underlying evolved psychological mechanisms and that the central task of social science is to identify and articulate the specific nature of such mechanisms. Much effort has been expended by evolutionary social scientists to definitively identify the various evolved psychological mechanisms that account for the diversity of human cognitive, emotional, and social behavior. We argue, however, that the search for evolved psychological mechanisms that adequately account for either the transmission of psychological entities (i.e., emotions, intentions, ideas, behaviors, etc.) across generations or the current existence of such entities cannot in principle succeed because evolutionary social science theorists have fundamentally mistaken their metaphors for mechanisms.

Effects of Three Pedagogies on Learning Outcomes in a Psychology of Gender Lecture: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

This study employed a quasi-experimental design to test the effects of three pedagogies on learning outcomes in a simulated psychology of gender lecture. Results showed that meaning and relational pedagogies, as well as a combination of meaning, relational, and explanatory pedagogies, significantly improved participant learning beyond self-study and produced a significant improvement in retention as well. Interestingly, participants in the relational condition excelled on these learning outcomes even though the instructor covered very little reading material in that condition. Despite the benefits of these pedagogies, participants showed a clear preference for the lower performing explanatory instructional approach, which suggests that students may not readily recognize pedagogies that best contribute to effective learning and retention in classes like the psychology of gender.

Perceptual and behavioral effects of expectations formed by exposure to positive or negative Ratemyprofessors.com evaluations

Abstract The Internet permits students to share course evaluations with millions of people, and recent research suggests that students who read these evaluations form expectations about instructors’ competence, attractiveness, and capability. The present study extended past research investigating these expectations by (1) exposing participants to actual Ratemyprofessors.com (RMP) evaluations, (2) presenting the evaluations on a computer screen to simulate real-world exposure, and (3) assessing the effects of the evaluations on standard outcomes from the pedagogy literature. Results of Study 1 revealed that participants exposed to a positive evaluation rated an instructor as more pedagogically skilled, personally favorable, and a better lecturer than participants who read a negative evaluation. Study 2 replicated these findings and found that participants who read a positive evaluation reported being more engaged in the lecture and scored higher on an unexpected quiz taken one week later than those who read a negative evaluation. Engagement, however, did not mediate the relationship between evaluations and performance. Given these results, instructors might consider reviewing their RMP ratings to anticipate the likely expectations of incoming students and to prepare accordingly. However, research that further enhances the realism of this study is needed before specific recommendations for corrective action can be suggested.