Anjan Chatterjee
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199811809
- eISBN:
- 9780199369546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199811809.003.0011
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems
The sheer variety of objects that give us pleasure raises questions. These questions are similar to the ones we asked about beauty. Is it there a common currency for all pleasures? Is there a ...
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The sheer variety of objects that give us pleasure raises questions. These questions are similar to the ones we asked about beauty. Is it there a common currency for all pleasures? Is there a pleasure center in the brain? Are we always aware of our pleasures? Should we enjoy pleasures with abandon or should we be cautious and deny them? Why do pleasures sometimes go bad? Why do bad things sometimes give us pleasure and gratification?Less
The sheer variety of objects that give us pleasure raises questions. These questions are similar to the ones we asked about beauty. Is it there a common currency for all pleasures? Is there a pleasure center in the brain? Are we always aware of our pleasures? Should we enjoy pleasures with abandon or should we be cautious and deny them? Why do pleasures sometimes go bad? Why do bad things sometimes give us pleasure and gratification?
Peter M. Gollwitzer, Caterina Gawrilow, and Gabriele Oettingen
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391381
- eISBN:
- 9780199776894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391381.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology
As highlighted by Kurt Lewin, goal attainment is not yet secured solely by forming strong commitments to highly desirable and feasible goals. There is always the subsequent issue of implementing a ...
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As highlighted by Kurt Lewin, goal attainment is not yet secured solely by forming strong commitments to highly desirable and feasible goals. There is always the subsequent issue of implementing a set goal, and one wonders what people can do to enhance their chances of being successful at this second phase of goal pursuit. A promising answer seems to be the following: People may plan out in advance how they want to solve the problems of goal implementation. But what are these problems? There are at least four problems that stand out. These problems include getting started with goal striving, staying on track, calling a halt, and not overextending oneself. We will describe research showing that making if–then plans (i.e., form implementation intentions) on how to deal with these problems indeed facilitates solving the crucial problems of goal implementation. Thereafter, we will ask whether implementation intentions foster goal attainment even under conditions that are commonly viewed as not amenable to self-regulation attempts, such as succeeding on an intelligence test or overcoming spider phobia. Finally, we will report research showing that implementation intentions can even foster goal-striving in those samples (e.g., children with ADHD) that are known to suffer from impaired action control.Less
As highlighted by Kurt Lewin, goal attainment is not yet secured solely by forming strong commitments to highly desirable and feasible goals. There is always the subsequent issue of implementing a set goal, and one wonders what people can do to enhance their chances of being successful at this second phase of goal pursuit. A promising answer seems to be the following: People may plan out in advance how they want to solve the problems of goal implementation. But what are these problems? There are at least four problems that stand out. These problems include getting started with goal striving, staying on track, calling a halt, and not overextending oneself. We will describe research showing that making if–then plans (i.e., form implementation intentions) on how to deal with these problems indeed facilitates solving the crucial problems of goal implementation. Thereafter, we will ask whether implementation intentions foster goal attainment even under conditions that are commonly viewed as not amenable to self-regulation attempts, such as succeeding on an intelligence test or overcoming spider phobia. Finally, we will report research showing that implementation intentions can even foster goal-striving in those samples (e.g., children with ADHD) that are known to suffer from impaired action control.
Eran Magen and James J. Gross
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391381
- eISBN:
- 9780199776894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391381.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology
Research on self-control has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past few decades, as researchers from a variety of disciplines have tested different self-control techniques in different domains of ...
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Research on self-control has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past few decades, as researchers from a variety of disciplines have tested different self-control techniques in different domains of self-control. The result has been a proliferation of theories, models, and approaches, each offering important, but so far largely unrelated insights. The lack of a unifying framework has been an impediment to the development of an incremental science of self-control, and has left researchers struggling to relate their work to that of others. In this chapter, we present a general model of self-control, which we call the cybernetic process model of self-control. This model integrates two existing models — Cybernetic control theory (Carver & Scheier, 1982) and the process model of emotion-regulation (Gross, 1998b) — and describes the process through which tempting impulses arise and may be regulated. The cybernetic process model of self-control provides a conceptual framework for organizing disparate findings from research on self-control, and serves as a useful aid in selecting and designing appropriate self-control techniques.Less
Research on self-control has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past few decades, as researchers from a variety of disciplines have tested different self-control techniques in different domains of self-control. The result has been a proliferation of theories, models, and approaches, each offering important, but so far largely unrelated insights. The lack of a unifying framework has been an impediment to the development of an incremental science of self-control, and has left researchers struggling to relate their work to that of others. In this chapter, we present a general model of self-control, which we call the cybernetic process model of self-control. This model integrates two existing models — Cybernetic control theory (Carver & Scheier, 1982) and the process model of emotion-regulation (Gross, 1998b) — and describes the process through which tempting impulses arise and may be regulated. The cybernetic process model of self-control provides a conceptual framework for organizing disparate findings from research on self-control, and serves as a useful aid in selecting and designing appropriate self-control techniques.
Kentaro Fujita, Yaacov Trope, and Nira Liberman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391381
- eISBN:
- 9780199776894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391381.003.0022
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Social Psychology
People frequently make decisions and act in a manner contrary to their goals and values. These self-control failures are widely prevalent, troubling, and implicated in some of the most pressing ...
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People frequently make decisions and act in a manner contrary to their goals and values. These self-control failures are widely prevalent, troubling, and implicated in some of the most pressing social issues, ranging from obesity and addiction to environmentalism and poor financial planning. Given humans' remarkable intellectual and reasoning capacities, why do people fail to express their admirable aims in their everyday lives? This chapter briefly reviews several prominent theoretical accounts that have been proposed to explain self-control failures. It then describes and reviews supporting evidence for an emerging new perspective inspired by construal level theory (Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007; Trope & Liberman, 2003). Drawing from decades of research indicating the central role of people's subjective construals in judgment and decision making (e.g., Griffin & Ross, 1991), we propose that self-control is a construal-dependent phenomenon. That is, whether one chooses to act in a manner consistent with one's global goals and values depends on how one has subjectively interpreted and constructed the event in his or her mind. Construal level theory suggests that people's subjective mental construals can differ in abstractness. Whereas low-level construals highlight the idiosyncratic, incidental, concrete, local features of an event, high-level construals extract the core, central, abstract, and global features. Self-control conflicts occur when the behavioral connotations of these two construals are mutually exclusive. The preferred action depends on which construal people adopt at the time of decision making. This chapter discusses how this proposed construal level perspective relates to extant theoretical perspectives, reviews supporting empirical evidence, and discusses the implications for our understanding of self-control.Less
People frequently make decisions and act in a manner contrary to their goals and values. These self-control failures are widely prevalent, troubling, and implicated in some of the most pressing social issues, ranging from obesity and addiction to environmentalism and poor financial planning. Given humans' remarkable intellectual and reasoning capacities, why do people fail to express their admirable aims in their everyday lives? This chapter briefly reviews several prominent theoretical accounts that have been proposed to explain self-control failures. It then describes and reviews supporting evidence for an emerging new perspective inspired by construal level theory (Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007; Trope & Liberman, 2003). Drawing from decades of research indicating the central role of people's subjective construals in judgment and decision making (e.g., Griffin & Ross, 1991), we propose that self-control is a construal-dependent phenomenon. That is, whether one chooses to act in a manner consistent with one's global goals and values depends on how one has subjectively interpreted and constructed the event in his or her mind. Construal level theory suggests that people's subjective mental construals can differ in abstractness. Whereas low-level construals highlight the idiosyncratic, incidental, concrete, local features of an event, high-level construals extract the core, central, abstract, and global features. Self-control conflicts occur when the behavioral connotations of these two construals are mutually exclusive. The preferred action depends on which construal people adopt at the time of decision making. This chapter discusses how this proposed construal level perspective relates to extant theoretical perspectives, reviews supporting empirical evidence, and discusses the implications for our understanding of self-control.
Heather Hirschfeld
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452741
- eISBN:
- 9780801470639
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452741.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
This book recovers the historical specificity and the conceptual vigor of the term “satisfaction” during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Focusing on the term's significance as an ...
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This book recovers the historical specificity and the conceptual vigor of the term “satisfaction” during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Focusing on the term's significance as an organizing principle of Christian repentance, the book examines the ways in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries dramatized the consequences of its re- or de-valuation in the process of Reformation doctrinal change. The Protestant theology of repentance, the book suggests, underwrote a variety of theatrical plots “to set things right” in a world shorn of the prospect of “making enough” (satisfacere). The book traces today's use of “satisfaction”-as an unexamined measure of inward gratification rather than a finely nuanced standard of relational exchange-to the pressures on legal, economic, and marital discourses wrought by the Protestant rejection of the Catholic sacrament of penance (contrition, confession, satisfaction) and represented imaginatively on the stage. In so doing, it offers fresh readings of the penitential economies of canonical plays including Dr. Faustus, The Revenger's Tragedy, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello; considers the doctrinal and generic importance of lesser-known plays including Enough Is as Good as a Feast and Love's Pilgrimage; and opens new avenues into the study of literature and repentance in early modern England.Less
This book recovers the historical specificity and the conceptual vigor of the term “satisfaction” during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Focusing on the term's significance as an organizing principle of Christian repentance, the book examines the ways in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries dramatized the consequences of its re- or de-valuation in the process of Reformation doctrinal change. The Protestant theology of repentance, the book suggests, underwrote a variety of theatrical plots “to set things right” in a world shorn of the prospect of “making enough” (satisfacere). The book traces today's use of “satisfaction”-as an unexamined measure of inward gratification rather than a finely nuanced standard of relational exchange-to the pressures on legal, economic, and marital discourses wrought by the Protestant rejection of the Catholic sacrament of penance (contrition, confession, satisfaction) and represented imaginatively on the stage. In so doing, it offers fresh readings of the penitential economies of canonical plays including Dr. Faustus, The Revenger's Tragedy, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello; considers the doctrinal and generic importance of lesser-known plays including Enough Is as Good as a Feast and Love's Pilgrimage; and opens new avenues into the study of literature and repentance in early modern England.
John Kenneth Galbraith
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691171654
- eISBN:
- 9781400889020
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691171654.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Behavioural Economics
The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend ...
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The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend their comfortable status at a cost. Middle-class voting against regulation and increased taxation that would remedy pressing social ills has created a culture of immediate gratification, leading to complacency and hampering long-term progress. Only economic disaster, military action, or the eruption of an angry underclass seem capable of changing the status quo. A groundbreaking critique, the book shows how the complacent majority captures the political process and determines economic policy.Less
The world has become increasingly separated into the haves and have nots. This book shows how a contented class—not the privileged few but the socially and economically advantaged majority—defend their comfortable status at a cost. Middle-class voting against regulation and increased taxation that would remedy pressing social ills has created a culture of immediate gratification, leading to complacency and hampering long-term progress. Only economic disaster, military action, or the eruption of an angry underclass seem capable of changing the status quo. A groundbreaking critique, the book shows how the complacent majority captures the political process and determines economic policy.
Alfred R. Mele
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199896134
- eISBN:
- 9780199949533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199896134.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter sketches a theoretical and empirical framework that sheds light on how the occurrence of core weak-willed actions may be accounted for, if they occur. On the theoretical side, the ...
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This chapter sketches a theoretical and empirical framework that sheds light on how the occurrence of core weak-willed actions may be accounted for, if they occur. On the theoretical side, the framework is supported by the defense of positions on the conceptual connection between better judgments and intentions and on the nature of practical evaluative reasoning. On the empirical side, the framework benefits from work in developmental and social psychology on delay of gratification—especially work by Walter Mischel and colleagues. The chapter applies the framework to an apparent case of core weak-willed action. A question about the featured agent’s prospects for a successful exercise of self-control in that case sets the stage for chapter 5.Less
This chapter sketches a theoretical and empirical framework that sheds light on how the occurrence of core weak-willed actions may be accounted for, if they occur. On the theoretical side, the framework is supported by the defense of positions on the conceptual connection between better judgments and intentions and on the nature of practical evaluative reasoning. On the empirical side, the framework benefits from work in developmental and social psychology on delay of gratification—especially work by Walter Mischel and colleagues. The chapter applies the framework to an apparent case of core weak-willed action. A question about the featured agent’s prospects for a successful exercise of self-control in that case sets the stage for chapter 5.
Shawna L. Mercer, Laura K. Khan, Lawrence W. Green, Abby C. Rosenthal, Rose Nathan, Corinne G. Husten, and William H. Dietz
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199571512
- eISBN:
- 9780191595097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571512.003.0016
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
While tobacco-control experts in many developed countries announce remarkable reductions in tobacco consumption, nutrition and physical activity experts in these same countries bemoan the growing ...
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While tobacco-control experts in many developed countries announce remarkable reductions in tobacco consumption, nutrition and physical activity experts in these same countries bemoan the growing epidemic of obesity. Food and physical activity differ substantially from tobacco in that they are essential to life. Whereas the goal with tobacco control is to eliminate all use, obesity control focuses on reducing some behaviours (excessive and unhealthy food intake) and increasing others (physical activity). On the other hand, both tobacco control and obesity control involve influencing complex behaviours. For example, many overweight people struggle with tendencies similar to smokers by compulsively ingesting food for gratification even though they have surpassed their nutritional requirements. Such similarities suggest that there may be some overlap between obesity control and tobacco control. This chapter builds on and updates previously published work in seeking to draw lessons from the successes of the tobacco-control experience that can be applied to efforts to reduce and prevent obesity.Less
While tobacco-control experts in many developed countries announce remarkable reductions in tobacco consumption, nutrition and physical activity experts in these same countries bemoan the growing epidemic of obesity. Food and physical activity differ substantially from tobacco in that they are essential to life. Whereas the goal with tobacco control is to eliminate all use, obesity control focuses on reducing some behaviours (excessive and unhealthy food intake) and increasing others (physical activity). On the other hand, both tobacco control and obesity control involve influencing complex behaviours. For example, many overweight people struggle with tendencies similar to smokers by compulsively ingesting food for gratification even though they have surpassed their nutritional requirements. Such similarities suggest that there may be some overlap between obesity control and tobacco control. This chapter builds on and updates previously published work in seeking to draw lessons from the successes of the tobacco-control experience that can be applied to efforts to reduce and prevent obesity.
Mark D. LeBlanc and Betsey Dexter Dyer
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195305890
- eISBN:
- 9780199773862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305890.003.04
- Subject:
- Biology, Biomathematics / Statistics and Data Analysis / Complexity Studies
This chapter describes some hurdles, which can be overcome, so that the pattern matching syntax of regular expressions (‘regex’) can be used immediately. It also presents some surprisingly relevant ...
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This chapter describes some hurdles, which can be overcome, so that the pattern matching syntax of regular expressions (‘regex’) can be used immediately. It also presents some surprisingly relevant word play. Almost all DNA sequence analysis is a form of pattern matching. Whether one compares sequences to build phylogenetic trees or to determine their identities, similar patterns are looked for. Many different programming languages use regex's but they fit especially well within Perl's syntax. Facing page translations are often used to help with the translation between two different languages, e.g. English text on the left-hand, even numbered pages and the comparable French text on the right-hand odd numbered pages. The chapter introduces regular expressions syntax in small doses, first applying regex to English text on the left and then applying that same regex to DNA sequences on the right-hand page. Side boxes include Alice Kober and Why search for repeats?Less
This chapter describes some hurdles, which can be overcome, so that the pattern matching syntax of regular expressions (‘regex’) can be used immediately. It also presents some surprisingly relevant word play. Almost all DNA sequence analysis is a form of pattern matching. Whether one compares sequences to build phylogenetic trees or to determine their identities, similar patterns are looked for. Many different programming languages use regex's but they fit especially well within Perl's syntax. Facing page translations are often used to help with the translation between two different languages, e.g. English text on the left-hand, even numbered pages and the comparable French text on the right-hand odd numbered pages. The chapter introduces regular expressions syntax in small doses, first applying regex to English text on the left and then applying that same regex to DNA sequences on the right-hand page. Side boxes include Alice Kober and Why search for repeats?
Martin Meisel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199215492
- eISBN:
- 9780191695957
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215492.003.0021
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
Seeing the play take shape is part of the progressive experience and part of our pleasure and engagement. There is gratification for the beholder as completion confirms anticipation. For that very ...
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Seeing the play take shape is part of the progressive experience and part of our pleasure and engagement. There is gratification for the beholder as completion confirms anticipation. For that very reason, the endgame assumes a special importance. That is, the end of the play often has a shaping power that carries back over what went before, precipitating as well as punctuating the whole. This chapter first emphasizes some matters best understood as part of the play as an unfolding experience; and second, features that seem to emerge when the experience is complete and the play appears to the audience in retrospect. Both all that is immediate and progressive, and all that is achieved and holistic constitute ‘the shape of the action’.Less
Seeing the play take shape is part of the progressive experience and part of our pleasure and engagement. There is gratification for the beholder as completion confirms anticipation. For that very reason, the endgame assumes a special importance. That is, the end of the play often has a shaping power that carries back over what went before, precipitating as well as punctuating the whole. This chapter first emphasizes some matters best understood as part of the play as an unfolding experience; and second, features that seem to emerge when the experience is complete and the play appears to the audience in retrospect. Both all that is immediate and progressive, and all that is achieved and holistic constitute ‘the shape of the action’.
Avner Offer
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199216628
- eISBN:
- 9780191696015
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216628.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
This chapter looks into the American automobile frenzy in the 1950s. Even more so than household appliances, motor cars are shiny, expensive, long-lasting durables. Yet in the marketing of motor cars ...
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This chapter looks into the American automobile frenzy in the 1950s. Even more so than household appliances, motor cars are shiny, expensive, long-lasting durables. Yet in the marketing of motor cars to American society in the 1950s, producers fell over each other in a frenzy of styling novelty. For buyers of new cars, the strongest selling point was sensual gratification, rather than status signaling. Eventually, many consumers reacted to styling excess by downshifting to more austere cars.Less
This chapter looks into the American automobile frenzy in the 1950s. Even more so than household appliances, motor cars are shiny, expensive, long-lasting durables. Yet in the marketing of motor cars to American society in the 1950s, producers fell over each other in a frenzy of styling novelty. For buyers of new cars, the strongest selling point was sensual gratification, rather than status signaling. Eventually, many consumers reacted to styling excess by downshifting to more austere cars.
Michael Stocker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195305845
- eISBN:
- 9780199851539
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305845.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle would agree on three propositions: genuine virtue represents a kind of second nature, a result of education such that patterns of choice become natural and predictable ...
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Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle would agree on three propositions: genuine virtue represents a kind of second nature, a result of education such that patterns of choice become natural and predictable that would not be natural and predictable for the average person; there are patterns of gratification attendant on genuine virtue, that involve deeper values than most of the things that people pursue in life; and because of these, genuine virtue is always in a person's self-interest. The word “gratification” here is deliberately broad. There can be brief periods of satisfaction, with performances that enjoyably are going well; these would amount to refined pleasures. But there also can be an agreeable sense of having come to terms with oneself, with no sense of self-disapproval or keen regret. This can be an important element in happiness.Less
Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle would agree on three propositions: genuine virtue represents a kind of second nature, a result of education such that patterns of choice become natural and predictable that would not be natural and predictable for the average person; there are patterns of gratification attendant on genuine virtue, that involve deeper values than most of the things that people pursue in life; and because of these, genuine virtue is always in a person's self-interest. The word “gratification” here is deliberately broad. There can be brief periods of satisfaction, with performances that enjoyably are going well; these would amount to refined pleasures. But there also can be an agreeable sense of having come to terms with oneself, with no sense of self-disapproval or keen regret. This can be an important element in happiness.
Alfred R. Mele
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195150438
- eISBN:
- 9780199869091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150430.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Offers a resolution of a puzzle about the possibility of exercising self‐control in support of one's doing what one judges best when one's desire for that course of action is weaker than one's desire ...
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Offers a resolution of a puzzle about the possibility of exercising self‐control in support of one's doing what one judges best when one's desire for that course of action is weaker than one's desire to pursue a tempting alternative. The resolution is based partly on observations about the sources of the motivational strengths of desires and about various ways in which desires compete with one another. Some relevant empirical work on delay of gratification is reviewed.Less
Offers a resolution of a puzzle about the possibility of exercising self‐control in support of one's doing what one judges best when one's desire for that course of action is weaker than one's desire to pursue a tempting alternative. The resolution is based partly on observations about the sources of the motivational strengths of desires and about various ways in which desires compete with one another. Some relevant empirical work on delay of gratification is reviewed.
Brian P. Luskey
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814752289
- eISBN:
- 9780814753484
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814752289.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
In the bustling cities of the mid-nineteenth-century Northeast, young male clerks working in commercial offices and stores were on the make, persistently seeking wealth, respect, and ...
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In the bustling cities of the mid-nineteenth-century Northeast, young male clerks working in commercial offices and stores were on the make, persistently seeking wealth, respect, and self-gratification. Yet these strivers and “counter jumpers” discovered that claiming the identities of independent men—while making sense of a volatile capitalist economy and fluid urban society—was fraught with uncertainty. This book illuminates at once the power of the ideology of self-making and the important contests over the meanings of respectability, manhood, and citizenship that helped to determine who clerks were and who they would become. Drawing from a rich array of archival materials, including clerks' diaries, newspapers, credit reports, census data, advice literature, and fiction, the book argues that a better understanding of clerks and clerking helps make sense of the culture of capitalism and the society it shaped in this pivotal era.Less
In the bustling cities of the mid-nineteenth-century Northeast, young male clerks working in commercial offices and stores were on the make, persistently seeking wealth, respect, and self-gratification. Yet these strivers and “counter jumpers” discovered that claiming the identities of independent men—while making sense of a volatile capitalist economy and fluid urban society—was fraught with uncertainty. This book illuminates at once the power of the ideology of self-making and the important contests over the meanings of respectability, manhood, and citizenship that helped to determine who clerks were and who they would become. Drawing from a rich array of archival materials, including clerks' diaries, newspapers, credit reports, census data, advice literature, and fiction, the book argues that a better understanding of clerks and clerking helps make sense of the culture of capitalism and the society it shaped in this pivotal era.
Dennis L. Krebs
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199778232
- eISBN:
- 9780199897261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199778232.003.0018
- Subject:
- Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter offers an account of the evolution of self-control. The capacity for self-control tends to increase as people grow older. Individual differences in self-control have been found to be ...
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This chapter offers an account of the evolution of self-control. The capacity for self-control tends to increase as people grow older. Individual differences in self-control have been found to be stable over time, and to be correlated with measures of success and social adjustment. Research on self-control conducted by developmental psychologists can be integrated in an evolutionary framework. The ability to exert self-control pays off biologically by enabling animals to delay gratification and to constrain selfish urges such as those that define the Seven Deadly Sins (gluttony, avarice, sloth, pride, wrath, envy, and lust).Less
This chapter offers an account of the evolution of self-control. The capacity for self-control tends to increase as people grow older. Individual differences in self-control have been found to be stable over time, and to be correlated with measures of success and social adjustment. Research on self-control conducted by developmental psychologists can be integrated in an evolutionary framework. The ability to exert self-control pays off biologically by enabling animals to delay gratification and to constrain selfish urges such as those that define the Seven Deadly Sins (gluttony, avarice, sloth, pride, wrath, envy, and lust).
Vernon Valentine Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638864
- eISBN:
- 9780748651443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638864.003.0018
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
This chapter examines the development contracts of intellectual gratification in Scotland and Louisiana and shows that moral damages ex contractu play an unappreciated role in the protection of ...
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This chapter examines the development contracts of intellectual gratification in Scotland and Louisiana and shows that moral damages ex contractu play an unappreciated role in the protection of personality interests. Both Louisiana and Scotland have steered a middle course in creating an exceptional category of contract in which personality interests receive protection. Louisiana codified the exception in the early nineteenth century, while Scotland created it through a decisional breakthrough in the 1970s. It is interesting to observe, however, how little difference these starting points made in the final analysis.Less
This chapter examines the development contracts of intellectual gratification in Scotland and Louisiana and shows that moral damages ex contractu play an unappreciated role in the protection of personality interests. Both Louisiana and Scotland have steered a middle course in creating an exceptional category of contract in which personality interests receive protection. Louisiana codified the exception in the early nineteenth century, while Scotland created it through a decisional breakthrough in the 1970s. It is interesting to observe, however, how little difference these starting points made in the final analysis.
Aaron Ben-Zéev and Ruhama Goussinsky
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198566496
- eISBN:
- 9780191693595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198566496.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
If one wishes to avoid the very high cost of invasive romantic partnerships, one needs to make compromises and accommodations which are already widely practiced in modern society. This chapter lists ...
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If one wishes to avoid the very high cost of invasive romantic partnerships, one needs to make compromises and accommodations which are already widely practiced in modern society. This chapter lists examples of such compromise and accommodation: postponing romantic gratification, declining romantic intensity, reducing the exclusive nature of the romantic relationship by enlarging the scope of activities that are not restricted to the beloved, serial monogamy, and loving more than one person at the same time. These practices have also introduced the neutral term ‘parallel relationship’ that downplays the negative term ‘adultery’ and ‘betrayal’. Oddly, the chapter suggests that those who engage in this setup do not have the intention of leaving their partners and some even see such behaviour as a way to preserve their relationship. The chapter argues that people in love should recognize that a loving relationship has limitations which the it proposes to be called ‘bounded love’.Less
If one wishes to avoid the very high cost of invasive romantic partnerships, one needs to make compromises and accommodations which are already widely practiced in modern society. This chapter lists examples of such compromise and accommodation: postponing romantic gratification, declining romantic intensity, reducing the exclusive nature of the romantic relationship by enlarging the scope of activities that are not restricted to the beloved, serial monogamy, and loving more than one person at the same time. These practices have also introduced the neutral term ‘parallel relationship’ that downplays the negative term ‘adultery’ and ‘betrayal’. Oddly, the chapter suggests that those who engage in this setup do not have the intention of leaving their partners and some even see such behaviour as a way to preserve their relationship. The chapter argues that people in love should recognize that a loving relationship has limitations which the it proposes to be called ‘bounded love’.
Martin E.P. Seligman, Acacia C. Parks, and Tracy Steen
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198567523
- eISBN:
- 9780191693670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567523.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter provides a brief overview of American psychology and its history. The goals of studying genius and talent and making relatively untroubled people happy took a backseat to the goal of ...
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This chapter provides a brief overview of American psychology and its history. The goals of studying genius and talent and making relatively untroubled people happy took a backseat to the goal of providing cures for mental disorders after the Second World War, and continued on for fifty years. The chapter tries to bridge this gap by presenting existing research and literature on positive psychology which examines the origins and manifestations of happiness. The latter is defined and ways of increasing it are discussed. Several methods involving positive intervention to engender pleasure, gratification, and meaning are illustrated. The remaining section focuses on the benefits of a targeted increase in happiness on alleviating and preventing distress and on helping people cope better with stress. The author concludes by reasserting the need for a balanced field of psychology to better handle the problems of people in modern society.Less
This chapter provides a brief overview of American psychology and its history. The goals of studying genius and talent and making relatively untroubled people happy took a backseat to the goal of providing cures for mental disorders after the Second World War, and continued on for fifty years. The chapter tries to bridge this gap by presenting existing research and literature on positive psychology which examines the origins and manifestations of happiness. The latter is defined and ways of increasing it are discussed. Several methods involving positive intervention to engender pleasure, gratification, and meaning are illustrated. The remaining section focuses on the benefits of a targeted increase in happiness on alleviating and preventing distress and on helping people cope better with stress. The author concludes by reasserting the need for a balanced field of psychology to better handle the problems of people in modern society.
Tim Clydesdale
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226110653
- eISBN:
- 9780226110677
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226110677.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to make sense of the first year out, for various sorts of teens, who head off into various settings, and who thus discover ...
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This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to make sense of the first year out, for various sorts of teens, who head off into various settings, and who thus discover important things about themselves and the world. The book finds that most of the mainstream American teens neither liberated themselves intellectually nor broadened themselves socially during their first year out. Rather, most teens settled all the more comfortably into the patterns and priorities they formed earlier in their lives. What teens actually focused on during the first year out was this: daily life management. That is, they managed their personal relationships—with romantic partners, friends, and authority figures; they manage personal gratifications— including substance use and sexual activity; and they manage their economic lives—with its expanding necessities and rising lifestyle expectations. The chapter then discusses how popular American moral culture fosters teen preoccupation with daily life.Less
This introductory chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to make sense of the first year out, for various sorts of teens, who head off into various settings, and who thus discover important things about themselves and the world. The book finds that most of the mainstream American teens neither liberated themselves intellectually nor broadened themselves socially during their first year out. Rather, most teens settled all the more comfortably into the patterns and priorities they formed earlier in their lives. What teens actually focused on during the first year out was this: daily life management. That is, they managed their personal relationships—with romantic partners, friends, and authority figures; they manage personal gratifications— including substance use and sexual activity; and they manage their economic lives—with its expanding necessities and rising lifestyle expectations. The chapter then discusses how popular American moral culture fosters teen preoccupation with daily life.
Marilynn B. Brewer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199778188
- eISBN:
- 9780190256043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199778188.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Marilynn B. Brewer discusses three of her studies: the first she considers her most underappreciated work, the second received a delayed appreciation, and the third is appreciated but misunderstood. ...
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Marilynn B. Brewer discusses three of her studies: the first she considers her most underappreciated work, the second received a delayed appreciation, and the third is appreciated but misunderstood. Her most underappreciated contribution was a concept in evolutionary biology, in which she argued that the profound ambivalence between personal self-gratification and self-sacrifice for collective welfare is not a conflict between internal biological motives and external social constraints but rather an internal biological dualism that reflects human evolutionary history as a social species. Her second work was Ethnocentrism and Intergroup Attitudes: East African Evidence, a book on ethnocentric attitudes and intergroup perception in post-colonial East Africa. The book did not garner a reasonable amount of attention in the field of social psychology until more than fifteen years later. Brewer's third work was an article titled “A dual process model of impression formation,”, which describes two distinct modes of processing social information: a category-based (top-down) processing mode and a person-based (bottom-up) processing mode.Less
Marilynn B. Brewer discusses three of her studies: the first she considers her most underappreciated work, the second received a delayed appreciation, and the third is appreciated but misunderstood. Her most underappreciated contribution was a concept in evolutionary biology, in which she argued that the profound ambivalence between personal self-gratification and self-sacrifice for collective welfare is not a conflict between internal biological motives and external social constraints but rather an internal biological dualism that reflects human evolutionary history as a social species. Her second work was Ethnocentrism and Intergroup Attitudes: East African Evidence, a book on ethnocentric attitudes and intergroup perception in post-colonial East Africa. The book did not garner a reasonable amount of attention in the field of social psychology until more than fifteen years later. Brewer's third work was an article titled “A dual process model of impression formation,”, which describes two distinct modes of processing social information: a category-based (top-down) processing mode and a person-based (bottom-up) processing mode.
