Charged experience's of natural environments

Natural environments often generate experiences that combine great emotional and moral power- "charged" experiences. Their characteristics are explored through writings that capture them convincingly. They appear to have a perceptual character. Perception of the scene is invested with a sense of something beyond it, and much bigger. It may be God, or immensity in time or space, or the essence of a nation. This encounter is often connected with moral authority. A recurring theme is the sense that environment and the things in it-including the observer-are a self-similar pattern. People are not passive recipients of these experiences. They seek them out. Evoking, the environment in words can often evoke the charged experience too-at least in part. The material suggests tasks for psychologists-most simply, finding systematic ways to describe these experiences. That may help other environmental disciplines, which face difficulty characterising the dimension of response. Theoretically, the material raises questions about the representations generated by perceptual processes. The observation that powerful moral imperatives seem to be given in the act of perceiving is also suggestive for the psychology of morality. Culture certainly plays a part in charged responses, but landscapes have the power to be invested with an emotional and moral charge where other stimuli may not.

Acquired deafness: A multi-dimensional experience

The aim of this study was to investigate the subjective experience of acquired deafness using quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (interview) methods. This paper presents findings from the questionnaire data. Eighty-seven people (of whom 38 had acquired a profound loss) participated in the study. The questionnaire contained items designed to examine both audiological and non-audiological aspects of deafened people's experiences. It also sought to measure the extent to which those aspects affect their quality of life. The questionnaire included three variables (i.e. reported frequency and impact of depression, and overall effect of deafness on one's life) as broad indicators of adjustment. Seventy-three respondents (including all but one of the profound group) completed the questionnaire. Factor analysis of the questionnaire data identified six major themes (with variance >10%) underlying the personal experience of acquired deafness. Three themes-communicative deprivation, restriction, and malinteraction by hearing people-dealt with observable aspects of respondents' experience. Multiple regression found that these factor themes associated with biomedical variables. The remaining three themes dealt with less tangible aspects of the deafness experience. These themes-feelings of distress in interaction, feelings of abandonment and benefit from positive experiences-did not associate with biomedical variables. Finally, multiple regression indicates that respondents' factor scores predict the impact of deafness at least as strongly as their audiological and social characteristics.

Conflict, transition and education for ‘political generosity’: learning from the experience of ex-combatants in Northern Ireland

This article suggests that opportunities exist to harness the potential of history and citizenship education with the processes of transition in developing programmes which support young people in exploring conflict and the challenges associated with attending to its legacy. Drawing on the experience of Northern Ireland, it is suggested that the narratives of those who have been involved directly as both combatants in conflict and latterly as agents of change in their communities provide unique opportunities for young people to reflect on these issues. By way of illustration, an account of one such initiative is presented: ‘From Prison to Peace: learning from the experience of political ex-prisoners’; a structured programme which invites young people to engage directly with loyalist and republican ex-combatants in the Northern Ireland conflict. The article suggests that such programmes have the potential to assist young people in exploring the complexity of conflict and the intricacies of transition. Furthermore it is suggested that the relationships which exist between these ex-combatants arguably can challenge sectarian perspectives and foster capacity for ‘political generosity’ towards those with opposing political aspirations.

Do multinationals really prefer to enter culturally distant countries through greenfields rather than through acquisitions? The role of parent experience and subsidiary autonomy.

Prior research has argued that multinational enterprises (MNEs) prefer to enter culturally distant countries through greenfields rather than through acquisitions, since acquisitions in such countries are costlier to manage. This argument contains two hidden assumptions: (1) the additional costs of acquisitions in culturally distant countries are the same for all MNEs; and (2) such acquisitions have no benefits over their greenfield counterparts. In this paper we relax these two assumptions by arguing that an MNE's preference for greenfields in culturally distant countries depends on its international and host-country experience, and on the level of autonomy it plans to grant the focal subsidiary. Analyzing 171 wholly owned greenfield investments and full acquisitions made by Dutch MNEs in 35 countries, we find that these MNEs prefer to enter culturally distant countries through greenfields, but that this preference is lower when they have little international experience, or plan to grant the focal subsidiary considerable autonomy in marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]