Cognitive Rationality Research Articles

Implementation of post-classical rationality in the modern discourse of legal protection of social morality

Modern Ukrainian society is at such a segment of world history that is called postmodern and post-industrial society, and therefore corresponds to a post-neoclassical type of rationality, which is characterized by non-linear development, self-organization and self-development, the transition to new models of relations, including state-legal ones sphere, especially when it comes to the development of democratic principles in local self-government and the structure of executive power, etc. For general jurisprudence, such approaches are considered promising, because they take into account random, probabilistic relationships along with cause-and-effect relationships. It is believed that the post-non-classical type of rationality “works” within the limits of the new (modern) development of science with a new way of knowing and the methodology of scientific research. At the same time, it is not only about science, but, in a broader sense, about the global transformation of the knowledge production system and the change in the ways of relating to society in the context of overcoming the “contemplative” nature of knowledge and giving it a praxeological focus with further inclusion in the conceptual field of post-classicism. Based on the peculiarities of post- non-classical rationality in social cognition, we will make an assumption about its threefold goal, which, in view of the above, consists in combining rational and logical possibilities in the studied phenomena and events with the intellectual and personal qualities of the researcher, including a wide range of “value orientations, existential experience, psychological characteristics, etc., that is, his understanding of social reality. Thus, it is substantiated that the weakness of state positions on the protection of public morality lies in the fact that, from the very beginning, a model of moral relations adequate to the requirements of the time was not formed, which would take into account the dynamics of social changes and find embodiment in legislation, state institutions, civil society, and was b a tool of social regulation, a criterion for assessing the vital activity of a person and society.

Talcott Parsons’s sociology of education: cognitive rationality and normative functionalism

Talcott Parsons did not leave us with a global and consistent sociology of education. Instead, different aspects can be found in Parsons’s oeuvre in different theoretical contexts. This paper summarises these different parts of Parsons’s sociology of education – his writings on the concepts of education and socialisation, the university, the school, the professions, and modernisation – and discusses central criticisms and perspectives for further theoretical development. The paper goes on to argue that the value of cognitive rationality serves as a common basis of Parsons’s sociology of education and that Parsons’s sociology of education should be characterised as normative functionalist. Since the current sociology of education does not deal very intensely with Parsons’s theoretical approach, the paper also considers references to other authors and the relevance for current questions and research in the sociology of education.

Cognitive rationalization in occupational fraud: structure exploration and scale development.

The structure and measurement of occupational fraud rationalization as one of the motivations for fraudulent behavior has been a major obstacle in theoretical research and practical problems. In order to answer the fundamental question, "What does cognitive rationalization of occupational fraud involve?," this paper explored the structure and scale development of the internal psychological factors of occupational fraud rationalization. Several research methods were used for this purpose, such as data collection, research interviews, review & verification, project purification, structural verification, and reliability & validity test. The results showed that, based on the internal structure, occupational fraud rationalization presented second-order three-dimensional and first-order eight-dimensional factors. Further, a formal scale containing 27 items related to the structure of the metric was constructed to measure the occupational fraud rationalization. In terms of variable correlations, this paper empirically tested the criterion validity of occupational fraud rationalization from the perspective of personality traits. The result revealed a significant positive (negative) correlation between Machiavellian traits (empathy traits) and occupational fraud rationalization, respectively. In conclusion, this paper provides an attempt to address the cognitive and measurement challenges of occupational fraud rationalization, expanding the application and development of moral disengagement theory in the field of occupational fraud and laying some groundwork for subsequent research and development.

Phenomenological and Hermeneutic Contributions to the Understanding of the Human Condition

The human condition has been affected in a polarized way since the iluminist project consolidated ruptures between common sense and faith, establishing science and cognitive rationality as guiding parameters of binary conceptions of the subject and of clinical interventions in mental health contexts. Currently, the internet and Information and Communication Technologies increase the holistic distancing of the human condition, by establishing virtual social networks as a means of subject ideals. One lives with the theses of “death of the subject”, the emphasis on the parameter of the image, the difficulty in dealing with difference, refusal to dialogue and affirmation of intolerance. Thus, we consider it essential to resume the debate on the contributions of Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology as references for rethinking our human condition and contribute to health professionals rediscovering the world of life as a starting point to build, in the different contexts and institutions of mental health care, clinical practices based on experience and not on representation.

Les soignants de périnatalité face à la COVID-19 : stress, qualité de vie et préoccupations Perinatal caregivers coping with covid-19 : stress, quality of life and concerns

AimsThe first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic generated "risks" and uncertainties as well as organizational changes among French perinatal caregivers. Our study aimed to investigate the psychosocial impact of the first wave on this population. MethodOur participants (N=565) were invited to answer an online questionnaire that included questions on various indices of health and quality of life at work (e.g., ProQoL, perceived stress) and other questions on the impact of the pandemic on work organization. An open-ended question was designed to identify the participants’ three most frequently perceived preoccupations with regard to the health situation. ResultsIn addition to highlighting the multifactorial nature of participants' preoccupations, our results illustrated the effect of professional status and type of motherhood on the different indices of health and quality of life at work. When it was found that the pandemic had an impact on work organization and on teams, lower health and quality of work life scores were recorded. On the other hand, when positive impacts on organization were reported, mainly in terms of reduced work intensity, they were associated with higher health and quality of work life scores. ConclusionWe explain this last result as either one actual effect of the pandemic on work organization, or as a phenomenon of cognitive rationalization.

The Development of Rationality in Economics

The concept of rationality first originated from philosophy and later evolved into rationality in economics, and then rationality has been the basic assumption of mainstream economics. With the development of economics and the integration of multiple disciplines, the concept of rationality in economics has been expanded and evolved, and different economic schools have put forward their own concepts of rationality. Classical and neoclassical economics advocate the complete rationality based on the hypothesis of "economic man"; later, behavioral economics and other schools have questioned the complete rationality, and they have proposed bounded rationality or irrationality; in fact, some other scholars have also proposed some other concepts of rationality, such as “evolutionary rationality”, “reasoned scrutiny rationality”, “cognitive rationality” and so on, which have made the concept of rationality in economics develop continuously. This paper briefly reviews the sources of the concept of rationality, the concept of rationality in traditional economics, the theory of bounded rationality and the other theories of rationality, in order to clarify the abstract concept of rationality.

The Historical Formation and Academic Characteristics of the Tao-Ge School in Daoism

The Tao-Ge School refers to the Taoists Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing as the main representatives in the Six dynasties period. It also includes numerous alchemists, physicians, and craftsmen who constituted a Daoist science and technology school in the Middle Ages. This school comprised an academic community characterized by scattered, small master–apprentice or family inheritance groups. It was founded and became popular between the 4th and 12th centuries. With alchemy, medicine, and technology as its main practice, it reflected the scientific and technological academic characteristics of cognitive positivism and rationalization, which emphasized an active understanding of nature, commitment to technological innovation, and a theoretical construction of knowledge. Historically, the Tao-Ge School had a profound impact on the practical methods and theoretical perspective of ancient Chinese science and technology, standing as an example of a school of science and technology with traditional Chinese cultural characteristics.

탈콧 파슨스의 대학론과 한국 대학

파슨스는 대학을 행위체계(action systems)의 층위에서는 문화적 체계(cultural system)이면서도 사회적 상호작용이 조직화된 하나의 사회적 체계(social system)로 보면서, 인지적 합리성(cognitive rationality)을 추구하는 ‘인지복합체(cognitive complex)’로 규정한다. 인지복합체는 인지합리성의 가치를 사회적으로 제도화한 것으로서, 대학은 문화와 특수한 관계를 갖는 사회적 체계다. 대학에서는 이처럼 지적인 합리성이 기능적 우선성(primacy)을 가지므로, 도덕적인 것, 감정적인 것, 종교적인 진리 등은 이차적인 기능으로 밀려난다. 결국 파슨스에게 대학은 문화와 사회를 매개하는 제도이다. 문화적 대상이자 생산물인 지식이 사회적으로 활용 가능하도록 실체성과 권위를 부여하기 때문이다.

Cognitive rationality and sustainable decision based on Maslow's theorem: A case study in Slovakia

Nowadays, the social pressure on the producers of passenger cars in the scope of their pro-environmental innovativeness is accelerating. However, on the other hand, the market does not accept the shift from traditional fuel technologies, and thus, a significant consumption schism has been created. One of the possible reasons for such a situation is a structured analysis of the principles of needs saturation and heading motivations of consumers in this aspect, where the phenomenon of car brand is also significant. However, stating the general functional mechanisms and patterns is enough in this aspect, but the structure of consumer characteristics relevant for these mechanisms and patterns would be useful. Thus, this article investigates the possibilities of reducing the emissions caused by individual road vehicle users and analyses the possible marketing tools from the marketing management side. The hypothesis is that the individual passenger car influences more levels of the Maslow pyramid. Therefore, changes are harder to be reached. Some preliminary car usage data has been collected in Slovakia to investigate the socio-economic dependence of car usage. These data have been evaluated via descriptive statistics. The results serve as a platform for further research. It has been found that socio-economic characteristics could significantly influence Maslow's theorem. Thus, contemporary knowledge about the influence of psychographic characteristics should be revised in favor of this new knowledge.

Humanistyczne „zwroty” w perspektywie metodologicznej

The paper deals with ”turns” that shape the face of today’s humanities, and captures their specificity in perspective and provides methodological evaluation of them. The ”turns” were referred to their immediate research context, i.e. the new philosophy of science: Popper, Lakatos, Lauden, Feyerabend, and Kuhn. All convergences and irregularities in the orientation of ”turns” in relation to the assumptions made there were shown. It turned out that they implement these assumptions to a limited extent. The approaches to ”turns” proposed by other researchers were also broadly discussed. Moreover, their attitudes to the tradition of the humanities and breaches from this tradition were demonstrated. However, a key feature of ”turns” is their departure from the modern logic of science, rationality of scientific cognition, and the principles of the general methodology of science. The most important examples of the ontological reductionism and of the violation of the ontological status of man were also discussed. These abuses are illustrated based on four selected ”turns”: performative, ”towards things”, biological and digital in the transhumanist version.

Legal interpretation in Paul Amselek’s phenomenology of law — between subjectivism and objectivism

The aim of the article is to characterise and analyse Paul Amselek’s research approach to legal hermeneutics. The text provides an outline of Amselek’s assumptions and theses about legal interpretation, considered in the broad context of hermeneutics, and in the narrower context of legal logic and argument (including rhetoric and speech act theory). In point of fact, one of the methodological aims of Amselek’s philosophical reflection is to harmonise the two indicated contexts for framing interpretation — the wide context of hermeneutics, and the more narrow context of legal logic and argument. Amselek refers to issues in communication theory, reaching beyond the hermeneutic concept of text interpretation and evocation of the original authorial intention. He analyses the legal text-message in its content and argument layers, he also endeavours to specify the methodological possibilities of interpreting the attitudes and motivations of subjects — participants in communication situation (the sender and receiver of the message). He also inquires about the ethical attitudes of jurisdiction authorities, performing the interpretation of a body of law — the subjects responsible for lawmaking and the execution of law. Adopting post-Enlightenment anthropological assumptions, Amselek accepts the primacy of rationality in cognition, decision making, and activity of the human individual. However, in his considerations on interpretation he concurrently underscores the role of affective factors, motivating many choices and actions made by legal subjects.

Marketization in cultural domains: the case of Brazilian YouTubers

The motivation to develop this research comes from the marketization which was happening in some cultural domains and led to the orientation change in the cultural domains from cognitive rationality to instrumental rationality. The cognitive rationality is based on values, ethical principles, and religious beliefs to reach an objective. On the other hand, the instrumental rationality is based on a utility evaluation or a cause and consequence analysis (Weber, 2009). From that, it is relevant to comprehend how a new occupation in a particular cultural domain is affected by the marketization process. This research aims to analyze and describe how the marketization process affected the YouTuber occupation in Brazil. For the achievement of this research, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Brazilian YouTubers. The results show that still does not exist a clear definition of a YouTuber, and the term is still in construction. During the development of this research, it was identified that YouTuber’s activities are oriented by more than one type of rationality; however, in some moments, there is a prevalence of only one type.

Normative Principles for Decision-Making in Natural Environments.

The decisions we make are shaped by a lifetime of learning. Past experience guides the way that we encode information in neural systems for perception and valuation, and determines the information we retrieve when making decisions. Distinct literatures have discussed how lifelong learning and local context shape decisions made about sensory signals, propositional information, or economic prospects. Here, we build bridges between these literatures, arguing for common principles of adaptive rationality in perception, cognition, and economic choice. We discuss how a single common framework, based on normative principles of efficient coding and Bayesian inference, can help us understand a myriad of human decision biases, including sensory illusions, adaptive aftereffects, choice history biases, central tendency effects, anchoring effects, contrast effects, framing effects, congruency effects, reference-dependent valuation, nonlinear utility functions, and discretization heuristics. We describe a simple computational framework for explaining these phenomena.

Working through Contradictions: Parsons and the Harvard Intellectual Community during the Late 60s and Early 70s

This paper illuminates, in a discussion of my relationship with him, how Talcott Parsons acted out his commitment to the values of cognitive rationality, how he implemented those values when working with students who did not share his liberal politics. I illustrate how students may learn not only from divergences in perspective with one professor, but also from the contradictions between their teachers’s work. There are two contentions here. One concerns the importance of professors encouraging students to encounter points-of-view divergent from the professor’s viewpoint, and then the significance of supporting them when they do so. This is possible only when the values of cognitive rationality regulate activity within a university setting. I illustrate these contentions in a discussion of my work with the political sociologist, Barrington Moore, Jr., the economic theorist, Kenneth Arrow, and the political philosopher, Judith Shklar, each of whose work diverged greatly from Parsons’s theoretical perspective. Lastly, I contend that an understanding of our teachers’s work is manifest in our extension of it, not in criticisms of their ideas, their texts. I show how this was the case in my own work.

A brief nudge or education intervention delivered online can increase willingness to order a beef-mushroom burger

Increasing the consumption of plant-forward meals, such as beef-mushroom burgers, is a promising avenue for improving environmental sustainability. In the present research, we explored the effectiveness of a brief nudge or education intervention designed to reduce willingness to order an all-beef burger in favor of a beef-mushroom burger. For the nudge intervention the beef-mushroom burger was set as the default menu item, whereas for the education intervention the link between beef consumption and climate change was explained. In the control condition neither were included. Participants (N = 562) completed measures of social dominance orientation (SDO), conservatism, cognitive rationalization of meat-eating, beef consumption, liking beef, and liking mushrooms, in a randomized order. Participants were then randomly assigned to the nudge (n = 189), education (n = 187), or control (n = 186) condition, after which they reported their willingness to order an all-beef (vs. beef-mushroom) burger. Results revealed that, after accounting for liking mushrooms, the nudge (vs. control) condition and the education (vs. control) condition both significantly decreased willingness to order the all-beef (vs. beef-mushroom) burger. SDO, conservatism, cognitive rationalization of meat-eating, beef consumption, or liking beef did not moderate the effectiveness of the interventions. In other words, nudge and education interventions increased willingness to order beef-mushroom burgers regardless of right-wing ideology or meat-eating attitudes or behaviors. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

Igualdad de Género y Enfoque por Competencias: dificultades en la formación del profesorado

La generalización del enfoque competencial desde la formación obligatoria impartida al futuro profesorado del sistema educativo español aparece fundamentada técnicamente, acompañada de una pretendida vocación de neutralidad que lo convierte en incontestable, pero que solapa una lógica procedimental muy dependiente de la puesta en práctica; ésta, creemos, favorece la merma de la capacidad reflexiva de los sujetos del conocimiento. Ello contribuye al afianzamiento de representaciones discriminantes con las mujeres, pasando inadvertidas para las herramientas metodológicas que el mismo enfoque ofrece a la comunidad educativa. Aquí defendemos que este enfoque toma parte fundamental de un proyecto mayor promovido por organismos internacionales, para el despliegue de un modelo ideológico neoliberal por vía de la institucionalización de una racionalidad cognoscitiva. Igualmente, denunciamos la impotencia del modelo frente a los mandatos de género, por su incapacidad para acceder a los planos en los que los significados atribuidos sociohistóricamente a mujeres y hombres devienen canónicos.

Lessons from Ricoeur’s ‘capable human being’ for practices of personalisation in three European countries

Personal budget schemes for people with disabilities are imbued with a conception of autonomous and rational individuals. The policy objective to enlarge people’s opportunities conflicts with the presumed capacity of cognitive rationality. We present an analysis of 15 social work professionals’ reflections on the practical implementation of three personal budget policies. Through a conceptualisation of ‘a capable human being’, we deepen our understanding of the social justice character of personal budget schemes. From this analysis we conclude that a strong formalisation of the application, assessment and allocation practice entails the risk that the relational aspect, which includes questions of meaningful care, is relegated to the background. ‘Being capable’ emerges as a condition for acquiring more options for meaningful care in practice, ahead of the intended contribution to people’s capacities. The continuous attention is required for autonomy in interdependency to be recognised. Points of interest Personal Budget Schemes for people with disabilities are systems that seek to achieve a socially just care system in which autonomy and control are central. Our analysis showed that people with disabilities who need any form of support during the process are granted access to a personal budget much less easily. Management of access in terms of ‘the right provision of a budget’ for ‘the right person’ has a greater weight in practice than the meaning of this access to personal budgets. This results in unequal opportunities for people in need of support in the process of getting a budget. The research recommends that involvement of social work professionals is of great importance for realising ‘good care’ for all.

A critique of Paulo Freire's perspective on human nature to inform the construction of theoretical underpinnings for research.

This article presents a critique of Paulo Freire's philosophical perspective on human nature in the context of a doctoral research study to explore "muchness" or nurses' subjective experience of well-being; and demonstrates how this critique has informed the refinement of the theoretical principles used to inform research methodology and methods. Engaging in philosophical groundwork is essential for research coherence and integrity. Through this groundwork, largely informed by Freire's critical pedagogy and his ideas on humanization, I recognized the need to clarify my understanding of the concepts of persons and personhood and how this related to Freire's use of the term human beings. This clarification process is essential to ensure congruence between the theoretical principles that I draw from his work and my beliefs about persons, personhood and person-centredness. The article begins with a brief introduction to the research, followed by an overview of Freire's philosophical perspectives, and subsequently, the critique process is presented and discussed. This process involved engaging with the vast literature and debates about what it means to be a person, to make sense of the often complex and contradictory arguments. Eventually, three headings emerged that helped me to frame my evolving understanding: Our species: human beings; The kind that we are: human nature; and This person that I am: personhood. Through this process of exploration, I recognized that Freire's perspective on human nature (a) foregrounded cognitive rationality, which presented itself as a limitation when considering my ontological beliefs and the focus of my research, leading me to drawon the work of MarkJohnson and his ideas about embodiment to help me to further develop my theoretical principles; (b) focused on the "collective" rather than individuals, which is a shortcoming in relation to person-centred research that acknowledges the uniqueness of participants.

Mesoscopic modeling as a cognitive strategy for handling complex biological systems

In this paper we aim to give an analysis and cognitive rationalization of a common practice or strategy of modeling in systems biology known as a middle-out modeling strategy. The strategy in the cases we look at is facilitated through the construction of what can be called mesoscopic models. Many models built in computational systems biology are mesoscopic (midsize) in scale. Such models lack the sufficient fidelity to serve as robust predictors of the behaviors of complex biological systems, one of the signature goals of the field. This puts some pressure on the field to provide reasons for why and how these practices are warranted despite not meeting the stated goals of the field. Using the results of ethnographic study of problem-solving practices in systems biology, we aim to examine the middle-out strategy and mesoscopic modeling in detail and to show that these practices are rational responses to complex problem solving tasks on cognitive grounds in particular. However making this claim requires us to update the standard notion of bounded rationality to take account of how human cognition is coupled to computation in these contexts. Our account fleshes out the idea that has been raised by some philosophers on the “hybrid” nature of computational modeling and simulation. What we call “coupling” both extends modelers’ capacities to handle complex systems, but also produces various cognitive and computational constraints which need to be taken into account in any computational problem solving strategy seeking to maintain insight and control over the models produced.

От натурализма к культурцентризму: неклассическая рациональность в социальном познании

От натурализма к культурцентризму: неклассическая рациональность в социальном познании