Blaine J Fowers
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 112303 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Blaine J Fowers |
| PRENOMES | Blaine J |
| SOBRENOME | Fowers |
| ASSINATURA | FOWERS B J |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Miami |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2606-5622 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 46 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 136 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 46 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1991 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
How Philosophy can Contribute to Developing a Science of Virtue
Contributions of neo-Aristotelian phronesis to ethical medical practice
Phronesis as moral decathlon
Phronesis or practical wisdom–Aristotle’s intellectual meta-virtue of discernment, deliberation, and arbitration–is undergoing a revival. Yet phronesis enthusiasts have recently been experiencing blowback both from philosophers and psychologists who think that phronesis has been given an inflated role in recent theorizing and that the functions it is meant to perform can more readily and parsimoniously be accorded to less complex–and better resea…
Endorsing Research on the Aristotelian Phronesis Model
I am delighted to have the opportunity to comment on the forthcoming publication by Villacís and Vaccarezza (2024) regarding their suggestions for continuing research on the Aristotelian Phronesis Model (APM), proposed by Kristjánsson and his colleagues (Darnell et al., 2019, 2022; Kristjánsson et al., 2023; Kristjánsson and Fowers, 2024). I could not agree more with their conclusion that “there seem to be more aspects in the blueprint function t…
Phronesis
A diverse bandwagon of academics is working with and celebrating the notion of phronesis, or 'practical wisdom', as a metacognitive capacity, guiding morally aspirational cognition and action. However, this new phronesis discourse is characterized by frequently unrecognized tensions, lacunae, and ambivalences. The book has five main aims: (1) to set the recently surging interest in phronesis (practical wisdom) in Psychology, Philosophy, Professio…
Cultural Variation in Flourishing
Exploring shared identity theory as an expanded conceptualization of Alzheimer's caregiving
Informal caregivers provide critical support to the growing population of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). To assist caregivers, researchers' dominant theoretical model has been a stress and coping approach for nearly four decades. Although the stress and coping approach is appropriate for many caregivers, it may be too narrow a lens for understanding caregivers who are primarily focused on maintaining …
Introduction to the special issue
Increasing divisiveness and prejudicial conflict in Western societies has accelerated interest in convincing moral knowledge. Although social science is a natural place to seek answers, these sciences are hindered by academic siloing. Moral education has also been distant from most research on morality, limiting both groups’ contributions. The new Network for Research on Morality (NRM) addresses these needs by cultivating a cohesive, cumulative b…
Social science as an inherently moral endeavor
The purpose of this paper is to argue that social science is an inherently moral enterprise. There are four reasons to see science as a moral endeavor based on the neo-Aristotelian recognition that morality is centered on human goods (e.g., justice and knowledge), not just right action. First, science is guided by epistemic values (e.g., accuracy, transparency) and underwritten by pro-science traits (e.g., honesty, patience). Second, the outcomes…
Beyond an abstract and technical conception of psychotherapy
The work of psychotherapy is complex and seems to resist algorithmic formulation. Psychotherapy theory, technique, and research help to manage this complexity to some degree, but clinical excellence also seems to require clinical judgment, and this judgment cuts across therapeutic theories. However, the content and process of clinical judgment remain relatively untheorized, often relegated to the “art of psychotherapy.” This article focuses on el…
Empathy and authenticity online
OBJECTIVES: Research suggests that the Internet could be considered an arena for both virtuous and vicious behaviors, with observations of enhanced perspective-taking and honest self-reflections occurring alongside evidence of cyberbullying and deceptive communications. In the current study, we explore the role of three widely recognized sources of moral behavior-moral identity, moral disengagement, and authoritative parenting-in predicting adole…
Phronesis (Practical Wisdom) as a Type of Contextual Integrative Thinking
Coinciding with the recent psychological attention paid to the broad topic of wisdom, interest in the intellectual virtue of phronesis or practical wisdom has been burgeoning within pockets of psychology, philosophy, professional ethics, and education. However, these discourses are undercut by frequently unrecognized tensions, lacunae, ambivalences, misapplications, and paradoxes. While a recent attempt at conceptualizing the phronesis construct …
The Emerging Science of Virtue
Numerous scholars have claimed that positive ethical traits such as virtues are important in human psychology and behavior. Psychologists have begun to test these claims. The scores of studies on virtue do not yet constitute a mature science of virtue because of unresolved theoretical and methods challenges. In this article, we addressed those challenges by clarifying how virtue research relates to prosocial behavior, positive psychology, and per…
A Goal‐Theoretic Framework for Parental Screen‐Time Monitoring Behavior
Children's screen time (i.e., time spent using computers, televisions, mobile devices) has rapidly increased with the development of mobile technology, and this increase has become a matter of serious concern for teachers, parents, family life educators, psychologists, and other health professionals. High usage rates (more than 2 hours per day) have been associated with low‐quality sleep, language acquisition difficulties, and attentional problem…
Lifestyle behaviors, psychological distress, and well-being
An exploratory study of friendship characteristics and their relations with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being
Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily relate…
Perceived post-traumatic growth may not reflect actual positive change
Romantic relationship breakups induce significant distress, which has prompted interest in the possibility of post-traumatic growth (PTG) following relationship dissolution. However, most studies have relied on retrospective self-reports of growth, raising questions about the actuality of growth following breakup. This prospective study assessed relationship quality prior to breakup, measured growth over time, included a comparison group that did…
To what degree do situational influences explain spontaneous helping behaviour? A meta-analysis
The Evolution of Ethics
In this ground-breaking book, Aristotelian and evolutionary understandings of human social nature are brought together to provide an integrative, psychological account of human ethics. The book emphas
Beyond Harms
Wendt, Gone, and Nagata raise some very important questions about harm in psychotherapy and initiate a valuable dialogue between scholars of potentially harmful therapy and multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. This comment enlarges upon the authors’ view that harms cannot be understood independently of goods by providing an argument that goods have an inherent place in psychotherapy and in multicultural viewpoints. The goods of psychothera…
The evolution of ethics
The profound reinterpretation of human nature wrought by evolutionary theory deeply challenges standard approaches to ethics. In this ground-breaking book, Aristotelian and evolutionary understandings of human social nature are brought together to provide an integrative, psychological account of human ethics. Fowers explores seven domains of sociality -- attachment, intersubjectivity, imitation, cooperation, social norms, group membership, and so…
Reports of the death of aspiration have been indeed much exaggerated
In their recent article, Williams and Gantt (2013) make the provocative claim that the only way to account for human aspiration is to recognize the existence of an eternal soul. Although it is possible to argue for such a position, their exposition is plagued by unsubstantiated assertions, false dichotomies, straw-person arguments, appeals to authority, and disregard for large psychological literatures related to their claims. These problematic f…
Instrumentalism and Psychology
This article explores the pervasive, but insufficiently examined assumption of instrumental rationality in psychology. Instrumental rationality has five characteristics: there is a sharp separation between means and ends; ends are subjective preferences and means are strategies or tools; the effectiveness of means is central; means are dispensable when ineffective; and actors are independent of the means. Psychology’s almost exclusive reliance on…
A Eudaimonic Theory of Marital Quality
This article explores a eudaimonic approach (a focus on human flourishing) for its value in enriching marital quality theory. Spouses' marital satisfaction is reinterpreted as the match between their actual marriage and their marital goals. Goal pursuit is proposed as a primary area of assessment and research in marital quality. Two dimensions of goal pursuit are highlighted. First is a continuum ranging from individually attainable goals to shar…
Social Dominance and Sexual Self-Schema as Moderators of Sexist Reactions to Female Subtypes
His and her marriage
Biculturalism, Differentness, Loneliness, and Alienation in Hispanic College Students
A multivariate framework was used to explore relationships among biculturalism, differentness, loneliness, and alienation in Hispanic college students. A diathesis-stress hypothesis predicted biculturalism would buffer feelings of loneliness and alienation resulting from feelings of differentness in Hispanic college students in a bicultural context. In a sample of 138 undergraduate Hispanic students, there was an inverse relationship between bicu…
A Eudaimonic Theory of Marital Quality
This article explores a eudaimonic approach (a focus on human flourishing) for its value in enriching marital quality theory. Spouses' marital satisfaction is reinterpreted as the match between their actual marriage and their marital goals. Goal pursuit is proposed as a primary area of assessment and research in marital quality. Two dimensions of goal pursuit are highlighted. First is a continuum ranging from individually attainable goals to shar…
An exploratory study of friendship characteristics and their relations with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being
Friendships are an important source of happiness, well-being, physical health, and longevity. Researchers have often linked unidimensional friendship quality to life satisfaction and positive affect, which are hedonic forms of well-being. Aristotle presented an expanded view of friendship with three general characteristics: Utility, Pleasure, and Virtue. Following his theory, we expected Pleasure and Utility characteristics to be primarily relate…
Social Dominance and Sexual Self-Schema as Moderators of Sexist Reactions to Female Subtypes
Similarities and Differences in Relational Boundaries among Heterosexuals, Gay Men, and Lesbians
This study investigated the relative contributions of gender and sexual orientation as factors associated with the formation of boundaries in dyadic intimate relating in both same- and opposite-sex couples. The study examined a relational pattern previously not empirically investigated but widely accepted as an actuality unique to lesbians; specifically, that lesbians tend to remain connected to ex-serious-relationship partners after breakup. The…
Lifestyle behaviors, psychological distress, and well-being
Psychology and the Good Marriage
The traditional social science separation of the objective and subjective, of fact and value, is increasingly untenable. Social scientists have concerned themselves with crucial matters that cannot be neatly partitioned into neutral facts and personal investments. The deep concerns among scientists, therapists, and the public about the fragility of marriage is one prominent example. There is a remarkable consensus among professionals and the publ…
Perceived post-traumatic growth may not reflect actual positive change
Romantic relationship breakups induce significant distress, which has prompted interest in the possibility of post-traumatic growth (PTG) following relationship dissolution. However, most studies have relied on retrospective self-reports of growth, raising questions about the actuality of growth following breakup. This prospective study assessed relationship quality prior to breakup, measured growth over time, included a comparison group that did…
Interpretive Social Science
Mainstream social sciences in the 20th century have always been highly fragmented, with considerable isolation among disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and political science and many disconnected islands of theory and research pursued within each field. Today, even more fundamental epistemological questions about the nature of human action or social life and the proper way to explain or understand it are hotly debated and remain quite unr…
Do Marital Conventionalization Scales Measure a Social Desirability Response Bias? A Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Blaine J. Fowers, Brooks Applegate, Do Marital Conventionalization Scales Measure a Social Desirability Response Bias? A Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Feb., 1995), pp. 237-241
Phronesis
A diverse bandwagon of academics is working with and celebrating the notion of phronesis, or 'practical wisdom', as a metacognitive capacity, guiding morally aspirational cognition and action. However, this new phronesis discourse is characterized by frequently unrecognized tensions, lacunae, and ambivalences. The book has five main aims: (1) to set the recently surging interest in phronesis (practical wisdom) in Psychology, Philosophy, Professio…
The Unbearable Lightness of Positive Illusions
Recent scholarship suggests that positive illusions about one's partner are normal in satisfying intimate relationships. Researchers have relied on the logical argument that agreement with extremely favorable evaluations of one's partner constitutes a positive illusion. Engaged individuals were asked to explain their responses to a measure of positive illusions (Idealistic Distortion scale) to examine whether their accounts were consistent with t…
Social Inquiry
Exploring shared identity theory as an expanded conceptualization of Alzheimer's caregiving
Informal caregivers provide critical support to the growing population of individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). To assist caregivers, researchers' dominant theoretical model has been a stress and coping approach for nearly four decades. Although the stress and coping approach is appropriate for many caregivers, it may be too narrow a lens for understanding caregivers who are primarily focused on maintaining …
Beyond Harms
Wendt, Gone, and Nagata raise some very important questions about harm in psychotherapy and initiate a valuable dialogue between scholars of potentially harmful therapy and multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. This comment enlarges upon the authors’ view that harms cannot be understood independently of goods by providing an argument that goods have an inherent place in psychotherapy and in multicultural viewpoints. The goods of psychothera…
Positive marital illusions and culture
This study investigated the degree to which positive illusions about one's spouse and marriage are a universal feature of human cognitions about marriage or are culturally moderated. Positive marital illusions were compared across three samples (49 American spouses, 58 Turkish spouses in nonconsanguineous marriages, and 56 Turkish spouses in consanguineous marriages). Positive illusions were assessed by comparing positive and negative trait ratin…
Reason and Human Finitude
Phronesis, or practical wisdom, is central to virtue ethics because choosing the best course of action cannot be reduced to an algorithm. Phronesis is the capacity to make wise decisions regarding which virtues are called for in particular circumstances and the best way to enact those virtues. This article highlights three components of practical wisdom: moral perception, deliberation, and choice. Admirable actions are characterized by perceiving…
His and her marriage
Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale
This article presents reliability and validity data for the 15-item ENRICH (evaluation and nurturing relationship issues, communication and happiness) Marital Satisfaction (EMS) Scale. The scale was found to be reliable and to have strong correlations with other measures of marital satisfaction and moderate relationships with measures of family satisfaction and consideration of divorce. The EMS Scale offers an important alternative to researchers…
Social Science, Ideology and Confusing One's Beliefs with Facts
Huesmann's assertion that his cognitive theory of aggression is a straightforward reflection of human reality is challenged as a confusion of objectivist and liberal individualist ideologies with facts. A hermeneutic alternative is suggested, within which human activity is understood in terms of intersubjective conventions and standards rather than being determined by natural laws. From this viewpoint, Huesmann's distinction between facts and val…
Individualism and Aggression
A number of writers have expressed concern that much psychological theory and research may be critically shaped by a `disguised ideology'. This thesis will be explored by examining the tacit ideological underpinnings of the cognitive theory of aggression proposed by Huesmann, Eron and their colleagues. This work appears to be infused with unacknowledged liberal individualist or philosophical liberal assumptions which portray humans as more or les…
Do Marital Conventionalization Scales Measure a Social Desirability Response Bias? A Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Blaine J. Fowers, Brooks Applegate, Do Marital Conventionalization Scales Measure a Social Desirability Response Bias? A Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Feb., 1995), pp. 237-241
Why is multiculturalism good?
Individualism, Family Ideology and Family Therapy
This paper examines the ethical aims of family therapy and its relationship to the ideals of contemporary culture. Although family therapy has defined itself in part by rejecting an individualistic view of persons, it appears to have adopted a normative ideal for families that is tightly bound up with modern individualism. The modern nuclear family is a crucial support for individual autonomy in contemporary society through its provision of a pri…
Why is multiculturalism good
A second invitation to dialogue
A second invitation to dialogue
Biculturalism, Differentness, Loneliness, and Alienation in Hispanic College Students
A multivariate framework was used to explore relationships among biculturalism, differentness, loneliness, and alienation in Hispanic college students. A diathesis-stress hypothesis predicted biculturalism would buffer feelings of loneliness and alienation resulting from feelings of differentness in Hispanic college students in a bicultural context. In a sample of 138 undergraduate Hispanic students, there was an inverse relationship between bicu…
Psychology and the Good Marriage
The traditional social science separation of the objective and subjective, of fact and value, is increasingly untenable. Social scientists have concerned themselves with crucial matters that cannot be neatly partitioned into neutral facts and personal investments. The deep concerns among scientists, therapists, and the public about the fragility of marriage is one prominent example. There is a remarkable consensus among professionals and the publ…
Interpretive Social Science
Mainstream social sciences in the 20th century have always been highly fragmented, with considerable isolation among disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and political science and many disconnected islands of theory and research pursued within each field. Today, even more fundamental epistemological questions about the nature of human action or social life and the proper way to explain or understand it are hotly debated and remain quite unr…
Social Inquiry
The Unbearable Lightness of Positive Illusions
Recent scholarship suggests that positive illusions about one's partner are normal in satisfying intimate relationships. Researchers have relied on the logical argument that agreement with extremely favorable evaluations of one's partner constitutes a positive illusion. Engaged individuals were asked to explain their responses to a measure of positive illusions (Idealistic Distortion scale) to examine whether their accounts were consistent with t…
Reason and Human Finitude
Phronesis, or practical wisdom, is central to virtue ethics because choosing the best course of action cannot be reduced to an algorithm. Phronesis is the capacity to make wise decisions regarding which virtues are called for in particular circumstances and the best way to enact those virtues. This article highlights three components of practical wisdom: moral perception, deliberation, and choice. Admirable actions are characterized by perceiving…
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
Positive illusions appear to be an important component of close relationships, including romantic and parenting relationships. Previous research suggests that parents hold unrealistically positive perceptions about their children, but it is unclear whether these illusions develop as a result of a biological tie or of adopting the parental role. This study investigated the source of positive parental illusions by examining whether stepparents enga…
Virtue and psychology
"Virtue and Psychology: Pursuing Excellence in Ordinary Practices issues a clarion call for psychologists and other mental health professionals to recognize the reality of virtue in social interaction. Virtues are character strengths - such as generosity, loyalty, and honesty - that make it possible for people to pursue worthwhile goals." "The author explores the current terrain of psychology, a field that actively avoids discussion of virtue whi…
Similarities and Differences in Relational Boundaries among Heterosexuals, Gay Men, and Lesbians
This study investigated the relative contributions of gender and sexual orientation as factors associated with the formation of boundaries in dyadic intimate relating in both same- and opposite-sex couples. The study examined a relational pattern previously not empirically investigated but widely accepted as an actuality unique to lesbians; specifically, that lesbians tend to remain connected to ex-serious-relationship partners after breakup. The…
From Continence to Virtue
Character is central to positive psychology's efforts to understand and promote human flourishing. Despite the importance of character and ubiquitous references to Aristotle, virtue theory remains underdeveloped in positive psychology. This article elaborates three key aspects of virtue ethics for understanding flourishing: goodness, the unity of character, and character types. Positive psychologists have not developed a substantial concept of wh…
Positive marital illusions and culture
This study investigated the degree to which positive illusions about one's spouse and marriage are a universal feature of human cognitions about marriage or are culturally moderated. Positive marital illusions were compared across three samples (49 American spouses, 58 Turkish spouses in nonconsanguineous marriages, and 56 Turkish spouses in consanguineous marriages). Positive illusions were assessed by comparing positive and negative trait ratin…
Social Dominance and Sexual Self-Schema as Moderators of Sexist Reactions to Female Subtypes
Instrumentalism and Psychology
This article explores the pervasive, but insufficiently examined assumption of instrumental rationality in psychology. Instrumental rationality has five characteristics: there is a sharp separation between means and ends; ends are subjective preferences and means are strategies or tools; the effectiveness of means is central; means are dispensable when ineffective; and actors are independent of the means. Psychology’s almost exclusive reliance on…
A Eudaimonic Theory of Marital Quality
This article explores a eudaimonic approach (a focus on human flourishing) for its value in enriching marital quality theory. Spouses' marital satisfaction is reinterpreted as the match between their actual marriage and their marital goals. Goal pursuit is proposed as a primary area of assessment and research in marital quality. Two dimensions of goal pursuit are highlighted. First is a continuum ranging from individually attainable goals to shar…
Reports of the death of aspiration have been indeed much exaggerated
In their recent article, Williams and Gantt (2013) make the provocative claim that the only way to account for human aspiration is to recognize the existence of an eternal soul. Although it is possible to argue for such a position, their exposition is plagued by unsubstantiated assertions, false dichotomies, straw-person arguments, appeals to authority, and disregard for large psychological literatures related to their claims. These problematic f…
Psychology (40 obras) · Social Psychology (31 obras) · Epistemology (27 obras) · Sociology (26 obras) · Philosophy (20 obras) · Social Psychology (14 obras) · Developmental psychology (12 obras) · Political science (12 obras) · Law (10 obras) · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment (10 obras)