Being Close and Being Social: Peer Ratings of Distinct Aspects of Young Adult Social Competence

Adaptation to contact lenses was chosen as a paradigm for a process of adjustment to self-selected stress. It was hypothesized that a tendency to cope actively with novel and complex situations is needed for success in adapting to this type of situation. Forty women, ages 16 to 33, before receiving contact lenses for cosmetic reasons, were administered the Shanan Sentence Completion Test, the Petrie experiment and a questionnaire. Two months later, objective symptoms, subjective complaints and feelings about adaptation and results were assessed. A significant positive relationship was found between the tendency to cope actively and success (number of hours wearing time per day). General positive motivation for self-realization in relation to people and for constructive activity was highly correlated with success, whereas situation specific motivation was not. Ss who tended to decrease stimulation on the Petrie experiment were more successful than those who “augmented.” The relevance of these findings for a theory of coping behavior and its assessment was discussed.     

对中国宗教及其积极社会功能的正面认识

本文为2011年度中国宗教研究五十人论坛的命题文章,仅对中国宗教及其积极的社会功能作正面探讨。限于篇幅,简要探讨了什么是中国宗教,中国宗教三元并存的格局,中国宗教的包容风格,中国宗教的组织原则,中国宗教扮演的经济角色,中国宗教是多神教,中国人宗教信仰的功利性等问题。     

Formulation of Policy and Strategy in Developing Creativity Education in Four Asian Chinese Societies: A Policy Analysis

The present study sought to compare and contrast educational policies on creativity education in four Asian Chinese societies, namely mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. It establishes five criteria on creativity education policy, including policies regarding legislation on creativity education, definitions of creativity, standard implementation, explicit identification of special populations of creative students, and creativity education in the community. Among the four societies, Taiwan has an official document — the White Paper on Creative Education published in 2003 — whereas in Hong Kong and Singapore, creativity has been identified as an ability to be nurtured in students of all levels in their national curriculum reform. In mainland China, innovation is regarded as a synonym for creativity. Definitions of creativity have at times not been clearly defined, although multiple levels of creativity development (individual, school, societal, industrial, and cultural) have been discussed in Taiwan. In Hong Kong, creativity has been defined as a generic skill in various key learning areas (e.g., language education, mathematics education, science education, etc.) in the school curriculum. In Singapore, creativity is a learning outcome to be developed in students. None of these societies use standard creativity assessment tests as evidence of creative competence in students. When creativity has entered the central stage in the curriculum reform and creativity education is made available to every student, efforts have been made to identify highly creative students and provide them enrichment opportunities, mainly using performance assessments and performance in creativity competitions in these societies. But mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore do not sufficiently emphasize creativity education in the larger community.     

Being Admired or Being Liked: Classroom Social Status and Depressive Problems in Early Adolescent Girls and Boys

This study investigates associations between depressive problems and classroom social status in a large population cohort of Dutch early adolescents (N = 1046, age 13.52 +/- 0.51, 52.4% girls). Depressive problems were assessed by parent and self-reports and classroom status by peer nominations. We assessed peer status with respect to both achievement-related (being a good learner, being good at sports, being good-looking) and affection-related (being liked, being disliked, being best friend) areas. In boys, depressive problems were most strongly associated with not being good at sports, while in girls the association was strongest for not being liked. The risk of a low status in one area could largely be compensated by a high status in another area.     

促进社会和谐是中国宗教的历史传统与前进方向

<正>中共中央政治局常委、全国政协主席贾庆林在2月8日与全国性宗教团体负责人座谈时指出,要全面贯彻党的宗教工作基本方针,紧紧抓住服务科学发展和促进社会和谐两大任务,     

The Social Integration of Practitioners of Non-Western Religions in the United States

Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus have become an increasingly significant part of American religion in recent years. Yet scholarship on these groups has been limited largely to case studies and qualitative observations. We analyze data from a large national survey that permits comparisons among Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and Christians. The data reveal that members of non-Western religions in the United States resemble Jews in having notably higher socioeconomic status than Christians. They resemble the rest of the population on other measures of actual or potential social integration, including political knowledge, generalized trust, neighborhood contacts, and interreligious ties. However, low levels of voting, a tendency to express feelings of alienation, and fewer connections with community elites suggest a continuing lack of political integration.     

To Value and Address Diversity: From Policy to Practice

A basic assumption of Target 3 of the National Agenda is that the rates of identification, placement, and achievement of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) are strongly correlated with dimensions of diversity, such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and culture. A related assumption is that culturally competent and linguistically appropriate exchanges and collaborations among families, professionals, students, and communities will enable our school systems to achieve better educational outcomes for all children, including those with SED. We discuss these assumptions in the context of current policies and suggest ways of translating these policies into practices.     

Pathways to Housing Policy: Translating Research to Policy to Achieve Impact on Well Being

Policy emerges from the legislative, agency, and practice levels and from several pathways, including litigation; high profile or tragic events; community‐based service provision and practice innovations; and research evidence. This commentary places an emphasis throughout on discussions of the articles included in this issue. It explores pathways that influenced the development of housing policy targeting child and family well being and provides examples to illustrate each pathway. The article further highlights how research on housing and child well being has influenced policy and practice and notes gaps for further research. It concludes with suggestions for structuring research to more effectively assist policymakers to make informed decisions that achieve positive change for children, youth, and families.     

Intelligence Tests and Social Policy

Snyderman, M., & Herrnstein, R.J. (1983). Intelligence tests and the Immigration Act of 1924. American Psychologist, 38, 986–995.     

Family Bereavement and Cultural Diversity: A Social Developmental Perspective

This article offers an integrative, interdisciplinary model of bereavement as a family developmental process that unfolds in cultural context. A critique of cultural assumptions highlights the culture-bound nature of prevailing North American practices, which view grief as an isolated individual experience and emphasize detachment from the dead as a way to promote recovery. Death and grief precipitate two kinds of family change, both guided by culture yet uniquely experienced and interpreted by individual families: 1) recreating the family without a key family member; but capable of coping with both existing and new tasks; and 2) incorporating the death into an ongoing but irrevocably altered family life-cycle developmental process. In supporting family change after a death, family therapists need to collaborate with grieving families in examining the goodness of fit between their unique circumstances and the bereavement expectations of their community and culture. Four case examples are presented, two of which will apply this social developmental model to emphasize transformations of attachment to the deceased — rather than detachment — that will support the ongoing family development of grieving families.     

Close Social Ties,Socioeconomic Diversity and Social Capital in US Congregations

This paper explores how various types of in-church close social ties of worshipers, socio-economic homogeneity of congregations and sociodemographic characteristics of their geographical locations affect worshipers’ bonding social capital (church-related volunteer participation) and bridging social capital (civic participation outside of church), by using the 2001 USCLS data. Close-social ties index determines various combinations of attending with close friends, children, and/or spouse. Congregational homogeneity levels are measured by looking at the race, income, age and education of churchgoers. Neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics include percentages of urban population and the proportion of racial minorities. Findings indicate that each type and composition of close social ties affect bonding and bridging social capital in different ways. Bonding social capital is the highest when worshipers attend together with their spouses, children and close friends. Bridging social capital is the highest when they attend with both spouses and close friends, but it starts to decline after the inclusion of children as the third type of tie. Race and income homogeneity foster church-related participation. Age and education homogeneity negatively affects church-related volunteerism but fosters civic participation outside. Only bonding social capital is affected by neighborhood-level factors. Higher proportions of racial minorities in neighborhoods increase church-related participation.     

Social Predictors of Business Student Cheating Behaviour in Chinese Societies

Cheating is a serious issue among business students worldwide. However, research investigating the social factors that may help prevent cheating in Chinese higher education is rare. The present study examined two key social relationship factors of perceived teacher-student relationships and peer relationships by the students. It attempted to build a model which addressed the effects of two variables on Chinese business students’ cheating behaviour: the teacher’s approachability and the relationship goal of the students. Two important social influence factors were also tested as mediators: neutralizing attitudes and perceived cheating norms of the students. A student survey was conducted with 1329 questionnaires collected. The results showed the negative effects of both social relationship variables on cheating, and that their effects were fully mediated by neutralizing attitudes. Moreover, perceived cheating norms fully mediated the effect of the teacher’s approachability, but not so for the relationship goal of the students. This study provided novel insights and recommendations for promoting academic integrity in Chinese business schools and universities.     

Methods for Influencing Social Policy: The Role of Social Experiments

Research methods in community psychology have grown more diverse since the Swampscott conference, but rigorous social experiments maintain a place among the multiplicity of methods that can promote community psychology values. They are particularly influential in policy circles. Two examples of social experiments to end homelessness for different populations illustrate their role. Both studies show that offering extremely poor and disenfranchised people autonomy and the resources they seek works better than “helping” them to overcome deficits in ways designed by well‐meaning service providers. Experiments are neither the first nor the last method community psychologists should employ, but are a critical part of the field's armamentarium for systems change.     

大数据社会治理研究的理论进展与政策堕距分析

社会治理主要表现为体制和政策的调整。政策的稳定性和创新性既是明确社会治理方向的条件,也是提高社会治理水平的指导。本文在对国内外大数据社会治理研究经验展开充分分析的基础上,以现实问题为例,运用内容分析和语义关系分析细致呈现了现有政策与公众期望之间的差距,以期在政策堕距的分析中总结大数据社会治理的经验。     

基督教社群中的"马大现象"及其社会学根源--以四川南充地区教会为考察对象

本文试图通过田野调查取得的第一手资料 ,对基督教社群中妇女信徒的年龄知识结构进行分析 ,并进而阐述这一现象的社会根源和意义。作者的结论是 ,基督教社群女性多的现象并不表明其单一性和封闭性 ,而是在这背后隐藏着社会伦理方面的功能与意义。