Identifying young people's guidance needs through telephone counseling.

This study examined the needs that young people in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, expressed in phone calls to a research unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred forty-five calls, from individuals 11 to 24 years old who phoned from June 1995 to November 1998, were analyzed. Two hundred ninety-four of the callers were female and 51 were male. Greater percentages of females than males called to ask about sexuality and family problems. Males more than females asked about reproductive health (particularly pregnancy) and mental health. There were significant differences by gender and age, differences that were not detected in health service statistics. The findings have implications for decision makers and health and education service providers. They point to the need for programs that will reinforce young people's good health practices and help them avoid risky behaviors.     

Helping older pedestrians navigate unknown environments through vibrotactile guidance instructions

Many studies have consistently found evidence of aging-related navigation difficulties that lead to disorientation behaviors and/or reduced travel. Despite technological advances, older pedestrians mainly use paper maps to find their way in unknown environments while they have a lot of difficulties in using and interacting with them efficiently. In this context, the present study was aimed at assessing the effectiveness and acceptability and study older pedestrian’s behavior when wearing a vibrotactile instructions to help them finding their way in an unknown city as compared with visual instructions provided by a paper map. Fifty-eight participants (20 young adults ages 21–45, 20 younger-old adults ages 61–70, and 18 older-old adults ages 71–80) took part in a simulated navigation task where participants had to go from point A to point B in a virtual city. The task was performed either with a vibrotactile wristband delivering directional messages or with a standard paper map showing the visual instructions to follow. The data showed that vibrotactile guidance instructions improved the correct numbers of turns taken (left/right) at simple intersections. They also reduced travel time as compared with visual guidance instructions provided by a paper map. These benefits were greater among the older-old participants, who had trouble using the paper map and thus benefited greatly from the assistance provided by the vibrotactile guidance instructions. These findings suggest that such an assistance device using simple haptic guidance messages is able to improve older pedestrians’ mobility.     

Visual guidance of walking through apertures: body-scaled information for affordances

A necessary condition for visually guided action is that an organism perceive what actions are afforded by a given environmental situation. Warren (1984) proposed that an affordance such as the climbability of a stairway is determined by the fit between properties of the environment and the organism and can be characterized by optimal points, where action is most comfortable or efficient, and critical points, where a phase transition to a new action occurs. Perceiving an affordance, then, implies perceiving the relation between the environment and the observer's own action system. The present study is an extension of this analysis to the visual guidance of walking through apertures. We videotaped large and small subjects walking through apertures of different widths to determine empirically the critical aperture-to-shoulder-width ratio (A/S) marking the transition from frontal walking to body rotation. These results were compared with perceptual judgments of "passability" under static and moving viewing conditions. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that such judgments are based on intrinsic or body-scaled information specifying aperture width as a ratio of the observer's eyeheight. We conclude (a) that the critical point in free walking occurs at A/S = 1.30, (b) that static monocular information is sufficient for judging passability, and (c) that the perception of passability under such conditions is based on body-scaled eyeheight information.     

Establishing linkages through international psychology: dealing with universalities and uniquenesses

This article chronicles one individual's personal odyssey toward becoming an international psychologist--and hopefully a citizen of a professional world that has no geographic borders. It is written as a narrative that is divided into chronological stages and several domains of professional activities. From each period, the main observations and lessons learned are extrapolated. It is hoped that readers who are interested in teaching, conducting workshops, and doing clinical work or research in other countries will find some of the personal reflections and professional ideas presented to be thought provoking and useful in the development of guiding principles in international psychology.     

APPROACHING ISLAM: Comparative Ethics through Human Rights

A dialogical approach to understanding Islamic ethics rejects objectivist methods in favor of a conversational model in which participants accept each other as rational moral agents. Hans-Georg Gadamer asserts the importance of agreement upon a subject matter through conversation as a means to gaining insight into other persons and cultures, and Jürgen Habermas stresses the importance of fairness in dialogue. Using human rights as a subject matter for engaging in dialogue with Islamic scholars, Muslim perspectives on issues such as democracy, toleration, and freedom of conscience emerge. A capabilities approach to human rights, such as that developed by Martha Nussbaum, enables the coexistence of multiple religious ethical visions while insisting upon the need to protect and nurture essential human abilities.     

An international comparative study of self-reported driver behavior

Using a large data base of 20,725 questionnaires from 19 European countries, this article uses a combination of factor analysis and tree based regression to determine driver groups with homogeneous self-reported behavior and determine whether regional differences in driving behaviors exist. Self-reported behavior, including speeding, reckless driving, seat belt use, and drinking and driving are examined. The results suggest that speeding and general reckless (dangerous) behavior are related, perhaps capturing a driver's “risk taking” or “pre-trip violations” behavior. Similarly, seat belt use and driving under the influence of alcohol are also related and may represent a driver's “law abiding” tendency or “during-trip violations” behavior. Further, important regional differences and similarities between European drivers are uncovered. Northern European drivers report a significantly higher compliance with drinking and driving laws and seat belt use regulations than do Southern and Eastern European drivers.     

在比较视野下的国家、灾难与秩序

国家以因大规模天灾人祸造成的社会特殊状态为起点,构建着灾难的叙事。利用灾难的"将发生"的国家,构建出"被划一整合的灾难"叙事模式;而利用灾难的"已发生"的国家,则构建出"被个别诠释的灾难"叙事模式。国家在构建灾难叙事的同时,实际也利用灾难不断构建与巩固自身的秩序。因所处状态的不同,国家有着"日常秩序"与"特殊秩序"。如果两者的联结是直接的,都隶属于一个统一体制下,那么国家秩序的构建与强化将体现在制度的覆盖性与渗透性上;如果两者的联结必须以国家的出场为前提,那么国家秩序的构建与强化则体现为政府形象得以展示与地位得以加强。作为采用"被个别诠释的灾难"叙事模式典型的中国,为了在完善自身防灾抗灾行动的同时保留自身对每次灾难的诠释空间,需要借鉴"被划一整合的灾难"叙事模式,建立"半覆盖性"的体制,并且将自身的灾难叙事发展得更为立体化与人性化。     

Psychology through international congresses: differences between regions, countries, and congresses

A published database of presentations from the seven most recent International Congresses of Applied Psychology (ICAPs) was compared to a similar but unpublished database (Adair, Anguas-Plata, Unik, & Radons, 2009) on the International Congresses of Psychology (ICPs) for the years 1996-2004. Analyses revealed phenomena characteristic of attendance at both international congresses: Participation rates spike dramatically for host countries; less dramatic regional surges in participation occur when the congress is held in a neighbouring country. Psychologists from 117 different countries participated in the seven recent congresses (ICAP and ICP) from 1994 to 2006. Overall ICP was double the size of ICAP, and represented a larger set of countries at each of its congresses. Regardless of location, most participants at both congresses came from the same 11 economically advantaged and seven majority-world countries. Congress presentations are dispersed across a much larger number of countries than are journal publications. The USA, for example, had modest 14.4% (ICAP) and 11.6% (ICP) presentation rates, much smaller than its majority share of publications (Adair, 2009 ). By contrast, the USA had the greater share of invited addresses at both ICAP (33.7%) and ICP (28.9%) congresses. Nonetheless, the majority-world countries contributing to both ICAP and ICP are clearly indicative of where the discipline is gaining strength and importance to international psychology. The emergence of Iran as a new leading national contributor to the two most recent international congresses, and the rise in the proportion of presentations by majority-world psychologists at ICAPs from only about one in five to more than one of every three presentations in recent congresses are findings consistent with Zakaria's (2008) analysis of changes taking place in the world. Within international congresses, certainly, the "rise of the rest" is changing the face of international psychology.     

Group guidance

Group guidance is an approach for providing a helping relationship to individuals in a complex and highly specialized society. Incremental guidance is offered as a method of assisting pupils to be wise decision-makers in day-to-day living and learning. This approach examines a sequentially planned program that anticipates the needs of the individual, providing aid through marginal changes and decisions.     

Face-to-face and at a distance: The mediation of guidance and counselling through the new technologies

The hitherto widely-held assumption that the counselling interaction should be conducted face-to-face, while other activities within the overall guidance process could be supported by computer, is re-examined. Recent computer-mediated information and communications technologies are reviewed, and their implications for guidance and counselling as a whole are explored. While fears are still current that human relations will be mechanised through the use of the information and communications technologies, it is contended that human relations will be changed but not necessarily diminished. Comparisons are drawn with the ways in which open and distance learning have brought a re-examination of what is understood to be a 'real' teaching interaction. It is suggested that practitioners in the fields of guidance and counselling must similarly be prepared to manage radical change.     

Visual and tactile guidance of dexterous manipulation tasks: an fMRI study

Models of motor guidance that dynamically adjust to the availability and quality of sensory information are based on the observation that dexterous tasks are routinely performed using various combinations of visual and tactile inputs. However, a dynamic neural system that acquires and processes relevant visual and tactile information remains relatively uncharacterized in humans. In this study, whole-brain functional magnetic resonance images were acquired during a dexterous manipulation task, compression of the end caps of a slender spring prone to buckling, to investigate the neural systems associated with motor guidance under four visual and tactile guidance conditions: (1) eyes closed (no visual input), smooth end caps, (2) eyes dosed, rough end caps, (3) eyes open and watching hand, smooth end caps, and (4) eyes open and watching hand, rough end caps. Performance of the dexterous task remained constant in all conditions. Variations in the two levels of visual input resulted in modulation of activity in the middle and inferior occipital gyrii and inferior parietal lobule, and variation in the two levels of tactile input during the task resulted in modulation of activity in the precentral (primary motor) gyrus. Although significantly active in all conditions, cingulate gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and cerebellum activities were not modulated by levels of either visual or somatosensory input, and no interaction effects were observed. Together, these data indicate that a fine-tuned motor task guided by varying visual and tactile information engages a distributed and integrated neural complex consisting of control and executive functions and regions that process dynamic sensory information related to guidance functions.     

Comparative clinicogenetic study of schizophrenic psychoses

The author diagnoses 350 carefully selected schizophrenic subjects, their parents and their siblings during parallel studies using three different clinical classification systems and analyzes the results by multiple threshold analysis and the multifactorial inheritance model. The results suggest that, of the three classifications the author studied, Leonhard's and Sneshnewski's system yield relatively homogeneous subgroups; this indicates the future significance of these nosological systems for the planning of biopsychiatric research.     

Undergraduates' perceptions and evaluations of career guidance activities: A Hong Kong study

There have been several research studies in Britain and Australia into the usefulness of different career guidance activities. Similar issues are examined in a study of 493 undergraduates at City University of Hong Kong. The results demonstrate that the uses of counselling services have been perceived rather narrowly and instrumentally. Career guidance activities which are perceived as 'tools' for practical or immediate help have been under-utilised. The five most popular career guidance activities are characterised as being specific in content, information-based, externally focused, and structured in process. In examining the results within the context of Chinese culture, it is suggested that counselling processes which help the students engage in more self-exploration and self-discovery can be encouraged.     

Good-enough attentional guidance

Theories of attention posit that attentional guidance operates on information held in a target template within memory. The template is often thought to contain veridical target features, akin to a photograph, and to guide attention to objects that match the exact target features. However, recent evidence suggests that attentional guidance is highly flexible and often guided by non-veridical features, a subset of features, or only associated features. We integrate these findings and propose that attentional guidance maximizes search efficiency based on a 'good-enough' principle to rapidly localize candidate target objects. Candidates are then serially interrogated to make target-match decisions using more precise information. We suggest that good-enough guidance optimizes the speed–accuracy–effort trade-offs inherent in each stage of visual search.