Becoming Transdisciplinary: The Emergence of the Transdisciplinary Individual

This article develops the idea of becoming a transdisciplinary individual, and begins by tracing the origins and contemporary currents of transdisciplinarity (from 1972 to present day). Using Nicolescu's earlier concept of a transdisciplinary attitude as an intellectual springboard, this article explores the traits of individuals involved in transdisciplinary projects. Emergent from the literature are four overarching dimensions of understanding what is entailed in becoming and being a transdisciplinary individual: (a) an appreciation of an array of skills, characteristics, and personality traits aligned with a transdisciplinary attitude; (b) acceptance of the idea that transdisciplinary individuals are intellectual risk takers and institutional transgressors; (c) insights into the nuances of transdisciplinary practice and attendant virtues; (d) a respect for the role of creative inquiry, cultural diversity, and cultural relativism. More research is needed on the subjective and embodied experiences of transdisciplinary participants; that is, how they become transdisciplinary individuals.     

Individual Differences in Attitude-Behavior Consistency: The Prediction of Contraceptive Behavior

A model of individual differences that moderate attitude-behavior consistency was developed and tested in the context of predicting use consistency of the diaphragm. Variables hypothesized to moderate the attitude-behavior relationship included reactions to major life changes, the attitudes and opinions of others, sexual interest, locus of control, and the perceived susceptibility to pregnancy. Attitudes were conceptualized in terms of a Relative Contraceptive Utility (RCU), which was defined as the difference between the attitude toward the diaphragm and the attitude toward becoming pregnant. Women (N = 110) who attended family planning clinics in the New York Qty area and who used the diaphragm for an 8-month period were interviewed in the context of a 3-wave panel design. A threshold function between RCU and behavior was observed, such that when RCU was above an empirically derived cutoff, women tended to use the diaphragm consistently over an 8-month period. For women with RCUs below the cutoff, attitudes were unrelated to behavior. Inconsistency of diaphragm use for these latter women was best predicted by negative reactions to close friends' experiences with the diaphragm, low levels of perceived susceptibility to pregnancy, alcohol consumption, concern about becoming too old to have children, a preference for nonromantic sex, and the partner's unwillingness to refrain from sex if the women was not prepared.     

The Partner-Specific Investment Inventory: An Evolutionary Approach to Individual Differences in Investment

This research advances an evolution-based model of the function and content of investment in romantic relationships. In developing this model, theory testing has proceeded concurrently with the validation of a multidimensional measure of partner-specific investment (PSI). Ten strategies of investment were identified through factor analysis and scaled to form the PSI Inventory. These scales form a diverse set of investment measures that are reasonably independent, internally consistent, and reliable across raters. Both gender and sociosexual orientation predict use of specific PSI strategies. Overall PSI scores correlate positively with partner's feelings of love and felt security in the relationship, correlate negatively with degree of sexualizing of others by partner, and do not correlate with the self's performance of mate retention behaviors. It is concluded that the PSI Inventory possesses adequate psychometric properties and satisfactory convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity, thus suggesting that it constitutes a viable means of assessing individual differences in investment. These investigations show how a multidimensional, adaptationist approach to investment can further our understanding of these individual differences.     

Examining Individual Differences in Social Reward Valuation: a Person-Based Approach

Social reward refers to the motivational and pleasurable aspects of our interactions with other people. While some people experience social encounters as pleasurable, others experience them as aversive. However, the current knowledge on individual differences in social reward valuation in relation to pro- and antisocial personality characteristics is limited. The Social Reward Questionnaire (SRQ) was developed to assess individual differences in the value of different types of social rewards. First, the present study examined the validity and reliability of the Dutch version of the SRQ in a Dutch and Flemish community sample (N?=?1892). Second, using latent profile analysis (LPA), it was investigated whether subgroups of participants existed with distinctive patterns of social reward valuation, and whether these subgroups differed in their level of psychopathic traits, aggression, and social anxiety. The results confirmed the original six-factor structure and showed good reliability and validity. The LPA identified four classes of individuals, labelled as: Low Social Interest, High Social Interest, Undifferentiated Social Reward-seekers, and Socially Cruel. These classes were further typified by distinct levels of psychopathy, reactive and proactive aggression, and social anxiety. The present findings contribute to our understanding of individual variability in the underlying motives of social behaviors.

     

A Classroom-Based Physical Activity Intervention for Elementary Student On-Task Behavior

Few youths engage in the recommended amount of physical activity (PA). Many educators have concerns about increasing PA in schools, including taking time from academics, though studies show that school-based PA can be beneficial to academics. This study extends previous research on the relationship between school-based PA and time on task (TOT) by engaging students in teacher-led PA breaks in the classroom and observing students' on-task behavior for a longer period than previous studies. A third-grade class of 23 students from a rural New England public school was observed as part of a single-subject withdrawal design study. The class, therefore, served as its own control. Student on-task behavior was observed for 45 min following both inactive and active conditions using systematic direct observation procedures. The intervention consisted of 10 min of whole-body movement: 1–2 min of warm-ups, 6–8 min of moderate PA, and 1–2 min of cool-downs. Multiple measures of effect indicate that simple, 10-min, breaks for PA can improve TOT rates among elementary students. This study supports the use of brief breaks for PA to improve student TOT while also indicating that the effects persist for at least 45 min. This is valuable to educators who wish to increase TOT with a simple classroom intervention and for those who wish to help students meet the recommended amount of daily PA.     

Individual Differences in Exploration: A Replication and Extension

Under this heading appear summaries of studies which, to 500 words or less, provide useful data substantiating, not substantiating, or refining what we think we know. Additional details concerning the results can be obtained by communicating directly with the investigator or, when indicated, by requesting supplementary material from Microfiche Publications.     

A Really Big Picture View of Social Intelligence

This study examined the validity of the Clinical Perfectionism Questionnaire (CPQ; Fairburn, Cooper, &; Shafran, 2003) in a nonclinical sample of 61 men and 182 women. Consistent with expectations, we found that scores on the CPQ were positively associated with scores on common measures of maladjustment, namely, depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and stress. In addition, results from regression analyses indicated that the CPQ accounted for additional variance in each of the 3 indexes of maladjustment beyond what was accounted for by multidimensional perfectionism and negative affectivity. Accordingly, our findings provide promising support for the validity of the CPQ in a nonclinical population.     

Genes in Context: Gene–Environment Interplay and the Origins of Individual Differences in Behavior

ABSTRACT— Interactions between genes and the environment are a critical feature of development. Insights into the dynamic interplay between these factors have come from laboratory studies exploring experience-dependent changes in gene function, which illustrate the importance of environmental factors in determining activity of the genome. These studies have implications for our understanding of the origins of individual differences in behavior and may provide new ways of thinking about the transmission of traits across generations. Here we will highlight how these new findings illustrate the importance of putting genes in context.     

决策中个体差异研究现状述评

决策中个体差异的研究有助于进一步检验和深化传统决策理论。文章回顾了近十年决策个体差异研究的主要变量（人格、认知能力、认知风格和年龄）和研究结果,并简要总结了该类研究的背景、研究范式和理论意义。这些研究一致发现个体差异变量对决策过程、决策表现等具有影响作用,说明个体差异与决策加工中复杂的人-情境间联系有关。文章提出,未来研究应该综合考虑决策情境、情绪和决策主体的理论模型,以期对个体差异在决策中的作用做出更好解释     

Individual and Family Growth: A Gestalt Approach

Gestalt therapy is described as a comprehensive framework of theory and techniques for experiential family therapy. Like other experientially oriented therapies, it is systems-oriented, immediate-experience-oriented, and affect-oriented. Unlike others, this method regards the client system's emergent processes as the central focus, and it emphasizes that growth occurs as the family and its members are helped to greater self-awareness and responsibility for their own functioning.     

Denominational Differences in US Synagogues' Promotion of Youth Physical Activity Programming

Journal of Religion and Health - Less than 25% of US children 6–17 years of age are sufficiently active. Faith-based settings are one of the nine societal sectors tasked with promoting...     

Confidence in Dyadic Decision Making: The Role of Individual Differences

Groups typically express more confidence than individuals, yet how individual‐level confidence combines during collaborative decision tasks is not well understood. We prescreened 686 community members using a novel confidence measure (a true/false trivia test) intentionally designed to be difficult (accuracy rates were not significantly better than chance) and randomly assigned 72 individuals to collaborate on a matched version of the same test in dyads composed of two low‐confidence individuals, two high‐confidence individuals, or one of each (“mixed”). Consistent with past research, we found that the confidence expressed by dyads was higher than the confidence expressed by individuals; importantly, however, this pattern varied markedly by dyad type, with low‐confidence dyads showing the largest increase, mixed dyads showing a moderate increase, and high‐confidence dyads showing no increase—despite the fact that all dyads showed similarly low accuracy (about 55%). These results highlight the conditions under which groups express greater confidence than individuals and offer insights for the composition of collaborative decision‐making teams. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.