The relationship between research and design of AIDS prevention program

The global threat of AIDS requires massive public educational campaigns that employ social and behavioral sciences such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology because sexual behavior possesses a social dimension. Research is concerned with what stimulates behavioral change, what are the prerequisites of learned behavior, and what enables personal control over the environment and future. Educational programs designing strategies for AIDS prevention require social and behavioral science content and input. Interdisciplinary provides general principles with psychological, social, and cultural aspects of human behavior. Without knowledge about psychological processes (thinking, perception, speech, aspects of personality, and interactive behavior) and social processes (economic conditions, social networks, and resources) which are implicated in health problems and also in AIDS, these educational programs cannot produce credible results. These programs and their subsequent implementation require their application in practice in a systemic and consistent fashion. Evaluations are also needed to make sure that the applied processes for behavioral change conform to methodological criteria that ensure their effectiveness. These types of studies are more complex than pure AIDS research which is aimed at finding a cure.     

Applying social psychology to the study of environmental concern and environmental worldviews: contributions from the social representations approach

Recently some social psychological approaches have intensified their contributions to research in the environmental domain, helping it to focus more consistently on the shared aspects of all environment related experiences. The goal of this paper is that of joining these efforts, exploring the contributions of the social representations approach to research on environmental concern and environmental thought, as another area for applying social psychological knowledge. The paper first sketches how the environmental concern of the publics emerged in the 70s as a problem for the social sciences and proceeds to summarizing the main characteristics of this research, focusing on three problematic areas: (1) incipient theoretical integration among the frameworks dominating research; (2) insufficient reflection about the assumptions and measurement of the concepts employed; (3) a need for new research questions that push studies beyond the analysis of the socio‐demographical correlates of beliefs. Afterwards a presentation of social representations theory will be undertaken and the usefulness of the approach to deal with some aspects of the problematic areas identified will be explored, with examples from recent research, and highlighting the importance of focusing on contradiction, polyphasia, and the articulation of the local and the global. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

After the "Crisis" in Social Psychology: The Development of the Transactional Model of Science

This paper reviews the literature on the "crisis" in social psychology. Although the symptoms of the crisis are various, the basic problem can be identified as the inappropriate emulation of the natural sciences model. Within this approach, psychologists attempted to discover objective, abstract, universal laws of human behavior, but have largely failed to do so. The second part of this paper analyzes misconceptions that many psychologists have about objectivity and scientific methods and outlines an alternative perspective. In the third part of the paper, a comparative analysis of physical, biological, and human sciences are provided. In the final section, an alternative scientific paradigm – the transactional model, is presented. In this approach, human consciousness, agency, and creativity, both at the individual and collective level, are considered as key constructs in explaining psychological functioning. Subjective elements such as human consciousness and agency and the influences of context and meaning are explicitly integrated in the research model in search of dynamic and emergent properties of human functioning.     

Adapting to and coping with the threat and impacts of climate change

This article addresses the nature and challenge of adaptation in the context of global climate change. The complexity of "climate change" as threat, environmental stressor, risk domain, and impacting process with dramatic environmental and human consequences requires a synthesis of perspectives and models from diverse areas of psychology to adequately communicate and explain how a more psychological framing of the human dimensions of global environmental change can greatly inform and enhance effective and collaborative climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and research. An integrative framework is provided that identifies and considers important mediating and moderating parameters and processes relating to climate change adaptation, with particular emphasis given to environmental stress and stress and coping perspectives. This psychological perspective on climate change adaptation highlights crucial aspects of adaptation that have been neglected in the arena of climate change science. Of particular importance are intra-individual and social "psychological adaptation" processes that powerfully mediate public risk perceptions and understandings, effective coping responses and resilience, overt behavioral adjustment and change, and psychological and social impacts. This psychological window on climate change adaptation is arguably indispensable to genuinely multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and policy initiatives addressing the impacts of climate change.     

A time-varying effect model for intensive longitudinal data

Understanding temporal change in human behavior and psychological processes is a central issue in the behavioral sciences. With technological advances, intensive longitudinal data (ILD) are increasingly generated by studies of human behavior that repeatedly administer assessments over time. ILD offer unique opportunities to describe temporal behavioral changes in detail and identify related environmental and psychosocial antecedents and consequences. Traditional analytical approaches impose strong parametric assumptions about the nature of change in the relationship between time-varying covariates and outcomes of interest. This article introduces time-varying effect models (TVEMs) that explicitly model changes in the association between ILD covariates and ILD outcomes over time in a flexible manner. In this article, we describe unique research questions that the TVEM addresses, outline the model-estimation procedure, share a SAS macro for implementing the model, demonstrate model utility with a simulated example, and illustrate model applications in ILD collected as part of a smoking-cessation study to explore the relationship between smoking urges and self-efficacy during the course of the pre- and postcessation period.     

A complex dynamic systems approach to lasting positive change: The Synergistic Change Model

This paper argues that psychological and social functioning is fundamentally complex, and that this complexity is critical to understanding how lasting positive changes can be achieved. Principles from complex systems theory are integrated into an empirical positive psychological framework to propose a domain-based systems model of positive change called the Synergistic Change Model. This model proposes that enduring positive change depends on the formation of mutually supportive interactions across multiple domains of psychological and social functioning. The paper uses the model to explore three types of response to intervention – relapse, spill-over, and synergy – which have been supported in the existing positive psychology literature. Three practical intervention strategies arising from the model are outlined to inform the design of future positive interventions. The model challenges reductionistic approaches to positive change and offers several approaches to embrace the complexities of lasting positive change in future theory and research.     

Psychology in Pursuit of Justice: The Lives and Works of Emmanuel Levinas and Ignacio Martín-Baró

Psychological research and theory are inherently political and social practices. As such, these authors assert that social justice must be a primary concern of the psychological sciences. In case study format, the authors use the exceptional lives and works of continental philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and social psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró to exemplify the recognition that justice must be centrally infused into psychological thought and practice. The life and work of philosopher Levinas is characterized by a concern for how Western philosophy has funded constructs of selfhood and identity that have created moral anemia and hampered our responsibility to others. Martín-Baró, a prominent Latin American researcher and educator, found research to be a powerful tool to expose oppressive social systems and widespread deception in an effort to end unjust practices, thereby affecting social change. Biographical material and details concerning their systems of research and thought will be used to illustrate what it means to engage in morally-just research and theorizing within the field of psychology.     

极地环境中的心理学研究

极端特殊的孤立与封闭环境向深入南极大陆的科考人员提出了极其严峻的挑战,同时也为心理学研究提供了一个天然实验室。对于南极科考人员而言,多数人越冬期间会在不同程度上经历和承受“越冬综合症”和“四分之三现象”,他们的积极心理经历和体验已经开始受到关注。文章重点介绍了有关南极科考人员可能出现的症状、适应特征、科考人员的人格特征以及站区文化对行为的影响等方面的研究结果,对现有研究存在的问题进行了初步探讨,提出了未来研究将会开展更广泛的国际化合作、聚焦环境、人格和行为三者的关系以及积极心理学在特殊环境中的重要作用等主题     

青少年心理健康与心理素质培养的整合研究

青少年心理健康与心理素质培养的整合研究是重庆市人文社会科学重点研究基地西南大学心理健康教育研究中心十多年来确立的研究主题。围绕该主题我们不仅从理论到实证进行了较为系统的探讨,取得了一批有本土特色的研究成果,受到国内外学术界关注,而且重视把研究成果及时转化运用于教育实践,开发了系统测量工具,编写了系列教材,开展了青少年心理素质教育的实验探索,推动了学校心理健康教育积极有效的开展。文章主要从青少年心理健康与心理素质培养整合研究的理论依据、方法论思考、研究主题等方面,概括总结心理健康与心理素质培养整合研究的概况,以期进一步促进该领域的深化研究。     

The Crisis issue Assessed: An Empirical Analysis

The effect of the crisis issue in social psychology-focusing on the validity of existing social psychological research methodologies-was examined through an analysis of research trends over the past 15 years. Articles selected from four representative social psychology journals in the 1974-1975, 1979-1980, and 1984-1985 periods were evaluated in terms of (a) type of methodology, (b) subject population (c) use of deception and (d) method of data analysis. Results indicate that, despite the predominance of laboratory experimentation in social psychological research, a significant increase in the use of surveys and questionnaires is noted. In addition, although the predominance of undergraduates as research subjects has shown no change over the 15-year period, deception in research has decreased significantly. Contrary to expectation, the increased availability of linear modeling procedures such as path analysis and multidimensional scaling has not resulted in significant changes in the methods of data analysis over the past 15 years. These results are discussed in terms of the role of the crisis literature on social psychological research of the past decade.     

Multiperspectival designs and processes in interpretative phenomenological analysis research

ABSTRACT

Researchers using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) within applied research typically use homogenous samples exploring shared perspectives on a single phenomenon of interest. This article explores the challenges and opportunities involved with developing rigorous and epistemologically coherent research designs for capturing more complex and systemic experiential phenomena, through the use of multiple perspectives to explore the same phenomenon. We outline a series of multiple perspective designs and analytic procedures that can be adapted and used across many diverse settings and populations. Whilst building upon existing approaches within qualitative methods and IPA, these designs and procedures are intended to scaffold clear routes to practical application, psychological intervention, the design of behaviour change interventions, and other recommendations for policy and practice. We discuss a variety of conceptual antecedents which situate these designs within phenomenology, pluralistic idiography, qualitative psychology, and wider debates within psychology and other social and behavioural sciences.     

Embodied Methodologies,Participation, and the Art of Research

In this article, I make the case for scholarship potential at the overlap of art and research. Using the case of the psychological study of adolescence, I show that in order to produce findings of meaning from a critical psychological perspective, it is imperative to consider methodology and epistemology. With a focus on artistic embodied methodologies within participatory action research projects on adolescence, I explore how creative approaches can be an analytic process for knowledge production in the critical social sciences. I argue that the artistic approaches employed using embodied methodologies can be considered as a way to make meaning and that especially within participatory research, these approaches can strengthen validity. In response to the epistemological violence (Teo, 2010) of some conventional social psychological studies, participatory artistic embodied methodologies contribute to building liberatory knowledge and rigorous science.     

虚拟社会心理学：现实, 探索及意义

虚拟世界成为人类日常生活的一个重要组成部分, 对人的思想、感情和行为产生不同程度的影响, 对这些问题的研究逐渐成为社会心理学领域一个新的研究范式。我们认为, 虚拟社会心理学研究的热点问题和重要结论主要关注人在虚拟世界中的自我表现, 虚拟的人际关系、虚拟团体表现, 及虚拟世界中的创造性合作。研究发现, 虚拟社会心理学既有与现实世界一致的地方, 也有很多独特的现象, 有必要成为中国心理学家关注的一个新研究领域。     

„Krise der Medizin“ – Modelle der Reform

In the 1920s and early 1930s there was a heated debate about the importance of the natural sciences for medicine. Prominent physicians, such as Ferdinand Sauerbruch and Wilhelm His in Germany or Richard Cabot and Charles-Edward Amory Winslow in the USA criticized clinical practices, medical education and research for placing too much focus on the natural sciences and the somatic correlates of human disease and for neglecting the psychological and social dimensions. In spite of a similar diagnosis of the problem, the consequences drawn differed considerably between the German and US contexts: in Germany first steps towards the institutionalization of the new field of psychotherapy and psychosomatic medicine and, in parallel, a consolidation of previously existing approaches of complementary medicine were developed, whereas in the USA the discussions led to the introduction and strengthening of social sciences in medicine, particularly in the field of public health. This article reconstructs the historical debate as well as the proposed models of reform and discusses potential implications for present-day medicine.     

Faculty work orientations as predictors of work attitudes in the physical and social sciences

This study examines the relationship between university professors' work orientation and attitudes toward their work. Specific and global work orientations are related to extrinsic and intrinsic attitudes toward (1) career attraction, (2) work satisfaction, and (3) commitment to the profession. The major findings of the study are (1) global work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward intrinsic aspects of work in the social sciences and is a moderate predictor in the physical sciences; (2) specific work orientation is a strong predictor of attitudes toward extrinsic aspects of work in the physical sciences and is a moderate predictor in the social sciences; (3) global work orientation is not related to extrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences; and (4) specific work orientation is not related to intrinsic work attitudes in the physical and social sciences.     

Embodied experiences of environmental and climatic changes in landscapes of everyday life in Ghana

Science and policy attention to global environmental and climatic change has been growing substantially. Yet, the psychological and emotional distress and pain triggered by these transformations have been largely ignored, particularly among poor and marginalized populations whose livelihoods depend on the living land. Building upon key geographical concepts of landscapes and place and embodied engagements within, we focus on environmentally-induced distress and loss of belonging (‘solastalgia’) in the coupled context of environmental and climatic changes and internal migration in Ghana. We assess the differential emotional experiences and memory among those who migrate from deteriorating environments in the North to urban slums in the capital Accra and those who stay behind in these altered homes. We use participatory mapping and 'walking journeys' in northern regions to examine understandings of landscapes of everyday life and identify places that induce solastalgia. Results illustrate that the combination of withered crops, drying up of wells, loss of beauty, and deteriorating social networks trigger strong emotional responses, in particular feelings of sadness. We conclude that these emotional responses are expressions of solastalgia in what we call “hollow homes” where place and self of agrarian livelihoods undergo both figurative and literal desiccation.     

Understanding the positive and negative outcomes of developmental challenges on the social psychology of female executives in top management teams

Drawing on social identity theory, this conceptual article proposes how working in a male-dominated top management team (TMT) leads to changes in the social psychology of female executives over time. Further, it simultaneously incorporates the role of various factors to develop a comprehensive understanding of positive as well as negative change experiences of female executives. Based on thorough review and integration of the relevant literature from the domains of organizational behaviour, gender management, and psychology, key themes have been extracted and a conceptual model has been proposed. It is suggested that female executives are likely to face epistemological shock after becoming a part of male-dominated TMTs; however, proactive interactions and development of their cultural toolkit is expected to polish leadership capabilities and improve leader identity in them. Conversely, challenges in developing their cultural toolkit may lead to experiences of emotional exhaustion and the eventual psychological detachment of female executives from their teams and work environment. Unlike the focus of existing literature on general social and cultural challenges faced by female workers, this research offers a unique theoretical direction regarding the essence of extensive psychological changes and their long-term prospects for females in male-dominated TMTs. Finally, it also offers practical implications for highlighting various ways to encourage proactivity and social support for creating diversity and inclusion-based leadership in organizations.     

Contributions of Social Psychology to the Study of Appetltive Behaviors1

Social psychology has contributed substantially to the study and understanding of appetitive behaviors. This paper focuses on three major lines of social psychological research that have made particularly important contributions to appetitive behaviors: Hovland's work on attitudes and attitude changes, Bandura's social learning theory, and Schachter's studies of obesity and cigarette smoking. The relevant work of these three social psychologists and the research following from each line of inquiry are reviewed. Additional potential applications of these social psychological approaches to the study of appetitive behaviors are discussed.     

Mind, self, and consciousness as discourse

The present paper argues for the essential relationship between discourse and the human mind. Drawing upon the critical insights from a range of social sciences including Cultural Psychology and Discourse Studies, I outline in the first part of the paper a discursive account of the mind—of cognition, emotion, self and consciousness and the like: the human mind is constituted in text and talk which are situated in cultural and historical context. The discursive account is based on a social constructionist view of the human cultural world as meanings constructed primarily through linguistic communication in order to accomplish interactional purposes. The central argument here will be that our thinking and feeling are discursive by nature and in origin. Specifically, our minds are (a) derived from, (b) constrained by, (c) utilized in (d) modelled upon, (e) distributed through, and (f) begun with discourse. In the second part, I try to show how, in modern Western linguistics, metaphors from the natural sciences have come to define, and become part of, “the human mind” itself.     

Culture-gene coevolution, norm-psychology and the emergence of human prosociality

Diverse lines of theoretical and empirical research are converging on the notion that human evolution has been substantially influenced by the interaction of our cultural and genetic inheritance systems. The application of this culture-gene coevolutionary approach to understanding human social psychology has generated novel insights into the cognitive and affective foundations of large-scale cooperation, social norms and ethnicity. This approach hypothesizes a norm-psychology: a suite of psychological adaptations for inferring, encoding in memory, adhering to, enforcing and redressing violations of the shared behavioral standards of one's community. After reviewing the substantial body of formal theory underpinning these predictions, we outline how this account organizes diverse empirical findings in the cognitive sciences and related disciplines. Norm-psychology offers explanatory traction on the evolved psychological mechanisms that underlie cultural evolution, cross-cultural differences and the emergence of norms.