The role of stress mindset in support provision

To better understand the antecedents of support provision within relationships, this study examined the potential role of a novel individual difference; spouses' stress mindset (i.e., beliefs about whether stress‐is‐enhancing or stress‐is‐debilitating). As individuals with a stress‐is‐enhancing mindset often underestimate other's stress, we hypothesized that those with a stress‐is‐enhancing mindset will generally provide less and worse support compared to individuals with a stress‐is‐debilitating mindset. The results revealed few significant associations and the associations that were significant were contrary to predictions. For example, wives with a stress‐is‐enhancing mindset provided more support, and husbands who perceived their partner as having a more stress‐is‐enhancing mindset provided better support. Further research is needed to replicate these results and determine whether stress mindset has interpersonal consequences.     

Autonomy and Common Good: Interpreting Rousseau’s General Will

Rousseau’s project in his Social Contract was to construct a conception of human subjectivity and political institutions that would transcend what he saw to be the limits of liberal political theory of his time. I take this as a starting point to put forward an interpretation of his theory of the general will as a kind of social cognition that is able to preserve individual autonomy and freedom alongside concerns with the collective welfare of the community. But whereas many have seen Rousseau’s ideas as a prelude to communitarianism or authoritarianism, we should instead see his project as articulating an alternative model of moral-cognitivist reasoning. In order to provide a framework for this interpretation, I propose reading his conception of the general will through the theory of collective intentionality and social ontology. I end with a consideration of how this interpretation of the general will can provide a more satisfying understanding of political and practical rationality contemporary debates over republicanism and liberalism.     

A psychology of the human brain–gut–microbiome axis

In recent years, we have seen increasing research within neuroscience and biopsychology on the interactions between the brain, the gastrointestinal tract, the bacteria within the gastrointestinal tract, and the bidirectional relationship between these systems: the brain–gut–microbiome axis. Although research has demonstrated that the gut microbiota can impact upon cognition and a variety of stress‐related behaviours, including those relevant to anxiety and depression, we still do not know how this occurs. A deeper understanding of how psychological development as well as social and cultural factors impact upon the brain–gut–microbiome axis will contextualise the role of the axis in humans and inform psychological interventions that improve health within the brain–gut–microbiome axis. Interventions ostensibly aimed at ameliorating disorders in one part of the brain–gut–microbiome axis (e.g., psychotherapy for depression) may nonetheless impact upon other parts of the axis (e.g., microbiome composition and function), and functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome represent a disorder of the axis, rather than an isolated problem either of psychology or of gastrointestinal function. The discipline of psychology needs to be cognisant of these interactions and can help to inform the future research agenda in this emerging field of research. In this review, we outline the role psychology has to play in understanding the brain–gut–microbiome axis, with a focus on human psychology and the use of research in laboratory animals to model human psychology.     

Computing Ledgers and the Political Ontology of the Blockchain

This paper investigates ontological dimensions of the blockchain by asking what kind of socio‐technical object bitcoin is. It discusses both blockchain's political qualities and the political forms enabled by its emergence. It first observes recent approaches to the ontology of money and the political qualities of the ledgers used by the current fractional reserve banking model. It then directs the same questions at blockchain technology. The paper discusses an ontology proposed by Ole Bjerg ( 2016 ) and argues in favour of a mixed‐ontology approach to blockchains. It then questions the political qualities of the distributed ledger as a digital object and highlights the apparent absence of authority figures in the model. Finally, it argues that the political ontology of the blockchain can be framed as the displacement of authority from institutional actors into instrumental control of trust, in a dynamically distributed environment.     

A thematic analysis of practitioners' understanding of domestic abuse in terms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex‐PTSD (C‐PTSD)

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that domestic abuse (DA) should be conceptualised within the complex post‐traumatic stress disorder (C‐PTSD) model. Recently, in the draft of the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), C‐PTSD was included as a separate criterion in which DA is incorporated (ICD‐11, WHO, 2018). In this study, a thematic analysis was used to explore to what extent practitioners working with DA survivors are familiar with PTSD and C‐PTSD. Research into such a prevalent and detrimental problem as DA is important to understand whether the development of theoretical knowledge about DA and C‐PTSD is addressed in practice. In a Women's Centre in South London, six semi‐structured interviews with middle‐aged female practitioners were conducted to investigate each counsellor's experiences, knowledge and reflections. Six final themes were constructed to summarise the main results. The findings demonstrate limited practitioner understanding of DA in terms of C‐PTSD, which seems to impact not only the effectiveness of treatment plans with DA survivors, but also counsellors’ own psychological and physical states. It is also indicated that DA can be conceptualised within the C‐PTSD model that corresponds with previous literature indicating the complex nature of DA. The overall results of the current research acknowledge that DA sectors should not be neglected and better funding and effective psychoeducation in this field are needed.     

Predicting post‐traumatic growth and post‐traumatic stress in firefighters

Emergency service workers (e.g., firefighters, police, and paramedics) are exposed to elevated levels of potentially traumatising events through the course of their work. Such exposure can have lasting negative consequences (e.g., post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)) and/or positive outcomes (e.g., post‐traumatic growth (PTG)). Research had implicated trauma, occupational and personal variables that account for variance in post‐trauma outcomes yet at this stage no research has investigated these factors and their relative influence on both PTSD and PTG in a single study. Based in Calhoun and Tedeschi's model of PTG and previous research, in this study regression models of PTG and PTSD symptoms among 218 firefighters were tested. Results indicated organisational factors predicted symptoms of PTSD, while there was partial support for the hypothesis that coping and social support would be predictors of PTG. Experiencing multiple sources of trauma, higher levels of organisational and operational stress, and utilising cognitive reappraisal coping were all significant predictors of PTSD symptoms. Increases in PTG were predicted by experiencing trauma from multiple sources and the use of self‐care coping. Results highlight the importance of organisational factors in the development of PTSD symptoms, and of individual factors for promoting PTG.     

The role of analogy in ontology alignment: A study on LISA

Ontologies are explicit specifications of concepts and their relationships. In the context of a semantic web of independently developed ontologies, overcoming interoperability and heterogeneity issues is of considerable importance. Many semantic web applications, such as matching of instances in social networks, reasoning over combined knowledge bases, and knowledge sharing among services, rely on ontology alignment. While existing research in this area has developed a wide range of different heuristics, in this paper we propose to look towards cognitive science, specifically analogical reasoning, to support ontology alignment. We investigate the question whether ontology alignment is rooted in the same cognitive process as analogical reasoning. We apply the LISA system, a cognitively-based model of human analogical reasoning, to ontology alignment and present a comprehensive experimental study to determine its performance on ontology alignment problems.     

Personality and stress

Recent years have witnessed an upsurge of interest in how personality affects the stress process. This paper reports on a broad spectrum of findings on the relationships between personality and stress, taking transactional stress theory as the point of departure. A first part outlines the different approaches stress research has taken within personality psychology as opposed to research based on transactional stress theory and discusses the debate between these two paradigms. The second part gives an overview of empirical findings, with a focus on the Big Five personality factors, in order to demonstrate that personality affects the stress process in every aspect. The discussion suggests that we address unresolved problems of transactional stress research in the framework of interactionist personality psychology. Special attention ought to be given to developing a better understanding of situational characteristics, stress-producing mechanisms, and the functions of situational choices and coping strategies for personality.     

RESPONSE‐DEPENDENCE THEORY AND EMPIRICAL CLAIMS FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Abstract: The analysis here is an attempt to show how the current epistemological theory of response‐dependence (R‐D) may be relevant to understanding putative ontological claims of the empirical social sciences. To this end I argue that the constitutive features of human response, central to R‐D theory, can be made explicit for social science. I conclude that for the empirical social sciences the implication of combining R‐D and certain forms of statistical analyses leads to the possibility of an events‐based ontology.     

Sanctity of human life in war: ethics and post traumatic stress disorder

This reflective paper focuses on the moral and ethical difficulties medical care providers meet in applying DSM-IV criteria of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in therapy and in Compensation and Pension Examinations. Providers may be less interested in articulating a philosophy of life or their own ontology than about documenting care for the patient or providing effective management of symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The veteran comes for assessment or therapy after an embodiment of war conflicts. Examiners and therapists spend time in clinical judgments and ethical consideration. Ethical decisions involve the sanctity of human life and the distinction made between acceptable civil and war behavior. Insight into the conflicting values found in the veterans' struggle to cope with the stress of war is needed. The stress of sending young men into harm's way is an ethical issue for veterans and the society which sends them and thereby compromises the sanctity of human life. These ethical components require the doctor and the veteran to articulate their values within ontology or a personal philosophy of life. That exchange contributes to accurate assessment and adequate therapy. Not understanding the importance of personal ontologies in treatment may make the veteran's self-disclosure difficult. Self-disclosure of one's ontology is one side of coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The other side is for powerful decision-making groups to disclose to the young recruits the full and honest account of the human cost of war before sending them into harm's way.     

医学本体论的当代转向——医学教育模式改革的前提性问题

医学本体论,是指“关于医学的”最根本的根据、本质和基础的理论,它是医学赖以存在的本质基础和逻辑根据。当代医学本体论的转向是从人体学本体论向人学本体论的转变。实现这一转变的主要途径在于医学教育模式的改革,而其前提性问题,则是建构人学本体论思想。     

应激环境下亲社会性的增加：来自不同类型的亲社会偏好的研究证据

人们面临对生理或者心理产生威胁的应激事件时并不一定表现出敌意和攻击,也可能表现出更强的亲社会性。研究发现,基于利他动机、规则动机、策略性动机的或者基于自我报告的亲社会偏好在应激环境下都可能增强,这可能和应激环境下直觉增强、共情提升和亲社会行为有助于改善负面情绪方面的机制有关。未来研究可以从应激的性质、诱发方式、影响机制、个体差异和发展特征等方面去理解应激增加亲社会性的条件,从而提高群体韧性。     

Relationships,health, and stress: Validation of a relationship sense of coherence measure

Although all romantic relationships experience stress, some thrive when faced with adversity while others are unable to manage the inevitable relationship ups and downs. Rather than seeing stress as a risk factor, this study applied a Salutogenic framework, which posits that stress is a naturally occurring and potentially beneficial part of relationships, to develop a new measure of relationship health and well‐being. In Study 1, we created and tested a self‐report Relationship Sense of Coherence (RSOC) scale. Study 2 demonstrated evidence of convergent reliability for the RSOC. In Study 3, we tested the RSOC in a two‐wave sample of romantically‐involved individuals with a chronic health condition. Guidelines for use and implications for future research are discussed.     

Worksite stress management interventions

Despite the general agreement that stress plays a role in everyday life, there continues to be substantial controversy about how stress can be managed at the worksite. During the last decade, our knowledge of stress management interventions has increased substantially. Despite this improvement, deficiencies in the literature exist. In this article, we offer a framework that may be used for viewing organizational stress interventions, briefly review some of the stress management intervention literature in the context of this framework, and identify future needs that may be particularly appropriate for organizational psychologists to address.     

Inferring Learners' Knowledge From Their Actions

Watching another person take actions to complete a goal and making inferences about that person's knowledge is a relatively natural task for people. This ability can be especially important in educational settings, where the inferences can be used for assessment, diagnosing misconceptions, and providing informative feedback. In this paper, we develop a general framework for automatically making such inferences based on observed actions; this framework is particularly relevant for inferring student knowledge in educational games and other interactive virtual environments. Our approach relies on modeling action planning: We formalize the problem as a Markov decision process in which one must choose what actions to take to complete a goal, where choices will be dependent on one's beliefs about how actions affect the environment. We use a variation of inverse reinforcement learning to infer these beliefs. Through two lab experiments, we show that this model can recover people's beliefs in a simple environment, with accuracy comparable to that of human observers. We then demonstrate that the model can be used to provide real‐time feedback and to model data from an existing educational game.     

论中国古代儒家哲学的价值取向

儒家哲学是中国古代哲学的重要门派 ,其内容博大精深 ,影响广泛而久远 ,其基本精神和价值取向可归纳为“内圣外王之道”。对儒家“内圣外王”思想的阐释在古代和近代有所不同 ,涉及内修与外用、中学与西学等关系。“内圣外王”作为价值观 ,其本体论依据为天人关系论中的“天道”或“人道”本体论 ,其认识论依据为内在超越思路和“知行合一”观念。     

Organizational stress and stress management programs

There is a growing awareness of how stress adversely affects organizational efficiency. The implementation of stress management programs to counteract this problem has been slow. This study examined such programs in companies who claimed that they were active and successful in stress management for their employees. The successful features of these organizational stress management programs are identified, discussed, and a model for organizations is presented.     

Lifetime stress exposure and health: A review of contemporary assessment methods and biological mechanisms

Life stress is a central construct in health research because it is associated with increased risk for a variety of serious mental and physical health problems, including anxiety disorders, depression, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer's disease, certain cancers, and other diseases of aging. In this review, we examine how lifetime stress exposure contributes to elevated disease risk and explore ongoing measurement and scientific issues related to this topic. To accomplish these goals, we first review existing instruments that have been developed for assessing perceived stress, self‐reported life events, interviewer‐assessed life stressors, and lifetime stress exposure. Next, we describe laboratory‐based tasks that have been used for characterizing individual differences in psychological and biological stress reactivity. These methods have yielded an enormous amount of data showing how life stress influences the activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, sympathetic–adrenal–medullary axis, and immune system, and how such processes can in turn cause allostatic load and biological embedding of the stress effect at the level of the human brain and genome. At the same time, many critical measurement and scientific issues remain unresolved, and we discuss these topics last while describing some pressing issues and opportunities for future research on stress and health.     

马克思的本体论思想及其当代意义

马克思的本体论思想日益引起学界的关注。本文认为,必须从马克思的哲学革命变革的宗旨和使命出发,把本体论问题放到“解释世界”和“改变世界”的框架内,才能给马克思的本体论思想以及正确的诠释和定位,马克思终点了传统的思辨形而上学本体论,但却继承和光大了人类的形而上情结和追求,并以人和人的实践活动底蕴,深刻地回答了世界本真存在的追问,关爱生命,提高人的素质,促进人的全面发展,这就是马克思本体论思想的当代价值所在。