Changes in materialism,changes in psychological well-being: Evidence from three longitudinal studies and an intervention experiment

Few studies have examined how changes in materialism relate to changes in well-being; fewer have experimentally manipulated materialism to change well-being. Studies 1, 2, and 3 examined how changes in materialistic aspirations related to changes in well-being, using varying time frames (12 years, 2 years, and 6 months), samples (US young adults and Icelandic adults), and measures of materialism and well-being. Across all three studies, results supported the hypothesis that people’s well-being improves as they place relatively less importance on materialistic goals and values, whereas orienting toward materialistic goals relatively more is associated with decreases in well-being over time. Study 2 additionally demonstrated that this association was mediated by changes in psychological need satisfaction. A fourth, experimental study showed that highly materialistic US adolescents who received an intervention that decreased materialism also experienced increases in self-esteem over the next several months, relative to a control group. Thus, well-being changes as people change their relative focus on materialistic goals.     

Rational Beliefs as Cognitive Protective Factors Against Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

The current study investigated the predictions of rational emotive behaviour therapy’s (REBT) model of psychological health that rational beliefs would act as cognitive protective factors against posttraumatic stress responses. The study aimed to contribute original data regarding the role of functional cognitions in the prevention of posttraumatic stress symptomology. A model consistent with REBT’s theory of psychological health was investigated through the use of structural equation modelling among a sample of 309 international emergency service personnel who had all been exposed to a significant life trauma. Results indicated that the REBT model of posttraumatic stress responses was found to be an acceptable fit of the data (χ² = 199.99, df = 94, p < .001; RMSEA = .06 (CI 90 % = .05/.08); SRMR = .05; CFI = .93; TLI = .91) and explained 76 % of variance in posttraumatic stress symptoms. Self-acceptance beliefs and high frustration tolerance beliefs negatively predicted posttraumatic stress responses; non-catastrophizing beliefs positively predicted posttraumatic stress responses; and indirect effects were observed between preference beliefs and posttraumatic stress responses via self-acceptance and high frustration tolerance beliefs. Results suggest that rational beliefs are negatively associated with posttraumatic stress responses and support the REBT model of psychological health. Current results contribute important information regarding the role of functional cognitions in the alleviation of posttraumatic stress symptoms.     

Felicitas Publica and community well-being: nourishing relational goods through dialogic conversations between deprived and privileged populations

This article discusses the theoretical justifications, presumed relevance and value of using community interventions designed to be appreciative and strengths based, participatory and conversational, context sensitive and value driven, to promote well-being actions and coordinated meaning between privileged persons and those living in impoverished material and social conditions. It stresses the need for the field of positive psychology to incorporate new theoretical models, topics and participants, and to contribute actively to human relatedness and social justice. The authors endorse the significance of a “positive community psychology”, approaching collective well-being in terms of civil economy and Felicitas Publica, addressing innovative economic development while enabling conditions for positive relational goods. These interventions have the potential for resourceful and consequential change, where critical conscientisation is one of the vehicles. We recommend the use of a dialogic perspective coupled with affirmative language as transformational procedures, presupposing that social practices are inextricably bound up in discourse. To elucidate the ideas proposed in this article, we describe an intervention involving a Portuguese community in the Azores Islands, where the World Café method and the Appreciative inquiry principles were integrated and linked to a communication model emerging from the Coordinated Management of Meaning theory.     

Characteristics of Personal Networks Associated with Physical and Psychological Quality of Life Among Demobilized Individuals from the Colombian Armed Conflict

The study identifies relationships between the characteristics of personal networks of demobilized individuals and their quality of life, through the evaluation of a sample of 102 ex‐combatants from a demilitarized zone in Colombia's Caribbean coast. The data was processed using centrality values calculation and statistical analysis through the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed moderate levels of nodality, proximity and intermediation degrees regarding small, closed networks with an unsatisfied high demand for support resources. Quality of life showed medium performance levels, with inverse relationships between mental health (p = .009 < .05) and vitality (p = .011 < .05) and intermediation. Positive feedback related significantly to general health (p = .041 < .05), while negative interactions showed inverse relationships to physical functioning (p = .012 < .05), physical role (p = .005), mental health (p = .001 < .05), and emotional role (p = .009 < .05). In conclusion, among the highly cohesive personal networks, there were less observations of social support that fosters increased energy and psychological health, given that access to this support is limited to a small number of members of the personal network. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interactive effects of personality and separation as acculturation style on adolescent antisocial behaviour

The primary aim of this study was to assess the interaction between personality and acculturation variables in predicting antisocial behaviour among adolescent immigrants living in Spain. Previous studies have shown that the acculturation style referred to as separation (rejection of the host country's culture, and a strong desire to preserve the culture of the country of origin) was strongly related to antisocial behaviour among immigrants. A further aim of this study was to examine if the relationship between separation and antisocial behaviour was moderated by personality variables, in particular impulsivity, sensation-seeking, and personal competence. Self-reported data of a sample of 750 adolescent immigrants living in Galicia's and Madrid's regions (Spain) were gathered using previously validated scales. The results revealed that both separation and personality variables were significantly related to antisocial behaviour. Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis with the interaction terms entered found significant moderating effects i.e., the relationship between separation and antisocial behaviour was significantly amplified when impulsivity or sensation-seeking were high. The results underscore the need to examine the effects of personality, acculturation, and the interaction between both on antisocial behaviour among adolescent immigrants.     

Estructuras textuales y procesos de comprensión: un programa para instruir en la comprensión de textos

Resumen

El trabajo tiene la siguiente línea argumental: 1) Existe una relación entre las estructuras de los textos y los procesos de comprensión. 2) Los lectores con menor capacidad no se aprovechan de esas propiedades presentes en los textos y, como consecuencia, su representación del significado carece de orden y coherencia. 3) Si se instruye a los sujetos con una pobre capacidad de comprensión a detectar y usar las propiedades de los textos, puede reducirse la distancia que les separa de los sujetos con una buena capacidad de comprensión. Consecuentemente, el programa de instrucción está centrado en las actividades cognitivas que permiten seguir la progresión temática de los textos, extraer el significado global (aplicación de las macrorreglas de selección, generalización e integración) y a reconocer y usar las formas organizativas básicas. Para poner a prueba el programa de instrucción se contrastan los efectos de este programa con otro de carácter más tradicional y otra condición de control aplicando estas tres condiciones a sujetos de dos niveles de competencia, lo que da lugar a un diseño antes/después con dos niveles de competencia por tres tratamientos.     

Temperature dependence of the flow stress in Ir3Nb with the L12 structure

The effective s-d spin interaction is derived exactly for the one-impurity Anderson model via a unitary transformation. The unitary transformation has been calculated up to infinite order, thus an exact transformation was performed in the strict mathematical sense.     

Heidegger in America

Dismounting from the seesaw

Mind and World By John McDowell Harvard University Press, 1994. Pp. x + 191. £19.95.

Vagueness By Timothy Williamson Routledge, 1994. pp. xiii + 325 ISBN 0–415–03331–4. £35.00     

Cortical Cell Assemblies: A Possible Mechanism for Motor Programs

The concept of a motor program has been used to interpret a diverse range of empirical findings related to preparation and initiation of voluntary movement. In the absence of an underlying mechanism, its explanatory power has been limited to that of an analogy with running a stored computer program. We argue that the theory of cortical cell assemblies suggests a possible neural mechanism for motor programming. According to this view, a motor program may be conceptualized as a cell assembly, which is stored in the form of strengthened synaptic connections between cortical pyramidal neurons. These connections determine which combinations of corticospinal neurons are activated when the cell assembly is ignited. The dynamics of cell assembly ignition are considered in relation to the problem of serial order. These considerations lead to a plausible neural mechanism for the programming of movements and movement sequences that is compatible with the effects of precue information and sequence length on reaction times. Anatomical and physiological guidelines for future quantitative models of cortical cell assemblies are suggested. By taking into account the parallel, re-entrant loops between the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia, the theory of cortical cell assemblies suggests a mechanism for motor plans that involve longer sequences. The suggested model is compared with other existing neural network models for motor programming.     

The Social Construction of Human Kinds

Social construction theorists face a certain challenge to the effect that they confuse the epistemic and the metaphysical: surely our conceptions of something are influenced by social practices, but that doesn't show that the nature of the thing in question is so influenced. In this paper I take up this challenge and offer a general framework to support the claim that a human kind is socially constructed, when this is understood as a metaphysical claim and as a part of a social constructionist debunking project. I give reasons for thinking that a conferralist framework is better equipped to capture the social constructionist intuition than rival accounts of social properties, such as a constitution account and a response‐dependence account, and that this framework helps to diagnose what is at stake in the debate between the social constructionists and their opponents. The conferralist framework offered here should be welcomed by social constructionists looking for firm foundations for their claims, and for anyone else interested in the debate over the social construction of human kinds.