The theory of multiple stupidities: education,technology and organisation in Arabia

Traditional perspectives have envisaged intelligence as one entity dominated by a single set of abilities (i.e. cognitive abilities), whereas modern perspectives have defined intelligence in various shapes (e.g. linguistic, musical and interpersonal intelligences). By the same token, traditional perspectives have examined stupidity as one set of inabilities (i.e. cognitive inabilities). However, it is not clear whether modern perspectives have discussed whether stupidity exists in various forms—in the same way as they have envisaged intelligence. To address this limitation, 257 university members were asked to share what they perceived as being stupid educational and technological practices in their institutions. Analysis of the data suggested three concepts were important to the members: moral, spatial and administrative stupidities. That is, stupidity is perceived to come in the form of failing to meet certain moral, spatial and administrative values. This implies that modern perspectives may conceptualise stupidity differently from traditional perspectives, seeing it as going beyond cognitive inabilities and viewing it as existing in various forms (e.g. moral, spatial and administrative stupidities). Thus, there are multiple stupidities as there are multiple forms of intelligence. A strength of this research is that it views stupidity through an organisational and qualitative lens, although some may traditionally expect such a topic to be examined quantitatively through psychometric and biological approaches.     

Mothers' and fathers' childcare involvement with young children in rural families in Malaysia

There is a paucity of data on paternal involvement in childcare in traditional Muslim families in Asia. Using cultural‐ecological models of human development that focus on the developmental niche and hegemonic perspectives on masculinity, mothers' and fathers' levels of childcare involvement with infants were examined in 50 two‐parent, low‐income, rural Malay Muslim families residing in peninsular Malaysia. The major goals were to examine gender of parent and gender of child differences in involvement in childcare activities. Mothers and fathers were interviewed separately in their homes regarding the amount of time and levels of involvement in bedtime routines, physical care of, playing with, singing to, feeding, and soothing infants. Groupwise comparisons of parental perceptions revealed a marked gender‐differentiated pattern of involvement: Mothers perceived that they were significantly more involved in bedtime routines, physical care, feeding, playing, soothing, and singing to infants than did fathers. On average fathers estimated that they spent 18% as much time cleaning infants (0.63 versus 3.50 hours), 22% as much time feeding infants (0.76 versus 3.49), and 56% as much time playing with infants (2.77 versus 4.92 hours) relative to mothers. These patterns of involvement suggest that in traditional, rural Malay Muslim families, mothers are the primary caregivers to infants, and contrary to the father as play partner hypothesis, mothers engaged in more play with infants than did fathers. Despite divergent levels of involvement, mothers and fathers were equally as inclined to be involved with their male or female infants. Findings are interpreted in terms of traditional Muslim beliefs about gendered ideologies regarding childcare roles and levels of paternal involvement in groups of fathers in rural and urban Malaysia. The limitations, due in part to gathering data from single informants and the nature of the sample, and the implications of the findings for increasing paternal involvement are noted.     

Educating American Muslim Leadership (Men and Women) for the Twenty‐First Century

Abstract. Educating and training Muslim men and women leaders who are capable of effectively navigating the multi‐ethnic and multi‐religious terrain in America – particularly in the post 9–11 milieu – requires the development of a new critical American Muslim pedagogy. This new pedagogy, centered in Islamic epistemology and ontology, should selectively appropriate the best of traditional Muslim educational paradigms and modalities used over time. However, the traditional Muslim model must not be reified, but rather be subjected to a sharp critique which maintains the richness of its spiritual and intellectual legacy but rejects teachings and interpretations used to create false dichotomies resulting in binary constructs, particularly those which pit Muslims against the west. Finally, the new critical American Muslim pedagogy must embrace all of the best discursive practices (e.g., pedagogies of Freire and others) that engage us in a critical analysis of the way in which power and privilege, even in religious communities, operate to marginalize and suppress women, minorities, and people of color.     

Control and synchronization of laser bursting and its implications in neuroscience

We present experimental and numerical evidence of control and synchronization of burst events in modulated CO₂ lasers. Bursts appear randomly in each laser as trains of large amplitude spikes intercalated by a small amplitude chaotic regime. Experimental data and model display the frequency locking of bursts in a suitable interval of coupling strengths. The analogy with neuronal bursting will also be discussed in view of the role of bursting synchronization in cognitive functions.     

The discrimination of discrete and continuous amounts in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus)

A wealth of research in infants and animals demonstrates discrimination of quantities, in some cases nonverbal numerical perception, and even elementary calculation capacities. We investigated the ability of three African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) to select the largest amount of food between two sets, either discrete food items (experiment 1) or as volume of a food substance (experiment 2). The two amounts were presented simultaneously and were visible at the time of choice. Parrots were tested several times for all possible combinations between 1 and 5 seeds or 0.2 and 1 ml of food substance. In both conditions, subjects performed above chance for almost all combinations. Accuracy was negatively correlated with the ratio, that is performance improved with greater differences between amounts. Therefore, these results with both individual items and volume discrimination suggest that parrots use an analogue of magnitude, rather than object-file mechanisms to quantify items and substances.     

The others: Universals and cultural specificities in the perception of status and dominance from nonverbal behavior

The current study analyzes trans-cultural universalities and specificities in the recognition of status roles, dominance perception and social evaluation based on nonverbal cues. Using a novel methodology, which allowed to mask clues to ethnicity and cultural background of the agents, we compared impression of Germans, Americans and Arabs observing computer-animated interactions from the three countries. Only in the German stimulus sample the status roles (employee vs. supervisor) could be recognized above chance level. However we found significant correlations in dominance perception across all countries. Significant correlations were only found for evaluation between German observers and observers from the other two countries. Perceived dominance uniformly predicted the assignment of status-roles in all cultures. Microanalysis of movement behavior further revealed predictive value of specific nonverbal cues for dominance ratings. Results support the hypothesis of universalities in the processing of dominance cues and point to cultural specificities in evaluative responses to nonverbal behavior.     

'Rallying around the flag': Can an intergroup contact intervention promote national unity?

A longitudinal study evaluated the success of a contact-based nation-building intervention (the Malaysian National Service Programme) in promoting various facets of national unity. The study assessed how post-test measures of quality of intergroup contact, outgroup evaluations, and levels of identification changed compared to their respective pre-test levels, for both National Service and control group participants. The intervention did not lead to a worsening of any of the constructs related to intergroup relations, which is noteworthy given the novelty for many participants of mixing in a multi-ethnic setting. Furthermore, all rater groups (Malays, Chinese, and Indians) maintained their ethnic identity, even in the presence of high levels of national identity, which we discuss with respect to past research on the effects of positive intergroup contact on minority group identification. However, the changes associated with the intervention yielded only small effect sizes, and, on the whole, National Service participants did not show significantly greater improvement than that experienced by control participants. We discuss the value of intergroup contact in this novel setting, considering various features of this programme that may have limited its effectiveness and discuss how such interventions can more successfully meet their goals.     

社群、精神性传统和中国社会中的灾难(英文)

本文假定深切的处境观念和社群疗法是受害者"家庭"观念重建的最好途径。本文作者认真响应中国心理学会主席张侃的号召,重视中国的本土资源和精神遗产对于中国人在心理治疗中作用。本文沿袭了沃尔什将重建社群作为缓解创伤和灾难效果的四种方式:分享对创伤事件的认知,分享丧失和存活的经验,社群的重新组织和关系的重新建立。有人认为在灾难之后,精神性也可以在意义和社群的复原中扮演着积极的作用,前提是尊重信仰,鼓励信仰者使用自己的信仰语言,而不是把信仰当作工具来寻求心理健康。文中引用的例子包括俄罗斯乌克兰人中的门诺派教徒在社群/宗教重建中的努力,还有中国人对2008年5月12日汶川大地震中对灾难的回应方式。     

Peacebuilding in Indonesia: Christian–Muslim Alliances in Ambon Island

This article aims to examine two major issues: (1) religious roots of reconciliation and forgiveness, which are often unfortunately forgotten in the academic discussion of peacebuilding and peace policy-related issues, and (2) Christians' and Muslims' attempts to quell interreligious violence and prevent renewed outbreaks in the conflict zone of Ambon of the Moluccas (Maluku) in eastern Indonesia. More specifically, it discusses the role of Ambonese Christian and Muslim leaders in the process of interreligious peacemaking and reconciliation. A comparative study of conciliation within Islam and Christianity, the piece investigates factors underlying Christian–Muslim collaboration for establishing peaceful settlement in the region. Unlike most previous analyses and studies, which have tended to undermine the contribution of religion in the conflict settings of Ambon, the article shows that religious identities, discourses, and actors have contributed to and also enhanced the chances for peace and reconciliation. Why and how Ambonese Christian and Muslim leaders were willing to unite to fight against religious extremism and eagerly pursue pacification becomes the central question of this article.