Action Research: A Missing Component in the Emergence of Social and Cross‐Cultural Psychology as a Fully Inter‐Connected Global Enterprise

Action research, as envisaged by Lewin, uses research to solve a social problem and provide theoretical knowledge. It involves a cyclical–spiral of planning, action, and evaluation with feedback between parties, taking into account power and value differences and empowering change agents. This has been all but abandoned by social psychologists today. Contemporary ‘participatory’ action research has migrated to fields like education and development and community studies that emphasize a social constructionist epistemology with a qualitative approach of recording bottom‐up processes of social change and community self‐awareness. The globalization of psychology affords new opportunities for a return to more top‐down Lewinian traditions, where academics in the developing world – embedded within a cultural milieu of interconnectedness and relatively exempt from pressures to publish or perish – can work together with academics in wealthy countries to produce a process oriented psychology that is capable of making a difference under conditions of climate change and the end of cheap oil. Asian social psychology, where strongly indigenous psychologies have taken root in growing economies, may take a leading role in this movement.     

Movements execution in amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

We evaluated the relationship between motor and neuropsychological deficits in subjects affected by amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) and early Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Kinematics of goal-directed movement of aMCI and AD subjects were compared to those of age-matched control subjects. AD showed a slowing down of motor performance compared to aMCI and controls. No relationships were found between motor and cognitive performances in both AD and aMCI. Our results suggest that the different motor behaviour between AD and aMCI cannot be related to memory deficits, probably reflecting the initial degeneration of parietal-frontal circuits for movement planning. The onset of motor dysfunction in early AD could represent the transition from aMCI to AD.     

Reconsolidation of declarative memory in humans

The reconsolidation hypothesis states that a consolidated memory could again become unstable and susceptible to facilitation or impairment for a discrete period of time after a reminder presentation. The phenomenon has been demonstrated in very diverse species and types of memory, including the human procedural memory of a motor skill task but not the human declarative one. Here we provide evidence for both consolidation and reconsolidation in a paired-associate learning (i.e., learning an association between a cue syllable and the respective response syllable). Subjects were given two training sessions with a 24-h interval on distinct verbal material, and afterward, they received at testing two successive retrievals corresponding to the first and second learning, respectively. Two main results are noted. First, the first acquired memory was impaired when a reminder was presented 5 min before the second training (reconsolidation), and also when the second training was given 5 min instead of 24 h after the first one (consolidation). Second, the first retrieval proved to influence negatively on the later one (the retrieval-induced forgetting [RIF] effect), and we used the absence of this RIF effect as a very indicator of the target memory impairment. We consider the demonstration of reconsolidation in human declarative memory as backing the universality of this phenomenon and having potential clinical relevance. On the other hand, we discuss the possibility of using the human declarative memory as a model to address several key topics of the reconsolidation hypothesis.     

Predictors of disclosure of human immunovirus-positive serostatus among Latino gay men

To test a theoretical approach to disclosure of human immunovirus (HIV) status, 301 HIV-positive Latino gay men were interviewed using Audio-CASI (Computer Assisted Self-Interview technology with Audio enhancement). Consequence theory and social influence theory were combined to create a model of antecedents of disclosure. Results provided support for both theories. Perceived positive consequences were associated with greater disclosure to casual partners, families, and friends, whereas perceived negative consequences were associated with less disclosure to friends and family members. Social influence of peer behavioral norms was predictive of disclosure to all three target groups. Gay community social influence produced different effects on disclosure of HIV-positive status: a negative association for casual partners, a positive association for close friends, and no relationship for family members. Time since diagnosis was also predictive of disclosure.     

A method for the control of eating rate: A potential intervention in eating disorders

A method for the control of eating rate gave subjects feedback from a computer screen on how much and at what rate to eat during a meal. The method also allowed us to record the development of satiety during the meal. Linear eaters—that is, women selected for eating at an approximately constant rate—underate when challenged to eat at a lower rate and overate when challenged to eat at a higher rate, thereby modeling the eating behavior of patients with anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder, respectively. In both cases, the women’s postmeal perception of satiety mimicked that of the respective patient group. The results provide support for the notion that linear eaters have the capacity to exhibit disordered eating.     

Two Case Studies of Community Schools Serving Latino and Southeast Asian Children

Recent attention has focused on establishing school-based integrated services centers which offer educational and noneducational services to students and their families. We present two comparative case studies of client participation in school centers established in low income Latino and Southeast Asian communities. The cases focus on types of center services utilized by families, culturally compatible practices of the centers, and impact of coordinated services on students and families. The data reveal the limited capacity of high poverty families to cope with daily and persistent life challenges and how the schools have been transformed into family support environments which assist families to manage their lives in ways that lead to self-sufficiency and growth.     

AN ACQUAINTANCE RAPE PREVENTION PROGRAM

The present study investigated the effects of an acquaintance-rape prevention program on college students' attitudes toward rape and attitudes toward women, perceptions of acquaintance-rape scenarios, and rape empathy. Participants were led to believe that they were participating in two separate experiments in order to decrease demand characteristics. Results indicated that intervention group men and women became more empathic toward the victim than the control group, postintervention. Within the intervention group, men changed more in their attitudes toward women postintervention than did women. In addition to positive attitude change, results with the date-rape scenarios suggested that intervention-group men became more certain of their definitions of rape situations postintervention. Prior to the intervention, women were generally more certain of their definitions than were men, with intervention-group men approximating women's responses postintervention.     

A Challenge to the Integrity of Creation: An African Woman's Perspective

Is JPIC a compelling process calling churches and Christians to commitment and involvement within the life of the world? Or, as some critics claim, is JPIC a rather a handy but not too practical theoretical construct within which to house the various environment and development commitments of the ecumenical movement? These are ongoing and helpful questions which are not new to the JPIC process. They are important, and necessary to keep in the forefront of debate and discussions in churches, for they point to a central truth — that JPIC is effective only to the extent that it makes a difference in the lives of people. The wealth of theological reflection and socio-political assessment of the JPIC process, as evidenced by the articles of this issue of The Ecumenical Review, are meaningful precisely in relation to their capacity to form and inform the understandings and actions of churches and Christians in the world. For in the last analysis, JPIC can only be measured in terms of human life, and of flesh and blood. Therefore, it seems worthwhile, and perhaps necessary, within a journal of theological reflection which has as its focus the JPIC process, to include a testimony to JPIC as it is lived out at the grassroots level. We know that women bear a disproportionate impact of the effects of poverty and unjust economic systems. Women too experience a disproportionate impact of the effects of racism. As bearers of life into the world, and as the primary nurturers of future generations, women claim a special place in relation to the environment. It is appropriate, therefore, that Cecilia Asogwa inserts into these JPIC reflections a personal account of a community of rural women in Africa who begin to work together in an economic self-help group, and in so doing discover themselves involved as active participants and leaders in their community. For these women, JPIC has meant personal and community empowerment which they have experienced as part of the healing of creation.     

The Perception of Ideal Best Friends by Chinese Adolescents

This study examines the characteristics of ideal best friends endorsed by Chinese adolescents. A comprehensive measure of person perception was used in order to assess those dimensions of personality where gender, similarity, and complementarity might be related to the rating of ideal best friends. Results indicated that ideal female best friends were rated higher on the communal dimension of Helpfulness; ideal male best friends were rated higher on the agentic dimensions of Extroversion, Assertiveness, and Application. Similarity effects were found for Openness to Experience, Extroversion, and Emotional Stability; complementarity effects for Assertiveness. These results were explained in terms of Chinese gender stereotypes and the requirements for harmonious dyadic interaction.