Bias to experience approaching motion in a three-dimensional virtual environment

We used two-frame apparent motion in a three-dimensional virtual environment to test whether observers had biases to experience approaching or receding motion in depth. Observers viewed a tunnel of tiles receding in depth, that moved ambiguously either toward or away from them. We found that observers exhibited biases to experience approaching motion. The strengths of the biases were decreased when stimuli pointed away, but size of the display screen had no effect. Tests with diamond-shaped tiles that varied in the degree of pointing asymmetry resulted in a linear trend in which the bias was strongest for stimuli pointing toward the viewer, and weakest for stimuli pointing away. We show that the overall bias to experience approaching motion is consistent with a computational strategy of matching corresponding features between adjacent foreshortened stimuli in consecutive visual frames. We conclude that there are both adaptational and geometric reasons to favor the experience of approaching motion.     

How not to be seen: the contribution of similarity and selective ignoring to sustained inattentional blindness

When people attend to objects or events in a visual display, they often fail to notice an additional, unexpected, but fully visible object or event in the same display. This phenomenon is now known as inattentional blindness . We present a new approach to the study of sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events in order to explore the roles of similarity, distinctiveness, and attentional set in the detection of unexpected objects. In Experiment 1, we found that the similarity of an unexpected object to other objects in the display influences attentional capture: The more similar an unexpected object is to the attended items, and the greater its difference from the ignored items, the more likely it is that people will notice it. Experiment 2 explored whether this effect of similarity is driven by selective ignoring of irrelevant items or by selective focusing on attended items. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that the distinctiveness of the unexpected object alone cannot entirely account for the similarity effects found in the first two experiments; when attending to black items or white items in a dynamic display, nearly 30% of observers failed to notice a bright red cross move across the display, even though it had a unique color, luminance, shape, and motion trajectory and was visible for 5 s. Together, the results suggest that inattentional blindness for ongoing dynamic events depends both on the similarity of the unexpected object to the other objects in the display and on the observer's attentional set.     

Explaining effervescence: Investigating the relationship between shared social identity and positive experience in crowds

We investigated the intensely positive emotional experiences arising from participation in a large-scale collective event. We predicted such experiences arise when those attending a collective event are (1) able to enact their valued collective identity and (2) experience close relations with other participants. In turn, we predicted both of these to be more likely when participants perceived crowd members to share a common collective identity. We investigated these predictions in a survey of pilgrims (N = 416) attending a month-long Hindu pilgrimage festival in north India. We found participants' perceptions of a shared identity amongst crowd members had an indirect effect on their positive experience at the event through (1) increasing participants' sense that they were able to enact their collective identity and (2) increasing the sense of intimacy with other crowd members. We discuss the implications of these data for how crowd emotion should be conceptualised.     

Joseph Rotblat and the Moral Responsibilities of the Scientist

Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat was one of the most distinguished scientists and peace campaigners of the post second world war period. He made significant contributions to nuclear physics and worked on the development of the atomic bomb. He then became one of the world’s leading researchers into the biological effects of radiation. His life from the early 1950s until his death in August 2005 was devoted to the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace. For this he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (that he helped found) in 1995. His work in this area ranked with that of Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell and this article is an attempt to summarise his life, achievements, but in particular outline his views on the moral responsibilities of the scientist. He is a towering intellectual figure and his contributions to mankind should be better known and more widely understood.

A social cure in the community: A mixed-method exploration of the role of social identity in the experiences and well-being of community volunteers

Cohesive, resilient communities are vital to the well-being of residents. Uncovering the determinants of successful community identities is therefore essential to progressing the community health agenda. Engaging in community participation through volunteering may be one pathway to building local community identity and enhancing residents’ health and well-being, but the group processes connecting them remain unexplored. We conducted two studies investigating these dynamics using the “Social Cure” perspective. First, we analysed 53 in-depth interviews with volunteers, finding that community relationships shaped their experiences and that volunteering influenced their sense of community belonging, support, and well-being. Second, a community survey (N = 619) revealed that volunteering predicts well-being through the serial mediators of community identification and social support. Our article demonstrates the Social Cure processes involved in community-based volunteering, their impact on community identity, support and well-being, and their implications for community health, and the provision and sustainability of community voluntary action and interventions.     

Infant psychiatry clinic grand rounds. Unresolved grief: A two-year-old brings her mother for treatment

Rebecca was a 2 ¹/₂ -year-old Caucasian female who was brought to the Infant Psychiatry Clinic by her 28-year-old widowed mother. Her mother's chief concern was around parenting issues as well as how to explain to Rebecca the death of her father. This loss occurred when Rebecca was 6 months old and was a source of great pain and unresolved grief to her mother. Central to this case was the chaotic history of Rebecca's mother, who was a victim of incest from the time she was 13 until she was 23 years old. Both of her parents struggled with chronic alcoholism during much of her childhood. It appeared that a factor precipitating the mother's request for help was her struggle to move out of her own mother's home. This outpatient Infant Clinic case involved two primary goals: (1) the assessment of the parent-child relationship and (2) the development of confidence in this “good enough” mother. Vitally important to the process of treatment was the mother's modulation of timing and frequency of sessions. The issue of pacing was carefully monitored as this mother could have been overwhelmed by delving precipitously into her incestuous history. The use of a structured videotape interview to address mother-child interaction and parenting issues was particularly helpful. Referral to an AlAnon group provided the mother with social support as she separated herself from her alcoholic mother and moved toward autonomy in her own parenting role.     

Commitment to one’s spouse as a predictor of marital quality among older couples

The present study examined the relationships between several independent variables (ego development, commitment to the spouse, length of marriage, church attendance, and sex of subject) and three marital quality variables (marriage problems, expression of love, and dyadic adjustment) in a community sample of 72 married couples age 50 and up. Commitment to the spouse was the strongest and most consistent predictor of marital quality; commitment was negatively related to marriage problems and positively related to expression of love and dyadic adjustment. The other independent variables were generally unrelated to marital quality.     

The Relationship Among Substance Abuse Counselors' Spiritual Well‐Being,Values, and Self‐Actualizing Characteristics and the Impact on Clients' Spiritual Well‐Being

This study explored the relationship between scores on the Spiritual Well‐Being Scale and subscales from the Rokeach Value Survey and the Personal Orientation Inventory of substance abuse counselors in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This study also examined the impact of counselors' spiritual well‐being on the spiritual well‐being of patients in their clinical care. The results indicated that the values of wisdom and loving from the Rokeach Value Survey and self‐acceptance from the Personal Orientation Inventory accounted for approximately half of the spiritual well‐being variance. These variables could be used as indicators in the supervisory process, could help promote substance abuse counselors' spiritual well‐being, and could educate counselors on burnout prevention. Follow‐up findings indicated a statistically significant change score on patients' pretest and posttest scores on the Spiritual Well‐Being Scale, indicating an increase in patients' spiritual wellbeing while in inpatient addiction treatment.     

ON MOTIVATED ROLE SELECTION: GENDER BELIEFS, DISTANT GOALS, AND CAREER INTEREST

Despite widespread changes in occupational opportunities, men and women continue to show divergent preferences for careers. This research invoked a motivational framework to explain sex-differentiated career interest. From a role congruity perspective ( Diekman & Eagly, 2008 ), the internalization of gender roles leads people to endorse gender-stereotypic goals, which then lead to interest in occupations that afford the pursuit of those goals. Three studies provided evidence for the hypotheses. Study 1 found that male- and female-stereotypic careers were perceived to afford different goals. Studies 2 and 3 found that men and women endorsed different goals and that this gender-normative goal endorsement predicted gender-stereotypic career interest. In addition, structural equation modeling (Study 3) indicated that internalization of gender roles fully accounted for sex-differentiated goal endorsement. These findings thus extend the social role theory framework to consider processes related to self-selection into specific social roles.