Medical Settings as a Context for Research on Cognitive Development

Medical contexts provide a rich opportunity to study important theoretical questions in cognitive development and to investigate the influence of a range of interacting factors relating to the child, the experience, and the broader social context on children's cognition. In the context of examples of research investigating these issues, we consider several specific advantages of conducting research in medical settings: the diverse range of participants, experiences, and potential research paradigms and the opportunities for student training. We discuss the benefits and challenges of conducting research within medical contexts and consider ways of attempting to maximize the former and of addressing the latter.     

Creativity and Values

ABSTRACT

Barron (1997 Barron , F. ( 1997 ). Introduction . In F. Barron , A. Montuori , & A. Barron (Eds.), Creators on creating (pp. 1 – 21 ). New York : Tarcher/Putnam . [Google Scholar]) and Helson (1990 Hall , W. B. , & MacKinnon , D. W. ( 1969 ). Personality inventory correlates of creative accomplishments . Journal of Applied Psychology , 53 , 322 – 236 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) independently have suggested that a central element in all forms of creativity is the desire or goal to be creative, implying creativity as a core value. Based on these assertions and Schwartz's (1992 Schwartz , S. H. ( 1992 ). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries . In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology ( Vol. 25 , pp. 1 – 26 ). San Diego , CA : Academic Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) theory, we tested the prediction that creative individuals will hold a different values system than their less creative counterparts. University students (N = 278) completed the Schwartz Values Survey (Schwartz, 1992 Schwartz , S. H. ( 1992 ). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries . In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology ( Vol. 25 , pp. 1 – 26 ). San Diego , CA : Academic Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), as well as a behaviorally-based self-report measure of creative accomplishments. At separate occasions, 134 of these participants also devised three creative products rated by the consensual assessment method. In keeping with prediction, creative accomplishments and products correlated significantly not only with the self-direction value composite (both including and excluding the individual item creativity), but also universalism and stimulation. Accomplishments and products correlated negatively with the value composites of tradition, security, and power. These results support the view that creativity is grounded in values, and support Schwartz's model of the dynamic structure of values as a predictor of behavior.     

Visual laterality in belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) when viewing familiar and unfamiliar humans

Lateralization of cognitive processes and motor functions has been demonstrated in a number of species, including humans, elephants, and cetaceans. For example, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have exhibited preferential eye use during a variety of cognitive tasks. The present study investigated the possibility of visual lateralization in 12 belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) and six Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) located at two separate marine mammal facilities. During free swim periods, the belugas and Pacific white-sided dolphins were presented a familiar human, an unfamiliar human, or no human during 10–15 min sessions. Session videos were coded for gaze duration, eye presentation at approach, and eye preference while viewing each stimulus. Although we did not find any clear group level lateralization, we found individual left eye lateralized preferences related to social stimuli for most belugas and some Pacific white-sided dolphins. Differences in gaze durations were also observed. The majority of individual belugas had longer gaze durations for unfamiliar rather than familiar stimuli. These results suggest that lateralization occurs during visual processing of human stimuli in belugas and Pacific white-sided dolphins and that these species can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar humans.     

Re-examining Religiosity as a Protective Factor: Comparing Alcohol Use by Self-Identified Religious,Spiritual, and Secular College Students

Religiosity has been found to be associated with lower alcohol use by college students. The majority of studies on this topic, however, fail to differentiate religiosity and spirituality. This is potentially problematic due to the changing face of religion in America today. A study was conducted to explore similarities and differences between self-identified religious and spiritual college students. A modified version of the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey was administered online with a sample of 2,312 students. As hypothesized, self-identified religious and spiritual students differed significantly on key variables related to religious practices, alcohol consumption, and postmodern social values.     

Exploring Adolescent Experiences with Disclosing Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Across Settings

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Disclosure of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) is critical to current treatment and prevention programs. Limited research has...     

Unique contributions of religious and science beliefs on meaning systems in a nationally representative American sample

Individuals often hold beliefs in religion and in science, but how they mutually function is not well-understood. We examined these conjoint influences by examining their relative contributions to individuals' global meaning systems. We also examined whether subgroups of participants could be identified in terms of relative influence of religious or science beliefs on their meaning systems. A nationally representative sample of 300 American adults completed online surveys. Results suggested that science beliefs and religion beliefs comprise separate but only modestly negatively correlated dimensions. Both contributed similarly to the explanation of world assumptions, but only religious beliefs generally predicted goals, values and sense of meaning in life. Latent profile analysis produced a three-profile solution: one profile of moderate science and religious beliefs represented half the sample while the remainder split evenly between predominantly religious and predominantly science beliefs. In general, across most aspects of global meaning, the religious beliefs group was higher than the science beliefs and moderate beliefs in both groups. Results of this first systematic investigation of the separate effects of beliefs in religion and in science on meaning systems suggest that the balance of these beliefs is a potentially important individual difference warranting further investigation and elaboration.     

Work Passion Through the Lens of Culture: Harmonious Work Passion,Obsessive Work Passion,and Work Outcomes in Russia and China

Purpose

This cross-cultural study with employee–supervisor dyads in Russia and China examines links between harmonious and obsessive work passion and four job- and organization-focused outcomes (job satisfaction, intentions to quit, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors) and two career-focused outcomes (career satisfaction and occupational commitment).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from employee–supervisor dyads in Russia (N = 223) and China (N = 193). We undertook a series of hierarchical regressions to examine the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

We found considerable support for the harmonious passion–work outcome relationships and less support for the obsessive passion–work outcome relationships. In both Russia and China, harmonious passion predicted all six hypothesized outcomes. However, obsessive work passion predicted job satisfaction and occupational commitment in Russia, but was unrelated to any of the hypothesized outcomes in China. We also identified several culture-specific work passion–outcome relationships.

Implications

Our research extends the duality of the work passion construct to non-Western cultures. The examination of a variety of work passion outcomes provides a finer-grained approach to how two types of passion uniquely link to different work consequences. Several culture-specific findings refute the traditionally held assumption that harmonious passion relates to solely positive outcomes, whereas obsessive passion relates to solely negative outcomes. Collectively, the results augment the nomological framework of the passion construct. The study informs managerial practices by suggesting when work passion needs to be encouraged or tamed.

Originality/Value

This is the first study that examines a variety of job-, organization-, and career-focused outcomes of work passion in non-Western organizations.

     

Decision-Making by Children and Young People in the Home: The Nurture of Trust,Participation and Independence

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research study of children and young people (aged 7–17 years) in Ireland. It seeks to investigate whether, for the children and young people involved, the home is a space where supportive, trusting family relationships can be nurtured; where independence grows with age; and where parents listen, discuss and explain decisions made. It furthermore outlines the views and experiences of parents with regard to children and young people’s participation in the home and will focus on relational and spatial aspects of child participation within the home. The study recognizes children and young people as social actors and is also informed by a relational and spatial approach to children’s participation which recognizes the respective roles and positions of children in facilitating child participation. The results indicate that age and issues of trust and tokenism were significant barriers in young people’s participation and decision making at home. Key enablers of children and young people’s participation included spaces where discussion can happen at home, good family relationships, being listened to by parents, trust and growing levels of independence with age, seeing decisions as fair and having the rationale for decisions explained to them by parents. Among suggestions for improvements the most important were designated family spaces for discussion, encouragement of active listening by parents, and promotion of explanation by adults of their decisions.     

Adult Male Perpetrators’ Perspectives on What Prevention Approaches Work Best for Young Boys at Risk of Future Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

As part of a 2-year ethnographic study, 49 adult men who had been convicted of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration were interviewed on what they thought would have prevented them from engaging in perpetration behaviors, or rather what they believed prevention with young boys needed to include in order to prevent future IPV perpetration. The authors’ open-ended interviews yielded five main themes: (a) messages about healthy relationship behaviors, (b) the need to promote respect for women, (c) teaching effective skills for communicating and managing anger, (d) programs that provide role models and are school-based, and (e) addressing the impact of experiencing violence as a child. The authors conclude that prevention efforts focused on changing both attitudes regarding IPV and behaviors might be most effective for reducing perpetration, and that greater attention needs to be paid towards prevention among youth most at risk of IPV perpetration, those experiencing violence in their homes.