Evaluating Arguments from a Play about Ethics in Science: A Study with Medical Learners

Developing critical thinking ability is one of the main goals of medical education, in part because it enhances clinical reasoning, a vital competence in clinical practice. However, there is limited evidence suggesting ways to effectively teach critical thinking in the classroom. Here, we describe the use of a drama-based critical thinking classroom scenario. The study used a mixed-methods approach with both quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaire responses. Ninety-one medical students (56 females; 35 males; ages 16–30 years) in Colombia were asked to identify and evaluate arguments regarding a dilemma between ethics, social responsibility and scientific work presented in the play Should’ve by the Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann. Chi square analyses of responses to closed-ended questions showed that the drama-based classroom scenario provided learners with opportunities to make decisions, and to identify and evaluate arguments from the play. Qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions confirmed these findings and illustrated the processes underlying the decisions. Students were able to evaluate arguments in an impartial way. Our findings support the use of drama-based scenarios in the classroom as an approach to fostering medical students’ critical thinking. This approach could contribute to a classroom pedagogy in which all students have an active role in responding to controversial questions, evaluating arguments and critically responding. This would support the development of critical thinking and promote deeper understanding of the dilemmas involved in scientific work.     

Parent-Child Endorsement Discrepancies among Youth at Chronic-Risk for Depression

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems among U.S. adolescents, particularly among Latinos. Parent-child ratings of the presence and severity of child depressive symptoms show only low-to-moderate agreement. However, research has failed to examine discrepancies in populations with the highest levels of unmet need and little is known about patterns and predictors of parent-child agreement in ratings of depressive symptoms among ethnic minority families in community settings. Using a sample of 184 low-income, predominantly Latino, 5th through 7th grade students (63.6% female) at chronic risk for depression, this study utilized exploratory Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to uncover patterns of parent-child endorsement of core diagnostic depressive symptoms. Overall, children reported higher levels of core (i.e., depressed mood, anhedonia, irritability) and secondary (e.g., sleep disturbances) depressive symptoms relative to their parents. The three latent classes identified include a low endorsement and high agreement class (LH), high endorsement and high agreement class (HH), and high child endorsement and low agreement class (HCL). Multinomial regression models revealed that previous mental health service use and higher externalizing problems were associated with HH class membership, relative to HCL class membership. Findings provide evidence that a substantial number of children may have depressive symptoms that go undetected by their parents. Access to services among children at-risk for depression may be increased with psychoeducation to improve parental awareness and stigma reduction.     

Further evaluation of observational and mechanical measures of physical activity

Recent behavioral research has used a variety of methods to quantify physical activity, including direct observation using the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity (OSRAC), and automated devices such as heart rate (HR) monitors, pedometers, and Fitbit Accelerometers. The current study evaluated the concurrent validity of these measures, as well as the reliability of the pedometers and Fitbits. Four children engaged in 15 activities listed in the OSRAC coding system while their HRs and steps taken were measured. The results indicated that for most activities, HR covaried with the OSRAC activity levels, although some exceptions were noted. Steps per minute as measured by the Fitbit also covaried with the OSRAC activity levels and Fitbit data were reliable when activities did not involve subjects losing contact with the ground. Pedometers produced similar but less reliable steps per minute data.     

Selective social learning in infancy: looking for mechanisms

Although there is mounting evidence that selective social learning begins in infancy, the psychological mechanisms underlying this ability are currently a controversial issue. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether theory of mind abilities and statistical learning skills are related to infants’ selective social learning. Seventy‐seven 18‐month‐olds were first exposed to a reliable or an unreliable speaker and then completed a word learning task, two theory of mind tasks, and a statistical learning task. If domain‐general abilities are linked to selective social learning, then infants who demonstrate superior performance on the statistical learning task should perform better on the selective learning task, that is, should be less likely to learn words from an unreliable speaker. Alternatively, if domain‐specific abilities are involved, then superior performance on theory of mind tasks should be related to selective learning performance. Findings revealed that, as expected, infants were more likely to learn a novel word from a reliable speaker. Importantly, infants who passed a theory of mind task assessing knowledge attribution were significantly less likely to learn a novel word from an unreliable speaker compared to infants who failed this task. No such effect was observed for the other tasks. These results suggest that infants who possess superior social‐cognitive abilities are more apt to reject an unreliable speaker as informant. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/zuuCniHYzqo     

Reducing stereotype threat in urban schools

Research suggests student performance may be negatively influenced by stereotype threat, “being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one’s group” (Steele and Aronson in J Personal Soc Psychol 69(5):797, 1995). However, studies have also found that educating students about stereotype threat and the nature of intelligence can attenuate its effects. This paper explored whether a brief intervention could improve performance and attitudes for 109 at-risk students in a large urban school. Results found the intervention did not result in statistically significant differences in grades, or increases in student beliefs about their ability to succeed in school. Educational implications are discussed.     

Is a bad will a weak will? Cognitive dispositions modulate folk attributions of weakness of will

In line with recent efforts to empirically study the folk concept of weakness of will, we examine two issues in this paper: (1) How is weakness of will attribution (WWA) influenced by an agent’s violations of best judgment and/or resolution, and by the moral valence of the agent’s action? (2) Do any of these influences depend on the cognitive dispositions of the judging individual? We implemented a factorial 2?×?2?×?2 between-subjects design with judgment violation, resolution violation, and action valence as independent variables, and measured participants’ cognitive dispositions using Frederick’s Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). We conclude that intuitive and reflective individuals have two different concepts of weakness of will. The study supports this claim by showing that: (1) the WWA of intuitive subjects is influenced by the action’s (and probably also the commitment’s) moral valence, while the WWA of reflective subjects is not; (2) judgment violation plays a small role in the WWA of intuitive subjects, while reflective subjects treat resolution violation as the only relevant trait. Data were collected among students at two different universities. All subjects (N?=?710) answered the CRT. A three-way ANOVA was first conducted on the whole sample and then on the intuitive and reflective groups separately. This study suggests that differences in cognitive dispositions can significantly impact the folk understanding of philosophical concepts and thus suggests that analysis of folk concepts should take cognitive dispositions into account.     

Playing Together: DIR and Child Psychodynamic Therapy

ABSTRACT

This article describes the integration of the developmental, individual difference, relationship model (DIR) and relational child psychodynamic therapy. DIR is an effective treatment for many children with uneven development, not only for those on the autistic spectrum. The importance for child psychodynamic therapists to understand individual differences, as delineated by occupational and speech/language therapists, and to include parents within the treatment will be discussed throughout this article and in a particular case. An understanding of individual differences makes psychoanalytic formulations, especially about the body, more accessible and actionable. Overlooking the contribution of individual differences to a child’s play and development has consequences for progress in treatment. Together, DIR and child psychodynamic therapy can most effectively integrate “psyche” and “soma” (Winnicott, 1949). The child psychodynamic therapist’s particular expertise, in such areas as countertransference enactments and unconscious meaning, crucially contributes to this integration.     

Autism—What Does Gender Have to Do With It?

The relationship between gender and autism is an underexplored topic, and one in which the psychoanalytic literature on gender is relevant. The therapist examines her failing to have understood the importance of gender issues for an autistic male child and his family and the ramifications of this oversight to help in the development of “gender creativity” (Ehrensaft, 2016). The gender issues included an initial absence of gender (the meaning of which will be clarified), a subsequently emerging wish to be a girl, and then a powerful, in part reactive wish to be a male. This case highlights the early sensory issues in the development of gender, dyadic work with parents in the treatment sessions, countertransference reactions related to gender, and the relevance of thinking psychoanalytically about neurodevelopmental disorders.     

The impact of education on intergenerational occupational mobility in Spain

Intergenerational occupational mobility is a topic that has attracted considerable interest in the sociological and economic literature for developed countries. In particular, one of the central issues in political debate is the role of education on the intergenerational social mobility. The modern capitalist economies are characterised by continual technological changes which lead to the need of a highly skilled workforce. In this potentially meritocratic society, the equality of opportunities, the efficient allocation of talent and the education can be instruments that encourage the social mobility and decrease the effect of the parents' economic status on the career of their children. This paper takes into account these facts and sheds empirical evidence for Spain about the relationships between social origin, educational attainment and occupational destination. The methodology applied consists of the specification and estimation of discrete choice models, and the empirical analysis is based on data provided by the Living Condition Survey (LCS) conducted for the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE).     

Is Synthesis of World Religions Possible?

Introduction

All major religions appear to follow a pattern of social contract with an additional feature of ‘termination of the contract’ and its ‘aftermath’, for the soul. This way, religion is known as ‘dissolution mechanism’ (DM). It contains both social and metaphysical terms, where the former is subsidiary to the latter. The metaphysical term is represented by the mokṣa. A given DM not only explicates the state of soul after the termination of contract, but also it endeavours to point out the nature of the ultimate reality it conceives.

Method

DM provides a geometrical/mathematical picture of the universe to locate the ultimate reality and the individual souls in it; three views of the universe—destruction, creation and sustenance—are obtained for three basic religions or thoughts. Buddhist ‘Nothingness’ forms the psychological background for these views of universe. Architectural designs of worship places, yantras or manḍalas, etc., show both the nature of universe and the location of the ultimate in it. Understanding these figures is the key method to be employed for arriving at synthesis.

Conclusion

Synthesis consists in noting the identical common metaphysical generic essence as running through all the religions, and identifying the unique specific root-essence on such a generic essence. Specific root-essence of a given DM consists in the way the unification of cognitions of the universe is carried out. When the unification of all the specific root-essences on the generic essence is carried out with a further psychological background of Buddhism, we get a specimen of metaphysical synthesis of world religions. Thus, synthesis is a distinct and sure possibility.