Reactively,Proactively, Implicitly,Explicitly? Academics’ Pedagogical Conceptions of how to Promote Research Ethics and Integrity

This article focuses on academics’ conceptions of teaching research ethics and integrity. Seventeen academics from a Finnish research intensive university participated in this qualitative study. The data were collected using a qualitative multi-method approach, including think-aloud and interview data. The material was scrutinized using thematic analysis, with both deductive and inductive approaches. The results revealed variation in academics’ views on the responsibility for teaching research integrity, the methods employed to teach it and the necessity of intervening when misconduct occurs. The academics emphasized the responsibility of the individual teacher and the student to foster integrity as well as the shared responsibility of all members of the academic community. However, many academics felt that they themselves needed pedagogical training. Most shared the view that practices of responsible conduct in research can be explicitly and intentionally taught through demonstration, explanation, and practice. However, the academics also noted that learning research integrity and ethics takes place implicitly. A few questioned the need for and the utility of training in the form of courses or through an explicitly addressed topic included in, for instance, methods courses. Their views on the question of how to deal with alleged cases of misconduct varied. While many academics considered a proactive approach the best way to prevent misconduct, some trusted more in a reactive approach. The results show that, while in general academics agree on the importance of research ethics, their conceptions of teaching it vary. The teaching conception bears consequences for the teaching methods chosen, assignment of responsibility for both teaching and students learning, and for the way in which teachers believe that misconduct should be responded to.     

Supporting and Thwarting Autonomy in the High School Science Classroom

This investigation examined relations between adolescent students' daily and cumulative perceptions of teachers' practice and their experience of autonomy. Two-hundred and eighteen high school science students in 43 classes participated in a 6-week diary study. Multilevel modeling results suggested that perceptions of 8 out of 9 practices predicted a change in students' daily autonomy. Results also revealed that autonomy-relevant practices interacted with time, each other, and characteristics of students and classrooms. Implications are discussed.     

Using powerpoint to demonstrate human classical salivary conditioning in a classroom situation

Classical conditioning is one of the most fundamental types of learning, yet demonstrating its principles in a classroom setting can be challenging. This study introduces using PowerPoint as a new, practical technique that can be used in a classroom setting to demonstrate classical conditioning. The PowerPoint file is flexible and easy to adapt for demonstrating various aspects of classical conditioning (including higher order conditioning) in a concrete manner. Moreover, this study was designed to measure salivation in a more objective and valid way which could be used by student researchers interested in measuring salivation as a conditioned response.     

Increased intraindividual variability is a marker of ADHD but also of dyslexia: a study on handwriting

It has been suggested that intraindividual variability (IIV) in neuropsychological tasks may be a specific characteristic of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but previous research has not thoroughly examined whether IIV also concerns academic performance or other types of developmental disabilities. The present study investigates the role of IIV in 15 children with ADHD without reading difficulties, 15 children with dyslexia without associated symptoms of ADHD, and 15 typically developing children (TDC) in a simple response time (SRT) task and in a skill more directly related with school learning—handwriting. Results show that children with ADHD and those with dyslexia have a greater IIV than the TDC in both tasks. However, the pattern of the relationship between IIV in SRT and handwriting was different in children with ADHD and dyslexia: the IIV in the handwriting task was found to depend on IIV in the SRT task only in children with dyslexia. These findings support the crucial role of IIV not only in ADHD but also in other developmental disabilities, but suggest that in children with ADHD it may present specific aspects related with motor control.     

The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire: Development and Preliminary Validation of a Community Version1

This paper describes 2 studies that evaluated a new instrument, the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire‐Community Version (PEDQ‐CV). The PEDQ‐CV can be used across ethnic groups to assess perceived racism or ethnic discrimination. The scales measure several subdimensions of racism, permitting the examination of different forms of this race‐related stressor. The first study evaluated the psychometric properties of the PEDQ‐CV in a large sample of community‐dwelling adults. The second evaluated psychometric properties of a brief version of the PEDQ‐CV, developed for research protocols requiring a shorter administration time. Tests were made of reliability and several forms of construct validity. Both versions of the PEDQ‐CV have good reliability and construct validity. The PEDQ‐CV can facilitate the development of an integrative body of knowledge across different ethnic groups regarding the existence, determinants, and consequences of discrimination.     

Self‐Control of Smoking: When Does Narrowed Attention Help?1

Two studies examined the capacity of cognitive load to enhance or disrupt the self‐control of smoking in the presence of situational pressures that either promote or discourage the behavior. In Study 1, participants who were exposed to cues encouraging smoking smoked more under high cognitive load than under low cognitive load. In Study 2, participants who were exposed to cues discouraging smoking smoked less under high load than under low load. Cognitive load appears to narrow attention, resulting in a state of attentional myopia, which leads to disinhibited smoking behavior when pressures to smoke are disproportionately salient and enhanced control of smoking when pressures not to smoke are disproportionately salient. Implications for smoking cessation are discussed.     

Directionality of the Association Between Social Support and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Longitudinal Investigation1

This study examined the nature of the association between social support and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology among 2,249 male veterans of the 1990‐1991 Gulf War. Using structural equation modeling, a cross‐lagged panel analysis indicated a strong negative relationship between PTSD at Time 1 and social support at Time 2, while social support at Time 1 did not predict PTSD at Time 2. Findings suggest that, over time, interpersonal problems associated with PTSD may have a detrimental influence on the quality and quantity of available social support resources. It is recommended that greater focus be placed on the interpersonal skills of those suffering from PTSD.     

An Intensive Outpatient Program for Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury

Post-9/11 service members may return from military service with a complicated set of symptoms and conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance misuse, and traumatic brain injury (TBI), that interfere with reintegration and impair functioning. Although evidence-based treatments that facilitate recovery exist, their successful delivery at a sufficient dose is limited. Barriers to accessing treatment combined with challenges compiling a comprehensive treatment team further delay delivery of effective evidence-based care for PTSD, TBI, and co-occurring mental health conditions. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, 2-week intensive day program for post-9/11 veterans with complex mental health concerns. The treatment program combines skill building groups, family education, and integrative health approaches with evidence-based individual PTSD or TBI care. Initial results from the first 132 participants were notable for a 97% completion rate, as well as statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in PTSD, neurobehavioral, and depression symptom severity for the 107 veterans who completed the PTSD track and the 21 who completed the TBI track. These data suggest the intensive program approach is an effective, well-tolerated model of treatment for post-9/11 veterans with PTSD and/or TBI. Future controlled studies should examine the effectiveness of this intensive model compared to standard evidence-based therapy delivery, as well as longitudinal outcomes.     

Parental coping socialization is associated with healthy and anxious early‐adolescents’ neural and real‐world response to threat

The ways parents socialize their adolescents to cope with anxiety (i.e., coping socialization) may be instrumental in the development of threat processing and coping responses. Coping socialization may be important for anxious adolescents, as they show altered neural threat processing and over reliance on disengaged coping (e.g., avoidance and distraction), which can maintain anxiety. We investigated whether coping socialization was associated with anxious and healthy adolescents’ neural response to threat, and whether neural activation was associated with disengaged coping. Healthy and clinically anxious early adolescents (N = 120; M = 11.46 years; 71 girls) and a parent engaged in interactions designed to elicit adolescents’ anxiety and parents’ response to adolescents’ anxiety. Parents’ use of reframing and problem solving statements was coded to measure coping socialization. In a subsequent visit, we assessed adolescents’ neural response to threat words during a neuroimaging task. Adolescents’ disengaged coping was measured using ecological momentary assessment. Greater coping socialization was associated with lower anterior insula and perigenual cingulate activation in healthy adolescents and higher activation in anxious adolescents. Coping socialization was indirectly associated with less disengaged coping for anxious adolescents through neural activation. Findings suggest that associations between coping socialization and early adolescents’ neural response to threat differ depending on clinical status and have implications for anxious adolescents’ coping.