Context-Specific Learning, Personality, and Birth Order

Most people believe that learning to get along (or not get along) with their siblings played an important role in shaping their personality, and that their position in the family—oldest, youngest, or in the middle—had lasting effects. Yet studies of birth order generally fail to support these beliefs. The apparent contradiction can be resolved by taking into account the context-specific nature of learned behavior. There is abundant evidence that people do not automatically transfer behavior from one context to another: They wait until they have evidence that what they learned in Context 1 will also be useful in Context 2. Because patterns of behavior acquired in the family of origin tend to be useless or inappropriate in other settings, birth order effects show up only in that context. Outside the family they grew up in, firstborns and later-borns are indistinguishable in personality.     

Bioethical issues in biostatistical consulting: development of a survey

To develop a survey, the Bioethical Issues in Biostatistical Consulting Questionnaire, for investigating bioethical issues in analysis, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to specify areas of bioethics. Through a focus group study and the evaluation by 10 biostatisticians, the questionnaire was constructed. Validation must involve a panel of experts. Now, test-retest reliability and factor analysis should be conducted on a group of eligible subjects.     

Longer you play, the more hostile you feel: examination of first person shooter video games and aggression during video game play

This study investigated the effects of video game play on aggression. Using the General Aggression Model, as applied to video games by Anderson and Bushman, [2002] this study measured physiological arousal, state hostility, and how aggressively participants would respond to three hypothetical scenarios. In addition, this study measured each of these variables multiple times to gauge how aggression would change with increased video game play. Results showed a significant increase from baseline in hostility and aggression (based on two of the three story stems), which is consistent with the General Aggression Model. This study adds to the existing literature on video games and aggression by showing that increased play of a violent first person shooter video game can significantly increase aggression from baseline.     

Precision and power grip priming by observed grasping

The coupling of hand grasping stimuli and the subsequent grasp execution was explored in normal participants. Participants were asked to respond with their right- or left-hand to the accuracy of an observed (dynamic) grasp while they were holding precision or power grasp response devices in their hands (e.g., precision device/right-hand; power device/left-hand). The observed hand was making either accurate or inaccurate precision or power grasps and participants signalled the accuracy of the observed grip by making one or other response depending on instructions. Responses were made faster when they matched the observed grip type. The two grasp types differed in their sensitivity to the end-state (i.e., accuracy) of the observed grip. The end-state influenced the power grasp congruency effect more than the precision grasp effect when the observed hand was performing the grasp without any goal object (Experiments 1 and 2). However, the end-state also influenced the precision grip congruency effect (Experiment 3) when the action was object-directed. The data are interpreted as behavioural evidence of the automatic imitation coding of the observed actions. The study suggests that, in goal-oriented imitation coding, the context of an action (e.g., being object-directed) is more important factor in coding precision grips than power grips.     

Promoting Self‐Advocacy Among Minority Students in School Counseling

This article presents self‐advocacy competencies developed to promote the academic, career, and personal/social success of minority students. The authors discuss challenges faced by minority students in today's educational environment and review principles of self‐advocacy. Competencies for developing self‐advocacy awareness, knowledge, and skills are discussed along with school counseling strategies for promoting self‐advocacy among minority students.     

An inheritance of terror: postmemory and transgenerational transmission of trauma in second generation jews after the holocaust

Postmemory, as Hirsch (1997) has defined it, describes the relationship of the second generation to powerful, often traumatic experiences that preceded their births, but that were nevertheless transmitted as to seem to constitute memories of their own. Although subsequent research has created a more complete picture of the interactions between parents and children, Hirsch’s definition has clear bearing on how descendants have attempted to commemorate the prior generation’s ordeals through various means, some narrative, some visual, while still qualifying those modes as acts of transfer or the resonant after-effects of trauma. Focusing on the Holocaust, this article examines certain lines of communication between survivors and their children as mediums of transgenerational transmission of trauma through both theoretical and experiential models of identification. It also attempts to signify how parenting styles contribute to children’s maladaptive behaviors if no intervention is staged. Additionally, I conclude that while second generation Jews may suffer negatively from intrapsychic and interpersonal problems observable by clinicians, they can also learn to integrate and understand their heritage through personal and therapeutic expression linked to the larger cultural context.

     

Gentle Nazarene or Failure?

This paper argues through three case studies that representations of Jesus by practitioners of other religious traditions, in this case Buddhists, are conditioned by historical and social factors. The first two cases, David Hewavitarne/Anagārika Dharmapāla (1864–1933) and Allan Bennett/Ananda Metteyya (1872–1923), demonstrate that negative experience of Christian theology and practice broadly resulted in the judgment that Jesus was a failure. The more conciliatory and exploratory approach of my third case study, convert to Buddhism Maurice O’Connell Walshe (1911–1998), illustrates the factors that have led to (1) socially engaged cooperation between Buddhists and Christians and (2) the respectful dialogue on Jesus and the Buddha in the 21st century.     

Associations between serum cortisol, cardiovascular function and neurological outcome following acute global hypoxia in the newborn piglet

Perinatal asphyxia is a significant contributor to neonatal brain injury. However, there is significant variability in neurological outcome in neonates after global hypoxia-ischemia. The aims of this study were to identify which physiological response/s during global hypoxia-ischemia influence the severity of brain injury and to assess their relative importance. Hypoxia/hypercapnia was induced in 20 anaesthetized piglets by reducing the inspired oxygen fraction to 10% and the ventilation rate from 30 to 10 breaths per minute for 45 min. Neurological outcome was assessed using functional markers including cerebral function amplitude (via electroencephalography) and cerebral impedance, and the structural marker microtubule associated protein-2 by immunohistochemistry at 6 h post hypoxia. Significant variability in neurological outcome was observed following the constant hypoxia/hypercapnia insult. There was a high degree of variability in cardiovascular function (mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate) and serum cortisol concentrations in response to hypoxia. More effective maintenance of cardiovascular function and higher serum cortisol concentrations were associated with a better outcome. These two variables were strongly associated with neurological outcome, and together explained 68% of the variation in the severity of neurological outcome. The variability in the cardiovascular and cortisol responses to hypoxia may be a more important determinant of neurological outcome then previously recognized.     

Risk factors in child maltreatment: A meta-analytic review of the literature

This review presents the results of a series of meta-analyses identifying the relative strength of various risk factors for child physical abuse and neglect. Data from 155 studies examining 39 different risk factors were included in the review. Large effect sizes were found between child physical abuse and three risk factors (parent anger/hyper-reactivity, family conflict and family cohesion). Large effect sizes were also found between child neglect and five risk factors (parent–child relationship, parent perceives child as problem, parent's level of stress, parent anger/hyper-reactivity, and parent self-esteem).