Cosmic Commons: Contact and Community

Abstract

As we Homo sapiens on planet Earth prepare for possible contact with extraterrestrial life (ET)—especially extraterrestrial intelligent (ETI) life—we need to consider ethics. What will be the ethical posture we adopt as Earth meets space? This article advocates an ethic of praxis based upon the concept of a Cosmic Commons. Intelligent extraterrestrial beings, from their experiences in biotic and abiotic environments, should share with us a universal regard for intelligence (intellilife), respect for biotic evolution, and a sense of responsibility for shared common space in our places in the universe. As we venture from Earth into space, what will be required? Not anxiety over human dis-placement to new worlds; nor should we invest our efforts in irresponsibly exploiting the natural goods of other planets. Rather, we need an ethical transformation of terrestrial human thought and conduct prior to, during, and as a consequence of extraterrestrial explorations and engagements. We need an anticipatory Cosmic Charter.     

The impact of mindfulness on well-being and performance in the workplace: an inclusive systematic review of the empirical literature

Work can be demanding, imposing challenges that can be detrimental to the physical and mental health of workers. Efforts are therefore underway to develop practices and initiatives that may improve occupational well-being. These include interventions based on mindfulness meditation. This paper offers a systematic review of empirical studies featuring analyses of mindfulness in occupational contexts. Databases were reviewed from the start of records to January 2016. Eligibility criteria included experimental and correlative studies of mindfulness conducted in work settings, with a variety of well-being and performance measures. A total of 153 papers met the eligibility criteria and were included in the systematic review, comprising 12,571 participants. Mindfulness was generally associated with positive outcomes in relation to most measures. However, the quality of the studies was inconsistent, so further research is needed, particularly involving high-quality randomized control trials.     

Psychological and Sociocultural Adaptation of Children Adopted from Russia and their Associations with Pre-Adoption Risk Factors and Parenting

We investigated academic and behavioral outcomes of internationally adopted children and the associations between these outcomes and age at adoption, time spent in the adoptive family, and parenting. At two time points (T1 and T2, ~15 months apart), we examined early academic skills (school readiness), and parent-reported behavioral adjustment (internalizing and externalizing behavior) and adaptive functioning of a sample of 75 children (45.9% boys, mean age?=?5.17 years) adopted from Russia into US families. We also collected parents’ self-assessments of their parenting at T1. Children who were adopted at a younger age showed higher levels of early academic skills. Correlations between age at adoption and other outcomes were overall small and mostly non-significant. However, adoptees’ academic and behavioral progress differed notably in several respects. Specifically, adoptees improved in early academic skills over time, whereas, as a group, their adaptive functioning and behavioral adjustment remained stable within the normal range. Early academic skills were not related to behavioral adjustment at each time point and over time. The time spent in the adoptive family was positively related to early academic skills at T2. Whereas outcomes showed little to no relation to parenting as reported by mother and father separately, higher discrepancies between mothers' and fathers' reports of positive parenting were related to higher levels of behavioral symptoms and lower levels of adaptive skills at T2. These differential results may be explained in part by drawing upon the notion of dissociated domains of psychological and sociocultural adaptation and acculturation, outlined in the immigration literature. These results also bring to light the possible importance of between-parent consistency in parenting for adoptees’ behavioral outcomes.     

Relational Aggression in Women during Emerging Adulthood: A Social Process Model

Two studies investigated potential mediators of the association between relational victimization and relational aggression. Self-report measures of aggressive behavior among peers, exclusivity, hostile attribution biases, and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms were collected. In study 1, participants were 180 female emerging adults (M = 18.82, SD = 1.18). Both exclusivity and hostile attribution biases for relational provocations were found to partially mediate the association between relational victimization and relational aggression. In study 2, participants were 54 female emerging adults (M = 19.16, SD = 1.11). Symptoms of BPD were not found to mediate the association between relational victimization and relational aggression, yet unique associations with relational aggression were observed. The results add to recent research guided by a social process model in which links between victimization and aggression are more clearly understood. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Learning about what others were doing: verb aspect and attributions of mundane and criminal intent for past actions

Scientists have long been interested in understanding how language shapes the way people relate to others, yet it remains unclear how formal aspects of language influence person perception. We tested whether the attribution of intentionality to a person is influenced by whether the person's behaviors are described as what the person was doing or as what the person did (imperfective vs. perfective aspect). In three experiments, participants who read what a person was doing showed enhanced accessibility of intention-related concepts and attributed more intentionality to the person, compared with participants who read what the person did. This effect of the imperfective aspect was mediated by a more detailed set of imagined actions from which to infer the person's intentions and was found for both mundane and criminal behaviors. Understanding the possible intentions of others is fundamental to social interaction, and our findings show that verb aspect can profoundly influence this process.     

Expressions of emotional distress in active duty military personnel with mild traumatic brain injury: A qualitative content analysis

Service members (SMs) who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI) during deployment have increased risk for mental health issues. Mental health treatment can be challenging in military settings where treatment seeking is often stigmatized. Adequate care relies on accurate interpretations of SMs’ verbal accounts of distress, but little is known about how SMs, embedded in a culture that values resilience and self-reliance, relay emotional distress. We performed qualitative analyses of recordings from a telephone-based intervention with 25 SMs who sustained deployment-related mild TBI (mTBI) to elucidate thematic and dialectal patterns. Consistent with our expectations, SMs rarely used explicit depressive terms while discussing their emotional distress. More prevalent was language suggestive of an overarching theme of loss of control, whereby SMs’ stress, anxiety, and anger were often attributable to SMs’ perceptions that they had incomplete jurisdiction over their own lives. This study may help mental health providers improve engagements with SMs and Veterans, preventing misunderstandings and even improper diagnoses or referrals that could result from a strict reliance on the more customary expressions of distress.     

In Search of Meaning: A Preliminary Typology of Gay Male Spiritual Identity Development

Reconciliation of the conflict between religious identity and sexual orientation has been related to a number of psychological challenges (Lease, Horne, & Noffsinger‐Frazier, 2005; Schuck & Liddle, 2001), and little is known about the convergence of spiritual identity, distinctly defined as separate from religious identity, and sexual orientation identity. This qualitative inquiry investigated the process by which 7 Caucasian gay men from a variety of religious backgrounds constructed spiritual identities outside the realm of institutionalized religion. From the findings, the authors hypothesize a typology of spiritual development influenced by religions of origin. Limitations of the study, implications, and future directions in research are also addressed.     

Three kinds of rhymes: An ERP study

In a simple prime-target visual rhyming paradigm, pairs of words, nonwords, and single letters elicited similar event-related potential (ERP) rhyming effects in young adults. Within each condition, primes elicited contingent negative variation (CNV) while nonrhyming targets elicited more negative waveforms than rhyming targets within the 320-500ms (N400/N450) time window. The target rhyming effect, apparently primarily an index of phonological processing, was similar across conditions but tended to be smaller in mean amplitude for letters. One of the first reports of such a letter rhyming effect in the ERP literature, these findings could be important developmentally because letter rhyme tasks simultaneously index the two best predictors of ease of learning to read: letter name knowledge and phonological awareness.     

The association of neighborhood poverty with personality change in childhood

The child sample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (n.d.) was analyzed to examine the relation of undesirable personality change in early childhood to neighborhood economic deprivation. Participants in the survey who had complete data at Time 1 (3-4 years of age) and Time 2 (5-6 years of age) and who remained in the same neighborhood during both time periods were included in the analyses. The results indicated that neighborhood economic disadvantage was associated with undesirable personality change even after controlling for family-level variables such as maternal education, family income, and cognitive and emotional support in the home environment for children. The association of personality change with neighborhood economic deprivation was not mediated by maternal depression, Head Start participation, cognitive and emotional support in the home, or maternal trust in the neighborhood. The authors discuss recommendations for future investigations.     

Sustaining a Sacramental Commons

Augustine described sacraments as visible signs of invisible grace, indications of the presence of the Creator in creation. Although the Christian churches later limited “sacrament” to mean only seven or two religious rituals, usually administered by a member of the clergy, U.S. Catholic bishops in 1991 described a “sacramental universe,” recalling Augustine's understanding. The “sacramental universe” is localized as the “sacramental commons”; people are called to care for it responsibly. The gospel account of Jesus' encounter with the Rich Young Man provides insights about human responsibility to share the goods of the commons as common goods, thereby sustaining the well‐being of the sacramental commons.