Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

Rules all the way down: Consumer behaviour from the standpoint of the ‘ONE behavioural’ research programme

This article sets out a unified behavioural research programme that integrates compatible elements of old, new and evolutionary behavioural approaches to economics as an alternative to the dominant unified approach to economics based on rational choice theory and a Walrasian view of market coordination. However, the proposed programme can also be viewed as a general framework for interdisciplinary research on consumer behaviour. It employs the view of scientific research programmes proposed by Lakatos, setting out groups of ‘hard-core’ propositions and their associated ‘do’ and ‘do not’ rules for the conduct of researchers. The unifying theme is that evolution in the economy (and in human systems more generally) entails the creation, adoption and abandonment of rules for dealing effectively with open-ended choice problems that are bedevilled by infinite regress problems and cognitive challenges that people seek to address via personal repertoires of hierarchically related rules. To anticipate behaviour, researchers need to develop knowledge of these rules (including heuristics and routines), their functionality and the processes by which they get changed or prove difficult to change even where they cause problems.     

Recontextualising moral injury among military veterans: An integrative theoretical review

Moral injury was originally conceived as a socially-inflicted wound of betrayal experienced by military veterans (Shay, 1994). However, moral injury has since been redefined by psychological researchers as an individualised, predominantly perpetration-driven, and psychopathological phenomenon (e.g., Currier et al., 2015; Jinkerson, 2016). However, social scientific researchers (e.g., Hodgson & Carey, 2017; Molendijk, 2019; Wiinikka-Lydon, 2017) have contested mainstream psychology's medicalisation and decontextualisation of moral injury. This theoretical review integrates insights from across these discourses, and brings them into dialogue with ideas from moral psychology, evolutionary science, and community psychology. The aim of this cross-disciplinary review is to promote a more holistic understanding of moral injury that does justice to its individual and social dimensions. Drawing on these different theoretical strands, this paper proposes that moral injury can be best understood as a psychological wound to basic human needs for social belonging and cohesion. The implications of this integrative understanding of moral injury for applied psychologists and other societal actors are explored. While the relevance of moral injury to civilian populations such as health and social care professionals is clear (e.g., Dombo et al., 2013; French et al., 2021), this paper focuses on military veterans, whose experiences originally prompted the coinage of the term. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.     

Pathways maintaining physical health problems from childhood to young adulthood: The role of stress and mood

Objective: Poor physical health in childhood is associated with a variety of negative health-related outcomes in adulthood. Psychosocial pathways contributing to the maintenance of physical health problems from childhood to young adulthood remain largely unexamined, despite evidence that factors such as negative mood and stress impact physical health.

Design: The current study tested the direct and indirect effects of ongoing health, chronic stress, health-related chronic stress, and depressive symptoms at age 20 on the link between health problems in childhood and young adulthood (age 21) in a longitudinal sample (n = 384).

Main Outcome Measures: The hypotheses were tested using a multiple mediation path analysis framework; the primary outcome measure was a composite index of health status markers in young adulthood.

Results: The proposed model provided an adequate fit for the data, with significant total indirect effects of the four mediators and significant specific indirect effects of health-related chronic stress and depressive symptoms in maintaining health problems from childhood into young adulthood.

Conclusions: Health problems are maintained from early childhood into young adulthood in part through psychosocial mechanisms. Depressive symptoms and health-related chronic stress have significant, unique effects on the relationship between health problems in early childhood and young adulthood.     

Inferential Transitions

This paper provides a naturalistic account of inference. We posit that the core of inference is constituted by bare inferential transitions (BITs), transitions between discursive mental representations guided by rules built into the architecture of cognitive systems. In further developing the concept of BITs, we provide an account of what Boghossian [2014] calls ‘taking’—that is, the appreciation of the rule that guides an inferential transition. We argue that BITs are sufficient for implicit taking, and then, to analyse explicit taking, we posit rich inferential transitions (RITs), which are transitions that the subject is disposed to endorse.     

My Art by the Numbers

The author explains his affinity for numbers as it relates to his work as an artist spanning his long career. This affinity helped him invent one of the first systems for making four-color digital prints. Having been only recently introduced to the book Number and Time, by Marie-Louise von Franz, the author finds that he is in full agreement with her depth psychology theories on number. Recounting a synchronicity that he experienced while writing this paper helped the author to understand Jung’s concept of the unus mundus, as explained by von Franz in Number and Time. He speculates that number archetypes must have evolved in human consciousness over very long periods of time and writes about the number zero as a “recent” example. The author also describes his experience of a spontaneous mathematical vision that led him to create an algorithm, which in turn led him to realize that crystals having fivefold symmetry could exist in nature, which was considered impossible at the time. The author discusses his new inventions of quasi-periodic and random tile patterns, which were inspired by 15th-century Islamic tile patterns, as they related to the aperiodic patterns invented by Roger Penrose in the 20th century. He speculates about the ability of artificially intelligent computer software to be able to generate random quasi-periodic patterns. Lastly, the author recounts a synchronistic experience that occurred during the month of his 72nd birthday, in which his work with numbers is seemingly reciprocated by nature.     

A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistance” theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children

ABSTRACT

Background: It has been widely suggested that over 80% of transgender children will come to identify as cisgender (i.e., desist) as they mature, with the assumption that for this 80%, the trans identity was a temporary “phase.” This statistic is used as the scientific rationale for discouraging social transition for pre-pubertal children. This article is a critical commentary on the limitations of this research and a caution against using these studies to develop care recommendations for gender-nonconforming children.

Methods: A critical review methodology is employed to systematically interpret four frequently-cited studies that sought to document identity outcomes for gender-nonconforming children (often referred to as “desistance” research).

Results: Methodological, theoretical, ethical, and interpretive concerns regarding four “desistance” studies are presented. The authors clarify the historical and clinical contexts within which these studies were conducted to deconstruct assumptions in interpretations of the results. The discussion makes distinctions between the specific evidence provided by these studies versus the assumptions that have shaped recommendations for care. The affirmative model is presented as a way to move away from the question of, “How should children's gender identities develop over time?” toward a more useful question: “How should children best be supported as their gender identity develops?”

Conclusion: The tethering of childhood gender diversity to the framework of “desistance” or “persistence” has stifled advancements in our understanding of children's gender in all its complexity. These follow-up studies fall short in helping us understand what children need. As work begins on the 8th version of the Standards of Care by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, we call for a more inclusive conceptual framework that takes children's voices seriously. Listening to children's experiences will enable a more comprehensive understanding of the needs of gender-nonconforming children and provide guidance to scientific and lay communities.     

Fatigue following Paediatric Acquired Brain Injury and its Impact on Functional Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Fatigue is a commonly reported sequela following an acquired brain injury (ABI), and can have a negative impact on many areas of a child’s life. However, there is minimal research that focuses on fatigue specifically, and so factors such as its occurrence, duration, and impact on functioning remain uncertain. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the research to date, bringing together a number of studies with a focus on paediatric ABI and fatigue. Terms were searched in relevant databases (PsycInfo, Medline, CINAHL), and articles were included or excluded based on specified criteria. Of the 1177 papers identified in the original search, a total of 9 papers met inclusion criteria, and were categorised as traumatic brain injury (TBI; n?=?4), meningitis and meningococcal disease (n?=?2), brain tumours (n?=?2), and mixed ABI group (n?=?1). Key findings suggest that fatigue is a problem encountered by a significant proportion of patients in all the studies reviewed, and often occurred regardless of the cause; fatigue was also associated with poor academic achievement, limited physical activity, and social and emotional problems. Injuries of greater severity were associated with higher levels of fatigue and worse outcomes. Several management options were suggested, though their efficacy was not reported. Future research is required with a suggested focus on using multiple time points to better understand the trajectories of fatigue following childhood ABI, and to build an evidence base to determine which management options are most suitable.