Nonverbal representation of time and number in adults

A wealth of human and animal research supports common neural processing of numerical and temporal information. Here we test whether adult humans spontaneously encode number and time in a paradigm similar to those previously used to test the mode-control model in animals. Subjects were trained to classify visual stimuli that varied in both number and duration as few/short or many/long. Subsequently subjects were tested with novel stimuli that varied time and held number constant (eight flashes in 0.8-3.2s) or varied number and held time constant (4-16 flashes in 1.6s). Adult humans classified novel stimuli as many/long as monotonic functions of both number and duration, consistent with simultaneous, nonverbal, analog encoding. Numerical sensitivity, however, was finer than temporal sensitivity, suggesting differential salience of time and number. These results support the notion that adults simultaneously represent the number and duration of stimuli but suggest a possible asymmetry in their representations.     

Longitudinal effects of hope on depression and anxiety: a latent variable analysis

This study tested the prospective effects of hope on depression and anxiety using a longitudinal design. A sample of 522 college students completed self-report measures of hope, depression, and anxiety at three time points, with 1-month delays between administrations. Structural equation modeling was employed to test two cross-lagged panel models of the reciprocal effects of the Agency and Pathways components of hope on depression and anxiety. Results indicated statistically significant negative effects for the Agency component of hope on later depression but no unique effect of the Pathways component of hope on depression. Likewise, Agency showed a statistically significant negative effect on later anxiety, but again Pathways had no significant influence on anxiety. In both cases, neither depression nor anxiety demonstrated any longitudinal effects on either the Agency or Pathways components of hope. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with potential directions for future research.     

Reflections on Religion and Health Research: An Interview with Dr. Harold G. Koenig

In this interview renowned researcher Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc shares his perspective on religion and health research, drawing from his experiences as a researcher, educator and practitioner. Throughout the interview, he highlights significant advances and discusses the gaps and potential weaknesses in the current body of religion and health literature. He also outlines recommendations for the continued advancement of religion and health research. Guidelines are given to guide new investigators interested in becoming religion and health researchers.     

Guilty,But Not Ashamed: “True” Self‐Conceptions Influence Affective Responses to Personal Shortcomings

The current research examined how true self‐conceptions (who a person believes he or she truly is) influence negative self‐relevant emotions in response to shortcomings. In Study 1 (N = 83), an Internet sample of adults completed a measure of authenticity, reflected on a shortcoming or positive life event, and completed state shame and guilt measures. In Study 2 (N = 49), undergraduates focused on true versus other determined self‐attributes, received negative performance feedback, and completed state shame and guilt measures. In Study 3 (N = 138), undergraduates focused on self‐determined versus other determined self‐aspects, reflected on a shortcoming or neutral event, and completed state shame, guilt, and self‐esteem measures. In Study 4 (N = 75), undergraduates thought about true self‐attributes, an achievement, or an ordinary event; received positive or negative performance feedback; and completed state shame and guilt measures. In Study 1, differences in true self‐expression positively predicted shame‐free guilt (but not guilt‐free shame) following reminders of a shortcoming. Studies 2–4 found that experimental activation of true self‐conceptions increased shame‐free guilt and generally decreased guilt‐free shame in response to negative evaluative experiences. The findings offer novel insights into true self‐conceptions by revealing their impact on negative self‐conscious emotions.     

Influence of Relationship Education on Relationship Satisfaction for Low‐Income Couples

The authors randomly assigned 54 ethnically diverse, low‐income married couples with children to receive relationship education either immediately or in 6 months. Couples attended 12 hours of relationship education using the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program curriculum. The authors collected pre‐ and postassessment data and compared differences in relationship satisfaction between treatment and wait‐list control couples. Results indicated significant differences in relationship satisfaction between the 2 groups. Findings support relationship education as an efficacious intervention for low‐income couples.     

Translating the Human Right to Water and Sanitation into Public Policy Reform

The development of a human right to water and sanitation under international law has created an imperative to implement human rights in water and sanitation policy. Through forty-three interviews with informants in international institutions, national governments, and non-governmental organizations, this research examines interpretations of this new human right in global governance, national policy, and local practice. Exploring obstacles to the implementation of rights-based water and sanitation policy, the authors analyze the limitations of translating international human rights into local water and sanitation practice, concluding that system operators, utilities, and management boards remain largely unaffected by the changing public policy landscape for human rights realization. To understand the relevance of human rights standards to water and sanitation practitioners, this article frames a research agenda to ensure that human rights aspirations lead to public policy reforms and public health outcomes.     

Death awareness and body–self dualism: A why and how of afterlife belief

Belief in life after death offers potential comfort in the face of inevitable death. However, afterlife belief likely requires not only an awareness of death but also body–self dualism—the perception that the self (e.g., the mind) is distinct from the physical, undeniably mortal, body. In turn, we hypothesized that mortality salience (MS) should heighten afterlife belief only when dualism is facilitated. Study 1 found that MS increased belief for people high, relative to low, in trait mind–body dualism. In Study 2, MS only increased belief when people first wrote about their thoughts and personality, which a pilot study confirmed facilitated dualistic belief, relative to thinking about the physical self. Study 3 used the brain–computer interface technology to induce a dualistic experience: MS increased belief when participants accurately “typed” without the use of their external body (i.e., no hands). Together, these findings support the position that mortality awareness and body–self dualism constitute a “why” and “how” of afterlife belief. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Delimiting Family in Syntheses of Research on Childhood Chronic Conditions and Family Life

Synthesis of family research presents unique challenges to investigators who must delimit what will be included as a family study in the proposed review. In this paper, the authors discuss the conceptual and pragmatic challenges of conducting systematic reviews of the literature on the intersection between family life and childhood chronic conditions. A proposed framework for delimiting the family domain of interest is presented. The framework addresses both topical salience and level of relevance and provides direction to future researchers, with the goal of supporting the overall quality of family research synthesis efforts. For users of synthesis studies, knowledge of how investigators conceptualize the boundaries of family research is important contextual information for understanding the limits and applicability of the results.     

The Effect of Adaptive Organizational Culture on Long-Term Survival

Purpose

Organizational culture is a critical resource for organizations to adapt to dynamic environments and to survive in the long term. Unfortunately, a lack of clarity exists in the conceptualization of adaptive cultures and little empirical research investigates its impact on survival. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to identify, define, and develop a measure of adaptive organizational culture and (2)  to demonstrate the effect of adaptive culture on organizational survival.

Design/Methodology/Approach

An adaptive culture rating scale was developed based on a review of the existing literature. Ninety-five organizations founded prior to 1940 were rated on nine characteristics of adaptive culture. Ratings were used to predict likelihood to survive using a Cox regression with proportional hazards survival analysis.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis revealed two broad factors of adaptive culture, values toward change and action-orientation. Findings indicate organizations with adaptive cultures were more likely to survive.

Implications

The present effort provided evidence that culture can serve as an adaptive mechanism with effects spanning decades. Leaders should focus on establishing adaptive cultural norms and values in order to increase chances of surviving.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first historiometric studies to develop and utilize a measure of adaptive culture. Further, this study looked at the impact of adaptive culture on long-term organizational outcomes using survival analysis, a statistical technique not often employed in the organizational literature.

     

Language-specific memory for everyday arithmetic facts in Chinese-English bilinguals

The role of language in memory for arithmetic facts remains controversial. Here, we examined transfer of memory training for evidence that bilinguals may acquire language-specific memory stores for everyday arithmetic facts. Chinese-English bilingual adults (n = 32) were trained on different subsets of simple addition and multiplication problems. Each operation was trained in one language or the other. The subsequent test phase included all problems with addition and multiplication alternating across trials in two blocks, one in each language. Averaging over training language, the response time (RT) gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems were greater in the trained language than in the untrained language. Subsequent analysis showed that English training produced larger RT gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems in English at test relative to the untrained Chinese language. In contrast, there was no evidence with Chinese training that problem-specific RT gains differed between Chinese and the untrained English language. We propose that training in Chinese promoted a translation strategy for English arithmetic (particularly multiplication) that produced strong cross-language generalization of practice, whereas training in English strengthened relatively weak, English-language arithmetic memories and produced little generalization to Chinese (i.e., English training did not induce an English translation strategy for Chinese language trials). The results support the existence of language-specific strengthening of memory for everyday arithmetic facts.