The influence of national culture on the perceived fairness of grading procedures: a comparison of the United States and China

Although the desire to be treated fairly is a fundamental human preference, perceptions of fair treatment can be influenced by cultural beliefs and values. For this article, the author used a scenario-based experimental study to examine students' fairness perceptions of grading procedures in 2 countries with distinct national cultures, China and the United States. The results suggest that culture can influence students' perceptions of the fairness of 2 aspects of procedural justice: voice and interpersonal justice. Chinese students were more likely to value interpersonal justice (i.e., being treated with dignity and respect, and being provided with explanations of grading procedures) and perceived the lack of interpersonal justice as less fair than did U.S. participants. In contrast, U.S. students were more likely to perceive voice (i.e., the opportunity to discuss and appeal a grading decision) as fair. These findings are connected to differences in the cultural values of the United States and China.     

Examining a community intervention to help White people understand race and racism and engage in anti-racist behaviours

Uprisings over the past decade have accelerated the search for interventions to support White people in increasing their capacity to understand historical and present-day racial dynamics. This study investigates the impacts and effectiveness of a community-led intervention developed to prime White individuals to challenge injustice through increasing knowledge, confidence, and competence related to race, racism, intragroup dialogue, and colour-blind racial attitudes. Five hundred and thirty seven participants were recruited from four cohorts of community-led groups, which read, reflected, journaled, and completed activities related to race and racism for a total of 40 hr over 10 sessions. Participants were given pre- and post-measures to assess their White racial capacity, and colour-blind racial attitudes. Participants also completed a follow-up assessment on anti-racist behaviours. The results indicated that participants were able to increase their racial capacity in terms of their understanding and knowledge of race and racism. They also indicated that they felt more confident and competent to have racial discussions in an intergroup context. The possibilities and limitations of interventions to shift attitudes and behaviours are discussed.     

Yoga-integrated psychotherapy for emotion dysregulation: A pilot study

Aims & Objectives

Yoga has been evidenced as beneficial for physical and mental health. This study sought to pilot the acceptability and feasibility of a yoga-integrated psychotherapy (YiP) intervention, aimed at alleviating difficulties in emotion regulation. A further aim was to explore the perceived effectiveness of YiP in alleviating depression, anxiety and improving well-being.

Methods

Seven participants who scored significantly on the Difficulties in Emotion Dysregulation Scale (DERS) took part in a psychological assessment session followed by six weekly one hr therapy sessions. Participants completed self-report measures in each session to quantify the effects of each YiP session on emotion regulation, well-being, depression and anxiety. Following seven sessions, five participants completed qualitative follow-up interviews to explore subjective experiences of YiP and any perceived impacts.

Findings

An ANOVA that contained data from seven participants who completed all six sessions revealed that DERS scores were significantly lower, and well-being scores were significantly higher, at both mid and end-points than at baseline. Thematic analysis of qualitative interviews identified five themes: “YiP assists the client's psychological and emotional processing,” “YiP improves insight and focus,” “YiP is culturally sensitive,” “the body facilitates regulation and resilience” and “YiP is acceptable & impactful.”

Conclusion

The study presents promising findings for the integration of yoga into psychotherapeutic practice and indicates that YiP may have beneficial effects on emotion regulation and psychological well-being. Future research should use randomised controlled methodologies to examine the ability of YiP to alleviate a wide range of affective symptoms using a larger sample of participants.     

Parasite stress, ethnocentrism, and life history strategy

Fincher & Thornhill (F&T) present a compelling argument that parasite stress underlies certain cultural practices promoting assortative sociality. However, we suggest that the theoretical framework proposed is limited in several ways, and that life history theory provides a more explanatory and inclusive framework, making more specific predictions about the trade-offs faced by organisms in the allocation of bioenergetic and material resources.     

An experimental manipulation of rejection: Effects on children's attitudes and mood depend on rejection sensitivity and relationship history

Guided by rejection sensitivity (RS) theory, the objective of this study was to test whether children's RS was associated with elevated negative emotional responses (less positive in‐group attitudes and more negative mood) following an episode of overt peer rejection or ambiguous rejection, in comparison to acceptance. Also, the role of children's self‐reported history of peer acceptance was examined. Participants were 206 children (7–11 years) who were randomly assigned to experience rejection, ambiguous rejection, or acceptance in a group simulation study. Children's group liking and negative mood depended on the 3‐way interaction of experimental condition, RS and children's history. In the ambiguous condition, as expected, children with higher RS reported more negative mood, and this did not differ in low compared to high accepted children. However, RS was only associated with less positive group attitudes among high accepted children in the rejection condition, and RS was associated with more negative mood among low accepted children only (in both conditions). Findings show the relevance of RS for elevated negative mood when rejection threat is ambiguous, and the combined role of RS and social history in children's emotional responses when situations are less ambiguous.     

Interactive Team Cognition

Cognition in work teams has been predominantly understood and explained in terms of shared cognition with a focus on the similarity of static knowledge structures across individual team members. Inspired by the current zeitgeist in cognitive science, as well as by empirical data and pragmatic concerns, we offer an alternative theory of team cognition. Interactive Team Cognition (ITC) theory posits that (1) team cognition is an activity, not a property or a product; (2) team cognition should be measured and studied at the team level; and (3) team cognition is inextricably tied to context. There are implications of ITC for theory building, modeling, measurement, and applications that make teams more effective performers.     

The Factor Structure of the COPE Questionnaire in a Sample of Clinically Depressed and Anxious Adults

The Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced is a multidimensional scale designed to assess how people respond to stress. The COPE has been validated in a variety of populations displaying variations in factor structure. However, in terms of mental health populations, it has only been validated in alcohol-dependent samples. This paper investigated the factor structure of the COPE in a sample of adults diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Two hundred and seventy-one patients attending cognitive behaviour therapy for anxiety and depression completed the COPE. Confirmatory factor analysis found a poor fit for both lower order and higher order factors based upon the Lyne and Roger (2000) study. Exploratory factor analyses identified six primary subscales (Active Planning, Social Support, Denial, Acceptance, Disengagement, Restraint) which explained approximately 60% of the variance in coping. These 6 subscales may assist researchers and clinicians to validly measure coping in anxious and depressed adults.     

Multi-Party,Whole-Body Interactions in Mathematical Activity

This study interrogates the contributions of multi-party, whole-body interactions to students' collaboration and negotiation of mathematics ideas in a task setting called walking scale geometry, where bodies in interaction became complex resources for students' emerging goals in problem solving. Whole bodies took up overlapping roles representing geometric objects, contributing to the communication and negotiation of problem-solving strategies and engaging as mathematical instruments for representation.