The relationship between indecisiveness and eye movement patterns in a decision making informational search task

Indecisiveness is a trait‐related general tendency to experience decision difficulties across a variety of situations, leading to decision delay, worry, and regret. Indecisiveness is proposed (Rassin, 2007) to be associated with an increase in desire for information acquisition and reliance on compensatory strategies—as evidenced by alternative‐based information search—during decision making. However existing studies provide conflicting findings. We conducted an information board study of indecisiveness, using eye tracking methodology, to test the hypotheses that the relationship between indecisiveness and choice strategy depends on being in the early stage of the decision making process, and that it depends on being in the presence of an opportunity to delay choice. We found strong evidence for the first hypothesis in that indecisive individuals changed shift behavior from the first to the second half of the task, consistent with a move from greater to lesser compensatory processing, while the shift behavior of decisive individuals suggested lesser compensatory processing over the whole task. Indecisiveness was also related to time spent viewing attributes of the selected course, and to time spent looking away from decision information. These findings resolve past discrepancies, suggest an interesting account of how the decision process unfolds for indecisive versus decisive individuals, and contribute to a better understanding of this tendency. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring Anxiety and Depression in Ghanaian and U.S. College Students

Differences between Ghanaian (n = 465) and U.S. (n = 425) college students on the Hopkins Symptom Checklist‐25 (HSCL‐25; Mollica, Wyshak, de Marneffe, Khuon, & Lavelle, 1987 ) were examined. Compared with their U.S. counterparts, Ghanaians reported less general distress related to anxiety and depression, more anxiety‐specific distress, and no differences in depression‐specific distress. A multidimensional approach may be most appropriate in HSCL‐25 screening for symptoms of anxiety and depression. Se examinaron las diferencias entre estudiantes universitarios ghaneses (n = 465) y estadounidenses (n = 425) en el Listado de Síntomas de Hopkins‐25 (HSCL‐25, por sus siglas en inglés; Mollica, Wyshak, de Marneffe, Khuon, & Lavelle, 1987 ). Comparados con sus homólogos estadounidenses, los ghaneses comunicaron un menor sufrimiento general relacionado con la ansiedad y depresión, un mayor sufrimiento específico relacionado con la ansiedad, y no hubo diferencias en el sufrimiento específico relacionado con la depresión. Un enfoque multidimensional puede ser el más apropiado en el chequeo de HSCL‐25 para síntomas de ansiedad y depresión.     

The Revival of Panpsychism and its Relevance for the Science-Religion Dialogue

Panpsychism, whereby mentality is considered fundamental within the natural world, does not appear prima facie to be a friend to with either natural science or Christian theology. This article challenges this first impression. Within the science and theology dialogue, panpsychism has been a central component of Process theologians’ efforts to integrate these disciplines into a larger metaphysical framework; but, this is not the method adopted in this paper. Instead, it is argued that panpsychism gives scholars the potential for greater progress in two field defining discussions: quantum accounts of special divine action and theistic evolution. It is shown that panpsychism currently finds sufficient consonance with the relevant scientific disciplines and has substantial benefits for theologians engaged in these areas. Panpsychism holds great promise as the philosophy of mind for future generations of science-and-religion scholars.     

Promoting socioemotional competence in primary school classrooms: Intervention effects of the EMOscope

The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a brief, teacher-led intervention (EMOscope) developed to promote children’s socioemotional competence. Our sample consisted of 339 Polish pupils and their 16 teachers from 16 third grade classrooms. Teachers in the experimental condition (8 teachers) were trained to deliver the EMOscope intervention. Data were collected at pre-test and post-test. Performance tests were administered to measure children’s social understanding and emotional awareness. Furthermore, peer ratings were used to measure children’s cooperative behaviour and teachers’ reported on children’s prosocial behaviour, hyperactivity, emotional problems, conduct problems, and peer problems. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that children in the experimental condition improved significantly on emotional self- and other-awareness and on social understanding. Moreover, they decreased in teacher-rated hyperactivity, conduct problems, and total difficulties. No effects were found, however, on teacher-rated prosocial behaviour, emotional problems, peer problems, and peer-rated cooperative behaviour.     

Systematic Review and Quality Appraisal of Practice Guidelines for Self‐Harm in Children and Adolescents

This study aimed to systematically identify and appraise clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) relating to the assessment and management of suicide risk and self‐harm in children and adolescents. Our research question is as follows: For young people (under 18 years old) presenting to clinical care with suicide ideation or a history of self‐harm, what is the quality of up‐to‐date CPGs? Using the PRISMA format, we systematically identified CPGs meeting our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subsequently, two independent raters conducted appraisals of the eligible CPGs using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II instrument. CPGs were then classified as “poor quality,” “minimum quality,” and “high quality” using operationally defined criteria developed a priori. We identified 10 eligible CPGs published or renewed between 2005 and May 2017. Only the long‐term management of self‐harm CPGs produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence met “high‐quality” criteria. Despite multiple options of CPGs published to choose from, only one was identified as “high quality,” where bias is adequately minimized. Clinicians are advised to direct resources to implementing the “high‐quality” CPG.     

Prisoners on the Fireline: The Application of Ethical Principles and Guidelines to Prison Fire Camps

Our society gives certain rights and protections to those who are punished and incarcerated, deeming them a vulnerable group in need of additional protections because they are under state control. Despite these protections, prisoners are still susceptible to mistreatment and abuse. This paper delves into one area in which prisoners are particularly vulnerable—the use of prison labor to fight wildfires in the western United States. In this paper, I first broadly discuss prison labor, before going into the current ethical principles and guidelines in the field of corrections that address the treatment of prisoners and prison labor. I argue that these principles and guidelines should be augmented to help those in corrections to make decisions about what is ethical; suggesting that how researchers evaluate proposed research projects could serve as a model for decision-making. I then introduce prison fire camps, considering whether they are ethical by research ethics principles, and suggesting how they can be changed to better reflect the values professed by our society.     

Positive emotion and health: going beyond the negative.

This study examined the relationships between positive emotions and health. Two positive emotions were considered, hope and curiosity, in conjunction with 3 physician-diagnosed disease outcomes: hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and respiratory tract infections. Medical data were abstracted over a 2-year period from 1,041 patient records from a multispecialty medical practice, and emotions were assessed through a mailed questionnaire. Across 3 disease outcomes, higher levels of hope were associated with a decreased likelihood of having or developing a disease. Higher levels of curiosity were also associated with decreased likelihood of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Results suggest that positive emotion may play a protective role in the development of disease.