Using Prediction and Desensitization Techniques to Treat Dental Anxiety: A Case Example

Although professional dental care prevents many medical issues such as periodontal disease and tooth decay, dental anxiety among individuals with significant disabilities frequently prevents receipt of adequate dental care. Furthermore, although research documents the positive effects of interventions designed to decrease dental anxiety, there is a paucity of research on their effectiveness with this group. This case study examined the efficacy of a two‐component dental treatment package on improving a young boy's patient behavior during routine dental examinations. Results indicate overall improvements in participant behavior and maintenance of appropriate behavior three years after the study. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Objectivity of Ordinary Life

Metaethics tends to take for granted a bare Democritean world of atoms and the void, and then worry about how the human world that we all know can possibly be related to it or justified in its terms. I draw on Wittgenstein to show how completely upside-down this picture is, and make some moves towards turning it the right way up again. There may be a use for something like the bare-Democritean model in some of the sciences, but the picture has no standing as the basic objective truth about the world; if anything has that standing, it is ordinary life. I conclude with some thoughts about how the notion of bare, “thin” perception of non-evaluative reality feeds a number of philosophical pathologies, such as behaviourism, and show how a “thicker”, more value-laden, understanding of our perceptions of the world can be therapeutic against them.     

Understanding Why Workers Engage in Rude Behaviors: A Social Interactionist Perspective

Interpersonal deviance is a form of counterproductive workplace behavior that is directly harmful to other individuals within an organization (Bennett and Robinson 2000). We argue that an important piece to understanding why deviance occurs is to go straight to the source—by asking individuals why they did it. Using Felson and Tedeschi’s (1993) social interactionist perspective of aggression and violence as a theoretical frame, the purpose of the current study was to explore individuals’ justifications for engaging in interpersonal deviance. The sample for this study consisted of 291 full-time working individuals obtained through an online service. Constructs were measured through the use of a web-based survey. Iterative K-means cluster analyses revealed interesting patterns that demonstrate the differential importance of power, retaliation, and having “no reason” in the decision to be deviant.     

Learning as a Path,Not a Goal: Contemplative Pedagogy – Its Principles and Practices

What is contemplative pedagogy and how is it practiced in Religious Studies classrooms? Contemplative pedagogy cultivates inner awareness through first‐person investigations, often called “contemplative practices.” Contemplative teaching practices range widely: silent sitting meditation, compassion practices, walking meditation, deep listening, mindfulness, yoga, calligraphy, chant, guided meditations, nature observation, self‐inquiry, and many others. Since narrative is a mode of instruction prevalent in contemplative literature, the article includes first‐hand reflections from students and a narrative account of how an initially skeptical professor came to incorporate contemplative teaching methods into her courses. It expands from the personal narratives to highlight the work of many contemplative professors in the field. These real‐life examples are put into the context of recent publications on shifts in higher education and meditation research. The article seeks to demonstrate the power of contemplative teaching to fulfill many hopes for liberal arts learning. Of particular importance is its emphasis on interior qualities of lifelong impact, such as self‐knowledge and ethical cultivation.     

Memory narrowing in children and adults

The memory narrowing effect posits that stress enhances memory for central information at the expense of memory for peripheral details. This effect is well established in adults, but not in children, although studies have not directly compared children's and adults' memory for central versus peripheral details of an identical distressing experience. In the present study, 9–12 year‐old and adult participants completed a laboratory stressor during which measures of self‐reported stress was collected. Two weeks later, participants returned for a surprise memory test regarding central and peripheral details of the laboratory stressor. Greater stress predicted memory narrowing in both children and adults, as indexed via decreased correct responses and increased don't know responses to questions about peripheral relative to central details. Findings have implications for theories concerning stress and memory, particularly in children, and for evaluating eyewitness memory in legal contexts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Young children's emerging ability to make false statements

This study examined the origins of children's ability to make consciously false statements, a necessary component of lying. Children 2 to 5 years of age were rewarded for claiming that they saw a picture of a bird when viewing pictures of fish. They were asked outcome questions ("Do you win/lose?"), recognition questions ("Do you have a bird/fish?"), and recall questions ("What do you have?"), which were hypothesized to vary in difficulty depending on the need for consciousness of falsity (less for outcome questions) and self-generation of an appropriate response (more for recall questions). The youngest children (2? to 3? years old) were above chance on outcome questions, but it was not until age 3? that children performed above chance on recognition questions or were capable of maintaining false claims across question types. Findings have implications for understanding the emergence of deception in young children.     

Getting to the Core of Close Reading: What do we Really Know and What Remains to be Seen?

Due to the Common Core State Standards, close reading is becoming a common practice in today’s elementary and middle school classrooms. Qualitative content analysis of journal publications was used to determine the (a) prevalence of close reading in the existing literature, (b) knowledge about close reading from the research literature, (c) themes about close reading in practitioner-oriented articles and (d) questions about close reading in the elementary and middle grade language arts classroom. Results reveal that the majority of articles on close reading are situated in the practitioner literature, with a notable lack of research on close reading.     

A Wake-Up Call? Issues With Plagiarism in Transnational Higher Education

The views on plagiarism of 574 students at four Australian universities operating in Singapore were investigated through a survey and interviews. Analysis of students’ responses to different plagiarism scenarios revealed misconceptions and uncertainties about many aspects of plagiarism. Self-plagiarism and reuse of a friend’s work were acceptable to more than one quarter of the students, and nearly half considered collusion to be a legitimate form of collaboration. One quarter of the students also indicated that they would knowingly plagiarize. This should serve as a wake-up call regarding plagiarism in transnational higher education. Seven measures are recommended to curb plagiarism and foster academic integrity.     

Effects of Victim,Defendant, and Juror Gender on Decisions in Child Sexual Assault Cases1

We examined the combined influence of juror, victim, and defendant gender on jurors’ decisions in child sexual abuse cases. Mock jurors read scenarios of an assault case involving a man or woman defendant accused of molesting a 15‐year‐old boy or girl. Jurors then rendered verdicts and rated the defendant's and victim's believability and responsibility for the abuse. Female jurors were generally more pro‐victim in case judgments than were male jurors. Additionally, a woman perpetrator was evaluated more leniently than was a man perpetrator, especially by male jurors when the victim was a boy. Case judgments were unrelated to jurors’ social conservatism, sexism, or attitudes toward homosexuality. Results have implications for understanding social perceptions of mixed‐ and same‐gender abuse involving adolescent victims, and juror decision making in man‐ and woman‐perpetrated child sexual assault cases.     

The Satir Model and Cultural Sensitivity: A Hong Kong Reflection

This paper addresses cultural sensitivity in applying the Satir model in the Hong Kong Chinese cultural setting, focusing on congruent communication. The authors contend that Satir was sensitive to the demands of culture. Her focus on individuality, equality, and freedom responds aptly to the egalitarian individualist ethos of the United States. In Hong Kong the family is generally dominated by hierarchical collectivist values. Applying the Satir model as it is being practiced in the United States totally ignores prevailing cultural conditions. Following the spirit of Satir, the authors propose the adoption of an emic approach, drawing inspiration and resource from traditional Chinese culture and maintaining continuity with hierarchical collectivism while protecting individual quests for equality, freedom, and independence.