Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.     

How does workplace ostracism hurt employee creativity? Thriving at work as a mediator and organization-based self-esteem as a moderator

Drawing on the socially embedded model of thriving and conservation of resources theory, we explore the negative effect of workplace ostracism on employee thriving. We model organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) as a moderator and extend our examination to the downstream implications of thriving for employee creativity. Using a scenario-based experiment (Study 1) with 387 working adults, we find that workplace ostracism is more likely to prevent workers with higher levels of OBSE from thriving at work. This finding is verified in Study 2, in which we use multiwave, multisource data collected from 207 employees and their supervisors to test the proposed model. The results further show that for employees with higher levels of OBSE, thriving at work is more likely to mediate the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee creativity. These findings provide important practical implications for fostering employee thriving and promoting creativity in the workplace by managing workplace ostracism.     

Residents’ Perceived Quality Of Life in a Cultural-Heritage Tourism Destination

Seasonal phenomena for a tourism destination may be key factors influencing residents’ perceived quality of life, in particular, during peak tourism seasons. Furthermore, these challenges may influence residents’ attitudes toward tourism support in the host community. Numerous studies have discussed the major impacts of tourism, such as economic benefits, social concerns, environmental sustainability, and their associations with residents’ attitudes toward tourism support in the host community. However, few studies have incorporated attributes of seasonal factors into variables regarding residents of the area, including dissatisfaction of living in the community, unsafe feeling due to rise in crime, frustration with traffic, and disruption of quality of life during peak tourism seasons. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate influences of seasonal attributes on residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts and, in turn, residents’ perceived quality life in a cultural-heritage tourism destination. Salem, Massachusetts, was selected for the study site, due to this city’s rich history and cultural heritages that draw tourists from around the world. For example, Salem attracts more than four times its population during the entire month of October, due to the wide range of tourism resources, such as month-long events (Haunted Happenings) in its correlation with the historical event of the witch trials in 1692. Data analysis supported all six hypotheses. Results confirmed seasonal factor attributes adversely affected residents’ perceptions of economic benefits; seasonal attributes positively affected residents’ perceived social costs; seasonal attributes inversely influenced residents’ perceptions of environment sustainability; perceptions of economic benefits positively impacted residents’ perceived quality of life; perceived social costs adversely affected residents’ perceived quality of life; and perceived environment sustainability positively affected residents’ perceived quality of life. Findings from this study could assist tourism decision-makers and planners when establishing local tourism planning and provide strategies to ensure residents’ quality of life year round. More specified managerial implications are discussed as well as limitations of this study and suggestions for future study.     

Narrowing in categorical responding to other‐race face classes by infants

Infants can form object categories based on perceptual cues, but their ability to form categories based on differential experience is less clear. Here we examined whether infants filter through perceptual differences among faces from different other‐race classes and represent them as a single other‐race class different only from own‐race faces. We used a familiarization/novelty‐preference procedure to investigate category formation for two other‐race face classes (Black vs. Asian) by White 6‐ and 9‐month‐olds. The data indicated that while White 6‐month‐olds categorically represented the distinction between Black and Asian faces, White 9‐month‐olds formed a broad other‐race category inclusive of Black and Asian faces, but exclusive of own‐race White faces. The findings provide evidence that narrowing can occur for mental processes other than discrimination: category formation is also affected. The results suggest that frequency of experience with own‐race versus other‐race classes of faces may propel infants to contrast own‐race faces with other‐race faces, but not different classes of other‐race faces with each other.     

Managing multiple chronic conditions in Singapore – Exploring the perspectives and experiences of family caregivers of patients with diabetes and end stage renal disease on haemodialysis

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the commonest cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD). Despite increasing DM-ESRD prevalence and high dependency on care, there is a lack of literature on DM-ESRD caregivers. We sought to explore the perspectives and experiences of caregivers of patients with DM undergoing haemodialysis in Singapore.

Design: This study employed an exploratory, qualitative design comprising in-depth interviews with caregivers of DM-ESRD patients.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 20 family caregivers (54.2 ± 12.6 years; 75% female) of DM-ESRD patients. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis.

Results: Key caregiving challenges identified were managing diet, care recipients’ emotions and mobility dependence. Patients’ emotional reactions caused interpersonal conflicts and hindered treatment management. Difficulties in dietary management were linked to patients’ erratic appetite, caregivers’ lack/poor understanding of the dietary guidelines and caregivers’ low perceived competence. Limited resources in terms of social support and finances were also noted. Physical and psychological well-being and employment were adversely affected by caregiving role.

Conclusion: This study highlights distinctive aspects of the DM-ESRD caregiving experience, which impact on caregivers’ health and challenge care. Disease management programmes should be expanded to support caregivers in dealing with multimorbidity.     

Sex differences in adolescent ethanol drinking to behavioral intoxication

Rodent models have been especially useful for investigating adolescent ethanol exposure. However, there is a paucity of studies examining sex differences in behavioral intoxication from adolescent ethanol drinking. Here, we used an ethanol drinking model to investigate if adolescent rats of both sexes readily drink ethanol to measurable behavioral intoxication, indicated by increased impulsive action and motor incoordination. Beginning on postnatal day (P) 28, male and female Long‐Evans rats were given 30‐min access to a solution of sucrose (20%) or sweetened ethanol (20% sucrose +15% ethanol) every other day until P60 and once after 2 weeks of forced abstinence (on P75). On alternate (nondrinking) days, rats were reinforced with a food pellet for making a cued nosepoke response. Beginning on P56, rats were tested in this task after drinking sessions to assess ethanol‐induced changes in impulsive action, defined as premature responding prior to cue presentation. Motor coordination was assessed before and after drinking sessions using an incline plane test. Adolescent male and female rats readily consumed ethanol to behavioral intoxication, measured as reduced motor coordination. Following forced abstinence, females displayed greater ethanol‐induced impulsive action. These studies provide evidence for sex differences in behavioral intoxication following adolescent ethanol drinking.     

Bayesian Diagnostics of Hidden Markov Structural Equation Models with Missing Data

Cocaine is a type of drug that functions to increase the availability of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. However, cocaine dependence or abuse is highly related to an increased risk of psychiatric disorders and deficits in cognitive performance, attention, and decision-making abilities. Given the chronic and persistent features of drug addiction, the progression of abstaining from cocaine often evolves across several states, such as addiction to, moderate dependence on, and swearing off cocaine. Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are well suited to the characterization of longitudinal data in terms of a set of unobservable states, and have increasingly been used to uncover the dynamic heterogeneity in progressive diseases or activities. However, the existence of outliers or influential points may misidentify the hidden states and distort the associated inference. In this study, we develop a Bayesian local influence procedure for HMMs with latent variables in the presence of missing data. The proposed model enables us to investigate the dynamic heterogeneity of multivariate longitudinal data, reveal how the interrelationships among latent variables change from one state to another, and simultaneously conduct statistical diagnosis for the given data, model assumptions, and prior inputs. We apply the proposed procedure to analyze a dataset collected by the UCLA center for advancing longitudinal drug abuse research. Several outliers or influential points that seriously influence estimation results are identified and removed. The proposed procedure also discovers the effects of treatment and individuals’ psychological problems on cocaine use behavior and delineates their dynamic changes across the cocaine-addiction states.     

Children's knowledge of deceptive gaze cues and its relation to their actual lying behavior

Eye gaze plays a pivotal role during communication. When interacting deceptively, it is commonly believed that the deceiver will break eye contact and look downward. We examined whether children’s gaze behavior when lying is consistent with this belief. In our study, 7- to 15-year-olds and adults answered questions truthfully (Truth questions) or untruthfully (Lie questions) or answered questions that required thinking (Think questions). Younger participants (7- and 9-year-olds) broke eye contact significantly more when lying compared with other conditions. Also, their averted gaze when lying differed significantly from their gaze display in other conditions. In contrast, older participants did not differ in their durations of eye contact or averted gaze across conditions. Participants’ knowledge about eye gaze and deception increased with age. This knowledge significantly predicted their actual gaze behavior when lying. These findings suggest that with increased age, participants became increasingly sophisticated in their use of display rule knowledge to conceal their deception.     

藏传佛教经文典籍的木板雕刻工艺风采

论文就独具特色的藏传佛教经文典籍木板雕刻的主要题材、雕版形制、材质加工、雕刻工艺、印制技术;藏文典籍经书封版的形制、构图、纹样装饰内涵、雕刻工艺特色;及经文页面装帧设计的形式三部份作了较全面的论述.从中折射出了藏民族勤劳智慧的创造能力,多姿多彩、自成体系的文化传统魅力和博大精深.光照千秋的悠久历史文明风采.     

城市居民社区组织意识研究综述

社区组织意识是社区成员与社区组织在共同生活中形成的的精神联结,体现为对社区组织的认知、情感和行为意愿。文章对社区组织意识概念、状况和影响因素进行了论述,并提出社区组织意识研究存在的不足,及对未来研究的展望。