Promoting positive community relations: what can RE learn from social psychology and the shared space project?

In this article we considered the relevance of specific claims that ‘multi-faith’ approaches to Religious Education (RE) play a role in promoting good community relations. In doing so, we adopted a social-psychological perspective where engaging in positive and meaningful interactions with diverse others reduces prejudice. Survey responses from 92 RE teachers across the UK were examined to determine the extent to which strategies for promoting positive community relations were embedded within classroom practice. We next examined whether teachers intuitively used social psychological theory – namely the contact hypothesis – to promote positive communities in their classrooms. Results demonstrated that the majority of surveyed RE practitioners perceived community relations to be a core aim of RE and that contact theory was applicable to their practice. Teachers reported examples of how they embed both contact theory and RE in their classrooms but not all of these aligned with social psychological theory. Findings suggest that successful practice in RE may be further developed by integrating theoretical principles of the contact hypothesis. Implications and future directions will be discussed.     

Personality Assessment Inventory Scores as Predictors of Evaluation Referrals,Evaluator Opinions,and Commitment Decisions in Sexually Violent Predator Cases

We used data from more than 1,500 offenders to examine the association between Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991 Morey, L. C. (1991). Personality Assessment Inventory: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. [Google Scholar]) scores and progress through the sexually violent predator (SVP) screening, evaluation, and commitment process. There was no clear association between PAI scores and referrals for full evaluations, but PAI scores were small to moderate predictors of evaluator opinions and diagnoses among offenders who underwent full evaluations. Higher Antisocial Features (ANT) scores were associated with diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder, but this association was moderated by offender response style. ANT scores were more strongly associated with antisocial personality disorder diagnoses among those responding defensively (d = .71) than among those responding openly (d = .48). The mean ANT score among defensive responders diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder was about 55T, suggesting that even moderate ANT scale elevations could indicate a clinically significant level of antisocial traits among some offenders.     

How suboptimal is suboptimal choice?

In a frequently used suboptimal‐choice procedure pigeons choose between an alternative that delivers three food pellets with p = 1.0 and an alternative that delivers ten pellets with p = 0.2. Because pigeons reliably choose the probabilistic (suboptimal) alternative, the procedure has been proposed as a nonhuman analog of human gambling. The present experiments were conducted to evaluate two potential threats to the validity of this procedure. Experiments 1 and 2 evaluated if pigeons obtained food at a lower unit price (i.e., pecks per pellet) on the suboptimal alternative than on the optimal alternative. When pigeons worked under this suboptimal procedure they all preferred the suboptimal alternative despite some pigeons paying a higher price for food on that alternative. In Experiment 2, when the unit price ratio more closely approximated the inverse of the expected value ratio, pigeons continued to prefer the suboptimal alternative despite its economic suboptimality. Experiment 3 evaluated if, in accord with the string‐theory of gambling, the valuation of the suboptimal alternative was increased when pigeons misattributed a subset of the suboptimal no‐food trials to the optimal alternative. When trial sequences were arranged to minimize these possible attribution errors, pigeons still preferred the suboptimal alternative. These data remove two threats to the validity of the suboptimal choice procedure; threats that would have suggested that suboptimal choice reflects economic maximization.     

Understanding the genetic and environmental specificity and overlap between well‐being and internalizing symptoms in adolescence

Moderate inverse correlations are typically found between well‐being and mental illness. We aimed to investigate the role of genes and environments in explaining the relationships between two aspects of well‐being and two measures of internalizing symptoms. Altogether, 4700 pairs of 16‐year‐old twins contributed data on subjective happiness and life satisfaction, as well as symptoms of depression and emotional problems. Well‐being was moderately correlated with internalizing symptoms (range = ?0.45, ?0.58). Multivariate twin model‐fitting indicated both genetic and environmental overlap. Life satisfaction and happiness demonstrated different patterns of overlap, with stronger genetic links between life satisfaction and depression. Non‐shared environmental influences were largely specific to each trait. This study supports the theory of mental health and illness being partly (but not entirely) correlated dimensions. There are also significant genetic and environmental factors to identify for well‐being that go beyond the absence of mental illness. It is therefore possible that different interventions are needed for treating mental illness and promoting mental health.     

Hawking Says that Discovering Intelligent Life Elsewhere Would Spark Greater Compassion and Humility among Us … But Why Wait?

It matters how we talk to each other about METI and about contact, and Hawking could set a better example.     

Differences in nonshared individual, school, and family variables between delinquent and nondelinquent Hmong adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether there were differences between Hmong immigrant siblings on multiple nonshared individual, school, and family variables. Participants were 58 sibling pairs (29 delinquent pairs and 29 nondelinquent pairs), who ranged in age from 13 to 21 years. There were 11 pairs of boys, 3 pairs of girls, and 15 pairs of opposite-sex siblings. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance indicated that delinquent and nondelinquent sibling groups were significantly different in participation in organized activities, antisocial attitudes, delinquent behaviors, school truancy, school performance, and parents' labeling. The findings have implications for future research on sibling delinquency in Hmong immigrant families and for program development and delivery.     

Prediction of Children's Academic Competence From Their Effortful Control, Relationships, and Classroom Participation

The authors examined the relations among children's effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence with a sample of 7- to 12-year-old children (N = 264). Parents and children reported on children's effortful control, and teachers and children reported on children's school relationships and classroom participation. Children's grade point averages (GPAs) and absences were obtained from school-issued report cards. Significant positive correlations existed between effortful control, school relationships, classroom participation, and academic competence. Consistent with expectations, the teacher-child relationship, social competence, and classroom participation partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in GPA from the beginning to the end of the school year. The teacher-child relationship and classroom participation also partially mediated the relation between effortful control and change in school absences across the year.     

STEADY-STATE ASSESSMENT OF IMPULSIVE CHOICE IN LEWIS AND FISCHER 344 RATS: BETWEEN-CONDITION DELAY MANIPULATIONS

Previous research has shown that Lewis rats make more impulsive choices than Fischer 344 rats. Such strain-related differences in choice are important as they may provide an avenue for exploring genetic and neurochemical contributions to impulsive choice. The present systematic replication was designed to determine if these findings could be reproduced using a procedure less susceptible to within- or between-session carry-over effects that may have affected previous findings. Specifically, delays to the larger–later food reinforcer were manipulated between conditions following steady-state assessments of choice, and the order of delays across conditions was mixed. The results confirmed previous findings that Lewis rats made significantly more impulsive choices than Fischer 344 rats. Fischer 344 rats' preference for the larger–later reinforcer, on the other hand, was less extreme than reported in prior research, which may be due to carry-over effects inherent to the commonly used technique of systematically increasing delays within session. Previously reported across-strain motor differences were reproduced as Lewis rats had shorter latencies than Fischer 344 rats, although these latencies were not correlated with impulsive choice. Parallels between reduced dopamine function in Lewis rats and clinical reports of impulse-control disorders following treatment of Parkinson patients with selective D2/D3 dopamine agonists are discussed.