The mirror effect: Self-awareness alone increases suicide thought accessibility

According to objective self-awareness theory, when individuals are in a state of self-awareness, they tend to compare themselves to their standards. Self-to-standard comparison often yields unfavorable results and can be assimilated to a failure, activating an escape motivation. Building on recent research on the link between failure and suicide thought accessibility, the present experiment tested the hypothesis that mirror exposure alone provokes an increase in suicide thought accessibility. Participants were exposed to their mirror reflection (or not) while completing a lexical decision task with suicide-related words. Self-to-standard discrepancy salience was manipulated by asking participants to list actual and ideal traits before versus after the lexical decision task. As predicted, mirror-exposed participants recognized suicide-related words quicker than those unexposed to their mirror image. Self-to-standard discrepancy salience did not moderate this effect. Discussion focuses on the role of the motivation to escape self-awareness in the availability of suicide-related ideas.     

The Effectiveness of Models and Prompts on Waste Diversion: A Field Experiment on Composting by Cafeteria Patrons

This study investigated whether or not visual prompts and human models influence compost‐supportive behavior by individuals in a cafeteria setting. Waste disposal behavior of cafeteria patrons was observed (N = 1,060) after the introduction of (1) pro‐composting signs, and (2) models who demonstrated appropriate composting behavior. Ideal composting significantly increased relative to the baseline with the introduction of the signs (from 12.5% to 20.5%). A further increase (to 42%) was observed when two (but not one) individuals modeled the behavior, and this increase was sustained even after the models were removed. Informational and normative influences may explain the increase in composting. This study further supports the use of prompts and models as a strategy for encouraging pro‐environmental behaviors.     

Solitude,Religious and Cultural Uniqueness in a Foreign Environment: Adjustments as an Arab Student

Arab-Muslims have extremely religious-centered and restrictive cultural practices. Living in a foreign country where Islam is a minority religion and culture is categorically different entails a great deal of adjustment. This study explored how Arab-Muslim International Students live and cope in a non-Arab, non-Muslim country. The authors used phenomenological approach with Colaizzi’s method of analysis to (1) explore the lived experience of the Arab students’ academic and social life and (2) come up with recommendations that can be supported by universities in Philippines and other countries with Arab students. Emergent themes include Hybrid vision and empowerment from education beyond borders “Tatallo at wa kudurat,” Stigma in the Arab world “Hallah,” Islam as way of life “Al Islam: Manhaj Hayyat,” and Future of the Arab-Muslim students “Wahaa.” The major concepts that emerged from the lived experience of these students focused on the practical reasons for quality education, challenges along the way, culture shock, the stigma, and misconceptions about Arabs and Muslims. They experienced discrimination, the impact of stereotyping and misconceptions about the Arab-Muslims. Their tenacity of the Islam faith has become a coping mechanism and kept them enormously strong. They also strived to show the real meaning of being Muslim, and finally, looking forward to how they can become the oasis in the desert. The Arab-Muslim International Students experience difficult adjustments in a foreign country to acquire high quality education, while holding on to their Islam faith and keeping their culture intact.     

Patience mediates the relationship between mindfulness and pain in patients with cardiovascular diseases

The aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of patience in the relationship between mindfulness and pain among patients with cardiovascular disease. A cross-sectional design was employed. One hundred and ten patients with cardiovascular diseases were conveniently sampled from the clinic of Imam Reza in the city of Shiraz in Iran. Participants completed self-report measures of mindfulness, patience, and pain. Structural equation modeling was performed with Amos 16.0. Results indicated that mindfulness and patience had a significant inverse relationship with pain. There was also a significant positive relationship between patience and mindfulness. Estimated indirect effects showed that patience partly mediated the relationship between mindfulness and pain. These results show that among cardiovascular patients, increases in mindfulness are associated with reductions in pain as a function of increased patience. Therefore, patience is plausibly a key mechanism for understanding the impact of mindfulness on pain reduction.     

Orientation-selective adaptation during motion-induced blindness

When a global moving pattern is superimposed on high-contrast stationary or slowly moving stimuli, the latter occasionally disappear for periods of several seconds (motion-induced blindness, MIB). Here, an adaptation paradigm was used to determine if orientation-selective adaptation still occurs for the stimulus that is no longer visible. Two slowly drifting high-contrast Gabor patches were presented to observers. As soon as both patches disappeared, one was eliminated from the screen. After 2 s, two low-contrast Gabor patches were presented as tests at the same locations and observers were asked to report their orientations. The observers' performance was significantly higher when the orientation of the low-contrast test patch was orthogonal to the orientation of the high-contrast adapting patch (p < 0.0001) for the location where the patch was present during MIB, even though it was perceptually invisible. The observers' performance was not significantly different at the adjacent control location where the stimulus was absent during the MIB. Although no stimulus was visible at either location, orientation-selective adaptation was preserved only for the location at which the patch remained present. Since orientation information is processed in low-level visual areas such as the primary visual cortex (V1), we conclude that MIB originates in an area higher than V1.     

A collaborative effort to study mother—child interaction in three risk groups: Social risk mother,adolescent mother,preterm infant

This paper describes the collaborative efforts of three intervention projects with similar data sets on high-risk populations of mothers and their children at 13 and 20 months. The three projects collected data on a total of 190 dyads from three risk groups: adolescent mothers and their infants, high social risk mothers and their infants, and high social risk mothers and their preterm infants. The authors define the common set of measures and resulting variables used collaboratively to measure parent-child interaction and compare the three risk groups at both 13 and 20 months.     

Spontaneous Sourcing Among Students Reading Multiple Documents

This study used think-aloud methodology to explore undergraduates' spontaneous attention to and use of source information while reading six documents that presented conflicting views on a controversial social scientific issue in a Google-like environment. Results showed that students explicitly and implicitly paid attention to sources of documents as well as sources cited within documents and that their attention to source information was associated with its use in evaluating, predicting, and interpreting the content of the documents. Students' sourcing activity varied across documents. The two documents that took the strongest, opposing stances on the controversy elicited the most sourcing. We also observed that, in essays they wrote on the controversy, students' spontaneous sourcing activity was related to their citation of a particularly trustworthy source. The study's theoretical implications are discussed in terms of the Documents Model framework.     

Multidimensional Inventory for Religious Spiritual Well-Being (MI RSWB 48): Validation with Iranian psychiatric outpatients

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the validation of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious Spiritual Well-Being (MI RSWB 48) in a convenience sample of 250 Iranian psychiatric outpatients. In addition to the MI RSWB 48, the patients completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWS), the WHO-5, the PHQ-9, and the PHQ-15. Cronbach’s α for the MI RSWB 48 was .84, and for its subscales ranged from .33 (Hope Transcendent [HT] Subscale) to .89 (General Religiosity [GR] Subscale). The SWS score had the highest positive correlation with the MI RSWB 48 score. Two factors identified for the scale. The religiosity spirituality score of female patients was significantly higher than the score of the male patients. The MI RSWB 48 can be considered as a suitable tool for evaluating different aspects of religiosity and spirituality in Iranian society. The HT Subscale may need modification to improve its internal consistency.