Cross-cultural mind reading: Construing shelter for the outback

Just for living: Aboriginal perceptions of housing in northwest australia by Helen Ross Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1977     

Doing Social Identity Leadership: Exploring the Efficacy of an Identity Leadership Intervention on Perceived Leadership and Mobilization in Elite Disability Soccer

Based on social identity principles we explore the efficacy of a leadership intervention in elite disability sport. A 2-year longitudinal design involved an elite male disability soccer team that prepared for a World Championship in Year 1 and then reformed for Paralympic competition in Year 2. Athlete data indicated marginal to significant increases from baseline to intervention phases in social identification, identity leadership displayed by staff, and hours practice completed away from training camps, but no significant change in mobilization of effort (in Year 1 and 2). We discuss the applied implications, study limitations, and opportunities for future researchers.     

Building the perfect curse word: A psycholinguistic investigation of the form and meaning of taboo words

Taboo words represent a potent subset of natural language. It has been hypothesized that “tabooness” reflects an emergent property of negative valence and high physiological arousal of word referents. Many taboo words (e.g., dick, shit) are indeed consistent with this claim. Nevertheless, American English is also rife with negatively valenced, highly arousing words the usage of which is not socially condemned (e.g., cancer, abortion, welfare). We evaluated prediction of tabooness of single words and novel taboo compound words from a combination of phonological, lexical, and semantic variables (e.g., semantic category, word length). For single words, physiological arousal and emotional valence strongly predicted tabooness with additional moderating contributions from form (phonology) and meaning (semantic category). In Experiment 2, raters judged plausibility for combinations of common nouns with taboo words to form novel taboo compounds (e.g., shitgibbon). A mixture of formal (e.g., ratio of stop consonants, length) and semantic variables (e.g., ± receptacle, ± profession) predicted the quality of novel taboo compounding. Together, these studies provide complementary evidence for interactions between word form and meaning and an algorithmic prediction of tabooness in American English. We discuss applications for models of taboo word representation.

     

An Idiographic Single-Case Study Examining the Use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with Three Amateur Golfers to Alleviate Social Anxiety

Performance anxiety has been studied in relation to golf performance, but one phenomenon that has received scant attention is social anxiety. One potential intervention that could reduce social anxiety in golfers is rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), a cognitive-behavioral approach for which research interest is growing. The current study used an idiographic single-case study design to assess the effects of REBT on the social anxiety of 3 male amateur golfers. REBT was employed both on and off the golf course to ensure integration of REBT into the golfers’ performance, offering a methodological advancement of past research. Data were collected prior to, during, and after the REBT intervention. Visual analysis following single-case guidelines revealed substantial reductions in irrational beliefs and social anxiety in all three golfers. Social validation data indicated the positive receipt of REBT by the golfers and supported the visual analysis findings. This current study supports the effectiveness of REBT and extends the research by applying REBT in a “real-world” performance setting, offering methodological advances and providing clear implications for future research and practice.     

We Welcome Refugees? Understanding the Relationship between Religious Orientation,Religious Commitment,Personality, and Prejudicial Attitudes toward Syrian Refugees

ABSTRACT

Approximately 5 million refugees have been displaced since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. In 2016, the refugee crisis reached deadly proportions, causing many Syrians to flee their homes in search of asylum. Individual responses to refugees differed as Syrians attempted to resettle throughout the world. Research has shown that religious orientation (intrinsic, extrinsic, quest), religious commitment, and personality traits can help explain prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups. The purpose of this study is to examine the role that personality and religion play in predicting prejudicial attitudes toward Syrian refugees in the United States. The study’s sample consists of 844 participants recruited during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. Participants completed online surveys through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Results of hierarchical regression indicated that personality explained about 14% of the variance in prejudicial attitudes; specifically, Extroversion and Conscientiousness were positively related to prejudice, whereas Agreeableness was negatively related. Religious commitment and religious orientation explained an additional 0.8% to 2.5% variance, respectively, in prejudicial attitudes above and beyond personality. We discuss implications of findings for future research and practice.     

Family play,reading, and other stimulation and early childhood development in five low-and-middle-income countries

This paper used longitudinal data from five studies conducted in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda to examine the links between family stimulation and early childhood development outcomes (N = 4904; M_age = 51.5; 49% girls). Results from random-effects and more conservative child-fixed effects models indicate that across these studies, family stimulation, measured by caregivers’ engagement in nine activities (e.g., reading, playing, singing), predicted increments in children's early numeracy, literacy, social-emotional, motor, and executive function skills (standardized associations ranged from 0.05 to 0.11 SD). Study-specific models showed variability in the estimates, with null associations in two out of the five studies. These findings indicate the need for additional research on culturally specific ways in which caregivers may support early development and highlight the importance of promoting family stimulation to catalyze positive developmental trajectories in global contexts.

Research Highlights

• Research on the links between family stimulation and early childhood development in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited.
• We used longitudinal data from studies conducted in five LMICs to examine the links between family stimulation and early childhood development outcomes.
• Results suggest that family stimulation predicted increments in children's numeracy, literacy, social-emotional, motor, and executive function skills.
• We found variability in the observed estimates, with null associations in two out of the five studies, suggesting the need for additional research in LMICs.