Information becomes evidence when an explanation can incorporate it into a causal framework

Recognizing information as evidence is central to the development of scientific reasoning. When does information about an event come to be treated as evidence relevant to explaining the event? We asked whether this was increasingly likely to happen when an explanation becomes available that can incorporate both the event and the information into a single causal framework. In three studies, we presented participants with events for which there were two possible and plausible explanations (a baseline and one of two alternative explanations), as well as with two pieces of background information. While all explanations could account for the event, only one alternative explanation (the “target” explanation) could incorporate both the event and the background information into a single causal framework. The results indicated that information is more likely to be seen as evidentially relevant to an event when there is an explanation available that can accommodate both the event and the information into a single casual framework than when such an explanation is lacking. Furthermore, the presence of this information renders the target alternative increasingly plausible. That is, it is the interdependence of explanation or theory and evidence that allows us to realize that some information is likely to be evidential. However, for this to happen, the relation between explanation and information must be made salient, either by explicitly asking about it (as we did in Study 1) or by fleshing out the target explanation (as we did in Study 3).     

Olfactory Comfort and Attachment Within Relationships

We replicated a previous study that found that men and women often smell their sexual partners' clothing when they are apart ( McBurney, Shoup, & Streeter, 2006 ). We found that women tend to perform this behavior across a broader range of relationships than do men. We asked 128 participants if they had ever intentionally smelled another person's clothing, slept with another person's clothing because of its smell, or given another person an article of their own clothing. The most common response was a romantic partner's clothing. However, women more often than men reported smelling the clothing of family members.     

The Holistic Way: John Wesley’s Practical Piety as a Resource for Integrated Healthcare

In the midst of the multifarious healthcare of the 21st century an Anglican clergyman from the 18th century named John Wesley can serve as a valuable resource for contemporary Christians seeking to faithfully live a life of well-being which incorporates different forms of medicine. In order to explore Wesley’s contributions to integrative care this essay will first situate Wesley in his 18th century context—a time period not completely unlike our own in which medicine was also experiencing dramatic shifts in practice and philosophy. In order to demonstrate his integration of the medical knowledge of his day the essay will look at Wesley’s own medical practices and his relationships to physicians as forging a “middle way” between physic and empiricism. The essay will examine Wesley’s theology as a practical piety which is grounded in a holistic sotieriology that sustains an integrative medicine (caring for body, mind, and spirit). Finally, the essay concludes with possibilities for integrated medicine in our own day as informed by a Wesleyan “way” of holistic practice.

Children's reports of emotionally laden events: adapting the interview to the child

This study examined the influence of expressive vocabulary and temperament on children's verbal reports about emotionally laden events in different interview conditions. In one of three conditions, 58 children aged between 5 and 7 years were interviewed about a time they had felt happy and a time they had felt scared. The interview conditions were: drawing, in which they were asked to draw and tell; re‐enactment, in which they were asked to re‐enact and tell; and verbal, in which they were simply asked to tell. The principal finding was that, whereas for children in the verbal interview condition expressive vocabulary was associated with the amount of information reported and for children in the re‐enactment condition, temperament had a moderate association with the amount reported, for children in the drawing interview condition, neither temperament nor expressive language was associated with the amount of information reported. Children in the drawing condition reported more information than those in the other two interview conditions. The possible mechanisms underlying these findings and their implications for interviewing children in clinical contexts are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender Representation in the NCAA News: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

The purpose of this study was to provide a reexamination of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) News and the extent to which the publication provides equitable coverage to women and women's teams. To do so, 5,745 paragraphs and 1,086 photographs from 24 issues (12 issues in 1999, 12 issues in 2001) were coded for (a) gender, (b) size, (c) location, and (d) content. Results were then compared to a standard (i.e., the proportion of female athletes competing in NCAA intercollegiate athletics). Results indicate that coverage in the NCAA News was more representative, with respect to the amount of text and number of photographs, than it was in 1988 and 1991.     

When,why, and how do People Deviate from Physical Distancing Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Study

Introduction:To limit the spread of COVID-19, many countries, including Belgium, have installed physical distancing measures. Yet, adherence to these newly installed behavioral measures has been described as challenging and effortful. Based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model, this study performed an in-depth evaluation of when, why, and how people deviated from the physical distancing measures.Methods:An online mixed-method study was conducted among Belgian adults (N = 2055) in the beginning of May 2020. Participants were recruited via an open call through email and social media platforms, using snowball sampling. Conditions wherein people deviated from the physical distancing measures were assessed by means of an open-ended question. HAPA determinants were assessed in a quantitative way.Results:Half of the sample reported to deviate from the measures. Further, deviation from the measures was associated with each determinant outlined by the HAPA. Findings highlight that many people deviated from the measures because of their need for social contact. The majority of the people who deviated from the measures stated that they carefully weighed the risks of their behavior.Conclusions:Need for social contact pushed people to deviate from physical distancing measures in a deliberate manner. Potential areas for future interventions aimed at promoting adherence to physical distancing measures and enhancing psychosocial well-being are discussed.     

A Study of the Effectiveness of Training Proactive Thinking1

Recent studies have consistently demonstrated the significant positive impact that proactive thinking has on job performance, while assuming proactivity to be a relatively stable, dispositional trait (cf. Ashford & Black, 1996; Crant, 1995; Morrison, 1993; Seibert, Crant, & Kraimer, 1999). This study, on the other hand, seeks to determine if proactivity can be increased in participants through training. This study uses a 4‐month long longitudinal pretest/posttest design to assess the relationship between proactive thinking and performance in the classroom. In the study, 177 subjects were split into 2 treatment groups. One group received training in proactive thinking skills, while the other did not. The results of the study confirm that proactive thinking does have a significant impact on student performance over and above other personality and performance variables. Most importantly, this study also demonstrates that proactivity is not stable over time, but can be increased through training.     

Emotional arousal and gender differences in aggression: A meta‐analysis

This meta‐analysis investigated the possibility that gender differences in aggression, and the variability in these differences, are a function of gender differences in the regulation of arousal generated in emotionally evocative contexts. The sample of studies for this analysis was based on an exhaustive search of the relevant research reports from 1965–1999. Studies were excluded from the sample if they were case studies; investigated spousal/familial or societal violence, war, suicide, or political violence; involved clinical or deviant participants; included fewer than 10 participants; included all male, all female, all non‐Caucasian, or non‐US/non‐Canadian participants. Based on previous evidence that males may be more easily aroused by aggressive‐relevant emotional stimuli than females, and that males may have more difficulty regulating emotionally arousing states than females, we hypothesized that the magnitude of the gender differences in aggression would covary, in a nonlinear manner, with the emotional evocativeness of the study context. Consistent with our hypothesis, the magnitude of gender differences in aggression was relatively small in research contexts that appeared to produce no or large increments in emotional arousal and larger (favoring males) in contexts that appeared to produce small or medium increments in emotional arousal. Aggr. Behav. 28:366–393, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The relationship of emotional intelligence with academic intelligence and the Big Five

The present study examines the relationship of self‐ and other ratings of emotional intelligence with academic intelligence and personality, as well as the incremental validity of emotional intelligence beyond academic intelligence and personality in predicting academic and social success. A sample of 116 students filled in measures for emotional and academic intelligence, the Big Five, and indicators of social and academic success. Moreover, other ratings were obtained from four different raters on emotional intelligence and social success. Factor analysis revealed three emotional intelligence dimensions that were labelled as ‘Empathy’, ‘Autonomy’, and ‘Emotional Control’. Little evidence was found for a relationship between emotional and academic intelligence. Academic intelligence was low and inconsistently related to emotional intelligence, revealing both negative and positive interrelations. Strong relationships were found of the emotional intelligence dimensions with the Big Five, particularly with Extraversion and Emotional Stability. Interestingly, the emotional intelligence dimensions were able to predict both academic and social success above traditional indicators of academic intelligence and personality. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.