Locating dysprosium dopant atoms in the Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy unit cell: Direct-space chemical crystallography

The position of Dy in the unit cell of Bi2Sr2CaCu2Oy has been determined by a real-space method. This is compared with the reciprocal-space atom location by channelling-enhanced microanalysis (ALCHEMI) method.     

A randomised controlled trial of a brief online mindfulness-based intervention

ObjectivesThere is growing evidence that mindfulness has positive consequences for both psychological and physical health in both clinical and non-clinical populations. The potential benefits of mindfulness underpin a range of therapeutic intervention approaches designed to increase mindfulness in both clinical and community contexts. Self-guided mindfulness-based interventions may be a way to increase access to the benefits of mindfulness. This study explored whether a brief, online, mindfulness-based intervention can increase mindfulness and reduce perceived stress and anxiety/depression symptoms within a student population.MethodOne hundred and four students were randomly allocated to either immediately start a two-week, self-guided, online, mindfulness-based intervention or a wait-list control. Measures of mindfulness, perceived stress and anxiety/depression were administered before and after the intervention period.ResultsIntention to treat analysis identified significant group by time interactions for mindfulness skills, perceived stress and anxiety/depression symptoms. Participation in the intervention was associated with significant improvements in all measured domains, where no significant changes on these measures were found for the control group.ConclusionsThis provides evidence in support of the feasibility and effectiveness of shorter self-guided mindfulness-based interventions. The limitations and implications of this study for clinical practice are discussed.     

Therapeutic outcomes in the Welsh Government's school‐based counselling strategy: An evaluation

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of school‐based counselling, as delivered in the Welsh Government's School‐based Counselling Strategy, for reducing psychological distress in young people aged 11–18. Method: The study used a quantitative cohort design, comparing levels of distress on either the Young Person's CORE (YP‐CORE) or the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) from baseline to endpoint. Data were available on 3613 episodes of counselling, across 42 datasets. Meta‐analytical procedures were used to identify the mean effect size and predictors of outcomes. Results: Within each dataset, counselling was associated with significant reductions in psychological distress, with a mean effect size (d) of 0.93(95% CI = 0.89–0.97) using a fixed effects model and 1.09 (95% CI = 0.97–1.22) using a random effects model. Datasets using the YP‐CORE had larger effect sizes than those using the SDQ, and datasets with more complete response rates had lower outcomes than those with poorer response rates. Conclusion: The results confirm that school‐based counselling, as delivered in the UK, is associated with significant reductions in psychological distress, comparable to adult counselling and psychotherapy services.     

Zapotec sacred places,enduring and/or ephemeral: Reverence,realignment and commodification at an archaeological-tourist site in Southern Mexico

The abundant and rightfully famous archaeological ruins of Mexico, besides attesting to the grand achievements of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture, also serve as foci for the preservation and/or reaffirmation of contemporary indigenous religion and identity. Additionally, those same ancient ruins have been, in many instances, tidied up and reconfigured variously as outdoor classrooms and museums for the dissemination of a narrative of Mexican national identity, as the country's premier tourist attractions, and thus as sites eventually prized far more as engines of economic development than as educational or religious contexts. Where indigenous peoples are often imagined as passive victims in this commodification of their sacred sites, the case study featured in this article, namely, the twentieth century management of the internationally renowned Zapotec site of Mitla, Oaxaca reveals a native community playing a very active role, arguably the lead role, in the exploitation of the economic potential of its famed ruins. Indeed, the Mitleyenos' entrepreneurially astute reconfiguration of their local sacred geography, a realignment that balanced unprecedented economic challenges with on-going devotional commitments, suggests that the designation of various sites and buildings as ‘sacred’, albeit an extremely pressing matter, is also much more contingent and more transient than is generally assumed.     

Playing With Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Video Games

A content analysis of top-selling video game magazines (Study 1) and of 149 video game covers (Study 2) demonstrated the commonality of overt racial stereotyping. Both studies revealed that minority females are virtually absent in game representations. Study 1 revealed that, in video game magazines, minority males, underrepresented generally, were more likely to be portrayed as athletes or as aggressive, and less likely to be depicted in military combat or using technology, than White males. Study 2 also showed evidence of the “dangerous” minority male stereotype in video game covers. Again, underrepresented overall, minority males were overrepresented as thugs, using extreme guns, and also as athletes. Study 3, an experiment, exposed players to both violent and nonviolent games with both White and Black characters. Participants were faster at classifying violent stimuli following games with Black characters and at classifying nonviolent stimuli following games with White characters, indicating that images of popular video game characters evoke racial stereotypes.     

Assessment of dispositional embarrassability

Abstract

Embarrassability, the propensity for an individual to experience embarrassment, has been frequently acknowledged as an important personality characteristic. The present research sought to explore the dispositional features of embarrassability by the psychometric development of 25-item measure, the Susceptibility to Embarrassment Scale (SES). The SES was designed to describe the personality characteristics of easily embarrassed persons rather than reactions to potentially embarrassing situations. The results indicated that the SES was an internally consistent and temporally stable measure. Its items were uncontaminated by social desirability. Assessments of construct validity suggested that the scale was a valid measure of embarrassability, and specifically a better measure of dispositional components of embarrassability than the only alternative measure of the construct. The location of the SES within the Big Five structure of normal adult personality is presented as well as its relationship with measures of deviant personality.     

Convergent and divergent thinking in verbal analogy

Individual differences in convergent and divergent thinking may uniquely explain variation in analogical reasoning ability. Across two studies we investigated the relative influences of divergent and convergent thinking as predictors of verbal analogy performance. Performance on both convergent thinking (i.e., Remote Associates Test) and divergent thinking (i.e., Alternative Uses Task) uniquely predicted performance on both analogy selection (Studies 1 and 2) and analogical generation tasks (Study 2). Moreover, convergent and divergent thinking were predictive above and beyond creative behaviours in Study 1 and a composite measure of crystallised intelligence in Study 2. Verbal analogies in Study 2 also varied in semantic distance, with results demonstrating divergent thinking as a stronger predictor of analogy generation for semantically far than for semantically near analogies. Results thus further illuminate the link between analogical reasoning and creative cognition by demonstrating convergent and divergent thinking as predictors of verbal analogy.     

The role of psychological climate in facilitating employee adjustment during organizational change

The current research tested a theoretical model of employee adjustment during organizational change based on Lazarus and Folkman's () cognitive-phenomenological framework. The model hypothesized that psychological climate variables would act as coping resources and predict improved adjustment during change. Two variations of this model were tested using survey data from two different organizational samples: 779 public hospital employees and 877 public sector employees. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the models. Results showed that employees whose perceptions of the organization and environment in which they were working (that is, psychological climate) were more positive, were more likely to appraise change favourably and report better adjustment in terms of higher job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment, and lower absenteeism and turnover intentions.     

Book review of Joining and leaving religion: research perspectives Leslie J. Francis and Yaacov J. Katz (Eds) Leominster,Herefordshire, Gracewing, 2000, 336 pp. £20.00 ( pb) ISBN 0 85244 517 2

Children and young people have the capacity to conjure feelings of faith and hope when experiencing emotional and psychological distress. World myths, legends and fairy stories as part of early child development offer a rich source of material to draw from and enlist in the therapeutic endeavour. Fairies often act in a healing capacity in mythology, or they appear as agents between the world of human affairs and the invisible forces of nature. Mythological beings also possess helping powers in advance of mortals achieving superhuman tasks, but they can also when used as metaphor, frighten children and potentially cause psychological harm. This paper suggests that mental health practitioners can utilise such powerful narratives therapeutically and in a culturally respectful and spiritually innovative way. Harnessing the child's imagination can be a powerful vehicle for a transforming experience at the psychic level with consequent positive benefits for emotional well-being.     

Psychological types of male and female Bible College students in England

A sample of 278 male and 213 female Bible College students in England completed Form G (Anglicized) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The data demonstrated clear preferences for introversion over extraversion, for sensing over intuition, and for judging over perceiving among both male and female Bible College students. Among females there was also a clear preference for feeling over thinking. The two predominant types among female Bible College students emerged as ISFJ (23%) and ESFJ (17%). The two predominant types among male Bible college students emerged as ISTJ (15%) and ISFJ (13%).