Environmentalism as a context for expressing identity and generativity: patterns among activists and uninvolved youth and midlife adults

Previous qualitative studies have identified themes of generativity and identity development in the interviews of environmental activists (Chan, 2009 ; Horwitz, 1996 ), suggesting their importance as motives for environmental behavior. The purpose of our study was to extend this work by identifying positive relationships between identity maturity, generativity, and environmentalism using quantitative methodologies. To explore these relationships, we designed quasi‐experimental and correlational studies. We recruited 54 environmental activists and 56 comparison individuals, half of whom were youth (mean age = 22 years) and the other half midlife adults (mean age = 43 years). Sixty‐three percent of our sample was female. Participants completed several environmental, generativity, and identity questionnaires. We found that activists and comparison individuals differed on the identity maturity, generativity, and environmental measures overall. Further, greater identity maturity and generativity were associated with higher environmental engagement. And generativity was found to mediate the relation between identity maturity and environmentalism. Our findings suggest that engaging in generative behaviors may be an important part of the process in forming an environmental identity and engaging in environmental actions.     

Rethinking community: Conservation,practice, and emotion

This paper focuses on the intersection of practice and emotion in collective environmental work. In recent years, “community” has become a central concept in conservation, reflecting the shift from top-down strategies to grassroots, participatory approaches. This community focus has generated abundant critique, especially in political ecology where scholars claim that normative notions of community clash with complex realities on the ground. I argue, however, that these critiques fail to fully grapple with the embodied materiality of togetherness and therefore remain too focused on preconceived social categories. Using the example of an international conservation fieldtrip from Chile to Costa Rica, I suggest that theories of practice and emotion can help remedy this problem in that they advance a performative understanding of being-in-common. I conclude by suggesting that such a formulation has implications for advancing collective environmental politics.     

Family Functioning Assessment in a Community Sample of African American Caregivers and Children

Racial/ethnic minority youth receive approximately half of the mental health services of their non-minority peers. Improved methods for identifying African American families in need of behavioral health services are necessary. The Family Assessment Device and General Functioning subscale have been found to be reliable and able to detect family functioning impairment in a generalized sample, but less is known about the reliability and validity of the assessment with an African American community sample. Data from 53 African American caregiver-child (ages 7–13) dyads was collected including family demographics and the Family Assessment Device General Functioning (FAD_GF) scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the minimal number of FAD_GF items (12 vs. 6 items) that were valid and reliable. The 12-item FAD_GF and the 6-item scale had acceptable psychometric properties, and the 6-item measure demonstrated improved model fit over the 12-item scale and identified more clinically impaired families (6-item: 28% vs. 12-item: 23%). The 6-item measure of family functioning was more sensitive 12-item FAD_GF. This brief measure may prove useful for identifying and assessing African American families.

     

Life events and internalizing problems among Chinese school children: An examination of the cognitive diathesis model

This study examined the cognitive diathesis model for child internalizing problems among 459 Chinese elementary school children in grades four to six. Life events were associated with beliefs about external control and threat perception bias, both of which were related to child internalizing problems. The relation of life events to internalizing problems was partially mediated by threat perception bias measured by ambiguous situation task. The main findings indicate that the cognitive diathesis theory for child internalizing problems might be applicable to Chinese children. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the internalizing problems of Chinese children, which can lead to use of more effective treatments.     

Attentional Capture in Younger and Older Adults

The present study was designed to examine age-related differences in attentional capture. In the first experiment, participants identified targets defined either by an abrupt onset or by color difference. Prior to the presentation of the targets, onset or color cues were presented. It was found that color cues, but not onset cues, captured attention for color targets for both younger and older adults. It was also found, however, that onset and color cues captured attention for onset targets for both age groups. Moreover, while both types of cues yielded equivalent attentional capture effects with the younger adults, onset cues yielded greater effects for the older adults. The second experiment, using only younger adults, replicated the pattern of results found with the younger adults in the first experiment. The findings from these two experiments provide only partial support for the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis, which suggests that only cues that share critical features with targets will capture attention. Moreover, the results also indicate that there are age-related differences in attentionalcapture.     

Integrated Behavior Therapy for Selective Mutism: A randomized controlled pilot study

Objective

To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a novel behavioral intervention for reducing symptoms of selective mutism and increasing functional speech.

Method

A total of 21 children ages 4 to 8 with primary selective mutism were randomized to 24 weeks of Integrated Behavior Therapy for Selective Mutism (IBTSM) or a 12-week Waitlist control. Clinical outcomes were assessed using blind independent evaluators, parent-, and teacher-report, and an objective behavioral measure. Treatment recipients completed a three-month follow-up to assess durability of treatment gains.

Results

Data indicated increased functional speaking behavior post-treatment as rated by parents and teachers, with a high rate of treatment responders as rated by blind independent evaluators (75%). Conversely, children in the Waitlist comparison group did not experience significant improvements in speaking behaviors. Children who received IBTSM also demonstrated significant improvements in number of words spoken at school compared to baseline, however, significant group differences did not emerge. Treatment recipients also experienced significant reductions in social anxiety per parent, but not teacher, report. Clinical gains were maintained over 3 month follow-up.

Conclusion

IBTSM appears to be a promising new intervention that is efficacious in increasing functional speaking behaviors, feasible, and acceptable to parents and teachers.     

理论的建构与验证:来自社会认同研究的经验(英文)

科学研究的核心在于理论的建构与验证。基于社会认同和群际关系研究的经验,本文提出了建构与验证心理学理论的四步方法:1)选择现象——观察我们身边及周围世界所发生的事件;2)寻找关键共性——厘定不同事件间的共同成份;3)抽象化(理论化)——提取关键共性中潜存的基本心理过程,并将其与已有的或者最新的理论相联系;4)验证假设——利用实验反复地验证理论。以上四个步骤引导着研究者针对现实生活中的社会事件展开科学研究。文章将以等级身份、身份霸权和桥梁身份等研究为例阐明上述方法,同时也提出在社会和人格心理学领域开展系统性研究的准则。     

“It’s Challenging on a Personal Level”—Exploring the ‘Lived Experience’ of Australian and Canadian Prenatal Genetic Counselors

Prenatal genetic counselors work with clients who are at risk of having a child with a fetal anomaly, or who have been diagnosed with a fetal anomaly. This can raise challenging ethical, moral and legal issues for both clients and counselors. Few studies have explored whether this type of work impacts on genetic counselors themselves. Interviews were conducted with 15 prenatal genetic counselors, five from Toronto, Canada and ten from Melbourne, Australia. A qualitative approach was used to allow for an in-depth exploration of the experiences of genetic counselors working in the prenatal setting. While participants reported that working in a prenatal setting affected them in several ways, this paper focuses on one particular unanticipated finding—that of the impact experienced by counselors from both countries while working when pregnant.     

Do you see what I see? Co-actor posture modulates visual processing in joint tasks

ABSTRACT

Interacting with other people is a ubiquitous part of daily life. A complex set of processes enable our successful interactions with others. The present research was conducted to investigate how the processing of visual stimuli may be affected by the presence and the hand posture of a co-actor. Experiments conducted with participants acting alone have revealed that the distance from the stimulus to the hand of a participant can alter visual processing. In the main experiment of the present paper, we asked whether this posture-related source of visual bias persists when participants share the task with another person. The effect of personal and co-actor hand-proximity on visual processing was assessed through object-specific benefits to visual recognition in a task performed by two co-actors. Pairs of participants completed a joint visual recognition task and, across different blocks of trials, the position of their own hands and of their partner's hands varied relative to the stimuli. In contrast to control studies conducted with participants acting alone, an object-specific recognition benefit was found across all hand location conditions. These data suggest that visual processing is, in some cases, sensitive to the posture of a co-actor.