Relationship Quality as Mediator of Forgiveness and Psychological Well-being among Transgressors in Romantic Relationships

Romantic relationships often blossom in college life. But relationships are not always a bed of roses. One may find themselves to be inflicting hurt towards their partner. The study aimed to explore the role of positive and negative relationship quality as the mediators of forgiveness (seeking and self) and psychological well-being in romantic relationships from the perspective of the transgressors. Data were collected from a sample of 119 college students in New Delhi, India, who have been in a romantic relationship for 6 months at least and who have hurt their partner in the past. They were administered the Seeking Forgiveness Questionnaire, Heartland Forgiveness Scale (self), Positive–Negative Relationship Quality Questionnaire and the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being. The results showed positive relationship quality to be a mediator between forgiveness (seeking and self) and psychological well-being. Additional support for this relationship was provided by the insignificant role of negative relationship quality between forgiveness (seeking and self) and psychological well-being.     

Tailoring the crack-tip microstructure: a novel approach

This investigation demonstrates a way to innovatively modify the ferritic microstructure at a local scale, particularly at the failure prone area such as Charpy V-notch (CVN) root. Tensile pre-strain (PS) up to 6% and 12% were employed before annealing (An) the samples at 650°C for 15?minutes. Ferrite grain size increased sharply and gradually (along the distance ahead of the notch root) within the microstructurally modified region in 6–12% pre-strained and annealed samples, respectively. The critical strain which promotes strain-induced boundary migration (SIBM), was found to be 0.1 which resulted in abnormally coarse ferrite grains.     

The influence of practicum supervisors’ facilitation styles on student teachers’ reflective thinking during collective reflection

Student teachers’ reflective thinking is closely associated with learning and improving practice. Novice student teachers require adequate support to reflect more deeply. The role of ‘others’ in collective reflection and knowledge generation as an outcome creates a platform for deep reflection, addressing both the processes and premises of reflective thinking. Facilitation styles of practicum supervisors could influence the level of student teachers’ reflective thinking during collective reflection. This is a case study using purposeful sampling involving a Malaysian teacher training institution that conducted an undergraduate early childhood programme in collaboration with a UK university. Sources of evidence were interviews, direct observations and documents. Data collected were analysed using both inductive and deductive methods. It was found that facilitation styles influence the depth of student teachers’ reflective thinking during group dialogic reflection. A continuum of facilitation styles from collaborative to instructive typologies was constructed. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM): Implications for trait and cultural psychology

The cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM; Wood & Roberts, 2006) was tested in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated their general and role identities, as defined by the PRISM, using Big Five trait adjectives, then rated their personality states (i.e., role experiences) in various roles in multiple daily interactions for 14 days. Structural predictions based on the PRISM were supported in all five cultures. Cultural differences were limited and did not reflect cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or cultural tightness. The results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the PRISM and the merits of contextualized trait measures in the prediction of role experiences. Implications for trait and cultural psychology are discussed.     

Knowledge and attitude of Malaysia’s Muslim faith healers in dealing with the mentally ill

Muslim faith healers are often sought by the Malaysian public as an avenue to address psychological distress. “Ruqyah” refers to the recitation of verses from the Qur'an and/or sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and is used by Muslim faith healers as a method of treatment. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of Muslim faith healers in dealing with psychiatric patients in Malaysia. Seven Muslim faith healers were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysed qualitatively using thematic content analysis. The authors identified four themes: understanding of psychiatric illnesses, diagnostic competence, patients' referral, and integrating “ruqyah” into mainstream psychiatry. It was found that the respondents had limited knowledge of psychiatric illness, focusing on “ruqyah” as the main intervention in treating psychiatric illness. Recognizing the important role played by Muslim faith healers in the treatment of psychiatric illness in Malaysia, collaboration between them and fellow psychiatrists is deemed highly necessary.     

The Development of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Japan: Case of Bangladeshis

One of the visible but often neglected outcomes of international migration in Asia is the emergence of immigrant-run businesses. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs in Japan, this study examines how migrants reposition themselves from the rank of irregular workers to that of entrepreneurs under conditions of temporary migration. It highlights both the opportunity structure and the ingenuity of migrants in entrepreneurship. Unlike traditional migrant businesses, Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs engage in transactions in ethnic and non-ethnic products and are driven to adopt innovative strategies to make use of available technology in communication and transport and the globalization of markets. In doing so, they maintain multiple orientations in cultivating both the ethnic and local markets and developing a transnational and/or multinational dimension in growing their businesses.     

Of Lust and Love: A Cross-Cultural Study of Sex and Relationship Advice Articles in Women’s Magazines

This study offers a cross-cultural comparison of sex and relationship advice columns in contemporary women’s magazines. This study aims to investigate the prevailing messages and values women’s magazines promote to their readers and the way they present such values in relation to the norms and values of each society. Sixty advice articles on sex and relationships (ten from each magazine) were obtained online from six home-grown English language women’s magazines from three different contexts, which are, Malaysia, the US, and two Middle Eastern countries (Egypt and the UAE). In addition to analyzing the data for themes which are foregrounded, messages that are either backgrounded or omitted were also analyzed as scholars such as Huckin state that information that is backgrounded or even omitted say as much about a text and its values as messages which are explicitly foregrounded. The findings from the study reveal that there is a clear connection between the production of texts and the society the texts are set in. The writers of these texts are aware of the social norms and values of their society as they try to reflect that in the texts. Finally, the study finds that in all three contexts, women appear as empowered but this empowerment is situated within a traditional framework of male–female roles and heterosexist relationships.     

The Concept of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Qailulah</Emphasis> (Midday Napping) from Neuroscientific and Islamic Perspectives

Napping/siesta during the day is a phenomenon, which is widely practised in the world. However, the timing, frequency, and duration may vary. The basis of napping is also diverse, but it is mainly done for improvement in alertness and general well-being. Neuroscience reveals that midday napping improves memory, enhances alertness, boosts wakefulness and performance, and recovers certain qualities of lost night sleep. Interestingly, Islam, the religion of the Muslims, advocates midday napping primarily because it was a practice preferred by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The objectives of this review were to investigate and compare identical key points on focused topic from both neuroscientific and Islamic perspectives and make recommendations for future researches.     

A Study of the Relationship between Familial Factors and Academic Motivation and Achievement in High School Students

Educational psychologists, nowadays, are more concerned about the students who are motivated in learning and interested in achieving their academic goals. Academic motivation and achievement are considered as primary indicators of students’ learning process and outcomes. This study aimed to know the relationship between the most important familial factors (e.g., parental education, parental occupation, family type, monthly household income, sibling’s achievement) with students’ academic motivation and achievement. One hundred and eighty high school students, age ranging from 13 to 16 years (M = 14.20, SD = .960), at eighth through tenth grade, were selected from six high schools through purposive sampling method, from Chittagong, Bangladesh. A Bangla version of ‘Academic Motivation Questionnaire’ (Fatematuzzohra et al., 2010), originally developed by Vallerand et al. (Can J Behav Sci 21(3):323–349, 1989. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0079855), was used to pursue the study. The result showed that all of the familial factors except the family type had significant effects on both students’ academic motivation and achievement scores. A significant positive correlation was found between students’ academic achievement and academic motivation scores (r = .339, p < .01). All of the familial factors were significant in explaining students’ academic achievement as well as their academic motivation. These factors combinedly explained 57.5% of the variance in students’ academic achievement (R2 = .575, F(13, 166) = 17.281, p < .01) and explained 30.5% of the variance in students’ academic motivation (R2 = .305, F(13, 166) = 5.614, p < .01). Implications for understanding the relationship between familial factors and academic motivation and achievement are discussed.     

A cross-modal effect of noise: the disappearance of the alarm reaction of a freshwater fish

Anthropogenic noise pollution is recognized as a major global stressor of animals. While many studies have assessed the unimodal impacts of noise pollution with a focus on intraspecific acoustic communication, little is known about noise pollution on the perception of visual and chemical information. The ‘distracted prey hypothesis’ posits that processing noise interferes with processing other information in the brain. Here, we found evidence for such a cross-modal effect of noise on the antipredator behaviour of a freshwater prey fish, the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas. In laboratory trials, exposure to noise from a motorboat caused the total absence of the classical fright reaction of minnows to conspecific alarm cues, whereas an ambient noise control had no such impact. In natural habitats, the impairment of such antipredator behaviour due to noise pollution could have major fitness consequences. We discuss how our findings translate to animal ecology and the need for future studies that target specific management decisions regarding noise pollution.