Secular humanitarians and the postsecular: reflections on Habermas and the Typhoon Haiyan disaster response

The international humanitarian system aims to save lives and alleviate suffering following disasters worldwide. Secular and faith-based actors make up the system, but the system can operate to a secular standard that may, some have argued, marginalise religious experience and well-being post-disaster. This article assesses what can be learned from examining secular humanitarianism from a postsecular perspective. Debate on secularity in the humanitarian system is reviewed, before Jürgen Habermas’s conception of the postsecular is proposed as a theoretical lens. Habermasian postsecularism invites the secular to take part in a process of ‘complementary learning’ with the religious. Results from interviews and focus groups in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan are used. Results show the reflexivity of secular individuals within the humanitarian system, with cases demonstrating co-operation and consideration of other views at the interpersonal level. Yet, at a system-wide level, instances of marginalisation of religion were noted, such as responses to requests for chapel reconstruction and psycho-social assistance. While some organisations made a contextualised decision that either maintained their strict secularity or negotiated a compromise, in other cases, these decisions were based on preconceptions rather than deliberation. Overall, a level of reflexivity required in Habermasian postsecularism was found, but there were also further opportunities for complementary learning.     

Constructions of social selves living with HIV/AIDS: A Jungian phenomenological study

This study explored sense of social well-being influences on self-identity and the stigma and discrimination among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Informants were 15 PLWHA from a rural background in a South African community (female = 87%, age range = 26 to 64 years; and males = 13%, age range = 55 to 64 years). They completed semi-structured interviews on their lived experiences relating to a sense of social inclusion and belongingness. We thematically analysed the data, and interpreted the findings applying Jungian archetypes of the Self, Shadow, and Persona. Findings suggest PLWHA’s sense of a dominant Shadow to be a barrier to self-acceptance whereas a Persona (mask) was guided by a need to be socially acceptable. A positive sense of social well-being among PLWHA is important to their health and well-being.     

Learning and memory deficits upon TAU accumulation in Drosophila mushroom body neurons

Mutations in the neuronal-specific microtubule-binding protein TAU are associated with several dementias and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the effects of elevated TAU accumulation on behavioral plasticity are unknown. We report that directed expression of wild-type vertebrate and Drosophila TAU in adult mushroom body neurons, centers for olfactory learning and memory in Drosophila, strongly compromised associative olfactory learning and memory, but olfactory conditioning-relevant osmotactic and mechanosensory responses remained intact. In addition, TAU accumulation in mushroom body neurons did not result in detectable neurodegeneration or premature death. Therefore, TAU-mediated structural or functional perturbation of the microtubular cytoskeleton in mushroom body neurons is likely causal of the behavioral deficit. These results indicate that behavioral plasticity decrements may be the earliest detectable manifestations of tauopathies.     

A common oscillator for perceptual rivalries?

Perceptual rivalry is an oscillation of conscious experience that takes place despite univarying. if ambiguous, sensory input. Much current interest is focused on the controversy over the neural site of binocular rivalry, a variety of perceptual rivalry for which a number of different cortical regions have been implicated. Debate continues over the relative role of higher levels of processing compared with primary visual cortex and the suggestion that different forms of rivalry involve different cortical areas. Here we show that the temporal pattern of disappearance and reappearance in motion-induced blindness (MIB) (Bonneh et al, 2001 Nature 411 798-801) is highly correlated with the pattern of oscillation reported during binocular rivalry in the same individual. This correlation holds over a wide range of inter-individual variation. Temporal similarity in the two phenomena was strikingly confirmed by the effects of the hallucinogen LSD, which produced the same, extraordinary, pattern of increased rhythmicity in both kinds of perceptual oscillation. Furthermore. MIB demonstrates the two properties previously considered characteristic of binocular rivalry. Namely the distribution of dominance periods can be approximated by a gamma distribution and, in line with Levelt's second proposition of binocular rivalry, predominance of one perceptual phase can be increased through a reduction in the predominance time of the opposing phase. We conclude that (i) MIB is a form of perceptual rivalry, and (ii) there may be a common oscillator responsible for timing aspects of all forms of perceptual rivalry.     

Social Cynicism and Job Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Analysis

Social cynicism, a negative view about people and social institutions, was found to show a negative correlation with job satisfaction across societies. A preliminary study in Hong Kong showed that social cynicism and job satisfaction correlated negatively across individuals as well. To confirm the causal effect of social cynicism on job satisfaction, a longitudinal study in Shanghai, China, with three waves of surveys, was conducted. Results showed that social cynicism correlated negatively with job satisfaction measured concurrently, and was predictive of job satisfaction measured subsequently. Consistent with the buffering hypothesis, perceived well‐being was a significant moderator in that the negative relationship between social cynicism and job satisfaction was significant only when perceived well‐being was low. On s'est aperçu que le cynisme social (une vision négative des gens et des institutions sociales) entretenait une corrélation négative avec la satisfaction professionnelle quelle que soit la société. Une étude préliminaire à Hong‐Kong a montré que le cynisme social et la satisfaction professionnelle présentaient également une corrélation négative au niveau de l'individu. Dans le but de confirmer le statut causal du cynisme social sur la satisfaction professionnelle, on a mené une étude longitudinale en Chine, à Shanghai, avec trois enquêtes successives. Les résultats montrent que le cynisme social est négativement reliéà la satisfaction professionnelle mesurée au même moment et prédit la satisfaction professionnelle mesurée ultérieurement. En accord avec l'hypothèse portant sur la résistance aux aléas de l'existence, le bien‐être perçu est un modérateur actif dans la mesure où la relation négative entre le cynisme social et la satisfaction professionnelle n'est significative que lorsque le bien‐être perçu est médiocre.     

Do people keep believing because they want to? Preexisting attitudes and the continued influence of misinformation

Misinformation—defined as information that is initially assumed to be valid but is later corrected or retracted—often has an ongoing effect on people’s memory and reasoning. We tested the hypotheses that (a) reliance on misinformation is affected by people’s preexisting attitudes and (b) attitudes determine the effectiveness of retractions. In two experiments, participants scoring higher and lower on a racial prejudice scale read a news report regarding a robbery. In one scenario, the suspects were initially presented as being Australian Aboriginals, whereas in a second scenario, a hero preventing the robbery was introduced as an Aboriginal person. Later, these critical, race-related pieces of information were or were not retracted. We measured participants’ reliance on misinformation in response to inferential reasoning questions. The results showed that preexisting attitudes influence people’s use of attitude-related information but not the way in which a retraction of that information is processed.     

The resilience of object predictions: Early recognition across viewpoints and exemplars

Recognition of everyday objects can be facilitated by top-down predictions. We have proposed that these predictions are derived from rudimentary image information, or gist, extracted rapidly from the low spatial frequencies (LSFs) (Bar Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 15: 600–609, 2003). Because of the coarse nature of LSF representations, we hypothesized here that such predictions can accommodate changes in viewpoint as well as facilitate the recognition of visually similar objects. In a repetition-priming task, we indeed observed significant facilitation of target recognition that was primed by LSF objects across moderate viewpoint changes, as well as across visually similar exemplars. These results suggest that the LSF representations are specific enough to activate accurate predictions, yet flexible enough to overcome small changes in visual appearance. Such gist representations facilitate object recognition by accommodating changes in visual appearance due to viewing conditions, and help generalize from familiar to novel exemplars.     

Trust in the medical profession and patient attachment style

Attachment style is a person’s approach to interpersonal relationships, which develops from early experiences with primary caregivers and can remain stable into adulthood. Depending on a person’s attachment style, the amount of trust one has in others can vary when forming relationships, and trust is important in formation of the patient–physician relationship. The purpose of this study was to see if there is an association between attachment style and trust in physicians in general. Participants were recruited from an emergency department (ED) and an online university participant pool, and completed short questionnaires assessing attachment style and trust in the medical profession. Results revealed that individuals with a fearful attachment style reported significantly lower levels of trust in the medical profession than those with a secure attachment style. ED participants also reported higher levels of trust in the medical profession in comparison to student participants. This study provides a better understanding of trust in the medical profession, and insight into future care for patients who have low trust.