The society for community research and action on a path toward conocimiento: From silences and statements to solidarities in action in U.S. community psychology

A first-person narrative essay is presented through a critically reflexive auto-ethnography of a community psychologist's experiences as a member of the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) and (as of this writing) co-chair of the Cultural, Ethnic and Racial Affairs council. Through this methodological orientation, an analysis of some of the discourses that circulated within the SCRA listserv in relation to the murder of Mr. George Floyd, and amidst an ensuing pandemic are analyzed and discussed in relation to Anzaldúa's seven stages of conocimiento. The intentions that guide and ground this first-person account are to animate deeper reflection, accountability, and solidarity-in-action, as well as an organizational shift in the culture of the SCRA. Guided by a set of questions—What accounts for the organizational silences within the SCRA? How did the SCRA respond or engage with the murder of Mr. Floyd, anti-Blackness, Black Lives Matter, and related racial justice efforts?—the purpose is to turn a critical social analysis gaze to the SCRA in order to align its purpose, values, and mission with liberation and a decolonial feminist praxis. Anzaldúa's seven-stage framework of conocimiento is utilized to describe the possibilities for an organizational cultural shift in the SCRA that aligns with racial justice and liberatory decolonial feminist praxes.     

Longitudinal changes in term and preterm infant night wakings: The role of caregiver anxious-depression

Changes in infant night waking during the first year of life are associated with individual (e.g., prematurity) and family (e.g., caregiver psychopathology) factors. This study examined the association between infant night waking and caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms during the first year of life in preterm and term infants. We considered between-person differences and within-person changes in caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms in relation to changes in infant night waking from 2- to 9-months. Racially (30.0% Black, 60.4% White, 9.5% multiracial/other) and socioeconomically (40.0% below median household income) diverse caregivers (N = 445) of full term (n = 258) and preterm (n = 187) infants were recruited from hospitals and clinics in two midwestern states. Caregivers completed measures of anxious-depression and their infant's night waking at four sampling periods (2-, 4-, 6-, and 9-months). Infant night wakings declined from 2- to 9-months. Between-person differences were observed, such that caregivers with higher average anxious-depressive symptoms or infants born full term reported more night wakings. Within-person effects of caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms were not significant. Caregiver anxious-depression is closely associated with infant night wakings. By considering a caregiver's average severity of anxious-depression, healthcare providers can more effectively plan infant sleep interventions. If caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms are ameliorated, night wakings may also decrease.     

Spontaneous object recognition in capuchin monkeys: assessing the effects of sex,familiarization phase and retention delay

Animal Cognition - The spontaneous object recognition (SOR) task is a versatile and widely used memory test that was only recently established in nonhuman primates (marmosets). Here, we extended...     

Construal level among poor children: Executive function implications

Poverty impedes children's executive function (EF). Therefore, it is necessary to mitigate the negative effect of poverty by developing efficient interventions to improve poor children's cognitive function. In three studies, we examined whether high-level construals can improve EF among poor children in China. In Study 1, we observed a positive relationship between family socioeconomic status and children's EF, which was moderated by construal level (n = 206; M_age = 9.71; 45.6% girls). In Study 2a, we experimentally induced high- versus low-level construals and found that poor children with high-level construals exhibited better EF than those with low-level construals (n = 65; M_age = 11.32; 47.7% girls). However, the same intervention did not affect the performance of affluent children in Study 2b (n = 63; M_age = 10.54; 54% girls). Moreover, we found that the interventional effects of high-level construals improved the ability of children living in poverty to make healthy decisions and delayed gratification in Study 3 (n = 74; M_age = 11.10; 45.9% girls). These findings may have implications for using high-level construals as an effective intervention to improve poor children's EF and cognitive capacity.     

家长带学生求神拜佛是坑害孩子

新华社6月4日报道说,随着高考、中考考期临近,一些家长在关心孩子生活起居的同时,开始寻找“神仙”的保佑。进入五六月份以来,哈尔滨市及其周边寺庙香火格外旺盛。在哈尔滨极乐寺,双休日家长带着应考的孩子专程来烧香拜佛的络绎不绝。“许愿塔”前虔诚投掷硬币的人群中,同样围拢着学生模样的年轻人。距离哈     

A consciousness-based quantum objective collapse model

Ever since the early days of quantum mechanics it has been suggested that consciousness could be linked to the collapse of the wave function. However, no detailed account of such an interplay is usually provided. In this paper we present an objective collapse model (a variation of the Continuous Spontaneous Location model) where the collapse operator depends on integrated information, which has been argued to measure consciousness. By doing so, we construct an empirically adequate scheme in which superpositions of conscious states are dynamically suppressed. Unlike other proposals in which “consciousness causes the collapse of the wave function,” our model is fully consistent with a materialistic view of the world and does not require the postulation of entities suspicious of laying outside of the quantum realm.

     

Young adults' partner preferences and parents' in-law preferences across generations,genders, and nations

To examine cultural, gender, and parent–child differences in partner preferences, in eight countries undergraduates (n = 2,071) and their parents (n = 1,851) ranked the desirability of qualities in someone the student might marry. Despite sizable cultural differences—especially between Southeast Asian and Western countries—participants generally ranked kind/understanding (reflecting interpersonal communion) highest, and intelligent and healthy (reflecting mental/physical agency) among the top four. Students valued exciting, attractive partners more and healthy, religious partners less than parents did; comparisons with rankings by youth in 1984 (i.e., from the parents' generation) suggested cohort effects cannot explain most parent–child disagreements. As evolutionary psychology predicts, participants prioritized wives' attractiveness and homemaker skills and husbands' education and breadwinner skills; but as sociocultural theory predicts, variations across countries/decades in gendered spousal/in-law preferences mirrored socioeconomic gender differences. Collectively, the results suggest individuals consider their social roles/circumstances when envisioning their ideal spouse/in-law, which has implications for how humans’ partner-appraisal capabilities evolved.     

Akrasia and the Desire to Become Someone Else: Venturinha on Moral Matters

Philosophia - This paper discusses practical akrasia from the perspective of the sophisticated form of moral subjectivism that can be derived from Nuno Venturinha’s (2018) remarks on moral...     

Applying Community-Based Participatory Approaches to Addressing Health Disparities and Promoting Health Equity

This special issue highlights work that contributes to our understanding of health disparities and community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to promoting health equity across diverse populations and issues that matter to communities. We take on a global perspective, and thus, various efforts across international contexts are illustrated. Articles elucidate a variety of CBPR approaches designed to empower and build capacity among individuals and communities in order to seek changes at the level of community practices, programs, and systems. These articles span across diverse populations—children, youth, and families; adults and older adults; immigrants; refugees; Black people; Latinx people; Native Americans/Indigenous people, the Roma community; Muslim women, and women with disabilities—experiencing inequities of interest to community psychologists and other researchers and practitioners.