White Paper Concerning Philosophy of Education and Environment

This paper begins with a recognition that questions of climate change, environmental degradation, and our relations to the natural world are increasingly significant and requiring of a response not only as philosophers of education but also as citizens of the planet. As such the paper explores five of the key journals in philosophy of education in order to identify the extent, range, and content of current discussions related to the environment. It then organizes and summaries the articles that were located while seeking to identify the extent, possibilities, and limitations of current discussions relating to the environment in the philosophy of education community. The hope is that ultimately this work is an invitation to anyone, regardless of tradition, orientation, and expertise, to contribute to the expansion and deepening of both theory and practice in the face of this most serious of challenges.     

The production of communication signals at the air-water and water-substrate boundaries

The 2 interfaces of the aquatic environment, the boundary between air-water and water-substrate, have distinctive physical characteristics that facilitate the production of communication signals. Recent evidence suggests that animals living on or near these boundaries use the interface to generate signals in 2 ways: (a) by producing a signal that propagates along the interface or (b) by producing a signal at the interface that is transmitted and detected within 1 of the component media. By examining the diversity of behaviors used to produce signals at these boundaries, the authors illustrate how human perception of these environments may cause researchers to incorrectly assume the environmental context of signal-generating behaviors and overlook modalities of communication pertinent to the animal.     

A Statistical Correction to 20 years of Banding

Statistically based banding is often considered a viable method for minimizing adverse impact in test‐based employment decisions. By utilizing the standard error of the difference (SED), scores are equated based on the assumption that there is substantial unreliability in any single observed score. However, based on the derivations of Dudek, the formula commonly used to calculate the standard error of measurement (SEM) – a component that is typically used to calculate the SED – is incorrect. Specifically, utilizing the SEM when calculating the SED produces a band of observed scores around a true score, not a band of true scores around an observed score as would be appropriate for banding. This study compares the differences between banding‐based selection decisions when the appropriate SED formula – which utilizes the standard error of estimate – is and is not applied. Overall, results suggest that utilizing the appropriate formula for calculating the SED produces substantial variations in employment decisions. The potential legal and ethical implications of these discrepancies are discussed.     

Comparison of Suicide Attempters and Decedents in the U.S. Army: A Latent Class Analysis

A clearer understanding of risk factors for suicidal behavior among soldiers is of principal importance to military suicide prevention. It is unclear whether soldiers who attempt suicide and those who die by suicide have different patterns of risk factors. As such, preventive efforts aimed toward reducing suicide attempts and suicides, respectively, may require different strategies. We conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) to examine classes of risk factors among suicide attempters (n = 1,433) and decedents (n = 424). Both groups were represented by three classes: (1) External/Antisocial Risk Factors, (2) Mental Health Risk Factors, and (3) No Pattern. These findings support the conceptualization that military suicide attempters and decedents represent a single population.     

Guided Affective and Cognitive Imagery to Enhance Self-esteem Among Hawaiian Children

This article discusses the use of guided affective and cognitive imagery to enhance self-esteem among children of Hawaiian ancestry. Children who participated in the intervention strategy, which consisted of 10 group sessions, had significantly higher scores on some areas of self-esteem.     

A psychometric investigation into the body-cathexis scale

The Body-cathexis Scale is examined to assess its psychometric properties. Results indicate a strong unidimensional measure with high internal consistency. It is recommended as a scale for research into the role of body feelings in self-concept and personality.     

Violence, Conflict, Trickery, and Other Story Themes in TV Ads for Food for Children

Stories in a sample of 92 television (TV) food ads aimed at children were analyzed for thematic and subtextual content. Violence as a surface theme ranked first in use receiving a nonzero score in 62% of the ads, followed by conflict (41%), achievement (24%), mood alteration (23%), enablement (18%), trickery (20%), and product dependence (8%). Cluster analysis identified six groupings of themes, with 64% of the ads characterized by some combination of violence, conflict, and trickery. Regarding subtexts, the computer-based Minnesota Contextual Content Analysis program evaluated the voiced material in ads in terms of four marker categories named "traditional (normative)", "practical", "emotional", and "analytic". It was found that the texts had a strong emphasis on the emotional subtext or thrust, and a pronounced underemphasis on the analytic context. These analyses identify possibly dubious content in a significant segment of children's TV viewing.     

Optimism, Pessimism, and Friendship

Peterson and Bossio (1991) have proposed that pessimistic people, by default, will have predominantly pessimistic friends. We tested that notion by examining the correlation between the scores of close friends on both separate and direct measures of optimism and pessimism (via the O/P instrument) and a measure of explanatory style (EASQ), which purports to tap optimistic-pessimistic tendencies as a bipolar dimension. In two studies, only pairs of male friends yielded significant correlations, and only on the direct optimism measure (r= .65, both studies). Another significant correlation (r= .37) was found in Study 2 between sensation seeking scores of mixed-sex friends. No between-friend correlations were found in Study 2 for loneliness and assertiveness. Finally, both pessimism, as directly measured, and loneliness were correlated with typical friendship duration (r=-.24 and-.32 respectively), while none of the personality measures were correlated with number of reported friends.     

Constructing a Tree for Community Leaders: Contexts and Processes in Collaborative Inquiry

This paper presents collaborative research between a university-based team and a grass roots community organization on the south side of Chicago. The purpose of the work is to document the nature of community leadership as expressed by members of the host organization. Using a semistructured interview, 77 community members nominated by the host organization were asked about various aspects of their community work. Qualitative analyses of interview text generated a set of 56 codes concerning different aspects of community leadership as reported by grassroots leaders. These codes were subsequently grouped together into five conceptually linked dimensions of community leadership. A leadership tree that simultaneously analyzes and visually displays each of these five dimensions of community leadership was created. Implications of the methodology used to create the leadership tree are discussed for the salience of qualitative methods in community research.