Vilification and Values

Social values are an important foundation of political attitudes, yet political controversies often embody conflicts between values, placing the citizen in an awkward position of having to prioritize competing values. One strategy is to consider the groups that are symbolically associated with the competing values. Groups held in high esteem will enhance associated values; groups held in disregard will diminish associated values. Persuasive communicators exploit this process by assailing groups that have been publicly associated with certain issue positions or values as “extreme” or “radical.” Even if the group represents a consensus value like equal opportunity, the extremist label suggests the group's agenda embodies an excessive and uncompromising imposition of this value. This article reports on four experiments that investigated how the extremist label can undermine support for a group's position. We further examine how reputation affects judgments of value priorities.     

Dimensions of social capital and life adjustment in the transition to early adulthood

The predictive relations between social capital depth (high-quality relationships across contexts) and breadth (friendship network extensivity) and early-adult, life adjustment outcomes were examined using data from a prospective longitudinal study. Interviews at age 22 yielded (a) psychometrically sound indexes of relationship quality with parents, peers, and romantic partners that served as indicators of a latent construct of social capital depth, and (b) a measure of number of close friends. In follow-up interviews at age 24, participants reported on their behavioral adjustment, educational attainment, and arrests and illicit substance use. Early-adolescent assessments of behavioral adjustment and academic performance served as controls; data on what were construed as interpersonal assets (teacher-rated social skills) and opportunities (family income) were also collected at this time. Results showed that depth was associated with overall better young-adult adjustment, net of prior adjustment, and assets and opportunities. Breadth was only modestly associated with later outcomes, and when its overlap with depth was taken into account, breadth predicted higher levels of subsequent externalizing problems. These findings are consistent with the notion that social capital is multidimensional and that elements of it confer distinct benefits during an important life transition.     

Behavioral and self‐reported aggression as a function of domain‐specific self‐esteem

On the basis of a domain‐specific theory of self‐esteem, it was hypothesized that functionally distinct domains of self‐esteem would predict aggression differentially. Participants completed self‐report measures of self‐perceived superiority, mate value, social inclusion, and global self‐esteem, as well as of aggression. Self‐assessed mate value emerged as a reliable, positive predictor, and social inclusion as a reliable inverse predictor, of self‐reported hostility and aggression. In a subsequent laboratory experiment, in which participants had an opportunity to aggress against the source of positive or negative feedback about a personal essay that they had written, mate value again predicted increased aggression, whereas global self‐esteem predicted decreased aggression. These main effects were moderated by the feedback manipulation, such that their respective simple effects were only present among participants that received negative feedback. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–11, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

THEOLOGY AND THE SCIENCE WARS: WHO OWNS HUMAN NATURE?

Lluís Oviedo examines in his article the current conflict over human nature and the role of the sciences in the debate, suggesting that there may be a role for theology to play as well. In this essay I examine and respond to some aspects of Oviedo's article and suggest that the nature of the conflict needs to be nuanced to understand it as a conflict not between scientific and philosophical/social‐scientific views of human nature but among scientists, social scientists, and philosophers over the role of science in thinking about human nature. I analyze some of the obstacles for theology's becoming involved and propose that thinking about what are distinctively theological questions as opposed to scientific ones may be an appropriate starting point.     

Turning Up the Heat: Inflammation as a Mechanism Linking Chronic Stress, Depression, and Heart Disease

ABSTRACT— Mounting evidence indicates that chronic stressors and depressive symptoms contribute to morbidity and mortality from cardiac disease. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms responsible for these effects or about why depressive symptoms and cardiac disease co-occur so frequently. In this article we outline a novel model that seeks to address these issues. It asserts that chronic stressors activate the immune system in a way that leads to persistent inflammation. With long-term exposure to the products of inflammation, people develop symptoms of depression and experience progression of atherosclerosis, the pathologic condition that underlies cardiac disease.     

The Effects of Numbered Heads Together with and Without an Incentive Package on the Science Test Performance of a Diverse Group of Sixth Graders

A clear and consistent finding of educational research has been the importance of active student responding. During lectures and discussions, active responding most often takes the form of student responses to teacher questions. This whole group responding to questions, however, does not permit every student to respond and does not assure that all students are actively engaged. Previous research has shown that Numbered Heads Together is an efficient and effective instructional technique to increase student responding and to improve achievement. Using an A-B-BC-B-BC design, we examined the effects of two versions of Numbered Heads Together on 6th graders daily quiz scores and pretest-posttest performance in chemistry. Findings indicated that the addition of a behavioral incentive package noticeably improved student performance during Numbered Heads Together instruction. Implications are discussed for teachers and educational researchers.     

In defense of an epistemic probability account of luck

Synthese - Many philosophers think that part of what makes an event lucky concerns how probable that event is. In this paper, I argue that an epistemic probability account of luck successfully...     

A qualitative analysis of the vaccine intention–behaviour relationship: parents’ descriptions of their intentions,decision-making behaviour and planning processes towards HPV vaccination

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify factors influencing the vaccine intention–behaviour relationship. Design: A total of 445 parents who received a brief intervention to promote HPV vaccination were categorized based on their intentions post-intervention (yes/unsure/eventually/never) and subsequent adolescents’ vaccine status (yes/no). Fifty-one of these parents participated in qualitative interviews. Main Outcome Measures: Parents described their intentions, decision-making and planning processes towards vaccination. Framework analysis was used to analyse the data. Results: Parents in the ‘Yes/Yes’ category were knowledgeable about HPV/vaccine, described strong, stable intentions, considered themselves the primary decision-makers about vaccination and said they vaccinated immediately. ‘Yes/No’ parents described strong intentions and thought their adolescent was vaccinated OR described hesitant intentions, seeking advice/agreement from others and noting barriers to vaccination without solutions. ‘Unsure/Yes’ parents described their intentions as strengthening with information from credible sources and identified strategies for overcoming barriers. ‘Unsure/No’ and ‘Eventually/No’ parents had misinformation/negative beliefs regarding vaccination, described being ambivalent or non-supportive of vaccination and cited barriers to vaccination. ‘Never/No’ parents held negative beliefs about vaccination, described strong, stable intentions to NOT vaccinate, deferring the decision to others, and reported no planning towards vaccination. Conclusions: Intention characteristics and planning processes could moderate the vaccine intention–behaviour relationship, potentially serving as targets for future vaccine strategies.     

Mechanisms linking height to early child development among infants and preschoolers in rural India

Stunting has been negatively associated with children's development. We examined the range of height by testing hypotheses: (a) height is positively associated with children's development, with associations moderated by inflammation and (b) home environments characterized by nurturance and early learning opportunities is positively associated with children's development over time and attenuate associations with height. Data included 513 infants (mean age 8.6 months) and 316 preschoolers (mean age 36.6 months) in rural India from a randomized controlled trial of multiple micronutrient powders (MNPs). Measures included height (height‐for‐age z‐scores based on WHO standards), inflammation (C‐reactive protein concentration >5 mg/L), nurturance (HOME Inventory), child development (Mullens Scales of Early Learning), and inhibitory control (preschoolers). Linear mixed effects models accounting for repeated measures, clustering, and confounders were used to assess associations between height and child development over time (infants: enrollment, 6 and 12 months; preschoolers: enrollment and 8 months). Moderating effects of inflammation and nurturance were tested with interaction terms. Among infants and preschoolers, height and nurturance were positively associated with all domains of child development over time, with the exception of inhibitory control. Among preschoolers, in the presence of inflammation, height was not associated with child development. Among infants, but not preschoolers, a nurturant home environment attenuated significant associations between height with fine motor and receptive language development. The mechanisms associated with children's development over time are multifactorial and include direct and indirect associations among nutrition, health, and the home environment, as supported by the Nurturing Care Framework.