Educational risk factors for psychological truancy in Lesotho: a qualitative exploration

A qualitative case study design was used to explore educational risk factors that may contribute to psychological truancy in a Lesotho secondary school. Purposively sampled teachers (n = 4, females = 50%) and pupils (n = 4, females = 75%), who have experience of psychological truancy, took part in a focus group and individual interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse data emanating from the interviews. The findings indicate that pupil–teacher relationships, the use of English as medium of instruction and a lack of resources may be educational risk factors contributing to psychological truancy. Positive pupil–teacher relationships and active classroom engagement are prerequisites for successful and active learning.     

Interhemispheric EEG activity in normal and aphasic adults.

EEG recordings were obtained from 10 normal and 10 aphasic adults while they participated in behavioral tasks and a no performance condition. Interhemispheric asymmetry and average activity at 5 to 15 Hz in each hemisphere were compared between groups and among tasks. Asymmetry during behavioral tasks did not differ significantly between groups or among tasks, however, aphasic patients showed a significant decrease in average activity at 5 to 15 Hz on the behavioral tasks compared with the level for a non performance condition. Test-retest reliability was poor for asymmetry but acceptable for average activity at 5 to 15 Hz. Finally, asymmetry was significantly related with severity of aphasia.     

Moral reasoning among medical geneticists in eighteen nations

We surveyed the approaches of 661 geneticists in 18 nations to 14 clinical cases and asked them to give their ethical reasons for choosing these approaches. Patient autonomy was the dominant value in clinical decision-making, with 59% of responses, followed by non-maleficence (20%), beneficence (11%) and justice (5%). In all, 39% described the consequences of their actions, 26% mentioned conflicts of interest between different parties and 72% placed patient welfare above the welfare of others. The U.S., Canada, Sweden, and U.K. led in responses favoring autonomy. There were substantial international differences in moral reasoning. Gender differences in responses reflected women's greater attention to relationships and supported feminist ethical theories.     

The Qualitative Revolution and Psychology: Science,Politics, and Ethics

Growing interest in qualitative research methods and methodological pluralism in psychology since the 1990s is placed in the historical contexts of long-standing philosophical and scientific rationales and the more recent “qualitative revolution” in other social sciences that began in the 1970s. An examination of areas in which qualitative methods have become most strongly established—applied, feminist, and multicultural psychologies—suggests practical and social motivations as primary and as energizing renewed expression of previously ignored ontological, epistemological, and scientific reasoning in the turn to qualitative methods. Methodological diversification in the arenas of human suffering, women's issues, and cultural politics is traced to psychologists' deeply rooted ethical obligations. The existential philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas articulates an implicit ethics at the heart psychology's increasing acceptance of qualitative methods and provides an understanding of how the emerging methodological diversity can contribute to social justice and human liberation as well as to an enhancement of rigorous scientific knowledge.     

Treatment efficacy research: a window into genetic and neurodevelopmental correlates of developmental disabilities

This issue of MRDD research reviews is dedicated to treatment efficacy research. The treatment of MRDD conditions has long been a central question, but the clinical science of treatment efficacy has not yet been systematically applied to many MRDD typologies. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of this special issue and to provide a rationale for including treatment efficacy research as a tool for studying selected neurological development and genetic correlates of MRDD. Existing treatment efficacy paradigms should be applied systematically to relevant populations (and theoretical questions) and new, objectively tested paradigms should be developed in order to integrate ongoing discovery in MRDD.     

The Impact of Conflict Issues on Fixed-Pie Perceptions, Problem Solving, and Integrative Outcomes in Negotiation

It is argued that a negotiator's fixed-pie perception, cooperative motivation, problem-solving behavior, and integrative outcomes are influenced by the content of the negotiation—the conflict issue. Negotiation involves conflicting interests, conflicting ideas about intellective problems, or conflicting ideas about evaluative problems. Study 1 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests have a stronger fixed-pie perception and have a lower cooperative motivation than individuals in an evaluative negotiation, with intellective negotiations taking an intermediate position. Study 2 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests made more trade-offs and reached higher joint outcomes than individuals in an intellective or evaluative negotiation. Study 3 replicated this finding in a field study. The studies bridge insights from negotiation research and decision-making research and show that the conflict issue has important effects on the negotiation process.     

Night and day: are siblings as different in temperament as parents say they are?

Twin studies suggest that parent ratings of temperament exaggerate differences between twins. The present study examined whether such contrast effects also operate for nontwin siblings. The activity level (AL) and shyness of 95 nontwin sibling pairs (ages 3 to 8 years) were assessed via parent ratings and objective measures (actigraph and observer ratings). Siblings showed no resemblance in either parent-rated AL or shyness; however, sibling resemblance for actigraph AL and observer-rated shyness was substantial. Thus, parents do contrast their nontwin siblings when rating these 2 temperament dimensions. Moreover, the importance of sibling differences in temperament to the sibling relationship and differential maternal treatment varied across the different measures of AL and shyness, suggesting that parent perceptions may play a role in these associations.     

In focus. Has patient autonomy gone to far? Geneticists' views in 36 nations

We surveyed genetics professionals, patients, and the public about rights to information, to requested services, and to parenthood, posing difficult cases found in practice. In all, 2906 genetics professionals (63%), 499 primary care physicians (59%), 476 North American genetics patients (67%), 394 French patients (51%), 593 German patients (65%), and 988 members of the American public (99%) returned anonymous questionnaires. Results suggest a trend toward increased respect for patient autonomy since an earlier survey in 1985; in most nations more would perform prenatal diagnosis for a couple with 4 daughters who desire a son. A minority (35% in U.S., 14% elsewhere) would perform PND for a deaf couple who want a deaf child, but most (94% in U.S., 62% elsewhere) would do prenatal paternity testing in the absence of rape or incest. About half (51%) would support a woman with fragile X who wants children. The trend to respect patient autonomy was greatest in the U.S. and was least evident in China and India. In general, responses to these cases illustrate a shift away from population or eugenic concerns to a model of genetics focused on the individual.