To Value and Address Diversity: From Policy to Practice

A basic assumption of Target 3 of the National Agenda is that the rates of identification, placement, and achievement of children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED) are strongly correlated with dimensions of diversity, such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and culture. A related assumption is that culturally competent and linguistically appropriate exchanges and collaborations among families, professionals, students, and communities will enable our school systems to achieve better educational outcomes for all children, including those with SED. We discuss these assumptions in the context of current policies and suggest ways of translating these policies into practices.     

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstede's dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [. Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [. In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N=5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r=+0.67 (P=0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score.     

Neuroticism and self-criticism associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in a nationally representative sample

Broad and specific psychological traits may uniquely differentiate trauma victims with PTSD from trauma victims without PTSD, but there is a need for representative, population-based research. We investigated elevated neuroticism and self-criticism in association with the presence versus absence of PTSD in a nationally representative sample of adults who experienced a traumatic stressor. Respondents were from the National Comorbidity Survey Part II (N=5877) (). Individuals who experienced one or more traumatic events were selected (N=3238). In separate regression analyses, elevated levels of neuroticism and self-criticism were each significantly associated with PTSD among men and women who had experienced one or more traumatic events. After controlling for types of traumas experienced and other previously identified factors (Bromet, Sonnega, & Kessler, 1998. American Journal of Epidemiology, 147, 353-361), neuroticism remained significantly associated with PTSD in women and both neuroticism and self-criticism remained significant in men. Evidence from this nationally representative sample of adults who experienced traumatic events suggests that self-criticism and especially the broad personality domain of neuroticism may represent robust psychological dimensions associated with the presence of PTSD.     

Constructing Legitimacy in Geoengineering Discourse: The Politics of Representation in Science Policy Literature

Geoengineering, the idea of addressing climate change through large-scale technological projects, is a unique example of a contested emerging technology. It stands out in the degree to which both its scope of possibilities and its premise are characterized by global existential risks. Despite controversy due to inherent and perceived risks, this field has been shifting toward mainstream consideration. Geoengineering science policy reports reflect this shift and influence the subsequent trajectory of research and potential deployment. The two most notable geoengineering policy reports are those by the Royal Society in 2009 and the National Research Council (NRC) in 2015. Discursive strategies recurrent in these reports construct notions of legitimacy and normalcy in regard to geoengineering. These strategies include relative legitimation of actors and approaches, differentiating research from deployment, elevating particular geoengineering methods through comparative evaluation, and normalizing novel geoengineering proposals through analogy. These strategies are present in both the benchmark geoengineering policy reports, with a deepening and entrenchment evident in the later NRC report. Together, these discursive strategies promote the legitimization of geoengineering research.     

Westernalization in the Mirror: On the Cultural Reception of Western Psychology

Miki Takasuna’s paper on “Proliferation of Western Methodological Thought in Psychology in Japan: Ways of Objectification” offers many significant clues for reconsidering the history and unity of psychology. Its treatment of the reception of psychology in Japan hints at the relevance of the models of the subject for psychology—including the allegedly “official” psychology. The aim of this paper is to suggest such reconsideration, on the basis of a distinction between psychology-importing and psychology-exporting countries, and provide a reflection on the cultural problems of assimilation by the latter of a discipline advanced by the former. This perspective leads us to acknowledge the existence of a variety of psychological programs corresponding to the transformation and modernization of different social realities. Also, an indication is offered of several possible levels of analysis of such programs, which are seen to be related with the emergence of psychology as the science of modernity.

Attachment to the Nation and International Relations: Dimensions of Identity and Their Relationship to War and Peace

Since the rise of mass politics, the role national identities play in international relations has been debated. Do they produce a popular reservoir easily tapped for war or bestow dignity thereby fostering cooperation and a democratic peace? The evidence for either perspective is thin, beset by different conceptions of identity and few efforts to identify its effects independent of situational factors. Using data drawn from new national surveys in Italy and the United States, we advance a three‐dimensional conception of national identity, theoretically connecting the dimensions to conflictive and cooperative dispositions as well as to decisions to cooperate with the United Nations in containing Iran's nuclear proliferation and Sudan's humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Attachment to the nation in Italy and the United States is found to associate with less support for militarist options and more support for international cooperation as liberal nationalists expect. This depends, however, on containing culturally exclusive conceptions of the nation and chauvinism.     

National Symbols as Agents of Psychological and Social Change

National symbols pervade most contemporary societies, and public policies encourage the displays of these symbols, yet little research has considered the psychological and social effects of exposure to national symbols. The current review integrates theorizing across social science disciplines and proposes that national symbols are not passive fixtures of people's environment, but instead may yield significant psychological and social effects. Empirically supported intraindividual consequences include enhanced national identification and the promotion of group unity at an unconscious level. National symbols may also have important implications for intergroup relations due to their relation to heightened national identification and potential to automatically activate concepts associated with nationhood. The factors that contribute to differential responses to national symbols and profitable avenues of future research are discussed.     

Anticipating Alternative National and Regional Futures in Energy Efficiency

Thirty-five stakeholder representatives and six observers from thirty organizations, interested in anticipating the adoption of energy efficiency for the Pacific Northwest, identified and described one hundred and seventy-eight national and regional trends extending to the year 2015 impacting energy efficiency, and proposed more than ninety actions for addressing these trends at the regional level. The representatives were engaged in a collaborative action planning workshop that was facilitated with the CogniScope methodology founded in the systems sciences. Convergence was achieved on eight highly influential actions as the highest priority.