Safety Behavior After Extinction Triggers a Return of Threat Expectancy

Safety behavior is involved in the maintenance of anxiety disorders, presumably because it prevents the violation of negative expectancies. Recent research showed that safety behavior is resistant to fear extinction. This fear conditioning study investigated whether safety behavior after fear extinction triggers a return of fear in healthy participants. Participants learned that two stimuli (A and C) were followed by an aversive loud noise (“threat”), and one stimulus (B) was not. Participants then learned to use safety behavior that prevented the loud noise. Next, A and C were no longer followed by the loud noise, which typically led to extinction of threat expectancy. Safety behavior then became available again for C, but not for A and B. All participants used safety behavior on these C trials. In a final test phase, A, B, and C were presented once without the availability to use safety behavior. At each stimulus presentation, participants rated threat expectancy by indicating to what extent they expected that the loud noise would follow. Compared with the last extinction trial, threat expectancy increased for C in the test phase, whereas it did not increase for A and B. Hence, safety behavior after the extinction of classically conditioned fear caused a partial return of fear. The findings suggest that safety behavior may be involved in relapse after exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders.     

Superheroes for change: Physical safety promotes socially (but not economically) progressive attitudes among conservatives

Across two studies, we find evidence for our prediction that experimentally increasing feelings of physical safety increases conservatives' socially progressive attitudes. Specifically, Republican and conservative participants who imagined being endowed with a superpower that made them invulnerable to physical harm (vs. the ability to fly) were more socially (but not economically) liberal (Study 1) and less resistant to social change (Study 2). Results suggest that socially (but not economically) conservative attitudes are driven, at least in part, by needs for safety and security.     

Learning as Leaving Home: Fear,Empathy, and Hospitality in the Theology and Religion Classroom

The article is a response to this journal's call for papers on metaphors for teaching, and also draws from a previous publication in which Kent Eilers developed a methodology for teaching global theologies. In this methodology, the ultimate goal was the development of “hermeneutical dispositions of empathy, hospitality, and receptivity toward culturally diverse voices” (2014, 165). This article considers the goals of Eilers' methodology, and others like his, and how it is that the metaphors of “leaving home” and “communal imagination” highlight the importance of the ambient and interpersonal features of a classroom and their effect on the attainment of the above goals. In so doing, it extends the conversation beyond content and methodology in teaching theology and religion into the realms of philosophy of education, as well as the fields of moral and values education. It is contended that the metaphors informed by these areas of study facilitate the attainment of such goals, and similar ones, by demonstrating that the cultivation of an ambience of care, trust, and compassion within the classroom constitutes an essential foundation for learning in which students “leave home” and cultivate “communal imagination.” The article finishes with practical suggestions for educators in theology and religion.     

Ukuphepha: A Multi-level Community Engagement Model for the Promotion of Safety,Peace and Health

This article aims to describe a theoretically-informed community engagement model which delivers a suite of child safety, peace and health interventions.We provide an overview of critical concepts that inform the community engagement approach that underpins the implementation of the Ukuphepha Child Safety, Peace and Health Programme (UCSPHP), in low-income neighbourhoods just outside Johannesburg, and on the periphery of Cape Town, South Africa. Our analysis is framed within a participatory approach and suggests the importance of six interconnected community engagement pathways: relationship-building; community-centred learning; social justice and contextual congruence; the facilitation of democratic traditions; strengthening the case for community services; and the affirmation of local social economies.     

Applying a longitudinal tracer methodology to evaluate complex interventions in complex settings

Long-running multi-faceted intervention studies are particularly problematic in large complex organizations where traditional methods prove too resource intensive and can yield inaccurate and incomplete findings. This paper describes the first use of, longitudinal tracer methodology (LTM), a realist approach to evaluation, to examine the links between multiple complex intervention activities (processes) and their outcomes on a construction megaproject. LTM is especially useful when the researcher has little control over intervention delivery but has evidence drawn from multiple sources to evaluate the intervention activities effects over time. This methodology has rarely been deployed in complex organizational settings and not on a construction megaproject. This paper presents a case study of its use over a period of three years, on 24 construction sites forming London’s Thames Tideway Tunnel (Tideway) megaproject. The study examines the “transformational” power of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions across the multiple organizations and supply chains in the megaproject. The study shows how the method can be adapted in-flight to accommodate shifting lines of inquiry as the intervention activities progress and change. This feature along with its resource-efficient operation, make it an attractive option where interventions are likely to have differential effects across multiple sites of enactment.     

Linking safety knowledge to safety behaviours: a moderated mediation of supervisor and worker safety attitudes

The thousands of deaths and disabilities due to workplace accidents and injuries each year emphasize the importance of safety research. Despite occupational safety research that has contributed to identifying antecedents of safety, little is known about why and how safety knowledge leads to safety behaviours and how personal and situational factors interact to promote occupational safety. Using a multilevel, multisource, and time-lagged research design, the present study investigates whether safety knowledge affects safety behaviours through safety attitudes and further tests whether supervisory safety attitudes can impact the strength of these relationships and play a role as moderators of the proposed mediated relationship. Data were collected from workers (N = 177) and supervisors (N = 42) in a construction company in the energy industry at two time points. Results indicate full support for the moderated mediation model, demonstrating that worker safety attitudes partially mediate the relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours. Moreover, when supervisors had positive attitudes towards safety, both the direct relationship between worker safety attitudes and safety behaviours and the indirect relationship between safety knowledge and safety behaviours were more positive compared to when supervisors had negative safety attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications for occupational safety are discussed.     

Speed-calming measures and their effect on driving speed – Test of a new technique measuring speeds based on GNSS data

Speeding increases the risk and severity of accidents, especially for vulnerable road users. Hence, minimisation of speeding in built-up areas is vital. Some countries widely use speed-calming measures (SCs). Documentation shows that SCs reduce speeding considerably although various types and designs of SCs affect this reduction. This paper includes studies of the effects from establishment of sinus speed humps of height 10 cm and length 950 cm and chicanes (with a free carriageway width of 5.30 cm and a length between the 0.5 m wide obstacles of 18 m) as a before/after study where the speed pattern after establishing SCs is compared with the one before. Floating Car Data used for analyses includes 3216 trips passing one/more SCs. The main results are that the effect from SCs decreases with the distance from the SCs and that a clear pattern is hard to establish above 75 m from the SC. Despite the apparent absence of more distant effects of each SC, there is an overall reduced average speed on the full length of a road with SCs. Humps reduce the mean speed comparable to the reduction from chicanes, but the speed variation is less reduced near chicanes, and especially prior to the arrival to such SC. Due to different traffic patterns around the two types of SCs, a direct comparison between the effects from humps and chicanes cannot be made. A tentative result at least for the two types of SCs studied is that the chicane results in a reduced effect on speed variation compared to the hump. The chicanes result in increased speed variation prior to the arrival to the SC compared to the humps. Hence, the indication is that chicanes might be less safe than humps due to speed variation although more research is needed especially concerning developing of best practice design for speed reducing devices and other speed-calming measures in built-up areas.     

Bicycle fatalities: Trends in crashes with and without motor vehicles in The Netherlands

Boufous and Olivier (2015) recently found an increasing trend of police-reported cyclist deaths in single-vehicle crashes while a decreasing trend was found for fatal bicycle-motor vehicle crashes. This study sets out to conduct the same trend analyses for the Netherlands using causes of death statistics. The results show that for 1996–2014, the number of cyclist deaths in motor vehicle collisions per km cycled (i.e. the risk) has declined by 3.8% per annum (95% CI: −4.6%, −3.0%) while the risk of cyclist deaths in crashes without motor vehicles increased by 7.0% per annum (95% CI: 5.5%, 8.7%). The large majority of cyclist deaths at the beginning of the study period were due to bicycle-motor vehicle crashes. By 2014, however, the share with motor vehicles was only slightly higher than the share without motor vehicles. We also conducted trend analyses controlling for age by stratifying into nine age groups. After controlling for age, the average annual decrease of cyclist deaths in crashes with motor vehicles was 5.4% (95% CI: −6.0% to − 4.7%). The average annual increase of deaths in crashes without motor vehicles was 4.4% (95% CI: 3.1–5.7%). These trends are more favourable than those without controlling for age which can be explained by more cycling among the elderly who have an elevated risk. We conclude that, similar to Australia, cyclist deaths following motor vehicle crashes in the Netherlands have decreased while deaths without motor vehicles have increased.     

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and enacted PSC for workplace bullying and psychological health problem reduction

Bullying at work has profound effects on both the individual and organization. We aimed to determine if organizational psychosocial safety climate (PSC; a climate specific to worker psychological health) could reduce workplace bullying and associated psychological health problems (i.e., distress, emotional exhaustion, depression) if specific procedures were implemented (PSC enactment). We theorized that the PSC enactment mechanism works via psychosocial processes such as bullying mistreatment climate (anti-bullying procedures), work design (procedures reduce stress through work redesign), and conflict resolution (procedures to resolve conflict). We used two-wave national longitudinal interview data from 1,062 Australian employees (Australian Workplace Barometer project) and structural equation modelling to explore relationships over 4 years. PSC Time 1 predicted enacted PSC and reduced bullying 4 years later. PSC Time 1 was indirectly negatively related to poor psychological health Time 2 through enacted PSC and bullying. Bullying Time 1 also gave rise to procedures which in turn reduced bullying Time 2. Our findings suggest a multi-component approach to prevent or reduce bullying. Procedures (to reduce psychosocial hazards) that emerge in a high PSC context are more comprehensive than those triggered by bullying (reactive procedures), and can therefore be more effective in reducing worker mistreatment. Building PSC and a strong climate for psychological health, and enacting PSC is fundamental to bullying prevention.     

The implications of low quality bicycle paths on the gaze behaviour of young learner cyclists

In a recent study, Vansteenkiste et al. (2014) described how low quality bicycle paths cause an apparent shift of visual attention from distant environmental regions to more proximate road properties. Surprisingly, this shift of visual attention was not accompanied by an adaptation in cycling speed. The current experiment investigated to what extent these findings are applicable for young learner bicyclists (aged 6–12 years). Since young learner bicyclists do not yet have mature visual and motor skills, it was expected that the implications of a poor road surface would be larger for them than for experienced adult bicyclists. In general, children looked less to the road and more to task irrelevant regions, but the magnitude of the shift of visual attention when cycling on a low quality bicycle track was similar to that of adults. Although children cycled slower than adults, they did not cycle slower on the low quality track compared to the high quality track. Overall, our results suggest that children displayed a different visual-motor strategy than adults, characterized by lower cycling speeds and a different visual behaviour, and that they responded in a similar way to a low quality bicycle path as adults.