THE EARTH CHARTER AND BIODEMOCRACY IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY

This essay introduces the themes that motivate the three articles that follow. Their common aim is to explore the connections between the Earth Charter and the concept of biodemocracy with the intention of highlighting ways of thinking about the relationship between science, religion, and the environment in the twenty‐first century. Informed by the science of ecology and written by scholars of religion, the articles included here seek to integrate movements and ideas as diverse as postmodern thought, the much‐debated thought of Lynn White, jr. (his preferred spelling), and the synergy emerging between the Earth Charter and Journey of the Universe.     

Intervention-enabled autonomy-supportive teaching improves the PE classroom climate to reduce antisocial behavior

BackgroundAutonomy-supportive teaching interventions enhance PE student outcomes. According to previous research, these benefits occur because autonomy-supportive teaching enhances students’ psychological needs, though they may also occur because such teaching enhances the classroom climate. The student benefit of interest was reduced classroom-wide antisocial behavior.ObjectivesWe predicted that teacher participation in the intervention would enhance both classroom climate and psychological needs assessed at the classroom level. We further predicted that improvements in the classroom climate would better explain decreased antisocial behavior.MethodUsing a cluster randomized control trial design with longitudinally-assessed dependent measures, we randomly assigned 49 physical education secondary-grade Korean teachers to participate (or not) in an autonomy-supportive teaching intervention (25 experimental, 24 control). The 1487 students in these 49 classrooms reported their individually-experienced need satisfaction and frustration and their classroom-level supportive climate, conflictual climate, and antisocial behavior across three waves.ResultsA series of doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that, at the classroom level, (1) intervention-enabled autonomy-supportive teaching improved both students’ psychological needs (more satisfaction, β = 0.84; less frustration, β = −0.66) and the prevailing classroom climate (more supportive, β = 0.77; less conflictual, β = −0.68) and (2) the improved climate best explained why antisocial behavior declined (overall R² = 0.86).ConclusionThese findings show the importance of incorporating classroom climate effects to understand why autonomy-supportive teaching interventions improve student outcomes.     

Le rôle modérateur du harcèlement environnemental au travail dans la relation entre l’attachement au lieu de travail et le soutien organisationnel perçu. Étude auprès d’un échantillon féminin

This article examines the effect of environmental harassment at work in the relationship between attachment to the workplace and perceived organizational support. A survey was conducted via a questionnaire with 304 employees in different professional sectors (commerce, healthcare, teaching, administration) in the public or private sector. Analyses show that (a) attachment to the workplace and environmental harassment at work are strongly associated with perceived organizational support, the former positively and the latter negatively, and (b) two dimensions of environmental harassment at work, namely manipulation of the work environment and manipulation of the personal space, moderate the relationship between attachment to place and perceived organizational support, reducing the effect of this relationship. The practical implications of the research are discussed.     

Teaching practices and elementary classroom peer ecologies

Teachers and students in 39 1st, 3rd and 5th grade classrooms participated in a study of teaching practices and classroom peer networks. Teachers reported on their attitudes towards aggression and withdrawal, provided rationales for their seating arrangements, and were observed on patterns of emotional and instructional support and classroom organization. Students were surveyed or interviewed for peer nominations of friendship, popularity, being cool, and aggressive and prosocial behavior, and from these nominations classroom-level indices were derived concerning the richness of positive and negative social ties among children, the egalitarian or hierarchical nature of social status hierarchies, and classroom norms for aggressive and prosocial behavior. Preliminary results suggest that teachers' attitudes towards social behavior are associated with the degree of liking and disliking their students express; teachers' grouping patterns are associated with numerous features of classroom social networks; and teachers' observed emotional support was associated with higher rates of friendship reciprocation.     

Physical punishment and childhood aggression: the role of gender and gene-environment interplay

A large body of research has linked spanking with a range of adverse outcomes in children, including aggression, psychopathology, and criminal involvement. Despite evidence concerning the association of spanking with antisocial behavior, not all children who are spanked develop antisocial traits. Given the heterogeneous effects of spanking on behavior, it is possible that a third variable may condition the influence of corporal punishment on child development. We test this possibility using data drawn from a nationally representative dataset of twin siblings. Our findings suggest that genetic risk factors condition the effects of spanking on antisocial behavior. Moreover, our results provide evidence that the interaction between genetic risk factors and corporal punishment may be particularly salient for males.     

Environmental attitudes, knowledge, intentions and behaviors among college students

College students (N = 90) reported their pro-environment behaviors as well as their pro-environment intentions, their explicit and implicit attitudes about the environment, and their knowledge about environmental issues. Intentions and knowledge significantly and independently predicted behavior. Environmental knowledge was not significantly related to attitudes. Implicit and explicit attitudes were significantly but only moderately related. Only explicit attitudes, however, were strongly related to intentions, and intentions completely mediated the influence of explicit attitudes on behavior. Men were found to be more knowledgeable than women about environmental issues; older students had more favorable implicit and explicit environmental attitudes. This research suggests that knowledge about the environment and explicit attitudes influence behavior through different pathways, which may have implications for interventions seeking to increase environmentally friendly behavior.     

虚拟环境中临境感及其测量方法

虚拟环境（VE）中的临境感是用户感知身处VE而产生的一种主观体验,是评价VE的重要指标。VE临境感产生的基础在于个体VE某一特征的集中注意,其程度强弱在一定范围内取决于个体分配于VE的注意资源量,受诸如计算机技术设备等系统因素、表现为个体差异的用户因素以及人机对话过程中交互因素的影响。在此基础上本文从生理指标（生理测量法、心率变化和皮肤电阻变化）、行为指标（姿势变化和冲突条件下的刺激定位）、心理物理学（对比法和跨通道匹配法）、主观评价（WS-PQ、SUS-PQ、ITC-SOPI和直接主观评价法）和绩效衡量对VE临境感的测量方法进行总结和简单评价。     

Associations between young adult romantic relationship quality and problem behaviors: An examination of personality–environment interactions

This longitudinal study examined person–environment interplay by testing interaction effects between adolescent personality type (i.e., overcontrollers, undercontrollers, and resilients) and young adult romantic relationship quality on young adult delinquency and anxiety. The study employed six waves of longitudinal questionnaire data collected across 10 years from Dutch youths. Results showed that support from romantic partner was related to a relatively stronger decrease in anxiety in young adulthood for overcontrollers than for resilients. Moreover, higher negative interaction with romantic partner was related to a relative increase in delinquent behaviors for undercontrollers, while no such links emerged for overcontrollers and resilients. This study highlights the importance of considering the interplay between personality characteristics and environmental–relational factors when examining young adults’ developmental outcomes.