An experimental test to reveal negative side-effects of high treatability information on preventative health behaviour

Objectives: When the course of a disease can be positively changed by health professionals the disease can be indicated as ‘highly treatable’. This ‘high treatability information’ (HTI) may have negative side-effects on people’s preventative motivation. This study examined the effects of HTI regarding skin cancer on preventative motivation.

Design: This study employed a 2 (high treatability (HTI) versus low treatability (LTI)) × 2 (high versus low susceptibility)?experiment with a hanging control group. (family) History and self-efficacy were assessed as moderators. Participants (N = 309) were randomly assigned to one of the five conditions.

Main outcome measures: The main outcome was intention to engage in preventative actions regarding skin cancer.

Results: HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to LTI, under the condition of high susceptibility in people with low self-efficacy. In addition, in people with a (family) history of skin cancer, HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to the no-information group.

Conclusion: HTI regarding skin cancer can cause a drop in the preventative motivation. The effects can be conceptualised as negative side-effects of HTI. As substantial proportions of the general population have a (family) history of skin cancer or low self-efficacy, the side-effects may be widespread, possibly increasing the incidence of skin cancer.     

Jardin thérapeutique,outil de prévention du burnout

The aim of this research was to study the effect of the presence of a garden in a hospital care sector on caregiver burnout. Eighty-eight nurses and caregivers from 9 care sectors answered a questionnaire constructed from the theories and scales of Karasek and Theorell. Three types of services were compared (cognitive behavioral unit, palliative care, post-acute and rehabilitation care) with a garden adapted for therapeutic activities versus with a regular garden versus with no garden. The main result was a lesser incidence of burnout in care services with a garden that those without a garden, irrespective of the type of care service, along with an amplification of the benefit with specially-designed gardens. The feeling of strength, both physical and psychological, was less present when the care services did not have a garden. A trend toward an increase in musculoskeletal disorders in services with a therapeutic garden versus no garden was observed. Upon analyzing the results, the authors recommend particular attention in the designing of hospital gardens in order to facilitate the ergonomics of nursing work. The overall results advocate the use of the garden as a systemic structure conducive to work interactions in a specially-designed area.     

It is written all over your face: Socially rejected people display microexpressions that are detectable after training in the Micro Expression Training Tool (METT)

Social rejection is a powerful negative emotional experience, yet rejected people often appear stoic and unmoved. That is, their macroexpressions of emotion are not accurate reflections of their emotional states. Yet, there is reason to believe that rejected people exhibit involuntary microexpressions of negative emotion. We contrasted people's macroexpressions of emotion with their microexpressions subsequent to an acceptance or rejection experience. Observers coded microexpressions after being trained with the Micro Expression Training Tool. Rejected participants expressed more sad and angry microexpressions than did accepted participants. This research demonstrates that socially rejected people display negative microexpressions that are detectable by observers trained in the Micro Expression Training Tool.     

An empirical investigation of a theoretical model for mathematical creativity

In this exploratory study, a theoretical model proposed by Sriraman (2005) consisting of five theoretical principles for optimizing creativity in a K–12 setting was investigated empirically. This was accomplished in two steps. In the first study, the five principles were operationalized by generating a questionnaire consisting of 45 items intended to capture the dimension of each principle. An exploratory maximum‐likelihood factor analysis indicated a relatively robust five factor structure that corresponded with the theoretical model. In the second study, the five factor model was validated using a confirmatory factor analysis. The model was then investigated using a two‐level linear mixed model with a random intercept. The results revealed that motivation and mathematical achievement were significant predictors of mathematical creativity.     

Shifts of spatial attention cued by irrelevant numbers: Electrophysiological evidence from a target discrimination task

Fischer et al. demonstrated that a centrally presented number can shift attention to the left/right when its magnitude is small/large. Two electrophysiological studies described these attentional effects as event-related potentials (ERPs) at centro-parietal sites. Since both studies used target detection tasks, it remains currently unknown whether similar results would be obtained with a discrimination task. We used ERPs to test whether digit cues also induce attention shifts when participants perform a feature-discrimination task on targets. ERPs were recorded whereas subjects discriminated the colour of lateral targets that were preceded by a central non-predictive digit. Analysis of cue-locked controlateral vs. ipsilateral ERP activity showed the emergence of early preparatory attention-directing components in parietal and frontal regions. Moreover, target-locked P1 components at occipito-parietal sites were significantly modulated by digit magnitude-target side congruency. These results demonstrate that irrelevant digit cues also bias sensory processing when embedded in a feature-discrimination task.     

ŚŪNYATĀ AND KOKORO: SCIENCE–RELIGION DIALOGUE IN THE JAPANESE CONTEXT

When we read books or essays about the dialogue between “religion and science,” or when we attend conferences on the theme of “religion and science,” we cannot avoid the impression that they actually are dealing, almost without exception, not with a dialogue between “religion and science,” but with a dialogue between “Christianity and science.” This could easily be affirmed by looking at the major publications in this field. But how can the science–religion dialogue take place in a world where conventional Christian concepts of God, religion, and science are foreign and unfamiliar? Is the critique that the scientist plays God still valid when there is no “God” at all? This article tries to answer the questions mentioned above, and seeks to sketch out some aspects of the science–religion dialogue in Japan which I believe could contribute a new paradigm for understanding and describing ultimate reality.     

THE CRAZINESS FOR EXTRA‐SENSORY PERCEPTION: QIGONG FEVER AND THE SCIENCE–PSEUDOSCIENCE DEBATE IN CHINA

From 1979 to 1999, a heated dispute over the science or pseudoscience of extraordinary power or extrasensory perception (ESP) took place in China. During these two decades, many so‐called “grandmasters” of ESP and Qigong emerged, and millions of people across the country studied with them; this was known as “Qigong Fever” or “ESP Fever.” The supporters of ESP argued that ESP existed, people could cultivate ESP through specific Qigong training, and ESP was a science; whereas the opponents of ESP denied all of these. Both sides of the dispute had many supporters. With the onset of Qigong Fever in China, some Qigong and ESP masters developed their Qigong organizations into Chinese‐style religions. Qigong Fever ended when the religions were banned by the Chinese government. The rise of Qigong Fever demonstrated that basic questions about the boundaries between science and pseudoscience were not easy to answer. Different theoretical and practical consequences resulted from different answers to these questions.     

CAN SCIENCE AND RELIGION RESPOND TO CLIMATE CHANGE?

With the challenge of communicating climate science in the United States and making progress in international negotiations on climate change there is a need for other approaches. The moral issues of ecological degradation and climate justice need to be integrated into social consciousness, political legislation, and climate treaties. Both science and religion can contribute to this integration with differentiated language but shared purpose. Recognizing the limits of both science and religion is critical to finding a way forward for addressing the critical challenges of climate change. How we value nature and human–Earth relations is crucial to this. We need a broader environmental ethics in dialogue with the science of climate change.     

Culture and state boredom: A comparison between European Canadians and Chinese

The primary goal of the present research was to examine cross-cultural validity of the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (MSBS) by comparing a European Canadian sample and a Chinese sample. The secondary goal was to explore cross-cultural differences in the actual experience of boredom between European Canadian and Chinese participants when they completed a psychological survey. After establishing cross-cultural validity of the MSBS by eliminating items that functioned differentially across the two cultural groups, we found that European Canadians scored higher on the MSBS than did Chinese. Results are consistent with the literature on cultural differences in ideal affect, such that European North Americans (vs. East Asians) tend to value high-arousal positive affects (e.g., excitement) more, and low-arousal positive affect less (Tsai, Knutson, & Fung, 2006).