FROM BELIEF TO UNBELIEF–AND HALFWAY BACK

Abstract. Through autobiography, I explain why I cannot accept conventional Christianity or any other form of religious belief. I sketch how, through modern evolutionary theory, I try to find an alternative world-picture, one which is, however, essentially agnostic about ultimate meanings. I characterize my position as being that of "David Hume brought up-to-date by Charles Darwin." I express sad skepticism about ever realizing the hopes on which Zygon was founded.     

Self-harming behaviours of asylum seekers and refugees in Europe: A systematic review

The increasing number of asylum seekers and refugees in Europe calls for even more professionals to take care of refugees' mental health. Although different studies claim that migration could be a potential risk factor for self-harming behaviours, an in-depth exploration of the presence and characteristics of self-harm in the context of asylum is needed. In accordance with PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted across the databases Scopus, PubMed, Web of Knowledge and PsycArticles, regarding the main features of self-harming behaviour among refugees in Europe. Twelve articles and 3 main trajectories were identified: (1) A context at-risk: self-harm and detention centres; (2) A target at-risk: self-harm and unaccompanied minors; (3) A comparison between the mental health of asylum seekers and natives. Research on this topic in Europe is still underdeveloped and disorganised. Studies have mainly carried out wider quantitative investigations on mental health, usually overlapping self-harm with suicide. Detention centres emerged as the most widely investigated context and the one with the highest risk for self-harming behaviours. Instead, unaccompanied minors emerged as a particularly vulnerable category. Research in this field should be improved, combining quantitative and qualitative methods for a deeper understanding of the meanings of self-harm across cultures.     

Posttraumatic symptoms,posttraumatic growth,and internal resources among the general population in Greece: A nation-wide survey amid the first COVID-19 lockdown

Scarce and inconclusive evidence exists on the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown. This study examined the psychological impact of the lockdown in Greece, resilience levels, use of coping strategies, and identified high-risk groups. A sample of 1661 participants (mean age = 39.5, SD = 12.2; 75.5% females) completed a web-based survey, which was distributed through social networking sites, webpages, and personal contacts. Posttraumatic symptoms, posttraumatic growth, resilience, and coping strategies were assessed. Different population subgroups suffered the impact of lockdown disproportionately. Healthcare workers, females, younger, less educated, and those living alone reported higher rates of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Females achieved more posttraumatic growth and were using coping strategies more frequently than men. Men, older, healthcare workers, and those with a partner were more resilient. Interventions need to be developed to target personal resources, protect vulnerable populations, facilitate posttraumatic growth, and ameliorate wellbeing and quality of life.     

Pragmatism Regained

This article views the confrontation between pragmatism and Kant’s Critical undertaking as very possibly the single most consequential agon of contemporary philosophy, given the utter irreconcilability of their respective ways of addressing the concerns of First Philosophy, with regard to the enabling conditions of cognitive realism. Pragmatism favors an informal, fluxive, “instrumentalist” form of empiricism, impossible to complete, opposed to any and all the ontic and epistemic fixities of Kant’s Rationalism. Reason (Vernunft) cannot be more than a fiction. Kant has no supporting criterion of realism. The article proposes an empirical criterion of the distinctive (given) “duality” of sensory “appearings” and “appeareds” (that is, objects) as yielding a plausible “cognitive faculty” (involving “reasoning”—inference, for instance—but not Vernunft) that, in accord with the drift of evolutionism and Aristotle, readily extends to languageless animals as well as humans. It serves as the linchpin of the paper.     

Canadian athletes' perspectives of mental health care and the importance of clinicians' sport knowledge: A multi-method investigation

The purpose of this inquiry was to explore Canadian competitive athletes' perspectives on their mental health care experiences using a sequential multi-method design. The overarching aims of the study were to explore athletes' self-reported reasons for seeking mental health care, their awareness of their clinician's knowledge of sport, and the importance they placed on their clinician having knowledge of the sport context. A sequential mixed methods design was employed in which two studies were conducted to address these aims. In study one, 70 current and former Canadian athletes completed a short survey assessing basic demographics, athletes' reasons for seeking treatment, and the importance they placed on their clinician having sport knowledge for effective care. In study two, ten athletes participated in individual semi-structured interviews in which similar topics were explored. Fifty-six percent of surveyed athletes reported that their clinicians' knowledge of sport did not impact their treatment experience, however only 29% reported being aware of their clinician having such knowledge. Thematic analysis of the interview data suggested that the connectedness of athletes' mental health issues and sport participation played a role in the importance they placed on their clinician having sport knowledge. Key components of a successful therapeutic alliance included the clinician validating the importance of sport, normalizing athlete mental health challenges, and understanding the demands of the competitive sport culture. Conclusions of this inquiry include that assessing how inter-related an athlete perceives their mental health challenges and sport participation to be, and demonstrating an understanding of the importance of sport in competitive athletes' lives, are likely helpful strategies in working clinically with this population even if a clinician does not have specific experience with the sport context.     

Integrating technology in psychological skills training for performance optimization in elite athletes: A systematic review

ObjectivesThe aim of the current study was to systematically review the literature on the integration of technology in psychological skills training (PST) to optimize elite athletes’ performance.DesignSystematic review.MethodPublished English, Italian, and Russian language articles were identified using electronic databases. Eighteen articles (out of 3753 records) fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and their quality was assessed using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Six papers were judged to be excellent and four to be high quality. There were significant methodological inconsistencies across eight studies. An overall score of quality assessment ranged from 20% to 100%.ResultsThe included studies implemented various technologies, in combination with PST, to identify, monitor and/or have an intervention aimed at optimizing elite athletes' performance. The results suggested that the integration covered different meanings, i.e., functional integration, integration between technologies and measures, integration between technology, theoretical framework, and psychological skills training. There was no distinct consistency between the studies with regards to the theory or model used.ConclusionsTechnology and mental training should not be viewed as interchangeable facets of performance enhancement, but rather as complementary ones – where technology integrated in psychological skills training can lead to identify and monitor optimal performance and to implement more effective interventions.     

Vygotsky versus Dewey on mental causation: The core of two divergent conceptions of human thought

The developmental psychologies of Dewey and Vygotsky are often brought together, or even assimilated, by contemporary constructivist and social constructivist theories, including sociocultural approaches. These theories broadly subscribe to the naturalistic philosophical paradigm dominating educational research. Nevertheless, they are incompatible, as expressed from the outset in their antagonistic conceptions of the relationship between human development and biological evolution. This article proposes a comparative analysis of the meaning of key concepts such as sign, meaning, mind, consciousness, will, personality or freedom in Dewey's and Vygotsky's texts, and contrasts their respective interpretations of human choice and the mind-body problem. On this basis, the fundamental issue of mental causation appears at the core of the divergences between Dewey and Vygotsky's theories of human thought.     

Challenges for automated vehicle driver training: A thematic analysis from manual and automated driving

Considerable research and resources are going into the development and testing of Automated Vehicles. They are expected to bring society a huge number of benefits (such as: improved safety, increased capacity, reduced fuel use and emissions). Notwithstanding these potential benefits, there have also been a number of high-profile collisions involving Automated Vehicles on the road. In the majority of these cases, the driver’s inattention to the vehicle and road environment was blamed as a significant causal factor. This suggests that solutions need to be developed in order to enhance the benefits and address the challenges associated with Automated Vehicles. One such solution is driver training. As drivers still require manual driving skills when operating Automated Vehicles on the road, this paper applied the grounded theory approach to identify eight “key” themes and interconnections that exist in current manual vehicle driver training. These themes were then applied to the limited literature available on Automated Vehicle driver training, and a ninth theme of trust emerged. This helped to identify a set of training requirements for drivers of Automated Vehicles, which suggests that a multifaceted approach (covering all nine themes and manual and Automated Vehicle driving skills) to driver training is required. This framework can be used to develop and test a training programme for drivers of Automated Vehicles.     

Age of anxiety and depression revisited: A meta-analysis of two European community samples (1964-2015)

Background/Objective: Based on studies using established psychometric scales, Twenge and coworkers have shown substantial increases in trait anxiety, depressive symptoms and neuroticism in North American population samples since the 1950s. Similar analyses for European samples have not yet been conducted. Our study therefore examined whether similar secular trends exist in German-speaking and British non-clinical samples together with possible connected societal factors. Method: A literature search identified 131 studies (N = 63,269) using the STAI, BDI or EPI in non-clinical samples between 1964 and 2015. Seven societal factors from national statistics were included. We conducted meta-analyses with displayed means and moderation analyses of publication year for all scales. Results: In contrast to North America results, anxiety, depression and neuroticism showed no increase in the two European populations. Publication year correlated negatively with and moderated trait anxiety (GER) and neuroticism (UK). Most societal factors were highly correlated with year of publication. Trait anxiety and neuroticism were significantly predicted by age at marriage and unemployment rate in German-speaking countries. Conclusion: The difference in secular trends between European and North American samples may indicate society specific developments connected to different societal factors.     

Mental rotation and handedness: differences in object-based and egocentric transformations

This study investigates mental rotation performance of right- and left-handers in object-based and egocentric mental rotation tasks using human body stimuli with an outstretched arm in front and back view. Previous literature suggests that right-handers show a slightly better mental rotation performance than left-handers. 42 participants, 14 left-handers and 28 right-handers, completed a mental rotation task with object-based and egocentric transformation of a human figure which was displayed either in front or back view. The main result was a three-way interaction between the factors “kind of transformation”, “handedness” and “view” in a way, that right-handers show significantly faster reaction times then left-handers in front view object-based transformations because of the additional in-depth rotation for front view stimuli. This difference disappeared in egocentric tasks due to the modification of onés own perspective to solve the task. The results of this study show that right-handers not generally outperform left-handers in mental rotation tasks but only if more cognitive resources are needed.