Disturbances of spontaneous empathic processing relate with the severity of the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia: A behavioural pilot-study using virtual reality technology

Behavioural and neuroimaging data have recently pointed out that empathy (feeling into someone else) is associated with mental imagery and transformation related to one’s and other’s visuo-spatial perspectives. Impairments of both empathic and visuo-spatial abilities have been observed in patients with schizophrenia. Especially, it has been suggested that schizophrenics are altered in spontaneously simulating another individual’s first-person experience. However, there is so far only little evidence regarding the relationship between deficits in empathy and disturbances in spontaneous heterocentered coding in schizophrenia. In the present pilot-study, we tested with schizophrenic patients our behavioural paradigm that enables to measure from the bodily postures and movements whether individuals in ecologically more valid conditions are interacting with another individual by using egocentered – as in sympathy (feeling with someone else) – or heterocentered – as in empathy – visuo-spatial mechanisms. For that, ten patients and ten controls, standing and moving, interacted with a virtual tightrope walker, displayed life-sized, standing and moving as well. We show that patients with higher negative symptoms had, in most cases, deficits in spontaneously using heterocentered visuo-spatial mechanisms and employed preferentially an egocentered referencing to interact with the avatar. In contrast, preserved spontaneous heterocentered visuo-spatial strategies were not linked to a prevailing negative or positive symptomatology. Our data suggest that the severity of the negative symptoms in schizophrenia relates with disturbances of spontaneous (“on-line”) empathic processing in association with lower scoring self-reported trait cognitive empathy.     

Who’s bringing the donuts: The role of affective patterns in group decision making

Two studies examined how intragroup affective patterns influence groups’ pervasive tendency to ignore the unique expertise of their members. Using a hidden profile task, Study 1 provided evidence that groups with at least one member experiencing positive affect shared more unique information than groups composed entirely of members experiencing neutral affect. This occurred because group members experiencing positive affect were more likely to initiate unique information sharing, as well as information seeking. Study 2 built upon this base by showing that confidence mediates the relationship between positive affect and the initiation of unique information sharing. Additionally, Study 2 investigated the role of negative affect in group decision making and how negative and positive affect concurrently influence decision making when groups are composed of members experiencing each. The results are discussed in terms of the role affect plays in influencing group behavior and the resultant importance of investigating specific affective patterns.     

医疗机器人的研究进展及伦理学思考

随着现代科技的日新月异,医疗机器人被广泛应用于医疗行业,大大推动了医学的发展,并成为机器人研究领域的热门方向之一。在简要介绍国内外医疗机器人研究进展及应用现状的基础上,本文指出该项技术存在的医疗责任追究机制不完善、缺少法律保障和规范、对医疗岗位冲击、无法体现对患者人文关怀等伦理问题;提出积极发展和推广医疗机器人技术的同时,推动人们对医疗机器人观念的更新,进一步制定和完善相关法律法规是解决该项技术伦理问题的关键。     

Malleability of weight-biased attitudes and beliefs: A meta-analysis of weight bias reduction interventions

Weight bias exists across many important life domains, necessitating interventions designed to reduce weight-biased attitudes and beliefs. Though the effectiveness of weight bias interventions has been questioned, to our knowledge no meta-analysis of these interventions has been conducted. This meta-analysis evaluated the impact of weight bias interventions on weight-biased attitudes and beliefs and explored potential moderators. Interventions were eligible if they used an adult sample and a validated measure of weight-biased attitudes, which resulted in the inclusion of 30 studies represented in 29 articles. A random effects approach using inverse weights resulted in a mean effect size estimate of g = −0.33 (lower scores indicate less weight bias) for both attitudes and beliefs. Intervention type, publication type, and population type were not significant moderators but demonstrated noteworthy trends. Results reveal a small, positive effect of weight bias interventions on weight-biased attitudes and beliefs and provide useful information for future interventions.     

A brief thought on the future of global ethics: military robots and new food technologies

To deal with an uncertain future, global ethics as an academic endeavour might consider a common value we all share, such as sustainability, which acts as an all-encompassing term to indicate our future direction. Technologies of the near future that are currently in development hold problems and promise, and are clear subjects for the ethics of sustainability at a global level. Autonomous military combat robots, insects as food (entomophagy) and in vitro synthetically grown meat are significant cases. Such robots might in fact serve injustice and work against sustainability, and such novel food technologies may hold hope for promoting sustainability and global justice.     

The ironic impact of intergroup apologies on intergroup attitudes: Understanding the role of perceived power for post‐apology outgroup attitudes

The present research investigates how intergroup apologies, defined as apologies between two groups, affect perceived remorse and outgroup attitudes (e.g., explicit and implicit), in the context of power asymmetries. We recruited participants from two countries that differ in perceived power: South Korea and the United States. Participants read a vignette describing a violent act committed by an outgroup member (Korean or American), with or without an intergroup apology. Participants answered questions assessing perceived remorse and explicit attitudes toward the outgroup, followed by the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Results revealed that Koreans perceived less remorse following an intergroup apology from the United States, compared to when they did not read an intergroup apology. Further, a mediated moderation analysis indicated that perceived remorse mediated the relationship between apology and explicit attitudes towards the United States. However, an analogous effect for implicit attitudes was only marginally significant. In contrast, among American participants, no effect of the apology on perceived remorse, explicit attitudes, or implicit attitudes and no evidence for a mediation was found. We discuss the implications of these effects on understanding the effectiveness of intergroup apologies between countries that differ in perceived power.     

Gender role attitudes,relationship efficacy,and self-disclosure in intimate relationships

Drawing from the intimacy process model and data from 5,042 individuals who remained partnered across Waves 1 and 2 of the German Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam), this study examined the contributions of traditional gender role attitudes and relationship efficacy in predicting levels of self-disclosure within an intimate relationship. Independent samples t-tests demonstrated females scored higher than males on self-disclosure and relationship efficacy measures but lower on traditional gender role attitudes. An ordinary least squares regression analysis revealed relationship efficacy was a stronger predictor of self-disclosure compared to traditional gender role attitudes, which were not associated with self-disclosure. The findings suggest attitudes with an interpersonal motivational system may be especially important for setting the intimacy process into motion within an intimate union.     

Cultural Adaptation and Sexual Harassment in the Lives of Asian American Women

ABSTRACT

Despite the prevalence of both historical and current race- and gender-based stereotyping of Asian American women, little is known about their experiences and attitudes regarding sexual harassment. In this study, 109 Asian American women enrolled in a state university or a 2-year community college responded to questionnaires about cultural orientation, experiences of sexual harassment, and sexual harassment attitudes. Asian cultural orientation was associated with sexual harassment attitudes. Specifically, among women with low White cultural orientation, there was a statistically significant positive association between Asian cultural orientation and acceptance of sexual harassment. Results from this study have important implications for clinical practice with Asian American women, including issues of migration, cultural orientation, and the intersection of racism and sexism in the United States.     

Blameless Guilt: The Case of Carer Guilt and Chronic and Terminal Illness

My ambition in this paper is to provide an account of an unacknowledged example of blameless guilt that, I argue, merits further examination. The example is what I call carer guilt: guilt felt by nurses and family members caring for patients with palliative-care needs. Nurses and carers involved in palliative care often feel guilty about what they perceive as their failure to provide sufficient care for a patient. However, in some cases the guilty carer does not think that he has the capacity to provide sufficient care; he has, in his view, done all he can. These carers cannot legitimately be blamed for failing to meet their own expectations. Yet despite acknowledging their blamelessness, they nonetheless feel guilty. My aims are threefold: first, to explicate the puzzling nature of the carer guilt phenomenon; second, to motivate the need to solve that puzzle; third, to give my own account of blameless guilt that can explain why carers feel guilty despite their blamelessness. In doing so I argue that the guilt experienced by carers is a legitimate case of guilt, and that with the right caveats it can be considered an appropriate response to the progressive deterioration of someone for whom we care.