Somatosensory amplification as a possible source of subjective symptoms behind modern health worries

The theoretically hypothesized connection between modern health worries (MHWs) and somatosensory amplification (SSA), as well as the factor structure of the Hungarian version of the MHW scale were investigated in a cross-sectional questionnaire study. A total of 163 university students (mean age = 21.3± 2.70 yrs; 44.2% male) and 145 patients (mean age = 49.4±17.51 yrs; 31.7% male) visiting their general practitioners (GPs) completed questionnaires assessing MHWs, SSA, subjective somatic symptoms (PHQ-15), and trait anxiety (STAI-T). The previously described four-factor structure of the MHW scale was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In the linear regression analysis, participants' age and SSA scores were positively related to MHWs even after controlling for gender, anxiety, and subjective somatic symptom scores. The conclusions are that: MHWs are indicators of cognitive, behavioral and social level of sensitization for health-related concerns; SSA can provide the somatic background process for generation and/or misattribution of subjective somatic symptoms; better understanding of the cognitive-emotional background of MHWs could help to determine possible interventions.     

EcoWellness: The Missing Factor in Holistic Wellness Models

A growing body of multidisciplinary literature has delineated the benefits that natural environments have on physical and mental health. Current wellness models in counseling do not specifically address the impact of nature on wellness or how the natural world can be integrated into counseling. The concept of EcoWellness is presented as the missing link in wellness models and counseling. Integrating EcoWellness in counseling provides new and potentially powerful interventions to enhance wellness across the life span.     

我国环境审计研究回顾与展望

上世纪90年代以来,随着环境问题的日益突出以及环保观念的日益增强,我国涌现出大量环境审计研究成果,其主题既涉及环境审计的概念、目标、对象、理论框架等基本理论,也涉及环境审计技术方法等应用理论。然而,现有研究存在过于偏重基本理论而忽视应用理论、过于偏重规范分析而忽视实证研究、过于偏重合规性政府环境审计而忽视环境绩效审计以及企业环境审计等不足。未来应当在借鉴国外有益经验的基础上,联系我国实际,综合运用多种方法,进一步对环境审计的理论框架、主体等问题展开系统研究,尤其应在进一步研究政府环境审计相关理论和应用问题的同时加大企业环境审计的研究力度。     

学习环境、成就目标定向对学业情绪和学业成就的影响:基于物理学科的研究

以733名中学生为被试,采用结构方程模型对物理环境目标结构、成就目标定向、物理学业情绪及物理学业成就的关系建构模型.结果发现:(1)物理环境掌握目标结构对积极高唤醒、积极低唤醒和消极高唤醒学业情绪皆有显著积极预测作用,而物理环境表现目标结构则只对消极高唤醒和消极低唤醒物理学业情绪有显著积极预测作用;(2)通过成就目标定向中介对物理学业情绪的影响效果,物理学业情绪在成就目标和物理学业成就之间起中介作用,但影响模式不同;(3)研究结果支持学业情绪控制-价值扩展模型.     

Applying social psychology to the study of environmental concern and environmental worldviews: contributions from the social representations approach

Recently some social psychological approaches have intensified their contributions to research in the environmental domain, helping it to focus more consistently on the shared aspects of all environment related experiences. The goal of this paper is that of joining these efforts, exploring the contributions of the social representations approach to research on environmental concern and environmental thought, as another area for applying social psychological knowledge. The paper first sketches how the environmental concern of the publics emerged in the 70s as a problem for the social sciences and proceeds to summarizing the main characteristics of this research, focusing on three problematic areas: (1) incipient theoretical integration among the frameworks dominating research; (2) insufficient reflection about the assumptions and measurement of the concepts employed; (3) a need for new research questions that push studies beyond the analysis of the socio‐demographical correlates of beliefs. Afterwards a presentation of social representations theory will be undertaken and the usefulness of the approach to deal with some aspects of the problematic areas identified will be explored, with examples from recent research, and highlighting the importance of focusing on contradiction, polyphasia, and the articulation of the local and the global. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The principle of liberty and legal representation of posterity

This paper considers a guardianship model for the legal representation of future generations. According to this model, national and international courts should be given the competence to appoint guardians for future generations, if agents who care about the welfare of posterity apply for the creation of a guardianship in relation to a dispute that can be resolved by the application of law. This reform would grant guardians of future people legal standing or locus standi before courts, that is, the right to bring an action before a court of law for adjudication. Although the guardianship model faces several difficult theoretical and practical problems pertaining to the representation of different near and distant future generations, it is argued that this model – and certain other legal norms intended to protect future basic needs – can be justified on the basis of the principle of liberty.     

我国资源物权立法的生态伦理考量

人际伦理观下的资源物权立法的理论与实践局限,导致了人与资源的紧张关系。资源物权立法应凸现生态伦理观的价值取向,并具体贯彻生态限制、可持续发展的资源利用、环境权限制以及强化资源物权的生态义务等原则。加强生态伦理观的价值取向在我国资源物权立法中的渗透力度,确立有关资源物权立法的一般生态原则,为防止生态伦理成为生态乌托邦,特别应将资源物权的生态义务类型化、内化。     

Environmental factors and sense of community in a planned town

Previous community psychology research has suggested that sense of community can be a powerful explanatory tool for understanding community development and individual well-being, but has not focused on the relationship of environmental variables to the construct. In other disciplines—especially urban planning—this construct has received more attention but it has not been empirically and systematically studied. The three-phase qualitative study reported here sampled people representative of those who live and work in Seaside, FL, a town designed to induced sense of community. The data strongly suggest a relationship between a variable set that may define sense of community—membership, need fulfillment, shared emotional connections, loyalty—and the environmental variables of town design, architecture, and urban planning philosophy.     

ISLAM AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS: TRADITION RESPONDS TO CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES

Abstract. Mounting globed environmental challenges beg for cross-cultural discussions that highlight underlying cultural values regarding nature. This paper explores the insights of Islamic scholars as they examine the interaction of Islamic culture and the West. The Western worldview that separates religion and science, value and fact, in particular differs from Islamic tradition, which sees all facets of life and affairs as interconnected by virtue of their common source—the Creator. As traditional Islamic values have been abandoned to adopt modern Western technologies, environmental problems have intensified in the Muslim world. Islamic scholars urge a return to Islamic ideals that reflect a sacramental view of the physical universe, and they champion the revival of an Islamic science that synthesizes empirical study and symbolic cognition.