Gender and Science: Women Nobel Laureates

Women and their creativity are underrepresented in science. To date, few women have been awarded the Nobel Prize in science. Eleven female Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and physiology/medicine between 1901 and 2006 were compared with 37 males who received the Nobel Prize in the same area one year prior and one year after the women. Data analyzed included birth order, marital status, children, awards (Fulbright, Rhodes, and number of honorary awards received), highest education level and Nobel mentor. Results indicated that female Nobel laureates were significantly less likely to marry and have children. When female laureates had children, they had significantly fewer children than male laureates. Female laureates also had fewer publications than their male counterparts. Our findings suggest that eminent women scientists tend to choose the pursuit of scientific discovery over starting families more often than eminent male scientists. More resources are needed in order to nurture and enhance the recruitment and retention of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).     

Duality and nonduality in meditation research

The great variety of meditation techniques found in different contemplative traditions presents a challenge when attempting to create taxonomies based on the constructs of contemporary cognitive sciences. In the current issue of Consciousness and Cognition, Travis and Shear add ‘automatic self-transcending’ to the previously proposed categories of ‘focused attention’ and ‘open monitoring’, and suggest characteristic EEG bands as the defining criteria for each of the three categories. Accuracy of current taxonomies and potential limitations of EEG measurements as classifying criteria are discussed.     

科学是中医的“紧箍咒”吗？——中医与科学相关问题的思考

中医的科学属性近年来备受争论,从辩证哲学、科学观念、中医的人文哲学特色等角度剖析中医的哲学内涵和科学隶属,澄清观念,得出结论,中医本身就是一门人文与科学交融的古代科学,传统文化与现代科技的互融互动,合而不同,新世纪发展中医的认识观需要与时俱进。     

维特根斯坦的哲学观

该文介绍了后期维特根斯坦对哲学的看法。其要点是:哲学的核心工作是概念考察;所考察的是自然概念,用以考察的也是自然概念;因此,哲学工作和实证科学是在两个层面上展开的;哲学的目标不是建构理论;哲学的任务是治疗由误解哲学语法所造成的智性扭曲。文章最后粗略讨论了观念和概念的关系。     

Postphenomenology: Learning Cultural Perception in Science

In this article I propose that a postphenomenological approach to science and technology can open new analytical understandings of how material artifacts, embodiment and social agency co-produce learned perceptions of objects. In particle physics, physicists work in huge groups of scientists from many cultural backgrounds. Communication to some extent depends on material hermeneutics of flowcharts, models and other visual presentations. As it appears in an examination of physicists’ scrutiny of visual renderings of different parts of a detector, perceptions vary in relation to social and bodily experiences. Vision in physics has seemingly allowed an objective perception at a convenient distance of the body. This article challenges this view and proposes that the variations can be analysed as cultural at two echelons with the help of a postphenomenological approach combined with cultural psychological theory of artifacts. A third echelon presumably constitutes the phenomenological limit to culture in science. Even this last resort of subjectivity can be embraced by a postphenomenological approach. The process of culturalization in physics can be defined as a process of situating knowledge in a body whose continuous learning of micro-and macro perceptions makes scientific renderings unstable. Taken together postphenomenology, following the distinctions between body one and body two, and combined with cultural psychological learning theory, enables new insight into what constitutes culture in science.

Challenges in Supporting Community Implementation of Science-based Programs: A Critical Review of Local Partnerships for Success Plans

This paper provides the opportunity to consider local challenges to implementing science-based programs. Wandersman et al. (American Journal of Community Psychology 2008) define three systems necessary to effectively implement science-based programming. These systems include the Prevention Support System, which is responsible for assisting communities in implementing effective practices; the Prevention Research System, which is responsible for developing and packaging prevention programming; and the Prevention Delivery System, which is responsible for delivering services. The authors conduct a content analysis related to six county level efforts to implement science-based programs in Ohio. These counties are part of a larger Ohio initiative referred to as Partnerships for Success. The authors suggest that local officials are quite skilled at accessing the Prevention Research System and providers at the local level represent an effective service delivery system. The authors contend that the Prevention Support System in these counties is capable of enhancing several functions related to local infrastructure but is deficient in other important elements.     

政治心理学的争辩议题述评

作为政治学与心理学的交叉学科, 政治心理学在欧美学界的发展逐步走向成熟。作者详细归纳了政治心理学学科发展史和理论史上的争辩议题, 包括政治心理学与理性的关系问题, 政治心理学的主导范式与分散化关系问题, 政治心理学解释的性情和情境取向的分歧问题, 政治学路径还是心理学路径的平衡问题, 以及文化因素如何影响政治心理的问题。最后, 作者讨论了中国政治心理学研究如何看待文化差异问题、文化与理性的关系等问题。     

Electrifying diagrams for learning: principles for complex representational systems

Six characteristics of effective representational systems for conceptual learning in complex domains have been identified. Such representations should: (1) integrate levels of abstraction; (2) combine globally homogeneous with locally heterogeneous representation of concepts; (3) integrate alternative perspectives of the domain; (4) support malleable manipulation of expressions; (5) possess compact procedures; and (6) have uniform procedures. The characteristics were discovered by analysing and evaluating a novel diagrammatic representation that has been invented to support students' comprehension of electricity—AVOW diagrams (Amps, Volts, Ohms, Watts). A task analysis is presented that demonstrates that problem solving using a conventional algebraic approach demands more effort than AVOW diagrams. In an experiment comparing two groups of learners using the alternative approaches, the group using AVOW diagrams learned more than the group using equations and were better able to solve complex transfer problems and questions involving multiple constraints. Analysis of verbal protocols and work scratchings showed that the AVOW diagram group, in contrast to the equations group, acquired a coherently organised network of concepts, learnt effective problem solving procedures, and experienced more positive learning events. The six principles of effective representations were proposed on the basis of these findings. AVOW diagrams are Law Encoding Diagrams, a general class of representations that have been shown to support learning in other scientific domains.     

技术文明社会的生态危机意识--评法兰克福学派的科技决定论

本文介绍和分析了法兰克福学派内部在如何看待科技的生态功能问题上的两种迥然不同的观点,指出了它们各自论点中存在的误识和留给人们的启迪,论证了科技进步与合理解决环境污染,生态平衡等全球性问题之间密不可分的关系。     

Central ghrelin increases anxiety in the Open Field test and impairs retention memory in a passive avoidance task in neonatal chicks

Ghrelin (Grh) is an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor. Although Ghr stimulates feeding in rats, it inhibits feeding in neonatal chicks. However, little is known about other central behavioral effects of Ghr. Therefore, we investigated the Ghr effects, injected intracerebroventricularly, on anxiety and memory retention of neonatal chicks in an Open Field test and in a one-trial passive avoidance task, respectively. In the Open Field test, the administration of Ghr in a dose-dependent manner increased the latency to ambulate but decreased ambulation activity, indicating an anxiogenic effect. Furthermore, chicks trained on a passive avoidance task and injected with a dose of 30 pmol of Ghr immediately after training showed an impairment of memory retention. However, there were no significant effects on the number of pecks during the pretraining, training, retention and discrimination. In addition, different doses of Ghr produced an inhibition in food intake at different times after injection. Our results indicate that Ghr induces anxiogenesis in chicks. Moreover, we have shown for the first time that Ghr can decrease memory retention in a non-mammalian species, suggesting that Ghr may play an important role in the processes of memory retention in birds.