Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status

The two best predictors of children's educational achievement available from birth are parents’ socioeconomic status (SES) and, recently, children's inherited DNA differences that can be aggregated in genome‐wide polygenic scores (GPS). Here, we chart for the first time the developmental interplay between these two predictors of educational achievement at ages 7, 11, 14 and 16 in a sample of almost 5,000 UK school children. We show that the prediction of educational achievement from both GPS and SES increases steadily throughout the school years. Using latent growth curve models, we find that GPS and SES not only predict educational achievement in the first grade but they also account for systematic changes in achievement across the school years. At the end of compulsory education at age 16, GPS and SES, respectively, predict 14% and 23% of the variance of educational achievement. Analyses of the extremes of GPS and SES highlight their influence and interplay: In children who have high GPS and come from high SES families, 77% go to university, whereas 21% of children with low GPS and from low SES backgrounds attend university. We find that the associations of GPS and SES with educational achievement are primarily additive, suggesting that their joint influence is particularly dramatic for children at the extreme ends of the distribution.     

The Proclamation of Charles H. Long in the Time of Black Lives Matter,Standing Rock,and COVID-19

Revisiting Charles H. Long's 1991 proclamation of a modern crisis of materiality, this essay examines Long's theorization of the fetish-commodity legacies, that recreated African persons into objects and commodities, as a means of understanding our present tripartite pandemic of systemic racism, environmental destruction, and COVID-19. Examining the period of, what Long elsewhere terms, the “second creation,” I interrogate what this crisis means for the study of religion and for our society today. Building on Long's conception of “soul stuff” and yet moving beyond notions of human exceptionalism, I argue that to move beyond fetish and colonial legacies and realize a “third creation” (or, in other words, a (re-)re-creation), both scholars and the public must craft a new materialism that honors the ontological reality and value of all existence.     

Science and the Future of Theology: Critical Issues

The ambivalent reputation of theology as an academic discipline is attributed to the often circular character of its procedures based on presumed authoritative sources. Recently, science too has come under the shadow of "postmodernist" critiques but, it is argued, has been able to withstand them successfully and make epistemologically warrantedclaims to be depicting reality—thereby vindicating human rationality. Evolutionary epistemological considerations also reinforce confidence in the more general deliverances of the human exploration of reasonableness through inference to the best explanation (IBE). The consequences of applying IBE, with its associated criteria, in theological investigation are considered in relation to theology as it is and as it might be. A number of issues critical for thedevelopment of a credible theology are identified. In spite of the challenging and somewhat negative view of contemporary theology to which this leads, hope is expressed that a genuinely credible "evangelical,""catholic," and liberal theology may yet emerge for the new millennium.     

Three Laws of Behavior Genetics and What They Mean

Behavior genetics has demonstrated that genetic variance is an important component of variation for all behavioral outcomes, but variation among families is not. These results have led some critics of behavior genetics to conclude that heritability is so ubiquitous as to have few consequences for scientific understanding of development, while some behavior genetic partisans have concluded that family environment is not an important cause of developmental outcomes. Both views are incorrect. Genotype is in fact a more systematic source of variability than environment, but for reasons that are methodological rather than substantive. Development is fundamentally nonlinear, interactive, and difficult to control experimentally. Twin studies offer a useful methodological shortcut, but do not show that genes are more fundamental than environments.     

空间相对位置效应的时间特征

用方位箭头作探测刺激,研究故事阅读产生的想象空间中物体搜索任务的反应时模式。结果发现：(1)方位箭头的指向对物体搜索有影响,反应时模式为：左=右=前＜后,说明方位箭头作探测刺激时的物体搜索过程不涉及人一物空间关系的转换;(2)目标物体与注意物体的相对位置对物体搜索有影响,反应时模式为注意点＜注意点对面＜注意点左侧=注意点右侧,说明相对位置效应与人物空间关系的转换无关。本研究结果支持了两阶段理论。     

From the Couch to the Street: Applications of Psychoanalysis to Work with Individuals Who Are Homeless and Mentally Ill

Current-day psychiatric treatment of severely disturbed populations tends to focus on the biological, behavioral, and social dimensions of rehabilitation. This paper addresses the relative neglect of the complex psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of treatment of individuals who are homeless and mentally ill by presenting two clinical cases that are discussed from various psychoanalytic frames of reference. Based on their clinical experiences, the authors conclude that psychoanalysis offers valuable frameworks to guide the treatment process and the structure of the treatment setting for individuals who are homeless and suffering from severe psychiatric illness.     

虚拟环境中临境感及其测量方法

虚拟环境（VE）中的临境感是用户感知身处VE而产生的一种主观体验,是评价VE的重要指标。VE临境感产生的基础在于个体VE某一特征的集中注意,其程度强弱在一定范围内取决于个体分配于VE的注意资源量,受诸如计算机技术设备等系统因素、表现为个体差异的用户因素以及人机对话过程中交互因素的影响。在此基础上本文从生理指标（生理测量法、心率变化和皮肤电阻变化）、行为指标（姿势变化和冲突条件下的刺激定位）、心理物理学（对比法和跨通道匹配法）、主观评价（WS-PQ、SUS-PQ、ITC-SOPI和直接主观评价法）和绩效衡量对VE临境感的测量方法进行总结和简单评价。     

儿童经验开放性:城乡差异及其与家庭、班级环境的关系

采用问卷法,以483名小学五、六年级儿童为被试,考察了经验开放性的城乡差异及其与家庭环境、班级环境的关系。结果发现:1)城市儿童经验开放性得分显著高于农村儿童。2)家庭(控制性维度除外)、班级环境与经验开放性存在有显著的相关关系。在控制了学校类型、年级和性别因素的影响后,班级环境、家庭社会经济地位、家庭环境的知识性、独立性对于经验开放性仍具有显著的预测作用。     

Self-reported change in health behaviour after a mass media-based health education campaign

A comprehensive short-term fund-raising campaign, was launched in 1987 by a health charity organization in cooperation with the only Norwegian TV-channel covering the whole country. The campaign which was extensively announced on TV and other media and which involved large proportions of the population, finished up with a six hour TV-show on the fund-raising day. Because a considerable amount of information on prevention of heart disease was presented in connection with the campaign, it is presently evaluated as a nationwide health education campaign. Twenty-two per cent of the population reported changes in one or more habits in connection with the campaign (one third of them took more exercise, while one quarter reduced/quit their smoking). Health behaviour change among family/friends, reported new knowledge of health and worry created by the campaign, were the factors most clearly associated with self-reported behaviour change. The paper discusses the magnitude of the effects of the campaign in relation to the study design, and the importance of social environment and fear arousal on health behaviour.     

Internalizing problems of adolescents: The role of the informant in identifying family and individual difficulties

The purpose of this study was to examine the family environment and school functioning of adolescents who differed on level of internalizing problems as reported by the adolescent and her/his mother. Thirty-six adolescents, their mothers, and their social studies teacher served as participants. Three groups were formed based on the report of level of internalizing problems: high mother and adolescent report (high concordant); low mother/high adolescent report (discordant); and low mother/low adolescent report (low concordant). The results indicated that the high concordant group, but not the discordant group, differed significantly from the low discordant group in that adolescents from the former group were from home environments with more difficulties (more interparental conflict, maternal depression, & maternal anxiety) and had more internalizing problems and lower grades in school. The results point to the importance of parent-report data when clinically assessing adolescents or conducting research on internalizing problems of adolescents.