A case study of community-based participatory research ethics: The healthy public housing initiative

We conducted and analyzed qualitative interviews with 12 persons working on the Healthy Public Housing Initiative in Boston, Massachusetts in 2001. Our goal was to generate ideas and themes related to the ethics of the community-based participatory research in which they were engaged. Specifically, we wanted to see if we found themes that differed from conventional research that is based on an individualistic ethics. There were clearly distinct ethical issues raised with respect to projects and individuals who engage in community-based collaborations. The differences that arose from the interviews were seeking equality between the partners, the need for the community partner to defend the community, dealing with unflattering data, meeting community expectations and producing tangible benefits to the community. Alison Kole is an MD/MPH candidate, Tufts University School of Medicine.     

Parents' Feelings Towards Their Adoptive and Non-Adoptive Children

In the current study, we examined parent gender differences in feelings (negativity and positivity) and perceptions of child behavioural and emotional problems in adoptive and biological parent-child dyads. In a sample of 85 families, we used a novel within-family adoption design in which one child was adopted and one child was a biological child of the couple, and tested whether the links between parent feelings and child maladjustment included effects of passive gene-environment correlation. Parents reported more negativity and less positivity as well as higher levels of externalizing behaviour for the adopted child compared to the non-adopted child, although effect sizes were small and no longer statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Fathers and mothers did not differ significantly in their reports of positive and negative feelings towards their children or in regard to child externalizing and internalizing behaviours. The correlations between parental negativity and positivity and child externalizing and internalizing were similar for fathers and mothers, and for adopted and non-adopted children. The findings suggest similar parent-child relationship processes for fathers and mothers, and that genetic transmission of behaviour from parent to child does not account for the association between parental warmth and hostility and child-adjustment problems.     

Religious Leaders and the Environmental Crisis

Despite the presence of forward‐looking religious leaders at higher levels, there is little recognition and understanding among local‐level leaders about climate change and the irreversible impacts of global warming. This article illustrates this lack of insight among religious leaders and provides suggestions to increase their awareness of the environmental crisis and its solutions. It uses as examples Islamic teachings that Muslim muftis can use to protect the environment, and emphasizes religious leaders’ influence, roles, and responsibility in establishing justice for the earth, for the next generations, and for all creation. Although most of the facts and examples in this article are from a Middle East and North Africa Region and Islamic perspective, its arguments can be applied generally.     

REACTING TO CONSECRATING SCIENCE: WHAT MIGHT AMATEURS DO?

In Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World, Lisa H. Sideris makes a compelling case that a new cosmology movement advocates for a new, universal, creation story grounded in the sciences. She fears the new story reinforces elite power structures and anthropocentrism and thus environmental degradation. Alternatively, she promotes genuine wonder which occurs in experiences of the natural world. As Sideris focuses on the likely logical outcome of the assumptions and arguments of the new cosmologies, she does not investigate whether and how people react to these new myths. I suggest that methods of documentary studies, applied to popular book reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, shed light on the ramifications of the new cosmologies among the general public. While many reviewers exhibit attitudes and behaviors that would concern Sideris, responses are far from univocal. Using this case as a guide, I suggest that attention to the experience of laypeople could contribute productively to religion and science research in general.     

儿童早期读写能力发展的环境影响因素研究

自1966年Clay首次提出早期读写能力(Emergent Literacy)的观点以来,对于0—6岁学前儿童读写能力的研究引起了教育学家、心理学家、语言学家的广泛关注和重视,该文首先介绍了早期读写能力的提出与界定．然后具体从社会文化背景、家庭读写环境、幼儿园读写环境三个方面对影响儿童早期读写能力的环境因素进行了分析。最后对目前的研究进行了简单的小结,并指出了在我国进行相关研究的迫切性和重要意义。     

Environmental control and psychosis-relevant traits modulate the prospective sense of agency in non-clinical individuals

The sense of agency concerns the experience of being the source of one’s own actions and their consequences. An altered sense of agency can occur due to task automation and in psychosis. We tested in a non-clinical sample the hypothesis that reducing voluntary task control diminishes intentional binding as an implicit indicator of the sense of agency, possibly interacting with psychosis-relevant personality traits. Agent-device interactions were manipulated obtaining positive-control (voluntary interaction), no-control (automation), and negative-control (device-commanded interaction) groups. The main results showed reduced prospective intentional binding (predictive coding of action consequences) in the no-control and negative-control groups, compared to the positive-control group. Psychosis-like experiences covaried positively with intentional binding in the no-control group, but negatively in the negative-control group. Moreover, positive-social traits were associated with increased intentional binding in the positive-control group. These findings demonstrate the interplay between environmental and individual differences variables in establishing the implicit sense of agency.     

A mixed methods exploration of the parent perspective of talent development environments across a national multi-sport landscape

Parents are known to be important influencers in the talent development process but are often overlooked. Understanding the parent perspective may help National Governing Bodies and coaches improve their support for young talented athletes. This study aims to understand the parent perspective of the talent development experience across a national multi-sport landscape using mixed methods. Four hundred and eighty-five parents of pathway athletes completed the talent development environment questionnaire for parents (TDEQ-P), which included the opportunity for parents to respond in an open fashion. The results revealed several key relative strengths and weaknesses of the talent development environment. Areas identified for improvement included 1) Communication related to pathway understanding, planning, guidance, and feedback, 2) Individualised training, goal setting, and feedback, 3) Facilities, 4) Access to a specialist support network, in particular psychology support, 5) Engagement between coaches and, 6) Dual career management and engagement with educational institutions. The results also revealed evidence of context specific needs between performance level, sport type, and age group. The TDEQ-P may be an efficient and effective way coaches can access important feedback, improve communication, and build relationships with parents in sport.     

The role of prediction in mental processing: A process approach

Although prediction plays a prominent role in mental processing, we have only limited understanding of how the brain generates and employs predictions. This paper develops a theoretical framework in three steps. First I propose a process model that describes how predictions are produced and are linked to behavior. Subsequently I describe a generative mechanism, consisting of the selective amplification of neural dynamics in the context of boundary conditions. I hypothesize that this mechanism is active as a process engine in every mental process, and that therefore each mental process proceeds in two stages: (i) the formation of process boundary conditions; (ii) the bringing about of the process function by the operation – within the boundary conditions – of a relatively ‘blind’ generative process. Thirdly, from this hypothesis I derive a strategy for describing processes formally. The result is a multilevel framework that may also be useful for studying mental processes in general.