Still People of the Book A History of the Church in 100 Objects,Mike Aquilina and Grace Aquilina,Ave Maria, 2017 (ISBN 978‐1‐59471‐750‐5), 448 pp., pb $24.95

The recent turn to ‘material religion’ in the academic study of religion offers a new opportunity for scholars and practitioners to take the embodied, devotional lives of adherents seriously. In their new book, A History of the Church in 100 Objects, Mike and Grace Aquilina might be productively read as responding to this new openness on the part of scholars by presenting Roman Catholic history as told through those objects that have guided the practices of the faithful. Despite their protestations to the contrary, however, the story that they tell is still mostly determined by the authoritative interpretation of sacred texts instead of ordinary interactions with sacred objects.     

The association of positive orientation with health and psychosocial adaption

In this commentary, major contributions of the conceptualization of positive orientation as a measure of a personal disposition to optimistically evaluate oneself, one's past, and one's future experiences, promoting growth and commitment to life (Caprara, Alessandri, & Caprara, 2019), were presented. The evidence includes psychometric properties demonstrating a unidimensional trait, as well as reliability and validity of the measure that is substantiated across developmental ages and at least 15 different cultures. The evidence also implies that positive orientation may influence outcomes of not only individuals but also groups. Furthermore, the significance of positivity in research across vast domains of research attests to the validity of the measure, including social relationships, health issues, coping strategies, job satisfaction, and job performance, to name a few.     

Infant gaze following depends on communicative signals: An eye‐tracking study of 5‐ to 7‐month‐olds in Vanuatu

Gaze is considered a crucial component of early communication between an infant and her caregiver. When communicatively addressed, infants respond aptly to others’ gaze by following its direction. However, experience with face‐to‐face contact varies across cultures, begging the question whether infants’ competencies in receiving others’ communicative gaze signals are universal or culturally specific . We used eye‐tracking to assess gaze‐following responses of 5‐ to 7‐month olds in Vanuatu, where face‐to‐face parent–infant interactions are less prevalent than in Western populations. We found that—just like Western 6‐month‐olds studied previously—5‐ to ‐7‐month‐olds living in Vanuatu followed gaze only, when communicatively addressed. That is, if presented gaze shifts were preceded by infant‐directed speech, but not if they were preceded by adult‐directed speech. These results are consistent with the notion that early infant gaze following is tied to infants’ early emerging communicative competencies and rooted in universal mechanisms rather than being dependent on cultural specificities of early socialization.     

Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine: The Need for a Conceptual Framework

Intersectionality has become a significant intellectual approach for those thinking about the ways that race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression. Although the initial work on intersectionality addressed the unique position of black women relative to both black men and white women, the concept has since been expanded to address a range of social identities. Here we consider how to apply some of the theoretical tools provided by intersectionality to the clinical context. We begin with a brief discussion of intersectionality and how it might be useful in a clinical context. We then discuss two clinical scenarios that highlight how we think considering intersectionality could lead to more successful patient–clinician interactions. Finally, we extrapolate general strategies for applying intersectionality to the clinical context before considering objections and replies.     

Socioeconomic and sociocultural determinants of psychological distress and quality of life among patients with psoriasis in a selected multi-ethnic Malaysian population

Patients with psoriasis may have increased risk of psychological comorbidities. This cross-sectional study aimed at determining associations between sociocultural and socioeconomic factors with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) scores and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores. Adult patients with psoriasis were recruited from a Dermatology outpatient clinic via convenience sampling. Interviews were conducted regarding socio-demographic factors and willing subjects were requested to complete the DASS and DLQI questionnaires. The Pearson χ² test, Fisher’s exact test and multivariate logistic regression were used for statistical analysis to determine independent predictors of depression, anxiety, stress and severe impairment of quality of life. Unadjusted analysis revealed that depression was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .041) and severe impairment of quality of life was associated with Indian ethnicity (p = .032), higher education (p = .013), higher income (p = .042), and employment status (p = .014). Multivariate analysis revealed that Indian ethnicity was a predictor of depression (p = .024). For stress, tertiary level of education (p = .020) was an independent risk factor while a higher monthly income was a protective factor (p = .042). The ethnic Indians and Malays were significantly more likely than the ethnic Chinese to suffer reduced quality of life (p = .001 and p = .006 respectively) and subjects with tertiary education were more likely to have severe impairment of quality of life (p = .002). Our study was unique in determining sociocultural influences on psychological complications of psoriasis in a South East Asian population. This has provided invaluable insight into factors predictive of adverse effects of psoriasis on psychological distress and quality of life in our patient population. Future studies should devise interventions to specifically target at risk groups in the development of strategies to reduce morbidity associated with psoriasis.     

Structure sociale et cultures organisationnelles : une application du modèle des représentations sociales

The theme of organizational culture has been subject of many studies, which postulates are divergent. Consensual, shared and transmitted by the direction for some persons, they follow from the articulation of professional identities models for other persons. Social representation theory can allow us to understand that co-existence of consensual and specific elements, depending on the social structure of the organization. A questionnaire, developed after 24 semi-directive interviews, has been submitted to 95 employees of a large distribution company. Results show that organizational culture is a representation organized on six themes, socially elaborated on the interaction of groups situated in different positions. Consensual elements pass through the various groups, and some elements, more specifics, show the differences between these groups, depending on their strategic links.     

集体主义-个体主义文化视角下工作-家庭关系差异分析

工作-家庭关系研究是组织与管理心理学中研究的热点议题,社会文化因素是工作-家庭关系研究中的重要影响因素。本文在分析已有相关文献的基础之上,总结发现:个体主义文化下的员工工作和家庭之间的关系对等并且领域之间界限明晰,而集体主义文化下个体的工作-家庭之间的关系并非完全对等,且员工的工作和家庭之间存在更多联结。如何在现有的工作-家庭关系研究的基础上明晰适合我国文化背景的研究理论以及挖掘能够体现我国工作-家庭关系特征的研究主题是今后研究的方向与任务。     

松-紧文化:跨文化心理学研究的新维度

松-紧文化是跨文化心理学研究的新维度,它发轫于人类学的文化田野考察,致力于刻画不同文化间社会规范强度和对偏差行为宽容程度的结构性特征.松-紧文化有其较为明确的概念定义和成因,以及在国家、区域和个体层次上的测量方法.松-紧文化已广泛运用于自我、人格、心理健康与幸福感、判断与决策、创新、脑认知神经和基因、恐怖主义与社会和谐等心理学基础和应用研究主题之中.未来研究可进一步甄别细分社会规范中的描述性规范和命令性规范,并综合吸收其它研究视角的长处.     

职场排斥的作用机制与本土化发展

职场排斥是组织情境中的负面行为,会对员工的心理状态、工作态度和工作行为,以及组织绩效造成严重的影响,近年来得到了学者和管理者的关注。研究主要从职场排斥的概念、测量工具、与其它概念的比较及实证研究四个方面,对国内外相关研究进行了梳理,并探讨中国文化的权变作用。未来研究应从中国的组织情境特点出发,继续完善职场排斥的概念和维度,扩展研究层次,深入分析影响机制,结合中国文化对职场排斥展开本土化研究,丰富研究视角。     

Sensitivity to criticism and theory of mind: A cross cultural study on Japanese and Italian children

Although recent studies have shown cross-cultural differences in theory of mind (ToM) between children in Western and Eastern cultures, little is known about cross-cultural differences pertaining to social correlates. The present research investigated cultural variations in the relationship between sensitivity to criticism and ToM. Japanese (n = 76) and Italian (n = 76) 6-year-olds completed a sensitivity-to-criticism task (either the teacher condition or the peer condition), second-order false-belief tasks, and a verbal ability test. The results replicated previous findings of an association between ability rating after teacher criticism and ToM in both countries. Cultural variation was found in emotional response and motivation after teacher, but nor peer, criticism. Japanese children responded to teacher criticism more positively than did Italian children. Moreover, Japanese children who failed the second-order false-belief task were more motivated after teacher criticism than were Italian children. These results are discussed in relation to differences in cultural factors.