The premotor theory of attention and the Simon effect

In the paper by Hommel (2011-this issue), the roles of the theory of event coding (TEC) and the premotor theory of attention (PMTA) for the Simon effect were considered. PMTA was treated by Hommel in terms of the proposal that attentional orienting can be viewed as the preparation of a saccade towards a certain location, and was dismissed as providing no useful contribution for an attentional explanation of the Simon effect. Here we considered a more recent and broader conception of the PMTA, compared this approach with TEC, and confronted both approaches with a few studies focusing on the role of spatial attention for the Simon effect. It was argued that PMTA may account more easily for various studies examining the influence of spatial attention on the Simon effect. We concluded our paper by listing some elements that an overall encompassing theory on the Simon effect should contain.     

A Friend in Creed: Does the Religious Composition of Geographic Areas Affect the Religious Composition of a Person's Close Friends?

Numerous theories of religion rest on the assumption that the religious composition of local populations influences the religious identities of a person's close friends, but there have been few empirical tests of this assumption. Using a combination of data on the religious identity of close friends (from the 1988 and 1998 General Social Survey) and information on the religious composition of counties (from the U.S. Religious Congregations and Membership Study) we find that despite tendencies toward religious homogeneity, the religious composition of the surrounding population has an effect on the proportion of a respondent’s same‐religion friends and on the proportion of friends belonging to specific other religious groups. Local population characteristics are unrelated to the proportion of respondents’ friends known in congregational settings. Results have implications for a broad range of sociological theories of religion as well as research examining the impact of same‐congregation and same‐religion friends (e.g., health and well‐being).     

老年刻板印象威胁及其研究操纵

随着人口老龄化的不断加剧, 老年刻板印象威胁受到越来越多的关注。不同于种族或民族、性别等刻板印象威胁, 老年刻板印象威胁表现出累积性、共通性与连续性等特征。目前关于老年刻板印象威胁的研究多集中于认知老化尤其是记忆老化上, 关注老年刻板印象威胁对老年司机和老年员工的消极影响。消除与降低老年刻板印象威胁的消极效应可以从认知改变、群体认同、代际接触、老龄自我实现和个性化以及媒体宣传等五个方面来进行。在实验室研究中, 老年刻板印象威胁有外显与内隐两种不同的操纵形式。未来可以从扩展研究领域、细化“年龄”差异、比较整体效应大小和性别差异、侧重积极效应以及加强本土化检验和跨文化比较研究等方面来深化。     

Translation and Standardization of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES-B) on a German Sample

This study presents a German-language version of the sex-role egalitarianism scale (SRES-B) L. A. King, & D. W. King, 1993]. The SRES measures a person’s attitude toward egalitarianism between women and men. It has been normed on different populations, but there was no German version of the scale. The purpose of the present study was to translate and assess the psychometric properties of the SRES-B on a German population (n=379). As expected, sex, age, and educational level affected the scores of individuals on the scale. The results of factor analyses of the domain scores and correlations of subscales demonstrate a unidimensionality of the construct. The quality of the psychometric properties of items and scale was satisfactory. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.The research was conducted as part of the author’s master thesis, while at the University of Osnabrueck, Germany.     

群体健康与关系“正义”

生命伦理学具有广泛性和综合性,着眼于群体健康是当前生命伦理学发展的趋势。在群体水平的生命伦理学的研究中,有关“正义”的概念是核心的问题。涛慕思·W·博格提出了正义的“关系概念”,借以考察范围广泛的社会制度与健康结果的产生具有什么样的因果关系,进而强调社会制度的制定者和支持者对其产生的健康结果负有责任。通过对此“关系概念”进行分析,以期对中国国内健康领域问题的解决有所启示。     

Code of Ethics of the National Society of Genetic Counselors: Explication of Revisions

The Code of Ethics (COE) of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) was adopted in 1992. In 2004, the NSGC leadership appointed the Code of Ethics Work Group (COEWG) to consider revisions to the NSGC COE based on advice from the NSGC legal counsel, and to consider additional changes given growth in the scope of genetic counseling practice since the adoption of the original COE. After input from the NSGC membership, changes to the COE addressing the recommendations of the NSGC legal counsel were approved in December 2004. The COEWG then reviewed ethical codes and codes of professional conduct from 22 professional organizations, deemed to have similar goals and philosophies to the NSGC, searching for themes that encompassed genetic counseling practice that might not yet be addressed in the NSGC COE. Additional revisions to the COE were proposed, and after feedback from the NSGC membership, the revised COE was approved in January 2006 by majority vote of full members of the NSGC. The explications for the 2004 and 2006 revisions are presented.     

娱乐场所服务女性的行为学调查

调查娱乐场所服务女性的性行为特征及其安全套使用情况,为预防性病/艾滋病健康教育和政策制定提供参考信息。采用立意抽样方法对我省南昌和萍乡两地娱乐场所服务女性进行问卷调查。娱乐场所服务女性卖淫比例较高,卖淫者安全套使用比例和频率不高,且卖淫者安全套使用存在不平衡现象。必须进一步加大宣传教育力度及强化干预工作。     

加强管理，改善流动人口卫生保健服务利用

为改善流动人口卫生保健服务利用水平,通过现场调查、焦点组访谈和二级资料提取等定性定量研究方法收集上海流动人口卫生保健服务利用情况的资料。在对上海流动人口卫生保健服务利用现状、存在的问题和利用障碍进行了分析的基础上,提出了加强管理,改善流动人口卫生保健服务利用的8项建议。     

流动人口生殖健康服务质量评价的相关理论研究

开展城市流动人口的生殖健康服务质量评价研究对于促进我国流动人口生殖健康状况持续改进和公平地享有生殖健康服务具有重要意义。从生殖健康的相关基本理论,我国生殖健康服务的政策支持,卫生服务质量评价的经典理论,系统思想及系统论,流动人口的特征等几个方面进行了流动人口生殖健康服务评价的理论基础系统论述。     

Attitudes Toward Fragile X Mutation Carrier Testing from Women Identified in a General Population Survey

Fragile X syndrome is primarily due to a CGG repeat expansion found in the FMR1 X-linked gene. In a previous study, we conducted focus groups with women to assess their attitudes towards fragile X carrier screening. In this follow-up study, we conducted in-depth interviews of general population reproductive-age women who were identified as carriers. We explored their attitudes toward testing for carrier status of the fragile X mutation. These women underwent screening primarily to participate in a research project rather than in search of a diagnosis for specific symptoms. As such, these women were wholly unprepared for positive carrier results. Their responses about their results and carrier screening, in many cases, were being worked out over the course of the interview itself. The most salient finding of this work is the apparent lack of relevance of carrier status to these women. Many expressed that although the information could be relevant in the future, it is not relevant at this stage of their lives in terms of family planning (either with respect to having unaffected offspring or to premature ovarian failure) and personal relationships. Although issues of abortion seemed prominent in the focus groups, we found that carrier status did not have an apparent effect on women’s attitudes about termination. We hypothesize this may be related to the fact that women had not processed their new carrier status and had not related it to previously-formed personal opinions. The findings of this work have significant implications for genetic counseling and population screening. Genetic counselors should be mindful that general population women may not recognize the immediate importance of their carrier status even when literature is provided and discussed prior to providing a sample. As part of comprehensive genetic counseling, counselors should identify the reproductive life stage of the woman receiving the new information and help her identify when this information would be more meaningful in her life. Counselors can assist in setting up a personalized road map with specific types of services that will be more applicable to the woman as her carrier status becomes more relevant.