Psychopathy and the ability to read the “language of the eyes”: Divergence in the psychopathy construct

The capacity to interpret others people's behavior and mental states is a vital part of human social communication. This ability, also called mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM), may also serve as a protective factor against aggression and antisocial behavior. This study investigates the relationship between two measures of psychopathy (clinical assessment and self‐report) and the ability to identify mental states from photographs of the eye region. The participants in the study were 92 male inmates at Bergen prison, Norway. The results showed some discrepancy in connection to assessment methodology. For the self‐report (SRP‐III), we found an overall negative association between mental state discrimination and psychopathy, while for the clinical instrument (PCL‐R) the results were more mixed. For Factor 1 psychopathic traits (interpersonal and affective), we found positive associations with discrimination of neutral mental states, but not with the positive or negative mental states. Factor 2 traits (antisocial lifestyle) were found to be negatively associated with discrimination of mental states. The results from this study demonstrate a heterogeneity in the psychopathic construct where psychopathic traits related to an antisocial and impulsive lifestyle are associated with lower ability to recognize others' mental states, while interpersonal and affective psychopathic traits are associated with a somewhat enhanced ability to recognize others' emotional states.     

宁夏临终关怀现状及实践

在宁夏回族地区如何开展临终关怀工作和提高临终关怀工作的质量,根据在宁夏回族地区开展临终关怀工作五年的实践体会,分析了宁夏主要由于社会老龄化的压力、家庭结构的变化和宁夏疾病死因顺位变化原因开展临终关怀的必要性。探讨了目前宁夏临终关怀面临的七个主要问题,即热心从事临终关怀的专业人员少、临终关怀机构缺乏、社会重视度低、心理治疗严重不足、社会义工资源短缺、医院与外界对临终关怀医护人员的关怀少和患者及家属对临终关怀治疗的期望值高。总结了在宁夏开展临终关怀实践的六点体会。     

打坐健身机制新探

打坐是一种席地端坐时将两腿交叉相压并调息入静的锻炼方式。打坐行为历史悠久,具有良好的健身作用,近年还发现对心脑血管疾病有一定治疗康复作用。但在中国由于打坐经常被认为属于宗教修炼而被普通大众忽视。本文将打坐与宗教分离开来,通过现代医学理论从调整呼吸、入静、远程缺血预适应保护等对神经系统、内脏功能（肺、消化系统、心血管系统及淋巴循环功能）的影响方面探讨了打坐的健身机制,为进一步研究并向大众推广这种安全有效的健身方法提供一管之见。特别是对心血管系统的保护作用值得进一步研究利用。     

Balancing Critique and Commitment: A Synthetic Approach to Teaching Religion and the Environment

Courses about religion and the environment should work toward a synthesis of critical thinking – teaching students to examine and question the interplay of environmental degradation, religious traditions, and new religious movements – and advocacy – helping students to embrace, articulate, and refine their own environmentalist commitments, in religious terms when appropriate. To meet these goals, teachers of religion and the environment can learn from literature on balancing faith and critical analysis in other religion courses. This literature will help us to clarify the goals of our courses, critically examine the environmental movement with our students, and remain trustworthy to those who do not share environmentalist commitments. See a companion essay in this issue of the journal (Jennifer R. Ayres, “Learning on the Ground”) and a response to both of these essays (Forrest Clingerman, “Pedagogy as a Field Guide to the Ecology of the Classroom”) also published in this issue of the journal.     

The development and dissemination of Council of Europe policy on education about religions and non-religious convictions

This article, written from an insider perspective, and in a personal capacity (the author has been involved with the Council of Europe’s work on religion and education since its inception in 2002), gives an account of the developing interest in the study of religions (and latterly non-religious convictions) in publicly funded schools by the Council of Europe, one of several international institutions to have focused on the place of religions and beliefs in public education in recent years. Particular attention is given to the 2008 Recommendation from the Committee of Ministers (the Foreign Ministers of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe) on teaching about religions and non-religious convictions in schools, and to current work on its dissemination. In 2011, the Council of Europe and the European Wergeland Centre set up a joint committee to produce a document (Policy and Practice for Teaching about Religions and Non-Religious Worldviews in Intercultural Education) to assist policymakers, schools and teacher trainers in implementing the Recommendation, adapted to different contexts across Europe. The present author has written the text on behalf of the joint committee. Signposts was published by Council of Europe Publishing in September 2014 (Jackson, R. 2014. Signposts: Policy and practice for teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews in intercultural education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.). The article details the Council of Europe’s approach, includes an explanation of the process of consultation with various stakeholders, and summarises key issues to be addressed in the document. The general approach covered enables member states to increase competence of students to engage in the field of religions and beliefs, in ways that potentially contribute to various aspects of their personal and social development. It is hoped that the document will stimulate and contribute to constructive discussion, policymaking, teacher training, classroom practice and community links in different parts of Europe, and perhaps beyond.     

You,me, and meaning: an integrative review of connections between relationships and meaning in life

Social relationships are seen to be vital to human functioning, both in terms of psychological functioning and physical health. Relationships are a cornerstone of well-being. For instance, having positive relationships has been linked to greater happiness, life satisfaction and physical health outcomes. Meaning in life, or the perception that one's life is significant and has a purpose, is another prominent cornerstone of well-being. As such, social relationships and meaning in life should have reciprocal associations. In this paper, cross-cultural theory and empirical research will be reviewed to explore the role of family, romantic and friendship relationships in supporting meaning in life. Further, we will discuss the implications of the current research and propose new directions for future research.     

An Empirical Investigation of Population Invariance in the Value of Subscores

Recently there has been an increasing level of interest in subtest scores, or subscores, for their potential diagnostic value. Haberman (2008 Haberman, S. J. 2008. When can subscores have value?. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 33: 204–229. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggested a method to determine if a subscore has added value over the total score. Researchers have often been interested in the performance of subgroups—for example, those based on gender or ethnicity—on subtests. Several researchers found that the difference in performance between the gender-based subgroups varied over the different subtests. In this article, we examine whether the added values of the subscores vary between subgroups using data from several operational tests, including an international English proficiency test. For these data sets, the added values of the subscores occasionally vary over the subgroups, but the added values of the augmented subscores are invariant over the subgroups.     

目标取向、道德认同、道德推脱与大学生运动员的反社会行为的关系

研究从道德失调的观点出发探讨了目标取向、道德认同、道德推脱与大学生运动员在比赛中的反社会行为的关系.198名大学生运动员参加了本研究并完成了任务取向和自我取向问卷、道德推脱问卷、道德认同问卷和运动中的反社会行为问卷.分析发现,任务取向减少了大学生运动员的反社会行为,但是自我取向增加了他们的反社会行为;道德推脱在自我取向与反社会行为的关系中发挥着中介作用,且这一中介作用受到道德认同的调节,较低的道德认同增加了自我取向的运动员的道德推脱,并由此提高其反社会行为倾向.     

Stress,appraisal and work routine in wartime: do men and women differ?

Past research has devoted little attention to the role of work routine (i.e., adherence to a consistent pattern of attending work in a regular, predictable manner) in civilians' lives during wartime. The current study offers competing theoretical arguments on how work routine and gender combine to moderate the association between primary appraisal and war-related stress among civilians during the second Lebanon war (July–August 2006). Data were collected using telephone interviews (based on a structured questionnaire) with 2072 civilians. The sample was obtained using a within-strata random-sampling method. Our results suggest that negative affect (a symptom of stress) is associated with more negative primary appraisal of the war situation (i.e., higher threat appraisal). The association between negative affect and appraisal was attenuated among individuals engaging in regular work routine and among men. Moreover, the positive relationship between work routine and appraisal was stronger among women than among men. This study provides insight into the role of the workplace in the lives of civilians exposed to continuing in unsafe situations. In light of the past research suggesting that women are more vulnerable to war-related stress than men, this study proposes that regular work routine may be particularly beneficial for women.     

Individual differences in preschool children: temperament or personality?

Individual differences among adults have generally been conceptualized in terms of personality theory and traits. In contrast, individual differences among very young children (birth to kindergarten) have generally been conceptualized in terms of temperament theory and traits. The present study compares and contrasts measures of temperament and personality in a sample of preschool children. Temperament traits were assessed with a well‐established measure (the Rothbart CBQ), and a new preschool rating instrument was used to assess personality traits from the five‐factor framework (M5‐PS). Indeed, a key purpose of this study was to further the development of the M5‐PS. Data were gathered on 122 preschool children who were rated by their teachers. Significant correlations were found between the temperament trait Surgency and the personality trait Extraversion, between the temperament trait Negative Affect and the personality trait Neuroticism, and between the temperament trait Effortful Control and the personality trait Conscientiousness. The overall pattern of correlational data suggests that individual differences in preschool children can be adequately described using the five‐factor theory, and that this framework may effectively subsume traditional theories of temperament. Preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the M5‐PS is offered. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.