Aristotle,Kant, and …Facebook? A Look at the Implications of Social Media on Ethics

The purpose of this study was to explore if and how social media might come to bear on people’s understanding of ethics. Participants were asked to complete online surveys regarding social media interaction and respond to 14 scenarios depicting ethical dilemmas. Our results suggest that social media and people’s perceptions of ethics do share a relationship. Specifically, we found that people who reported being exposed to ethical violations on social media were more likely to find our unethical scenarios to be personally unacceptable, to be of lower ethicality, and to react negatively to the content. These findings suggest that mere exposure to ethical violations is enough to produce awareness in people regarding ethical issues, which carries significant implications for ethics education.     

Representations of Poverty in British Newspapers: A Case of ‘Othering’ the Threat?

The meanings of social problems like poverty develop within the public sphere. This paper uses the theory of social representations to examine how poverty is represented in British newspapers. Poverty has been discussed and interpreted in numerous ways, and newspapers not only provide a platform for these elaborations but also contribute to shaping public understanding on the issue. The study sampled news coverage on poverty in four British newspapers during two randomly chosen one‐month periods in the years 2001 and 2011. The data set of news reports (n = 274) was thematically analysed to examine representations of poverty. The study found that in the domestic context, media represents poverty as a problem limited to vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly. With a lack of discussion on the wider socio‐economic causes and contributing factors, poverty within the UK appears as an ‘orphan phenomenon’ with an unknown genesis. In contrast, the representations of poverty outside the UK are vivid and elaborate, and the news reports hold the socio‐political inefficiency of countries responsible for poverty. The study also found that the media uses poverty to make sense of catastrophic events in society: the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the London riots of 2011 were both anchored using poverty. This paper discusses the representational dynamics of these findings and argues that the media representations distance general society from poverty, representing it as a problem of the other. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION ON MATERNAL RESPONSES TO INFANT FACES IN PREGNANCY

Research has suggested that prenatal depression may be associated with disrupted maternal responses to infant stimuli, with depressed pregnant women not showing the bias toward distressed infants as that observed in nondepressed pregnant women. The current study examined the effects of depression on self‐ reported responses to infant stimuli, in early pregnancy. Women with clinical depression (n = 38), and nondepressed women (n = 67) were recruited from a wider cognitive behavioral therapy trial. They completed Maternal Response Scales in which they were presented with images of distressed, neutral, and happy infant faces, with no time limit. The women rated their responses to these images along three dimensions—wanting to comfort, wanting to turn away, and feelings of anxiety—using Likert scales via a computerized task. There was evidence that women with depression in pregnancy showed different responses than did women without depression. Women with depression were substantially more likely to be in the highest quartile for ratings of wanting to turn away, odds (OR) ratio = 4.15, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 1.63–10.5, p = .003, and also were substantially less likely to be in the highest quartile for wanting to comfort a distressed infant face, OR = 0.22, 95% CIs = 0.09–0.54, p < .001. Findings are consistent with there being both a heightened avoidant and a reduced comforting response toward distressed infants in depressed pregnant women, providing some support that depression disrupts maternal preparations at a conscious level.     

Child Maltreatment,Problem Behaviors,and Neighborhood Attainment

Using data from a prospective cohort design study of a group of children with documented histories of abuse and neglect (n = 908) and matched controls (n = 667), this paper examines whether problem behaviors (e.g., prostitution, crime, school problems, and homelessness) in young adulthood explain the link between maltreatment in childhood and living in high‐risk neighborhoods in middle adulthood. Problem behaviors were assessed at mean age of 29 and neighborhood characteristics were assessed at mean age of 40. Child maltreatment predicted living in less desirable neighborhoods in middle adulthood. Problem behaviors in young adulthood partially mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and residence in less desirable neighborhoods in middle adulthood. The direct paths from child maltreatment to neighborhoods were not significant for Black children. For White children, there was a direct relationship between child maltreatment and living in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. Problem behaviors were a stronger mediator between child maltreatment and living in more disordered and less socially cohesive neighborhoods for Black children, while the problem behaviors were a stronger mediator for living in more economically disadvantaged and less socially cohesive neighborhoods for White children. Further research is needed to understand these racial differences. Interventions should focus on preventing problem behaviors to minimize the risk of residency in high‐risk neighborhoods.     

Ab initio study of Heusler alloys Co2XY (X = Cr,Mn, Fe; Y = Al,Ga) under high pressure

The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of ferromagnetic Heusler alloys Co₂XY (X?=?Cr, Mn, Fe; Y?=?Al, Ga) have been investigated by means of the all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method within the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange and correlation potential. The main focus of this study is to elaborate the changes brought about in the electronic and the magnetic properties by applied pressure. The calculated total spin magnetic moments of all the compounds are found to be in good agreement with experiments. Out of these compounds, Co₂CrAl is found to be perfectly half-metallic (HM) and the other compounds are found to be nearly HM. Thus the HM to metal transition was observed at 75?GPa pressure for Co₂CrAl and the nearly half-metal to half-metal transition was observed at 40?GPa and 18?GPa for Co₂CrGa and Co₂MnAl, respectively, while no transition is observed in other compounds under investigation. It can be clearly seen that pressure affects the minority spin states rather than the majority states, leading to a slight reconstruction of the minority spin states with a shift in the Fermi level driving the above-mentioned transition.     

In search of those boundary conditions that might influence the effectiveness of supportive supervision

Supportive supervision is doubtlessly beneficial in many instances in organizations. Paustian‐Underdahl, Shanock, Rogelberg, Scott, Justice, and Altman ( 2013 ) have examined the predictors of supportive supervision. We might suggest that they have underidentified those factors that impact the potential influence of supportive supervision and suggest a more comprehensive approach to this important variable.     

Raised visual detection thresholds depend on the level of complexity of cognitive foveal loading.

The objective of the study was to measure the interactions between visual thresholds for a simple light (the secondary task) presented peripherally and a simultaneously performed cognitive task (the primary task) presented foveally The primary task was highly visible but varied according to its cognitive complexity. Interactions between the tasks were determined by measuring detection thresholds for the peripheral task and accuracy of performance of the foveal task. Effects were measured for 5, 10, 20, and 30 deg eccentricity of the peripherally presented light and for three levels of cognitive complexity. Mesopic conditions (0.5 lx) were used. As expected, the concurrent presentation of the foveal cognitive task reduced peripheral sensitivity. Moreover, performance of the foveal task was adversely affected when conducting the peripheral task. Performance on both tasks was reduced as the level of complexity of the cognitive task increased. There were qualitative differences in task interactions between the central 10 deg and at greater eccentricities. Within 10 deg there was a disproportionate effect of eccentricity, previously interpreted as the 'tunnel-vision' model of visual field narrowing. Interactions outside 10 deg were less affected by eccentricity. These results are discussed in terms of the known neurophysiological characteristics of the primary visual pathway.     

A latent variable modeling approach to identifying subtypes of serious and violent female juvenile offenders

Females have recently become an important population in research related to serious and violent juvenile offending. Although a small body of research exists on girls in the deep end of the system, very few studies have examined the degree of heterogeneity within high-risk female samples. This study applied latent class analysis (LCA) to identify subgroups of female juvenile offenders based on their self-report of offending profiles (N=133). Results supported a three-class solution with subgroups characterized by patterns of 'violent and delinquent', 'delinquency only', and 'low' offending patterns. The LCA solution was replicated in an independent sample of high-risk females. The 'violent and delinquent' class was characterized by significantly higher rates of DSM-IV diagnoses for internalizing disorders, affect dysregulation, exposure to violence (within the home, school and neighborhood), and familial histories of criminality. Implications for future research, policy and clinical practice are discussed.     

Peer-Based Interventions on Academic Integrity: Assessing Immediate and Long Term Learning

The current study extends previous literature regarding the effectiveness of learning about academic integrity through peer instruction by assessing the impact of a peer instructional approach for actual and perceived learning gains over time. One trained residence don provided one interactive 30-min presentation covering four major aspects of academic integrity and misconduct (i.e., definition, detection, consequences, and importance of academic integrity) to groups of undergraduate students. In total, 192 participants attended the workshop and were surveyed for their knowledge of academic integrity immediately before the presentation, immediately after the presentation, and after a four week delay. Perceptions regarding the presentation also were assessed. Consistent with previous literature, results indicate perceived learning gains and preference for having an interactive presentation delivered by a residence don. In addition, actual gains in knowledge were found immediately after the presentation and gains remained evident over a four-week delay. Outcomes suggest that peer instruction is a viable and effective approach for educating students about academic integrity.