Integrated learning communities as a peer support initiative for first year university students

Peer Mentoring schemes tend to be developed as retention strategies, however, they can also serve other purposes (psychosocial or career-related). However, evidence of the effectiveness of these presents mixed results and less is known about the horizontal peer support schemes which may help students capitalize on existing peer relationships. We developed an integrated learning communities (ILC) peer support scheme, building on the theoretical principles of social identity theory, which we embedded within our existing teaching framework and designed functional activities. Collective activities were undertaken to promote the processes of social identity with the intention that these may foster social and academic integration experiences. This intervention was undertaken with an entire cohort of first year undergraduate psychology students. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a self-selected sample of these students (N = 17). Thematic analysis revealed two main themes, each with two sub-themes. These were: “Divergent Experiences” with the sub-themes of “dependent on people” and “types of support”, and “Good idea in principle” with the sub-themes of “Theory ≠ Practice” and “Dependent on student engagement”. Although identifying with a peer group was not transparent in the interviews, the existence of a peer support scheme was perceived positively by students which might explain the success of the newly developed student-led Psychology Society. Indeed, this Psychology Society can provide a lasting framework for further amplification of the student voice. We conclude that our embedded ILC was both feasible and potentially valuable, but it is crucial for the peer support approach to have transactional significance.     

Leaping to Conclusions: Why Premise Relevance Affects Argument Strength

Everyday reasoning requires more evidence than raw data alone can provide. We explore the idea that people can go beyond this data by reasoning about how the data was sampled. This idea is investigated through an examination of premise non‐monotonicity, in which adding premises to a category‐based argument weakens rather than strengthens it. Relevance theories explain this phenomenon in terms of people's sensitivity to the relationships among premise items. We show that a Bayesian model of category‐based induction taking premise sampling assumptions and category similarity into account complements such theories and yields two important predictions: First, that sensitivity to premise relationships can be violated by inducing a weak sampling assumption; and second, that premise monotonicity should be restored as a result. We test these predictions with an experiment that manipulates people's assumptions in this regard, showing that people draw qualitatively different conclusions in each case.     

NAVIGATING SEX, SEXUALITY, AND CHRISTIAN VALUES

This is an autobiographical essay that attempts to illuminate the cultural factors (e.g., race, religion, social class, gender, and sexuality) that shaped the author's efforts to embrace herself, including her non-conforming sexuality in a context that was quite rigid about most things. The reader is invited to experience some of the author’s grapplings about Christianity, growing up black and female in a changing America, and the constant longing to please others that many people from non-dominant positions express. This essay also hopes to provide at least one point of entry into an academic and/or personal exploration of culture and sexuality in America, including discussions about how morality, social class, race, and gender socialization may interact to shape choices and personal expressions of who one is.     

Camera perspective bias in videotaped confessions: evidence that visual attention is a mediator

Several experiments have demonstrated a camera perspective bias in evaluations of videotaped confessions: videotapes with the camera focused on the suspect lead to judgments of greater voluntariness than alternative presentation formats. The present research investigated potential mediators of this bias. Using eye tracking to measure visual attention, Experiment 1 replicated the bias and revealed that changes in camera perspective are accompanied by corresponding changes in duration of fixation on the suspect and interrogator. A path analysis indicated that visual attention partially mediated the bias, with at least one additional factor independently contributing to it. A proposed second factor was changes in available visual content that naturally coincide with alterations in camera perspective. Experiment 2 directly manipulated observers' focus and thus more conclusively established visual attention as one mediator of the camera perspective bias. Together the two experiments provide plausible evidence that differences in visual content may also mediate the bias.     

The California Family Health Project: IV. Family structure/organization and adult health.

This research explores the relationships between each of four "domains" of family life and the health of husbands and wives in a community-based sample of 225 families. In this article we report the association between Family Structure/Organization and adult Health. This family domain refers to the architecture of the family or the structural frame of roles and rules within which the family operates. Interrelationships among 13 self-reported, family Structure/Organization scales are described, using principle components analysis (PCA) and multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS). Derived, joint-spouse or couple Structure/Organization variables also were created using inter-battery factor analysis. The PCA yielded a poor solution, whereas the MDS yielded a good two-dimensional solution, which roughly displayed the scales in a circular pattern for both husbands and wives. The analyses indicated that no single dimension or set of separate subdimensions adequately described the Structure/Organization variables. All 13 scales than were associated with a battery of 14 adult health scales for husbands and wives separately, using canonical correlation. Different aspects of family Structure/Organization were correlated with health for husbands and wives: Organized Cohesiveness, Sex Role Traditionalism, Role Flexibility and Shared Roles for husbands; and Organized Cohesiveness and Differentiated Sharing for wives. Different patterns of health scores also emerged by gender, with behavioral indicators, such as Smoking and Drinking, more salient for husbands, and mood indicators, such as Anxiety and Depression, more salient for wives.     

The California Family Health Project: II. Family world view and adult health.

This article explores the pattern of relationships between family World View and adult Health in a community-based sample of 225 families. Family World View refers to the beliefs, appraisals, and values that define a family's orientation to the world. The interrelationships among eight self-reported family World View variables are described, using principal components analyses (PCA) and multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS). Derived, joint-spouse World Views also are examined using inter-battery factor analysis. The World View variables then are analyzed as a set with 14 self-reported health variables for husbands and wives separately, using canonical correlation. The PCAs for family World View yielded poor solutions for both husbands and wives. The MDS displayed the eight variables in a circular pattern for husbands and for wives, indicating the absence of a single broad dimension, or subgroupings of separate dimensions, that could be used to "describe" the domain. In the canonical analyses, family World View was a strong correlate of Health, with approximately 50% of the variance accounted for by the respective canonical variates. For husbands, what we called Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, Family Life Engagement, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. For wives, Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. Different patterns of health scores emerged by gender, with behavioral indicators, such as Smoking and Drinking, more salient for husbands, and mood indicators, such as Anxiety and Depression, more salient for wives.     

The California Family Health Project: III. Family emotion management and adult health.

This article explores the broad patterning of interrelationships between family Emotion Management and adult Health in a community-based sample of 225 families. Emotion Management refers to how emotion is expressed, acknowledged, and managed by the marital partners. Fifteen reliable-observer ratings of husband-wife behavior were made during each of three 10-minute Emotion Management Interaction Tasks (EMITs). Each of the three tasks "pulled" for the expression of a different emotional theme: loss, intimacy, or conflict. A principle components analysis of the 15 ratings yielded a poor solution. A nonmetric, multidimensional scaling analysis described a two-dimensional, bipolar display with ordering among the variables in each of two wings. One dimension reflected positive versus negative Emotion Management characteristics, and the second reflected active and overt versus passive or covert emotional expression. The pattern of relationships among the couple ratings was similar for each of the three tasks. Using canonical correlation, the couple ratings demonstrated significant associations with 14 adult Health scores for both husbands and wives for the intimacy and conflict tasks, but not for the loss task. Specific gender patterns also emerged. In general, couple overt emotional aversiveness was negatively associated with husbands' health, and couple emotional avoidance/distance was negatively associated with wives' health.     

Ethics as conversation: The crucible of family practice

Medical ethical thought, imbued with the idealism of traditional medicine, has always grappled with the problem of translating abstract principles into actions that do not violate the sensibilities of the patient or the physician. The problem of translation is minimal for the family physician engaged in routine conversations with patients and their family members. This “conversation” — staying with details, maintaining the union of values and facts, reflecting without detaching or distancing — suggests a model of ethical reasoning and problem-solving that warrants serious attention.