Internet resources in applied behavior analysis

Internet communication is becoming an important tool for both academic and clinical areas in psychology and behavior analysis. The Internet, a confederation of thousands of computer systems covering the entire globe (Plaud, 1996b), can significantly enhance behavior analysis in at least three major areas: (a) information exchange and communication among behavior analysts through list servers, (b) dissemination of empirical data and commentary through on-line journals and information servers, and (c) promotion of programs and services in behavior analysis. This commentary provides specific examples in each of these areas and addresses the basics of connecting to the Internet.     

被动性社交网站使用与青少年体像烦恼的关系:体像比较和体像自我差异的中介作用

为探讨被动性社交网站使用和青少年体像烦恼的关系,基于社会比较理论和自我差异理论,采用被动性社交网站使用问卷、社交网站体像比较量表、理想体像问卷和体像烦恼量表,对789名初、高中生进行调查。结果表明：（1）被动性社交网站使用对青少年体像烦恼具有显著的正向预测作用;（2）体像比较和体像自我差异能在被动性社交网站使用和体像烦恼的关系中起中介作用;（3）在被动性社交网站使用与体像烦恼的关系中,女生的体像比较和体像自我差异起并行中介作用,而对男生而言,体像比较和体像自我差异起链式中介作用。研究结果表明被动性社交网站使用不仅能直接影响青少年的体像烦恼,还可通过体像比较和体像自我差异的间接作用对青少年体像烦恼产生影响,且中介路径存在性别差异。     

Maintenance of Relationship and Individual Functioning Gains Following Online Relationship Programs for Low‐Income Couples

Initial evidence suggests that gains in relationship functioning from brief, web‐based programs are maintained through one year following the intervention; however, whether these results generalize to a low‐income sample is unclear. Furthermore, previous research from in‐person couple therapy suggests there may be different shapes of maintenance slopes for behavioral versus acceptance‐based techniques. This study contacted 668 individuals who enrolled in online behavioral (ePREP) or acceptance‐based (OurRelationship) programs one year following completion of the program. Multilevel modeling was used to examine linear and quadratic rates of change in the year following the online intervention as well as total amount of change from pretreatment to 12‐month follow‐up for both relationship and individual functioning. The majority of couples who responded continued to be in a relationship with the same partner (68.3%). Examinations of relationship functioning indicated couples in both programs maintained their gains over follow‐up (i.e., no significant linear or quadratic changes), with medium‐to‐large within‐group effect sizes from pre‐ to one‐year follow‐up. There were no significant differences in relationship outcomes between OurRelationship and ePREP. Similarly, examinations of individual functioning outcomes indicated couples maintained their gains over follow‐up or continued to improve. In total, couples experienced small‐to‐medium within‐group effect sizes from pretreatment to one‐year follow‐up, with larger effects for individuals who were initially distressed. These results suggest that online programs create lasting change for low‐income couples in relationship and individual functioning, with minimal differences between behavioral and acceptance‐based orientations.     

被动性社交网站使用与青少年体像烦恼的关系:体像比较和体像自我差异的中介作用

为探讨被动性社交网站使用和青少年体像烦恼的关系,基于社会比较理论和自我差异理论,采用被动性社交网站使用问卷、社交网站体像比较量表、理想体像问卷和体像烦恼量表,对789名初、高中生进行调查。结果表明：（1）被动性社交网站使用对青少年体像烦恼具有显著的正向预测作用;（2）体像比较和体像自我差异能在被动性社交网站使用和体像烦恼的关系中起中介作用;（3）在被动性社交网站使用与体像烦恼的关系中,女生的体像比较和体像自我差异起并行中介作用,而对男生而言,体像比较和体像自我差异起链式中介作用。研究结果表明被动性社交网站使用不仅能直接影响青少年的体像烦恼,还可通过体像比较和体像自我差异的间接作用对青少年体像烦恼产生影响,且中介路径存在性别差异。     

社交媒体使用与错失焦虑的关系：一项元分析

社交媒体使用与错失焦虑均是当下生活中较为常见的现象, 诸多研究探讨了两者间的内在联系, 但研究结果却存在很大差异。为明确两者之间的整体关系, 以及产生分歧的原因, 对检索后获得的65项研究(70个独立样本)使用随机效应模型进行了元分析。结果发现：社交媒体使用与错失焦虑存在显著正相关(r = 0.38, 95% CI [0.34, 0.41]); 二者的相关强度受社交媒体使用测量指标和社交媒体类型的调节, 但不受性别、年龄、错失焦虑测量工具和个体主义指数的调节。结果一定程度上澄清了大众传播的社会认知理论和数字恰到好处假说的争论, 表明社交媒体使用程度越高的人往往也会伴随着较高水平的错失焦虑。防止社交媒体过度使用, 尤其是引导大众合理使用以图像为中心并且开放度较高的社交媒体有助于错失焦虑的缓解。     

女大学生同性竞争与社交网站发布美化自拍行为的关系：外貌比较的调节作用

为探究女大学生同性竞争与社交网站发布美化自拍行为之间的关系及外貌比较在其中的调节作用,采用同性竞争量表、身体外貌比较问卷和美化自拍量表对463名女大学生进行问卷调查。结果发现：在控制年龄后,女大学生同性竞争可以显著正向预测社交网站美化自拍行为,且这一预测作用受到外貌比较的调节,即只有低外貌比较的女大学生其同性竞争水平可显著预测其美化自拍行为。该结果对理解和干预女大学生的社交网站行为具有一定理论意义和实践意义。     

The Medium Shapes the Message: McLuhan and Grice Revisited in Race Talk Online

Compared with the wealth of research accumulated on face‐to‐face social interactions, relatively little research has examined race talk within anonymous Web 2.0 mediums. We investigated online threaded comments on YouTube video clips of two race‐related incidents involving New Zealand television presenter Paul Henry. Through thematic content analysis, thematic analysis, and discourse analysis, it was found that characteristics unique to Web 2.0 were associated with the appearance of old‐fashioned racism and high‐levels of obscenity (together with modern racism/symbolic racism). The hyper‐low context of communication led to interpretive ambiguity; conversation sequences failed to follow Gricean maxims for cooperative communication, with most comments attracting no replies and the modal sequence being two turns. There was almost never resolution to a disagreement online: rather there was points‐scoring against opposing opinions and a tangential style of dialogue influenced by the asynchronous and anonymous nature of communication. The YouTube medium shaped but did not determine the message, as obscenity and racist content in the target video from the eliciting public figure influenced the subsequent degree of obscenity and hostility in the responses. A third corpus that examined responses to our own research on race talk presented on a news website (stuff.co.nz) underlined this point by engendering a dramatically different response to the same subject, retaining the tangential style of communication, but with little to no obscenity. A framework to understand race talk as a function of both medium and context effects is proposed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

The goals of this research were to answer three questions. How predominant is religious searching online? How do people interact with Web search engines when searching for religious information? How effective are these interactions in locating relevant information? Specifically, referring to a US demographic, we analyzed five data sets from Web search engine, collected between 1997 and 2005, of over a million queries each in order to investigate religious searching on the Web. Results point to four key findings. First, there is no evidence of a decrease in religious Web-searching behaviors. Religious interest is a persistent topic of Web searching. Second, those seeking religious information on the Web are becoming slightly more interactive in their searching. Third, there is no evidence for a move away from mainstream religions toward non-mainstream religions since the majority of the search terms are associated with established religions. Fourth, our work does not support the hypothesis that traditional religious affiliation is associated with lower adoption of or sophistication with technology. These factors point to the Web as a potentially usefully communication medium for a variety of religious organizations.     

A Review of “The Reformation. A Brief History”

Scholars researching the varieties of Orthodox Judaism have different types of primary and secondary resources available to them electronically. Books and journals are available digitally. Web sites emanate from institutions, organizations, and individuals that have clear ideological and political preferences. There is increasing use of the Internet by Orthodox and Haredi Jews for a variety of religious, communal, personal, and educational purposes. Religious Jewish residents of the West Bank maintain community Web sites that provide historical, theological, institutional, and communal information. This article describes some of the Web-based resources and tools that reflect the wide range of Orthodox thought, activity, and practices.     

Terrorism in the Age of the Internet: The Case of Muslim Arab Foreign Terrorist Organizations

This study focuses on Muslim Arab extremism online. It specifically looks at the case of Muslim Arab organizations identified by the U.S. Department of State as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The use of the Internet to communicate extremist rhetoric is not a new phenomenon nor is it one that is particular to Muslims or Arabs. This study simply focuses on this specific subgroup, partially due to the increased scholarly attention to the topic of terrorism and to the public's heightened interest in the Muslim and the Arab world since 9/11.