Health Psychology

The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) has led to a serious outbreak of often severe respiratory disease, which originated in China and has quickly become a global pandemic, with far-reaching consequences that are unprecedented in the modern era. As public health officials seek to contain the virus and mitigate the deleterious effects on worldwide population health, a related threat has emerged: global media exposure to the crisis. We review research suggesting that repeated media exposure to community crisis can lead to increased anxiety, heightened stress responses that can lead to downstream effects on health, and misplaced health-protective and help-seeking behaviors that can overburden health care facilities and tax available resources. We draw from work on previous public health crises (i.e., Ebola and H1N1 outbreaks) and other collective trauma (e.g., terrorist attacks) where media coverage of events had unintended consequences for those at relatively low risk for direct exposure, leading to potentially severe public health repercussions. We conclude with recommendations for individuals, researchers, and public health officials with respect to receiving and providing effective communications during a public health crisis.

The task of studying the impact of social class on physical and mental health involves, among other things, the use of a conceptual toolbox that defines what social class is, establishes how to measure it, and sets criteria that help distinguish it from closely related concepts. One field that has recently witnessed a wealth of theoretical and conceptual research on social class is psychology, but geographers' and sociologists' attitude of diffidence toward this " positivistic " discipline has prevented them from taking advantage of this body of scholarship. This paper aims to highlight some of the most important developments in the psychological study of social class and social mobility that speak to the long-standing concerns of health geographers and sociologists with how social position, perceptions, social comparisons, and class-based identities impact health and well-being.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.037

People abused by angry discipline as children, may tend to abuse or overly punish other people or themselves for perceived wrongs in their adult life. In some individuals, aggressive personality traits may be genetically inherited. The aggressive personality may feel weakened by having guidelines or boundaries for anger. Anger is a normal human emotion, and these guidelines can help express anger in a healthy way.

Recent research suggests that romantic love may be literally addictive. Although the exact nature of the relationship between love and addiction has been described in inconsistent terms throughout the literature, we offer a framework that distinguishes between a narrow view and a broad view of love addiction. The narrow view counts only the most extreme, harmful forms of love or love-related behaviors as being potentially addictive in nature. The broad view, by contrast, counts even basic social attachment as being on a spectrum of addictive motivations, underwritten by similar neurochemical processes as more conventional addictions. We argue that on either understanding of love-as-addiction, treatment decisions should hinge on considerations of harm and well-being rather than on definitions of disease. Implications for the ethical use of anti-love biotechnology are considered.

This meta-analysis explored the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) dependent on behaviour and methodological moderators. A lack of hierarchical analysis in previous reviews risks confounding these moderators. Here moderating roles of behaviour type, length of follow-up, sample age and behavioural measure are explored hierarchically amongst prospective tests of the TPB, controlling for past behaviour where possible. Searching identified 237 prospective tests from 206 articles. Random-effects meta-analytic procedures were used to correcting correlations for sampling and measurement error. Behaviour type moderated the model; physical activity and diet behaviours were better predicted (23.9% and 21.2% variance explained, respectively) whilst risk, detection, safer sex and abstinence from drugs were poorly predicted (between 13.8 and 15.3% variance explained). Methodological moderators were also apparent: age of sample moderated relations with student samples better predicted for physical activity, and adolescent samples better predicted for abstinence behaviours. Behaviours assessed in the shorter term, and those assessed with self-reports (compared with objective measures) were also better predicted. Both behavioural and methodological characteristics moderated relations amongst model components. The results can aid selection of appropriate targets upon which to base interventions.

Cuatro resultados parciales de investigación han permitido, ya, la elaboración de sendas antologías de rezos y ritos de sanación católicos, islámicos, hindúes y judaícos.  En las ciencias sociales contemporáneas se utiliza -casi, casi, como sinónimo de los principales medios de manipulación ideológica de masas, el de “mainstream”.  Haciendo un parangón con ello, la primera tentación fue la de utilizar el mismo término en referencia al conjunto que ahora es motivo de nuestra atención, para referirse a que se aborda la temática de la curación, desde la perspectivas de las religiones,  y confesiones que no son “mainstream;  es decir, que no son las principales en terminos cuantitativos y de poder político ideológico.  PERO, al final, se tomó la decisión de sustituuir el anglicismo, por el de periféricas, a efecto de poder distinguirlas de las religiones y credos metrópoli.     
“Para muestra, basta un botón”, reza el dicho mexicano.  El material que se presenta enseguida no aspira más que a constiturse en el botón de muestra.  El primer sorprendido con lo vasto de las prácticas, rituales y oraciones de sanación, fue el investigador.  Dicho eso, espero  quede claro que el lector NO encontrará un censo, que cubra a todo el universo. 
Los criterios utilizados para agrupar los “items” que fueron identificados, accesados y acopiados, obedecen a un cuádruple compromiso: exhausivitdad y mutua exlusión; búsqueda de la verdad científica;  construcción del dato descriptivo; y sencillez en la exposición de resultados.  La fé o creencias mítico-religiosas del investigdor, NO HA SIDO relevante, en la materia; al menos, no conscientemente.  Esto da como resultado que el contenido del presente documento asuma una forma totalmente heterodoxa.  Claro, es de esperarse un aluvión de críticas de jerarquías organizacionales, creyentes, practicantes o simpatizantes de un determinado credo.  Este hecho previsible se desprende de que, en términos generales y casi por definición, los creyentes religiosos de corte occidental,  conciben la forma y fondo de sus prácticas y rituales de sanación, como la única válida, limpia y pura;  todas las demás -lo asumen como verdad- son equívocos, malversaciones o simple y llanamente satánico-endiabladas.  Entónces es de esperar que lleguen observaciones como:  ¿En la categoría de “espíritismo-espiritualismo”, están las oraciones y rituales de sanación pentecostal, católico-renovador, mormón y africano?  ¿Pero si “la palabra”, ”la biblia”, “el señor”...? 
Dicho lo anterior, espero que disfruten el contenido y que normen su criterio respecto a si es válido seguir suponiendo que las diferencias entre prácticas religiosas son insalvables... o si realmente son -como decimos enméxico-  “la misma gata, nada mas que revolcada”.

Embodiment or embodied awareness is a way of understanding the body. The body is not simply the external body, the body is the lived body. Both the 10 th century Kashmir philosopher Abhinavagupta and the contemporary French phenomenologist Merleau Ponty have a similar view of the lived body, or better 'lived' embodiment. A person may have a most beautiful external objective body but minimally lived in. Embodiment allows us to understand and conceive of the body as a way of living, experiencing and of perceiving through the medium of our embodiment. The body is the medium of the field. A person perceives not simply through eyes and ears alone, but through the whole body. Our body is an instrument of perception. Our body is an instrument of knowingness. The embodiment of awareness is the lived embodying of primordial awareness that liberates our being in the world. The embodiment of awakened awareness pulsates in resonance with and within Being itself.

As the use of qualitative inquiry increases within the field of social work, researchers must consider the issue of establishing rigor in qualitative research. This article presents research procedures used in a study of autoethnographies that were written regarding the experience of being Jewish. In this project, the researchers utilized reflexivity, audit trail, triangulation by observer, peer debriefing, member check and prolonged engagement in order to manage the threats to trustworthiness as discussed by Padgett (1998). Implications of the project suggest that research procedures utilized by qualitative researchers to establish rigor are an important way to increase our confidence that the voice of the participants is heard, therefore fitting the mission of the social work profession.

In December of 2014, an anonymous working group under the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a draft of the first-ever federal recommendations regarding male circumcision. In accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ circumcision policy from 2012 - but in contrast to the more recent 2015 policy from the Canadian Paediatric Society as well as prior policies (still in force) from medical associations in Europe and Australasia - the CDC suggested that the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risks. In this article, we provide a brief scientific and conceptual analysis of the CDC’s assessment of benefit vs. risk, and argue that it deserves a closer look. Although we set aside the burgeoning bioethical debate surrounding the moral permissibility of performing non-therapeutic circumcisions on healthy minors, we argue that, from a scientific and medical perspective, current evidence suggests that such circumcision is not an appropriate public health measure for developed countries such as the United States.

Loss is a common life experience including death of a loved one, breakup of a relationship, loss of health, loss of employment, loss of one's home and financial wealth, infertility, and many more.

The types of loss are reviewed as well as the goals of grief counseling and helpful things to say for healing painful feelings around loss and grief, the unfinished business of loss, and the behaviour decisions of grief. Therapeutic interventions and statements for helping the healing of grief, are described and discussed in detail.

RESUMEN:
La psicología analítica es la obra de Carl Gustav Jung y sus seguidores. También conocida como psicología de los complejos, el término aparece oficialmente en 1913 para designar una ampliación del psicoanálisis, razón por la cual se la tiene tanto por una escuela de psicoanálisis como por una tendencia de la psicología profunda, según la expresión de Bleuler para caracterizar a toda psicología que parta de la hipótesis de la existencia de una psique inconsciente.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) era un joven psiquiatra ya reconocido por la profesión cuando asumió la defensa de la obra de Freud, tanto en los foros psiquiátricos como en su propia obra, iniciada en 1902. Su estrecha colaboración desde 1907 se rompería en 1913 a instancias de Freud, para quien los desarrollos Junguianos del psicoanálisis no resultaban acordes con su propia teoría. Atrás quedarán los años en los que Jung fue el presidente de la Asociación Psicoanalítica Internacional desde su fundación en 1910 hasta el inicio de la primera Guerra Mundial. Una época en la que se constituye y alcanza una dimensión internacional (Europa y Estados Unidos) el movimiento psicoanalítico nacido en Viena alrededor de Freud a partir de 1900.
Entre el inmenso legado de Carl Jung, aquel que ha pasado a la historia por sus teorías y métodos revolucionarios en el mundo de la psicología, hay un tema que sobresale y ha sido su herencia más duradera: La Teoría de los Arquetipos.
Jung busca e investiga a los arquetipos en las doctrinas de las tribus primitivas, en las doctrinas secretas esotéricas, en las religiones, en los mitos y leyendas, en los símbolos del Tarot, en las imágenes de la Alquimia y muy especialmente en los sueños, en los que se apoya para la psicoterapia.
Hay que empezar por decir que Jung pensaba que no venimos al mundo como una tabula rasa, no venimos ‘en blanco’ como planteaba Freud, el ser humano según Jung, ya nace con información y ciertas creencias: “no existe una sola idea o concepción esencial que no posea antecedentes históricos”. Estos antecedentes históricos llegan a nosotros inconscientemente, y otros los vamos aprendiendo por medio de mitos, leyendas y la experiencia.
Es fácil identificar diferentes tipos de patrones de conducta en los mitos y leyendas de las culturas antiguas, todas tienden a tener un mismo héroe y trama, tienden, básicamente, a repetirse. Esta continua repetición de historias con los mismos personajes y el mismo guión es lo que llamamos Arquetipos.
Dr. ADOLFO VÁSQUEZ ROCCA

The extant literature documents the importance of school counselors’ roles in school–family–community partnerships, yet no model exists to guide school counselors through the process of building partnerships. The authors propose a model to help school counselors navigate the process and principles of partnerships. They define partnerships; discuss the principles of democratic collaboration, empowerment, social justice, and strengths focus that should infuse partnerships; enumerate a partnership process model; and discuss implications for practice and research.

This research was funded by, and implemented within, a UK national research organisation, while the author was the KE and Impact Evaluation Manager responsible for assessing impact on a £15m UK government-funded research programme.

This work was also submitted as the authors MBA dissertation which was accepted and awarded in 2009.

ABSTRACT: A methodology and methods ‘toolbox’ is proposed for conducting impact research and assessment from within research programmes. The emphasis is upon how to clarify and assess the wider impacts from the early stages onwards.

The approach explicitly acknowledges, and attempts to address, the known issues and challenges of impact assessment while drawing upon the resources and opportunities available to research managers and researchers within such programmes.

The study has two triangulating foundations. Firstly, it examines the academic literature to help identify and design the pilot methodology and methods. Secondly it trials these in a real programme to both test and improve them.

The study was conducted over one year within one leading UK research organisation, where two research programmes (and around 60 research projects of £15m total value) were being assessed for their impacts. The study draws upon actual impact management experience and reflection, prospective (ex ante) and retrospective (ex post) assessments, participatory contributions from leading researchers undergoing assessment, and consultation with external users. The findings of this study outline the pilot and its first iteration. Recommendations are made for improvement to the methodology and methods.

A subsequent follow-on bid to UK government incorporating the impacts identified from implementing this methodology, successfully led to a further £15m of government funding.

It is expected the pilot methodology and methods will be applicable to other organisations, conducting and funding such research programmes, required to research and assess the wider research impacts.

Although primary focus of implemetation trials was upon research in physical sciences, technology, high-tech engineering, computing/IT, and environment, the wider literature study, the methodology design and justification, the methods proposed and used, and the resulting general recommendations and lessons are expected to apply more broadly to many other research areas, where the impact is to be found more widely in the society, economy, government or public sector or within organizations, policies, professions or the public.

Interest in this work is expected from research programme managers, impact managers and assessors, management consultants advising in this area, and government funding managers, all seeking to embed a developing approach to understand, capture, and enhance wider impact.

The 'born this way' movement for sexual orientation minority rights is premised on the view that sexual orientation is something that can neither be chosen nor changed. Indeed, current sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) appear to be both harmful and ineffective. But what if 'high-tech conversion therapies' (HCT) are invented in the future that are effective at changing sexual orientation? The conceptual basis for the movement would collapse. In this chapter, we argue that the threat of HCT should be taken seriously, motivating a change in tactics for proponents of sexual orientation minority rights. We also discuss some of the practical-ethical and public-policy issues surrounding HCT, in case the technology is one day developed.

This article examines the consequences of undocumented immigration status for those who grow up in the United States. The aim is to examine the relationship between undocumented immigrant status and mental and emotional health. Our efforts focus on undocumented immigrants who arrive as children and spend most of their formative years in the United States. The experiences of these undocumented members of the 1.5 generation are quite different from those who migrate as adults. We are interested in better understanding the effects confusing and conflicting experiences of inclusion and exclusion have on their mental and emotional health as well as the protective factors that may shape resilience. While previous scholarship has drawn some important implications to experiences of stress among undocumented youth and young adults, to our knowledge, no work has been done to explicitly draw the link to mental and emotional health. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research on the topic.

The study deals with the personality and socioeconomic factors influencing the academic track/strand among Senior High Schoolers. It answered the following questions: What is the chosen academic track among Senior High Schoolers?; How may the personality and socioeconomic factors among Senior High Schoolers be described; Is there significant relationship between personality and socioeconomic factors and chosen academic track among Senior High Schoolers?; and To what extend do personality and socioeconomic factors predict the chosen academic track? Descriptive method of research was used with 225 Senior High Schoolers from Wesleyan University-Philippines, Aurora Campus located at Maria Aurora, Aurora, Philippines during the School Year 2018-2019. Questionnaire with the aid of interview were used as data gathering instruments and subjected to frequency distribution, percentage, weighted mean, test of correlation and regression. Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) strand is the first choice among the respondents. Personality factors obtained a weighted mean of 3.51 described as agree, considering that strand which were important and vital in deciding and choosing future career, giving them the challenge to bring out their best, and further development with their values as a person lead the factors. Likewise, supporting the needs of their family and valuing in the future" ruled the socioeconomic factors in choosing strand. Students chose General Academic Strand (GAS) strand still on the process of deciding what degree they will be going to enrol in college which manifested on the finding that high significant correlations were observed to all personality and socioeconomic factors in choosing the academic strand. Fourteen per cent of personality factor; "students' intellectual capacity to finish their studies can predict academic strand while socioeconomic factor; "choosing strand that they value in the future" can predict 13.1%.

EL PROCESO DE DUELO BAJO EL ENFOQUE GESTÁLTICO Y LAS AUTOINTERRUPCIONES EN EL CICLO DE LA EXPERIENCIA Quiero recordar la importancia para los profesionales que trabajan con personas en procesos de muerte y duelo que tengan resueltos los suyos propios, o al menos que sepan cuál es su relación con los propios duelos personales, cómo se relacionan con ellos, sus miedos y bloqueos ante esta realidad. El trabajo con el duelo va a poner de manifiesto las auto-interrupciones, aquéllas emociones que han empezado a emerger y de las que se ha retirado el foco, haciendo que queden ocultas, enterradas, generando emociones secundarias y comportamientos conflictivos en la vida. También va a poner de manifiesto, y es necesario que así sea, las emociones que se taparon en la relación con la persona o la situación de pérdida, que interrumpieron el ciclo de contacto-retirada en la interrelación, y que, por ello, están haciendo difícil la resolución del vínculo y el avance en el duelo. Y por último, dado que con nosotros van todas nuestras pérdidas, aquéllas que han quedado resueltas hasta el estadio en que ha sido posible - inconclusas, sin embargo -, o las que no han sido miradas y resueltas, van a volver con el trabajo de la nueva pérdida. Si el objetivo de la terapia gestalt es la ampliación de la conciencia, consecuentemente el trabajo en el proceso de duelo consiste en aumentar el darse cuenta, una mayor conciencia que permita una mayor integración tanto de la realidad interna como externa, esto es, reconocer y aceptar las propias necesidades y la relación con el ambiente. Se trata de facilitar la resolución de las auto-interrupciones, la gestión de los bloqueos, proponiendo que la persona se ponga de nuevo frente al dolor que no siente, o evita sentir, o no se lo permite, no lo expresa..., mirar lo ocurrido y resolver o emancipar el vínculo para cerrar este asunto pendiente que es el duelo por la pérdida. Desde la gestalt, la tarea va en la dirección de la ampliación de la conciencia para iluminar los lugares donde el ciclo ha quedado interrumpido, bloqueado, así como el acompañamiento en el avance y, en la medida de lo posible, la integración de la pérdida como un aprendizaje para la propia vida y una oportunidad de crecimiento.

The (latest) crisis in confidence in social psychology has generated much heated discussion about the importance of replication, including how it should be carried out as well as interpreted by scholars in the field. For example, what does it mean if a replication attempt “fails”—does it mean that the original results, or the theory that predicted them, have been falsified? And how should “failed” replications affect our belief in the validity of the original research? In this paper, we consider the replication debate from a historical and philosophical perspective, and provide a conceptual analysis of both replication and falsification as they pertain to this important discussion. Along the way, we highlight the importance of auxiliary assumptions (for both testing theories and attempting replications), and introduce a Bayesian framework for assessing “failed” replications in terms of how they should affect our confidence in original findings.

Behaviorism has made a powerful impact upon modern psychology.  Examining the history and current applications of behaviorism offers an opportunity to seek an understanding of behaviorism by exploring behaviorist theory, behaviorism’s “premiere theorists” – Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B. F. Skinner  – and their influence on the development of the behavioral, cognitive, and cognitive/behavior therapies and learning theories used in contemporary psychology.  Although behaviorism, in its purest form, did not survive in America, it was, nevertheless, successful in paving the way for potential-based learning, online education, and distance learning.

The first part of the paper develops the argument that geographers should learn to decompose human memory into its constituent parts because then and then alone will we become attuned to the full range of ways in which we incorporate places into our beings. The second part of the paper articulates Stephen Hill's comments on episodic memory with my recent work on wisdom.

RESUMEN
El presente artículo se propone dar cuenta del elusivo fenómeno de la conciencia desde la original perspectiva de la neurofenomenología de Francisco Varela, quien a partir de nociones tales como neuroplasticidad, enacción y emergencia, explica, cómo ocurren los procesos cerebrales que fundan la conciencia y la “unidad” de la vivencia. Describiendo como la conciencia aparece en el vivir encarnado: en la regulación con el cuerpo entero; en sus relaciones sensorio-motoras con el mundo y en una red ínter-subjetiva de acciones y de lenguaje.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca
Keywords:  Neurociencias, ciencias cognitivas, ética, yo, cuerpo, neuroplasticidad, enacción, acciones corporeizadas,  biología cultural,  saber-cómo.
Neuroscience, cognitive science, ethics, self, body, neuroplasticity, enaction, actions embodied experiences, cultural biology,  know-how.
-Francisco Varela: neurophenomenology, enactive approach to cognition, minds without me and the elusive phenomenon of consciousness.
DR. ADOLFO VÁSQUEZ ROCCA

The spectrum of practices termed “Female Genital Mutilation” (or FGM) by the World Health Organization is sometimes held up as a counterexample to moral relativism. Those who advance this line of thought suggest the practices are so harmful in terms of their physical and emotional consequences, as well as so problematic in terms of their sexist or oppressive implications, that they provide sufficient, rational grounds for the assertion of a universal moral claim—namely, that all forms of FGM are wrong, regardless of the cultural context. However, others point to cultural bias and moral double standards on the part of those who espouse this argument, and have begun to question the received interpretation of the relevant empirical data concerning FGM as well. In this article I assess the merits of these competing perspectives. I argue that each of them involves valid moral concerns that should be taken seriously in order to move the discussion forward. In doing so, I draw on the biomedical “enhancement” literature in order to develop a novel ethical framework for evaluating FGM (and related interventions—such as female genital “cosmetic” surgery and non-therapeutic male circumcision) that takes into account the genuine harms that are at stake in these procedures, but which does not suffer from being based on cultural or moral double standards.

This paper crosses the borders of human geography to bring back two related bodies of work from experimental psychology that investigate, in an unusual and refreshingly precise way, long-standing human geographical concerns with tem-porality, place and subject formations, meaning-making and well-being. It is argued that the traffic of ideas and empirical findings between human geography and experimental psychology can be mutually profitable if, and only to the extent that, it encompasses a sustained epistemological, methodological and political critique of the disciplinary practices that have yielded those ideas and findings.

Recent research has relied on trolley-type sacrificial moral dilemmas to study utilitarian versus nonutili- tarian modes of moral decision-making. This research has generated important insights into people’s attitudes toward instrumental harm—that is, the sacrifice of an individual to save a greater number. But this approach also has serious limitations. Most notably, it ignores the positive, altruistic core of utilitarianism, which is characterized by impartial concern for the well-being of everyone, whether near or far. Here, we develop, refine, and validate a new scale—the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale—to dissociate individual differences in the ‘negative’ (permissive attitude toward instrumental harm) and ‘positive’ (impartial concern for the greater good) dimensions of utilitarian thinking as manifested in the general population. We show that these are two independent dimensions of proto-utilitarian tendencies in the lay population, each exhibiting a distinct psychological profile. Empathic concern, identification with the whole of humanity, and concern for future generations were positively associated with impartial beneficence but negatively associated with instrumental harm; and although instrumental harm was associated with subclinical psychopathy, impartial beneficence was associated with higher religiosity. Importantly, although these two dimensions were independent in the lay population, they were closely associated in a sample of moral philosophers. Acknowledging this dissociation between the instrumental harm and impartial beneficence components of utilitarian thinking in ordinary people can clarify existing debates about the nature of moral psychology and its relation to moral philosophy as well as generate fruitful avenues for further research.

This article introduces the concept of mindfulness meditation as an on-the-spot intervention to be used in specific workplace situations. It presents a model of when, why, and how on-the-spot mindfulness meditation is likely to be helpful or harmful for aspects of job performance. The article begins with a brief review of the mindfulness literature and a rationale for why mindfulness could be used on-the-spot in the workplace. It then delineates consequences of on-the-spot mindfulness interventions on four aspects of job performance - escalation of commitment, counterproductive work behaviors, negotiation performance, and task motivation. The article closes with three necessary conditions for an on-the-spot mindfulness intervention to be effectively used, as well as suggestions for how organizations, managers, and employees can facilitate the fulfillment of these necessary conditions. Possible negative consequences of mindfulness and which types of meditation to use are considered. Taken together, these arguments deepen our understanding of state mindfulness and introduce a new manner in which mindfulness can be used in the workplace.

Environmental psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology that studies the interactions between humans and their environments from a psychological perspective. This brief overview of some main themes and theories is intended to introduce newcomers to this exciting and important field. Ideas introduced here include the effects of environments on perception, on health and well-being and on crime and aggression.

The moral enhancement (or bioenhancement) debate seems stuck in a dilemma. On the one hand, the more radical proposals, while certainly novel and interesting, seem unlikely to be feasible in practice, or if technically feasible then most likely imprudent. But on the other hand, the more “sensible” proposals – sensible in the sense of being both practically achievable and more plausibly ethically justifiable – can be rather hard to distinguish from both “traditional” forms of moral enhancement, such as non-drug-mediated social or moral education, and non-moral forms of bioenhancement, such as “smart drug” style cognitive enhancement. In this essay, I argue that bioethicists have paid insufficient attention to an alternative form of moral bioenhancement—or at least a likely candidate—that falls somewhere between these two extremes, namely the (appropriately qualified) use of certain psychedelic drugs.

In 2012, the politician Todd Akin caused a firestorm by suggesting, in the context of an argument about the moral permissibility of abortion, that some forms of rape were “legitimate” (i.e., carried out with great force or violence). This seemed to imply that other forms of rape must be “illegitimate” (i.e., carried out with less force or violence). In response, several commentators emphasized that rape is a “heinous crime” and that there are “no varying degrees of rape.” While the intention of these commentators was clear, I argue that they may—inadvertently—have played into the very stereotype of rape (implicitly) endorsed by Akin. Such a response, I claim, actually obscures a range of sexual harms, including some that may not rise to the level of being a crime. I also offer some thoughts on the moral psychology behind anti-abortion arguments of the kind advanced by Akin.

Using a field experiment and experience sampling, we found the first evidence that phone use may undermine the enjoyment people derive from real-world social interactions. In Study 1, we recruited over 300 community members and students to share a meal at a restaurant with friends or family. Participants were randomly assigned to keep their phones on the table or to put their phones away during the meal. When phones were present (vs. absent), participants felt more distracted, which reduced how much they enjoyed spending time with their friends/family. We found consistent results using experience sampling in Study 2; during in-person interactions, participants felt more distracted and reported lower enjoyment if they used their phones than if they did not. This research suggests that despite their ability to connect us to others across the globe, phones may undermine the benefits we derive from interacting with those across the table.

This article presents a review of the recent literature on change management in public organisations and sets out to explore the extent to which this literature has responded to earlier critiques regarding the lack of (public) contextual factors. The review includes 133 articles published on this topic in the period from 2000 to 2010. The articles are analyzed based on the themes of the context, content, process, outcome and leadership of change. We identified whether the articles referred to different orders of change, as well as their employed methods and theory. Our findings concentrate on the lack of detail on change processes and outcomes and the gap between the common theories used to study change. We propose an agenda for the study of change management in public organisations that focuses on its complex nature by building theoretical bridges and performing more in-depth empirical and comparative studies on change processes.

This paper discusses the introduction of behaviorism as a major contribution to the world of psychology by comparing and contrasting the contributions and perspectives of three of psychology’s “premiere figures” - Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, and B. F. Skinner

What are the effects of circumcision  on sexual function and experience? And what does sex—in the sense related to gender—have to do with the ethics of circumcision? Jacobs and Arora (2015) give short shrift to the first of these questions; and they do not seem to have considered the second. In this commentary, I explore the relationship between sex (in both senses) and infant male circumcision, and draw some conclusions about the ongoing debate regarding this controversial practice.

Domestic violence (DV) is a serious and complex social issue which is associated with significant costs to both those individuals who are directly affected and the wider community. Preventative approaches with vulnerable population groups represent an important component of any integrated response to DV and should be informed by an understanding of those factors that influence violence developmentally. This paper reports the findings of a systematic review of longitudinal studies that have prospectively investigated childhood and/or adolescent predictors of DV perpetration and/or victimization among adult men and women in intimate relationships. We identified 25 original studies that met the inclusion criteria, all of which investigated predictors of domestic physical abuse. Few studies prospectively examined psychological, sexual and verbal abuse. Child and adolescent abuse, family of origin risks, child and adolescent behavioral problems, adolescent peer risks, and sociodemographic risks were all identified as significant predictors of DV perpetration and victimization. It is concluded that early childhood and adolescent factors are consistent predictors in the development of DV perpetration and victimization and that prevention and early intervention approaches targeting these factors are likely to prove the most effective.

This is an open access textbook on the psychology of health and illness designed for the University of the People (UoP) but available to everyone.  It consists of 8 chapters covering key theoretical perspectives; health behaviour and beliefs; behaviour change; becoming ill, illness beliefs, help seeking and the medical consultation; the experience of being ill, stress and pain; chronic conditions; gender and health; health outcomes and quality of life.  Please use as you like!

According to Brian Morris (2013), “Science supports infant circumcision” and “so should skeptics.” It would be more accurate to say that ‘Brian Morris supports infant circumcision,’ and that skeptics can think for themselves. In this paper, we critically assess the arguments and evidence presented by Morris in his recent article, and draw some general lessons for the ongoing debate about the science and ethics of infant male circumcision.

Media technology—from mass media to social media and from video gaming to computer-mediated communication—plays an increasingly central role in people’s lives. Due to exponential increases in computing power, people now carry incredibly powerful computers—their smartphones—everywhere they go. This ever-greater access to media technology is generating an ever-greater conflict between media activities and the unmediated activities critical for psychological well-being—from our face-to-face conversations and family time to our down time and work lives. What are the costs and benefits of people’s modern media technology use for psychological well-being? Using a complementarity-interference (CI) framework, I review research to illuminate key psychological processes (i.e., mediators) and conditions (i.e., moderators) of the relationship between media technology and psychological well-being. Based on the existing evidence, I propose an initial theoretical CI model of the effects of media technology on psychological well-being. I use this CI model to outline important directions for future research, providing guidelines for an integrated, theoretically informed research on media technology.