The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between childhood IQ of parents and characteristics of their adult offspring. It was a prospective family cohort study linked to a mental ability survey of the parents and set in Renfrew and Paisley in Scotland. Participants were 1921-born men and women who took part in the Scottish Mental Survey in 1932 and the Renfrew/Paisley study in the 1970s, and whose offspring took part in the Midspan Family study in 1996. There (...) were 286 offspring from 179 families. Parental IQ was related to some, but not all characteristics of offspring. Greater parental IQ was associated with taller offspring. Parental IQ was inversely related to number of cigarettes smoked by offspring. Higher parental IQ was associated with better education, offspring social class and offspring deprivation category. There were no significant relationships between parental IQ and offspring systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, lung function, weight, body mass index, waist hip ratio, housing, alcohol consumption, marital status, car use and exercise. Structural equation modelling showed parental IQ associated with offspring education directly and mediated via parental social class. Offspring education was associated with offspring smoking and social class. The smoking finding may have implications for targeting of health education. (shrink)

This paper was delivered at the 2009 annual conference of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research. It is a reflective piece based on many years of experience with human research ethics and the role of Research Ethics Boards in human participant research.

Recreational Drugs European Network (ReDNet) project aims to use the Psychonaut Web Mapping Project database (Psychonaut Web Mapping Group, 2009) containing novel psychoactive compounds usually not mentioned in the scientific literature and thus unknown to clinicians as a unique source of information. The database will be used to develop an integrated ICT prevention approach targeted at vulnerable individuals and focused on novel synthetic and herbal compounds and combinations. Particular care will be taken in keeping the health professionals working directly with (...) young people showing problematic behaviors regularly updated in terms of novel compounds and combinations as well. A user-friendly project website will be developed aimed primarily at delivering the information/prevention approaches, but will also be a way of communicating with project partners and relevant stakeholders (e.g. thematic forum facilities, instant messages, blogs, video chat, wikiblog, newsletters distributed via mailing list). The website will support various ICT prevention tools, including an SMS alert service. Different areas and sections will be aimed specifically at the different target groups. -/- . (shrink)

Most phobias are focussed on a small number of fear-inducing stimuli (e.g., snakes, spiders). A review of the evidence supporting biological and cognitive explanations of this uneven distribution of phobias suggests that the readiness with which such stimuli become associated with aversive outcomes arises from biases in the processing of information about threatening stimuli rather than from phylogenetically based associative predispositions or “biological preparedness.” This cognitive bias, consisting of a heightened expectation of aversive outcomes following fear-relevant stimuli, generates and maintains (...) robust learned associations between them. Some of the features of such stimuli which determine this expectancy bias are estimates of how dangerous they are, the semiotic similarity between them and their aversive outcomes, and the degree of prior fear they elicit. Ontogenetic and cultural factors influence these features of fear-relevant stimuli and are hence important in determining expectancy bias. The available evidence does not exclude the possibility that both expectancy biases and specific evolved predispositions coexist, but the former can explain a number of important findings that the latter cannot. (shrink)

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether the resistance to extinction obtained in evaluative conditioning (EC) studies implies that EC is a qualitatively distinct form of classical conditioning (Baeyens, Eelen, & Crombez, 1995 Baeyens, F, Eelen, P, and Crombez, G, (1995a). Pavlovian associations are forever: On classical conditioning and extinction, Journal of Psychophysiology 9 ((1995a)), pp. 127–141.[Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]a) or whether it is the result of an nonassociative artefact (Field & Davey, 1997 Field, AP, and (...) class='Hi'>Davey, GCL, (1997). Conceptual conditioning: Evidence for an artifactual account of evaluative learning, Learning and Motivation 25 ((1997)), pp. 446–464.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar], 1998 Field, AP, and Davey, GCL, (1998). Evaluative conditioning: Arti‐fact or ‐fiction?‐ A reply to Baeyens, De Houwer, Vansteenwegen, and Eelen (1998), Learning and Motivation 29 ((1998)), pp. 475–491.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar], 1999 Field, AP, and Davey, GCL, (1999). Reevaluating evaluative conditioning: A nonassociative explanation of conditioning effects in the visual evaluative conditioning paradigm, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 25 ((1999)), pp. 211–224.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]). Both experiments included between‐subjects control groups in addition to standard within‐subjects control conditions. In Experiment 1, only verbal ratings were measured in order to evaluate the effect of postacquisition CS‐only exposures on EC whereas in Experiment 2, verbal ratings and postextinction priming effects were measured. The results showed that the EC effects are demonstrable in a between‐subjects design and that the extinction procedure did not have any influence on the acquired evaluative value of CSs regardless of whether the verbal ratings or the priming effects were used as dependent variables. The present results provide evidence that EC is resistant to extinction and suggest an interpretation of EC as a qualitatively distinct form of associative learning. (shrink)

Two experiments are described that investigate the effects of attention in moderating evaluative conditioning (EC) effects in a picture‐picture paradigm in which previously discovered experimental artifacts (e.g., Field & Davey, 1999 Field, AP, and Davey, GCL, (1999). Reevaluating evaluative conditioning: A nonassociative explanation of conditioning effects in the visual evaluative conditioning paradigm, Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes 25 ((1999)), pp. 211–224.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [Google Scholar]) were overcome by counterbalancing conditioned stimuli (CSs) and unconditioned (...) stimuli (USs) across participants. Conditioned responses for individuals who had attention enhanced were compared against a control group and groups for whom attention was impeded using a distracter task. In a second experiment the effects of attention were dissociated from those of contingency awareness by using backward‐masked US presentations. The results of these experiments indicate that although associative EC effects may not be disrupted by a lack of contingency awareness, attention is an important factor in establishing conditioning. These results shed some light onto the possible boundary conditions that could explain past inconsistencies in obtaining EC effects in the visual paradigm. (shrink)

In his critique of preparedness theory, Davey does not address the limitations of adaptationism. The purpose of this commentary is to outline problems that arise when one assumes that mental illness (e.g., phobic disorder)musthave had adaptive significance for it to have survived the vicissitudes of natural selection.

In the Vocation of Man, Fichte makes the striking claim that life is eternal, rational, our true being, and the final cause of nature in general and of death in particular. How can we make sense of this claim? I argue that the public lectures that compose the Vocation are a popular expression of Fichte’s pre-existing commitment to what I call immortalism, the view that life is the unconditioned condition of intelligibility. Casting the I as an absolutely self-active or living (...) power enables his philosophical account of both the intelligibility of objects and of what it means to die. This explains his characterization of the Wissenschaftslehre as a system in which ‘all is act, movement, and life’. In Sect. 1, I explain the context of Jacobi’s use of ‘caput mortuum’ as a term for the thing in itself. In Sects. 2 and 3, I reconstruct two immortalist arguments from Fichte’s Jena period. The first is that the I’s self-activity rules out the existence of the thing in itself and thereby vanquishes ‘death’s head’. The second is that, insofar as the I charges us with the moral perfection of nature, it is the final cause of our entire life, including its end. This is to say that the I puts our every moment into question, even our last. In Sect. 4, I use these immortalist arguments to interpret the striking claim from the Vocation. (shrink)

The growth of managed care was accompanied by concern about the impact that changes in health care organization would have on the doctor-patient relationship. We now are in a “post-managed care era,” where some of these changes in health care delivery have come to pass while others have not. A re-examination of the DPR in this setting suggests some surprising results. Rather than posing a new and unprecedented threat, managed care was simply the most recent of numerous strains on the (...) DPR that have occurred throughout the century. These strains are a constant, inevitable consequence of the varying needs and concerns of patient and physicians as they seek to balance their desires for a certain type of DPR with their simultaneous desire for other aspects of care such as lower costs, greater technological sophistication, and improved outcomes. (shrink)

Changes in healthcare financing increasingly rely upon patient cost-sharing to control escalating healthcare expenditures. These changes raise new challenges for physicians that are different from those that arose either under managed care or traditional indemnity insurance. Historically, there have been two distinct bases for arguing that physicians should not consider costs in their clinical decisions—an “aspirational ethic” that exhorts physicians to treat all patients the same regardless of their ability to pay, and an “agency ethic” that calls on physicians to (...) be trustworthy advisors to their patients. In the setting of greater patient cost-sharing, physicians' aspiration and agency roles increasingly conflict. Satisfactorily navigating the new terrain of consumer-driven healthcare requires physicians to consider these two roles and how they can best be reconciled so as to maximize quality of care while respecting the heterogeneity of patients' financial resources and willingness to pay. (shrink)

Monitored Emergency Use of Unregistered and Experimental Interventions (MEURI) is an ethical framework developed by the WHO for using unproven interventions in public health emergencies outside the context of medical research. It is mainly intended for use when medical research would be impracticable, but there is still a need to systematically gather data about unproven interventions. As such, it is designed as something of a middle ground between clinical and research ethical frameworks. However, I argue that MEURI does not truly (...) lie at the intersection of clinical care and research. Due to its intent, structure and oversight requirements, it takes on most of the crucial features of research, to the point that it is best understood as a form of research. As a result, cases where MEURI could practicably be applied should instead make use of existing research frameworks. For those circumstances where research is truly impracticable, a more straightforward oversight system than MEURI is needed. While existing practices of compassionate use have some applicability, proposals to make use of clinical ethics committees to oversee unproven interventions may help achieve the right balance in acting in a patient’s best interests when the relevant evidence base is weak. (shrink)

This study aims to reveal the impact and response to the apartheid system in shaping the collective trauma of African society through symbolic representations of suffering and social performativity through political action in “Amnesty” short story by Nadine Gordimer. This study used the cultural trauma theory by Jeffrey Alexander with descriptive qualitative method. The results of this research found that social suffering is symbolically represented with a humanist and theocentric images. Even so, the two seemingly different treatments are essentially the (...) same suffering, disguised by social and cultural symbols. Then, as a response to this suffering, there was social performativy through the political actions of social agents carried out by the Labor Union. These actions occur after going through of socio-cultural processes such as gathering, organizing, rioting, speeches, demonstrations, and accommodating or representing pain as well as distributing social awareness to arrive at the point where the apartheid system is the cause of all forms of suffering they experience. (shrink)

This study aims to uncover the praxis of singularity and self-identity (kedirian) as presented in a short story titled Aroma Tanah Moncongloe (ATM). This research uses a descriptive-qualitative method by applying the post-marxist perspective by Antonio Negri and Jean-Luc Nancy. The results signified that there is a labeling of identity constructed by the state as a form of uniformity that is in line with the empire or external power. This uniformity can be seen from the identity of former political prisoners (...) who are isolated and find it difficult to find work. Through the concept of singularity and identity, the existence of political prisoner (ex-tapol) in turn is seen as bad, evil, and can pollute a clean society. On the other hand, this stigma forms a community of ex-tapol who were marginalized politically, socially, and economically. Furthermore, in the subject’s effort to grasp the singularity, there are two indications, shown by Nanni and the Moncongloe Tapol Community (KTM). Nanni is not tied to a single identity as a child (genealogical-biological), but tend to be an open-minded, rational, and trusting teacher (sociological). Meanwhile, KTM stands outside the global political order or empire which minimizes them being entangled in the global capitalist system. (shrink)

Os Cursos da Sorbonne de Merleau-Ponty tratam da psicologia e pedagogia da criança. Dentre outros tópicos, interessa-nos aqui a perspectiva fenomenológica merleau-pontiana acerca da relação entre intencionalidade e aquisição de linguagem. Ancorado no pensamento de Max Scheler e, sobretudo, Ferdinand de Saussure, Merleau-Ponty apresenta uma noção de linguagem que visa examinar as posições intelectualista e empirista de modo a superar a privacidade do cogito tácito e os limites do alter ego de Husserl, indicando assim uma origem intercorporal do fenômeno linguístico (...) em que outrem opera o descentramento do eu pela fala. (shrink)

This research examines the novel No Time Like the Present (NTLP) by Nadine Gordimer as a material object. This novel outlines the conditions and situation of the post-apartheid South African country with various post-colonial problems. Centered on the life of a mixed family, black and white, with the characters of former independence fighter Umkhonto, the novel shows how the tortured and fragmented essence of a country struggles to define itself as a post-apartheid nation. In this regard, as an implication of (...) this problem, this research formulates two problems, (1) How do the colonial memory and trauma contructed in NTLP novel? And (2) How are the subject efforts to accept and recover from the trauma? To solve those problems, this research uses Postcolonial Trauma perpective of Step Craps and combined with reconciliation theory from Dominick LaCapra as a formal object. The aims of this research to (1) describe the construction of memory and colonial trauma through narrative witnessing that has an impact on the existence of the traumatic subject in the novel, and (2) explain the traumatized subjects efforts to survive through recovery and acceptance of the trauma experienced. This research is qualitative-descriptive by analyzing data using phenomenological method. The method used to analyze the events as well as traumatic experiences constructed in literary texts. The research resulted, (1) the construction of traumatic memories originating from apartheid events is narrated in various forms of torture carried out by the white regime, both directly against Umkhonto and South African society in general, including arrests and killings, segregation and cladestine life, invasions home, and cultural racism. This experience in turn causes collective trauma, which is narrated in symptoms such as the inability of the subject, feelings of inferiority, self-loathing, to Xenophobia. Furthermore, (2) in the efforts of reconciliation, social, political, economic, and other transformations and reforms, it encourages traumatic subjects to persist in the present and in the future, even though the past is still haunted. As an entity that represents the collectivism of the South African people, Umkhonto demonstrates persistence, reconnecting experiences, knowledge and feelings between them through acceptance of reality, selecting the right listeners or mates, and working towards voting rights in elections. (shrink)

Tulisan ini bertujuan mengurai makna dan retorika penciptaan mantra Cenning Rara sebagai salah satu perwujudan sastra lisan suku Bugis di Sulawesi Selatan. Mantra Cenning Rara adalah sejenis ilmu pengasihan, berisi doa-doa pemikat, dipercaya masyarakat Bugis dapat memikat hati lawan jenisnya. Saat ini, mantra tersebut mulai tergerus dan jarang digunakan dengan sejumlah alasan, satu di antaranya terkoptasi oleh nilai-nilai religi yang berkembang belakangan. Berdasarkan latar belakang tersebut, penelitian ini dilakukan untuk (1) mengetahui makna mantra Cenning Rara, serta (2) retorika penciptaan yang (...) mendasarinya berfungsi sebagai mantra pemikat lawan jenis. Metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif, memperoleh data dalam bentuk narasi bukan angka. Objek penelitian ini terdiri dari dua; objek material dalam hal ini hasil transkripsi dan terjemahan mantra Cenning Rara, dan teori semiotika Riffaterre dan formula Albert B. Lord sebagai objek formal. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa mantra Cenning Rara secara heuristik mengandung makna keterpesonaan terhadap seseorang. Sementara secara hermeneutik, keterpesonaan tersebut diekspresikan tidak berdiri sendiri, tetapi dibarengi unsur-unsur seperti keyakinan, paksaan, dan ancaman; bahwa mantra adalah media yang dapat mengobati sekaligus melukai. Selain itu, retorika penciptaan mantra Cenning Rara melalui formula sebagai sarana penyampaian gagasan, selain dilandasi oleh keyakinan dan kepercayaan—juga didorong oleh kepandaian penutur dalam menciptakan wacana estetik yang ritmis dan puitis. (shrink)

Contemporary religious studies contains many studies of Orthodox theology of the twentieth century, but there are almost no studies of the most prominent modern trend in Orthodox theology, neo-patristics. In particular, in the works of L. Voronkova, G. Gabinsky, M. Gordienko, Y. Kalinin, P. Kurochkin, I. Mozgovy, V. Molokov, M. Novikov, N. Petelinskaya, V. Chertikhin, A. Chertkov, a thorough analysis of tendencies was carried out Modernism of Orthodox theology of the Russian Church. Of these, only M. Novikov briefly criticizes the (...) views of V. Lossky, a representative of Neopatristics, but the researcher does not realize the originality of this trend in Orthodox theology. Especially the tendencies of the development of Orthodox theology of spiritual academic schools of the XIX-beg. XX century. M. Ivanov, M. Glubokovsky, I. Kondratieva, G. Pankov, O. Pechurina, O. Sarapin, L. Fokina were thoroughly researched, but these studies were usually conducted outside the context of all Orthodox theology of the XX century. (shrink)

Plutarch, in his work,_ Peri __Deisidaimon_ia_ __,_ presents a striking portrayal of superstition in the First Century. The Philosopher who also served for decades as a priest of Apollo portrays the pernicious effects of some supposed religious practices as worse than the outcome of atheism. His position constitutes a forceful explanation to ostensibly controversial socio-religious behaviours. This article discusses some of the priest’s concerns as well as his rebuff of religious attitudes that are borne out of what he describes as (...) misrepresentation of the gods or superstition. Plutarch’s essay is seen as illustrating a reason for a socio-religious situation in Africa, a continent that shares a similar religious background with the world of the writer. Specifically, with the example of the hard fight against street begging in some parts of Nigeria, the article shows how social reform programmes could fail when effects of traditional African beliefs and cultural practices remain potent. __. (shrink)