Children and Violence: Nurturing Social-Emotional Development to Promote Mental Health

The absence of violence against children is a fundamental children's right and a major milestone of civilized society. Similarly, reports on incidences of violence by children and youth, including severe cases with devastating consequences, speak to the need that the trauma of exposure to violence in childhood needs to be addressed. While violence and its risk factors are generally understood, what is less clear are the essential protective factors, how we can identify those as early as possible, and how we can use them to prevent and address the trauma of violence exposure in children and youth. In this report, I review pathways of child and youth violence through the lens of social-emotional development as a central protective factor. Negative emotions of frustration and anger can underlie violence and aggression. Kind emotions, such as caring and our ability to connect with others emotionally, can serve as social-emotional protective factors. A brief review of the central social-emotional processes and their development is provided, including the human capacity to feel with others and express empathy, be emotionally aware and care about the effects of one's own actions on others, and be able to regulate the self and their emotions. Given the negative widespread and long-term impact of exposure to violence, I describe research-informed attempts to prevent violence exposure across development. Taking a humanistic, strength-based perspective, the focus is on social-emotional protective factors to address violence and nurture mental health in every child. I conclude with recommendations for practice and policy.     

Considering economic stress and empathic traits in predicting prosocial behaviors among U.S. Latino adolescents

The goal of the current study was to examine two competing models focusing on the roles of empathy‐related traits in the relation between economic stress and prosocial behaviors. First, we examined the mediating roles of perspective taking and empathic concern in the association between economic stress and adolescents’ prosocial behaviors. Second, we examined the moderating role of perspective taking in the association between economic stress and empathic concern, as well as the links between empathic concern and prosocial behaviors. Participants consisted of 307 (46.2% girls; M age = 15.05) U.S. Latino adolescents (77.5% U.S. Mexicans) and their primary caregivers (87.9% mothers). Primary caregivers reported on family‐level economic stress, and adolescents reported on their own perspective taking, empathic concern, and their tendency to engage in six forms of prosocial behaviors. Results demonstrated support for the moderating role of perspective taking on the link between economic stress and empathic concern, which in turn, was associated with multiple forms of helping behaviors. Economic stress was also directly associated with selfless and selfish helping behaviors. The discussion focuses on the multiple roles of empathic traits in understanding the links between economic stress and prosocial outcomes in U.S. Latino youth.     

Public Perception of Uncertainties Within Climate Change Science

Climate change is a complex, multifaceted problem involving various interacting systems and actors. Therefore, the intensities, locations, and timeframes of the consequences of climate change are hard to predict and cause uncertainties. Relatively little is known about how the public perceives this scientific uncertainty and how this relates to their concern about climate change. In this article, an online survey among 306 Swiss people is reported that investigated whether people differentiate between different types of uncertainty in climate change research. Also examined was the way in which the perception of uncertainty is related to people's concern about climate change, their trust in science, their knowledge about climate change, and their political attitude. The results of a principal component analysis showed that respondents differentiated between perceived ambiguity in climate research, measurement uncertainty, and uncertainty about the future impact of climate change. Using structural equation modeling, it was found that only perceived ambiguity was directly related to concern about climate change, whereas measurement uncertainty and future uncertainty were not. Trust in climate science was strongly associated with each type of uncertainty perception and was indirectly associated with concern about climate change. Also, more knowledge about climate change was related to less strong perceptions of each type of climate science uncertainty. Hence, it is suggested that to increase public concern about climate change, it may be especially important to consider the perceived ambiguity about climate research. Efforts that foster trust in climate science also appear highly worthwhile.     

从祭祀对象的选取看梅山儒礼的价值取向

梅山儒礼与中国传统的儒家思想和儒家文化一脉相承,虽然有神秘的程式,但无论是框架、内容,还是形式,都体现出我国儒家所倡导的平等的人本精神。单从祭祀活动所选取的祭祀对象就可以解读出梅山儒礼呈现的奋发向上、积极进取、和谐生活、兼济天下的思想。     

马克思与但丁人文精神比较

但丁的人文主义思想主要表现为强烈的批判精神、积极的理想主义以及丰富的人本思想。但丁终生对意大利乃至西欧的社会变化与市民思想行为进行尖锐评判,并强烈批判教会腐败,愤怒谴责贵族的堕落与政治纷争;在早年从政与后期流亡途中,但丁通过系列著述与勇敢斗争,展示了追求和平统一的理想;但丁将人们关注的重点从对上帝和天堂的盲目崇拜转向对世俗生活的赞美,充分肯定人的情感、理性与尊严,其人本主义思想明显超越了中世纪晚期的宗教神学。马克思最喜爱但丁,终生以“下地狱”决心投身政治经济学研究。不过,马克思更关注普通劳动者,其共产主义理想以解放全人类为目标,超越了但丁仅关注社会上层的狭隘性;与但丁晚年的消沉保守相比,马克思理想更为坚定;马克思对资本主义生产方式的批判持续终生,整体上突破了但丁人文主义思想的宗教束缚与神学局限,表现出更为全面彻底的人文精神。     

人类命运的终极关怀 ——胡丘陵及其政治抒情诗

胡丘陵的作品被称为“后政治抒情诗”代表性文本,他的作品有着浓重的历史意识,其在历史的褶皱深处发掘人性的光辉,用全球化的视野和人性的光辉照亮读者的心灵;同时,对人类命运的终极关怀,以及作品艺术性、政治性和抒情性的高度统一,使得他的作品既有历史的深度、现实的厚度和精神的广度,又在保持思想高度和作品纯度的基础上,最大可能地寓含了散发着诗性光辉的生命情怀、悲悯精神与世界意识。     

传统村落人文物象体现的造物文化思想解读

作为物质“形象”的第一层面被人们所感知的“物象”是不依赖于人之意识的客观存在。基于对传统村落人文物象的实证研究,认为其能够体现系统的传统造物文化思想,将其概括为“规则、参照、功能与技术、核心”四个层面,并从中揭示了“天、地、人、物”之间的关系,进一步阐释了造物文化思想对传统村落人文物象具有的现代启示。     

万物关联的断裂：灾难的心智根源

从人类生态系统理论和贝特森元关联理论,可以拓展出万物关联生态体系概念以及相关的生态理论范式,并由此分析产生灾难的心智根源;灾难表现为生态系统结构的断裂,是一系列生态要素的连锁反应甚至剧变,涉及诸多因素的干扰,是一个极为复杂的过程,但是其深层根源却是错误的人类生态观。需要建立“以生命为本”的价值取向,建设人文生态,优化元关联的生态体系,这是避免灾难或者从灾难迅速恢复的根本途径。     

独立院校医学生人文素质教育分析与对策研究

人文素质教育对于医学生的培养不容忽视。由于我国现行医学生选拔和培养模式、独立院校校园文化薄弱和“三本”学生自身特点等因素影响，独立院校医学生人文素质教育有待加强。独立医学院校应从深化教学改革、提高师资力量、建设校园文化、增强临床教学等四方面入手，努力提高医学生人文素养，不仅有利于医学生的成长成才，也有利于缓和当前的医患矛盾，更有助于推动医疗卫生事业的和谐发展。     

高校图书馆开展人文素养教育工作探析——以河北工程大学图书馆为例

目前人文素养教育实践正在各大高校开展。文章以河北工程大学图书馆为例,分析高校图书馆在人文素养教育中的地位,探讨高校图书馆开展人文素养教育的有效途径,以便更好地发挥高校图书馆的职能。