Facilitating intercultural education in majority student groups in higher education

ABSTRACT

The present article critically analyses the pedagogical efforts of two teachers to promote values education and intercultural reflection in their own educational practice. They teach in higher education in Norway and most of their students have majority backgrounds. Based on their teaching experiences with VaKE (Values and Knowledge education), the article discusses opportunities and challenges when working with values education in majority student groups. It concludes that discussing values is difficult but can be eye opening. It also raises the question of which dilemmas can prevent stereotyping and foster more complex intercultural thinking and shows that intercultural education requires a discussion of one’s own cultural position. The article highlights the teacher’s crucial role in the VaKE-process regarding the aims of intercultural values education.     

Personality traits and knowledge sharing

In this paper, we describe an empirical study that relates three personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness) to knowledge sharing. In the existing literature considerable attention has been paid to managerial influences on knowledge sharing, technological support through information and communication systems, or individual characteristics like motivation or the perception of conflict of interest or vulnerability. Instead we concentrate on the role that personal dispositions play in individual’s knowledge sharing behavior. By means of structural equation modeling with PLS, we discover significant correlations between the personality traits and knowledge sharing within teams of an engineering company. Our results clearly contribute to the existing literature, as they offer empirical evidence of the impact of enduring individual characteristics on knowledge sharing.     

Testing an Etiological Model for Male Juvenile Sexual Offending Against Females

SUMMARY

Research on the origin of sexual aggression has identified several important contributing factors: (a) early abuse (physical and sexual), (b) personality/behavioral traits (callousness and unemotionality, antisocial behavior/impulsivity, and hypersexuality), and (c) attitudinal/cognitive variables (negative masculinity, hostility toward women, misogynistic fantasies). We developed and tested an etiological model of sexual coercion on adult samples of sexual offenders and community controls. The model proposes three major causal pathways to sexual coercion. Using data gathered from a computerized interview, we employed this same model to predict sexually coercive behavior in a sample of 218 juvenile sexual offenders. The cross-sample consistency of the model provides support for a unified theory of sexual aggression against women.     

Knowledge Management in Social Work–Towards a Conceptual Framework

SUMMARY

Knowledge management (KM) is receiving increasing attention in the human services such as social work. Social service organizations have started to use information and communication technology for knowledge management purposes with the aim of improving service efficiency and effectiveness. Existing KM studies, particularly in the commercial or industrial sectors, mainly focus on the reductionistic “knowledge-as-object” view, while other perspectives such as “knowledge-as-process” are less discussed. This paper argues that these mainstream conceptions of knowledge in KM do not fully fit with that of social work knowledge, and that a spectrum view may be more useful for future practice and inquiry in the area.     

Unemployment duration and personality

This paper focuses on the role personality traits play in determining individual unemployment duration. We argue that a worker’s job search intensity is decisively driven by her personality traits, reflected in her propensity to motivate and control herself while searching for a job. Moreover, personality traits, in as far as they can be signaled to a potential employer, may also enhance the probability of receiving and accepting a job offer.For our econometric duration analysis, we use the well-accepted taxonomy “Big Five” to classify personality traits. Based on individual unemployment data taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) our empirical findings reveal that the personality traits Conscientiousness and Neuroticism have a strong impact on the instantaneous probability of finding a job, where the former has a positive effect and the latter has a negative effect. The direction of the effect on the subsequent employment duration is the opposite. We do not find any significant effects of the personality traits Extraversion and Agreeableness on the duration of unemployment. The personality trait Openness eases finding a job only for female unemployed workers and workers with migration background.     

Examining the Efficacy of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Brief MBSR) Program on Psychological Health

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine potential psychological health benefits of participating in a brief (5-week) mindfulness-based stress reduction (brief MBSR) program integrated into an academic course. Participants: Participants were 119 undergraduate students (treatment: n = 72; control: n = 47) enrolled in elective academic courses on addictive behaviors, between January 2010 and May 2012. Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design comparing changes in psychological health between brief MBSR treatment and parallel control groups. Baseline and follow-up data were collected synchronously across semesters for both groups. Results: Analysis of covariance revealed significant improvements in psychological health, measured by mindfulness (Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale: p ≤ .001; Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Scale: p ≤ .001) and self-compassion (Self-compassion Scale: p ≤ .001), among brief MBSR participants compared with the parallel control cohort. Significant reductions in trait anxiety were not evident. Conclusions: Brief MBSR programs can improve psychological health; however, longer MBSR programs may be needed to improve psychological distress, such as trait anxiety.     

Modelling Mindsets of an Agency

Abstract

This article introduces a culturally based socio-cognitive agency meta-model built from ‘living systems’ theory. The agency is adaptive. It has a normative personality with an epistemic state determined by its three formative traits, which have a control function and can take bi-polar epistemic values (‘enantiomers’). Combined together, they give eight different cognitive types, i.e. eight different types of personality mindset. These personality mindset types are influenced by the culture and the social environment to which the agency is bound. The traits can be used to explain the what, why, and how of dynamic agency behaviour in complex situations.     

Assessing Power and Control Differentials

ABSTRACT

A critique of unidirectional understandings of power and control in social psychology, conflict theory, critical theory, and social work empowerment theories provides the framework for a new synthetic conceptualization of power and control in human behavior. A criminological theory called control balance is enlarged as an explanation of non-conforming behavior. Both a surplus of autonomy and an excess of repression provide subjective motivation for subversive acts that empower the actor. This dual-tension model is a theoretically useful predictor of human behavior, and in concert with symbolic interactionism, provides a theoretical frame for consideration of secondary socialization as a potential means of Social Work intervention     

Big Five Personality Traits and Ambiguity Management in Career Decision-Making

Although ambiguity aversion has been found to impede the process and outcome of career decision-making, knowledge regarding the association between personality characteristics and ambiguity aversion is limited. Thus, the author examined the prediction of the Big Five personality traits for ambiguity aversion and the mediation of tolerance and confidence in ambiguity management. The results obtained with a U.S. sample (N = 239) revealed the following: (a) neuroticism positively predicted ambiguity aversion; (b) extraversion did not predict ambiguity aversion; (c) agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness negatively predicted ambiguity aversion; and (d) confidence in ambiguity management mediated the relationships between agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness and ambiguity aversion. These findings highlight the differential roles of the Big Five personality traits in ambiguity management and the importance of confidence in ambiguity management. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed along with the study's limitations and suggestions for future research.     

Cohabitation before marriage

This study compares 159 married couples who had or had not lived together previous to marriage with respect to a number of demographic and personality variables. There were few differences between the two groups on background variables but many on personality traits. Males who had cohabited perceived themselves as more androgynous, attractive, and less religious than males who did not cohabit. Females who cohabited saw themselves as more interested in art, attractive, extroverted, intelligent, liberal, androgynous, and having more leadership qualities; while being less religious, clothes-conscious, and law-abiding than women who did not cohabit. Couples who cohabited showed significantly greater sexual experimentation and self-perception accuracy than the couples who did not cohabit. Cohabitors revealed some background and trait within-group differences as a function of the length of their cohabital experiences. The majority of differences between the groups were in terms of variables assessed on the females. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Authors' Note: This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award (K02-DA00017) and a research grant (DA01070) from the U.S. Public Health Service. The assistance of Deborah Cabin is gratefully acknowledged.     

On being moved

In this paper, drawing on Henri Bergson's writing knowledge is seen as a virtual asset, i.e. , a resource that transgresses the distinction between past, present and future. Knowledge is never solely related to the actual present, but is continuously related to and associated with previous experiences and anticipated futures. By conceptualizing knowledge as a virtual asset, the notion of knowledge is freed from its commonplace metaphor of being a stock of skills and know-how that the organization can make use of. In this perspective, knowledge can never be fully conceived of as a stock, but must always be related to practices and activities. As a consequence, knowledge management theory needs to redirect its attention towards practices, rather than theorizing in terms of the taxonomies of knowledge employed by organizations.     

Agencies,normative personalities and the Viable Systems Model

Abstract

Modelling the organization to enable purposeful analysis and diagnosis of its ills is often problematic. Beer's use of the Viable Systems Model (VSM) and its development as a methodology for analysis and diagnosis of organizational pathologies has been successful in exploring this, but viewing the organization as a personality provides additions control perspectives that are distinct from those identified by Beer. In this article the notion of normative personality is defined in terms of socio-cognitive processes operating through trait controls, and the resulting model is then related to the VSM.     

Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Chlamydia/Gonorrhea Testing Among Heterosexual College Students: Who Is Getting Tested and Why Do Some Not?

Abstract

Objective: This study explored college students’ reported history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and chlamydia/gonorrhea and characteristics of students reporting testing. Additionally, it assessed their motivation regarding future testing and reasons for lack of motivation. Participants: The sample consisted of 292 sexually experienced college students self-identifying as heterosexual at a midwestern university. Methods: Participants completed a 26-item survey during the 2010–2011 academic year. Results: Demographics (sex, age, race/ethnicity), behaviors (higher numbers of sex partners, currently not using condoms), and motivation for future testing distinguished those who had been tested ever and those who had not. Half of participants were not motivated to seek testing in the next 3 months; the most common reason for no motivation being perceived lack of risk. Conclusions: Interventions promoting testing can use these findings to target those likely to never have been tested. These results also highlight the need to find ways to motivate students to get tested.     

Race and Ethnic Differences in Hope and Hopelessness as Moderators of the Association Between Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Behavior

Abstract

Objective: The authors examined trait hope and hopelessness as potential moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. Participants: A diverse sample of 372 college students. Methods: Depressive symptoms, hopelessness (Beck Hopelessness Scale), trait hope (Trait Hope Scale), and suicidal behaviors were assessed. Trait hope is defined as confidence in the ability to identify and attain goals, whereas hopelessness encompasses future attitudes and motivation loss. Results: In independent models, low hopelessness buffered the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior for our whole sample, blacks, and whites, whereas trait hope buffered for Hispanics and whites. Examined simultaneously, hope remained a significant moderator only in whites and hopelessness only in blacks. These findings suggest that etiological and outcome correlates of hope and hopelessness may differ by ethnicity. Conclusions: These findings may have implications for development of culturally targeted interventions for college students that strive to simultaneously reduce hopelessness and bolster hopefulness.     

Complex Interrelations of Trait Vulnerabilities in Mothers and their Infants

Despite the developmental and clinical relevance of this area of inquiry, no studies have examined the interrelations of trait vulnerabilities in the affective, behavioral, and interpersonal domains between mothers and their infants. Thus, this study examined the interrelations of three trait vulnerabilities (i.e., negative affective intensity, impulsivity, and insecure attachment) between mothers and their 12‐ to 23‐month‐old infants, focusing in particular on the unique and interactive influence of these maternal trait vulnerabilities on the expression of and precursors to these traits in their infants. Mother–infant dyads (N = 101) completed several laboratory procedures, and mothers reported on their own and their infants' expressions of the trait vulnerabilities of interest. Findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for intergenerational relations between these traits and suggest that it is the confluence of trait vulnerabilities in mothers that relates to the early expression of some of these traits in infants.     

The power of discourse: Michel Foucault and critical theory

Abstract

The debate that contrasts Marxism and the work of Michel Foucault often overlooks that both projects share a political and ethical commitment. Both have moreover engaged that commitment by challenging what Marx called ‘traditional ideas’, viewing them as historically compilcit with the exercise of power. This ‘radical rupture’ with traditional ideas has been the hallmark of the critical theory project since The Communist Manifesto. By challenging traditional notions of power and language, however, Michel Foucault went further than the Marxist tradition in carrying out the critical theory project. Foucault's alternative ideas of discourse/practice and of power as ‘positive’ are moreover intricately linked in a way that has not been sufficiently appreciated. This is evident in a genealogy of Foucault's early work, where neither notion is able to take hold in the absence of the other. It only after The Archaeology of Knowledge, where Foucault rethought the relationship of language to reality, that he was able to formulate the notion of power as positive in works to come. This link should cause us to rethink our relationship to Foucault's work, of it to Marxism, and of the critical theory project to the power.     

Heavy Episodic Drinking in College Students: Associations With Features of Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder

Abstract

Objective: This study extends the college heavy episodic drinking literature by examining the associations between features of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), on the one hand, and heavy episodic drinking and associated problem behaviors, on the other. Participants: Participants were 159 (85 male, 74 female) undergraduates from a private university. Methods: Participants completed self-report measures assessing alcohol use, frequency, and consequences of heavy episodic drinking, and personality pathology. Results: It was found that psychopathy, independent of ASPD, was related to the prediction of heavy episodic drinking frequency and problems associated with alcohol use. It was also found that the relation between traits of psychopathy and heavy episodic drinking are limited largely to the impulsive and antisocial aspects of this condition. Conclusion: These findings point to the need for further investigation of the association between psychopathy and ASPD traits and heavy episodic drinking behaviors in college students.     

Evidence of Big Five and Aggressive Personalities in Gait Biomechanics

Behavioral observation techniques which relate action to personality have long been neglected (Furr and Funder in Handbook of research methods in personality psychology, The Guilford Press, New York, 2007) and, when employed, often use human judges to code behavior. In the current study we used an alternative to human coding (biomechanical research techniques) to investigate how personality traits are manifest in gait. We used motion capture technology to record 29 participants walking on a treadmill at their natural speed. We analyzed their thorax and pelvis movements, as well as speed of gait. Participants completed personality questionnaires, including a Big Five measure and a trait aggression questionnaire. We found that gait related to several of our personality measures. The magnitude of upper body movement, lower body movement, and walking speed, were related to Big Five personality traits and aggression. Here, we present evidence that some gait measures can relate to Big Five and aggressive personalities. We know of no other examples of research where gait has been shown to correlate with self-reported measures of personality and suggest that more research should be conducted between largely automatic movement and personality.     

Antecedents of knowledge sharing - Examining the influence of learning and performance orientation

Knowledge sharing is an important process in creating competitive advantage. Previous literature mainly identifies environmental and organizational factors that influence the effective transfer of knowledge. However, the focus shifts to the analysis of personal determinants as antecedents for the individual’s engagement in knowledge sharing activities, like personality traits. In this paper, we introduce employees’ goal orientations (i.e. learning orientation or performance orientation) to the individual antecedents of knowledge sharing behavior. It is argued that learning orientation positively influences knowledge sharing, whereas performance orientation is a negative influence factor. As goal orientations are determined by personality traits, we can also confirm existing hypotheses regarding this relationship. The theoretical model developed in this paper is empirically tested on a sample of 124 engineers of an internationally operating engineering company, and significant relationships among the constructs were found.