The Scientific Training of Introductory Sociology Students: Seventeen Years Later*

To measure the level of effectiveness with which the scientific basis of sociology is presented to introductory students, questionnaires were administered to two hundred students enrolled in three comparable sections of introductory sociology at a large state university. These indicated that students in general began the course almost totally ignorant of science and, when subjected to conventional introductory sociology materials, ended the course at the same level–a finding consistent with that of a similar study conducted seventeen years before.     

An Adaptive Systems Theory: Toward Reductionism*

An attempt is made to unite diverse principles of contemporary sociology by viewing social systems as adaptive systems whose members are also adaptive systems, the general class of systems that attempt to maximize internal values by modifying their behavior and/or structure. Large numbers of sociological and behavioral propositions were examined and those that met criteria of relevance, clarity, and empirical support were restated in a standardized format. A systems-theoretical reductionist perspective was applied to these selected propositions with the aid of a theorem-generating computer program developed as part of the research, in order to identify the subset that, as axioms, would most efficiently generate those remaining as theorems. The resulting axiomatic theory appears to satisfy the scientific criteria of generality and parsimony, as well as the additional design goals of ready comprehension and application, the latter tested in part by social-system simulations. Among the nontrivial derivatives illustrated are principal propositions related to learning, values, economic models of decision making, social exchange, arms races, coalition formation, segregation, and cultural evolution.     

Attitudes about addiction: a national study of addiction educators

The following study, funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), utilized the Addiction Belief Inventory (ABI; Luke, Ribisl, Walton, & Davidson, 2002) to examine addiction attitudes in a national sample of U.S. college/university faculty teaching addiction-specific courses (n=215). Results suggest that addiction educators view substance abuse as a coping mechanism rather than a moral failure, and are ambivalent about calling substance abuse or addiction a disease. Most do not support individual efficacy toward recovery, the ability to control use, or social use after treatment. Modifiers of addiction educator attitudes include level of college education; teaching experience; licensure/certification, and whether the educator is an addiction researcher. Study implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Couples,Money, and Expectations: Negotiating Financial Management Roles to Increase Relationship Satisfaction

How couples handle money has become a popular subject among scholars, practitioners, and the popular press. However, little is known about how finances should be treated within a clinical context. This study examined the financial management roles in which couples participate and their satisfaction level with these roles as well as couples' communication tactics surrounding money and their impact on relationship and financial satisfaction. Results suggested that having shared goals and values about money were a stronger predictor of relationship satisfaction than were communication strategies. In addition, satisfaction with one's financial management role participation may be more important than self-reported financial management roles each partner performs. In this study, financial management roles included 19 areas, including responsibilities such as bookkeeping, financial decision-making, and taxes.     

Biblical nationalism and the sixteenth-century states

The emergence of Protestant nations in sixteenth-century Europe was driven by the sudden rediscovery of biblical nationalism, a political model that did not separate the religious from the political. Biblical nationalism was new because pre-Reformation Europeans encountered the Hebrew Bible through paraphrases and abridgments. Full-text Bibles revealed a programmatic nationalism backed by unmatched authority as the word of God to readers primed by Reformation theology to seek models in the Bible for the reform of their own societies. Sixteenth-century biblical nationalism was the unintended side effect of a Reformation intended to save souls.     

Chronic pain,pain severity and analgesia use in Australian women of reproductive age

Background

The increasing prevalence and adverse outcomes associated with opioid analgesia use in women of reproductive age have become a significant public health issue internationally, with use during pregnancy potentially affecting maternal and infant health outcomes.

Using computers to explore ecological issues: A simple limits-to-growth educational program

Educational-level software allows students to interactively conduct their own research on Earth's ecology by using a much-simplified version of the Forrester computer model on which the landmark 1972 limits-to-growth studies were based. Default values of all variables (including the Earth's population, food supply, natural resources, industrialization, and pollution), and simple difference equations relating them, are provided so that the program can be immediately run by novice users. Both variable values and equations can be easily altered to observe the consequences of users' assumptions or proposed policies.In keeping with its educational objectives, SPACESHIP EARTH has been placed in the public domain and an IBM PC-compatible version can be obtained without charge by sending a formatted diskette (3.5 or 5.25 inch) to the author.