Footprints in the Sand: Personal,Psychological, and Relational Profiles of Religious,Spiritual, and Atheist LGB Individuals

The present study offers a comparison of the demographic features and lived experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals with religious, spiritual, or atheist (R/S/A) belief systems. In this sample of 212 participants, the relationship of participants’ R/S/A beliefs to personal variables (e.g., age, gender, race), mental health variables (e.g., life satisfaction, psychological distress, internalized heterosexism, self-esteem), and relational variables (e.g., outness, connection to LGBTQ communities) were assessed. Correlational analyses indicated that level of R/S/A belief was unrelated to self-esteem, life satisfaction, or psychological distress; however, greater religious belief was correlated positively and significantly with internalized heterosexism and outness as LGB. To test the interactions of R/S/A beliefs and categorical variables of interest (e.g., race), log-linear analyses with follow-up chi-square tests were conducted. Findings suggested more similarities than differences for LGB people across R/S/A systems of belief. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Workplace aggression against health care workers,law enforcement officials,and bus drivers: Differences in prevalence,perceptions, and psychological consequences

Investigations into workplace aggression (WPA) remain largely occupation specific, with few studies using a comparative approach. The aim of the present study was to compare the health care, law enforcement, and public transportation sectors with regards to the prevalence of different types of WPA, the perceptions of workers toward WPA, and the psychological consequences of such acts. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1,774 workers in Canada. Multinomial regressions were utilized to address the objectives. Findings revealed that verbal abuse victimization was particularly common in bus drivers, witnessing death threats was most frequent among law enforcement officials, and witnessing all types of WPA was most common among health care workers. Although bus drivers did not normalize WPA, they feared complaining about violence to their employer and thought it useless to talk it about unless wounds were visible. Fear of complaining about violence to colleagues was prevalent in health care and law enforcement, both sectors in which WPA was normalized. Finally, flashbacks and irritability following WPA were most likely to affect bus drivers whereas health care workers experienced hypervigilance to a greater extent. Strategies to tailor primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention according to these distinctions are suggested to offer a better-informed response to WPA.     

Family court ordered “reunification therapy:” junk science in the guise of helping parent/child relationships?

This Commentary addresses the issue of the ethics of mental health professionals recommending or doing what family courts and some others are calling “Reunification Therapy.” This is often being recommended and used across the country, and ordered by family courts, as if it has a scientific basis for successful therapy between an estranged parent and a child who does not wish to re-engage with that parent, often where the child has alleged the parent has abused them physically, sexually, or psychologically. This Commentary challenges the ethics and validity of such approaches and programs.     

Socio-psychological barriers for peace making and ideas to overcome them / Barreras sociopsicológicas para la paz e ideas para superarlas

Intensive and violent intergroup conflicts that rage in different parts of the world are real. These conflicts center over disagreements focusing on contradictory goals and interests in different domains and must be addressed in conflict resolution. It is well known that the disagreements could potentially be resolved if not the powerful socio-psychological barriers which fuel and maintain the conflicts. These barriers inhibit and impede progress towards peaceful settlement of the conflict. They stand as major obstacles to begin the negotiation, to continue the negotiation, to achieve an agreement and later to engage in a process of reconciliation. These barriers are found among both leaders and society members that are involved in vicious, violent and protracted intergroup conflicts. They pertain to the integrated operation of cognitive, emotional and motivational processes, combined with a pre-existing repertoire of rigid supporting beliefs, world views and emotions that result in selective, biased and distorted information processing. This processing obstructs and inhibits the penetration of new information that can potentially contribute to facilitating progress in the peace-making process. The paper elaborates on the nature of the socio-psychological barriers and proposes preliminary ideas of how to overcome them. These ideas focus on the unfreezing process which eventually may lead to cessation of adherence to the repertoire that supports the continuation of the conflict, its evaluation and arousal of the readiness to entertain of alternative beliefs that support peace making.     

Note From Iran: Self-Reported Elder Abuse in Qazvin, 2012

This brief report provides a first look at self-reported instances of elder abuse by a sample of people 60 years and older living in Qazvin, Iran. Six hundred community-dwelling persons, drawn from the registry files of each health center in Qazin, completed questionnaires during April to October 2012. At least 80% of the participants reported experiencing some form of psychological abuse, financial abuse, and/or neglect at least once during a 2-month period. Physical and sexual abuse were rarely reported. Despite a strong Iranian cultural emphasis on respect for elders, the self-reporting of elder abuse, especially psychological abuse, is greater than our expectation. We recommend that health-related policies and programs begin to identify elder abuse and neglect as a first step in prevention.     

西方文化和文论中的Image——从比较文化和比较文论的角度看Image(形象/意象/图像)(之一)

Image(形象/图像/意象)是全球化时代文化对话和美学对话中的一个重要主题.从比较文化的角度来看,其在西方主要与三个方面相关:由主客互动而来的影像,主体心理运行的意象,由主体外化而成的艺术形象.这三个方面为image在中国的三种不同译法奠定了基础.     

论高校思想政治教育与心理咨询的契合

高校思想政治教育与心理咨询虽属两个不同的学科,但二者之间的密切联系与内在统一,成为彼此有机融合的基本依据。以大学生全面发展为目标,实现思想政治教育与心理咨询的契合,是推进素质教育和构建和谐社会的重要体现,也是新形势下进一步加强和改进高校思想政治教育的迫切需要。     

浅议大学生英语听力理解能力的培养

听力理解能力作为摄取信息的一个重要能力,在语言技能的学习和认知发展过程中具有基础性作用。但受我国具体国情和长期以来重知识轻能力的教育理念的影响,听力一直是国内学生学习英语中的薄弱环节。高校英语教师有必要学习国内外先进的教学理论,培养大学生良好的心理素质、学习方法,切实提高他们的英语听力理解能力。     

高校师资管理改革中的心理契约违背问题分析

心理契约违背是个体在组织忽视其心理期望、未能履行承诺与责任时所产生的一系列消极情绪和行为。高校师资管理改革在促进教育发展的同时,也增加了教师心理契约违背的可能性。单一、量化的绩效考评机制、教师职业特性的调整和聘用制的不完善实施所带来的心理压力是导致高校教师心理契约违背的主要原因,管理者需通过建立科学的绩效考评体系、完善激励制度、加强沟通等措施重构高校与教师之间的心理契约,去除心理契约违背产生的消极影响,近而激发教师的工作潜能,提高高校整体的师资管理水平。     

心理资本:组织竞争优势之源

从心理资本的概念与构成维度、心理资本的测量与干预、心理资本的影响效应研究三个方面对心理资本做了阐述。在对国内外现有文献进行回顾和评述的基础上,指出现有研究的不足,提出了对未来的展望。