Traumatic brain injury in New Zealand: a silent epidemic?

In 2008 I was fortunate enough to be invited to be part of a research team on a large population based project focusing on the incidence and outcome of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in New Zealand (led by Professor Valery Feigin National Institute of Stroke and Applied Neurosciences, AUT University). At the time I knew little about TBI or population based research, but the last five years have changed that. My involvement in the project has led to on-going collaborations and friendships, and continues to provide me with on-going challenges as a researcher. More importantly, however, thanks to those who participated in our research, it has given me an enormous appreciation of the daily challenges faced by those affected by TBI and the desire to do research that ultimately will make a difference for them and other TBI survivors

Media, racism and public health psychology

A growing literature has established that racism contributes to ill-health of migrants, minority group members and indigenous peoples. Racial discrimination has been shown to act at personal, institutional and societal levels, negatively affecting physical health as evidenced by heart disease and other stress related conditions and generally negating wellbeing, signalled by psychological and psychiatric disorders including depression. In our highly mediatized world, mass communications in diverse forms are decisive for people’s knowledge and understandings of the world and their place in it. From critical studies we know that the media consistently marginalize, denigrate and neglect particular ethnic and cultural groups. Where media do focus on such groups much of the reporting is negative and stereotyping. Achievements are ignored or minimized while representations of those groups as problems for and threats to the dominant are highlighted. In this paper we consider the particular case of media representations of the indigenous Maori of Aotearoa New Zealand. We review extant studies to argue that detailed and systematic study is necessary for the development of critical, local media scholarship. Such scholarship is necessary if the current media impact on Maori health and wellbeing is to be mitigated. While such considerations may not have been traditional concerns of health psychology we, following George Albee (2003), argue for them as affirming the need for critical public health psychology

In pursuit of the beast: undergraduate attitudes towards sex offenders and implications for society, rehabilitation and British psychology education

Positive attitudes toward sex offenders can lead to favourable treatment outcomes and with psychology students being among the most likely graduates to move into offender rehabilitation, it is important to investigate the attitudes of this group. Students from British psychology and non-psychology courses read vignettes depicting an adult and a juvenile committing a contact sexual offence on a child, and completed modified versions of the attitudes towards sex offenders [ATS] questionnaire. The adult offender was viewed significantly more punitively than the juvenile offender, but no significant differences were found between subgroups of participants. It was concluded that undergraduate psychology degrees do not go far enough to address some of the stigmatised views held by the general population towards sex offenders. Implications for media reporting, recidivism and psychology education are discussed

Further validation of the New Zealand test of adult reading (NZART) as a measure of premorbid IQ in a New Zealand sample

Premorbid IQ estimates are used to determine decline in cognitive functioning following trauma or illness. This study aimed to: 1) further validate the New Zealand Adult Reading Test (NZART) in a New Zealand population and compare its performance to the UK developed National Adult Reading Test, and 2) develop regression formulae for the NZART to estimate Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS–IV) IQ scores. The 67 participants (53 females; 16 Māori), aged 16 to 90 years old (mean age = 46.07, SD 23.21) completed the WASI-IV, the NART and the NZART. The NZART predicted Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) scores slightly better than the NART (r =.63 vs. r = .62) and explained 33% of the variance in FSIQ scores. Reasons for developing regression formulae for the NZART are discussed, regression formulas for the NZART based on the WAIS–IV are included and suggestions of alternate ways of determining premorbid IQ are made

Media psychology, symbolic power and social justice in Aotearoa

Psychologists reside in a world saturated by media. We work in professional contexts where guidelines for practice foreground ethical obligations to address issues of social justice. This paper addresses both these contextual dimensions of psychological research and practice. We explore the social significance of increased media production by Maori in challenging the tendency in mainstream media to marginalize Maori concerns while promoting Pakeha perspectives. The analysis focuses on the recent 'Inside Out documentary - Hikoi', which was initiated by two young Maori women as a challenge to media framing of Maori protests as 'unjustified' and 'disruptive' acts. We illustrate how this documentary furthers public dialogue regarding the foreshore and seabed controversy by promoting an alternative depiction of a Maori protest, which emphasize the history of grievances and social unity. The implications of such representations for psychologists working to address issues of social justice and to challenge abuses of symbolic power are discussed

Heteronormativity and the exclusion of bisexuality in psychology

About the book: There has been a recent explosion of interest in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Perspective Psychology amongst students and academics, and this interest is predicted to continue to rise. Recent media debates on subjects such as same-sex marriage have fuelled interest in LGBTQ perspectives. This edited collection showcases the latest thinking in LGBTQ psychology. The book has 21 chapters covering subjects such as same sex parenting, outing, young LGBTQ people, sport, learning disabilities, lesbian and gay identities etc. The book has an international focus, with contributors from UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealan

Girls and the Media: Girlhood Studies Agenda and Prospects in Italy

Within the Italian context, girlhood studies can hardly be considered a specific field: adolescence and gender construction in Italy have historically been investigated by sociology and psychology, although, in recent years, media studies have also focused on youth media consumption as a cultural process in the broader sense, investigating the relevance of the media in the identity-building process. Actually, the lack of a definition of girlhood studies as such did not prevent Italian research from providing theoretical contributions and significant research on girlhood, mostly in the fields of reception studies, audience studies and textual analysis. On these premises, the article aims at discussing the relationships between girlhood and the media nowadays, keeping in mind firstly the recent transformations in media consumption within the networked society; secondly the coexistence of contradictory representations of girlhood in both the local and the global and the way it is assembled in the young audience discourse; and thirdly the phenomenon of identity co-creation in creative fandom practices.Within the Italian context, girlhood studies can hardly be considered a specific field: adolescence and gender construction in Italy have historically been investigated by sociology and psychology, although, in recent years, media studies have also focused on youth media consumption as a cultural process in the broader sense, investigating the relevance of the media in the identity-building process. Actually, the lack of a definition of girlhood studies as such did not prevent Italian research from providing theoretical contributions and significant research on girlhood, mostly in the fields of reception studies, audience studies and textual analysis. On these premises, the article aims at discussing the relationships between girlhood and the media nowadays, keeping in mind firstly the recent transformations in media consumption within the networked society; secondly the coexistence of contradictory representations of girlhood in both the local and the global and the way it is assembled in the young audience discourse; and thirdly the phenomenon of identity co-creation in creative fandom practices

Theory of Robot Communication: II. Befriending a Robot over Time

In building on theories of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Human-Robot Interaction, and Media Psychology (i.e. Theory of Affective Bonding), the current paper proposes an explanation of how over time, people experience the mediated or simulated aspects of the interaction with a social robot. In two simultaneously running loops, a more reflective process is balanced with a more affective process. If human interference is detected behind the machine, Robot-Mediated Communication commences, which basically follows CMC assumptions; if human interference remains undetected, Human-Robot Communication comes into play, holding the robot for an autonomous social actor. The more emotionally aroused a robot user is, the more likely they develop an affective relationship with what actually is a machine. The main contribution of this paper is an integration of Computer-Mediated Communication, Human-Robot Communication, and Media Psychology, outlining a full-blown theory of robot communication connected to friendship formation, accounting for communicative features, modes of processing, as well as psychophysiology.Comment: Hoorn, J. F. (2018). Theory of robot communication: II. Befriending a robot over time. arXiv:cs, 2502572(v1), 1-2