Anxiety: An Evolutionary Approach

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental illnesses, with huge attendant suffering. Current treatments are not universally effective, suggesting that a deeper understanding of the causes of anxiety is needed. To understand anxiety disorders better, it is first necessary to understand the normal anxiety response. This entails considering its evolutionary function as well as the mechanisms underlying it. We argue that the function of the human anxiety response, and homologues in other species, is to prepare the individual to detect and deal with threats. We use a signal detection framework to show that the threshold for expressing the anxiety response ought to vary with the probability of threats occurring, and the individual's vulnerability to them if they do occur. These predictions are consistent with major patterns in the epidemiology of anxiety. Implications for research and treatment are discussed

The Art and Craft of Teaching Dance from a TA Perspective: Lessons Learned and Issues Explored

The idea for this presentation came from my experiences and thinking as Director of Graduate Studies in my department and as a teacher of a graduate course titled: Dance Pedagogy in Higher Education. Through discussion in this course and as an observer of classes taught by TAs, I became aware of a number of issues that arose when TAs taught courses in the department. I noticed that while training to perfect their craft of teaching dance, many TAs became unsure of their roles and responsibilities to their students, themselves, and their professors and/or teaching supervisors. They have multiple roles and responsibilities that can be difficult to navigate. Issues surrounding ideas such as power and philosophy emerged from these discussions and experiences as well

Somatic authority and the myth of the ideal body in dance education.

Recently, the field of somatics has provided dance scholarship with a growing body of literature. Research has been conducted in the areas of dance science and education. Dance medicine and somatic education scholars have been able to help dance teachers find ways of using the body effectively in technique classes. For example, Glenna Batson (1990, 1993) and Sylvie Fortin (1993, 1995) have investigated the role of somatics in the improvement of technical dance skills. Further, Fortin (1995) has investigated learning and teaching theory as applied to somatics and dance pedagogy. As a somaticist and educator, I acknowledge and appreciate the impressive work conducted by these researchers and educators. However, my current work moves somatics into another direction. I am interested in looking at somatic theory and practice through a sociocultural lens. I am particularly interested in investigating how the body is shaped by society and the dance world, in which performers constantly strive for perfection

Perception, extension, and enclosure of space

Man is enabled to explore his immediate spaces due to the combined functioning of sensory perception and neuromuscular co-ordination. Relying upon learned redundancies in the world about him and being aware of his own physical capabilities, he is able to avoid chaos as he utilizes his space. The senses of vision, audition, and touch successfully co-operate to allow man an orderly manner of movement and to awaken him to the world outside himself. Over the millenia man has established territories to assure himself and his family a place to rest, mate, and rear offspring. Man has erected extensions, or invisible bubbles, of varying dimensions about himself in his dealings with his own as well as with other species. Man is not solely dependent on instinctive processes as are lower orders of animal life; instead he may think abstractly. Due to this capability, man has been able to convert many of his extensions to physically enclosed spaces which he is able to control and organize about his life

Kinetic Awareness® for women with breast cancer: Somatic movement an aid to treatment.

The purpose of this study was to explore ways that Kinetic Awareness®, a somatic body and dance practice, can help women with breast cancer deal with the symptoms of their treatments. The stories of the women are told through a multifaceted case study process, using postpositivist displays of data such as narrative and split page format. This strategy embodies an approach, which does not attempt to find generalized solutions, or prescriptions; portray the researcher as an authority figure; or attempt to speak for the participants. Rather, it offers a multitude of voices, viewpoints and possibilities. Through this qualitative approach, the study focuses on finding agency within a medicalized system of care

The inevitable retreat? digital media spaces and marriageability dynamics in modern Black American communities

The past four decades show significant increase in number of marriages between Black men and non-Black women, and decline in marriage overall for Black women (Crowder and Tolnay 2000; Raley, Sweeney, and Wondra 2015). This retreat from marriage by Black women has been explored focusing on deficits in the number of available partners, but the role of racial intermarriage has been widely ignored. Factors attributed to exchange within Black communities include increase of economic autonomy and higher collective educational attainment of Black women and minimal employment opportunities, mass incarceration, and lower educational attainment of Black men (Crowder and Tolnay 2000; Raley, Sweeney, and Wondra, 2015). While literature supports this change, little has been done to investigate framing images and discourse circulated through digital media spaces. I argue that contemporary patterns of Black American mate-selection are influenced by digital social media entities (re)enforcing negative notions of Black American womanhood, leading Black men to avoid them as romantic partners. The goal of my research is two-fold. First, I propose to utilize digital social media space, namely Instagram, to identify common themes that influence perceptions of beauty, desirability, and the potential of romantic partnerships in young Black American communities. Second, I will discuss social and psychological implications and long-term effects which accompany the shunning of Black American women through digital media spaces. In doing the latter, I investigate historical and modern typecasts ascribed to Black American womanhood, and possible effects of long term negative framing of African Americans (Black women particularly) on the mate selection process. Through this historical analysis I study this phenomenon through a lens of the past, and one of the future to create awareness about historical origin and future implications. I expect that negative ascribed characteristics often depicted in social media are internalized by the community and function to influence the mate selection processes within it. I will discuss implications of heavy social media usage for Black American women especially, and ideas for combatting negative effects on younger Black female generations’ self-esteem and empowerment in writing narratives reflecting true lived experience. My research assumes that without positive ascriptions of Black women or “alternative” narratives from social media entities, future generations of Black Americans will make romantic decisions with a skewed view of themselves and those they choose to select or reject

Somatic knowledge: The body as content and methodology in dance education.

Before addressing somatic knowledge as content and methodology in dance education, it is useful to take a moment to talk about what is meant by somatic knowledge and somatics as a field of study. The term, “somatics” has been used widely in dance departments throughout this country and the world. However, the term is not a monolith; not everyone uses it in the same way

High school students' perceptions of the importance of school counselor multicultural counseling competence

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between high school students’ perceptions of the importance of school counselor multicultural competence (SCMCC) and student’s characteristics (i.e., students race, SES, sex, grade level, and contact with the school counselor). Participants in this study were students enrolled in two traditional public high schools, one in North Carolina and one in Virginia. A total of 786 high school students participated in this study. An exploratory analysis was conducted using participants’ responses to the Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory- Revised (CCCI-R, LaFromboise, Coleman, & Hernandez, 1991), which was adapted to measure high school students’ perceptions of the importance of SCMCC. Three distinct factors (Advocacy for Students, Respect for Students, and Communication Skills) were revealed and validated by a confirmatory factor analysis. A standard multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between the dependent variables (Advocacy for Students, Respect for Students, and Communication Skills) and the independent variables of students race, SES, sex, grade level, and contact with the school counselor. Males perceived Advocacy for Students to be more important than females. As student contact with the school counselor increased, so did students perceptions of the importance of Advocacy for Students. Similarly, as student SES increased, so did students perceptions of the importance of Advocacy for Students. As student grade level decreased, student perceptions of the importance of Advocacy for Students increased. Student race was not significantly related to Advocacy for Students. Student perceptions of the importance of Respect for Students increased as contact with the school counselor increased and SES increased. As grade level decreased, Respect for Students was perceived to be more important. Student race and sex were not significantly related to Respect for Students. The importance of Communication Skills increased as contact with the school counselor increased. The importance of Communications Skills increased as student grade level decreased. Student race, SES, and sex were not significantly related to Communication Skills. Findings reveal that student characteristics such as SES, sex, grade level, and contact with the school counselor are significantly related to SCMCC

Evaluating Evaluations: Answering the Unasked Question.

Green comments on the inability of Americans to speak frankly about racial tensions and conflicts in America. After feeling dismayed by how little her students know about African-Americans, Green suggests that it is time to construct effective ways to address these problems so that hard-working professors are not penalized or abused for their race, gender, nationality or the subject they teach

Socially constructed bodies in American dance classrooms.

This article explores body, power and pedagogical issues related to a study in dance education. The study investigated the body perceptions of participant student teachers in a somatics and creativity project within a university level instructional setting. During this project somatic (body-mind) practices were used to explore body perceptions and image. The students then created what they called an 'interactive movement performance', which explored the issues raised in class. It explored how these body perceptions are influenced by society and the dance world. During the project the participants were asked questions about previous experiences in dance education, and how they have learned to perceive their bodies in reference to a model weight and body ideal. The initial qualitative/postpositivist analysis, from class discussion, interviews, observation and document analysis, indicated that the participants' previous experiences in dance did reflect an emphasis on 'ideal body' myths in the dance world. Students also expressed the value of somatic practice as a tool for body awareness and consciousness of these socio-political issues in traditional dance education. The students tended to tie somatics to an inner authority that resists technologies of normalisation and dominant meaning systems in dance and society. Somatic practice facilitated a dialogue through which they realised and expressed the pressures to meet an imposed bodily standard. Further, it allowed them the space to explore a connection to their bodies rather than the disconnection that comes from attempting to meet standards of bodily ideals. This article focuses on the themes of pedagogy and power that emerged from the study