The association between differentiation of self and romantic relationship outcomes and the mediating role of communication behaviors

Master of ScienceSchool of Family Studies and Human ServicesJared R. AndersonThis study examined the association between level of differentiation of self on romantic relationship outcomes (i.e., attachment, relationship satisfaction, and gridlock) while, additionally, examining the possibility of communication (i.e., validation and withdrawal) as a mediator. Participants (N = 463) were recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to complete an online survey and had to be in a committed romantic relationship to be eligible. After controlling for psychological distress, relationship length, and gender, the results indicated a significant and direct relationship between differentiation and relationship outcomes and an indirect relationship through validation and withdrawal. Specifically, differentiation was directly, negatively associated with gridlock (β = -16, p = .003), avoidant attachment (β = -.13, p = .032), and anxious attachment (β = -.51, p < .001). In addition to these direct associations, differentiation was also indirectly associated with gridlock and avoidant attachment through both validation and withdrawal. On the other hand, differentiation was only indirectly associated with relationship satisfaction through validation (β = .44, p < .001). Additionally, we tested an alternate model with attachment and differentiation as predictors of relationship satisfaction and gridlock, and, again, examined validation and withdrawal as mediators. Results indicated that our primary model was a slightly better fit to the data than this alternative model, supporting the idea that attachment can be seen not only as a predictor but also as a relationship outcome. These results suggest that differentiation might be usefully accessed through more overt communication behaviors, which in turn might be related to having desired relationship outcomes

Combining thematic and narrative analysis of qualitative interviews to understand children’s spatialities in Andhra Pradesh, India

One of the foremost questions for any researcher setting out on a qualitative study is which form of analysis to use. There are a diverse range of qualitative analytical methods, each offering different forms of insight. In this paper, we discuss our experience of combining two distinct but complementary analytic methods – thematic and narrative analysis. We provide a worked example that combines the two approaches to analyse secondary data from the Young Lives study (see www.younglives.org.uk), in a project carried out as part of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods Node, NOVELLA (Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Approaches, see www.novella.ac.uk). We reflect on the challenges and benefits that result from our combined approach, aiming to illuminate the ways in which the integration of narrative and thematic analysis can support and enrich understanding of a complex dataset

Dark side illuminated: imaging of Toxoplasma gondii through the decades.

In the more than 100 years since its discovery, our knowledge of Toxoplasma biology has improved enormously. The evolution of molecular biology, immunology and genomics has had profound influences on our understanding of this ubiquitous bug. However, it could be argued that in science today the adage "seeing is believing" has never been truer. Images are highly influential and in the time since the first description of T. gondii, advances in microscopy and imaging technology have been and continue to be dramatic. In this review we recount the discovery of T. gondii and the contribution of imaging techniques to elucidating its life cycle, biology and the immune response of its host

The impact of different touchpoints on brand consideration

Marketers face the challenge of resource allocation across a range of touchpoints. Hence understanding their relative impact is important, but previous research tends to examine brand advertising, retailer touchpoints, word-of-mouth, and traditional earned touchpoints separately. This article presents an approach to understanding the relative impact of multiple touchpoints. It exemplifies this approach with six touchpoint types: brand advertising, retailer advertising, in-store communications, word-of-mouth, peer observation (seeing other customers), and traditional earned media such as editorial. Using the real-time experience tracking (RET) method by which respondents report on touchpoints by contemporaneous text message, the impact of touchpoints on change in brand consideration is studied in four consumer categories: electrical goods, technology products, mobile handsets, and soft drinks. Both touchpoint frequency and touchpoint positivity, the valence of the customer's affective response to the touchpoint, are modeled. While relative touchpoint effects vary somewhat by category, a pooled model suggests the positivity of in-store communication is in general more influential than that of other touchpoints including brand advertising. An almost entirely neglected touchpoint, peer observation, is consistently significant. Overall, findings evidence the relative impact of retailers, social effects and third party endorsement in addition to brand advertising. Touchpoint positivity adds explanatory power to the prediction of change in consideration as compared with touchpoint frequency alone. This suggests the importance of methods that track touchpoint perceptual response as well as frequency, to complement current analytic approaches such as media mix modeling based on media spend or exposure alone

How organisations generate and use customer insight

The generation and use of customer insight in marketing decisions is poorly understood, partly due to difficulties in obtaining research access and partly because market-based learning theory views knowledge as a fixed asset. However, customer insight takes many forms, arrives at the organisation from increasingly diverse sources and requires more than mere dissemination if it is to be useful. A multiple case study approach is used to explore managerial practices for insight generation and use. Multiple informants from each of four organisations in diverse sectors were interviewed. Findings reveal the importance of value alignment and value monitoring across the insight demand chain, to complement the information processing emphasis of extant research. Within the firm, the study suggests the importance of customer insight conduct practices including insight format, the role of automation and insight shepherding, to complement the much-researched process perspective. The study provides a basis for assessing the effectiveness of insight processes by both practitioners and scholars

LSE Lit Fest 2017 Book Review: Ctrl Alt Delete: how I grew up online by Emma Gannon

What has been the impact of digital technologies on the development of today’s youth? And how has the digital world changed the way we see ourselves and relate to each other? In Ctrl Alt Delete: How I Grew Up Online, blogger, author and digital consultant Emma Gannon shares her experiences of coming of age, living and working in the digital era. Gannon enfolds illuminating facts and figures into her engaging and relatable personal memoir to examine both the risks and opportunities afforded by digital technologies, writes Emma Wilson. On Saturday 25 February, Emma Gannon will be speaking alongside Rachel Coldicutt and Deana Puccio as part of the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival 2017. ‘Growing Up Online: A Digital Revolution?’ explores the risks and benefits for young people growing up in cyberspace; tickets are free and available here

Cyborg anamnesis: #accelerate’s feminist prototypes

Donna Haraway's “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the 1980s” remains a major reference point for twenty-first century cyber- and techno- feminists. However, its broader political and philosophical relevance has become increasingly obscured. Te emergence of twenty-first century accelerationism, I will argue, calls for renewed engagement with Haraway’s iconic text. Trough bringing accelerationism into contact with cyborg ontology, I aim to show how accelerationism might benefit from further engagement with the history of technofeminist thought. Such engagement, I will argue, not only assists in clarifying what accelerationism is, but also contributes to developing what it might be, through providing productive responses to some of its major criticisms. In reconfiguring the cyborg as an “accelerationist prototype,” I hope to contribute to the ongoing elaboration of accelerationist politics, as well as demonstrate the continuing and perhaps increasing efficacy of technofeminist philosophy in the twenty-first century

Our Rainbow and Butterfly World in Progress

I have always been an artist ever since I was a child. My mom was one of my influences to become an artist because she always made arts and crafts with me. My aunt, Janet Wilson, is a very skilled self-taught painter and was also a large influence on my artistic life. I thoroughly enjoy the art of photography. I often capture photographs in black and white. “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls.” -Ted Grant Tara Chisholm once quoted, “Photography is the beauty of life captured.” With photography, a moment can be captured that you might not ever get back again in your lifetime. My photography is very sentimental because it’s mostly about family. I enjoy creating work that is personal to me and relevant to my life. Family is so important to me and so is being able to create work about my troubled past life experiences as well as happier present times. My past work focuses on the concept of the happiness that family brings and my current work is centered on the dark moments that I experienced as a child. My work featured in my exhibition focuses on my family and I overcoming the impact of the experience we had with an abusive man living with us for part of my childhood. We had a house fire in 2007 which was actually a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to kick the abuser out of the house for good. The abuser always told us that we would never live in a rainbow and butterfly world, so we have now created our butterfly and rainbow world. Look who won.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art499/1038/thumbnail.jp

Professional Blend VII

I have always been an artist ever since I was a child. My mom was one of my influences to become an artist because she always made arts and crafts with me. My aunt, Janet Wilson, is a very skilled self-taught painter and was also a large influence on my artistic life. I thoroughly enjoy the art of photography. Tara Chisholm once quoted, “Photography is the beauty of life captured.” My photography is very sentimental because it’s mostly about family. Family is so important in life and so is being able to snap shoot memorable times. I explore the concept of the happiness that family brings. With photography, a moment can be captured that you might not ever get back again in your lifetime. I often use high contrast in my black and white photos in digital and film. An American photographer who also enjoys photographing people in black and white is Richard Avedon. I believe that contrast creates a dramatic feeling while viewing a photo, which I find interesting. I often focus on the composition of a photograph. Although I shoot black and white photography, I also love color. My artwork outside of photography focuses on the use of color, which is what attracts me to a piece of art. I find joy in making art with color because of a dark part of my childhood. Now that my life is much happier, I often create happy art. To me, color represents happiness. I want my viewer to feel happy when looking at my happy work, unless I intended to give the viewer a different feeling. Art is very important in my life. I love being an artist.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art399/1077/thumbnail.jp

Open Research in the Classroom

Open research practices can benefit students, researchers, and the research community by improving the quality, transparency, and accessibility of research findings. Many groups such as the Edinburgh Open Research Initiative (EORI) and the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT) aim to promote the integration of open research practices into university curriculums. Senior year high school pupils preparing to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) of Social Sciences subjects at university will often conduct their first research project as part of an Advanced Higher course, Nuffield Research Placement, or CREST Award. We have recently received funding to develop resources aimed at introducing S4-S6 Scottish High School pupils to open research practices. Already there is keen interest from Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC), who run Nuffield Research Placements in Scotland, to make these resources available to all pupils completing placements. We are currently looking for a small group of UoE students (undergraduate or postgraduate) to assist in developing two short animation scripts on open research topics and an interactive activity. Students will be reimbursed for contributing to the project. Students should be knowledgeable on open research topics (although you don’t have to be an expert!). Science communication experience is not required, although we will encourage all student volunteers to sign up to the STEM Ambassadors programme. We are not able to use our funding to reimburse staff members, but UoE staff are more than welcome to register their interest in our project and help out with developing or assuring the quality of our resources. This project is funded by alumni and friends of the University of Edinburgh through the Student Experience Grant scheme