Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are dangerous

Uncertainty surrounds the public understanding of climate change and provides fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Typically, such conspiracy theories assert that climate scientists and politicians are distorting or hijacking the science to suit their own purposes. Climate change conspiracy theories resemble other conspiracy theories in some respects, but in others they appear to be quite different. For example, climate change conspiracy theories appear to be motivated by the desire to deny or minimize an unwelcome and threatening conclusion. They also appear to be more contentious than other types of conspiracy theories. Perhaps to an unparalleled extent, people on both sides of the issue champion climate change conspiracy theories. Finally, more than other conspiracy theories, those concerning climate change appear to be more politically loaded, dividing opinion across the left-right continuum. Some empirical evidence suggests that climate change conspiracy theories may be harmful, steering people away from environmentally friendly initiatives. They therefore present a significant challenge for governments and environmental organizations that are attempting to convince people to take action against global warming

How do children share information in groups?

Group decision making should be particularly beneficial when group members share unique information, because then a group can make a better decision than each group member alone. This study examined how elementary-school children share unique information during group decision making. Seventy-nine groups of 3 same-sex and same-age 7- and 9-year-old children (N = 237) had to decide which 1 of 2 hypothetical candidates should play the lead role in a school musical. When information was unshared, group members had to exchange their uniquely held information to identify the best candidate. Only a minority of groups picked the best candidate when information was unshared. Yet, groups of 7-year-old children were better at identifying the best candidate and were less likely to focus on the discussion of shared information than groups of 9-year-olds. These findings are interpreted with reference to processes underlying information sharing in groups, namely collective information sampling, preference-consistent evaluation, and collaborative inhibition/intersubjectivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved

Outcomes of Cardiac Transplantation in Highly Sensitized Pediatric Patients

Despite aggressive immunosuppressive therapy, pediatric orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) candidates with elevated pre-transplant panel reactive antibody (PRA) carry an increased risk of rejection and early graft failure following transplantation. This study has aimed to more specifically evaluate the outcomes of transplant candidates stratified by PRA values. Records of pediatric patients listed for OHT between April 2004 and July 2008 were reviewed (n = 101). Survival analysis was performed comparing patients with PRA < 25 to those with PRA > 25, as well as patients with PRA < 80 and PRA > 80. Patients with PRA > 25 had decreased survival compared with those with PRA < 25 after listing (P = 0.004). There was an even greater difference in survival between patients with PRA > 80 and those with PRA < 80 (P = 0.002). Similar analyses for the patients who underwent successful transplantation showed no significant difference in post-transplant survival between patients with a pre-transplant PRA > 25 and those with PRA < 25 (P = 0.23). A difference approaching significance was noted for patients with PRA > 80 compared with PRA < 80 (P = 0.066). Patients with significantly elevated pre-transplant PRAs at the time of listing have a significantly worse outcome compared to those with moderately increased PRA values or non-sensitized patients. Further study is necessary to guide physician and family treatment decisions at the time of listing

Early sympathy and social acceptance predict the development of sharing in children.

Sharing is a fascinating activity of the human species and an important basis for the development of fairness, care, and cooperation in human social interaction. Economic research has proposed that sharing, or the willingness to sacrifice own resources for others, has its roots in social emotions such as sympathy. However, only few cross-sectional experiments have investigated children's other-regarding preferences, and the question how social-emotional skills influence the willingness to share valuable resources has not been tested. In the present longitudinal-experimental study, a sample of 175 6-year-old children, their primary caregivers, and their teachers is examined over a 3-year period of time. Data are analyzed by means of growth curve modeling. The findings show that sharing valuable resources strongly increases in children from 6 to 9 years of age. Increases in sharing behavior are associated with the early-developing ability to sympathize with anonymous others. Sharing at 7 years of age is predicted by feelings of social acceptance at 6 years of age. These findings hold after controlling for children's IQ and SES. Girls share more equally than boys at 6 and 7 years of age, however, this gender difference disappears at the age of 9 years. These results indicate that human sharing strongly increases in middle childhood and, that this increase is associated with sympathy towards anonymous others and with feelings of social acceptance. Additionally, sharing develops earlier in girls than in boys. This developmental perspective contributes to new evidence on change in sharing and its social-emotional roots. A better understanding of the factors underlying differences in the development of sharing and pro-social orientations should also provide insights into the development of atypical, anti-social orientations which exhibit social-emotional differences such as aggression and bullying behavior

An examination of the factorial and convergent validity of four measures of conspiracist ideation, with recommendations for researchers

A number scales have been developed to measure conspiracist ideation, but little attention has been paid to the factorial validity of these scales. We reassessed the psychometric properties of four widely-used scales, namely the Belief in Conspiracy Theories Inventory (BCTI), the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ), the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS), and the One-Item Conspiracy Measure (OICM). Eight-hundred-and-three U. S. adults completed all measures, along with measures of endorsement of 9/11 and anti- vaccination conspiracy theories. Through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, we found that only the BCTI had acceptable factorial validity. We failed to confirm the factor structures of the CMQ and the GBCS, suggesting these measures had poor factorial valid- ity. Indices of convergent validity were acceptable for the BCTI, but weaker for the other measures. Based on these findings, we provide suggestions for the future refinement in the measurement of conspiracist ideation

Theorizing technologically mediated policing in smart cities: an ethnographic approach to sensing infrastructures in security practices

Smart digital infrastructures predicated on myriads of sensors distributed in the environment are often rendered as key to contemporary urban security governance to detect risky or suspicious entities before or during a criminal event takes place. At the same time, they often involve surveillance of urban environments, and thus not only criminals but also large groups of people and entities unrelated to criminal phenomena can end up under close inspection.This chapter makes its contribution on two levels. For one, it offers a theoretical framework to the research and conceptualization of the role of sensing infrastructures in urban security practices. It shows how insights from Philosophy of Technology and Science and Technology Studies can produce a nuanced understanding of the role of digital technologies in security practices, beyond standard conceptualizations of technology. Moreover, the chapter proposes a geological approach to enrich our repertoire of imagining and researching smart urban ecosystems.Secondly, the chapter contributes to a higher level of transparency of these practices by presenting the results of ethnographic research performed in a set of police organizations that employ sensing infrastructures and algorithmic profiling in their practices. The chapter draws empirically on research performed in the Dutch police, both at municipal and national levels with some additional material gathered in a constabulary in England. In these organizations, resource allocation decisions are often predicated on automated number plate recognition technology that processes data from an array of smart cameras distributed in the environment. In these ways together, the chapter highlights a set of normative issues with implications for the effectiveness and legitimacy of urban security (surveillance) practices in smart environments. Security and Global Affair

Intention Seekers: Conspiracist Ideation and Biased Attributions of Intentionality

Conspiracist beliefs are widespread and potentially hazardous. A growing body of research suggests that cognitive biases may play a role in endorsement of conspiracy theories. The current research examines the novel hypothesis that individuals who are biased towards inferring intentional explanations for ambiguous actions are more likely to endorse conspiracy theories, which portray events as the exclusive product of intentional agency. Study 1 replicated a previously observed relationship between conspiracist ideation and individual differences in anthropomorphisation. Studies 2 and 3 report a relationship between conspiracism and inferences of intentionality for imagined ambiguous events. Additionally, Study 3 again found conspiracist ideation to be predicted by individual differences in anthropomorphism. Contrary to expectations, however, the relationship was not mediated by the intentionality bias. The findings are discussed in terms of a domain-general intentionality bias making conspiracy theories appear particularly plausible. Alternative explanations are suggested for the association between conspiracism and anthropomorphism

Gender and development

© 2014 Patrick J. Leman and Harriet R. Tenenbaum. All rights reserved.Children are born into a world infused with gendered information. An understanding of what it is to be a boy or girl can be critical in forming social relationships, social identities, and learning how to think and behave. Gender and Development is an important new volume that charts how children practice these gendered identities at different ages and in different social contexts.Taking a socio-cognitive approach, and integrating both theoretical and applied perspectives, the book looks at a range of contexts in which gender affects development and socialisation, from the child's place in the family unit and their interaction with parents and siblings, to the influence of communication with peers over the internet. Throughout the chapters an age-old issue is addressed through a contemporary, empirically focused perspective-namely the nature and extent of equality between the genders, and how difficult it is for attitudes, perceptions and stereotypes to change. Key social issues are covered, including pro-social behaviour, career choice and academic competencies.Gender and Development brings together some of the latest research in this important and enduring field of study. It is a timely and invaluable collection, and will be essential reading for all students and research in developmental psychology, social psychology and gender studies

Practising gender: Children's relationships and the development of gendered behaviour and beliefs

Gender, as a topic of study in psychology, can sometimes be treated as a messy inconvenience for researchers who would rather focus on illuminating universal laws of human behaviour.Developmentalists have been no less guilty of this approach than many others. Yet, gender is a topic thatwill not go away, and it will not disappear because it is a ubiquitous and fundamental part of any child’s development. As such, it is hard to imagine how a child can ever develop without gender influencing her behaviour, thinking, or social relationships. Therefore, developmental psychologists should be interested in gender because research demonstrates that from a young age children react to their own and others’ gender and think about gender in complex, subtle, and nuanced ways. By understanding how gender links with relationships across development, we can also come to understand and possibly begin to address an enduring source of inequality in adult social relationships and roles. This Special Issue explores how gender influences children’s and adolescents’ behaviour, communication, and thinking across contexts