Philosophical Commitments, Empirical Evidence, and Theoretical Psychology

The philosophical or theoretical commitments informing psychological research are sometimes characterized, even by theoretical psychologists themselves, as nonempirical, outside the bounds of methodological consideration, and/or nonrational. We argue that this characterization is incoherent. We illustrate our concern by analogy with problematic appeals to Kuhn’s work that have been influential in theoretical psychology. Following the contemporary pragmatist tradition, we argue that our philosophical/theoretical commitments are part of our larger webs of belief, and that for any of these beliefs to have meaning their content must be informed by our practical engagement with the world, i.e., they are based on empirical evidence, broadly construed. It is this empirical basis that allows us to recognize our commitments at all and rationally to assess and criticize them when necessary. We conclude by demonstrating a rational assessment of the philosophical/theoretical commitments underlying a recent study in the social psychology of religion

Joint Manifestations of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Poster project on Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which is a common autoimmune disorder, affecting approximately 1% of the population worldwide. The interaction of genetic and environmental factors results in a cascade of immune reactions, which eventually lead to the development of structural bone damage, joint damage, and synovitis (Gibofsky, 2012)

Understanding the Relationship Between Students\u27 Reading Achievement and Teachers\u27 Self-Regulation Patterns in Grades K-3

Previous findings on student self-regulation support the fact that students who are self-regulated achieve more in their academics, including students taught self-regulation interventions. However, there has been little research to establish how a teacher’s self-regulation affects a student’s academic success. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine what specific teacher factors contribute to a teacher’s self-regulation score and a student’s reading achievement. The study consisted of 276 teachers in Grades K-3 in a large Alabama school district. Reading achievement test scores and the Self-Regulation Inventory (Casler, 2005a) were collected from respondents. A Pearson product-moment correlation established that there was no significant relationship between a teacher’s self-regulation score and a student’s reading achievement (r = -.061, p = .321). Independent variable correlations were analyzed using a simultaneous multiple regression analysis. Independent variables were National Board certification, years of experience, highest degree earned, and current grade level. No significant correlations between the independent variables (specific teacher characteristics) and teacher’s self-regulation patterns were established. According to this study, understanding the relationship between students’ reading achievement and teachers’ self-regulation scores in Grades K-3 are not correlated and revealed no statistical significance. The findings suggest that K-3 teachers who self-report are more self-regulated in their instructional practices

Beggars Can\u27t Be Choosers or the Refugee as a Moral Agent?

This project considers the ways in which the dominant discourse on refugees might reinforce the negative impacts or limit the positive impacts of aid. Care for refugees is a difficult task that takes place in a discourse that begins with numerical calculi, a language that expresses ambivalence about our obligations for this category of persons, fear of their collective identity, and a deep ceded notion of refugees as an object of concern, a worthy cause, a growing problem, and a burden that must be shared. What we choose to do for and about refugees emerge from our present awareness (knowledge) as a process of deliberation predisposed and reinforced by the circulating and authoritative dominant discourse that has defined refugees and their relationship with larger society. Any attempts to affect the discourse on refugees therefore must begin with the re-evaluating what has gone before. The theoretical and analytical tools for the task of problematizing the dominant discourse on refugees were: 1) Analysis of the contemporary discourses on refugees, 2) Foucault\u27s archeology and genealogy of discourse, 3) Mauss\u27 theory of gift-exchange in the third party setting, 4) Goffman\u27s total institution theory on stigma and identity, and 5) moral perceptions created by a discourse based on agency, reciprocity, solidarity, and hope. Discursive analysis affirms that the dominant discourse has historically been absent the refugee voice and lacking the agency to affect contingent changes in his or her life. It was shown that our reservoir of knowledge about refugees has been deposited in multiple layers of meaning, metaphor, media depictions, statistics, institutional dogma, and a political/ organizational superstructure. The dominant discourse on refugees was then challenged with a more inclusive approach that includes the themes of agency, reciprocity, solidarity, and hope giving primacy to the human connection between the refugee and aid rendered as a means of improving the care and outcome for refugees. This project embraces the idea that the words we choose in dialogue about others, distant or near, can bring either hope or complacency, mercy or empty justice, compassion or apathy, life or death. We are called on to choose life

Gypsy Soul, Wolf Spirit

Gypsy Soul, Wolf Spirit is a collection of thirty-six poems; the majority of the poems are written in - or evolved from drafts written in - iambic pentameter. Writing formal poetry was a challenge I decided to embrace because I believed that it would allow me to evolve as a poet. The themes that connect these poems are represented by the collection\u27s title: Gypsy Soul, Wolf Spirit. There is the dominant thematic presence of both the natural world and the spiritual realm within the collection. My intention was to lift the reader to a state of mind, through language, where he or she could get lost in the peaceful beauty of nature - even when that beauty is found through powerful images of the bear or wolf - and feel the spontaneous gypsy soul of the divine universe

Relationship Between Static Mobility of the First Ray and First Ray, Midfoot, and Hindfoot Motion During Gait

The relationship between a static measure of dorsal first ray mobility and dynamic motion of the first ray, midfoot, and hindfoot during the stance phase of walking was investigated in healthy, asymptomatic subjects who represented the spectrum of static flexibility. Static first ray mobility of 15 subjects was measured by a load cell device and ranged from stiff (3.1 mm) to lax (8.0 mm). Using three-dimensional motion analysis, mean first ray dorsiflexion/eversion and mid-/hindfoot eversion peak motion, time-to-peak, and eversion excursion were evaluated. Subjects with greater static dorsal mobility of the first ray demonstrated significantly greater time-topeak hindfoot eversion and eversion excursion (p \u3c .01), and midfoot peak eversion and eversion excursion (p \u3c .01). No significant association was found between static first ray mobility and first ray motion during gait. This research provides evidence that the dynamic response of the foot may modulate the consequences of first ray mobility and that compensory strategies are most effective when static measures of dorsal mobility are most extreme

Effect of ovariectomy on the progression of chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD) in female Cy/+ rats

Male Cy/+ rats have shown a relatively consistent pattern of progressive kidney disease development that displays multiple key features of late stage chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD), specifically the development of cortical bone porosity. However, progression of disease in female Cy/+ rats, assessed in limited studies, is more heterogeneous and to date has failed to show development of the CKD-MBD phenotype, thus limiting their use as a practical model of progressive CKD-MBD. Animal and human studies suggest that estrogen may be protective against kidney disease in addition to its established protective effect on bone. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to determine the effect of ovariectomy (OVX) on the biochemical and skeletal manifestations of CKD-MBD in Cy/+ female rats. We hypothesized that OVX would accelerate development of the biochemical and skeletal features of CKD-MBD in female Cy/+ rats, similar to those seen in male Cy/+ rats. Female Cy/+ rats underwent OVX (n = 8) or Sham (n = 8) surgery at 15 weeks of age. Blood was collected every 5 weeks post-surgery until 35 weeks of age, when the rats underwent a 4-day metabolic balance, and the tibia and final blood were collected at the time of sacrifice. OVX produced the expected changes in trabecular and cortical parameters consistent with post-menopausal disease, and negative phosphorus balance compared with Sham. However, indicators of CKD-MBD were similar between OVX and Sham (similar kidney weight, plasma blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, creatinine clearance, phosphorus, calcium, parathyroid hormone, and no cortical porosity). Contrary to our hypothesis, OVX did not produce evidence of development of the CKD-MBD phenotype in female Cy/+ rats

Buddhist Theories of Karma and the Effect of Prosocial Behavior on Perceptions of Others

Psychological theory of social cognition and Buddhist philosophy of cognition suggest that people's actions should determine their impressions of future events. In psychology, several studies have shown that behavior can activate constructs and thereby influence one's perception. However, they do not address prosocial behavior, a specific concern of Buddhist philosophy and the theory of karma. Two experiments examined the ability of prosocial behavior to influence perceptions of other people using a single round prisoner's dilemma game (PD). In the first study, cooperative (prosocial) behavior in the PD was manipulated by first priming undergraduate psychology student participants with selfless or selfish thoughts through a paragraph-reading task. PD game and priming control conditions were included. After the PD game, participants read a description of a target person that was ambiguously relevant to prosocial traits. Then they rated the target on fourteen positive, neutral or negative personality traits that were either related or unrelated to the primed construct, cooperativeness. As predicted, compared to those who competed, cooperators in the PD rated the target significantly higher on the four positive valence traits related to cooperativeness. Due to inadequate manipulation of cooperative behavior, results of experiment 1 provided only correlational support for the hypothesis. When this limitation was addressed in experiment 2, trends in the data suggested support for the hypothesis but results failed to reach significance. Methodological limitations of the current work as well as directions for future research are discussed

COVID-19 mitigation measures to maintain access to essential health services: new opportunities with long-term benefits

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemichas substantially impacted health systems globally.To highlight potential opportunities to improvehealth service delivery in low- and middle-incomecountries, we describe lessons learned frompublished literature and experiences responding tothe pandemic. The benefits of healthcare servicemeasures implemented during the pandemicwith potential for lasting benefits forstrengthening health systems are highlighted:1) innovative pharmaceutical dispensing methods;2) appointment-based systems in health facilities;3) telehealth to provide patient care; 4) task shiftingto redistribute healthcare workloads; and 5) homebased pulse oximetry to monitor oxygen levels.These measures can reduce unnecessary contactwith healthcare staff while maintaining criticalhealth service delivery and may be of value tocontinue after the pandemic subsides