“UNIFIED”: bridging the researcher–practitioner divide in mind, brain, and education

Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) science is by definition transdisciplinary. However, the communication and collaboration between constituent disciplines needed for true transdisciplinarity remains relatively rare. Consequently, many of the potential benefits of MBE science remain unrealized for parties on all sides of the discipline. The present commentary first conducts an analysis of the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of transdisciplinary partnerships in MBE. A new, free, and international web platform (“UNIFIED”) is then proposed to broker relationships between researchers and teachers within schools. This website would allow users to form collaborations based on a system of tags indexing their research interests as well as practicalities such as their location. Such a website appears well placed to realize many of the opportunities, and mitigate the threats and weaknesses, of transdisciplinary MBE research. The article concludes with an appeal to interested researchers and schools to contribute to the development of the project

The effect of multilingualism/multiculturalism on personality: no gain without pain for third culture kids?

The present study investigates the link between multilingualism/multiculturalism, acculturation and the personality profile (as measured by the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire) of 79 young London teenagers, half of whom were born abroad and had settled down in London during their childhood 'Third Culture Kids' (TCKs; Pollock & Van Reken, 2001). Statistical analyses revealed that TCKs scored higher on the dimension of Openmindedness and Cultural Empathy and scored lower on Emotional Stability. Language dominance (first language (L1), L1 and one or two other languages (multidominance), or any language which is not the L1 (LX) had a significant effect on the participants' personality profile, with the multidominant group scoring significantly higher on Openmindedness, marginally higher on Cultural Empathy and significantly lower on Emotional Stability than participants dominant in one language only. The number of languages known by participants was also significantly linked to their personality profile, with functional multilinguals scoring significantly higher than incipient bilinguals on Openmindedness, marginally higher on Cultural Empathy and significantly lower on Emotional Stability. These findings confirm that personality is shaped by social and biographical factors. Acculturation is stressful but the experience of having to fit in and being in contact with different languages and cultures strengthens Cultural Empathy and Openmindedness. Adapted from the source documen