Emotion recognition abilities and empathy of victims of bullying

Objectives: Bullying is a form of systematic abuse by peers with often serious consequences for victims. Few studies have considered the role of emotion recognition abilities and empathic behaviour for different bullying roles. This study investigated physical and relational bullying involvement in relation to basic emotion recognition abilities, and empathic styles in children. Using the framework of the Social Information Processing model, it was expected that victims would have poor emotion recognition abilities, and that bullies would demonstrate low levels of empathy. Methods: Data was collected from UK children (N = 373) aged 9-11 years who completed a bullying instrument, the Bryant Index of Empathy measurement, and the DANVA (Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy) to assess emotion recognition abilities. Children were classified into physical and relational bullying roles (bully, victim, bully/victim neutral) for analytical purposes. Results: While physical victims, bullies and neutrals differed little in their emotion recognition abilities, relational victims were particularly poor in recognising negative emotions of anger and fear in faces. No differences were found in empathy scores, according to bullying roles. Conclusions: Children who are relationally victimised are poorer in understanding emotional information than bullies and non-involved children. In light of previous research that victims of bullying more frequently experience child abuse, future interventions should consider the importance of emotion and social skills training for these vulnerable children

A Morally Consistent Character or Absolute Free Will: Which Should We Choose?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” This Aristotelian notion of how to lead a virtuous life is one that philosophers and scholars alike have respected and praised for centuries. Consistency in choosing the right path is the key to leading a fulfilling life, which is a notion many agree upon. While one person may hold Aristotelian notions of consistent excellence in character on a pedestal, this same person may also believe that in order for one to have free will and moral responsibility, one must have the ability at all times to choose A over B, and vice versa. This theory of absolute free will is called incompatibilism. Incompatibilists believe that one cannot have free will and moral responsibility if any of our actions are determined by our past. This leads one to realize that the Aristotelian incompatibilist is constantly at odds with himself. He cannot constantly pursue excellence because that would mean his actions are determined, and thus lacks free will and moral responsibility. Either the Aristotelian incompatibilist must concede his notions of character are much too stringent to maintain in reality, or he must accept that one can still have free will and moral responsibility while determinism exists. I will assert that it is much more important to change our conception of freedom from “absolute without any limits” to “determined by the fixity of the past but still compatible with free will and moral responsibility.” The theory of pursuing a consistently excellent character should not be discarded simply because we cannot have absolute free will. I will draw from Aristotle’s views on moral responsibility, character, ethics, and free will in order to defend my views on character. I will reference John Martin Fischer’s The Metaphysics of Free Will to prove that determinism still allows for free will and moral responsibility. There are critics who believe that constantly pursuing a virtuous character is almost psychologically impossible due to environmental situations and overall human instinct. One of these is John Doris who wrote a book called Lack of Character, which analyzes whether Aristotelian notions of character are even possible when compared with moral psychological problems and facts. I will reference his book when providing counterexamples to Aristotelian notions of character. I will also be using arguments as counter examples from Fischer\u27s work

The Predictive Validity of the AFIT Graduate Management Program Admission Requirements: a Reassessment and Extension

This research is based on the Air Force and AFIT balancing mission requirements of personnel needed for duty and training airmen in advanced studies. Currently, over 50% of AFIT students do not meet AFIT entrance requirements. The purpose of this research was to examine criteria to determine its predictability of graduate success, as measured by graduate GPA, as well as determine whether performance is different for students who require criteria to be waived. Current AFIT eligibility criteria include undergraduate GPA, GRE test scores, or GMAT test scores. Other variables examined in this study include: GRE-Analytical test scores; rank/grade; prior enlistment; AFSC; gender; and number of members in household. This research found GMAT scores were a better predictor of success than GRE scores for management students. GRE-Q scores were good predictors for all students, while GRE-V scores were moderately good predictors for management students only. GRE-A scores should be added as a requirement with an appropriate standard. Undergraduate GPAs should be used as a guideline, not eligibility criteria into AFIT. Waivers should not be given for multiple deficiencies when possible, though there was little difference in the performance of students who met the criteria and those who did not. There was also little difference in the performance of students depending upon the type of waiver given

Researching disabled children and young people’s views on decision-making: working reflexively to rethink vulnerability

Issues relating to qualitative research with disabled children and young people will be discussed. Semi-structured interviews with boys who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy were conducted to explore their thoughts on how they might make a decision to take part in medical research. Assumptions about disabled children’s vulnerability can impact how researchers conduct qualitative research, and how they are involved in significant decision-making. Working reflexively and in partnership with children illustrates their competence, supporting reconsideration of their vulnerability

The Art of Sustainability

As the systems thinker Fritjof Capra points out, through the course of Western history we have tended to give more attention to elements or things than to interconnections or relationships, thinking more mechanistically than holistically, asking “What is it made of?” rather than “What is the pattern?” 26. Sometimes, however, the study of patterns and relationships comes to the fore. Now, in our networked, digital world, as we wrestle with some of the 66 continuous problems that Donella Meadows and her team addressed in the classic Limits to Growth27, like climate change, global inequality and migration, is one of those times. This article shows the diverse and multi-fold advantages of using systems thinking as a methodology for working creatively with complexity. It explores the basic biological patterns that define life; the nature, patterns and effects of different forms of feedback; and how systems thinking can assist us in problem-solving, managing complexity and in understanding how creativity works. Living sustainably means living within the finite limits of our system. Understanding more about the systems we live with, whether through taking action on climate change or creating a well-functioning piece of art, helps us to live well and to create well

The longitudinal mental health benefits of a yoga intervention in women experiencing chronic stress: A clinical trial

© 2016 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.Background and Objectives: Chronic stress contributes to psychopathology and the practise of yoga is suggested to decrease stress and improve well-being. However, the literature often reports methodological problems (cross-sectional designs, sample sizes ≤ 20, and limited exploration of community populations). The aim of this study was to address these limitations and evaluate the potential psychological benefits of yoga to a non-clinical population. Methods: Women (N = 116) reporting chronic stress participated in this longitudinal study. Participants were allocated to a twice-weekly, hour-long yoga class for a period of two months, or a waitlist-control. Indicators of psychological well-being were measured at baseline, post-test and one-month follow-up. Results: Psychological distress decreased over time in both groups, however the control group experienced decreases in positive effect compared with the yoga group. Curvilinear trends were observed, indicating that trajectories of improvement seen at post-test were not robustly seen at follow-up. Conclusion: The study indicates that short-term yoga practise may yield some benefits to stressed individuals, but that evaluation over a longer term of practise may be required to determine the optimal dose for improvements and maintenance. Differential treatment effects may be difficult to detect in studies with populations that may already be motivated to improve their health