The Potential Benefits of Using Humor to Reduce Prejudice and Violence

In the field of social psychology, there have been multiple sources of research demonstrating the proposed links between prejudice and humor. The breadth of this research appears to hold the common theme of observing how the use of negative humor can disenfranchise different outgroups, or groups that seem to be at the bottom of the social ladder (e.g. the poor, marginalized ethnic/racial groups, sex, gender, and so on). Furthermore, the concepts of prejudice, as well as humor have been rarely observed through any nonviolence framework. The present study examined any relationship between humor (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating), nonviolence (physical nonviolence, psychological nonviolence, helping-empathy, satyagraha [ search for wisdom ], and tapasya [ self-suffering ]), and prejudice-related variables (dominance, anti-egalitarianism, diversity of contact , relativistic appreciation , and comfort with differences ). One hundred twenty-six undergraduate university students responded to a measure of humor, a measure of nonviolence, and two measures related to prejudice. Associations between humor, nonviolence, and prejudice were found. Significant positive relationships were found between: affiliative humor and comfort with differences; and self-defeating humor and anti-egalitarianism. Significant negative relationships were found between: aggressive humor and physical nonviolence; Self-enhancing humor and physical nonviolence; aggressive humor and satyagraha; and aggressive humor and diversity of contact. Theoretical implications are discussed to advocate use of more humor-based techniques in a clinical and community setting, and observing humor as a broad agent of interpersonal and intrapersonal change

De Fontelles, Antoni, García, Laura,y Lanuza,Joaquim: Gramatica de la llengua valenciana.

Sin resume

De la Mallorca preturística a la moderna. La desdialectalització del català de Mallorca

L'estudi comença alertant de la progressiva desaparició dels dialectes i del "fenomen de la dialectalitat en si", cosa que, diu, és prou transcendent com per convertir la dialectologia moderna en "una teoria que descrigui i expliqui el procés de desintegració dels seu propi objecte". Acte seguit, Hans-Ingo Radatz aborda el cas específic de l'illa de Mallorca, particularment rellevant, atès que "ha passat d'un extrem a l'altre de manera dràstica i en molt poc temps". Aquests extrems (la Mallorca preturística i Mallorca moderna) són tractats per separat i contrastats. Pel que fa a la Mallorca preturística i preindustrial, d'abans dels anys cinquanta, l'autor destaca la presència molt menor de l'espanyol a l'illa, caracteritzada per una majoria de població rural analfabeta i monolingüe catalanoparlant. Es tractava, a més, seguint les teories de Max Wheeler, d'una societat tancada. Radatz aprofundeix, després, en les característiques de la societat mallorquina moderna, i exposa les conseqüències de la desdialectalització, tant pel que fa a les convergències amb el castellà o amb el català estàndards com als desenvolupaments interns que no corresponen a cap d'aquests dos casos. Són objecte d'anàlisi un bon nombre de variacions morfològiques i fonètiques

What did Discovery Farms learn about nutrient and sediment loss from studying a Wisconsin beef and cash grain farm?

Riechers Beef is the family farming operation owned by Mark and Jan Riechers along with their sons Joe and Jeff. Joe is actively engaged in the operation having taken over many of the daily chores and management decisions from Mark. Jeff frequently assists with the cropping and livestock duties. Mark and Jan’s family also includes their daughter January and their 11 grandchildren

Multidimensional Inequality: An Empirical Analysis of its Social and Economic Determinants and Implications

The first chapter of the dissertation is titled “Measuring Multidimensional Inequality and Conflict in Africa and in a Global Comparison” and is authored by Joerg Baten and me. We have constructed an indicator that takes into account the multidimensional concept of inequality by considering not only income inequality but also health inequality and land inequality. For all three dimensions we calculated the Gini coefficient and combined them into a joint inequality index by using a normative approach. By doing so, we were able to construct a broad dataset for our joint index from 1810 to 2010 for 193 countries worldwide, which covers 77% of the world population of the last 200 years on average. We find that the risk of a civil war is consistently higher, the higher the level of inequality within a country. We further examine the causal relationship by using an instrumental variable (IV) approach between inequality and the probability of a civil war outbreak. We hereby include countries worldwide, but focus on sub-Saharan Africa, as this region is mainly affected by civil wars and, at the same time, suffers from high inequality levels. Our results suggest that economy-wide inequality increases the risk of civil war. The single-authored paper in the next chapter deals with the 1918 influenza pandemic and its relationship with inequality. The title of this study is “Social and Economic Disparities and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Lessons for Today”. I empirically investigated the relationship between the influenza pandemic of 1918 and inequality, in terms of income and health inequality. I explore several pathways, such as asymmetric health risks, employment, and the demand shock caused by the pandemic. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 29 countries worldwide. I run first-difference estimations with the change in inequality from the 1910 birth decade to the birth decade of 1920 as the outcome variable. The findings suggest a positive but statistically insignificant correlation between the pandemic mortality rate and income and health inequality. Although I observe an increase in inequality from decade 1910 to 1920 in most world regions, the main empirical result suggests that this cannot be linked to the 1918 influenza pandemic. Finally, the third study examines possible determinants of inequality; in particular if the introduction of social insurance mitigates inequalities in height. This paper titled “The Heights of Medical Care: Health Insurance and Inequality in Adult Stature” is written together with my co-authors Alberto Batinti, Joan Costa-Font and Joerg Baten. In this long-run study, we globally investigate if the introduction of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in a country led to a reduction in the level of height inequalities in the following decades. Using a birth cohort approach, we compiled a sample of 134 countries worldwide for the decades 1810 to 2000. With the expansion of health insurance, we observe a positive and substantial reduction in a country’s level of height inequality. To assess the causal relationship, we apply an instrumental variable estimation. Our estimates suggest that within-country differences in height inequality declined with the expansion in health insurance. We conclude that re-forms that reduce financial barriers to accessing health care can have a significant impact on reducing disparities in health, a call for the adaptation of appropriate social policies

Integrating the Principles of Effective Intervention into Batterer Intervention Programming: The Case for Moving Toward More Evidence-Based Programming

The majority of batterer intervention program (BIP) evaluations have indicated they are marginally effective in reducing domestic violence recidivism. Meanwhile, correctional programs used to treat a variety of offenders (e.g., substance users, violent offenders, and so forth) that adhere to the “principles of effective intervention” (PEI) have reported significant reductions in recidivism. This article introduces the PEI—the principles on which evidence-based practices in correctional rehabilitation are based—and identifies the degree to which they are currently integrated into BIPs. The case is made that batterer programs could be more effective if they incorporate the PEI. Recommendations for further integration of the principles into BIPs are also provided

Does Polyvictimization Affect Incarcerated and Non-Incarcerated Adult Women Differently? An Exploration Into Internalizing Problems

In this study, we used data from life histories of 424 non-incarcerated (n = 266) and incarcerated (n = 158) women to examine the extent to which women are exposed to multiple forms of victimization, including child abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and traumatic life events. We assessed the effects of polyvictimization (e.g., multiple victimizations) on women’s health-related outcomes (e.g., attempted suicide, drug and alcohol problems) as well as whether the prevalence rates and effects of victimization were significantly different between the subsamples of women. Results indicate that incarcerated women experience significantly more victimization than non-incarcerated women, and while polyvictimization was associated with a higher likelihood of alcohol problems, drug problems, and attempted suicide among non-incarcerated women, it was only marginally associated with an increased likelihood of alcohol problems among incarcerated women. Finally, low levels of polyvictimization affected alcohol and drug problems among incarcerated and non-incarcerated women differently