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When judging the relative difficulty of impossible actions within the context of a magical world like that of Harry Potter, individuals honor real-world causal principles (e.g., assuming that heavier objects would be harder to levitate than lighter ones even though levitation itself is impossible; Shtulman & Morgan, 2017). We examined whether this effect persists when events are presented outside of this context. U.S. (Studies 1 and 2) and Chinese (Study 2) adults were asked to rate the relative difficulty of two impossible events that varied according to an irrelevant causal principle in one of three contexts: present science, future science, or magical. Though Chinese and U.S. adults honored irrelevant causal principles to a similar degree across the three contexts, Chinese adults’ confidence in their judgments varied by context. Additionally, individual differences in cognitive reflection (U.S.) and fantasy engagement (Chinese) related to judgments. Findings indicate that adults honor irrelevant causal constraints when reasoning about the impossible across multiple contexts, though subtle differences exist at both the cultural and individual level.

Across diverse cultural contexts, children and adults believe in the existence of religious and supernatural unobservables (e.g., gods, angels) as well as scientific and natural unobservables (e.g., germs, oxygen). In this article, we explore the role of cultural input and testimony in children's developing beliefs in supernatural and natural unobservables as real. We review cross-cultural research with children and adults on their beliefs about the ontological status of religious and scientific unobservables and the epistemic patterns associated with these beliefs. Based on this evidence, we argue that cultural input plays a central role in the development of belief about supernatural unobservables as real, whereas it plays a less critical role in the development of belief about natural unobservables as real. In the latter case, we argue that direct experiences with the natural world combine with children's naive theories to generate beliefs about natural unobservable entities and processes as real.

Background: Topical therapy is preferred for otitis externa (OE) in dogs. Otic products commonly contain glucocorticoids that can be systemically absorbed and possibly interfere with diagnostic tests such as intradermal testing (IDT). Hypothesis/Objectives: To determine the effect of a long‐lasting otic solution containing mometasone furoate (MF) on IDT immediate reactions and to determine withdrawal time before IDT. Animals: Seventeen dogs with healthy ears (Group 1) and 12 with OE (Group 2). Materials and Methods: Intradermal injections of histamine, anticanine‐immunoglobulin (Ig)E and saline were subjectively and objectively evaluated before treatment and weekly for 6 weeks, after a single application of a long‐lasting otic solution containing MF. Results: Statistically significant reductions in the mean subjective histamine scores after application of MF were observed at Weeks 1 (p = 0.012) and 2 (p = 0.028) in Group 1, and Weeks 1 (p = 0.00066), 2 (p = 0.02) and 4 (p = 0.034) in Group 2. Mean histamine objective scores were significantly reduced in Weeks 1 (p = 0.042), 2 (p = 0.0009), 3 (p = 0.001) and 5 (p = 0.018) in Group 1 only. The mean subjective anticanine‐IgE scores were significantly reduced in Week 1 in both groups (p = 0.003, p = 0.0066), respectively. There were no significant changes in the mean anticanine‐IgE objective score in either group. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Application of a long‐lasting otic solution containing MF can interfere with IDT immediate reactions in healthy and OE dogs. Based on the subjective evaluation, IDT can be performed ≥2 weeks after application of the otic solution in healthy dogs, and ≥4 weeks in dogs with OE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching supports the high-fidelity transmission of knowledge and skills. This study examined similarities and differences in caregiver teaching practices in the United States and Vanuatu (N = 125 caregiver and 3- to 8-year-old child pairs) during a collaborative problem-solving task. Caregivers used diverse verbal and nonverbal teaching practices and adjusted their behaviors in response to task difficulty and child age in both populations. U.S. caregivers used practices consistent with a direct active teaching style typical of formal education, including guiding children's participation, frequent praise, and facilitation. In contrast, Ni-Vanuatu caregivers used practices associated with informal education and divided tasks with children based on difficulty. The implications of these findings for claims about the universality and diversity of caregiver teaching are discussed.

When learning about the existence of unobservable scientific phenomena such as germs or religious phenomena such as God, children are receptive to the testimony of other people. Research in Western cultures has shown that by 5 to 6 years of age, children--like adults--are confident about the existence of both scientific and religious phenomena. We examined the beliefs of secular and Christian children growing up in China as well as the beliefs of their parents. All participants--secular and Christian children, as well as their parents--were confident about the existence of the scientific phenomena. No such consensus emerged for religious phenomena. Whereas secular children and their parents were skeptical, Christian children and their parents were confident about the existence of the religious phenomena. Moreover, a similar pattern was found for Christian children in preschools and for Christian children with more extensive exposure to the secular state curriculum. Indeed, for religious phenomena, a positive association was found between the beliefs of Christian children and their parents, highlighting the potential influence of parental input in a predominantly secular society. Overall, the results indicate that children's religious beliefs are related to the beliefs of their parents, even when those beliefs go against the majority view.

People with intellectual disabilities can be abused in all settings: homes, communities, and services. Reducing this abuse requires attention be paid to people who are engaged with people with intellectual disabilities, who were largely overlooked by a neoliberal inquiry focused on individuals. Displacing neoliberalism has been further impeded by its recent combination with social media, which has engendered "cultural homogenisation": the further spread and sustenance of the same ideas. This article aims to offer a fundamental critique of the Disability Royal Commission's (the Commission) inquiry by revealing the way neoliberal ideology has shaped its recommendations; and to identify positive alternatives. Arguments: (1) Neoliberal individualism is a powerful but invisible doctrine. Its focus on choice and autonomy has generated concern to provide accessible information, irrespective of its feasibility; and concern to eliminate restrictive practices, irrespective of equally important needs of staff and parents. (2) "Datafication" intended to monitor and improve otherwise unregulated markets is expensive, ineffective, and impedes engagement. (3) The only meaningful adult life envisaged is paid work, despite a meagre and shrinking number of people with intellectual disabilities obtaining jobs. (4) The limitations of a legal inquiry are identified. (5) Alternatives to the promotion of voice, choice, and work are explored. Exhausted neoliberal ideology led the Commission astray. Rather than continuing to enact neoliberal solutions, two different initiatives that are more likely to disrupt the status quo are proposed: replacing legal intervention with public health approaches to reducing violence in all settings; and developing new "counter-publics" of fun and belonging that connect people and their consociates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research with Western populations has demonstrated that children use imitation flexibly to engage in both instrumental and conventional learning. Evidence for children's imitative flexibility in non-Western populations is limited, however, and has only assessed imitation of instrumental tasks. This study (N = 142, 6- to 8-year-olds) demonstrates both cultural continuity and cultural variation in imitative flexibility. Children engage in higher imitative fidelity for conventional tasks than for instrumental tasks in both an industrialized, Western culture (United States), and a subsistence-based, non-Western culture (Vanuatu). Children in Vanuatu engage in higher imitative fidelity of instrumental tasks than in the United States, a potential consequence of cultural variation in child socialization for conformity.

Background: Psychomotor therapy enables people to reflect on the relationship between experiences and feelings by starting from awareness of bodily responses rather than from awareness of emotion. In this study we examine PsyMot (ID), an assessment that directs this psychological therapy. Method: Twelve suitable consecutive admissions were recruited from a specialist intellectual disability (ID) assessment and treatment unit for adults. Video-recordings of PsyMot (ID) allowed assessment of interrater reliability (IRR). Treatment goals indicated by PsyMot (ID) were addressed using psychomotor therapy as part of a comprehensive program of interventions. Results: Psychomotor therapy was both feasible and popular with patients who participated without any adverse effects. Nine patients completed PsyMot (ID). IRR of the treatment goals identified by all 3 raters was good to excellent in 81% cases, but there were discrepancies for individual items. Conclusions: PsyMot (ID) and psychomotor therapy is feasible within this context, and enriched the clinical team's formulation. Further studies of reliability and efficacy should be undertaken.

Four tasks (N = 191, 3- to 6-year-olds) examined the effect of instrumental versus conventional language cues on children's imitative fidelity of a necklace-making activity, their memory and transmission of the activity, and their perceptions of functional fixedness. Children in the conventional condition imitated with higher fidelity, transmitted more of the modeled behavior, and showed higher levels of functional fixedness than children in the instrumental condition. There were no differences in children's memory of the activity between conditions demonstrating that memory alone does not explain differences in imitative fidelity. The data demonstrate that children's interpretation of behavior as instrumental or conventional has wide-ranging implications for what children imitate, what they transmit to others, and how they reason about objects' functions.