Search

The Wetlands in Drylands presented in this study focussed on the Papenkuils Wetland, which is in the Western Cape of South Africa, north of the Brandvlei Dam, and south west of Worcester, downstream of the confluence of the Breede (or Bree) and Smalblaar Rivers. This study sets out to establish the shadow price of the environmental services of this wetland, and to understand how this value changes with the possible future diversion of water to an agricultural dam before the Wetland, water provision to the wetlands. The study strongly recommends that the functionality of this wetland, as the largest in the Breede (Afrikaans word meaning wide) Catchment and with biodiversity that is recognised as an important remnant of habitats in the region, be maintained through management and sufficient inundation of water. This would be accompanied by a programme of abstraction for irrigation at a pumping station below the Papenkuils Wetland, as opposed to further abstraction of winter water above the wetland, as is currently proposed.

The study explored how scores on the three dimensions of the Engineering, Ecological, and Adaptive Capacity (EEA) trait resilience scale, derived from Holling's ecological systems theory of resilience, demonstrate fit within higher-order bifactor models of measurement, cultural invariance, and associations with clinical caseness of affect. Three samples (295 US adults, and 179 Japanese and 251 Polish university students) completed the EEA trait resilience scale. In addition, a subsample of US adults were administered the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Across all samples, a higher-order bifactor model provided the best fit of the data, with salience of loadings on the three group factors. A multi-group comparison found configural invariance, but neither metric nor scalar invariance, for EEA resilience scores across the three samples. Among the US sample, engineering and adaptive trait resilience scores predicted clinical caseness of depression, and adaptive trait resilience scores predicted clinical caseness of anxiety, after controlling for sex, age, income, education, employment, and personality. The findings suggest the cross-cultural replicability of the structure (but not the meaning) of the three-factor EEA measure of trait resilience, and its relevance for predicting clinical caseness of affect among a US sample.

Penny Mares' handbook and Jonathan Miller's video are from the King's Fund Centre and the BBC TV series Who Cares.

This article describes how a nurse educator teaching in Great Britain facilitated the learning of her students when she used a poem written by a teacher educator from Canada whose research for his doctoral dissertation was a poetic inquiry. The writing of this article itself became a research project as the authors discovered, throughout the process, new understandings of what poetic inquiry is capable of. While considered new in some areas, poetic inquiry has a rich history. Monica Prendergast (2007) prepared an annotated bibliography of over 200 peer-reviewed studies that use forms of poetic inquiry. Both writers of this article have found that by trying to connect the past to the present through poetry, new understandings of self can develop that influence personal, professional, and academic perspectives. The cyber interviewer who poses many of the questions throughout this piece is borrowed, with gratitude, from Mary Gergen and Kip Jones (2008).

A tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis is tested suggesting tooth-brushing duration is influenced when individuals position their behaviour in a rank when comparing their behaviour with other individuals.Study 1 used a correlation design, Study 2 used a semi-experimental design, and Study 3 used a randomized intervention design to examine the tooth-brushing social rank hypothesis in terms of self-reported attitudes, cognitions, and behaviour towards tooth-brushing duration.Study 1 surveyed participants to examine whether the perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration could be predicted from the ranking of each person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 2 tested whether manipulating the rank position of the tooth-brushing duration influenced participant-perceived health benefits of tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 used a longitudinal intervention method to examine whether messages relating to the rank positions of tooth-brushing durations causally influenced the self-report tooth-brushing duration.Study 1 demonstrates that perceptions of the health benefits from tooth-brushing duration are predicted by the perceptions of how that behaviour ranks in comparison to other people's behaviour. Study 2 demonstrates that the perceptions of the health benefits of tooth-brushing duration can be manipulated experimentally by changing the ranked position of a person's tooth-brushing duration. Study 3 experimentally demonstrates the possibility of increasing the length of time for which individuals clean their teeth by focusing on how they rank among their peers in terms of tooth-brushing duration.The effectiveness of interventions using social-ranking methods relative to those that emphasize comparisons made against group averages or normative guidelines are discussed.What is already known on this subject? Individual make judgements based on social rank information. Social rank information has been shown to influence positive health behaviours such as exercise. What does this study add? The health benefits of tooth-brushing are predicted by how tooth-brushing duration ranks within a distribution. Focussing on how teeth-cleaning duration ranks among others produces longer teeth-cleaning durations.

Three studies were conducted to investigate people’s conceptions of online trolls, particularly conceptions associated with psychological resilience to trolling. In Study 1, factor analytic analysis of participants’ ratings of characteristics of online trolls found a replicable bifactor model of conceptions of online trolls, with both a general factor of general conceptions towards online trolls being identified, but five group factors (attention-conflict seeking, low selfconfidence,\ud viciousness, uneducated, amusement) as most salient. In Study 2, participants evaluated hypothetical profiles of online trolling messages to establish the validity of the five factors. Three constructs (attention-conflict seeking, viciousness, and uneducated) were actively\ud employed when people considered profiles of online trolling scenarios. Study 3 introduced a 20-item ‘Conceptions of Online Trolls scale’ to examine the extent to which the five group factors were associated with resilience to trolling. Results indicated that viewing online trolls as seeking conflict or attention was associated with a decrease in individuals' negative affect around previous trolling incidents. Overall, the findings suggest that adopting an implicit theories\ud approach can further our understanding and measurement of conceptions towards trolling through the identification of five salient factors, of which at least one factor may act as a resilience strategy.

The current paper presents a new measure of trait resilience derived from three common mechanisms identified in ecological theory: Engineering, Ecological and Adaptive (EEA) resilience. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of five existing resilience scales suggest that the three trait resilience facets emerge, and can be reduced to a 12-item scale. The conceptualization and value of EEA resilience within the wider trait and well-being psychology is illustrated in terms of differing relationships with adaptive expressions of the traits of the five-factor personality model and the contribution to well-being after controlling for personality and coping, or over time. The current findings suggest that EEA resilience is a useful and parsimonious model and measure of trait resilience that can readily be placed within wider trait psychology and that is found to contribute to individual well-being.

To extend previous consideration of cognitive factors in celebrity worship, the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between celebrity worship, cognitive flexibility and social complexity. Two samples of non-student (n=260) and student respondents (n=168) completed measures of entertainment–social, intense–personal, borderline–pathological celebrity worship, cognitive flexibility and social complexity. Findings suggest that cognitive flexibility predicts unique variance in intense–personal aspects of celebrity worship. These findings help researchers to further conceptualise and understand the individual who follows a celebrity in an intense and personal way.

In this article the authors describe how creative learning experiences can be developed within the curriculum to enhance employability skills and engage the students in their personal development planning. A novel approach using a subject specific employability exercise and the production of peer critiqued action plans is described along with a summary of students’ responses.

The current paper proposes the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis; that beliefs in being unlucky are associated with deficits in executive functioning. Four studies suggest initial support for the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis via four aspects of executive functioning. Study 1 established that self-reports of dysexecutive symptoms predicted unique variance in beliefs in being unlucky after controlling for a number of other variables previously reported to be related to beliefs around luck. Studies 2 to 4 demonstrated support for the Dysexecutive Luck hypothesis via assessment of executive functioning via: (I) two fundamental executive functions (shifting and inhibition), (2) emotional processes related to executive functioning as described by the Somatic Marker hypothesis, and (3) higher executive functions as accessed via divergent thinking. The findings suggest that individuals' beliefs in being unlucky are accompanied by a range of deficits in executive functioning.

The aim of the current study was to explore where authenticity, derived from the humanistic tradition of psychology, was positioned within a number of extant models of personality. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of data from four samples (total N = 1286) suggested that authenticity can be considered as loading on the Honesty–Humility factor of personality. These findings are discussed in terms of the wider theoretical overlaps between Honesty–Humility and psychological functioning as emphasised by the humanistic tradition of psychology.

A 3-year longitudinal study explored whether the two-dimensional model of trait hope predicted degree scores after considering intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. A sample of 129 respondents (52 males, 77 females) completed measures of trait hope, general intelligence, the five factor model of personality, divergent thinking, as well as objective measures of their academic performance before university (‘A’ level grades) and final degree scores. The findings suggest that hope uniquely predicts objective academic achievement above intelligence, personality, and previous academic achievement. The findings are discussed within the context of how it may be fruitful for researchers to explore how hope is related to everyday academic practice.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to explore among young adults whether celebrity worship\ud predicted the incidence of elective cosmetic surgery within the period of 8 months after controlling for\ud several known predictors of elective cosmetic surgery.\ud Methods: A total of 137 young adults completed questionnaire measures of attitudes toward a celebrity\ud whose body image they admired, previous and vicarious experience of elective cosmetic surgery, attitudes\ud toward cosmetic surgery, and a range of psychological and demographic measures at time 1. Participants\ud were then asked to report whether they had undergone elective cosmetic surgery 8 months later.\ud Results: After controlling for several known predictors of elective cosmetic surgery, intense-personal celebrity\ud worship of a celebrity whose body shape was admired by the participant predicted the incidence of\ud elective cosmetic surgery within an 8-month period.\ud Conclusions: The current findings suggest that the type of para-social relationship that young adults form\ud with celebrities, particularly with those whose body shape is admired, may need to be considered by those\ud when speaking to, and educating, young people about their choices around elective cosmetic surgery.

Within the literature on the psychology of forgiveness, researchers have hypothesized that the 1st stage in the process of being able to forgive is the role of psychological defense. To examine such a hypothesis, the authors explored the relationship between forgiveness and defense style. The 304 respondents (151 men, 153 women) completed measures of forgiveness (likelihood, presence of positive forgiveness, absence of negative forgiveness) and defense style. Among respondents, all measures of forgiveness shared a significant negative association with a neurotic defense style. The finding is discussed within the context of the consequences for those who may be experiencing barriers to forgiveness when dealing with conflict resolution in interpersonal situations.

Polypharmacy is defined as the practice of prescribing four or more medications to the same person (Department of Health, 2001). This often occurs with older people who have concurrent disease processes, each needing a specific treatment regime (Box 1). Older people receive more prescriptions per head than any other group. The National Service Framework for Older People (DoH, 2001) shows that 5-17 per cent of hospital admissions are caused by adverse reactions to medicines. It also indicates that 6-17 per cent of older patients in hospital experience adverse drug reactions.