People living in vulnerable environments face a harder set of challenges adapting to their context. Nevertheless, an important number of them adapt successfully. However, which cognitive and ...socio-affective variables are specifically related to these variations in social adaptation in vulnerable contexts has not been fully understood nor directly addressed. Here we evaluated socio-affective variables (anxious attachment style, internal locus of control, self-esteem and stress) and cognitive variables (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, working memory, numeracy, probabilistic reasoning and logical reasoning) to explain variations in social adaptation in a sample of 232 adults living in vulnerable contexts (M = 42.3, SD = 14.9, equal amount of men and women). Our results show that an important amount of variance in social adaptation can be explained by socio-affective variables, principally by self-esteem, while cognitive variables also contributed significantly. As far as we know, this is one of the first steps towards understanding the role of cognitive and socio-affective features on social adaptation. In the long run, this area of research could play an important role on the assignation of resources to ease people's integration into society. Our data and R analysis scripts can be found at: https://osf.io/egxy5/.
On average, we urban dwellers spend about 90% of our time indoors, and share the intuition that the physical features of the places we live and work in influence how we feel and act. However, there ...is surprisingly little research on how architecture impacts behavior, much less on how it influences brain function. To begin closing this gap, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study to examine how systematic variation in contour impacts aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions, outcome measures of interest to both architects and users of spaces alike. As predicted, participants were more likely to judge spaces as beautiful if they were curvilinear than rectilinear. Neuroanatomically, when contemplating beauty, curvilinear contour activated the anterior cingulate cortex exclusively, a region strongly responsive to the reward properties and emotional salience of objects. Complementing this finding, pleasantness—the valence dimension of the affect circumplex—accounted for nearly 60% of the variance in beauty ratings. Furthermore, activation in a distributed brain network known to underlie the aesthetic evaluation of different types of visual stimuli covaried with beauty ratings. In contrast, contour did not affect approach-avoidance decisions, although curvilinear spaces activated the visual cortex. The results suggest that the well-established effect of contour on aesthetic preference can be extended to architecture. Furthermore, the combination of our behavioral and neural evidence underscores the role of emotion in our preference for curvilinear objects in this domain.
People spend considerable time within built environments. In this study, we tested two hypotheses about the relationship between people and built environments. First, aesthetic responses to ...architectural interiors reduce to a few key psychological dimensions that are sensitive to design features. Second, these psychological dimensions evoke specific neural signatures. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 798) rated 200 images of architectural interiors on 16 aesthetic response measures. Using Psychometric Network Analysis (PNA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA), we identified three components that explained 90% of the variance in ratings: coherence (ease with which one organizes and comprehends a scene), fascination (a scene’s informational richness and generated interest), and hominess (extent to which a scene reflects a personal space). Whereas coherence and fascination are well-established dimensions in response to natural scenes and visual art, hominess emerged as a new dimension related to architectural interiors. In Experiment 2 (n = 614), the PCA results were replicated in an independent sample, indicating the robustness of these three dimensions. In Experiment 3, we reanalyzed data from an fMRI study in which participants (n = 18) made beauty judgments and approach-avoidance decisions when viewing the same images. Parametric analyses demonstrated that, regardless of task, the degree of fascination covaried with neural activity in the right lingual gyrus. In contrast, coherence covaried with neural activity in the left inferior occipital gyrus only when participants judged beauty, whereas hominess covaried with neural activity in the left cuneus only when they made approach-avoidance decisions. Importantly, this neural activation did not covary in relation to global image properties including self-similarity and complexity scores. These results suggest that the visual brain harbors sensitivities to psychological dimensions of coherence, fascination, and hominess in the context of architectural interiors. Furthermore, valuation of architectural processing in visual cortices varies by dimension and task.
We examined the effects of ceiling height and perceived enclosure—defined as perceived visual and locomotive permeability—on aesthetic judgments and approach-avoidance decisions in architectural ...design. Furthermore, to gain traction on the mechanisms driving the observed effects, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore their neural correlates. Rooms with higher ceilings were more likely to be judged as beautiful, and activated structures involved in visuospatial exploration and attention in the dorsal stream. Open rooms were more likely to be judged as beautiful, and activated structures underlying perceived visual motion. Additionally, enclosed rooms were more likely to elicit exit decisions and activated the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC)—the region within the cingulate gyrus with direct projections from the amygdala. This suggests that a reduction in perceived visual and locomotive permeability characteristic of enclosed spaces might elicit an emotional reaction that accompanies exit decisions.
•Rooms with higher ceilings were more likely to be judged as beautiful than rooms with lower ceilings.•Rooms with higher ceilings activated visuospatial exploration structures in the dorsal stream.•Open rooms were more likely to be judged as beautiful than enclosed rooms.•Open rooms activated structures underlying perceived visual motion.•Enclosed rooms elicited exit decisions and activated a cingulate region connected with amygdala.
Higher education (HE) faces the challenge of responding to an increasing diversity. In this context, more attention is being paid to teachers and teaching skills positively related to students ...learning. Beyond the knowledges identified as key components of an effective teacher, teachers also need to be capable of unraveling what their students think and believe, and how they accommodate the new information. More importantly, teachers need to be able to adapt their own teaching to their audience's needs. In learners, social cognition (SC) has been related to a better receptivity to the different teacher-student interactions. Since these interactions are bidirectional, SC could also help to explain teachers' receptiveness to the information available in feedback situations. However, little is known about how SC is related to teacher development, and therefore teaching effectiveness, in HE. In addition, executive functions (EFs), closely related to SC, could play a key role in the ability to self-regulate their own teaching to better answering their students emerging needs. Although there is wide evidence regarding the association of EFs to performance in high demanding settings, as far as we know, there are no studies exploring the relationship between teachers' EFs and teaching effectiveness in HE. Establishing a positive association between teaching effectiveness and these socio-cognitive functions could be a promising first step in designing professional development programs that promote HE academics' ability to understand and care about students thoughts and emotions, to eventually adapt their teaching to their students needs for a better learning.
Child and adolescent victims of sexual crimes are at high risk for further abuse, which translates in a relatively higher risk of revictimization for a child or adolescent who has already been a ...victim of sexual abuse, compared to one who has not. Although sexual revictimization has been extensively studied in young and adult populations, much less is known about occurrences in childhood and adolescence. In this vein, this article seeks to identify risk of, and protective factors against, revictimization in a census sample of victims under 18 years of age in Chile. Risk and protective factors were studied in a database of all complaints of sexual offenses against children and adolescents registered at two time-points over two years: first, during 2012, and again through January 2015. Using multiple logistic regression, we identified risk factors associated with the probability of sexual revictimization, such as sex of the perpetrator (OR = 3.6 for female perpetrators), previous sexual offenses attributed to perpetrators (OR = 1.8), age of victim at the time of abuse (6-12 OR = .77; 13-17 = OR = .69), and minimization of abuse (OR = 1.3). Finally, interaction tests identified an association between the sex of the original perpetrator and the sex of the victim, as well as an association between the sex of the original perpetrator and the age of the victim. The implications of these findings for victim protection and victimological public policy are discussed.
There is evidence that religiosity and self-esteem are positively related, while self-esteem and religiosity in turn predict successful social adaptation. Moreover, self-esteem has been shown to be ...directly related to social adaptation in vulnerable contexts. In this registered report study, we tested the hypothesis that religiosity has a positive influence on social adaptation for people living in vulnerable contexts and that self-esteem is a mediator of this relationship. Evidence from this study indicates that neither there is any effect of religiosity on social adaptation nor on self-esteem, independent of whether people live in vulnerable contexts or not.
We investigated what factors may foster or hinder physicians' cancer screening risk literacy-specifically the ability to understand evidence regarding screening effectiveness and make evidence-based ...recommendations to patients. In an experiment, physicians in training (interns and residents) read statistical information about outcomes from screening for cancer, and had to decide whether to recommend it to a patient. We manipulated the effectiveness of the screening (effective vs. ineffective at reducing mortality) and the demand of the patient to get screened (demand vs. no demand). We assessed participants' comprehension of the presented evidence and recommendation to the patient, as well as a-priori screening beliefs (e.g., that screening is always a good choice), numeracy, science literacy, knowledge of screening statistics, statistical education, and demographics. Stronger positive a-priori screening beliefs, lower knowledge of screening statistics, and lower numeracy were related to worse comprehension of the evidence. Physicians recommended against the ineffective screening but only if they showed good comprehension of the evidence. Physicians' recommendations were further based on the perceived benefits from screening but not on perceived harms, nor the patient's demands. The current study demonstrates that comprehension of cancer screening statistics and the ability to infer the potential benefits for patients are essential for evidence-based recommendations. However, strong beliefs in favor of screening fostered by promotion campaigns may influence how physicians evaluate evidence about specific screenings. Fostering physician numeracy skills could help counteract such biases and provide evidence-based recommendations to patients.
Objectives
In recognition of the vulnerable situation that children and adolescents face as victims of sexual crimes, this research, the first of its kind in Latin America, studies the magnitude and ...characteristics of revictimization through child sexual abuse. This study aimed to provide current statistics on revictimization through child sexual abuse in Chile.
Methods
The study draws from a sample of 18,006 children and adolescent victims of sexual crimes. It examines cases reported in 2012 throughout Chile and encompasses all additional reports of sexual victimization filed by the same victims through January 2015. Information taken from the criminal case (SAF) database provided by the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office, and from National Service for Minors (Servicio Nacional de Menores, SENAME).
Results
12.2% of victims in the sample filed a new report during the period studied, on average 254 days after the first event was filed. In 40.1% of the cases, the perpetrator in the second case was the same as in the original victimization; however, in 59.9% of cases the perpetrator was a different person. Revictimization by the original perpetrator generally occurs sooner, within half of the time reported for a revictimization by a new perpetrator.
Conclusions
The frequency of revictimization in child sexual abuse is similar to that seen in other regions but occurs within shorter time frames than those reported globally.
Much evidence suggests that preference for curvilinear visual contour is robust. We collected data from experts (i.e., self-identified architects and designers) and nonexperts to test the hypothesis ...that expertise moderates one's sensitivity to curvilinear contour within architectural spaces. When assessing beauty, experts found rectilinear spaces less beautiful than curvilinear spaces, whereas contour had no effect on beauty judgments among nonexperts. In contrast, when making approach-avoidance decisions, nonexperts were more likely to opt to enter curvilinear than rectilinear spaces, whereas contour had no effect on approach-avoidance decisions among experts. These results bolster the case for the importance of contour as an important and potentially adaptive feature in architecture and design, but stress the impact of expertise on its aesthetic and motivational relevance.
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