Astro2020 Science White Paper: Synoptic Studies of the Sun as a Key to Understanding Stellar Astrospheres

Ground-based solar observations provide key contextual data (i.e., the 'big picture') to produce a complete description of the only astrosphere we can study in situ: our Sun's heliosphere. The next decade will see the beginning of operations of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). DKIST will join NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the NASA/ESA Solar Orbital mission, which together will study our Sun's atmosphere with unprecedented detail. This white paper outlines the current paradigm for ground-based solar synoptic observations, and indicates those areas that will benefit from focused attention

Unresolved issues of self-representation

The seven papers included in this volume converge in many of their assumptions about the representation of the self, yet a number of issues remain unresolved. These issues, including the structure and functioning of self-representations, and the role of negativity, affect, and the “other” in the self-system, are discussed here.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44334/1/10608_2005_Article_BF01176212.pd

The effect of mere presence on social facilitation: An unobtrusive test

An unobstrusive experimental manipulation was used to test the hypothesis that the mere presence of others can influence an individual's performance. A task was employed for which there were no clear performance criteria, and which was very unlikely to engender evaluation aprehension. Performance times on this task (dressing and undressing in familiar and unfamiliar clothing) were compared for subjects working alone, in the presence of a passive inattentive person, and in the presence of an attentive spectator. In contrast with the Alone condition, both social conditions (Audience and Incidental Audience) enhanced performance on the well-learned aspects of the task (dressing and undressing with one's own clothing) and hindered performance on the more complex aspects (working with unfamiliar clothing). It is concluded that the mere presence of others is a sufficient condition for social facilitation and social interference effects.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22584/1/0000132.pd

The drive for integration: Some comments

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/24385/1/0000655.pd

Culture as patterns: An alternative approach to the problem of reification

To challenge the treatment of culture and self as reified entities, Hermans (2001) proposes a model of both culture and self as a multiplicity of dialogical positions. We question whether this model fully responds to his challenge. First, the notion of positioning itself appears to reify culture by treating flowing patterns as fixed locations. Second, the notion of dialogue appears to neglect the possibility of automatic influence from implicit cultural patterns. This implies a core, universal self whose functioning is insensitive to cultural variation. We suggest an alternative approach to the problem of reification: to conceive of culture not as group, but as patterns. Corresponding to this shift, we propose a distinction between the negotiation of cultural identity and the cultural grounding of self. As a model of identity negotiation, Hermans' dialogical self makes important contributions: it emphasizes the multiplicity of identity highlights the agency of the self as a constructor of identity and suggests the importance of psychology-and the study of self, in particular-for the study of culture

Total Synthesis of Acanthodoral Using a Rearrangement Strategy

We present the second total synthesis of (±)-acanthodoral, a sesquiterpenoid derived from the marine nudibranch Acanthodoris nanaimoensis. Our approach involves a concise three-step transformation from a previously reported compound, resulting in the formation of a less strained precursor of the bicyclo[3.1.1]heptane core and both all-carbon quaternary stereocenters characteristic of the natural product. Notably, this synthetic route incorporates two pivotal steps: a Sm(II)-induced 1,2-rearrangement and a semipinacol rearrangement

Cultural Defaults in the Time of COVID: Lessons for the Future

文化的思考がパンデミック対応に影響 --COVID-19の文化比較から未来への教訓--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-12-20.Five years after the beginning of the COVID pandemic, one thing is clear: The East Asian countries of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea outperformed the United States in responding to and controlling the outbreak of the deadly virus. Although multiple factors likely contributed to this disparity, we propose that the culturally linked psychological defaults (“cultural defaults”) that pervade these contexts also played a role. Cultural defaults are commonsense, rational, taken-for-granted ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. In the United States, these cultural defaults include optimism and uniqueness, single cause, high arousal, influence and control, personal choice and self-regulation, and promotion. In Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, these defaults include realism and similarity, multiple causes, low arousal, waiting and adjusting, social choice and social regulation, and prevention. In this article, we (a) synthesize decades of empirical research supporting these unmarked defaults; (b) illustrate how they were evident in the announcements and speeches of high-level government and organizational decision makers as they addressed the existential questions posed by the pandemic, including “Will it happen to me/us?” “What is happening?” “What should I/we do?” and “How should I/we live now?”; and (c) show the similarities between these cultural defaults and different national responses to the pandemic. The goal is to integrate some of the voluminous literature in psychology on cultural variation between the United States and East Asia particularly relevant to the pandemic and to emphasize the crucial and practical significance of meaning-making in behavior during this crisis. We provide guidelines for how decision makers might take cultural defaults into account as they design policies to address current and future novel and complex threats, including pandemics, emerging technologies, and climate change

Understanding Culture Clashes and Catalyzing Change: A Culture Cycle Approach

U.S. Americans repeatedly invoke the role of “culture” today as they struggle to make sense of their increasingly diverse and divided worlds. Given the demographic changes, cultural interactions and hybridizations, and shifting power dynamics that many U.S. Americans confront every day, we ask how psychological scientists can leverage insights from cultural psychology to shed light on these issues. We propose that the culture cycle—a tool that represents culture as a multilayered, interacting, dynamic system of ideas, institutions, interactions, and individuals—can be useful to researchers and practitioners by: (1) revealing and explaining the psychological dynamics that underlie today’s significant culture clashes and (2) identifying ways to change or improve cultural practices and institutions to foster a more inclusive, equal, and effective multicultural society

White patients’ physical responses to healthcare treatments are influenced by provider race and gender

The healthcare workforce in the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, gradually shifting society away from the historical overrepresentation of White men among physicians. However, given the long-standing underrepresentation of people of color and women in the medical field, patients may still associate the concept of doctors with White men and may be physiologically less responsive to treatment administered by providers from other backgrounds. To investigate this, we varied the race and gender of the provider from which White patients received identical treatment for allergic reactions and measured patients’ improvement in response to this treatment, thus isolating how a provider’s demographic characteristics shape physical responses to healthcare. A total of 187 White patients experiencing a laboratory-induced allergic reaction interacted with a healthcare provider who applied a treatment cream and told them it would relieve their allergic reaction. Unbeknownst to the patients, the cream was inert (an unscented lotion) and interactions were completely standardized except for the provider’s race and gender. Patients were randomly assigned to interact with a provider who was a man or a woman and Asian, Black, or White. A fully blinded research assistant measured the change in the size of patients’ allergic reaction after cream administration. Results indicated that White patients showed a weaker response to the standardized treatment over time when it was administered by women or Black providers. We explore several potential explanations for these varied physiological treatment responses and discuss the implications of problematic race and gender dynamics that can endure “under the skin,” even for those who aim to be bias free