scholarly journals Imagination and transformations to sustainable and just futures

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele-Lee Moore ◽  
Manjana Milkoreit
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Transformation Processes

The ability of individuals and groups to identify, assess, and pursue alternative possible futures is an essential component of their ability to deliberately and collectively respond to major sustainability challenges rather than experience unguided or forced change. Deliberately engaging in transformation processes inevitably requires imagination. We refer to imagination for transformations as interdependent cognitive and social processes that create representations of present and possible future states of the world that can inform public deliberation, policy, decision making, and behavior from the individual to the global scale. We contend that imagination is an essential capacity for securing ecological, social, economic, and cultural well-being in times of rapid and often unpredictable global change. We sketch an emerging interdisciplinary research agenda on imagination as a transformational capacity and its role in transformation processes, building on contributions to a special issue on this subject. We specifically focus on imagination in relationship to transformative agency, causation, and individual-collective dynamics. Our aim is to identify research questions and challenges that are most pressing with a view to supporting efforts of transformations toward sustainability.

Temporal Focus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbie J. Shipp
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Psychology Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
The Future ◽  
Behavior Based ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Temporal Focus

Temporal focus is the individual tendency to characteristically think more or less about the past, present, and future. Although originally rooted in early work from psychology, research on temporal focus has been steadily growing in a number of research areas, particularly since Zimbardo and Boyd’s (1999) influential article on the topic. This chapter will review temporal focus research from the past to the present, including how temporal focus has been conceptualized and measured, and which correlates and outcomes have been tested in terms of well-being and behavior. Based on this review, an agenda for research is created to direct temporal focus research in the future.

scholarly journals Nutritional Support of Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Function in Infants and Young Children—An Update and Novel Insights

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Kathrin Cohen Kadosh ◽  
Leilani Muhardi ◽  
Panam Parikh ◽  
Melissa Basso ◽  
Hamid Jan Jan Mohamed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Brain Maturation ◽  
Normal Brain ◽  
Neurocognitive Development ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Infants And Young Children

Proper nutrition is crucial for normal brain and neurocognitive development. Failure to optimize neurodevelopment early in life can have profound long-term implications for both mental health and quality of life. Although the first 1000 days of life represent the most critical period of neurodevelopment, the central and peripheral nervous systems continue to develop and change throughout life. All this time, development and functioning depend on many factors, including adequate nutrition. In this review, we outline the role of nutrients in cognitive, emotional, and neural development in infants and young children with special attention to the emerging roles of polar lipids and high quality (available) protein. Furthermore, we discuss the dynamic nature of the gut-brain axis and the importance of microbial diversity in relation to a variety of outcomes, including brain maturation/function and behavior are discussed. Finally, the promising therapeutic potential of psychobiotics to modify gut microbial ecology in order to improve mental well-being is presented. Here, we show that the individual contribution of nutrients, their interaction with other micro- and macronutrients and the way in which they are organized in the food matrix are of crucial importance for normal neurocognitive development.

scholarly journals Transmission of Work Attitudes and Values: Comparisons, Consequences, and Implications

2019 ◽  
Vol 682 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerbert Kraaykamp ◽  
Zeynep Cemalcilar ◽  
Jale Tosun
Keyword(s):  
Work Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Attitudes ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Extrinsic Work Values ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Political Economic

Are attitudes toward work and perceptions of the benefits of work transmitted from parents to youth similarly across a variety of cultural contexts? What determines the centrality of work to one’s life? How are intrinsic work values (intangible rewards such as autonomy, learning opportunities, and self-fulfillment) and extrinsic work values (such as status, income, and financial safety) shaped; and how do these work attitudes have consequences in the political, economic, and well-being domains? Are the determinants of work values robust across countries, and do the consequences of having certain work values differ by country? These research questions guide this issue of The ANNALS. This introductory article clarifies key concepts underlying the volume and provides an overview of the data sources and analytic approaches addressed in the individual contributions. Most importantly, we provide a broad theoretical framework with notions from various disciplines aimed at giving readers a fuller grasp of the multifaceted significance of work values.

scholarly journals VISUALIZATION OF THE ART-PLASTIC IMAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COLOR OF ENERGY OF THE CHAKR OF THE HUMAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (86) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeva-Anna Demchenko ◽  
◽  
Oksana Lan ◽  
Petro Luno ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lotus Flower ◽  
Energy Behavior ◽  
Human Energy ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Artistic Image ◽  
The Relationship

The article clarifies the problem of redistribution of energy in the human body, in its etheric body. Seven main energy channels (chakras) are described, which are located on the line of the human rod, their location, spectrum, color, sound, anatomical and physical image. The characteristics of each chakra are given, where the color of the chakra is indicated, which indicates certain fluctuations of energy in the human body with different frequency and amplitude and the correspondence of each of the chakras to a special lotus flower with different number of petals. There is a regularity of lack of energy in a chakra, and this is reflected in the physical body. Psychosomatics has also been linked to illness and emotional state. The personal manifestations of the choreographer's creative creativity, connected with artistic and figurative associations with the color of human energy chakras and the creation of a creative product using the appropriate yoga asanas in the choreographic vocabulary, were studied. The relationship between human energy, behavior and dependence on excess or lack of energy in a particular chakra is analyzed. Find out how human behavior is reflected in a choreographic image. The creation of a plastic-artistic image on the example of energy and color of human chakras is carried out. The peculiarities of creating the dynamics of the image, its character and behavior of the individual are established. The peculiarity of asanas and their connection with well-being and self-expression are analyzed and singled out. The question of researching previously unsolved parts of the general problem arises: personal manifestations of the choreographer's creative work, associated with artistic associations with the color of human energy chakras and creating a creative product using choreographic vocabulary using appropriate yoga asanas. Examples of choreographers using a special range of colors as sources-associations in the process of creating a script for choreographic performances are given; the prospects of research of creativity of the choreographer, his creativity and self-realization are defined.

scholarly journals Mental Resilience and Coping With Stress: A Comprehensive, Multi-level Model of Cognitive Processing, Decision Making, and Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna S. Palamarchuk ◽  
Tracy Vaillancourt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
Acute And Chronic Stress ◽  
Level Model ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior

Aversive events can evoke strong emotions that trigger cerebral neuroactivity to facilitate behavioral and cognitive shifts to secure physiological stability. However, upon intense and/or chronic exposure to such events, the neural coping processes can be maladaptive and disrupt mental well-being. This maladaptation denotes a pivotal point when psychological stress occurs, which can trigger subconscious, “automatic” neuroreactivity as a defence mechanism to protect the individual from potential danger including overwhelming unpleasant feelings and disturbing or threatening thoughts.The outcomes of maladaptive neural activity are cognitive dysfunctions such as altered memory, decision making, and behavior that impose a risk for mental disorders. Although the neurocognitive phenomena associated with psychological stress are well documented, the complex neural activity and pathways related to stressor detection and stress coping have not been outlined in detail. Accordingly, we define acute and chronic stress-induced pathways, phases, and stages in relation to novel/unpredicted, uncontrollable, and ambiguous stressors. We offer a comprehensive model of the stress-induced alterations associated with multifaceted pathophysiology related to cognitive appraisal and executive functioning in stress.

scholarly journals Avaliação da evapotranspiração estimada pelo MODIS e do balanço hídrico para a bacia do Pontal-Pernambuco

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 2866-2877
Author(s):  
Pedro Brito ◽  
Rodrigo Miranda ◽  
Ygor Cristiano Brito Morais ◽  
Valeria Costa ◽  
Magna Moura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Very High

The semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil has a strong tendency to decrease precipitation with climate change. It is known that the social, economic, and environmental impacts will be very high if this happens. Evapotranspiration and water balance are important variables in public policy decision-making related to rain and water resources, as it allows for greater knowledge of the water supply in each region. Thus, evaluating different estimation methodologies for these variables provides an important contribution to the planning of environmental public policies. Given the above, this study aims to evaluate the evapotranspiration estimated with MODIS and the water balance obtained with the Soil Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) for the Pontal basin, Pernambuco, Brazil, for the year 2016. The results show the great dependence of actual evapotranspiration and runoff on the volume of rainfall in the basin. It was possible to verify that the preserved caatinga areas had the highest evapotranspiration throughout the year. Also noteworthy is the volume of water stored in the soil in these areas. The largest volume drained was present in agriculture and livestock and exposed soil. These results show the impacts of anthropic actions on the natural resources of the Po ntal basin, which can lead to greater complications in the region's land cover and water balance.

Emotions and Foreign Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Dolan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Foreign Policy Analysis ◽  
Collective Emotions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
And Behavior

Increasingly, scholars are recognizing the influences of emotion on foreign policy decision-making processes. Not merely feelings, emotions are sets of sentimental, physiological, and cognitive processes that typically arise in response to situational stimuli. They play a central role in psychological and social processes that shape foreign policy decision-making and behavior. In recent years, three important areas of research on emotion in foreign policy have developed: one examining the effects of emotion on how foreign policy decision makers understand and think-through problems, another focused on the role of emotion in diplomacy, and a third that investigates how mass emotion develops and shapes the context in which foreign policy decisions are made. These literatures have benefitted greatly from developments in the study of emotion by psychologists, neuroscientists, and others. Effectively using emotion to study foreign policy, however, requires some understanding of how these scholars approach the study of emotion and other affective phenomena. In addition to surveying the literatures in foreign policy analysis that use emotion, then, this article also addresses definitional issues and the different theories of emotion common among psychologists and neuroscientists. Some of the challenges scholars of emotion in foreign policy face: the interplay of the psychological and the social in modelling collective emotions, the issues involved in observing emotions in the foreign policy context, the theoretical challenge of emotion regulation, and the challenge of winning broader acceptance of the importance of emotion in foreign policy by the broader scholarly community.

Biopolitics during the COVID-19 pandemic: dilemmas of public safety and freedom

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-196
Author(s):  
OLEKSANDR STEGNII
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Public Safety ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual

The article considers the problem of maintaining a balance between the need for public safety and protection of civil liberties in a coronavirus pandemic. The theoretical works of Michel Foucault on biopower and biopolitics, the feasibility of using a biological model of government to organize modern government measures to combat the spread of the pandemic are analyzed. The global scale of the spread of the coronavirus brings biopower to a fundamentally higher level of subordination. Modern biopolitics should be understood as political rationality, which assumes the management of life and population as a subject. Modern biopolitics should be seen as a strategic coordination of national governments and the global community, to determine the potential ability of government agencies to regulate and regulate biological hazards, including the spread of infectious diseases. Effective international cooperation in overcoming the pandemic is hampered by "vaccine nationalism", the use of vaccine production as a tool of geopolitical competition. Biopower determines the individual well-being and self-awareness of people, significantly affects social ties, promising adequate protection against pathogenic influences, epidemiological threats to health. The introduction of strict restrictions on movement, quarantine measures is proclaimed by the authorities as the need to break the chain of epidemiological infection. The unconditional importance of biosafety as a component of public security determines the consent of citizens to the restriction of their freedoms, to which they did not previously agree. From this point of view, there is a fundamental possibility of implementing a democratic biopolitics in a pandemic. n Ukraine, the attitude of public opinion to the restrictive measures of the government is determined by the effectiveness of compensatory proposals for small businesses, primarily the ability to save jobs and minimize fiscal pressure. The danger of the COVID-19 pandemic for modern Ukrainian society lies not only in the large-scale epidemiological crisis, but also in the danger of provoking foreign government decisions. In this socio-political context, the weight of arguments in favor of the spread of preventive measures without suspension of economic activity, namely the conduct of a permanent information campaign among the population on the rules of conduct in a pandemic.

scholarly journals Standards for evidence in policy decision-making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Ruggeri ◽  
Sander van der Linden ◽  
Claire Wang ◽  
Francesca Papa ◽  
Johann Riesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Final Version ◽  
The World ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Policy Solutions

Benefits from applying scientific evidence to policy have long been recognized by experts on both ends of the science-policy interface. The COVID-19 pandemic declared in March 2020 urgently demands robust inputs for policymaking, whether biomedical, behavioral, epidemiological, or logistical. Unfortunately, this need arises at a time of growing misinformation and poorly vetted facts repeated by influential sources, meaning there has never been a more critical time to implement standards for evidence. In this piece, we present a framework to limit risks while also providing a reasonable pathway for applying breakthroughs in treatments and policy solutions, stemming the harm already impacting the well-being of populations around the world. Final version here: go.nature.com/2zdTQIs

scholarly journals The COVID-19 Pandemic: Informing Policy Decision-Making for a Vulnerable Population

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Nicholas Spence ◽  
Vivian Chau ◽  
Maryam S. Farvid ◽  
Jerry White ◽  
Paranthaman Rasalingam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Decision Making

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted society. Vulnerable populations are at heightened risk for exposure, as well as adverse health and social consequences. Policymakers are operating under difficult circumstances, making crucial policy decisions to maximize impact and mitigate harm, with limited scientific evidence. This article examines the pronounced vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples in Canada to the pandemic. We highlight the importance of moving beyond individual-level risk factors associated with COVID-19 by identifying and classifying Indigenous communities most vulnerable to the pandemic. We propose the use of a social diagnostic tool, the Community Well-Being Index, rooted in the social determinants of health, to predict community vulnerability and potentially guide policy decision-making in the fight against COVID-19. 

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