Lavender aromatherapy: a systematic review from essential oil extraction and administration to cognitive enhancing effects.

Modern society is reviving the practice of aromatherapy, and lavender is reported to be the most worldwide purchased plant for essential oils (EO) extraction. Since odors can modulate cognitive functions acting through specific neuroanatomical pathways, lavender EO inhalation can enhance cognition. Taking into account EO quality and diffusion devices, we conducted a systematic review on the effects of lavender EO inhalation on arousal, attention and memory in healthy subjects. Starting from this new multidisciplinary perspective, cognitive effects were revised to link outcomes to effective and reproducible aromatherapy protocols. A systematic search on MEDLINE database using Cognitive Atlas and plant authenticity-related keywords was performed. Among the 806 articles yielded, 11 articles met eligibility criteria. Subjects administered with lavender EO displayed arousal decrease and sustained attention increase. Puzzling results were obtained regarding memory. Lack of EO quality assessment and high heterogeneity in inhalation protocols did not allow assessing whether different EO composition differently modulates cognition and whether placebo or expectancy effect can be discerned from EO effect itself. However, GABAergic pathway modulation exerted by linalool, a major lavender EO constituent, explains arousal reduction and sustained attention enhancement. In conclusion, aromatherapy can be an innovative, practical and non-invasive tool to prevent cognitive lapses.

BUILDING CHARACTER OF ALTRUISM PRAXIS IN ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING AT MAN KARAWANG

This study aimed at investigating the altruism praxis in English teaching and learning classroom activities in Senior High School. This study employed a case study and conducted in MAN Karawang. The data in this study were the occurence of altruism aspects in English teaching and learning classroom activities. This study employed two instruments in collecting data, namely observation and interview. This study revealed that three aspects of altruism, empathy; prosocial behavior and aversive-arousal reduction appeared in English teaching and learning classroom activities and the most dominant is prosocial behavior. In other words, it can be concluded that MAN Karawang has contributed in altruism praxis in English teaching and learning classroom activities. The contribution is shown by habituating and maintaining the behaviors that represent aspects of altruism, such as Student follows teacher`s instruction; Student lends others stuffs they do not have and student uses positive language during discussion.

Κίνητρα φιλοκοινωνικής συμπεριφοράς: Αγνός αλτρουισμός ή ψυχολογικός εξαναγκασμός;

Having as a starting point the dispute between the Empathy – Altruism Hypothesis and the Aversive Arousal Reduction Hypothesis, the present research focus on the study of the motives underlying prosocial behavior. Thus, an experimental process was designed in which male and female adults took part (N = 128). Participants first completed the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM, Carlo & Randal, 2002) and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ, Spreng et al., 2009). Then, based on their answers, participants were assigned to eight groups and exposed to different experimental conditions (2 known – unknown x 2 in need of help – without need of help x 2 compel to receive help – absence of compel to receive help). Findings indicate that the level of empathy experiencing by the “benefactor” plays an important role in the performance of prosocial behavior. Nevertheless, the variable of familiarity with the person in need was found to be crucial in the performance of prosocial behavior as well as the need for help. Furthermore, findings suggest that the performance of prosocial behavior is a consequence of psychological pressure to the “benefactor” who, in turn, seems to use the performance of such a behavior as a means of psychological escape from a condition in which the request of help is salient.

Soothing Your Heart and Feeling Connected: A New Experimental Paradigm to Study the Benefits of Self-Compassion

Self-compassion and its cultivation in psychological interventions are associated with improved mental health and well-being. However, the underlying processes for this are not well understood. We randomly assigned 135 participants to study the effect of two short-term self-compassion exercises on self-reported-state mood and psychophysiological responses compared to three control conditions of negative (rumination), neutral, and positive (excitement) valence. Increased self-reported-state self-compassion, affiliative affect, and decreased self-criticism were found after both self-compassion exercises and the positive-excitement condition. However, a psychophysiological response pattern of reduced arousal (reduced heart rate and skin conductance) and increased parasympathetic activation (increased heart rate variability) were unique to the self-compassion conditions. This pattern is associated with effective emotion regulation in times of adversity. As predicted, rumination triggered the opposite pattern across self-report and physiological responses. Furthermore, we found partial evidence that physiological arousal reduction and parasympathetic activation precede the experience of feeling safe and connected.

FENOMENA SOCIAL LOAFING DALAM PROGRAM PEMBERDAYAAN MASYARAKAT DI DESA BINAAN PMI: Studi Fenomenologi dalam Praktek Pengembangan Masyarakat

Social loafing adalah kecenderungan individu untuk memberikan usaha yang lebih sedikit ketika dalam kelompok dibandingkan jika ketika bekerja sendirian. Social loafing diketahui semakin terjadi seiring dengan bertambahnya ukuran kelompok, jika ditotalkan, hasil yang diperoleh dari kerja kelompok justru lebih rendah dari total hasil pekerjaan secara individual. Beban kerja kelompok yang seharusnya dikerjakan bersama-sama dan menghasilkan kualitas ide dan kuantitas ide yang lebih bagus dan banyak malah kebalikannya. Pengamatan peneliti dalam pra penelitian bahwa banyak praktek-praktek kerja kelompok mulai dari kalangan mahasiswa, dosen, lembaga-lembaga yang memiliki sikap social loafing yakni sikap tidak mau berusaha, tidak mau berperan, tidak mau menyumbangkan tenaganya secara maksimal ketika berada dalam group/kelompok. Maka penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan fenomenologi digunakan untuk mengungkap dimensi personal pengalaman subjektif yang terlibat dalam PPM, menggali efek kelompok PPM secara berkelompok pada individu, dampak kelompok pada task performance, dan sikap social loafing pada kelompok PPM tersebut. Hasilnya menggambarkan bahwa tugas PPM antara lain: mengenal masalah-masalah riil di masyarakat, mengidentifikasi dan memecahkannya. Tetapi alam PPM 1 mahasiswa melakukan penyadaran akan potensi dan solusi masalah yang ada di masyarakat. Seiring bertambahnya anggota kelompok, pengaruh sosial akan semakin menurun sebab tuntutan pihak luar terbagi pada banyak target. Arousal reduction atau penurunan semangat. Adanya semangat akan mendorong terjadinya usaha dalam PPM. Anggota PPM yang menganggap input yang mereka berikan tidak terlalu signifikan dalam pencapaian kolektif ternyata mengeluarkan usaha yang lebih sedikit dibandingkan mereka yang menganggap bahwa peran mereka sangat penting.