Free will beliefs and moral norms: Disentangling FWB's from moral behaviors

The nature and existence of free will and its relationship with moral reasoning and behavior have been debated by philosophers, theologians, and scientists for centuries, with no resolution in sight. More recently, proponents of "Experimental Philosophy" (Nichols, 2011) have sought to bypass the challenges of ontology by applying the tools and methods of the behavioral and mental sciences to the study of issues such as the structure and role of free will beliefs (FWBs) in prosocial and moral reasoning and behavior. One of these approaches involves the use of experimental manipulation of FWBs via text passages, statements, articles, and videos endorsing or refuting free will, to measure its effects on moral attitudes and behaviors such as conformity, punishment, and cheating behaviors (e.g. Alquist et al., 2013;Shariff et al., 2014;Vohs & Schooler, 2008). The present study, a videoconference-based online study developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, seeks to shed further insight into the role of FWBs in moral behavior by combining experimental manipulations of FWBs and descriptive moral norms (moral behaviors we observe in the world around us). We manipulated FWBs by randomly assigning participants to read and contemplate 15 pro- or anti-free will statements, and manipulated moral norms by pairing participants with a research confederate pretending to be a second participant but randomly assigned to behave either honestly or dishonestly in a tracing task involving unsolvable shapes, which participants were led to believe they could earn a prize for solving. Participants were also asked to complete a number of psychometric scales and single item questions for purposes of manipulation checking and exploratory analyses. Results showed that participants paired with dishonest confederates cheated more frequently than participants paired with honest confederates, and that participants in the pro-free will condition reported stronger FWBs than participants in the anti-free will condition. No main effect of FWB manipulation was observed on cheating behaviors, nor was any interaction effect observed between FWB manipulation and confederate honesty condition on cheating behaviors. These findings contribute to our understanding of the influences and limitations of FWBs, moral norms, and experimental manipulations thereof for cheating behaviors and moral behaviors in general, suggesting potential directions for future research approaches and paradigms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Who is impacted? Personality predicts individual differences in psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in people's private and public lives that are unprecedented in modern history. However, little is known about the differential psychological consequences of restrictions that have been imposed to fight the pandemic. In a large and diverse German sample (N = 1,320), we examined how individual differences in psychological consequences of the pandemic (perceived restrictiveness of government-supported measures, global pandemic-related appraisals, subjective well-being) were associated with a broad set of faceted personality traits (Big Five, Honesty-Humility, Dark Triad). Facets of Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness were among the strongest and most important predictors of psychological outcomes, even after controlling for basic sociodemographic variables (gender, age). These findings suggest that psychological consequences of the pandemic depend on personality and thus add to the growing literature on the importance of considering individual differences in crisis situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Overdose Conundrum

The article discusses the impact of patients' overdose on psychiatrists. It discusses the case of a 45-year-old woman with an opioid addiction and anxiety who was enrolled in an addictions treatment program. Topics covered include how the psychiatrists cope with patient suicide or overdose, how to promote honesty about recurrence of substance use and how psychiatrists can find the right balance in setting boundaries.

Honesty-Based Social Technique to Enhance Cooperation in Social Internet of Things

The Social Internet of Things (SIoT) can be seen as integrating the social networking concept into the Internet of Things (IoT). Such networks enable different devices to form social relationships among themselves depending on pre-programmed rules and the preferences of their owners. When SIoT devices encounter one another on the spur of the moment, they seek out each other's assistance. The connectivity of such smart objects reveals new horizons for innovative applications empowering objects with cognizance. This enables smart objects to socialize with each other based on mutual interests and social aspects. Trust building in social networks has provided a new perspective for providing services to providers based on relationships like human ones. However, the connected IoT nodes in the community may show a lack of interest in forwarding packets in the network communication to save their resources, such as battery, energy, bandwidth, and memory. This act of selfishness can highly degrade the performance of the network. To enhance the cooperation among nodes in the network a novel technique is needed to improve the performance of the network. In this article, we address the issue of the selfishness of the nodes through the formation of a credible community based on honesty. A social process is used to form communities and select heads in these communities. The selected community heads having social attributes prove effective in determining the social behavior of the nodes as honest or selfish. Unlike other schemes, the dishonest nodes are isolated in a separate domain, and they are given several chances to rejoin the community after increasing their honesty levels. The proposed social technique was simulated using MATLAB and compared with existing schemes to show its effectiveness. Our proposed technique outperforms the existing techniques in terms of throughput, overhead, packet delivery ratio (PDR), and packet-delivery latency.

Suicide among nurses: how talking can reduce risk and stigma: With increasing workplace and home pressures for many, nurses can support colleagues through open, honest

In the BBC TV programme 'This Is Going to Hurt', hospital staff plant a tree in memory of a colleague who has died by suicide.

Modeling employees' skills for sustainable banking services.

In Bangladesh, more clarity is needed on data that could contribute to the provision of sustainable banking services. Therefore, the qualitative exploration of bank employees' skills to advance contemporary banking careers and services has been rational. Moreover, limited knowledge of what constitutes a sustainable banking career and service inspires this study to adapt to the new normal post-COVID-19. Fifteen experienced employees from the banking industry participated in the interview to accomplish the research. The results from content data analysis showed that technical skills may vary from department to department based on employees' job responsibilities. However, the employee skills are more or less similar for different banks. The results further showed that the banking sector emphasizes the need for honesty from banks' employees, as they maintain a large amount of cash and other types of assets in their vaults. Additionally, the research participants expressed their sentiments regarding other skills, such as patience, smartness, and technological expertise. These skills are needed to carry out the day-to-day operations and achieve high customer satisfaction. Therefore, the study recommends that banks focus on creating an employee base with the skills found in the investigation to develop banking services.

The 'borderlands' of the science–policy interface

In this commentary, using the UK as our example, we focus on what we describe as the borderlands of the science–policy interface (SPI) and use two case studies to sketch out where we think there are further opportunities for geographers and others interested in advocating and engaging. As authors we bring to the topic different professional backgrounds and experiences at the SPI, ranging from ex‐Deputy Chief Scientist at Natural England with a recent secondment to Defra to two academic geographers who have worked with and for Defra to other roles including acting as specialist adviser to the Houses of Parliament. As geographers and environmental scientists, we believe that there is much to be gained by working with both policy development and practice in the pursuit of positive outcomes for economy, society and environment. Geographers have had and continue to be greatly interested in the role and scope of geographical expertise and its capacity to both engage and impact. Our commentary builds on existing academic literature on science‐policy "borders", "boundary objects" and "boundary‐work" to consider further what we term the "borderlands" of the SPI. In this commentary, using the UK as our example, we focus on what we describe as the borderlands of the SPI and use non‐COVID examples to sketch out where we think there are opportunities for geographers and others interested in advocating and engaging. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Do Residents Living Alone Have Higher Levels of Depression, Anxiety and Stress During the Pandemic?

Learning Objective: Understand how residents' living situations and support structure might affect their wellness. Background(s): EM residents are known to be high-risk for depression;in all likelihood the Covid-19 pandemic added to this risk. In addition to the understandable work stressors, social isolation caused by the lockdowns likely has affected their support structure. Objective(s): Using validated psychometric testing, we sought to determine the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in EM residents in a region severely impacted by the pandemic. We hypothesized that residents living alone would have more depression, anxiety and stress than those living with family or other roommates. Method(s): Setting: An EM residency program in the state greatly affected by Covid-19. All EM residents were surveyed a year into the pandemic using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (DASS). This scale has been validated in the psychology literature across multiple settings. Surveys were anonymous to promote honesty. Residents were also surveyed about their living situations and then separated into two groups based on whether they lived alone or with other people. Levels of depression, anxiety, and stress were determined for each group and compared. Differences between the groups and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Result(s): 26 of 27 residents (96%) completed the survey. 12 residents lived by themselves and 16 residents lived with others. In terms of depression, the incidence was 58% for those living alone vs. 23% for those living with others (Difference -29%, CI: -69,11). In terms of anxiety, the incidence was 33% for those living alone vs 29% for those living with others (Difference -4%, CI: -43,35). In terms of stress, the incidence was 50% vs. 43% for those living with others (Difference -7%, CI:-49,35). Conclusion(s): During the pandemic, the rates of depression, anxiety and stress in emergency residents as measured by the DASS are high overall, but with the small sample size no differences between those who live alone and those that live with others was shown.

Multi-Modal Online Exam Cheating Detection

Online exams have been the standard approach adopted by universities and institutes because of the COVID-19 pandemic which forces the world to go towards distance learning and online exams. But with this approach come the challenges such as online exam proctoring which is considered one of the most difficult challenges to solve. It is a must to ensure the academic honesty and credibility of the online exam. Existing proctoring techniques require a few proctors to observe a huge number of students to detect cheating students, and due to it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, we implemented multi-modalities to detect the student's activity during the online exam using a webcam and sent a report to the proctor for the suspected student. Those modalities are head-pose, object detection and eye-gaze estimation. This proposed solution is tested and evaluated on 29 students with a total of four exam sessions to ensure the effectiveness of our proposed solution. The events' detection accuracy of the multi-modalities experiment was 95.69%. © 2022 IEEE.

Morality in the flesh: on the link between bodily self-consciousness, moral identity and (dis)honest behaviour.

The sense of owning a body (ownership) and controlling its actions (agency) are two main pillars of bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Although studies suggest that BSC signals and morality may be associated, whether such association has a positive or negative direction remains unclear. To investigate this issue, we conducted two pre-registered, online studies, in which a total of 1309 participants completed BSC- and morality-related questionnaires and undertook a task where they could cheat for monetary gain. We found that participants with high sense of ownership displayed high moral identity, which supports the notion that ownership is used to associate the self with positive characteristics. Moreover, high agency was associated with increased moral identity when sense of power is high. Results regarding deception are less clear, and might relate to the impact of COVID-19. Our results concerning moral identity may inspire policies that rely on changes of corporeal awareness to contrast immorality.

Vital best practices for antiracist patient engagement in AYA oncology research and advocacy: A Delphi study of BIPOC AYA experts

Background: In the thick of the ongoing global crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, uprisings against anti-Black racism and police brutality, and anti-Asian racism and violence, Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients may be particularly vulnerable and exploited. Whilst embroiled in sociopolitical complexity, BIPOC AYAs are increasingly called upon to contribute as patient advocates in AYA oncology research and advocacy. Researchers, clinicians, and advocates in AYA oncology must dismantle long-standing racism and create meaningful structural change. The purpose of this study is to derive vital best practices for implementing antiracist patient engagement in AYA oncology research and advocacy that are co-developed by BIPOC AYA cancer patients and oncology professionals. Methods: We utilized a modified Delphi technique with a panel of BIPOC AYA cancer patients (n = 32) to build consensus opinions on professional recommendations from a prior study (Cheung et al., 2021), and to generate antiracist best practices in patient engagement. The Delphi study was comprised of three consecutive and iterative survey rounds over the course of 8 months in 2021;participants were BIPOC AYAs diagnosed with cancer between ages 15-36 years. Results: Results detail best practices for the implementation of antiracist patient engagement across all research activities within the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's (PCORI) Framework for Patient Engagement. For example, BIPOC AYAs agreed with oncology professionals' high priority recommendation for including BIPOC AYAs at the highest levels of decision making in research topic selection. As such, a best practice is for researchers to ensure that such representatives not only hold BIPOC AYA identity, but also hold direct experience with the particular oncology diagnosis, issue, or other outcome of interest. Additionally, BIPOC AYAs concurred with oncology professionals' high priority for “transparency, honesty, and trust” as a core principle for best practices in patient engagement. They further explained that trustworthy relationships are especially important when collaborating with teens and young adults, who are developmentally just coming into their own. When describing successful experiences of inclusion, participants ranked “build collaborative relationships with BIPOC AYA communities and listen to patients not usually heard” and “recruit a diverse range of BIPOC patients and let them give actual input into the study” as the highest priority best practices. Conclusions: Findings from this study are instructional for AYA oncology researchers, clinicians, and advocates to prevent harmful tokenism and implement genuine antiracist inclusion to advance health equity. Future research should investigate best practices within unique clinical settings.

From Africanizing oncology to decolonizing global health: reflections on the biomedical turn in African health histories

The questions and preoccupations animating this book were not so much about decolonizing global health as they were about how to write with sensitivity, honesty and integrity about the history of biomedical research and care in Eastern Africa. The theoretical architecture of the book was informed by discussions of experiments travelling 1 and the promises and shortcomings of the antiretroviral technofix for HIV. 2 I also engaged with scholars writing about the material realities of biomedicine in Africa, including debris, 3 traces, 4 improvisation, 5 capacity, 6 scrambling for Africa, 7 and Africa as a living laboratory. 8 ‘Decolonization’ was not on my radar. In the book, I write that we have ‘so much to learn from how Ugandan physician intellectuals, fieldworkers savvy in forging friendships, resilient patients, and invested caretakers keep things going: be they buildings, bodies, experiments, kitchens, therapeutics, blood banks, or optimism’ (p. 24).

Traditional Games in Cultural Literacy to Build the Character of Elementary School Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Formal educational institutions are responsible for the character education of students as the next generation of the nation, for which students need to be prepared for education as early as possible to have character, as in traditional games. Along with the times, traditional children's games have shifted with modern games, namely virtual world games with advanced technology. The 21st St skills early learning framework supports the integration of skills (critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity, technology literacy, and socio-emotional. Traditional games have many benefits in all aspects of student development which include physical-motor, socio-emotional, moral, cognitive, and language development. Through the 2013 curriculum, it is expected to be able to provide life skills during the Covid-19 pandemic. Cultural literacy developed is very diverse, among others with traditional game literacy. The introduction and preservation of traditional game culture in addition to government support is certainly also highly expected the role of parents and the community. Play is a very important and fun activity in the child's learning process, so it will be encouraged to experiment and grow well in life. Traditional games have so many different forms and variations and tend to take advantage of tools or facilities that exist in the school environment without having to buy them so that it requires high imagination and creativity. In addition, traditional games also have noble values and certain moral messages such as the values of togetherness, honesty, responsibility, airy attitude (if lost), encouragement of achievement, and adherence to rules. All that can be done if the player really enjoys, enjoys and understands the essence of the game. By sticking to Indonesian cultural literacy has an honest identity about culture. It is hoped that the Indonesian nation can become a developed and civilized nation.

Pesquisa de COVID 19, oportunidad para el reforzamiento de valores en estudiantes de las ciencias médicas

La calidad de la educación superior cubana se sustenta en el trabajo educativo con énfasis en la formación de valores. El objetivo de la investigación fue determinar en qué medida la actividad de pesquisa de COVID-19 contribuye a la consolidación de valores. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo, trasversal, en el Área III de Cienfuegos, de abril a mayo de 2020. Del universo de 130 se seleccionaron 71 estudiantes por muestreo aleatorio simple. Se utilizó una encuesta que incluye como variables:carrera, año académico, y la autovaloración sobre el grado en que la actividad de pesquisa contribuyó a reforzar valores. Para el procesamiento se confeccionó una base de datos en el paquete estadístico SPSS 21.0. Predominaron los estudiantes de la carrera de medicina (87,3%) y sexo femenino (67,6%). Más del 50% percibió que fue considerable la contribución de la pesquisa para consolidar el humanismo, honestidad, justicia, solidaridad y responsabilidad.Alternate :The quality of Cuban higher education is based on educational work with an emphasis on the formation of values. The objective of the research was to determine to what extent the COVID-19 research activity contributes to the consolidation ofvalues. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in Area III of Cienfuegos, from April to May 2020. From the universe of 130, 71 students were selected by simple random sampling. A survey was used that included as variables: career, academic year, and self-assessment on the degree to which the research activity contributed to reinforcing values. For processing, a database was created in the statistical package SPSS 21.0. Medicine students (87.3%) and females (67.6%) predominated. More than 50% perceived that the contribution of the research to consolidate humanism, honesty, justice, solidarity and responsibility was considerable

COVID-19 avoidance behavior: The significance of personality and the relation with increases in working from home

The COVID-19 pandemic can be understood as a situation that triggers a specific form of trait activation;that is, one in which personality can influence the chance of becoming infected. This research examines the relations between HEXACO personality and COVID-19 avoidance behaviors, which is operationalized in terms of the threat that people experience and the extent to which they comply with the COVID-19 rules of conduct. In addition, the study examines the extent to which COVID-19 avoidance behaviors relate to an increase in working from home. In a stratified Dutch sample of 932 adults (of which N = 526 were employed) in September 2020, we found that - in addition to age - high emotionality and conscientiousness and low extraversion were the main unique personality predictors of COVID-19 avoidance behaviors. A selection of six facets (fearfulness, sociability, diligence, inquisitiveness, unconventionality, and proactivity) predicted COVID-19 avoidance behaviors better than the HEXACO domain scales. The main predictors of an increase in working from home were having an office job and a high level of education. The study shows that individual differences play an important role in how people deal with the pandemic, and that differences in education and type of job were most important for the extent to which people started working from home.

Measuring depression, stress, anxiety and resilience levels during the covid-19 pandemic using validated psychometric testing

Learning Objectives: To describe the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress and resilience in EM residents during the Covid-19 pandemic Background: EM residents were already known to be high-risk for depression and burnout;in all likelihood the Covid-19 pandemic has added to this risk. In addition to the understandable work stressors, social isolation caused by the lockdowns likely has affected their support structure negatively. Objectives: Using validated psychometric testing, we sought to determine the levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and resilience in EM residents in a region severely impacted by the pandemic. Methods: Setting: An EM residency program in the state with the highest per-capita deaths from Covid-19. All EM residents were surveyed eight months into the pandemic using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (DASS) and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Both studies have been validated in the psychology literature across multiple settings. Surveys were anonymous to promote honesty in answers. Levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and resilience were determined. Demographic information was also collected. Results: 23 of 27 residents (85%) completed the survey. Using the DASS, 48% (95%CI 27-69) were found to have at least mild depression, with 17% (95%CI 2-33) found to have “severe” or “extremely severe” depression. 35% (95%CI 15-55) were found to have at least mild levels of anxiety, with 4% (95%CI-4 to 13) having “severe” or “extremely severe” anxiety. 52% (95%CI 31-73) were found to have at least mild stress, with 13% (95%CI-1 to 27) found to have “severe” or “extremely severe” stress. Using the BRS, 9% (95%CI-3 to 20) were found to have low levels of resilience. Conclusion: While we knew EM residents (physicians) are high-risk for depression and burnout, the levels of depression and stress measured by validated psychometric testing during the Covid-19 pandemic were concerning. Although the residency has increased its wellness activities significantly, it appears much more needs to be done to help residents get through this extremely difficult situation.

Social stressors and isolation have biggest effect on resident wellness during a pandemic

Learning Objectives: To identify what features of the Covid-19 pandemic have the biggest negative impact on the wellness of EM residents and what interventions help the most. Background: EM physicians are already known to be high-risk for depression and burnout. In all likelihood the Covid-19 pandemic has added to this risk. Objectives: We sought to identify the primary stressors for EM residents during this pandemic and determine which factors and interventions have helped most to improve their wellness. Methods: Setting: An EM residency program in the state with the highest per-capita deaths from Covid-19. All EM residents were surveyed eight months into the pandemic using Google Forms. Surveys were anonymous to promote honesty. Residents were asked about to identify the three factors that had the greatest negative impact on their wellness. They were also asked to identify the three features that did most to improve wellness. Demographic information was collected. Results: 23 of 27 residents (85%) completed the survey. 91% (95%CI 80-100) said the negative impact of the pandemic affects them more socially than professionally. The factors identified most commonly contributing negatively to a resident's wellness were “decreased socialization / isolation” (74%) and “concerns for family safety” (70%). “Changing hospital protocols” (35%), “Feeling under-appreciated at work” (30%), and “Public not doing enough to stop the spread” (30%) were also identified frequently as having a negative effect. “Concerns for my own safety” was only identified by 17% of residents as being a top-three issue. The features most commonly identified as helping wellness were “Ability to socialize in small groups” (65%), “team mentality” (57%) and “free food” (44%). Conclusion: Overwhelmingly, residents cite the social impact of the pandemic as having a more negative effect on their wellness than work did. Concerns for their own safety are not identified frequently as having a significant impact. Interventions that are social and decrease the sense of isolation appear to be especially important in improving wellness.

Online examinations in a large Australian CS1 course

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, universities were required to shift teaching online in 2020, including exams. This rapid move required many changes and compromises to be made in order for students to take their exams remotely. We report on the experiences of running online exams for a large CS1 course at an Australian university, describing the changes made to the online learning platform to support this task, as well as the authoring of the exam and the support provided to students. Several clear instances of academic misconduct are presented to illustrate some of the issues endemic to online exams. Broadly, this approach to examination was a success that we plan to continue in future years, and we reflect on how the approach can be improved. © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Ethics of Cheating: Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Academic Honesty

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a transition from face-to-face instruction to virtual teaching modalities. This transition brought about an increase in the incidence of academic dishonesty as well as the evolution of novel methods of cheating. Additionally, the use of online “help” sites as platforms that enabled academic dishonesty became more prevalent. This chapter presents a historical perspective of academic dishonesty while addressing the motivation and cultural norms that lead students to cheat. Furthermore, this chapter discusses the evolution of cheating and the role ethics plays in maintaining academic integrity. © 2021 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

Leadership as Stewardship: What Does the Story of the Unjust Steward Have to Say?

With the various high-profile global debates and protests about the urgent need to address climate change, the environment and sustainability, as well as the outbreak and pandemic spread of COVID-19, the focus turns once more to the concept of stewardship as a form of leadership. This chapter outlines the key features of stewardship theory, the etymology of stewardship as a concept and some of its biblical and theological aspects. The chapter then turns its focus to the story of the unjust steward as found in the New Testament. Although his dishonesty is not commended, the steward’s prudence is. It is contended that this constructive lesson about the affirmation of the normative quality of prudence with resources in a time of crisis – despite the unethical context of dishonesty – offers an interesting position for the continuing reflection on leadership and business ethics. Using the categories of prudence to refer to ‘responsible’ and honesty to refer to ‘good’ – it is argued that with the present demand to address climate change, the environment and sustainability, prudent (responsible) rather than honest (good) leadership may become the prime focus for reflection on ethics in business and leadership as a form of stewardship. © 2022, Springer Nature B.V.