Projects & Collaborations 14 foundShow per page10 10 20 50 Open-Label Placebo for Non-specific Pain in the Emergency Department: a Mixed-method Randomised Control Feasibility Study Research Project | 6 Project MembersThis project is a collaboration between the Emergency Department at the University Hospital of Basel and the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel. The investigation will analyze whether an intervention consisting of open-label placebo tablets is feasible for patients with non-specific pain in the emergency department. Open-label placebos are administered without deception, meaning the patients are aware they are taking a placebo. Patients will be randomized into intervention group (OLP) or control group (treatment as usual) with ibuprofen. The study duration for patients is 30 days. 3R-sTrategies and Harm-benefIt analysis Research Project | 6 Project MembersBackground: The law requires scientists to argue that the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, refinement) have been maximized, i.e. that the same benefits could not have been achieved with lower impact on animal welfare. Guidelines developed by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences explain how scientists need to fill in the required forms and to carry out harm-benefit-analysis (HBA). The guidelines refer to the instrumental and goal-related necessity of experiments, the classification of harms, as well as to the "legitimate interests of society" defined by Art. 137 of the Animal Protection Ordinance. Whether a particular experiment is acceptable is typically evaluated on a case-by-case basis and needs to be approved by a cantonal animal ethics committee (AEC). The Swiss guidelines don't provide specific orientation (e.g. concrete case examples) which types of balancing of interests or cut-off points are considered acceptable. International studies show considerable inconsistency as to how AECs and their individual members evaluate animal protocols. As long as inconsistencies remain poorly understood and opaque, they can be a source of decreased confidence of society in the decision-making process. Studies have shown that limited openness surrounding animal research undermines public trust. Transparency, on the contrary, improves public perceptions. A broader discussion of cases will bring transparency to the context of public debate and advance ethically sound, consistent decision-making. Objectives and methods: 1. Identify strategies designed to improve consistency of research project evaluations and assess critically how they integrate the 3Rs with HBA: Carry out a literature review and ethical analysis on decision-making aids that have been proposed (I) to evaluate and integrate multiple-stakeholder views in decision-making and (II) to promote systematic, accountable practice for HBA by AECs. As these aids - discourse or metric models - have been predominantly developed in the EU or North America, we will examine to which extent they are useful and appropriate in the Swiss legal and administrative context. 2. Obtain novel Swiss comparative qualitative and quantitative data on how and why the public (using clickworkers, n=1000) and relevant stakeholders (see 2a.) make decisions concerning ethical acceptability of a selection of realistic and concrete animal experiments by putting them in the hypothetical role of AEC members that decide on acceptance or rejection of these experiments and making them explain the reasons for their decisions. The cases will be first evaluated by an expert "gold standard" (ethicists and scientists). 2a. Understand factors that influence decision making (role and understanding of the 3Rs, weighing of interests, emotional or other psychological factors, influence of decision-aids identified in 1.) and test decision tipping points by using a convergent parallel mixed methods design (questionnaires, focus groups, participatory multiple-criteria decision analysis [MCDA]). We will compare decision making of the public with that of groups that are likely to benefit (patients, n=200), and actors involved in animal research and its ethical approval (100 junior and 100 senior scientists, 50 AEC members and cantonal administrators); 800 students (psychology, biology, pharmaceutical sciences) from 4 universities (Basel, Lausanne, Fribourg, EPFL) are included to test the influence of teaching interventions. 2b. Use these insights into the decision-making process to identify barriers to appropriate 3R and HBA understanding and implementation in different stakeholder groups. 2c. Develop innovative methods of teaching (e.g. mock AEC settings involving students as AEC members integrating different decision-aids resulting from step 1., see above) and test the influence of teaching on decision making. 3. Combine results from 1. and 2. to foster participatory decision making. The aim is to promote increased knowledge and transparent dialogue in different stakeholder groups in Swiss society about consistent ways to implement the 3Rs and weighing of interests, based on empirical findings and related to concrete cases. Assemble a collection of case examples (made available online) where arguments of the gold standard are explained and compared to findings from the empirical surveys. Importance and benefits: This interdisciplinary project fills a highly important theoretical and practical research gap concerning decision making about which animal experiments are ethically acceptable. It is of high value for several national and international academic debates, as well as of direct practical value for Swiss stakeholders as it advances not only understanding of the 3Rs and HBA, but also their implementation. By putting participants in the role of hypothetical AEC members the empirical part functions as participatory educational intervention that increases transparency and ethical reflection in Switzerland. Testing the Family Stress Model in Sojourning Families: How Parent's Transition Stress Impact Child's Well-Being and Sociocultural Adjustment? Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe present cross-sectional quantitative study adapts the Family Stress Model to examine how parent's transition stress relates to child well-being and sociocultural adjustment through multiple processes. Specifically, it aims to examine the different elements of stress experienced during international relocations and its effects on child well-being and sociocultural adjustment through parent's psychological distress, family functioning, and couple satisfaction, and parenting (i.e., parent-child relationships and parenting efficacy). In addition, the potential buffering effects of resilient coping styles, self-care, and personality will be also be examined. Sociocultural Adjustment and Well-being in Third Culture Kids and their Families: A Longitudinal Study Research Project | 4 Project MembersThird Culture Kids (TCK) refer to children who travel with expatriate parents and spend significant part of their developmental years in cultures other than their parents' or passport cultures (Pollock & Van Reken, 2009). Increased in globalization has made TCK more common in recent years. Very often, TCK are confronted with new challenges such as struggling with a sense of belonging, identity formation, adapting to new school, and making new friends. It also allows TCK to experience acculturation, a dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups (Berry, 2005). By living in different cultures, TCK have the opportunities to develop skills to manage and adapt to changes, to be more open and accepting to different cultures and experiences (Pollock, Van Reken & Pollock, 2017). The ability to successfully adjust to this new environment can enrich TCK's lives (Kempen et al., 2015), while failure to manage these challenges can result in psychological well-being consequences (Brown, 2008). On the other hand, within the human resources literature, the most frequently reported reason for failed expatriate relocation was the inability/unwillingness of a partner (e.g., the parent of TCK) to adapt to the foreign environment and giving up their careers (Haslberger & Brewster, 2008; Lazarova et al., 2015), resulting in increased psychosocial distress (Silbiger & Pines, 2014), depression (Magdol, 2002), and lower marriage satisfaction (Lazarova et al., 2015).As such, it is important to examine factors that may promote positive well-being and adjustment in TCK and their families. Our longitudinal study comprises a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitiative design to answer the following questions: 1. What are the roles of emotion regulation, self-esteem, resilience, and negative self-thoughts in changes to TCK's well-being and sociocultural adjustment over time? 2. What are the roles of cultural intelligence and acculturative stress in changes to TCK's wellbeing and sociocultural adjustment over time? 3. What are the roles of family functioning, parents' stress and couple satisfaction in changes to TCK's well-being and sociocultural adjustment over time? Taking the placebo further: open placebo Research Project | 2 Project MembersPlacebo effects account for a significant and clinically relevant percentage of clinical outcomes in various somatic and mental disorders and the administration of pure or impure placebos in clinical practise is common among physicians. However, the use of deceptive placebos is ethically not justifiable in clinical settings as well as legally forbidden, as it disregards the key principles of openness and transparency in the Code of Medical Ethics. Therefore, the potential and novel treatment with open-label placebos would provide an ethically acceptable way to harness placebo effects, without violating key principles of openness and transparency. Objectives of the project: The proposed projects will examine the effects of open-label placebo in comparison to well-established and highly controlled placebo paradigms as well as test the clinical significance and applicability of open-label placebos.Methods: To elucidate the effects and the effectiveness of open-label placebos two randomized controlled trials in healthy participants (study 1) as well as in subjects with premenstrual syndrome (study 2) will be conducted. Primary outcomes are expectancy-induced analgesia (study 1) and percentage change from baseline in symptoms intensity (study 2). Significance of the study: The proposed studies will help to test effects and applicability of open-label placebo in both healthy as well as in clinical subjects. Assuming that the administration of open-label placebo is ethical, the proposed studies could help to better understand the possibilities and limits of this novel treatment approach. Understanding the Playability and Usability of RegnaTales, an Interactive Mobile App Game Research Project | 4 Project MembersThis pilot study aims to examine the playability and usability of an interactive mobile app game (RegnaTales) that aim to promote emotion regulation for children. The beta version of this game is available on Apple Store. The Effect of Interpersonal Trust on Treatment Outcome Research Project | 4 Project MembersOver the past decades interpersonal trust has become a prominent subject in medical and psychotherapy research. Although the fundamental role and importance of trust in the clinical encounter as well as for the clinical outcome has been highlighted and extensively described, the role of a trustful patient-provider relationship in the treatment process remains vague and consensus on generally valid factors and mechanisms underlying the trust-health association is still lacking. With regard to current medical research, unconscious factors and processes seem to play significant role in the treatment effectivity. In this context, trust represents a promising candidate factor. Interestingly, the concept of interpersonal trust has also received ample attention from placebo research and shifted the idea of an inert placebo agent toward the concept of an implicit and explicit stimulation, driven by the psychosocial context it is embedded in. Therefore, the planned project will help to elucidate the impact of a trustful relationship on the general health outcome as well as its role in the expectation-mediated placebo analgesia response, thereby investigating the influence of an explicit and implicit trust induction. Because the dissertation aims to grasp and operationalize the multifactorial concept of trust and its interdisciplinary facets, a systematic review and two experiments with healthy participants will be conducted. Whereas a systematic review of articles investigating the association between a trustful patient-provider relationship and the clinical outcome constitutes a first estimate and theoretical basis of trust effects, two experimental paradigms will implicitly as well as explicitly manipulate and assess the interpersonal trust, illuminating the concept of interpersonal trust from an empirical point of view. In both double-blind experiments right-handed healthy males will be either suggested an analgesia or neutral expectation. Furthermore, half of the participants will be allocated to the trust condition, implying a trustful participant-investigator-relationship in experiment 1 and an implicit trust priming in experiment 2. As dependent variables, heat pain threshold, tolerance, skin conductance, Salivary Alpha-Amylase (sAA) as objective data as well as subjective data (Visual analogue scale (VAS), questionnaire) will be collected. Given the significant role of interpersonal trust on clinical outcome, the expected insight in these aspects of treatment effects are scientifically and clinically important for the understanding and the enhancement of clinical interventions. Putting Psychology in the service of initiating, supporting, and sustaining eco-friendly behaviour Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe project aims to initiate, support, and sustain eco-friendly behaviour by means of psychological knowledge. Although research is needed to further propel technological progress, nowadays there is no shortage in eco-friendly options for individuals, institutions, and even countries to pursue (e.g., intelligent energy and water consumption; waste reduction; eco-friendly transportation means, etc.). However, the last ten years have witnessed that the mere availability of "green options" is often not enough; even highly efficient green ideas, technologies, and new programs fail, because individual citizens do not elect to use them. With green options available, perhaps the most critical leverage for a green future is knowledge to spark and catalyse changes on the micro-level. We believe that psychology as a discipline is best equipped to fill this void, because it can draw on long-standing research lines addressing critical steps towards behavioural change, including-but not limited to-the formation of attitudes, social norms, the role of incentives, social dilemmas, successful intervention strategies, self-regulation, or basic needs. The present project is to put this psychological knowledge to practice. Specifically, the project's main goal is to develop, implement, and evaluate a new teaching module for initiating, supporting, and sustaining eco-friendly behaviour on the level of the individual citizen. By using up-to-date teaching methodologies such as problem oriented learning or service learning, and by borrowing from intervention strategies in psychotherapy, the teaching module does not stop at instructing students. Rather, it aims at qualifying and enabling students to make changes happen, and at initiating positive changes via practical project work. ssp-sgp2013 congress Research Project | 1 Project Members13 . biannual congress of the swiss psychological society. crossing borders. the motto of the congress seems an obvious choice for a scientifc meeting in a city bordering on two different countries. yet crossing borders is not only a welcomed geografical possibility in basel, but also presents a challenge and necessecity in psychological science. from this perspective, next to being strong and significant in its own realm, psychological sciences have serious and far reaching repercussions across various disciplines. further, psychology is strongly influenced by its neighbouring disciplines as well as by societal developments. it is therefore the aim of the congress to display the wide array of findings of psychological research from both within its borders - and beyond. Influence of caste system on self esteem and school performance Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe caste system in India is a system of social stratification. The Jaitis were grouped by Brahminical texts under the four well-known caste-categories varnas: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras. Certain people were excluded all together, ostracized by all other castes and treated as untouchables. The scheduled caste is sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature . The position of Dalit communities as untouchables in the caste structure was the most important factor that historically led to their exclusion from knowledge and education in traditional Hindu society. They are daily reminded of their lower caste status from the attitude and behavior of the higher caste children. In addition to their experiences of untouchables in schoolchildren often experienced traumatic incidences in their communities such as inequality, and the abuse by the dominant community. This creates cloud of fear in the life dalit children. And they reveal emotions such as anger, wonderment, powerlessness and sadness. As a result, the discrimination in schools leads to lower self-esteem in children. The constant abuse of discrimination in schools creates inability to concentrate in their studies and it ends up in poor academic performance. The school failure can be attributed to low-self esteem and school success related to high self-esteem. 12 12
Open-Label Placebo for Non-specific Pain in the Emergency Department: a Mixed-method Randomised Control Feasibility Study Research Project | 6 Project MembersThis project is a collaboration between the Emergency Department at the University Hospital of Basel and the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel. The investigation will analyze whether an intervention consisting of open-label placebo tablets is feasible for patients with non-specific pain in the emergency department. Open-label placebos are administered without deception, meaning the patients are aware they are taking a placebo. Patients will be randomized into intervention group (OLP) or control group (treatment as usual) with ibuprofen. The study duration for patients is 30 days.
3R-sTrategies and Harm-benefIt analysis Research Project | 6 Project MembersBackground: The law requires scientists to argue that the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, refinement) have been maximized, i.e. that the same benefits could not have been achieved with lower impact on animal welfare. Guidelines developed by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences explain how scientists need to fill in the required forms and to carry out harm-benefit-analysis (HBA). The guidelines refer to the instrumental and goal-related necessity of experiments, the classification of harms, as well as to the "legitimate interests of society" defined by Art. 137 of the Animal Protection Ordinance. Whether a particular experiment is acceptable is typically evaluated on a case-by-case basis and needs to be approved by a cantonal animal ethics committee (AEC). The Swiss guidelines don't provide specific orientation (e.g. concrete case examples) which types of balancing of interests or cut-off points are considered acceptable. International studies show considerable inconsistency as to how AECs and their individual members evaluate animal protocols. As long as inconsistencies remain poorly understood and opaque, they can be a source of decreased confidence of society in the decision-making process. Studies have shown that limited openness surrounding animal research undermines public trust. Transparency, on the contrary, improves public perceptions. A broader discussion of cases will bring transparency to the context of public debate and advance ethically sound, consistent decision-making. Objectives and methods: 1. Identify strategies designed to improve consistency of research project evaluations and assess critically how they integrate the 3Rs with HBA: Carry out a literature review and ethical analysis on decision-making aids that have been proposed (I) to evaluate and integrate multiple-stakeholder views in decision-making and (II) to promote systematic, accountable practice for HBA by AECs. As these aids - discourse or metric models - have been predominantly developed in the EU or North America, we will examine to which extent they are useful and appropriate in the Swiss legal and administrative context. 2. Obtain novel Swiss comparative qualitative and quantitative data on how and why the public (using clickworkers, n=1000) and relevant stakeholders (see 2a.) make decisions concerning ethical acceptability of a selection of realistic and concrete animal experiments by putting them in the hypothetical role of AEC members that decide on acceptance or rejection of these experiments and making them explain the reasons for their decisions. The cases will be first evaluated by an expert "gold standard" (ethicists and scientists). 2a. Understand factors that influence decision making (role and understanding of the 3Rs, weighing of interests, emotional or other psychological factors, influence of decision-aids identified in 1.) and test decision tipping points by using a convergent parallel mixed methods design (questionnaires, focus groups, participatory multiple-criteria decision analysis [MCDA]). We will compare decision making of the public with that of groups that are likely to benefit (patients, n=200), and actors involved in animal research and its ethical approval (100 junior and 100 senior scientists, 50 AEC members and cantonal administrators); 800 students (psychology, biology, pharmaceutical sciences) from 4 universities (Basel, Lausanne, Fribourg, EPFL) are included to test the influence of teaching interventions. 2b. Use these insights into the decision-making process to identify barriers to appropriate 3R and HBA understanding and implementation in different stakeholder groups. 2c. Develop innovative methods of teaching (e.g. mock AEC settings involving students as AEC members integrating different decision-aids resulting from step 1., see above) and test the influence of teaching on decision making. 3. Combine results from 1. and 2. to foster participatory decision making. The aim is to promote increased knowledge and transparent dialogue in different stakeholder groups in Swiss society about consistent ways to implement the 3Rs and weighing of interests, based on empirical findings and related to concrete cases. Assemble a collection of case examples (made available online) where arguments of the gold standard are explained and compared to findings from the empirical surveys. Importance and benefits: This interdisciplinary project fills a highly important theoretical and practical research gap concerning decision making about which animal experiments are ethically acceptable. It is of high value for several national and international academic debates, as well as of direct practical value for Swiss stakeholders as it advances not only understanding of the 3Rs and HBA, but also their implementation. By putting participants in the role of hypothetical AEC members the empirical part functions as participatory educational intervention that increases transparency and ethical reflection in Switzerland.
Testing the Family Stress Model in Sojourning Families: How Parent's Transition Stress Impact Child's Well-Being and Sociocultural Adjustment? Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe present cross-sectional quantitative study adapts the Family Stress Model to examine how parent's transition stress relates to child well-being and sociocultural adjustment through multiple processes. Specifically, it aims to examine the different elements of stress experienced during international relocations and its effects on child well-being and sociocultural adjustment through parent's psychological distress, family functioning, and couple satisfaction, and parenting (i.e., parent-child relationships and parenting efficacy). In addition, the potential buffering effects of resilient coping styles, self-care, and personality will be also be examined.
Sociocultural Adjustment and Well-being in Third Culture Kids and their Families: A Longitudinal Study Research Project | 4 Project MembersThird Culture Kids (TCK) refer to children who travel with expatriate parents and spend significant part of their developmental years in cultures other than their parents' or passport cultures (Pollock & Van Reken, 2009). Increased in globalization has made TCK more common in recent years. Very often, TCK are confronted with new challenges such as struggling with a sense of belonging, identity formation, adapting to new school, and making new friends. It also allows TCK to experience acculturation, a dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups (Berry, 2005). By living in different cultures, TCK have the opportunities to develop skills to manage and adapt to changes, to be more open and accepting to different cultures and experiences (Pollock, Van Reken & Pollock, 2017). The ability to successfully adjust to this new environment can enrich TCK's lives (Kempen et al., 2015), while failure to manage these challenges can result in psychological well-being consequences (Brown, 2008). On the other hand, within the human resources literature, the most frequently reported reason for failed expatriate relocation was the inability/unwillingness of a partner (e.g., the parent of TCK) to adapt to the foreign environment and giving up their careers (Haslberger & Brewster, 2008; Lazarova et al., 2015), resulting in increased psychosocial distress (Silbiger & Pines, 2014), depression (Magdol, 2002), and lower marriage satisfaction (Lazarova et al., 2015).As such, it is important to examine factors that may promote positive well-being and adjustment in TCK and their families. Our longitudinal study comprises a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitiative design to answer the following questions: 1. What are the roles of emotion regulation, self-esteem, resilience, and negative self-thoughts in changes to TCK's well-being and sociocultural adjustment over time? 2. What are the roles of cultural intelligence and acculturative stress in changes to TCK's wellbeing and sociocultural adjustment over time? 3. What are the roles of family functioning, parents' stress and couple satisfaction in changes to TCK's well-being and sociocultural adjustment over time?
Taking the placebo further: open placebo Research Project | 2 Project MembersPlacebo effects account for a significant and clinically relevant percentage of clinical outcomes in various somatic and mental disorders and the administration of pure or impure placebos in clinical practise is common among physicians. However, the use of deceptive placebos is ethically not justifiable in clinical settings as well as legally forbidden, as it disregards the key principles of openness and transparency in the Code of Medical Ethics. Therefore, the potential and novel treatment with open-label placebos would provide an ethically acceptable way to harness placebo effects, without violating key principles of openness and transparency. Objectives of the project: The proposed projects will examine the effects of open-label placebo in comparison to well-established and highly controlled placebo paradigms as well as test the clinical significance and applicability of open-label placebos.Methods: To elucidate the effects and the effectiveness of open-label placebos two randomized controlled trials in healthy participants (study 1) as well as in subjects with premenstrual syndrome (study 2) will be conducted. Primary outcomes are expectancy-induced analgesia (study 1) and percentage change from baseline in symptoms intensity (study 2). Significance of the study: The proposed studies will help to test effects and applicability of open-label placebo in both healthy as well as in clinical subjects. Assuming that the administration of open-label placebo is ethical, the proposed studies could help to better understand the possibilities and limits of this novel treatment approach.
Understanding the Playability and Usability of RegnaTales, an Interactive Mobile App Game Research Project | 4 Project MembersThis pilot study aims to examine the playability and usability of an interactive mobile app game (RegnaTales) that aim to promote emotion regulation for children. The beta version of this game is available on Apple Store.
The Effect of Interpersonal Trust on Treatment Outcome Research Project | 4 Project MembersOver the past decades interpersonal trust has become a prominent subject in medical and psychotherapy research. Although the fundamental role and importance of trust in the clinical encounter as well as for the clinical outcome has been highlighted and extensively described, the role of a trustful patient-provider relationship in the treatment process remains vague and consensus on generally valid factors and mechanisms underlying the trust-health association is still lacking. With regard to current medical research, unconscious factors and processes seem to play significant role in the treatment effectivity. In this context, trust represents a promising candidate factor. Interestingly, the concept of interpersonal trust has also received ample attention from placebo research and shifted the idea of an inert placebo agent toward the concept of an implicit and explicit stimulation, driven by the psychosocial context it is embedded in. Therefore, the planned project will help to elucidate the impact of a trustful relationship on the general health outcome as well as its role in the expectation-mediated placebo analgesia response, thereby investigating the influence of an explicit and implicit trust induction. Because the dissertation aims to grasp and operationalize the multifactorial concept of trust and its interdisciplinary facets, a systematic review and two experiments with healthy participants will be conducted. Whereas a systematic review of articles investigating the association between a trustful patient-provider relationship and the clinical outcome constitutes a first estimate and theoretical basis of trust effects, two experimental paradigms will implicitly as well as explicitly manipulate and assess the interpersonal trust, illuminating the concept of interpersonal trust from an empirical point of view. In both double-blind experiments right-handed healthy males will be either suggested an analgesia or neutral expectation. Furthermore, half of the participants will be allocated to the trust condition, implying a trustful participant-investigator-relationship in experiment 1 and an implicit trust priming in experiment 2. As dependent variables, heat pain threshold, tolerance, skin conductance, Salivary Alpha-Amylase (sAA) as objective data as well as subjective data (Visual analogue scale (VAS), questionnaire) will be collected. Given the significant role of interpersonal trust on clinical outcome, the expected insight in these aspects of treatment effects are scientifically and clinically important for the understanding and the enhancement of clinical interventions.
Putting Psychology in the service of initiating, supporting, and sustaining eco-friendly behaviour Research Project | 3 Project MembersThe project aims to initiate, support, and sustain eco-friendly behaviour by means of psychological knowledge. Although research is needed to further propel technological progress, nowadays there is no shortage in eco-friendly options for individuals, institutions, and even countries to pursue (e.g., intelligent energy and water consumption; waste reduction; eco-friendly transportation means, etc.). However, the last ten years have witnessed that the mere availability of "green options" is often not enough; even highly efficient green ideas, technologies, and new programs fail, because individual citizens do not elect to use them. With green options available, perhaps the most critical leverage for a green future is knowledge to spark and catalyse changes on the micro-level. We believe that psychology as a discipline is best equipped to fill this void, because it can draw on long-standing research lines addressing critical steps towards behavioural change, including-but not limited to-the formation of attitudes, social norms, the role of incentives, social dilemmas, successful intervention strategies, self-regulation, or basic needs. The present project is to put this psychological knowledge to practice. Specifically, the project's main goal is to develop, implement, and evaluate a new teaching module for initiating, supporting, and sustaining eco-friendly behaviour on the level of the individual citizen. By using up-to-date teaching methodologies such as problem oriented learning or service learning, and by borrowing from intervention strategies in psychotherapy, the teaching module does not stop at instructing students. Rather, it aims at qualifying and enabling students to make changes happen, and at initiating positive changes via practical project work.
ssp-sgp2013 congress Research Project | 1 Project Members13 . biannual congress of the swiss psychological society. crossing borders. the motto of the congress seems an obvious choice for a scientifc meeting in a city bordering on two different countries. yet crossing borders is not only a welcomed geografical possibility in basel, but also presents a challenge and necessecity in psychological science. from this perspective, next to being strong and significant in its own realm, psychological sciences have serious and far reaching repercussions across various disciplines. further, psychology is strongly influenced by its neighbouring disciplines as well as by societal developments. it is therefore the aim of the congress to display the wide array of findings of psychological research from both within its borders - and beyond.
Influence of caste system on self esteem and school performance Research Project | 2 Project MembersThe caste system in India is a system of social stratification. The Jaitis were grouped by Brahminical texts under the four well-known caste-categories varnas: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras. Certain people were excluded all together, ostracized by all other castes and treated as untouchables. The scheduled caste is sometimes referred to as Dalit in contemporary literature . The position of Dalit communities as untouchables in the caste structure was the most important factor that historically led to their exclusion from knowledge and education in traditional Hindu society. They are daily reminded of their lower caste status from the attitude and behavior of the higher caste children. In addition to their experiences of untouchables in schoolchildren often experienced traumatic incidences in their communities such as inequality, and the abuse by the dominant community. This creates cloud of fear in the life dalit children. And they reveal emotions such as anger, wonderment, powerlessness and sadness. As a result, the discrimination in schools leads to lower self-esteem in children. The constant abuse of discrimination in schools creates inability to concentrate in their studies and it ends up in poor academic performance. The school failure can be attributed to low-self esteem and school success related to high self-esteem.
