Science of the SpiritS


People 2

Women still less likely to commit corporate fraud

Women are less likely to take part in corporate crime and fraud even though more women now work in corporations and serve at higher levels of those organizations, according to a team of sociologists.

The researchers examined a database of recent corporate frauds and found that women typically were not part of the conspiracy. When women did play a role, it was rarely a significant one.

"There has been this view for awhile that women are no more moral than men and that once there was more gender equality in the workforce, there would be more females involved in corporate crime," said Darrell Steffensmeier, professor of sociology and criminology, Penn State. "That view goes back a long time but, at some point, we should get the point that something else may be happening."

Steffensmeier said that about three out of four conspiracies to commit corporate fraud were all-male, and there was no report of an all-female conspiracy. In most cases when women do take part in corporate crime, they tend to play minor roles in the overall conspiracy, according to the researchers, who reported their findings in the current issue of the American Sociological Review.

Steffensmeier said the findings suggest that placing more women in executive leadership positions in corporations may raise ethical standards. Women are socialized to take fewer risks for business advantage and may feel they are under greater surveillance so they self-censor more, he added.

Magic Wand

Electrical signatures of consciousness in the dying brain

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© University of Michigan Health SystemUniversity of Michigan researchers George Mashour, M.D., Ph.D., and Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., form the foundation for investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing the light during cardiac arrest.
A University of Michigan animal study shows high electrical activity in the brain after clinical death.

The near-death experience reported by cardiac arrest survivors worldwide may be grounded in science, according to research at the University of Michigan Health System.

Whether and how the dying brain is capable of generating conscious activity has been vigorously debated.

But in this week's PNAS Early Edition, a U-M study showed shortly after clinical death, in which the heart stops beating and blood stops flowing to the brain, rats display brain activity patterns characteristic of conscious perception.

"This study, performed in animals, is the first dealing with what happens to the neurophysiological state of the dying brain," says lead study author Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology and associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

"It will form the foundation for future human studies investigating mental experiences occurring in the dying brain, including seeing light during cardiac arrest," she says.

Books

Fifty Shades of Grey romanticizes sexual violence and emotional abuse of women

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© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersJournal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women.
Violent and abusive behavior against women, which can be both physically and emotionally harmful, gain societal acceptance when they are glamorized and normalized in popular culture such as books and movies. The main characters' relationship in the best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey, for example, helps perpetuate the problem of intimate partner violence against women, according to an article in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. To obtain a copy of the article, press contacts should email journalmarketing1@liebertpub.com.

In "'Double Crap!' Abuse and Harmed Identity in Fifty Shades of Grey," Amy Bonomi, PhD, MPH, Lauren Altenburger, BS, and Nicole Walton, MSW from The Ohio State University, Columbus, conducted a systematic analysis of the novel to elucidate patterns consistent with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definitions of interpersonal violence and associated reactions known to occur in abused women.

They conclude that the female partner, Anastasia, suffers harm as a result of her relationship with Christian. Specifically, the couple's interactions are emotionally abusive, characterized by stalking, intimidation, and isolation. Sexual violence is pervasive in the novel, including the use of alcohol to impair Anastasia's consent and the use of intimidation. Anastasia suffers stress, altered identity, and disempowerment/entrapment.

Book 2

Tell me a story: Research examines how parents can use books to have a positive impact on their child's social struggles

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© The University of CincinnetiJennifer Davis Bowman
New research explores the positive effects of reading as part of a parental intervention strategy for children struggling with social issues.


A new study out of the University of Cincinnati not only finds that parents feel responsible about taking action when their children struggle with social issues, but also that parents are influenced by their own childhood memories. Jennifer Davis Bowman, a recent graduate of the special education doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati, will present her research on Aug. 12, at the 108th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in New York, N.Y.

Bowman's study examined parents' use of what's called bibliotherapy - using books as interventions for children who experience social struggles that may arise from disabilities such as autism or Down Syndrome.

Bibliotherapy involves books with characters that are facing challenges similar to their reading audience, or books that have stories that can generate ideas for problem-solving activities and discussions. Bowman says previous research found that bibliotherapy can improve communication, attitude and reduce aggression for children with social disabilities.

The adult participants in the study were four caregivers who had concerns about their child's social behavior. One of the participants was raising a grandchild. The other three were biological parents.

People

Smart enough to know better: Intelligence is not a remedy for racism

Smart people are just as racist as their less intelligent peers - they're just better at concealing their prejudice, according to a University of Michigan study.

"High-ability whites are less likely to report prejudiced attitudes and more likely to say they support racial integration in principle," said Geoffrey Wodtke, a doctoral candidate in sociology. "But they are no more likely than lower-ability whites to support open housing laws and are less likely to support school busing and affirmative action programs."

Wodtke presented his findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. The National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, supported his research.

He analyzed data on the racial attitudes of more than 20,000 white respondents from the nationally representative General Social Survey. He examined how their cognitive ability, as measured by a widely used test of verbal intelligence, was linked with their attitudes about African-Americans, and about different policies designed to redress racial segregation and discrimination.

Question

Near-death experiences may be triggered by surging brain activity

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© VinnyPrime, Stock.xchngA vision of a light at the end of a dark tunnel is sometimes reported by people who have near-death experiences, but studies suggest the sight may be the result of oxygen deprivation.
Near-death experiences could be caused by a surge of electrical firing in the dying brain, new research in animals suggests.

In the study, rats whose hearts were stopped showed a surge of brain waves associated with consciousness, according to a new study published today (Aug. 12) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers measured the animals' brain activity on electroencephalography (EEG) machines.

However, "whether the animals perceive that as a white light or tunnel of light, that's something we can't know," said study researcher Jimo Borjigin, a neuroscientist at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Other experts agreed that further study is needed to determine how the study might apply to near-death experiences (NDEs) in people.

There's no way to know what the rats were experiencing while their hearts were stopped, and other studies in dying humans and dogs have found no brain wave activity that was parallel to what the researchers found in the new study, said Dr. Sam Parnia, a resuscitation researcher at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York, who was not involved in the study.

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Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers

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© ZUMA / Rex FeaturesFamous atheist Richard Dawkins

Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades. A team led by Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester found "a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity" in 53 out of 63 studies

Even in extreme old age, intelligent people are less likely to believe, the researchers found - and the reasons why people with high IQs shun religion may not be as simple as previously thought. Previous studies have tended to assume that intelligent people simply "know better", the researchers write - but the reasons may be more complex.

For instance, intelligent people are more likely to be married, and more likely to be successful in life - and this may mean they "need" religion less.

The studies used in Zuckerman's paper included a life-long analysis of the beliefs of a group of 1,500 gifted children - those with IQs over 135 - in a study which began in 1921 and continues today.

People

People have more empathy for battered dogs than human adult, but not child, victims

People have more empathy for battered puppies and full grown dogs than they do for some humans -- adults, but not children, finds new research to be presented at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

"Contrary to popular thinking, we are not necessarily more disturbed by animal rather than human suffering," said Jack Levin, the Irving and Betty Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University. "Our results indicate a much more complex situation with respect to the age and species of victims, with age being the more important component. The fact that adult human crime victims receive less empathy than do child, puppy, and full grown dog victims suggests that adult dogs are regarded as dependent and vulnerable not unlike their younger canine counterparts and kids."

In their study, Levin and co-author Arnold Arluke, a sociology professor at Northeastern University, considered the opinions of 240 men and women, most of whom were white and between the ages of 18-25, at a large northeastern university. Participants randomly received one of four fictional news articles about the beating of a one-year-old child, an adult in his thirties, a puppy, or a 6-year-old dog. The stories were identical except for the victim's identify. After reading their story, respondents were asked to rate their feelings of empathy towards the victim.

Info

Abused puppies get more sympathy than adult crime victims

Puppies
© ShutterstockPuppies may be better at garnering empathy than people are, in some cases, a new study finds.
People have more empathy for abused puppies and dogs than they do for adult humans who have been abused, a new study suggests.

However, empathy for abused children was about the same as that for puppies and dogs, the study found.

Researchers surveyed 240 college students and asked them to read one of four versions of a fictional news article about a brutal beating. The wording in articles was the same, except for the identity of the victim, which was either: an infant, an adult in his 30s, a puppy or a 6-year old dog. Participants then rated their level of empathy for the victim.

Participants had higher levels of empathy for the abused child, puppy and dog than they did for the abused adult, the study found.

The researchers had hypothesized that younger victims would receive more empathy, regardless of species. Instead, they found "Age makes a difference for empathy toward human victims, but not for dog victims," the researchers wrote in their study abstract, which will be presented this week at the American Sociological Association meeting in New York.

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Why do we love psychopaths and sociopaths?

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. -- Henry David Thoreau
Psychopathy
© Canucwhatic Blogspot

Let's face it. One of our biggest obstacles to success and/or "happiness" is that all consuming inner sense of what is right and wrong, that complex of ethical and moral principles called the conscience. Imagine what you could accomplish without that burdensome guilt-inducing awareness. Well, there are people who are not burdened and/or handicapped by this faculty of mind, and they very often rise to the top, attaining positions of great power. And who puts them there? We do. Why? Because when we hear the word psychopath, we immediately think of the Hollywood definition: the crazed violent, sadistic, human flesh-eating, serial killers like the fictitious Hannibal Lector, and/or the less fictitious Jeffrey Dahmer, Gary Heidnick, amongst many others. However, the truth is that only a very very small percentage of psychopaths are this violent, and if they are, they are not only psychopaths but sociopaths as well. Yes, there is a difference.

One can be a sociopath without being a psychopath and vice versa, as well as being both at the same time. According to Dr. Robert Hare, leading expert on psychopathy, psychopaths--and sociopaths-- are not psychotic. They are not mentally, psychiatrically or legally insane...''mania sans de´lire''(''madness without delirium''). They wear the "mask of sanity." So on that note, they're the same.

Psychopaths, however, are people who, at their very core, lack the capacity to make an emotional connection with others, who lack the capacity to empathize, but who have not broken with reality. They are very aware of the consequences of their actions, they just don't care about the consequences of their actions on others, only about the consequences to themselves. Their emotional life is shallow and superficial. They are usually dominant individuals who use deceit, manipulation and charm to intimidate and control others. They have an enormous sense of entitlement, tend to be impulsive, irresponsible, and have an unusual need for excitement. They have no problem violating the legal, social and moral code, but that certainly doesn't mean that all psychopaths end up in jail, in fact, most sail through life without ever facing prison time. Why? Mostly because psychopaths, smart ones, anyway, rise to the top where they can influence or even make the rules.