Finding insight is some out of the way places, Iowa State study finds mom’s beliefs may impact their kids’ alcohol use
According to Madon, self-verification theory proposes that people are motivated to confirm what they already believe to be true about themselves. The study found strong evidence that a mother’s beliefs regarding her child’s likelihood of using alcohol altered her child’s self-view in either a positive or negative direction. The child then validated that new self-view by acting consistently with it later on.
“What people believe ultimately has an impact on what actually occurs,” Madon said. “But it’s not just because they believe it. It’s not magic. When we believe something — even if we’re wrong — when we believe it’s true, we act as though it is. And sometimes when you act as though something’s true, your behaviors will cause the belief to become true.
My take might be a little off, but the researchers left the impression the parent, the mother in this case, regardless of what she actually thought about alcohol use was sending some verbal or physical clues to the child. The mother’s behavior might be like a tell in poker. She’s either not drinking in front of the child or saying she doesn’t approve, but her tell is confusing the signals she is giving. Grist for some debate, but it does appear that teaching the child about making good decisions and instilling positive self esteem is a more important factor then what the mother’s beliefs and behavior were when the kid’s teen experimentation years roll in.
Satellite images show ethnic cleanout in Iraq
The images support the view of international refugee organizations and Iraq experts that a major population shift was a key factor in the decline in sectarian violence, particularly in the Iraqi capital, the epicenter of the bloodletting in which hundreds of thousands were killed.
[ ]…”By the launch of the surge, many of the targets of conflict had either been killed or fled the country, and they turned off the lights when they left,” geography professor John Agnew of the University of California Los Angeles, who led the study, said in a statement.
Again ones beliefs will affect how this information is received. Even back in February 2007 (surge starts) to June 2007 ( last of surge troops in place) a few some observers pointed out that violence might be going down because there was no left to kill. In addition about two million Iraqis just got up and left and the way casualties were counted was steeped in political jargon and strange metrics that for violence to drop off solely because a relatively small escalation of troops seemed to play fast and loose with cause and effect. As surely as some people are still debating who shot JFK we’ll still debating the “surge” fifty years from now. We might all be living under bridges too, but that’s another story. The surge might deserve some credit in that it put more patrols on the street producing an effect like we see in high crime neighborhoods after more patrols start. Ultimately the doctors in charge of the Iraq operation let the patient hemorrhage for four years then threw on a band-aid.
A note to any Worpress developers that might pass by I’m still hoping for a magazine style template here in the theme options. The recent DePo theme is similar to what I’m looking for. Though it needs a customizable header, no italicized block quotes and being able to tweak the color trim would be nice. Two columns with room for the usual blogroll etc, the full page width. This Revolution theme is nice, but a little too busy.
inkbluesky 