Popular Myths Research Articles

Anglo-American relations and the past present: insights into an (ongoing) mythologisation of a special relationship

Affiliative bonding between British and American publics has long been a source of both stability within Anglo-American relations and of legitimacy for British and American government cooperation. Yet hitherto relatively little attention has been paid to how public diplomats encourage these sentiments through influencing processes of remembering and forgetting the Anglo-American past. This is particularly important as their licence to do so is evidently increasing as generational change progressively confines to history experiential memory of the zenith of Anglo-American cooperation during World War Two. To explore how public diplomats draw particular memories into the present to support current objectives/narratives, this article combines memory and diplomacy studies in an analysis of bilateral summit meetings between US Presidents and British Prime Ministers. These meetings are chosen because they provide excellent opportunities for officials to refresh continually the popular myth of special Anglo-American relations by manipulating ‘figures of memory’ in their invocation of the ‘past present’.

Pluralism

Pluralism

Refuting Mental Health Misconceptions: A Quasi-Experiment with Abnormal Psychology Courses

Misconceptions about psychological phenomena are prevalent among students completing college-level psychology courses. Although these myths are often difficult to eliminate, efforts incorporating a refutational focus have demonstrated some initial promise in dispelling these beliefs. In the current quasi-experimental study, four sections of an online undergraduate Abnormal Psychology course ( n = 113 total students) were randomly assigned to receive either a myth-debunking poster assignment or class as usual. Students in the myth-debunking sections were assigned one of five mental health-focused myths and corresponding refutational readings to guide their development of posters aimed at informing their classmates about the misconception, disputing the misconception, and citing relevant evidence as support. Beliefs about common misconceptions (five directly addressed in the assignment and five filler myths) were measured at the beginning and end of the semester. Results indicated that students in the myth-debunking condition were significantly ( p < .001, d = 1.09) more likely to know the truth, at the conclusion of the course, compared to the control group. Overall, the myth-debunking intervention appears to have been effective at reducing students’ misconceptions about popular psychological myths, perhaps even some non-targeted psychological misconceptions.

Friends and Lovers: The Relationships of Autistic and Neurotypical Women.

Little is known about the friendships and relationships of autistic adults, despite decades of research evidence showing the benefits of close relationships for neurotypical adults. Even less is known about the relationships of autistic women, or how their relationships compare with those of neurotypical women. This mixed-methods study, therefore, examined differences in the social relationships of autistic women in relation to their neurotypical counterparts. Thirty-eight women (19 autistic women, 19 neurotypical women), aged between 20 and 40 years, completed the Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale, The Awareness of Social Inference Test, and a semistructured interview about their current and former friendships and romantic relationships. In many ways, the social relationships and experiences of autistic women were much like those of neurotypical women. Autistic women, however, had greater difficulty with social inference skills, and reported experiencing more negative social situations. This was particularly the case in terms of social and sexual vulnerability, a feature that the autistic women themselves linked to their difficulties with social inference. Despite these challenges, autistic women were happier and more self-assured in their adult relationships than they remembered being in adolescence. These findings highlight an urgent need for specific and tailored personal safety training and support for autistic women-and, by extension, autistic girls-to ensure that they can enjoy a safe transition to adulthood and positive adult relationships. Why was this study done?: At the moment, we know lots about adult friendships and relationships among neurotypical people, but we know very little about friendships and relationships for autistic adults. This is especially the case for autistic women, who are an understudied group and who are not often studied in their own right.What was the purpose of this study?: We wanted to find out whether autistic women have similar friendship and romantic relationship experiences to neurotypical women. We also wanted to know more about the ways these relationships had changed since adolescence-whether any changes over time were similar or different to those of neurotypical women.What did the researchers do?: We included 38 women in the study. Half of them were autistic and half were neurotypical. They were aged between 20 and 40 years old. They completed a questionnaire measuring the closeness of their relationships, and a test of how well they understood social situations. They also took part in an interview where we asked them about their current and past friendships and romantic relationships, and if/how these had changed over time.What were the results of this study?: We found that autistic and neurotypical women had friendships and relationships that were very similar. Both groups had friends, and similar number of women in each group had partners and children. Autistic women, though, found it harder to interpret social situations, and generally reported having more difficult friendship/relationship experiences than neurotypical women. This was especially true in terms of social and sexual experiences, where autistic women reported that they were much more vulnerable to exploitation than neurotypical women. Autistic women themselves linked this to their difficulties interpreting social situations. Despite these difficulties though, autistic women were happier with their relationships and much more confident in their social skills in adulthood than they remembered being as teenagers.What do these findings add to what we already knew?: These findings give us new information about the social experiences of autistic women, giving them the opportunity to talk about things that have gone well alongside some of the difficulties they can face. The positive outcomes women talked about were different to those reported in autistic men (in previous research). This is important because it shows that gender shapes social experiences as much as being autistic itself.What are the potential weaknesses in the study?: We had to ask women to look back on their teenage years, so there is always a chance that people have misremembered things or are interpreting them differently in adulthood to how they felt at the time. Also, as only those comfortable being included as women were involved in this study, it was not possible to carry out direct comparisons between the friendships and relationships of women and men, or those of autistic nonbinary or trans people, who likely have unique experiences.How will these findings help autistic people now or in the future?: We hope that the findings of this research will help families and professionals to better support autistic girls and women in their relationships, particularly in terms of romantic and sexual relationships, as well as education on personal safety. It also goes some way toward dismissing popular myths about autistic people struggling to make real friendships by showing a variety of successful relationships among autistic women.

Briefly Noted

In an oft‐repeated myth, perpetuated by STAT this week in an article about a move to eliminate the waiver requirement for buprenorphine prescribing, the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) is frequently assumed to have tried to oppose DATA 2000, the law that enabled buprenorphine to be prescribed to treat opioid use disorder. This was the first real competitor to opioid treatment programs (OTPs), which constitute the membership of AATOD. We asked AATOD to respond, because STAT simply stated it as a fact, and because we covered much of the regulation process and did not observe this to be a fact at all. “And in the early 2000s, when buprenorphine was first approved, some treatment advocates, including AATOD and other methadone providers, lobbied to keep buprenorphine tightly restricted. Initially, physicians waivered to prescribe the drug could only treat 30 patients — a cap later relaxed to 100, then 275,” according to STAT. However, it was the federal government that was concerned about diversion and pill mills — specifically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “We did not oppose DATA 2000,” AATOD President Mark Parrino told us last week. “This was a popular myth at the time and continues to this day.” Parrino continued: “When DATA 2000 was being marked up, we had two specific questions. The first question was about eight hours being enough training for medical practitioners, who had no previous experience, in treating opioid use disorder. There was no answer to that aside from not inconveniencing physicians with any more training. The second question was concerning the language ‘capacity to refer’ the patients to counseling. Our argument was that this language was meaningless, since there was no guidance on how the practitioner would follow through on this.” As far as AATOD can tell (and us too), very little counseling is either made available on‐site or through a referral. SAMHSA doesn't require any recordkeeping on this, so nobody knows. “The other part of the myth of AATOD's position is that we were protecting the interests of OTPs as the only providers of opioid disorder treatment,” said Parrino. “This is also not true, and no evidence exists to have supported this issue.” For the otherwise excellent STAT story, go to https://www.statnews.com/2019/04/30/loosen‐restrictions‐on‐prescribing‐buprenorphine‐addiction‐treatment/.

Human Rights Awareness, Consent and Mental Capacity Assessment: A user-friendly guide for midwives

In this piece, Stephen Hamilton and Keith Mitchell examine the extended role of the midwife in relation to informed consent and mental capacity assessment. The latter is not traditionally associated with midwifery practice, despite its importance to the provision of holistic midwifery care. Various dimensions of the European Convention on Human Rights are also examined, as it must be remembered that, despite the UK’s seemingly pending withdrawal from the European Union, each jurisdiction remains subject to European Law. The authors further discuss the nature and essence of obtaining informed consent from an individual as well as the essence of what constitutes mental capacity assessment which, contrary to popular myth and opinion, is just as much a professional responsibility of midwives as it is for other health and social care providers.

Adolescent Sexting: Myths, Facts, and Advice.

Adolescent sexting remains an important public health issue because of the potential for psychosocial and legal consequences. This article briefly reviews the current state of the science of adolescent sexting research. It serves as an up-to-date and data-driven resource to school nurses and school staff to help augment understanding and facilitate discussion regarding teen sexting. The review is structured along popular myths about sexting.

Mutiny under the Sun: The Connaught Rangers, India, 1920

This article re-examines the causes of the Connaught Rangers mutiny and argues that institutional failings in the British Army were far more influential in the breakdown of discipline than the oft-supposed politicization of its participants. New and under-used source material demonstrates how the popular myth surrounding the actions of James Daly and his co-conspirators was nothing more than a self-serving exaggeration of events designed to fit an idealized Nationalist narrative of Irish resistance to British rule. More compelling is the argument that demobilization left the regiment with an imbalance in officer–man relations that tipped a combustible situation over the edge.

The Myth of ‘Bengali Migration’ to Arakan Debunked

Genocidal crimes don’t happen in vacuum and require groundwork from the racist and bigoted elements to state and non-state actors to prepare the support base and mobilize the dominant group to perpetrate such heinous crimes. For decades, the Buddhist majority in Myanmar has denied the very existence of the minority Rohingya people who are mostly Muslims and falsely portrayed them as intruders from the district of Chittagong of Bangladesh. As a result, the Rohingyas are victims of genocide. Since 2017 nearly 24,000 of them have been slaughtered, as part of a national project, in Buddhist Myanmar simply because of their distinct ethnicity and religion. Nearly a million of them have been forced to seek refuge inside Bangladesh. In this paper, the British-era demographic data on the Rohingya people who are mostly settled in their ancestral land of Arakan (Rakhine), bordering today’s Bangladesh are analyzed statistically. The results of the analysis debunk the popular Buddhist myth of Bengali or Chittagonian mass migration from Chittagong in East Bengal (today’s Bangladesh) to Arakan during the British rule of India.

Popular Psychology Myths as a Frame for Character Analysis in High School English

AbstractIn this classroom study, the authors examine the use of popular psychology myths as a frame for literary analysis in high school English. The study reflects a cultural studies approach to teaching that attends to students’ cultural awareness in interpreting what they read. Previous research has demonstrated that students’ cultural awareness, in general, offers a rich framework for literary interpretation. Students in an Advanced Placement junior English class wrote analytic essays in which they used popular psychology myths, pervasive cultural tropes about human behavior, to evaluate whether characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘s novel The Great Gatsby perpetuate or challenge the myths. Analysis of the essays demonstrated that the myths provided a compelling frame for character analysis, prompting students to consider nuances in character behavior. Moreover, the analysis indicated that the myths offer a way for teachers to prompt students’ understanding of how readers and fiction authors can perpetuate or challenge simplistic notions of human behavior.

Book Review: Udo Moenig. 2016. Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport. London and New York: Routledge. 230 pages. $40 USD (paperback)

A review of Udo Moenig's (2016) Taekwondo: From a Martial Art to a Martial Sport. Moenig synthesizes the available literature in Taekwondo studies to dispel popular myths about the art's origins in order to navigate towards an argument for Taekwondo's future as a combat sport.

The influence of quotations uttered in emergency service triage traffic and hospitalization (Quiet).

This study aims to determine whether the use of the word, Quiet increases veterinary emergency service triage traffic or hospital admissions. Days were randomized to be a control or test phrase day. On control days, the phrase, Have a nice day! was announced to the entire hospital staff. On test days, the phrase, Have a quiet day! was announced. No statistical difference in mean number of the patients presenting to the emergency service for triage (test phrase 30.1 ± 10.4 cases vs control phrase 30.3 cases ± 10.5, p = 0.91) or hospital admissions (test phrase 3.5 ± 1.9 cases vs control phrase 4.3 ± 2.4 cases, p = 0.13) was found for 24-h following phrase utterance. No statistical difference in mean number of patients presenting to the emergency service for triage (test phrase 2.7 ± 1.4 cases vs control phrase 2.6 ± 1.9 cases, p = 0.84) or hospital admissions (test phrase 0.3 ± 0.5 cases vs control phrase 0.5 ± 0.8 cases, p = 0.08) was found in the 2-h window immediately following phrase announcement. Despite popular myth, using the word, Quiet does not increase veterinary emergency service triage traffic or hospital admissions.

Geopolitical Constraints on Development Policies of Small Countries

Unlike competitive markets with theoretically infinite number of agents whose decisions merge into a large mass of other agents’ decisions, forming prices as allocation parameters controlled by no one, international arena is characterized by a limited number of discernible subjects whose decisions have system-wide impacts and turn out significant for policies of other agents. Policies pursued by any country concern not only the country in question but influence other countries and oftentimes significantly affect the degree and manner of reaching their policy objectives. Due to the limited number of acting entities the nexus of international interactions has a notable conflict potential. Small countries are in a special situation due to their almost implied modest power implying further a significant number of independent agents whose interests have to be seriously taken into account in framing their own development and many other policies. Policies of various countries come out visibly interdependent so that other agents’ interests and actions uninterruptedly define wide enough set of constraints to be observed in formulating and implementing development policies of the country in question.Particularly important are the large, economically developed and militarily powerful countries. Their aspirations have to be carefully observed and meticulouslystudied by the small and relatively weak countries. There might emerge, and in Serbiancountries almost regularly emerges, a conflict between highly valued nationalgoals deeply rooted in history, popular myths and collective memory, on the onehand, and interests of the big powerful international players on the other. These aresettings in which baleful strategic mistakes are occasionally made and in Serbianhistory the frequency of such mistakes was rather pronounced. There has been farabove the optimum courage in Serbian history conspicuously exercised by both elitesand popular masses. The consequences of such “determinations for the kingdom ofheavens” are perilous and mistakes are dearly paid in terms of hundreds of thousandsof lost lives and wasted chances for economic and general social development.The paper ends with recommendation that the small countries endeavor to carefullyfit into interests and policies of great powers, invest equally large efforts into choosingthe right allies and adjust pragmatically to their aspirations and, as the casemight be, even to their orders. No matter how strange it may sound, bending flexiblyto the interests of the mighty may be the optimal strategy of pursuing the genuinenational objectives. For, no matter how elevated and majestic they are, they dwindleto little value if they are blocked in the process of realization and the high-mindedefforts invested in their realization get ultimately frustrated.

NIEMIECKIE REPARACJE DLA POLSKI ZA II WOJNĘ ŚWIATOWĄ NA TLE GLOBALNYM

No other country in the world suffered a greater measurable and verifiable loss of human and material resources than Poland during World War II in 1939-1945. According to the first approximation, the value of human and material losses inflicted to Poland by Nazi Germany amounts to 6.495 trillion US dollars of 2018.However, Poland never received war reparations from Germany. The article is a preliminary survey of the complex issue – conducted in an interdisciplinary way combining elements of legal, economic, and political analysis, because the topic belongs to the wide and multidisciplinary field of national and international security. Refuted in the article is an internationally popular myth that communist Poland unilaterally renounced German war reparations in 1953. Then the article discusses the global background of the topic in the 20th and 21st centuries – in particular, the case of Greece whose reparations claims Germany rejects like the Polish claims, and major cases of reparations actually paid: by Germany for World War I, by Germany to Israel and Jewish organizations for the Holocaust, by Japan for World War II – at 966 billion US dollars of 2018, the largest reparations ever – and by and Iraq for the Gulf War. The article concludes with a discussion of necessary further research with advanced methodology of several sciences, and of a possible litigation before the International Court of Justice – or a diplomatic solution to the problem of war reparations.

Pushing boundaries: High pressure, supercritical optical floating zone materials discovery

In this perspective review, we provide the rationale for utilizing supercritical fluids for solid state materials discovery in the context of recent advances in the field of high pressure synthesis. We discuss the importance of the transition from gas-like to solvent-like environments in which materials synthesis and crystallization is occurring, the appropriate conceptual frameworks for its impact on synthesis and directional solidification, and dispel popular myths. We provide an overview of materials that have been grown in single crystal form by the high pressure optical floating zone technique, report the first successful stable molten zone in an optical furnace at P = 300 bar, and show viability of the traveling solvent method even with high fluid pressures. Further, we report on some unexpected observations found in the highly dynamic synthesis environment of supercritical fluids, enabled by the ability to observe, in real time, materials behavior. Finally, we offer a perspective on the scientific domains opened by these new capabilities.

The Jewish factor in the context of the Ukrainian emigration to the countries of America (the end of XIX – the first decades of the 20th centuries)

Research objective. In article the attempt to analyse the Ukrainian-Jewish relations during the marked period in a paradigm of the concrete historical phenomenon - emigration of Ukrainians to the countries of America at the turn of XIX - XX centuries is made. Scientific novelty. Relationship of two peoples - Ukrainian and Jewish - has long and complicated history which needs complex and impartial scientific research. Need of such research is caused not only cognitive interest, but also political relevance. Unfortunately, the wrong or consciously distorted interpretation of the past quite often leads to a complication of the international relations. It is especially dangerous when it results from organized campaigns and appeals, actions of certain people and groups or policy of the governments which is based on ethnic nationalism. Conclusions. As a result of the conducted research based on extensive use of archival materials a more balanced assessment of nature of the Ukrainian-Jewish relations is given, some popular myths and stereotypes that existed in the public consciousness for quite a long time are called in question.Need of impartial and objective studying of history, experience and lessons of the interethnic relations is emphasized that it is one of conditions of strengthening of civil equality and interethnic consent in society which positions itself as democratic.

Work addiction: An organizational behavior as well as an addictive behavior?

In their critical review, Griffiths et al. (2018) discussed 10 myths in the study of work addiction, and addressed the need to conceptualize and investigate this area of research more carefully. In this commentary, we expand their arguments, suggesting that indeed some of the popular myths have solid evidence-based results in the organizational literature. Yet, some of the arguments are only indirectly related to previous organizational findings. Therefore, we emphasize the need to resolve the ambiguities of work addiction, as well as to develop a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the well-known phenomenon of addictive work behavior.

Peculiarities of Nostalgia in Ayn Rand’s Novel Atlas Shrugged

Quite a number of Russian writers could not accept the October Revolution in 1917 and left the country. Their nostalgia for their motherland in emigration is a well-known fact. The Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was also driven out of Soviet Russia by a hatred for communism, yet her nostalgia is of a different kind. The purpose of this study is to describe the nature of Ayn Rand’s nostalgia. Discovering, on arrival in the U.S., a reality different from the image she bore in her mind, she did not start missing her homeland but continued longing for her ideal—19th century America. This ideal is fully reflected in her self-made philosophy known as “objectivism”, which underlies her novel Atlas Shrugged. Though philosophically substantiated, the ideal appears to be embodied in trivial myths of the American mass consciousness. The study highlights four of the most popular national myths in her novel. As a result, Rand’s literary works represent popular literature that are not within the mainstream of the Russian émigré literature of that period.

Operational flexibility in forest fire prevention and suppression: a spatially explicit intra-annual optimization analysis, considering prevention, (pre)suppression, and escape costs

Increasing wildfire threats and costs escalate the complexity of forest fire management challenges, which is grounded in complex interactions between ecological, social, economic, and policy factors. It is immersed in this difficult context that decision-makers must settle on an investment mix within a portfolio of available options, subject to limited funds and under great uncertainty. We model intra-annual fire management as a problem of multistage capacity investment in a portfolio of management resources, enabling fuel treatments and fire preparedness. We consider wildfires as the demand, with uncertainty in the severity of the fire season and in the occurrence, time, place, and severity of specific fires. We focus our analysis on the influence of changes in the volatility of wildfires and in the costs of escaped wildfires, on the postponement of capacity investment along the year, on the optimal budget, and on the investment mix. Using a hypothetical test landscape, we verify that the value of postponement increases significantly for scenarios of increased uncertainty (higher volatility) and higher escape costs, as also does the optimal budget (although not proportionally to the changes in the escape costs). Additionally, the suppression/prevention budget ratio is highly sensitive to changes in escape costs, while it remains mostly insensitive to changes in volatility. Furthermore, we show the policy implications of these findings at operational (e.g., spatial solutions) and strategic levels (e.g., climate change). Exploring the impact of increasing escape costs in the optimal investment mix, we identified in our instances four qualitative system stages, which can be related to specific socioecological contexts and used as the basis for policy (re)design. In addition to questioning some popular myths, our results highlight the value of fuel treatments and the contextual nature of the optimal portfolio mix.

Swinging regions: Young women and club culture in 1960s Manchester

Abstract This article examines the opportunities for women to access a ‘Swinging Sixties’ life-style in a northern English city. The article is based upon interviews with women who actively participated in Manchester’s coffee club and discotheque scene in the mid-1960s. I explore the gendered dynamics of the cultural north/south divide and the ways in which girls in the regions carved out access to the style and experience of the ‘Swinging City’, dispelling the popular myth of this being exclusively attached to London. The interview data reveals high levels of creativity and agency and I examine the ways in which encounters with popular culture, notably night clubs, pop music and fashion, impacted on the women’s wider life choices and experiences. I also reflect on cinematic representations of young women in England in this period and the spatially motivated discourses pertinent to the case study.