SU Psychology Department

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    The new frontier of LGBTQ rights: Opportunities for advocacy and activism
    (2018-10-25) Schlehofer, Michele; Psychology
    This presentation was delivered at Salisbury University as part of the panel discussion “Stigma in the Fabric of Society: SU Libraries Presents the AIDs Quilt.” The presentation discusses the need for continued advocacy and activism to advance LGBTQ equality and highlights various ways, in which people can be change agents in their communities.
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    Toward a biopsychosocial ecology of the human microbiome, brain-gut axis, and health
    (2017) Maier, Karl; al‘Absi, Mustafa
    This is a non-final version of the article published in final form in Maier, K. J., & Al'Absi, M. (2017). Toward a biopsychosocial ecology of the human microbiome, brain-gut axis, and health. Psychosomatic medicine, 79(8), 947-957. OBJECTIVE: Rapidly expanding insights to the human microbiome and health suggest that Western medicine is poised for significant evolution, or perhaps revolution – this while the field continues on a trajectory from reductionism to a biopsychosocial (BPS) paradigm recognizing biological, psychological, and social influences on health. The apparent sensitivity of the microbiota to perturbations across BPS domains suggests that a broad and inclusive framework is needed to develop applicable knowledge in this area. We outline an ecological framework of the human microbiome by extending the BPS concept to better incorporate environmental and human factors as members of a global, dynamic set of systems that interact over time. METHODS: We conducted a selective literature review across disciplines to integrate microbiome research into a BPS framework. RESULTS: The microbiome can be understood in terms of ecological systems encompassing BPS domains at four levels: (1) immediate (molecular, genetic, and neural processes); (2) proximal (physiology, emotion, social integration); (3) intermediate (built environments, behaviors, societal practices); and (4) distal (physical environments, attitudes, and broad cultural, economic, and political factors). The microbiota and host are thus understood in terms of their immediate interactions and the more distal physical and social arenas where they exist. CONCLUSIONS: A BPS ecological paradigm encourages replicable, generalizable, inter/transdisciplinary research and practices that take into account the vast influences on the human microbiome that may otherwise be overlooked or understood out of context. It also underscores the importance of sustainable bio-environmental, psychological, and social systems that broadly support microbial, neural, and general health.
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    Teaching psychology and climate change: One way to meet the call for action
    (Sage Journals, 2018-06-20) Maier, Karl; Whitehead, George; Walter, Mark
    The American Psychological Association (APA) has called for psychologists to become more involved in addressing climate change. One way to address this pressing issue is through curriculum. To this end, we describe an undergraduate course that we created and teach exclusively focused on the interface of psychology and global climate change. The course is a seminar structured around three broad themes: science and impacts, adaptation, and solutions. To support others developing curriculum in this area, we explain these themes and share the course organization and structure, along with our experiences in teaching it. We provide relevant examples of activities and resources in the context of the goals and outcomes of APA’s “Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major.” We discuss considerations of competence and interdisciplinarity in teaching on this issue. Finally, given the magnitude and significance of climate change, we consider experiential aspects of students in the course related to stress.