There is a paucity of research available on the effect of mindfulness on cognitive function. However, the topic has recently gained more attention due to the ageing population in Singapore, catalysed by recent findings on brain function and cellular ageing. Recognising the potential benefits of practising mindfulness, we aimed to develop a localised, self-training mindfulness programme, guided by expert practitioners and usability testing, for older Singaporean adults. This was followed by a pilot study to examine the potential cognitive benefits and feasibility of this self-training programme for the cognitive function of older adults in Singapore. We found that the results from the pilot study were suggestive but inconclusive, and thus, merit further investigation.
The present research investigated how children would weigh moral acts pitted against intent, across different moral domains. Twenty primary school children were recruited from an existing database and evaluated a set of acts (good-bad) on the basis of intent (good-bad) across three domains (harm, fairness, and social convention) on a 7-point Likert scale. The study found that children took into account the intention of an agent. Interestingly, intent has a differential effect on the evaluation of acts; it was more pronounced for good acts, but less so for bad acts. For the evaluation of bad acts, children placed greater weight on the intrinsic nature of the act rather than the protagonist's intent. Conversely, whether the intent is good or bad influenced the evaluation of good acts to a greater extent. These findings not only lend support to the domain-specific view of moral reasoning but also show that children do not attribute intent in a unitary manner within theory of mind.
Common speculations hold that homosexual individuals can be more creative, considering the overrepresentation of homosexuals in the artistic and creative pursuits. The few past studies available did not find evidence to support this contention. However, research has found gender differences in creativity indicating girls being more creative. If gay males share more female-typical personality traits, it would be interesting to ask if this would be reflected in any difference in creativity between homosexuals and heterosexuals. The present study thus aimed to disentangle the association between creativity and sexual orientation. A total of 38 homosexual males (mean age = 31.6 years, S.D. = 9.7 years) and 34 heterosexual males (mean age = 21.8 years, S.D. = 4.3 years) participated. All participants completed an online survey on creativity (using Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory) and sexual orientation (using the adapted Klein Sexual Orientation Grid). A one-way between -groups multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to examine differences in creative perception as a function of sexual orientation. The results indicated that there was no significant difference for each of the dimensions of creativity perception between homosexual and heterosexual males. The present findings were compatible with previous studies that homosexuals are no more or less creative. A distinction between actual and self-perceived creativity however, should also be noted.
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