Frameworks are widespread in developmental psychology. They provide general ideas about what to study in human development: which concepts to focus on (e.g., systems, timescales), which processes to test (e.g., micro–macro, bidirectional), and which methods to use (e.g., interview, dynamical equations). However, despite their prominence, there exists very little consensus or guidance on how to use frameworks in research. As such, they have an obscure role, influencing our research questions, methods, and theory, but often in ways we cannot articulate for ourselves, let alone for others. This Views paper presents our perspective on how different frameworks can inform the assumptions, targets, goals, context, timing, and methods of a research project. As an illustrative example, we use Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework to inform research investigating how parent–child relationships shape the development of executive self-regulation. We also show how different frameworks relevant to developmental psychopathology can inform a research project in distinct ways. Thus, this Views paper provides a practical guide for developmental researchers to more explicitly use and benefit from frameworks in their research.

Passive gust load alleviation systems have the potential to significantly reduce airframe mass without reliance on complex systems of sensors and actuators. Recent experimental work by the authors has shown that a passive, strain-actuated spoiler can rapidly reduce the lift coefficient of an aerofoil. In this work, we numerically investigate the efficacy of a strain-actuated spoiler in alleviating loads within the wider airframe. The airframe is represented by a beam model which is exposed to a series of One-Minus-Cosine gusts. The effect of the spoiler on the wing is captured by locally reducing lift when wingbox strains meet a triggering condition. The model spoiler is shown to be capable of reducing the sizing wing root bending moment by up to $17$% for the airframe and spoiler parameters considered. In addition, the sensitivity of this load alleviation to key spoiler design parameters is investigated. It is found that deploying the spoiler as early as possible in the gust provides the best load alleviation performance. In a few cases, the spoiler is found to induce a limit cycle oscillation in the wing by repeatedly deploying and stowing. This may be an artefact caused by the low fidelity structural model employed in this work. Nonetheless, two ways of preventing this behaviour are demonstrated. Our work demonstrates for the first time that a strain-actuated spoiler is capable of alleviating loads at the scale of a full aircraft.

What happens when scientists, dedicated to basic scientific research, are called forth to participate in politically fraught scenarios? We explore this question through a qualitative study of the intimate experiences of scientists who developed the first Argentine National Glacier Inventory (2010–2018). This inventory was entrusted to IANIGLA, a state-funded scientific institute. It arose from the world’s first glacier protection law, drafted to protect all glacier and periglacial environments as hydrological reserves as mining megaprojects encroached on them. This article examines the failed attempts to turn periglacial environments into “governable objects” (Hellgren 2022). Interviews and an auto-ethnography among scientists involved reveal that these failures can be attributed to unresolved tensions in upscaling and downscaling practices that are needed to simultaneously produce world-class climate science and locally relevant policy science. The failure to anticipate or resolve those tensions, in the context of grassroots opposition to mining, undermined trust in science and government, pointing to the local limits of global climate science.

This study investigates the potential of rumination-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (RFCBT) to address core issues in adolescents with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Specifically, it examines RFCBT’s effectiveness in reducing internalized shame, negative interpretation biases, and rumination, which contribute significantly to their social anxiety. The present study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up phase. The population of the study included all adolescents with SAD in Ahvaz, Iran, in 2023. The sample consisted of 48 adolescents with SAD who were selected using convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the RFCBT group or the control group (24 participants per group). The research instruments included the Social Anxiety Questionnaire, the Child Internalized Shame Scale, the Interpretation Bias Questionnaire, and the Rumination Response Scale (RRS). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyse the data. The findings indicate that RFCBT had a significant effect on reducing internalized shame, interpretation bias, and rumination (p<0.01) in adolescents with SAD, with results maintained at follow-up. This study adds to the evidence that RFCBT can be helpful for anxiety disorders in adolescents. RFCBT seems to work by addressing negative self-views, biased interpretations, and repetitive negative thinking patterns. More research is needed to determine if these benefits are sustained long-term and if RFCBT can improve social skills and overall well-being for adolescents with social anxiety.

This study examines the intricate relationship between financial development, institutional quality and environmental efficiency. While financial development has the potential to support environmental sustainability, concerns remain regarding its unintended negative effects through unchecked economic expansion. The objective of this research is to investigate how financial development affects environmental efficiency and to assess the moderating role of institutional quality, particularly when financial development proxies reflect financial market accessibility and efficiency. Using a directional distance function within a stochastic frontier framework and incorporating multiple financial development indicators alongside measures of institutional quality, we find that financial development significantly reduces environmental inefficiency, with institutional quality strengthening this effect. These results highlight the importance of policy approaches that simultaneously enhance financial development and institutional quality. Furthermore, our findings support targeted initiatives such as promoting green finance, building institutional capacity and investing in research and data infrastructure to inform evidence-based policymaking for sustainable development.

Questions about race and representation often hinge on the public’s beliefs about which policies affect different communities, yet there is limited evidence on how these associations are actually perceived. Using a nationally representative survey experiment, we examine how the issue priorities of political candidates shape perceptions of who they represent. Most policy areas are perceived to benefit White Americans; only a few, especially criminal justice and poverty, are strongly associated with African Americans. We also show that perceptions of candidate ideology and race correlate with perceptions of Black representation, but mediation analysis reveals that criminal justice is associated with Black representation above and beyond ideological inferences. Finally, analyzing nearly 200,000 congressional newsletters and find that while race is rarely explicitly mentioned, Black Americans are most frequently referenced in the context of criminal justice and poverty. Together, these results underscore how race-policy associations operate through both public perception and elite messaging, shaping broader understandings of political representation.