An Investigation of Genetic Counselors' Discussions of Genetic Discrimination with Cancer Risk Patients

Twenty-five genetic counselors who see familial cancer risk patients were interviewed about their definitions of genetic discrimination, perceptions of patient risk for discrimination, frequency and type of discrimination experienced by their patients, sources of information about discrimination, and what they tell patients about genetic discrimination. There was variability in participant definitions and content of discussions of genetic discrimination. Although 82% regarded risk to be low to theoretical, 40% reported possible instances of genetic discrimination, including insurance companies requiring results to cover procedures, denial of life/health insurance, social discrimination, and employment discrimination. Ninety-six percent of the sample reported always or almost always discussing genetic discrimination, and one or more of the following: insurance discrimination risks, protective legislation, no known cases positively documenting discrimination, strategies to avoid discrimination, and uncertainty of protective measures. The majority use current literature and research as information sources. Practice, policy, and research implications are discussed.     

Perceptions of personal sex discrimination: the role of belief in a just world and situational ambiguity

The roles of belief in a just world (BJW) and discrimination against ones' group in perceptions of personal discrimination were examined. Female participants (n = 63) were personally discriminated against in a laboratory setting. We manipulated whether the experimenter appeared to discriminate against other participants, which presumably made the presence of personal discrimination less ambiguous, or did not appear to discriminate against others, which presumably made personal discrimination more ambiguous. In the no group discrimination condition, but not in the group discrimination condition, participants' perceptions of being personally discriminated against depended on individual differences in BJW: Women with a strong BJW perceived less personal discrimination than those with a weak BJW. Also, strong BJW women in the group discrimination condition perceived less personal discrimination than strong BJW women in the no group discrimination condition.     

The Association between Religious Discrimination and Health: Disaggregating by Types of Discrimination Experiences,Religious Tradition,and Forms of Health

Research finds that experiences of religious discrimination are often associated with poorer health outcomes. However, there remain important questions to consider gaps, including whether religious discrimination has similar health impacts on religious minority groups and religious majority groups, whether religious discrimination is equally harmful for both mental and physical health, and whether specific types of discrimination have different impacts on health. Using survey data from a probability sample of U.S. adults and measures representing a variety of discrimination experience types, our analyses suggest that religious discrimination is indeed harmful for health, but that experiences of religious discrimination do not universally affect mental and physical health in the same ways. Rather than significant differences in the health impacts of religious discrimination across different religious groups, we find more variation in the health impacts of different types of experiences with discrimination. Further, we find that mental health is negatively impacted by a wider range of experiences with religious discrimination than physical health. These findings are in line with social psychological research on the differential health impacts of discrimination, and they highlight the importance of context in studies of the health effects of religious discrimination.     

Direct and vicarious experiences of discrimination and rumination among Latinos before and during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

People from racial/ethnic minority groups can experience discrimination in various ways, including both being the direct target of discrimination (directly experienced discrimination) and learning about others' experiences of discrimination (vicariously experienced discrimination). Additionally, the frequency of these experiences may change over time as larger societal changes occur. In this retrospective self-report study, we examined how Latinos' experiences of discrimination changed during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, examining both direct and vicariously experienced discrimination, in real life and online. Participants reported significantly less discrimination in-person during the beginning of the pandemic relative to before the pandemic (both direct and vicarious), but no changes for direct or vicarious discrimination experienced online. We also examined changes in rumination, a maladaptive coping strategy thought to prolong negative effects of discrimination. Rumination was experienced more frequently than discrimination in general and increased during the beginning of the pandemic. Importantly, experiences of discrimination and rumination were related to mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, and loneliness.     

Group commitment in the face of discrimination: The role of legitimacy appraisals

In contrast to everyday use of the term discrimination, we propose that discrimination can be appraised as either illegitimate or legitimate, and a comprehensive analysis of responses to discrimination needs to account for both ways of experiencing discrimination. We examine how perceived pervasiveness of discrimination and legitimacy appraisals affect group commitment among women in academia (Study 1) and tobacco smokers facing an upcoming smoking ban (Study 2). We found support for our hypothesis that legitimacy of discrimination appraisals moderates the effect of pervasiveness of discrimination. In both studies, group identification and collective action intentions were undermined most when the ingroup claimed that discrimination against them was legitimate and discrimination was perceived as pervasive. In both studies, group identification mediated the effects on collective action intentions. The results highlight the important role of legitimacy appraisals in understanding disadvantaged group members' responses to discriminatory treatment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of discrimination training on responses to a new stimulus

Most previous research on the effect of the duration of preceding discrimination training on responding to a new stimulus has measured the responding during extinction. To reduce effects originating in the extinction procedure itself, the present study assessed the effect of discrimination training on responses to a new negative stimulus added during continued discrimination training. Pigeons were given a new negative stimulus (blue key) after 0, 1, 3, or 9 days of discrimination training with a yellow key as the positive stimulus, and both a green key and a red key as negative. Fewer responses were made to the blue key when it was introduced after nine days of discrimination training than after less discrimination training. That effect of long discrimination training agrees with reported results from extinction tests. However, the effect of briefer discrimination training in the present study differed from reported results with extinction testing. It appears that testing during continued discrimination training eliminates a distortion present in extinction tests of the effect of discrimination training on responding to a new stimulus.     

Discrimination of direction of movements in pigeons following previous experience of motion/static discrimination

Two experiments examined pigeons' discrimination of directional movement using pictorial images shown on computer monitors. Stimuli consisted of the movement of a bird against a stationary background or the movement of the background behind a stationary bird. In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to discriminate either leftward or rightward motion of either the bird or the background from stationary frames drawn from the same movies. The background-discrimination group acquired the discrimination faster than the bird-discrimination group. In Experiment 2, transfer of the discrimination from the task of Experiment 1 to a discrimination between motion directions was examined. Most of the pigeons learned this discrimination rapidly, whereas in a pilot study in which direction discrimination was trained without previous static/movement discrimination, learning was poor. It appears that an experimental history of movement against stationary discrimination promoted the pigeons' learning of the directional motion discrimination.     

Discrimination of velocities and mechanisms of motion perception

In a first experiment, velocity discrimination thresholds were measured in twenty-one experimental conditions by presentation of successive pairs of standard/comparison motions of a single spot target. Exposure times between 300 to 900 ms did not affect velocity discrimination. However, very slow velocity increased discrimination thresholds. Velocity discrimination is improved by the presence of stationary references and decreased by eccentricity. At slow velocities, in the absence of a motion phase, a discrete mode of presentation of the translation leads to higher discrimination thresholds than those observed with the continuous and stop-go-stop modes of the same translation. In a second experiment, it was shown that for shorter exposure time (100 ms), discrimination thresholds are much higher for the discrete mode. It is concluded that at long exposure time, velocity discrimination thresholds are essentially independent of the presence of a motion phase.     

环境因素对流动儿童歧视知觉的影响及群体态度的调节作用

采用整班联系、自愿参加的方式,选取北京市海淀、朝阳、昌平三个区的1350名流动儿童为被试,采用歧视知觉问卷、家庭社会经济地位问卷、班级环境气氛量表以及群体态度测验,考察家庭经济环境和学校班级环境对流动儿童歧视知觉的影响,并进一步探讨群体态度对它们关系的影响作用。结果表明:(1)家庭社会经济地位、老师支持和同学支持对于个体和群体歧视知觉具有显著的负向影响,同时,班级内聚力对于个体歧视知觉、满意程度对于群体歧视知觉也存在显著的负向影响。(2)同学支持对于个体歧视知觉的负向预测作用更为重要,老师支持则对群体歧视知觉的负向预测作用更为重要。(3)对于群体态度不同的流动儿童,环境因素对其个体和群体歧视知觉的作用存在一定差异。在个体歧视知觉方面,同学支持是态度中立组和态度偏城市儿童组的最佳预测因素,班级内聚力则是态度偏流动儿童组的最佳预测因素;在群体歧视知觉方面,老师支持对于群体态度不同组均表现出最为重要的预测作用。     

The badness of discrimination

The most blatant forms of discrimination are morally outrageous and very obviously so; but the nature and boundaries of discrimination are more controversial, and it is not clear whether all forms of discrimination are morally bad; nor is it clear why objectionable cases of discrimination are bad. In this paper I address these issues. First, I offer a taxonomy of discrimination. I then argue that discrimination is bad, when it is, because it harms people. Finally, I criticize a rival, disrespect-based account according to which discrimination is bad regardless of whether it causes harm.     

歧视知觉、抑郁和农村留守儿童的学业成绩：纵向中介模型

以1147名双亲外出儿童和父亲外出儿童为被试,采用追踪研究设计,探讨了农村留守儿童歧视知觉和学业成绩之间的相互作用关系以及抑郁在其中的中介作用。结果发现:（1）农村留守儿童的学业成绩显著负向预测其随后的歧视知觉,但是歧视知觉不能显著预测其随后的学业成绩;（2）抑郁在留守儿童的学业成绩和歧视知觉之间起着纵向中介作用。这表明,学业成绩是降低留守儿童歧视知觉水平的重要资源,良好的学业成绩不仅可以直接降低农村留守儿童的歧视知觉,而且还能通过降低其抑郁水平来降低农村留守儿童的歧视知觉水平。     

Some aspects of perceptual coding of duration in visual duration discrimination

Data are presented which indicate two major differences between duration discrimination performance and discrimination performance usually observed in other psychophysical tasks. A decrement in duration discrimination performance with increasing temporal delays between the presentation of two successive stimuli was not found, and the usual difference in level of performance between forced-choice and single-stimulus tasks was not observed. The time-order error in duration discrimination is also discussed.     

The stigma of obesity in customer service: a mechanism for remediation and bottom-line consequences of interpersonal discrimination

Using a customer service paradigm, the authors extended the justification-suppression model (JSM) of prejudice (C. S. Crandall & A. Eshleman, 2003) to include contemporary, covert forms of discrimination and to identify a discrimination remediation mechanism. Overall, the results of 3 studies revealed that actual and confederate obese shoppers in high-prejudice justification conditions faced more interpersonal discrimination than average-weight shoppers. Furthermore, Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that adopting strategies that remove perceivers' justifications for discriminating against obese individuals (i.e., the controllability of weight) decreases the incidence of interpersonal discrimination. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrates negative bottom-line consequences of interpersonal discrimination for organizations (e.g., customer loyalty, purchasing behavior). Together, these studies confirm that the JSM applies to covert forms of discrimination, show the importance of examining subtle discrimination, and offer a mechanism for theory-driven strategies for the reduction of covert forms of discrimination.     

Errorless transfer of a discrimination across two continua

A procedure developed earlier (Terrace, 1963) successfully trained a red-green discrimination without the occurrence of any errors in 12 out of 12 cases. Errorless transfer from the red-green discrimination to a discrimination between a vertical and a horizontal line was accomplished by first superimposing the vertical and the horizontal lines on the red and green backgrounds, respectively, and then fading out the red and the green backgrounds. Superimposition of the two sets of stimuli without fading, or an abrupt transfer from the first to the second set of stimuli, resulted in the occurrence of errors during transfer. Superimposition, however, did result in some “incidental learning”. Performance following acquisition of the vertical-horizontal discrimination with errors differed from performance following acquisition without errors. If the vertical-horizontal discrimination was learned with errors, the latency of the response to S+ was permanently shortened and errors occurred during subsequent testing on the red-green discrimination even though the red-green discrimination was originally acquired without errors. If the vertical-horizontal discrimination was learned without errors, the latency of the response to S+ was unaffected and no errors occurred during subsequent testing on the red-green discrimination.     

Generalization of auditory intensity as a function of small amounts of discrimination training

Rats were trained on a two-valued auditory-intensity discrimination for 5, 2, 1 or 0 days. Then, the bar-press response rate was sampled in the presence of seven added discrimination stimuli (generalization) for seven days. Daily training sessions were 4 hr in length throughout the experiment. Only the five-day group exhibited a marked superiority on the multi-valued discrimination when contrasted with the group having had no prior simple discrimination training.     

Influence of Perceived Racial Discrimination on the Health of Immigrant Children in Canada

Racial discrimination and racism are recognized as determinants of health for adults. Less is understood regarding the influence of discrimination targeted towards parents, the family, or the cultural and children’s health. Data from the New Canadian Children and Youth Study (NCCYS) are used in this paper. The NCCYS is a national, longitudinal study of children whose families settled in urban centers of Canada. We analyzed data from individuals who settled in the metropolitan Vancouver area from six ethnic communities: Mainland China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Punjab who were interviewed at two times, approximately 2 years apart. Data were collected on perceived parental, family, and cultural discrimination. Our dependent variable was parent-reported child health status. Over time, perceived parental discrimination and perceived family discrimination decreased; and both forms of discrimination had a positive effect on child health. In contrast, perceived cultural discrimination increased over time and had a negative effect on child health at both times. Different forms of discrimination have different effects on child health. Racial discrimination is complex. Its influence on either increasing family cohesion, and thereby leading to improved health, or increasing stress, thereby leading to poorer health needs to be explored further.     

The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination

This study examined the role that dimensions of racial identity play regarding the antecedents and consequences of perceived racial discrimination among African Americans. A total of 267 African American college students completed measures of racial identity, perceived racial discrimination, and psychological distress at 2 time points. After controlling for previous perceptions of discrimination, racial centrality was positively associated with subsequent perceived racial discrimination. Additionally, perceived discrimination was positively associated with subsequent event-specific and global psychological distress after accounting for previous perceptions of discrimination and distress. Finally, racial ideology and public regard beliefs moderated the positive relationship between perceived discrimination and subsequent distress. The results illustrate the complex role racial identity plays in the lives of African Americans.     

Prototypes and same-gender bias in perceptions of hiring discrimination

The present study investigated the relative importance of two explanations behind perceptions of gender discrimination in hiring: prototypes and same-gender bias. According to the prototype explanation, people perceive an event as discrimination to the extent that it fits their preconceptions of typical discrimination. In contrast, the same-gender bias explanation asserts that people more readily detect discrimination toward members of their own gender. In four experiments (n = 797), women and men made considerably stronger discrimination attributions, and were moderately more discouraged from seeking work, when the victim was female rather than male. Further, a series of regressions analyses showed beliefs in discrimination of women to be moderately correlated with discrimination attributions of female victims, but little added explanatory value of participant gender, stigma consciousness, or feminist identification. The results offer strong support for the prototype explanation.     

The Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy: Women Talk About Their Experiences1

Participants in research on discrimination consistently rate discrimination directed at their group higher than at themselves personally as a member of that group. In order to examine this personal/group discrimination discrepancy, women were asked to spontaneously verbalize their thoughts as they made ratings for personal and group discrimination on 11-point scales. In Study 1, university women who raised a greater number of life domains for group discrimination than for personal discrimination showed a larger personal/group discrimination discrepancy because of lower ratings for personal discrimination. An analysis of participants' protocols revealed that many attended to different domains when rating personal and group discrimination, and that these participants showed a larger personal/group discrimination discrepancy because of lower ratings for personal discrimination. Participants' ratings for group discrimination did not differ as a function of the number or content of the domains. The findings were replicated in Study 2 with working women, and are identified as two contributing factors to the personal/group discrimination discrepancy. The societal implications of the results are discussed in terms of the tendency for disadvantaged group members to downplay their personal experience with discrimination because it does not fit the stereotype of what is being experienced by the group.     

On the use of discrimination to assess memory

A number of studies have made use of sensory discrimination to assess memory. These experiments have typically employed a temporal two-alternative forced choice paradigm in which the interstimulus interval (ISI) is varied. Many of these tests have shown that ISI has little or no effect on discrimination performance. This has been taken as evidence for perfect or very good memory. An alternative interpretation would be that discrimination tests lack sufficient sensitivity to reveal memory effects. In the present study, computer simulations based on signal detection theory were used to estimate the relative effects of memory noise and direct noise (i.e., noise inherent in the discrimination task) on discrimination performance. These simulations indicate that the amount of memory noise has to be quite large to cause a marked elevation in discrimination thresholds and that sensory discrimination is a relatively insensitive test of memory.