How can we enhance girls’ interest in scientific topics?

Background. Girls are considerably less interested in scientific subjects than boys. One reason may be that scientific subjects are considered to be genuinely masculine. Thus, being interested in science may threaten the self‐perception of girls as well as the femininity of their self‐image. Aims. If scientific topics that are considered to be stereotypically feminine were chosen, however, this potential threat might be overcome which, in turn, might lead to an increase in girls’ interest in science. This hypothesis was empirically tested by means of two studies. Sample. Participants were 294 (Study 1) and 190 (Study 2) Grade 8 to Grade 9 students. Method. Gender differences in students’ interest in masculine and feminine topics were investigated for a range of scientific concepts (Study 1) as well as for a given scientific concept (Study 2) for four scientific subjects (i.e., biology, physics, information technology, and statistics), respectively. Results. Both studies indicated that the mean level of girls’ scientific interest was higher when scientific concepts were presented in the context of feminine topics and boys’ level of scientific interests was higher when scientific concepts were presented in the context of masculine topics. Conclusion. Girls’ interest in science could be substantially increased by presenting scientific concepts in the context of feminine topics. Gender differences as well as individual differences in the level of interest in scientific topics may be taken into account by creating learning environments in which students could select the context in which a certain scientific concept is embedded.     

Immediate and delayed effects of causal uncertainty inductions on uncertainty accessibility

Previous research has focused on enhanced processing as a response to causal uncertainty (CU), but relatively little empirical attention has been given to how CU is activated and the temporal unfolding of this activation. The current research investigates the counterintuitive idea that people inhibit causal uncertainty immediately after its activation. We find that this inhibition weakens over time. Study 1 demonstrates this inhibition effect with self-report uncertainty. Study 2 demonstrates this effect with an implicit accessibility measure. Temporary inhibition of uncertainty may be a general response when uncertainty is activated.     

The Reduced and Enhanced Impact of Shared Features on Individual Brand Evaluations

In 3 studies, consumers received information about products that had either positive or negative features in common. When they evaluated the products shortly afterward, the common features had little influence on their evaluations, and this was true regardless of whether they had made a preference rating, a similarity rating, or no rating at all before reporting these evaluations. In all cases, consumers apparently used one of the brands spontaneously as a standard of comparison for the other and, in doing so, discounted their common features. When their evaluation was delayed, however, shared features had greater impact. Two factors appear to be operating in the latter conditions. First, the alternative brand is less accessible and, therefore, is less likely to be used as a standard of comparison. Second, shared features are easier to recall than unique features, so they have a disproportional influence for this reason.     

The Potential of the Hybrid Course Vis‐à‐Vis Online and Traditional Courses

Abstract. Face‐to‐face, hybrid, and online courses are part of the panoply of course options available to students and teachers in the twenty‐first century. This essay tackles the promise of hybrid courses for enhancing student learning in seminary contexts. The author contends that the introduction of hybrid instruction prompts faculty to revisit questions about pedagogy and improves student learning.     

Rats' sensitivity to their direction of movement and spontaneous alternation behaviour

The response of rats to their prior direction of movement was examined in three spontaneous alternation experiments. In the first, a straight alley run interpolated between two T-maze trials increased goal arm alternation when it was in the same direction as that of the animal's first T-maze goal arm entry and decreased the alternation tendency when it was in the opposite direction. Experiment II found that multiple runs in one direction in a straight alley increased the likelihood that rats would subsequently enter the goal arm of a T-maze which permitted movement in an opposite direction. In the third experiment, rats entered those goal arms of an eight-arm radial maze which permitted movement in any direction which was different from that during a preceding straight alley trial. The results of these experiments indicate that rats are quite sensitive to their direction of movement and use it as a cue in guiding their behaviour in a variety of experimental situations.     

Psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and politics during the First World War.

This article compares the therapeutic power used by psychiatrists and psychoanalysts serving in the German and Austro-Hungarian armies during World War I, and the ways in which their therapeutic techniques were related to governmental and military authority. When treating "shell shocked" soldiers, army psychiatrists were guided by nationalist commitment rather than concern for their patients. Whatever theoretical approach they took, they defined their therapeutic task as administrative intervention aimed to increase the docility of soldiers to the state and its military purposes. But violent means of coercion, designed to force neurotic soldiers back into duty, remained inefficient. Drawing from an alternative body of knowledge, army physicians influenced by Freud's writings, or trained in psychoanalysis, applied cathartic methods to treat the Central Powers' soldiers. Their approach was not only more humane, but also proved to be therapeutically more efficient.     

Infants’ understanding of auditory events

Infants’ reaching‐in‐the‐dark was studied in a sample of normal 7.5–11‐month‐olds to determine whether infants can use sound cues to localize and recognize the action and objects of complex events. Infants were shown an event in which a moving, sounding object rotated clockwise through the infant's reaching space in the light and dark. Infrared recorded videotapes were later coded for reaching behaviour. Results showed that infants were able to localize the object on most trials in the dark but were slower and less efficient than in the light. Infants grasped the object at first contact and contacted the object near its salient feature in the dark, suggesting recognition of the object. Further, contact time was 1.7 s less when infants grasped the object at first contact in the dark (recognition) than when they touched the object, suggesting that recognition of the object improves reaching efficiency. There were no age and gender differences. In sum, the results support the use of the reaching‐in‐the‐dark method to demonstrate auditory localization of moving sounds and to reveal infants capacity to use represented information to guide subsequent action. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

"Oh Those Crazy Cards Again": A History of the Debate on the Nazi Rorschachs, 1946–2001

This essay provides a critical history of the debate on the Rorschach Inkblot Tests administered to 22 leading figures of the Third Reich who were imprisoned in Nuremberg in 1945–1946. This debate occurred in two stages. The question at the heart of the first stage was whether the Nazi leaders were sane or psychopaths. Despite a strong disagreement concerning the use of these diagnostic labels, there was a surprisingly broad agreement on the actual substance of the discrepant diagnoses. Divisions of opinion, however, arose from political dissension in two areas: the nature of liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes, and the possibility of trust in any political leadership. The second stage was marked by an ideology of convergence aimed at establishing a consensual "scientific truth" on the Nazi Rorschachs. Thus, the politics of the second phase were motivated by interests and ambitions internal to the field of Rorschach expertise, rather than by extraneous political anxieties.     

Ressourcenorientierte Psychotherapie

Resource orientation is a transdiagnostic and integrative approach. It is more than just a technique and corresponds closer to a therapeutic attitude. Disorder-specific models and resource orientation complement each other. Resource activation aims at the utilization of already existing resources to achieve the therapeutic targets. Resource orientation has many advantages: the working alliance is improved, the patient experiences positive emotions in therapy sessions, the expectations of self-efficacy and self-confidence are strengthened and problem solving is promoted. The article presents practically relevant tangible methods in terms of systematic resource diagnostics and helpful resource activating interventions. An appropriate balance between problem actualization and resource activation is necessary so that the patient does not get the impression that the individual suffering will be trivialized, negated or made taboo.