Gender and Compensation: Understanding the Impact of Gender and Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Rewards

Children’s understanding of rewards for task completion was examined in the context of gender, and gender-based stereotypes. Eighty-eight children (43 girls, M_overall?=?58.39 months) completed a measure assessing gender-based occupational stereotypes. This measure, along with gender, was used to predict children’s self-reward for undergoing the testing, as well as their reward for a fictional other child having undergone the same procedure. The methodology provided a novel approach for studying reward allocation in children, as it did not require children to divide resources between themselves and another child for completing the same task. An occupation-based stereotype measure was found to predict the self-reward, as well as the reward allocated to the other child. In addition, the participant’s gender predicted self-reward, and an interaction between participant gender and gender of the experimenter contributed to predicting the other child reward. Overall, these findings suggest that gender and gender-based stereotyping have an impact on reward allocation of young children. Implications of these results in the context of reward allocation research among children and adult populations are discussed.     

Acceptability of Telemedicine and Other Cancer Genetic Counseling Models of Service Delivery in Geographically Remote Settings

This work examined acceptability of cancer genetic counseling models of service delivery among Maine residents at risk for hereditary cancer susceptibility disorders. Pre-counseling, participants ranked characteristics reflecting models of care from most to least important including: mode-of-communication (in-person versus telegenetics), provider level of training (genetic specialty versus some training/experience), delivery format (one-on-one versus group counseling), and location (local versus tertiary service requiring travel). Associations between models of care characteristic rankings and patient characteristics, including rural residence, perceived cancer risk, and perceived risk for a hereditary cancer risk susceptibility disorder were examined. A total of 149/300 (49.7 % response rate) individuals from 11/16 Maine counties responded; 30.8 % were from rural counties; 92.2 % indicated that an important/the most important model of care characteristic is provider professional qualifications. Among other characteristics, 65.1 % ranked one-on-one counseling as important/the most important. In-person and local counseling were ranked the two least important characteristics (51.8 % and 52.1 % important/the most important, respectively). Responses did not vary by patient characteristics with the exception of greater acceptance of group counseling among those at perceived high personal cancer risk. Cancer telegenetic services hold promise for access to expert providers in a one-on-one format for rurally remote clients.     

Infants use known verbs to learn novel nouns: Evidence from 15- and 19-month-olds

Fluent speakers’ representations of verbs include semantic knowledge about the nouns that can serve as their arguments. These “selectional restrictions” of a verb can in principle be recruited to learn the meaning of a novel noun. For example, the sentence He ate the carambola licenses the inference that carambola refers to something edible. We ask whether 15- and 19-month-old infants can recruit their nascent verb lexicon to identify the referents of novel nouns that appear as the verbs’ subjects. We compared infants’ interpretation of a novel noun (e.g., the dax) in two conditions: one in which dax is presented as the subject of animate-selecting construction (e.g., The dax is crying), and the other in which dax is the subject of an animacy-neutral construction (e.g., The dax is right here). Results indicate that by 19 months, infants use their representations of known verbs to inform the meaning of a novel noun that appears as its argument.     

Additional Responses to Hugh Heclo's On Thinking Institutionally

Issue 13:3 of this journal (July 2010) included a “Conversation” on Hugh Heclo's recent publication On Thinking Institutionally (Paradigm Publishers, 2008) with a book review by Robert Fennell and responses by Richard Ascough, Tat‐siong Benny Liew, Michael McLain, and Lynne Westfield. Here we publish two additional responses to this same book. In the first essay Timothy D. Lincoln draws lessons from the specific “small world” of religion departments and theological schools. In the second essay Robert C. Fennell reminds us that we have an always‐already‐invested status within institutions. We should therefore think from the inside of institutions, to help shape them to express our highest callings.     

Communication of Genetic Information by Other Health Professionals: The Role of the Genetic Counsellor in Specialist Clinics

Many children with chronic genetic diseases are followed by specialty clinics that provide genetic information as part of the care. Health services restrictions in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) can make the wait for an appointment with a genetic counsellor long. We examined whether genetic information was being adequately understood when presented by medical, but non-genetics staff to long term patients, using our national metabolic service as an example. The aim was to inform health professionals about the need or role of a genetic counsellor in a specialist setting. A questionnaire was used to assess knowledge among parents and patients affected by galactosaemia and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). Twenty seven families with galactosemia and 10 with MSUD were interviewed in clinic. Comparative analysis showed significant differences in knowledge between parents of children with galactosemia and adult patients (p = 0.001) and between ethnicities (p > 0.05). While parents are well informed, the majority expressed a wish for more information about the condition and its transmission. Adult patients with galactosemia and parents from certain ethnic backgrounds could especially benefit from genetic counselling. This study highlights the need for a genetic counsellor in specialist clinics.     

Encouraging Active Classroom Discussion of Academic Integrity and Misconduct in Higher Education Business Contexts

The present study assessed business students’ responses to an innovative interactive presentation on academic integrity that employed quoted material from previous students as launching points for discussion. In total, 15 business classes (n = 412 students) including 2nd, 3rd and 4th year level students participated in the presentations as part of the ethics component of ongoing courses. Students’ perceptions of the importance of academic integrity, self-reports of cheating behaviors, and factors contributing to misconduct were examined along with perceptions about the presentation. Discussion sessions revealed that academic misconduct is a complex issue. For example, knowledge of what constitutes misconduct was not consistent across domains (e.g. exam contexts versus group work), penalties were not wholly known, and there was variation in perceived responsibility for reporting and representing academic integrity. Survey measures revealed that self-reported academic misconduct was more prevalent than expected with only 7.5% of students indicating they had never cheated in any way. Furthermore, results showed gender and year of study as predictive factors for issues related to academic misconduct. In general, students were receptive to this form of presentation. The implications of such instructional interventions for enhancing ethical behaviors in higher education classrooms are discussed.     

An evaluation of antecedent exercise on behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement using a three-component multiple schedule

We evaluated antecedent exercise for treating the automatically reinforced problem behavior of 4 individuals with autism. We conducted preference assessments to identify leisure and exercise items that were associated with high levels of engagement and low levels of problem behavior. Next, we conducted three 3-component multiple-schedule sequences: an antecedent-exercise test sequence, a noncontingent leisure-item control sequence, and a social-interaction control sequence. Within each sequence, we used a 3-component multiple schedule to evaluate preintervention, intervention, and postintervention effects. Problem behavior decreased during the postintervention component relative to the preintervention component for 3 of the 4 participants during the exercise-item assessment; however, the effects could not be attributed solely to exercise for 1 of these participants.     

Trichotomous goals of elementary school students learning English as a foreign language: a structural equation model

This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to define the relations among trichotomous goals (mastery goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals), self-efficacy, use of metacognitive self-regulation strategies, positive belief in seeking help, and help-avoidance behavior. Elementary school students (N = 105), who were learning English as a foreign language, were surveyed using five self-report scales. The structural equation model showed that self-efficacy led to the adoption of mastery goals but discouraged the adoption of performance-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals. Furthermore, mastery goals increased the use of metacognitive self-regulation strategies, whereas performance-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals reduced their use. Mastery goals encouraged positive belief in help-seeking, but performance-avoidance goals decreased such belief. Finally, performance-avoidance goals directly led to help-avoidance behavior, whereas positive belief assumed a critical role in reducing help-avoidance. The established structural equation model illuminated the potential causal relations among these variables for the young learners in this study.     

Reading without phonology?

Responses to items such as brane are slower and/or more error prone than responses to items such as slint in lexical decision (is this string spelt like a real word?). The received view is that this “pseudohomophone” effect is attributable to phonological receding. Taft (1982) has challenged this view, offering instead a grapheme-grapheme account which assumes that graphemes that map onto a common phoneme develop the ability to activate each other without reference to phonological mediation.

Taft's grapheme-grapheme account is tested in two experiments. Experiment 1 shows that the presentation of a pseudohomophone facilitates the response to a subsequently presented word (e.g., groce-gross). Experiment 2 shows that nonword letter strings that are translatable into words by the application of putative grapheme-grapheme rules (e.g., gloce-gloss) produce no facilitation. These results are consistent with the notion of a phonological influence but inconsistent with the grapheme-grapheme account. Loci for this pseudohomophone priming effect are discussed.