Unspoken Skills and Tactics: Essentials for Immigrant Professionals in Integration to Workplace Culture

Skilled workers and their dependents are the largest group of economic immigrants in Canada, and their labour market integration is critical for immigrant well-being as well as host country economic productivity. However, immigrant professionals face significant barriers to workplace integration, including unfamiliarity with workplace norms and practices. Drawing on constructivist grounded theory, this qualitative study examined challenges associated with socio-cultural workplace interactions and etiquettes among immigrant professionals in Alberta, Canada, as well as strategies to facilitate workplace integration. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 32 immigrant professionals and 30 immigrant service providers and employers. Participants described challenges related to workplace communication and interactions, adaptation to new workplace cultures, recognition of qualifications and experience, and professional outcomes. They identified general professional values, skills, and capacities, and communication and relationships perceived as essential for workplace integration. Strategies for supporting workplace integration included continuing learning and education, training on cultural diversity and workplace skills, professional field experience, and professional mentorship. These findings have implications for practice and policies facilitating the workplace integration of immigrant professionals in Canada, including training and mentorship approaches.     

Effects of preweaning predatory or consummatory experience and litter size on cricket predation in northern grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster)

Preweaning exposure to cricket killing and consumption, but not consumption alone, facilitated postweaning cricket predation. This facilitatory effect did not result from kill-sharing by the parents or from food competition among the offspring. The results were strongly influenced by litter size. Small litters (N = 3–4) were strongly facilitated in all measures of predatory behavior when compared to litters of five to six mice. Since smaller litters of this species also show much higher levels of play behavior, it is suggested that play frequency may strongly facilitate later predatory behavior.     

Effects of mimicking: acting prosocially by being emotionally moved

Mimicry is functional for empathy and bonding purposes. Studies on the consequences of mimicry at a behavioral level demonstrated that mimicry increases prosocial behavior. However, these previous studies focused on the mimickee. In the present paper, we investigated whether mimickers also become more helpful due to mimicry. In two studies, we have demonstrated that participants, who mimicked expressions of a person shown on a video, donated more money to a charity than participants who did not mimic. Moreover, the processes by which mimicry and prosocial behavior are related largely remain empirically unexamined in existing literature. The results of Study 2 confirmed our hypothesis that affective empathy mediates the relationship between mimicry and prosocial behavior. This suggests that mimicry created an affective empathic mindset, which activated prosocial behaviors directed toward others. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Partner aggression and children's externalizing problems: maternal and partner warmth as protective factors.

This research examined maternal and partner warmth as moderators of the relation between men's intimate partner aggression and children's externalizing problems. Participants were 157 mothers and their children (ages 7-9 years). Results indicate that maternal and partner warmth each moderated the relation between men's intimate partner aggression and children's externalizing problems. Partner-to-mother aggression was positively associated with child reports of externalizing problems at lower, but not higher, levels of maternal warmth. Similarly, partner-to-mother aggression was positively associated with mother reports of girls', but not boys', externalizing problems at lower, but not higher, levels of maternal warmth. On the other hand, the moderating effect of partner warmth was in the opposite direction and was found only with child-reported externalizing problems. Increased levels of partner-to-mother aggression related positively to child-reported externalizing problems when partners were higher, but not lower, in warmth.     

Impulsive and premeditated subtypes of aggression in conduct disorder: differences in time estimation

Research aimed at identifying and studying subtypes of aggression have historically dichotomized aggressive subtypes, although specific nomenclature has varied; one approach has been to classify aggressive behavior as predominantly impulsive or predominantly premeditated. There are a number of behavioral and cognitive differences between those exhibiting these different forms of aggression. This study was designed to extend understanding of the impulsive/premeditated aggression dichotomy by comparing time estimation among adolescents exhibiting predominantly impulsive or predominantly premeditated forms of physical aggression who have a psychiatric diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD). Time estimation has previously been shown to be disrupted in impulsive and some aggressive individuals. Time estimation was compared between healthy Controls (n = 37) and two groups of adolescents with CD, those with histories of either predominantly impulsive (CD-Impulsive, n = 26) or predominantly premeditated (CD-Premeditated, n = 38) aggressive behaviors. Participants completed five computerized trials during which they estimated when 1 min had passed. Among aggressive adolescents with CD, the misperception of time was specific to those with histories of impulsive aggression, although time estimates improved with repeated testing and performance feedback. This study confirms the importance of considering the role and type of physical aggression when studying heterogeneous diagnostic groups like CD and supports the relevance of time estimation to certain subgroups of adolescents with CD.     

Effects of other‐profitability and self‐profitability on evaluative judgements of behaviours

Behaviours are judged by their causes (i.e. the actor's intentions) as well as by their consequences. The present study focuses on the effects of the latter. Subjects judged behaviours that were either socially good, socially bad, competent, or incompetent. The consequences of the behaviours were either (a) personal consequences for the actor, (b) interpersonal consequences for others, or (c) not mentioned. Behaviours with interpersonal consequences were judged more extremely than with personal consequences. When no consequences were mentioned, the behaviours were rated similarly as in the condition with interpersonal consequences. These effects emerged regardless of behaviour valence (positive versus negative) and dimension (social versus competence‐related). The results suggest that others' behaviours are judged primarily by their interpersonal implications, and that observers take the perspective of those whose outcomes may be affected by the actor. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dilemmas of academic practice: perceptions of superiority among social psychologists

The current research examines social psychologists' beliefs regarding the probability of self and others to engage in desirable and undesirable actions relevant to solving dilemmas of academic practice (e.g. openly discussing versus concealing complex effects in a paper). Consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that social psychologists believed that others are more likely than they themselves to engage in undesirable actions and less likely to engage in academically desirable actions. Moreover, the probability of undesirable actions by both self and others was perceived to be greater under conditions of low rather than high perceived traceability (i.e. when others within the field are believed not to verify the appropriateness of the actions). Interestingly, but unexpectedly, this latter result was observed among faculty members but not among individuals with less research experience (i.e. graduate students). The discussion considers possible explanations for this latter finding and closes with an implication relevant to the peer review system. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Retribution-Gap and Responsibility-Loci Related to Robots and Automated Technologies: A Reply to Nyholm

Science and Engineering Ethics - Automated technologies and robots make decisions that cannot always be fully controlled or predicted. In addition to that, they cannot respond to punishment and...     

Preliminary evidence of the impact of early childhood maltreatment and a preventive intervention on neural patterns of response inhibition in early adolescence

Maltreated youths in foster care often experience negative developmental and psychological outcomes, which have been linked with poor response inhibition. Recent evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment is also associated with alterations in the neural circuitry underlying response inhibition. However, a burgeoning line of research has begun to explore the mitigating effects of preventive interventions on neural functioning. The current study used event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the impact of early childhood maltreatment and a preventive intervention on response inhibition in early adolescence. Thirty‐six demographically similar adolescents (ages 9–14 years) completed a Go/NoGo task. The sample included nonmaltreated adolescents (n = 14) and maltreated adolescents who were in foster care as preschoolers and randomly assigned to receive services as usual (n = 11) or a preventive intervention, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers (n = 11). The groups demonstrated similar behavioral performance but significantly different neural patterns. The maltreated adolescents who received services as usual demonstrated subcortical hypoactivity during successful response inhibition and subcortical hyperactivity during unsuccessful response inhibition. In contrast, the nonmaltreated adolescents and maltreated adolescents who received the intervention exhibited strikingly similar neural patterns during successful response inhibition, but the maltreated adolescents who received the intervention demonstrated prefrontal hypoactivity during unsuccessful response inhibition. These findings offer preliminary evidence that early childhood maltreatment alters the neural patterns underlying response inhibition in early adolescence and that participating in a preventive intervention could mitigate maltreatment‐related effects on these neural systems.