Dating Violence Attributions: Do They Differ for In-Group and Out-Group Members Who Have a History of Dating Violence?

In this research we examined the influence of in-group bias and dating violence history on dating violence attributions. Participants were 113 college students (97 women and 16 men; age M=21.9). They read a vignette that depicted dating violence and then completed a questionnaire concerning the assault. The couple was described as either part of the participants' in-group or the participants' out-group. The dating violence was described as either a first-time event for the couple or a repeated act of violence. Participants formed more lenient attributions for the in-group assailant than for the out-group assailant, but only if he was a first-time assailant rather than a repeat assailant. In addition, participants attributed less blame to the in-group victim than to the out-group victim, but only if she was a repeat victim of dating violence. These findings are examined in relation to in-group bias.     

Implicated reading: a method for reflecting on practice

This paper evaluates an attempt by the author to operationalise the theory of reflective practice within the context of initial teacher education. Whilst an integral element of many teacher education programmes, the problematic of ‘how’ to reflect on practice remains a concern. In response, and taking inspiration from the work of Deleuze and Guattari, specifically their critique of representational thought and common understandings of text, the author experiments with a method for reflecting called implicated reading. The method involves the reading of students’ lived experiences as beginning teachers (recorded in written form), against a variety of other texts. The author draws on interview data to analyse and discuss the merits of the approach. The paper concludes that the method of implicated reading has the potential to unsettle the common tendency to focus on meaning and interpretation when reflecting on events and experiences. It is argued that the student teachers involved in the project instead begin to experience reflection as a process of connectivity, rethinking pedagogy as a result.     

THE VAGARIES OF VEGETARIANISM

The following was meant to be a ‘fun paper’, which the author's honesty and natural seriousness of mind prevented from coming off well. Its main theme is that it is not wrong to eat meat provided the animals eaten are painlessly killed or – usually in the case of human animals – already dead. In the course of his remarks the author touches on: the bearing of affluence on vegetarianism; animal rights; child eating; treating animals as ends and with due Kantian respect; the inadequacy of the word ‘duty’; aesthetics and morals; the distinction between private behaviour – say driving on the left hand side of the road – and public duty – say advocating or legislating for driving on the right hand side of the road; our duties to vegetables, snakes, flying ants and Martians; and the desirability of irrationality in matters of duty; stealing and eating as much meat as possible as a way of bringing the meat industry to its knees; the contribution that animals should make to animal welfare, viz. allowing themselves to be eaten. He ends by emphasising the likeness of non‐human animals to human animals. 1     

Effects of neonatal handling on play behavior and fear towards a predator odor in juvenile rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The effects of brief daily separation, also known as "handling," during the first 2 weeks of life on play behavior and fearfulness toward a predatory odor were assessed in juvenile rats. Handled rats were more playful than nonhandled control rats, and while handling had no effect on the direct response of these rats toward a predatory odor, handled rats did not exhibit a conditioned suppression of play when tested later in the same context where they had been exposed to the predatory odor. Handled rats were still wary of the environment in that they continued to show a heightened level of risk assessment behavior. These data suggest that early postnatal experiences may play a significant role in determining how an animal deals with predatory threats later in life.     

Sleep Loss and Temporal Memory

Historical evidence suggests that sleep deprivation affects temporal memory, but this has not been studied systematically. We explored the effects of 36 hr of sleep deprivation on a neuropsychological test of temporal memory. To promote optimal performance, the test was short, novel, and interesting, and caffeine was used to reduce 'sleepiness'. A total of 40 young adults were randomized into four groups: control + caffeine (Cc), control + placebo (Cp), sleep deprived + caffeine (SDc), and sleep deprived + placebo (SDp). Controls slept normally. Caffeine (350 mg) or placebo were given just prior to testing. The task comprised colour photographs of unknown faces and had two components: recognition memory (distinction between previously presented and novel faces), and recency discrimination (temporal memory), when a previously shown face was presented. An interpolated task, self-ordered pointing, acted as a distraction. Caffeine had no effects within control conditions, but significantly reduced subjective sleepiness in SDc. Recognition was unaffected by sleep deprivation, whereas for recency, sleep deprivation groups scored significantly lower than controls. There was no significant improvement of recency with caffeine in the SDc group. Both sleep deprivation groups had poorer insight into their performance with recency. Self-ordered pointing remained unchanged. In conclusion, sleep deprivation impairs temporal memory (i.e. recency) despite other conditions promoting optimal performance.     

Context, Cognition, and Common Method Variance: Psychometric and Verbal Protocol Evidence

Researchers continue to debate the importance of (item) context effects, which are often thought to produce inflated percept-percept correlations in organizational self-reports. Using Feldman and Lynch's (1988) theory of self-generated validity, we propose five conditions under which such context effects are most likely to occur and to have an impact on substantive conclusions. The proposed effects are tested with psychometric and verbal protocol data from 208 subjects responding to an organizational justice questionnaire, using a 3 (types of context) by 2 ("think aloud" versus "silent") experimental design. Psychometric results revealed context effects on scale means, reliabilities, and some of the relations between constructs. Respondents' concurrent verbal protocols from the "think aloud" condition provided evidence for the cognitive basis of these effects.