Progression on Nickelodeon? Gender-Role Stereotypes in Toy Commercials

A content analysis was conducted to examine gender-role stereotypes in toy commercials airing during the after-school hours in October, 2004, on the U.S. Nickelodeon network. The sample included 455 toy commercials, which were analyzed for the type of toy, number of identifiable boys and girls, gender portrayal, gender orientation, age of children, type of interaction, setting, and color of setting. The majority of girl and boy characters were featured in gender-specific toy commercials, and there were more identifiable girls than boys. Almost one-half of the characters were children (6-to-10-years old) who predominantly played indoors, in mixed colored settings, and engaged in cooperative play. Boys were more likely than girls to be shown outdoors and playing competitively.     

A Review of “Museum Origins: Readings in Early Museum History & Philosophy”

ABSTRACT

This article reports an investigation into the use of 12 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Interactive Science Exhibits, borrowed by two community venues—a regional Hall of Fame and a metropolitan Library—as part of a science center's outreach program. Data were generated through interviews with venue staff, interviews with adults and surveys of children who visited the exhibits, and observations of visitor behavior around the exhibits. All children and most adults enjoyed using the exhibits, and adults thought the exhibits would raise people's (particularly children's) awareness of science and teach scientific ideas. Venue staff were pleased with the outcomes of the exhibit loan; however, the potential educational effectiveness of the exhibits was limited by issues relating to location and the visitors’ agendas. There were problems in attracting people to the exhibits and encouraging visitors, particularly adults, to engage with them. Suggestions are made to increase the effectiveness of using interactive exhibits in community settings.     

Clustering of drinker prototype characteristics: What characterizes the typical drinker?

Prototypes (social images) have been shown to influence behaviour, which is likely to depend on the type of image. Prototype evaluation is based on (un)desirable characteristics related to that image. By an elicitation procedure we examined which adjectives are attributed to specific drinker prototypes. In total 149 young Dutch adults (18–25 years of age) provided adjectives for five drinker prototypes: abstainer, moderate drinker, heavy drinker, tipsy, and drunk person. Twenty‐three unique adjectives were found. Multilevel latent class cluster analysis revealed six adjective clusters, each with unique and minor overlapping adjectives: ‘negative, excessive drinker,’ ‘moderate, responsible drinker,’ ‘funny tipsy drinker,’ ‘determined abstainer cluster,’ ‘uncontrolled excessive drinker,’ and ‘elated tipsy cluster.’ In addition, four respondent classes were identified. Respondent classes showed differences in their focus on specific adjective clusters. Classes could be labelled ‘focus‐on‐control class,’ ‘focus‐on‐hedonism class,’ ‘contrasting‐extremes‐prototypes class,’ and ‘focus‐on‐elation class.’ Respondent classes differed in gender, educational level and drinking behaviour. The results underscore the importance to differentiate between various prototypes and in prototype adjectives among young adults: subgroup differences in prototype salience and relevance are possibly due to differences in adjective labelling. The results provide insights into explaining differences in drinking behaviour and could potentially be used to target and tailor interventions aimed at lowering alcohol consumption among young adults via prototype alteration.     

The influence of self‐efficacy on the effects of framed health messages

Health promoting messages can be framed in terms of the gains that are associated with healthy behaviour, or the losses that are associated with unhealthy behaviour. In this study, we examined the influence of self‐efficacy to quit smoking on the effects of gain framed and loss framed anti‐smoking messages in a randomized controlled trial among 539 adult smokers. Participants with a high self‐efficacy to quit smoking reported higher levels of motivation to quit smoking after receiving a loss framed message than after receiving a gain framed message or no message. For these participants receiving a gain framed message did not result in a higher motivation to quit smoking than receiving no message. For participants with a low self‐efficacy to quit smoking there were no differences in motivation to quit smoking between the gain framed message condition, loss framed message condition and control condition. Our results suggest that self‐efficacy can moderate the effects of message framing on persuasion. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mental budgeting versus marginal decision making: training,experience and justification effects on decisions involving sunk costs

Many studies have shown that individuals make economically irrational decisions by using, rather than ignoring, sunk cost information. In this study, the effects of relevant academic training, financial experience and decision justification on investment decisions involving sunk costs were examined. Data on both the process (strategy) and outcome of the decisions were collected. The results indicate that practicing Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), Masters of Business Administration students (MBAs) and undergraduate accounting students perform better than undergraduate psychology students. The level of training, as measured by the number of college courses in managerial accounting, was found to be positively correlated with performance, while the level of experience, as measured by years of financially‐related work, was not. Justification was found to improve decisions only for those participants with significant work experience (MBAs and CPAs). Strategies used in this type of decision were examined with the surprising finding that economically rational decisions can be made even if sunk costs are not ignored. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychosocial determinants of young athletes' continued participation over time

The aim of this study was to examine the differences in psychosocial and motivational variables between persistent and dropout youth athletes and between groups with different years in training. Team and individual youth athletes completed questionnaires measuring autonomy support from parents and coaches, peer motivational climate, basic psychological needs satisfaction, and sport motivation. The results showed that athletes who dropped out perceived significantly less competence, relatedness, and autonomy need satisfaction, and they perceived less autonomy support from parents and were less intrinsically motivated than persistent athletes. Youth athletes with up to one year in training reported significantly lower effort and intra-team conflict with peers, relatedness need satisfaction, and external motivation than athletes with 1 to 3 years and >3 years in training. Findings extend knowledge of the psychosocial determinants of sport continuation behaviour among young athletes.     

Identifying learning patterns of children at risk for Specific Reading Disability

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (?SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi‐trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural Chitonga‐speaking Zambia. A multi‐group Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM) was implemented to study interindividual differences in intraindividual change across trials. Results showed that the +SRD group recalled fewer words correctly in the first trial, learned at a slower rate during the subsequent trials, and demonstrated a more linear learning pattern compared to the ?SRD group. This study illustrates the promise of LGCM applied to multi‐trial learning tasks, by isolating three components of the learning process (initial recall, rate of learning, and functional pattern of learning). Implications of this microdevelopmental approach to SRD research in low‐to‐middle income countries are discussed.