Effects of ethnic minority adolescents’ peer networks on academic achievement: the case of Damunhwa adolescents in South Korea

Social Psychology of Education - Adolescents’ peer networks are integral part of their lives in school. In South Korea, where the demographics of adolescent population is rapidly changing...     

Explaining the Asian American Youth Paradox: Universal Factors versus Asian American Family Process Among Filipino and Korean American Youth

This study used longitudinal survey data of Filipino American and Korean American youth to examine ways in which universal factors (e.g., peer antisocial behaviors and parent–child conflict) and Asian American (AA) family process variables (e.g., gendered norms) independently and collectively predict grade point average (GPA), externalizing, and internalizing problems. We aimed to explain the “Asian American youth paradox” in which low externalizing problems and high GPA coexist with high internalizing problems. We found that universal factors were extensively predictive of youth problems and remained robust when AA family process was accounted for. AA family process also independently explained youth development and, in part, the AA youth paradox. For example, gendered norms increased mental distress. Academic controls did the opposite of what it is intended, that is, had a negative impact on GPA as well as other developmental domains. Family obligation, assessed by family-centered activities and helping out, was beneficial to both externalizing and internalizing youth outcomes. Parental implicit affection, one of the distinct traits of AA parenting, was beneficial, particularly for GPA. This study provided important empirical evidence that can guide cross-cultural parenting and meaningfully inform intervention programs for AA youth.     

Shivering for Status: When Cold Temperatures Increase Product Evaluation

While anecdotal evidence suggests that consumers maintain an association between high‐status products and cold temperature, no research has empirically examined this linkage. We propose and demonstrate that physical cold can indeed increase consumers’ perceptions of a product's status signaling and luxuriousness. We demonstrate this consequence can stem from tactile or visually induced temperatures and ultimately increase consumers’ overall evaluations of products. Finally, we highlight boundary conditions for when the effect is likely to manifest. Our findings offer theoretical contributions along with several practical implications for retailing, product design, brand management, and marketing communications.     

The police officer's dilemma: using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals

Using a simple videogame, the effect of ethnicity on shoot/don't shoot decisions was examined. African American or White targets, holding guns or other objects, appeared in complex backgrounds. Participants were told to "shoot" armed targets and to "not shoot" unarmed targets. In Study 1, White participants made the correct decision to shoot an armed target more quickly if the target was African American than if he was White, but decided to "not shoot" an unarmed target more quickly if he was White. Study 2 used a shorter time window, forcing this effect into error rates. Study 3 replicated Study 1's effects and showed that the magnitude of bias varied with perceptions of the cultural stereotype and with levels of contact, but not with personal racial prejudice. Study 4 revealed equivalent levels of bias among both African American and White participants in a community sample. Implications and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.     

Framing interethnic ideology: effects of multicultural and color-blind perspectives on judgments of groups and individuals

In 3 experiments, White American college students received a message advocating either a color-blind or a multicultural ideological approach to improving interethnic relations and then made judgments about various ethnic groups and individuals. Relative to a color-blind perspective, the multicultural perspective led to stronger stereotypes, greater accuracy in these stereotypes, and greater use of category information in judgments of individuals. This increase in between-category differentiation occurred both for attributes that favored the in-group and for attributes that favored the out-group and was also paired in some cases with greater overall positivity toward the out-group. The findings lead us to question the implicit assumption driving the majority of social psychological efforts at prejudice reduction: that the categorization process leads to prejudice, and that the relevance of social categories must therefore be de-emphasized.     

Demographic, clinical, and neurocognitive correlates of everyday functional impairment in severe mental illness

Although cognitive deficits often accompany severe mental illness, their implications for everyday functioning remain poorly understood. In this study, an occupational therapist (OT) rated the everyday functioning of 105 adult psychiatric patients. Using demographic, clinical, and cognitive variables, the authors tested alternative models to account for the observed variability in OT ratings. Although age, education, and the presence of schizophrenia each contributed to a model that accounted for 27% of the variation in functional independence, adding terms for auditory divided attention and verbal learning increased the proportion of explained variance to 45% and decreased the beta weights for age and education--but not schizophrenia--to nonsignificant levels. These findings demonstrate the relevance of cognitive performance to everyday functioning in severe mental illness. They are discussed with respect to hypothesized determinants of psychiatric disability.     

Effect of arousal and retention delay on memory: a meta-analysis

Two meta-analyses were conducted to examine the magnitude of the interaction between arousal and retention delay on various types of memory, e.g., verbal, visual, etc., as initially reported by Kleinsmith and Kaplan in 1963 and 1964. Results of the first meta-analysis (29 studies, N = 2,637) indicated that the interaction was robust (d = .779), with low arousal leading to better immediate memory than high arousal, whereas high arousal led to better delayed memory than low arousal. Incorporating additional studies, a subsequent meta-analysis (48 studies, N = 3,143) on the effect of arousal on memory, taking retention delay as a moderator, provided further support. At a 2-min. delay, low arousal led to better immediate memory than high arousal (d = -.459). This difference decreased at a 20-min. delay (d = .106), when directions of high and low arousal effects on memory appeared to reverse. At longer delays than 20 min., high arousal led to better delayed memory than low arousal (ds = .753, .219, and .472, for delays of 45-min., 1-day, and more than 1-day, respectively).     

The Smell Identification Test as a measure of olfactory identification ability in schizophrenia and healthy populations: a Rasch psychometric study

This study examines University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT; R. L. Doty, 1995) performance in 133 controls and 54 chronic, medicated outpatients with schizophrenia (SZ) using item-response theory modeling. Results show that UPSIT items contribute to 1 factor, cover a range of 8 standard errors of measurement, and articulate 3 ability levels. Although it is not difficult enough to discriminate among persons of above-average ability, the test has diagnostic utility in detecting moderate impairment. Independent of item difficulty, 13 items differentiate patients from controls. When 45 patients and 45 controls were matched on gender and age, patient accuracy remained significantly reduced. The findings support the test's utility and demonstrate how traditional data analysis is insensitive to complexities in test performance.     

Part-whole practice of movement sequences

A 16-element movement sequence was taught under part-whole and whole-practice conditions. Participants (N = 18) produced a right-arm lever movement to sequentially presented target locations. The authors constructed part-whole practice by providing practice on only the 1st 8 elements on the 1st day of practice (100 repetitions of the 8-element sequence) and on all 16 elements on the 2nd day of practice (100 repetitions of the 16-element sequence). The whole-practice group practiced all 16 elements on both days (100 repetitions of the 16-element sequence per day). No differences in sequence structure or in movement duration of the 16-element sequence were noted on the retention test (Day 3). On transfer tests in which the 1st and last 8 elements were tested separately, however, the participants in the part-whole practice group performed more quickly than the participants in the whole-practice group, especially on the last 8 elements. Participants in the whole-practice group appeared to code the sequence so that it was relatively difficult to fully partition it into separate movements. Thus, on the transfer tests, there continued to be residual effects of the 8 elements that did not have to be produced but slowed down the rate of responding for the whole-practice group. That finding was not observed for the part-whole practice group.     

Decursin from Angelica gigas mitigates amnesia induced by scopolamine in mice

We previously reported that a total methanolic extract of the underground part of Angelica gigas Nakai (Umbelliferae) (here-in-after abbreviated AG) significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. We characterized 12 coumarin derivatives including both decursin and decursinol from extracts of AG. In this study, we evaluated the anti-amnestic activity of decursin, a major coumarin constituent isolated from AG, in vivo using ICR mice with amnesia induced by scopolamine (1 mg/kg body weight, s.c.). Decursin, when administered to mice at 1 and 5 mg/kg body weight i.p., significantly ameliorated scopolamine-induced amnesia as measured in both the passive avoidance test and the Morris water maze test. Moreover, decursin significantly inhibited AChE activity by 34% in the hippocampus of treated mice. These results indicate that decursin may exert anti-amnestic activity in vivo through inhibition of AChE activity in the hippocampus.