“Can We Say the N-word?”: Exploring Psychological Safety During Race Talk

Classroom interactions that engender psychologically safe climates have rich developmental potential; these interactions often facilitate engagement in academic risk-taking and exploration (Cooper, 2013). On the contrary, classroom interactions that are threatening to adolescents’ identities send messages of devaluation and can negatively impact feelings of belonging and academic achievement, particularly for youth of color (Sherman et al., 2013). In efforts to help explicate the interrelations between racial-identity linked risks and threats and psychological safety in classroom learning contexts, this exploratory case study examined two 9th grade English Language Arts teachers’ negotiation of attunement, authenticity, and power sharing during race talk. Our in-depth analysis of these classrooms suggested the following teacher moves may be particularly important for psychological safety during race talk: teacher moves that (a) support or inhibit power sharing, (b) indicate high or low levels of teacher attunement, and (c) demonstrate or mask the teacher’s authenticity. These results have implications for understanding the co-construction of psychological safety in classrooms during identity-salient and racialized interactions.     

Kommunizierende Agenten: Gestische und natürlichsprachliche Interaktion

Communicating agents: Gesture and natural language interaction Summary. An important scientific method within cognitive science consists in the synthesis of cognitive abilities, of forms of behavior by developing specific artificial agents. Many current approaches make use of the notion of an agent in order to develop concepts of cognitive behavior on different levels of abstraction. Basic properties of agents are: reactivity, autonomy, goal directed activity, and communication. This contribution examines the communicative aspect, i.e. the interaction by gesture or language and their integration, e.g. in identifying referents. Since we conceive communicating agents as systems able to synthesize such interactions as well as their integration, this will be illustrated with respect to two artificial systems. The GRAVIS system detects objects as well as pointing gestures of an instructor, and the camera agent is able to focus on specific objects. The CoRA system processes situated natural language instructions, and the simulated robot agent is able to integrate the use of language, perception and action. Finally we propose an integration of both approaches. Zusammenfassung. Ein wichtiger Forschungsansatz innerhalb der Kognitionswissenschaft besteht in der Synthese kognitiver Fähigkeiten und Verhaltensweisen durch den Bau geeigneter, künstlicher Systeme. Viele der in jüngerer Zeit verfolgten Ansätze nutzen dabei den Begriff des Agenten, um kognitives Verhalten auf unterschiedlichen Abstraktionsebenen zu konzeptualisieren. Grundeigenschaften von Agenten sind u.a. Reaktivität, Autonomie, Zielgerichtetheit und Kommunikationsfähigkeit. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag interessieren wir uns für die Ebene kommunikativen Verhaltens, bei der Gestik und Sprache zur Vermittlung eines Sachverhaltes zusammenwirken, und verstehen unter einem kommunizierenden Agenten ein System, das für solches Verhalten einen nennenswerten Kompetenzausschnitt realisiert. Wir stellen hierzu beispielhaft zwei Systeme vor. Das System GRAVIS demonstriert die Referenzierung von Objekten im Blickfeld eines Kamerakopfes durch Handzeigegestik eines Instrukteurs. Das System CoRA demonstriert die Verarbeitung sprachlicher Handlungsanweisungen im Kontext der Kooperation mit einem simulierten Roboter. Abschließend wird die Integration der beiden Ansätze diskutiert.     

Masculine/feminine: A personological perspective

How might our expanding knowledge of gender contribute to a deeper understanding of personality? This paper offers a personological perspective for considering the import of contemporary work, and focuses on the ten substantive papers included in this issue of the Journal of Personality An agenda for our future inquiry is proposed that includes (a) revising our ideology of science in a postpositivist era, (b) recognizing the complexity of personality as a domain distinguished from “human being theory,” (c) developing richer and more comprehensive personality theory, and (d) studying persons over time The papers reported in this issue contribute in various ways to the enrichment of personological understanding     

MULTI-CULTURAL RESEARCH: DEVELOPING A PARTICIPATIVE METHODOLOGY FOR CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

Since truly culture-free research is impossible, greater attention should be paid to the nature of collaborative processes among researchers in cross-cultural psychology. Participative methodology should be examined through appropriate research, and methodologies to ensure equal participation should be developed accordingly. It is suggested that the nature of the collaborative process be reported in research publications as a standard methodology section. A short questionnaire on researchers' reactions to these suggestions and on current collaborative processes is presented.     

FAMILY AFFAIRS

This department solicits reports of work-in-progress; applications of family therapy techniques and principles to new areas; reports of innovative programs of research, training, and therapy in the family field; accounts of relevant, personal experience. Material for consideration should be sent to The Editor.     

The factor analytic structure of the Roberts Apperception Test for Children: a comparison of the standardization sample with a sample of chronically ill children

A confirmatory principal component factor analysis of the Roberts Apperception Test for Children was conducted using the standardization sample and a sample of chronically ill children. An interpretation of three- and four-factor solutions identified the three-factor solution as superior to the four-factor solution as measured by chi-square goodness of fit and coefficients of convergence. A cluster analysis using Ward's minimum variance method was calculated to determine the typical profiles that best describe the chronically ill sample. Results of this analysis reveal two distinct profiles that differ primarily on the level of adaptive psychological functioning.     

Nevertheless,she persisted (in science research): Enhancing women students’ science research motivation and belonging through communal goals

Social Psychology of Education - There is no doubt that connections with other people motivate behavior; yet science is stereotyped as being lonely work devoid of communal connections. Drawing from...     

Toward Theory Development and Measure Evolution for Studying Women's Relationships and HIV Infection

This commentary reviews and integrates selected empirical findings from this special issue of Sex Roles on Gender, Power, and Women's Relationships: Implications for HIV. Then the effects of current definitions of certain social science practices on theory development in these areas are considered. These practices especially hamper cross-cultural theory and measure development. New directions are proposed, centering on the relations between theory development, measurement, and application in the context of cultural variations. I conclude with a proposed strategy for local culture theory development. This strategy localizes measurement of theoretical constructs to adapt the theory to local cultural conditions, then localizes theory by indicating needed adjustments to the structure of theoretical linkages.