is affirmative action still necessary?

The influences of socio‐race, racial identity development, gender, educational level, and age on promotion and compensation decisions by midlevel supervisors in industry were examined in this analogue study of 74 midlevel business and industry supervisors. The participants varied in socio‐racial classifications, gender, educational levels, and age. Results of this study indicated statistically significant differences in promotion rates of female analogue employees, rates of promotion between White male and Black male supervisors, and the rate of promotion when comparing older versus younger supervisors.     

Pattern separation, pattern completion, and new neuronal codes within a continuous CA3 map

The hippocampal CA3 subregion is critical for rapidly encoding new memories, which suggests that neuronal computations are implemented in its circuitry that cannot be performed elsewhere in the hippocampus or in the neocortex. Recording studies show that CA3 cells are bound to a large degree to a spatial coordinate system, while CA1 cells can become more independent of a map-based mechanism and allow for a larger degree of arbitrary associations, also in the temporal domain. The mapping of CA3 onto a spatial coordinate system intuitively points to its role in spatial navigation but does not directly suggest how such a mechanism may support memory processing. Although bound to spatial coordinates, the CA3 network can rapidly alter its firing rate in response to novel sensory inputs and is thus not as strictly tied to spatial mapping as grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex. Such rate coding within an otherwise stable spatial map can immediately incorporate new sensory inputs into the two-dimensional matrix of CA3, where they can be integrated with already stored information about each place. CA3 cell ensembles may thus support the fast acquisition of detailed memories by providing a locally continuous, but globally orthogonal representation, which can rapidly provide a new neuronal index when information is encountered for the first time. This information can be interpreted in CA1 and other downstream cortical areas in the context of less spatially restricted information.     

Mother-toddler play interaction: A contrast of substance-exposed and nonexposed children

Recent studies have raised concerns about whether the play of cocaine-exposed or polysubstance-exposed children is deficient or disturbed, presumably as a result of the prenatal exposure. In this study, the quality of toddler play did not differ between 13 low income polysubstance-exposed and 13 low income nonexposed toddlers when rated in a 16-minute play session in their own homes with their mothers. Specifically, there were no differences in either cognitive or affective dimensions of play, as rated by observers who were blind to exposure status. In addition, the quality of maternal support for the play, as rated using the Parent/Caregiver Interaction Scale, did not differ between the two groups. Positive aspects of the mothers' behavior in supporting her child's play were predictive of higher quality child play. Power analyses suggest that the sample size was sufficient to have detected group differences if they had in fact existed. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Allocentric spatial learning by hippocampectomised rats: A further test of the “spatial mapping” and “working memory” theories of hippocampal function

This paper reports a series of three experiments that tested the “spatial-mapping” and “working-memory” theories of hippocampal function. The experimental designs incorporate separate reference- and working-memory procedures of a water-escape task, using both spatial and non-spatial learning. In Experiment 1 (Reference memory), rats with hippocampal (HC) or cortical (CC) lesions and unoperated (UNOP) rats learned to swim to a rigid visible escape platform while avoiding contact with a floating one. In the nonspatial task, the platforms each occupied any of 8 possible positions in the pool over successive trials but differed in appearance. In the spatial task, the platforms were of identical appearance but the safe one always occupied a single fixed location. The HC rats showed a highly specific spatial learning impairment but did learn to perform consistently above chance towards the end of training. In Experiment 2 (working memory), new groups of rats were trained on similar spatial and nonspatial tasks, but the platform designated correct-in terms of its visual appearance or its spatial location-was randomly changed each day. No animal learned the nonspatial task despite extensive training. Performance on the spatial version unexpectedly revealed an impairment in the CC as well as the HC group relative to the UNOP rats. However, the HCs again performed at above chance levels and demonstrated rapid (I-trial) spatial learning towards the end training. Experiment 3 used a place navigation matching-to-sample task examine spatial working memory further. Each day, an underwater platform was hidden at any of 4 possible locations, and the rats were given 2 trials to search for it. Both UNOP and CC rats located the platform faster on Trial 2 than on Trial 1, even when the inter-trial interval was long as 30min. HC rats were no faster on Trial 2 than on Trial 1. We conclude that hippocampal lesions (1) severely but partially impair spatial but not visual reference memory and (2) give rise to different patterns impairment in different working-mermory tasks. The results are a chal lenge to both the spatial-mapping and working-memory theories.     

Trafficking women: Gendered impacts of Canadian immigration policies

Women and men are subject to different forms of human trafficking; sexual exploitation is more common for women than for men, and the purposes of trafficking follow gender roles. This article argues that Canadian immigration policies have differential and discriminatory impacts according to gender. We define human trafficking before critiquing two Canadian immigration programs that leave women vulnerable to exploitation. Interviews, questionnaires, and a review of official documents were employed in exploring the government's response to this phenomenon. Our findings suggest that given the nature of the international trafficking and exploitation of women in Canada, the government's focus on border control is ineffective in protecting trafficked women's human rights and the rights of migrants generally.     

Reviews: Books Photography

RELATIONAL PSYCHOANALYSIS: THE EMERGENCE OF A TRADITION. Edited by Stephen A. Mitchell and Lewis Aron. 514 pp. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1999. $39.95. D.H. LAWRENCE AND THE PARADOXES OF PSYCHIC LIFE. By Barbara Ann Schapiro. 155 pp. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999. $17.95. TECHNOLOGY AS MAGIC: THE TRIUMPH OF THE IRRATIONAL. By Richard Stivers. 240 pp. New York: Continuum Press. 1999. $24. REFLECTIONS ON A RAVAGED CENTURY. By Robert Conquest. 317 pp. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, $27.95. THE MYSTERIES WITHIN A SURGEON REFLECTS ON MEDICAL MYTHS. By Sherwin B. Nuland. 274 pp. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000, $24.00. DISEASE, PAIN, AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR. By Elisabeth Stenager and Egon Stenager. 127 pp. New York: The Haworth Medical Press, 1998. $17.95. TRAUMA ASSESSMENTS: A CLINICIAN'S GUIDE. By E. B. Carlson. 307 pp. New York: The Guilford Press, 1997. $30. ON INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD: AN ELEMENTARY TEXTBOOK. By David A. Freedman, M.D. 247 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc., 1999. $27.95. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. By Mitch Albom. 192 pp. New York: Doubleday, 1997. $21. THE SORROWS OF THE QUAKER JESUS; JAMES NAYLER AND THE PURITAN CRACKDOWN ON THE FREE SPIRIT. By Leo Damrosch. 322 pp. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, $39.95. THE PASTORAL CARE OF DEPRESSION: A GUIDEBOOK. By Binford W. Gilbert. 127 pp. New York: The Haworth Pastoral Press, 1998. $19.95. LEARNING DISABILITIES AND PSYCHIC CONFLICT: A PSYCHOANALYTIC CASEBOOK. By Arden Aibel Rothstein, Ph.D., and Jules Glenn, M.D. 504 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc., 1999. $78. HAUNTED CHILDREN: RETHINKING MEDICATION OF COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS. By Arthur F. Roemmelt, MD. 196 pp. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998. $17.95. NAVIGATING THE DEEP RIVER: SPIRITUALITY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES. By Archie Smith, Jr. 181 pp. Cleveland, Ohio: United Church Press, 1997. $15.95. AL-JUNUN: MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD. Edited by Ihsan Al-Issa. 382 pp. Madison: International Universities Press, 2000. $48. Witnessing the Lack of Sanctuary     

Stress Reactivity in Fire Fighters: An Exercise Intervention

This experiment was designed to investigate the efficacy of 16 weeks of exercise training as an intervention to reduce the psychophysiological response of fire fighters to psychological stress. Fifty-three members of the Austin Fire Department (AFD) were recruited as participants and were randomly assigned to either exercise on a rowing ergometer or to continue their present modes of exercise training. Psychological stress was induced by a computerized version of the AFD Strategy and Tactics Drill (STD), in which participants responded to a simulated fire scene. Participants completed the STD prior to and following the exercise intervention. Prior to training, the groups did not differ in their cardiovascular response to the STD. Significant group differences were observed after training, in which exercise-trained participants reacted with significantly lower pulse and mean arterial pressure than their counterparts in the control condition. Exercise participants also reported significantly less stress-related state anxiety and negative affect. Exercise training appears to be a useful intervention to reduce the response to fire-related psychological stress in fire fighters.