Gender Differences in the Process of Occupational Integration of Immigrant Physicians in Israel

The immigration of more than 13,000 physicians,over half of whom were women, from the former SovietUnion to Israel during the first half of the 1990's,provided an opportunity to investigate genderdifferences in the occupational integration of a largegroup of professionals. The present paper presentsfindings from a three-stage cohort study of 333 formerSoviet physicians covering their first five years in Israel, and from in-depth interviews withtwenty-three immigrant physicians. After two andone-half years in Israel (Stage 2), male respondentswere more likely to be working in their profession thanfemale respondents, who were more likely to beunemployed. After five years (Stage 3), men and womenwere equally likely to be working as physicians, but themen were significantly more likely to be in residency programs to attain specialty status, while thewomen were more likely to be working as generalpractitioners. The narratives suggest that genderdifferences in professional behavior were intricatelyrelated to traditional gender-related family normswhich persisted throughout the Communist era. Thetendency for some of the women to delay resuming theircareer in Israel is seen as adaptive in the context of migration, because it provides continuity ofself-identity and family norms. Furthermore, women whochose to work as general practitioners saw this work asa continuation of their work in the USSR. After five years in Israel, there were no genderdifferences in work satisfaction, self-esteem, mood andgeneral adaptation to life in Israel.     

Work and Pregnancy: Individual and Organizational Factors Influencing Organizational Commitment,Timing of Maternity Leave,and Return to Work

The authors surveyed 86 pregnant women (73%White, 8% Asian, 7% African American, 6% Hispanic, and1% Native American) to examine individual andorganizational factors associated with organizationalcommitment and planned timing of their maternity leavesand return to work after childbirth. Women whoseorganizations offered guaranteed jobs after childbirthplanned to work later into their pregnancies and toreturn to work sooner after childbirth. Women whoperceived supportive work-family cultures were morecommitted to their organizations and planned to returnmore quickly after childbirth than women who perceived less supportive cultures. Also, women with lesstraditional attitudes toward parenting planned to worklater into their pregnancies and return to work soonerafter childbirth.     

Adjustment to parental divorce: An examination of the differences between counselled and non-counselled children

To evaluate an innovative counselling service, two groups of children of divorce were studied: one that was receiving counselling and a non-counselled group. The differences between the two groups were examined in relation to such areas as self-esteem and their relationships with their parents prior and subsequent to separation.     

Effects of Paired and Unpaired Eye-Blink Conditioning on Purkinje Cell Morphology

This experiment addressed (1) the importance of conjunctive stimulus presentation for morphological plasticity of cerebellar Purkinje cells and inhibitory interneurons and (2) whether plasticity is restricted to the spiny branches of Purkinje cells, which receive parallel fiber input. These issues were investigated in naive rabbits and in rabbits that received paired or unpaired presentations of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US). To direct CS input to the cerebellar cortex, pontine stimulation served as the CS. Air puffs to the cornea served as the US. Paired condition rabbits received pontine stimulation for 350 msec paired with a coterminating 100-msec air puff. Unpaired condition rabbits received the same stimuli in a pseudorandom order at 1- to 32-sec intervals. Rabbits were trained for a mean of 12 days. Naive rabbits received no treatment. In Golgi-stained Purkinje neurons in lobule HVI, total dendritic length, main branch length, total spiny branch length, and number of spiny branch arbors were all greater in the naive group than in the paired and unpaired groups, which did not differ. No differences were found between the hemispheres ipsilateral and contralateral to the trained eye. The dendritic length and number of branches for inhibitory interneurons did not differ across groups. The Purkinje cell morphological changes detected with these methods do not appear to be uniquely related to the conjunctive activation of the CS and US in the paired condition.     

Stimulus Equivalence and The Blocking Effect

The Psychological Record - The purpose of this experiment was to examine the blocking effect within the context of a stimulus equivalence paradigm. Ten subjects were provided with a prior history...     

Mommy and Daddy like you best: perceived family favouritism in relation to affect, adjustment and family process

Perceived family favouritism and disfavouritism were explored in relation to college students' adjustment, affect and family process. The participants included 127 males and females and 62 of their siblings (age range 18–32 years). Sixty-five per cent of the participants reported favouritism in their families; 24% reported disfavouritism. There was modest sibling agreement on the presence of family favouritism/disfavouritism as well as on who in the family was doing the favouring or disfavouring. The presence of disfavouritism was found to relate to lower family cohesion, higher family disengagement and higher family conflict. Participants who perceived themselves to be disfavoured also reported more frequent shame and more intense fear. Participants who perceived themselves to be favoured reported less frequent shame. Results are discussed in the context of the empirical and clinical literature on sibling and family interaction and the differential treatment of siblings by parents. A clinical case example is provided to illustrate the results and to highlight the implications for family therapy.     

Embodied AI, Creation, and Cog

This is a reply to comments on my paper Cog, a Humanoid Robot, and the Questions of the Image of God ; one was written by Mary Gerhart and Allan Melvin Russell, and another one by Helmut Reich. I will start with the suggested analogy of the relationship between God and us and the one between us and the humanoid robot Cog and will show why this analogy is not helpful for the dialogue between theology and artificial intelligence (AI). Such a dialogue can succeed only if both our fascination for humanoids and our fear of them are equally accepted. Any avoidance of these emotions, as well as any rejection of the possibility that Cog might one day be humanlike, destroy the dialogue. The interpretation of both scientific theories and religious metaphors as stories replaces seemingly "rational" arguments with the confession of the respective commitments to a body of stories and opens up a space for exchange and friendship between AI-researchers and theologians—an option that usually remains closed.