THE EFFECTS OF HAIR COLOR AND COSMETIC USE ON PERCEPTIONS OF A FEMALE'S ABILITY

This experiment examined whether a female applicant's hair color and use of cosmetics might affect perceptions of her ability for a professional position. One hundred thirty six college students reviewed the identical professional resume of a female applicant for the position of a staff accountant. Attached to the resume was a photograph of the stimulus female applicant either wearing or not wearing cosmetics and depicted with brunette, red, or blonde hair color. The results demonstrated significant main effects of both hair color and cosmetic use. Specifically, the applicant was rated more capable and was assigned a higher salary both when depicted with brunette hair color and when depicted without cosmetics. There were no interactions between hair color and cosmetic use. The findings demonstrate that biases regarding personal appearance may affect judgments about a female applicant's ability.     

Revisionist reporting

Philosophical Studies - Several theorists have observed that attitude reports have what we call “revisionist” uses. For example, even if Pete has never met Ann and has no idea that she...     

Making meaning of parenting from the perspective of alienated parents

More than 13% of parents identify as being alienated by at least one of their children. Parental alienation often occurs after divorce when one parent (un)intentionally persuades his or her children to distance themselves from or reject the other parent. This study, couched in relational dialectics theory, explores the meaning of parenting from the perspective of 40 alienated parents. This analysis yielded two competing discourses: the culturally dominant discourse of parental norms (DPN) and the culturally marginalized discourse of parental victimization (DPV). Throughout the narrative interviews, the DPV resisted the DPN in four ways (diachronic separation, entertaining, countering, and negating). This study's findings provide insights into the perspective of the alienated parents, advance what we know about family distancing, and provide practical implications.     

Do Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) and tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor) use predator eyes in risk assessment?

Animal Cognition - Previous studies have found that Carolina chickadees and tufted titmice use a predator’s head orientation to determine risk, taking fewer seeds from a feeder if an avian...     

A Comparison of Reading Rates,Comprehension, and Stamina in Oral and Silent Reading of Fourth-Grade Students

This study examined the relationships between silent and oral reading fluency and comprehension. Findings indicated that fourth grade students had consistent levels of comprehension in both reading modes. Students of all reading levels showed a similar pattern across the segments of a text set in both oral and silent reading—a gradual increase in rate from texts one through three, a drop-off on text four, and the fastest speed on text five. A portion of the sample engaged in abnormally rapid silent reading relative to their oral reading rates coupled with low comprehension. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

A Model of Students' Decimal Computation Procedures

A model that describes the construction and execution of decimal computation procedures is presented. Our hypothesis is that students compute by relying solely on syntax-based rules; semantic knowledge has no effect on performance. To test the claim, a model is developed in which computation procedures are viewed as chains of component symbol manipulation rules. The model assumes that students acquire through instruction the individual rules that achieve subgoals in the computation process. The task for the procedural system is to select rules that satisfy each subgoal in sequence. The model specifies the rules of the system and identifies the syntactic features of the task that affect the selection of individual rules at each decision point. It then predicts the relative difficulty of decimal computation items and predicts the procedural flaw that will occur most frequently on each item. Written test and interview data are presented to test the predictions. Concluding comments discuss the nature of students' computation procedures, compare the model with other models of computation performance, and outline how the model might inform instruction.     

Review of Interventions Designed to Address Drinking Among Soldiers

Heavy and abusive alcohol use is a major health problem facing military service members. We reviewed literature on alcohol intervention programs targeting military personnel to assess the methodological quality and effectiveness of the programs. Although the search yielded more than 42,000 citations, only 150 met initial screening criteria. Eighteen studies had sufficient evidence to meet secondary screening and of these only 10 studies were included in the review. These studies employed several types of interventions, but only 1 used a randomized controlled trial. Our findings indicate that there is greater need to assess intervention strategies, and there is a particular need for high-quality studies using randomized controlled trials with standardized assessment tools to improve the generalizability of the findings. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research in this area.     

Teaching General Safety and Body Safety Training Skills to a Latino Preschool Male with Autism

This case study describes the implementation of a safety training program with a 5-year-old Latino boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The program focused on teaching him general safety rules and body safety in an effort to reduce his likelihood of sexual victimization and injury. The boy was treated in conjunction with another child by two therapists, while his caretakers participated in a caretaker group. Both groups consisted of 10 h of safety education instruction. Results show that the boy was able to learn a few safety concepts as well as increase his knowledge of personal safety. Caregiver data revealed a minor increase in knowledge of general safety and an increase in family communication regarding safety issues. However, upon a 3-month follow-up, the boy appeared to lose some knowledge. Recommendations for implementing the Body Safety Training program with children with disabilities and providing their caretakers with information regarding the risk of child sexual abuse is provided.