When Whites' Attempts to Be Multicultural Backfire in Intergroup Interactions

Whites' attempts to enact multicultural ideals in intergroup interactions can sometimes have negative interpersonal consequences. This paper reviews the instances when Whites' efforts to acknowledge, appreciate, and learn about racial and ethnic differences can make people of color's group identity uncomfortably salient (minority spotlight effect), make people of color feel that certain attributes are being imposed onto their group identity (positive stereotyping), or make people of color feel precluded from another group identity (identity denial). Each of these situations introduces a hurtful discrepancy between how people of color are seen by others and how they wish to be seen. Suggestions for how to “do” multiculturalism in ways that avoid creating this discrepancy are discussed.     

A Historical Perspective on the Future of Behavior Science

Like all natural sciences, behavior science has much to offer toward an understanding of the world. The extent to which the promise of behavior science is realized, though, depends upon the extent to which we keep what we know before us. This paper considers fundamental concepts in behavior science, including the concepts of behavior, stimulation, setting conditions, and language. In considering these concepts, we revisit comments from B. F. Skinner and J. R. Kantor and also consider some areas of behavior analytic research and the implications they have for reconsidering long-held assumptions about the analysis of behavior. We hope that, in considering our foundations, the vitality and strength of the discipline might be enhanced, our impact on science improved, and our future secured.     

Queer Youth in Family Therapy

Trends in popular belief about same‐sex relationships have undergone noteworthy change in the United States over the last decade. Yet this change has been marked by stark polarizations and has occurred at varying rates depending upon regional, community, racial, religious, and individual family context. For queer youth and their families, this cultural transformation has broadened opportunities and created a new set of risks and vulnerabilities. At the same time, youth's increasingly open and playful gender fluidity and sexual identity is complicated by unique intersections of class, race, religion, and immigration. Effective family therapy with queer youth requires practitioner's and treatment models that are sensitive to those who bear the burden of multiple oppressions and the hidden resilience embedded in their layered identities. We present case examples of our model of family therapy which addresses refuge, supports difficult dialogs, and nurtures queerness by looking for hidden resilience in the unique intersections of queer youths' lives. These intersections provide transformational potential for youth, their families and even for family therapists as we are all nurtured and challenged to think more complexly about intersectionality, sexuality, and gender.     

Culture, ethnicity, and children's facial expressions: a study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and adopted Chinese girls

This investigation extends previous research documenting differences in Chinese and European American infants' facial expressivity. Chinese girls adopted by European American families, nonadopted Mainland Chinese girls, nonadopted Chinese American girls, and nonadopted European American girls responded to emotionally evocative slides and an odor stimulus. European American girls smiled more than Mainland Chinese and Chinese American girls and scored higher than Mainland Chinese girls for disgust-related expressions and overall expressivity. Adopted Chinese girls produced more disgust-related expressions than Mainland Chinese girls. Self-reported maternal strictness, aggravation, positive expressiveness, and cultural identification correlated with children's facial responses, as did number of siblings and adults in the home. Results suggest that culture and family environment influences facial expressivity, creating differences among children of the same ethnicity.     

Distinctions among agency, communion, and unmitigated agency and communion according to the interpersonal circumplex, Five-factor model, and social-emotional correlates

In this study, we examined common measures of agency (AG), communion (CM), and unmitigated agency (UA) and unmitigated communion (UC) using the interpersonal circumplex and Five-factor models (FFM) as conceptual frameworks. AG aligned with interpersonal dominance in circumplex space and related positively to conscientiousness and inversely to neuroticism. CM corresponded with interpersonal affiliation and related positively to conscientiousness. UA was consistent with hostile-dominance and related to lower conscientiousness and higher neuroticism. UC related to friendly submission but was not strongly represented in the circumplex and did not relate to the FFM. Each construct showed distinct social-emotional correlates. These findings support the convergent and divergent properties of the constructs but suggest that additional attention to the conceptual definition and measurement of UC is warranted.     

Young infants reach correctly in A-not-B tasks: on the development of stability and perseveration

This paper examines the development of perseverative reaching in the A-not-B task. We describe two recent models that view perseveration as a sign of developmental progress toward stability. In Experiment 1, we test the novel prediction from both models that very young infants should not perseverate in the A-not-B task whereas older infants should. We tracked infants' behavior monthly on the A-not-B task and found that infants reached correctly at 5 months, and only perseverated at 7 and 8 months of age. Experiment 2 provides further evidence on the role of motor development in the emergence of perseveration by exploring the connection between perseveration and detailed changes in reach kinematics in two infants across the first year. These data together suggest that perseveration is a sign of developmental achievement on the path to stable and flexible behavior.     

Immobility and supination in garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans) following handling by human predators

A common response of animals to physical restraint is tonic immobility. The authors observed the behavior of garter snakes, Thamnophis elegans, in the field to determine the frequency of immobility as a response to handling. Most snakes fled after release, but the remainder remained immobile, sometimes on their backs (supination), for up to 10 min. Immobility was seen most often in pregnant snakes, which also were more likely than other snakes not to have moved before capture. Failure to move, either before or after capture, might be a consequence of the limited locomotory ability of gravid snakes. However, the lack of observations of interactions between snakes and their natural predators impedes researchers' understanding of the antipredator value, if any, of tonic immobility.