‘It's not really us discriminating against immigrants,it's more telling people how to fit in’: Constructing the nation in immigration talk in New Zealand

Previous research has demonstrated that talk about immigration can function to produce, reproduce and stabilize racism (Capdevila & Callaghan, 2008 ). In New Zealand (NZ), changes in immigration policy have seen a rapid increase in diverse groups of migrants with varied cultural backgrounds entering the country in the past two decades. Given its unique colonial history and ‘settler nationality in a bicultural nation’ (Bell, 2009 ), we explored how young NZ adults talk about and produce meanings and understandings of immigration, immigrants and cultural diversity. Appealing to notions of NZ as ‘one society’, as English speaking, and as English looking participants constructed NZ, NZ national identity and the NZ economy in particular ways. This constituted a nationalist rhetoric that was taken up in common‐sense ways by participants to legitimize racist talk whilst simultaneously acting to locate participants themselves as reasonable and moral individuals. It is concluded that nationalist discourses function to reinforce patterns of social dominance and perpetuate the notion of New Zealanders as largely white, European‐looking and English‐speaking. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of real and illusory perturbations on the early trajectory adjustments of goal-directed movements

Examinations of goal-directed movements reveal a process of control that operates to make adjustments on the basis of the expected visual afference associated with the limb's movement. This experiment examined the impact of perturbations to the perceived and actual velocity of aiming movements when each was presented alone or in tandem with the other. Perturbations to perceived velocity were achieved by translating the background over which aiming movements were performed. An aiming stylus that discharged air either in the direction of the movement or in the direction opposite the movement generated the actual velocity perturbations. Kinematic analyses of the aiming movements revealed that only the actual perturbation influenced the control of early movement trajectories. The results are discussed with respect to the influence that visual information has on the control exerted against physical perturbations. Speculations are raised regarding how potential for perturbations influences the strategies adopted for minimizing their impact.     

Numerical ordering ability mediates the relation between number-sense and arithmetic competence

What predicts human mathematical competence? While detailed models of number representation in the brain have been developed, it remains to be seen exactly how basic number representations link to higher math abilities. We propose that representation of ordinal associations between numerical symbols is one important factor that underpins this link. We show that individual variability in symbolic number-ordering ability strongly predicts performance on complex mental-arithmetic tasks even when controlling for several competing factors, including approximate number acuity. Crucially, symbolic number-ordering ability fully mediates the previously reported relation between approximate number acuity and more complex mathematical skills, suggesting that symbolic number-ordering may be a stepping stone from approximate number representation to mathematical competence. These results are important for understanding how evolution has interacted with culture to generate complex representations of abstract numerical relationships. Moreover, the finding that symbolic number-ordering ability links approximate number acuity and complex math skills carries implications for designing math-education curricula and identifying reliable markers of math performance during schooling.     

The relationship of engagement and job satisfaction in working samples

The present study explored the factor structure of engagement and its relationship with job satisfaction. The authors hypothesize that work engagement comprises 3 constructs: vigor, dedication, and absorption. Using structural equation modeling, the authors analyze data from 3 archival data sets to determine the factor structure of engagement. In addition, they examine the hypothesis that engagement and job satisfaction are separate but related constructs, using structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression. The authors test models in which engagement and job satisfaction items loaded onto a single latent variable and 1 in which they loaded onto 2 separate variables. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis indicate engagement has 3 factors. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regressions indicate engagement and job satisfaction are separate constructs. Last, hierarchical regressions demonstrated the constructs have different relationships with the areas of work-life scale. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

A twin study of spatial and non-spatial delayed response performance in middle age

Delayed alternation and object alternation are classic spatial and non-spatial delayed response tasks. We tested 632 middle-aged male veteran twins on variants of these tasks in order to compare test difficulty, measure their inter-correlation, test order effects, and estimate heritabilities (proportion of observed variance due to genetic influences). Non-spatial alternation (NSA), which may involve greater reliance on processing of subgoals, was significantly more difficult than spatial alternation (SA). Despite their similarities, NSA and SA scores were uncorrelated. NSA performance was worse when administered second; there was no SA order effect. NSA scores were modestly heritable (h(2)=.25; 26); SA was not. There was shared genetic variance between NSA scores and general intellectual ability (r(g)=.55; .67), but this also suggests genetic influences specific to NSA. Compared with findings from small, selected control samples, high "failure" rates in this community-based sample raise concerns about interpretation of brain dysfunction in elderly or patient samples.     

Integrating social exchange and affective explanations for the receipt of help and harm: A social network approach

We integrated theories of social exchange and emotion to explain the receipt of interpersonal citizenship (help) and counterproductive behaviors (harm). Using social network methodology, data on a total of 534 relationships were obtained from three samples of employees working for a food services organization. Results were consistent across all three samples. Employees received help and harm from coworkers toward whom they engaged in those behaviors, as well as from coworkers in whom they elicited positive and negative affective states, respectively. Additionally, affective states predicted the receipt of help and harm controlling for engagement, suggesting a means by which social exchanges may become imbalanced. Overall, findings demonstrate the validity of social exchange and affective explanations for the receipt of help and harm in the workplace.     

Pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia and affective disorders: Behavioral assessment of psychiatric medications

Objectively defined, publicly observable ward behaviors (body activity, extremity activity, scanning, social interaction, proximity, participation, laughing/smiling, and idiosyncratic behavior) emitted by psychiatric inpatients with either schizophrenic or affective disorders were time sampled both before and during the administration of psychiatric medications (neuroleptics, tricyclics, and lithium). The data indicate that the primary effects of the pharmacological interventions are confined to activity measures and symptoms rather than social behaviors. The implications of these results for treatment protocols are discussed in terms of interactions between pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. In addition, rates of behavior during treatment were related to baseline rates via a log-log function of negative slope, a result that is consistent with data derived from the infrahuman laboratories. Taken together the results provide support for attempts to relate preclinical and clinical psychopharmacology and suggest that behavioral assessment can be applied profitably to drug effects in clinical situations.These investigations were supported in part by State of Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Grants RD836-13 and RD622-02 to the first author. The cooperation of the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute staff is gratefully acknowledged. Assistance in data collection was provided by S. Sussman and K. Mueser.