RE: religions,equality and curriculum time

Theory can mislead by ignoring detail and the practicalities of teaching situations. Understanding others requires just this attention to detail and practicalities. These observations identify the failings in the ambitions of the National Framework for RE to teach as many ‘religious’ traditions as possible. Part of the motivation of the authors of the Framework appears to reside in the commitment found in liberal education to equality. The author is not convinced that, unless this is religiously conceived, equality can be achieved amongst religions without creating serious inequalities. Attention to practical constraints given by existing language and culture suggests another way forward but in a dialogical spirit that recognizes an equality before God.     

Growth in infancy and childhood and hospitalization for personality disorders in adulthood: the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study

This study examined the associations between infant and childhood growth and severe personality disorders. Among 4,689 men and 4,200 women of the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study 1934-1944, 81 men and 68 women had been hospitalized with an ICD (-8, -9, -10) diagnosis of personality disorder in adulthood. Among men, slower gain in BMI between birth and 6 months, faster gain in weight and BMI between 6 months and 1 year, and slower gains in them between 7 and 11 years of age predicted an increased risk of hospitalization for personality disorders. Thinness at 6 months and again at 11 years also showed significant association with personality disorders among men. Among women, slower gain in height between 2 and 7 years predicted hospitalization for personality disorders. Our findings show the importance of early growth as a vulnerability factor of personality disorders severe enough to justify hospitalization.     

A behavior-based circuit model of how outcome expectations organize learned behavior in larval Drosophila

Drosophila larvae combine a numerically simple brain, a correspondingly moderate behavioral complexity, and the availability of a rich toolbox for transgenic manipulation. This makes them attractive as a study case when trying to achieve a circuit-level understanding of behavior organization. From a series of behavioral experiments, we suggest a circuitry of chemosensory processing, odor-tastant memory trace formation, and the "decision" process to behaviorally express these memory traces--or not. The model incorporates statements about the neuronal organization of innate vs. conditioned chemosensory behavior, and the types of interaction between olfactory and gustatory pathways during the establishment as well as the behavioral expression of odor-tastant memory traces. It in particular suggests that innate olfactory behavior is responsive in nature, whereas conditioned olfactory behavior is captured better when seen as an action in pursuit of its outcome. It incorporates the available neuroanatomical and behavioral data and thus should be useful as scaffold for the ongoing investigations of the chemo-behavioral system in larval Drosophila.     

Eye contact facilitates awareness of faces during interocular suppression

Eye contact captures attention and receives prioritized visual processing. Here we asked whether eye contact might be processed outside conscious awareness. Faces with direct and averted gaze were rendered invisible using interocular suppression. In two experiments we found that faces with direct gaze overcame such suppression more rapidly than faces with averted gaze. Control experiments ruled out the influence of low-level stimulus differences and differential response criteria. These results indicate an enhanced unconscious representation of direct gaze, enabling the automatic and rapid detection of other individuals making eye contact with the observer.     

Personal Income and Attitudes toward Redistribution: A Study of Lottery Winners

In order to estimate the effects of affluence on political attitudes, we conducted interviews with 342 people who had won the lottery between 1983 and 2000 in an Eastern state. A parallel survey of the general public was also conducted. Comparing winners of varying amounts, we find that lottery-induced affluence increases hostility toward estate taxes, marginally increases hostility towards government redistribution, but has little effect on broader attitudes concerning economic stratification or the role of government as a provider of social insurance. These results bolster previous findings suggesting that economic self-interest influences policy preferences when policy consequences are perceived as salient. At the same time, the findings suggest the limited influence that material concerns have on one's broad political outlook.     

Natural variation in Drosophila larval reward learning and memory due to a cGMP-dependent protein kinase

Animals must be able to find and evaluate food to ensure survival. The ability to associate a cue with the presence of food is advantageous because it allows an animal to quickly identify a situation associated with a good, bad, or even harmful food. Identifying genes underlying these natural learned responses is essential to understanding this ability. Here, we investigate whether natural variation in the foraging (for) gene in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is important in mediating associations between either an odor or a light stimulus and food reward. We found that for influences olfactory conditioning and that the mushroom bodies play a role in this for-mediated olfactory learning. Genotypes associated with high activity of the product of for, cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), showed greater memory acquisition and retention compared with genotypes associated with low activity of PKG when trained with three conditioning trials. Interestingly, increasing the number of training trials resulted in decreased memory retention only in genotypes associated with high PKG activity. The difference in the dynamics of memory acquisition and retention between variants of for suggests that the ability to learn and retain an association may be linked to the foraging strategies of the two variants.     

Status and the Gender Stereotyped Personality Traits: Toward an Integration

This paper integrates research findings on status and the gender stereotyped personality traits and examines the extent to which women’s lower status than men can account for two components of gender stereotyping in the United States: the belief that women and men have different personality traits and the differences in men’s and women’s perceptions of their own personality traits. In addition, it examines the extent to which status affects the evaluations associated with both genders’ self-perceived traits. Personality traits include the instrumental-assertive and expressive attributes that have been the focus of most theory and research, in addition to the instrumental-dominating, complaining, submissive, and bipolar attributes. Formulations involving the link with status are presented for each of these personality attributes.     

Status, Personality, and Gender Stereotyping: Response to Commentators

Status differences between women and men can explain why they perceive themselves as having different personality traits. The status explanation of gender stereotyping is discussed in relation to two views that have shaped research and theory on gender and personality: the traditional view that men and women are characterized by stable, enduring dispositions and the more recent view that women’s and men’s self-perceived traits vary from one situation to another. Other issues include: status in relation to developmental issues and cross-cultural stereotypes, effect of gender identity on gender stereotyped behaviors and traits, and changes in gender stereotyped traits over time within the larger sociocultural context. Differences between the status explanation of gender stereotyping and personality and the view that gender is the central, determining factor are discussed.