Is the link between forebrain size and feeding innovations caused by confounding variables? A study of Australian and North American birds

The short notes of ornithology journals feature new and unusual feeding behaviours, which, when systematically collated, could provide a quantitative estimate of behavioural flexibility in different bird groups. Previous studies suggest that taxonomic variation in the frequency of new behaviours (innovations) is correlated with variation in relative forebrain size. Recent work on primates shows, however, that observer bias can affect innovation frequency. We assess this possibility in birds via three estimates in North America and Australia: the number of full-length papers in academic journals, the frequency of photographs in birding magazines and a questionnaire on reporting bias given to ornithologists at a meeting. We also look at sampling effects due to single journal sources by doing a split-half analysis of our North American database (The Wilson Bulletin vs. six other journals) and adding three new Australian journals to the one we had used previously. In multiple regressions that also included species number per taxon, none of the potential biases could account for the correlation between forebrain size and innovation frequency. Species number was the best predictor of full-length paper frequency, which was the best predictor of photograph numbers. Ornithologists are not preferentially interested in innovative, large-brained taxa, suggesting that the correlation between innovations and neural substrate size is not a spurious effect of the biases examined here. Accepted after revision: 27 July 2001 Electronic Publication     

Introduction: New Directions in Educational Practice

Ce texte presente I'ensemble des articles d'un numero special sur la psychopedagogie. Les auteurs vanes y defendent le point-de-vue que les modtles d'enseignement qui sont couramment utilises dans les systtmes educatifs devraient être reconsiderks de fason drastique, parce qu'ils ont survtcu A leur utilite. Neanmoins, ils sont optimistes sur le fait que la psychopkdagogie est bien placke pour conseiller enseignants, tducateurs et politiciens dans la course A entreprendre. Je poserai en premier lieu la question: pourquoi un changement drastique? Ensuite, je presenterai les differentes notions Cmises par les auteurs et defendrai I'idee que I'acquisition du savoir est un processus graduel qui coQte des efforts et fait jaillir des emotions. Pour conclure je ferai le point sur les nouvelles directions de recherche et de pratique pkdagogique.
This article introduces the papers in the special issue on educational psycho-logy. The various contributions defend the view that instruction models that are currently in vogue in education should undergo drastic changes, because they have outlived their usefulness. Nevertheiess, they are oitimistic that educational psychology is in a position to advise teachers, educators, and policy makers about the course of action that should be taken. I will start with the question: Why is drastic change in order? Next, I will introduce the ideas presented by the various authors, and defend the view that knowledge acquisition is a gradual process that costs effort and elicits emotions. In the concluding section, I will point to some new directions for research and for educational practice.     

THE EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL MESSAGES ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE WOMEN'S ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

To clarify the relationship between sexual communication and sexual behavior, multiple components of sexual messages recalled from child hood were examined in a community sample of 248 African-American and White women. Respondents were matched on a predesignated set of demographic variables and were interviewed using the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire. We anticipated that women's recollections of messages from parents and television would differ both individually and across ethnicity, and that messages recalled from parents would be multidimensional, varying in tone (positive vs. negative) across time (childhood vs. adolescence) and form (verbal vs. nonverbal). We also expected that the presence and tone of specific types of messages re called would be associated with risk-related sexual behavior. Results confirmed predictions concerning differential interpretations of messages, and ethnicity emerged as a strong mediating variable. The implications of the specific types of parental messages influencing behavior are discussed.     

On being attached

We often use the term “attachment” to describe our emotional connectedness to objects in the world. We become attached to our careers, to our homes, to certain ideas, and perhaps most importantly, to other people. Interestingly, despite its import and ubiquity in our everyday lives, the topic of attachment per se has been largely ignored in the philosophy literature. I address this lacuna by identifying (a type of) attachment as a rich “mode of mattering” that can help to inform certain aspects of agency and emotion. First, drawing on insights from Ancient stoicism and developmental and clinical psychology, I suggest that the relevant form of attachment involves a felt need for its object and a particular relationship between the object and the attached agent’s sense of security. I then argue that these features serve to distinguish the attitude from the more philosophically familiar notion of caring. Finally, I show that recognizing this form of attachment as a distinct mode of mattering has important implications for understanding grief.     

Navigating Frames of Address: María Lugones on Language,Bodies, Things,and Places

Address figures prominently in contemporary (Latina) feminism, yet calls for further theorizing. Modes of address are forms of signification we direct at people, objects, and places, and they at us. Address constitutes a vital dimension of our corporeal interactions with persons and the material world. Our relationships are in motion as we adopt modes of address toward one another or fail to do so. Clarifying address through examples from Gloria Anzaldúa, this essay reveals its importance in María Lugones's writings. The essay thereby highlights underexplored aspects of Lugones's texts, identifies continuities between Lugones's philosophy and (Latina) feminist work that comprehends address as a carrier of aesthetic and political meanings, and illuminates the resources of a remarkably fruitful concept. Address, in Lugones, is the centerpiece of a quotidian cultural politics. Principal concepts she introduces (concerning subjectivity, critique and transformation, social categorization and interaction, the role of language, bodies, objects, and places) recruit address. Yet, by foregrounding address, the essay also brings into view unforeseen obstructions in the paths of address that Lugones champions, and an enlarged playing field that we can activate to realize desirable frames of address and derail objectionable structures. Avenues open up for further development of Lugones's insights and for inquiries into address.     

Health-Related Quality of Life,Functioning and Social Experiences in People with Psychotic Disorders

Applied Research in Quality of Life - To inform development of a model for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in people with psychotic disorders, we aimed to assess correlations between...     

Identity centrality moderates the relationship between acceptance of group‐based stressors and well‐being

Two two‐wave studies were used to examine the proposition that identity centrality enhances the effectiveness of stressor acceptance in the face of group‐based stressors. Study 1 was conducted in newly commencing psychology students (N = 154). Stressor intensity, psychology student identity centrality, and attempted stressor acceptance were measured at two‐time points over 6‐weeks. Study 2 was conducted in a group of early to late career veterinarians (N = 92) and extended Study 1 by assessing stressor frequency as an indicator of the level of demand. Veterinarian identity centrality and stressor acceptance were measured twice over 12‐months. Both studies provided support for the predicted three‐way interaction. Only when Time 1 stressors and identity centrality were both high was stressor acceptance related to a reduction in perceived stressor intensity (Study 1) or burnout symptoms (Study 2) at Time 2. These findings suggest that identity centrality enhances the effectiveness of stressor acceptance for supporting wellbeing and resilience.