Gender Disparities in Mother's Day and Father's Day Comic Strips: A 55 Year History

A content analysis of 495 humorous comic strips published on Mother's Day and Father's Day from 1945 to 1999 indicates that gender stereotypes in this set of Sunday funnies have fluctuated since the end of World War II. Patriarchal gender disparities in the fictional families (i.e., gender disparities favoring father characters) were at their highest between 1945 and 1959, declined between 1960 and 1974, increased between 1975 and 1984, dropped below zero between 1985 and 1989, and went up again between 1990 and 1999. Along with the fluctuation, there was progress. From 1945 to 1999 in the holiday strips, mothers were afforded more freedom and their domestic workload became less onerous; the ratio of daughters to sons improved; and, beginning especially in the 1990s, the families became more racially and ethnically diverse.     

Ratio abstraction by 6-month-old infants

Human infants appear to be capable of the rudimentary mathematical operations of addition, subtraction, and ordering. To determine whether infants are capable of extracting ratios, we presented 6-month-old infants with multiple examples of a single ratio. After repeated presentations of this ratio, the infants were presented with new examples of a new ratio, as well as new examples of the previously habituated ratio. Infants were able to successfully discriminate two ratios that differed by a factor of 2, but failed to detect the difference between two numerical ratios that differed by a factor of 1.5. We conclude that infants can extract a common ratio across test scenes and use this information while examining new displays. The results support an approximate magnitude-estimation system, which has also been found in animals and human adults.     

Student autonomy and course value: The unique and cumulative roles of various teacher practices

High school students (N = 278) in 30 classrooms with ten teachers (grades 9 through 12) reported on teacher practices in a single course, autonomy need satisfaction, and value for that course. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results indicated that student perceptions of teachers providing choices and engaging in perspective-taking to a greater extent uniquely related to greater autonomy need satisfaction. Subsequent analyses suggested that students’ autonomy need satisfaction was greatest when they perceived that teachers also identified the importance and usefulness of coursework and considered students’ interests and opinions in course activities. Provision of choice and perspective-taking related to greater course value through autonomy need satisfaction, while identifying the importance and usefulness of course activities had only direct positive effects on course value. The pattern of total, direct, and indirect effects was slightly different depending on the component of course value. Results underscore the importance of including provision of choice in conceptualizations of teacher autonomy support.     

Research Participants’ Preferences for Hypothetical Secondary Results from Genomic Research

Secondary or incidental results can be identified in genomic research that increasingly uses whole exome/genome sequencing. Understanding research participants’ preferences for secondary results and what influences these decisions is important for patient education, counseling, and consent, and for the development of policies regarding return of secondary results. Two hundred nineteen research participants enrolled in genomic studies were surveyed regarding hypothetical preferences for specific types of secondary results, and these preferences were correlated with demographic information and psychosocial data. The majority of research participants (73%) indicated a preference to learn about all results offered, with no clear pattern regarding which results were not desired by the remaining participants. Participants who reported greater interest in genetic privacy were less likely to indicate a preference to learn all results, as were individuals who self-identified as Jewish. Although most research participants preferred to receive all secondary results offered, a significant subset preferred to exclude some results, suggesting that an all-or-none policy would not be ideal for all participants. The correlations between preferences to receive secondary results, religious identification, and privacy concerns demonstrate the need for culturally sensitive counseling and educational materials accessible to all education levels to allow participants to make the best choices for themselves.     

Three-month-olds show a negativity bias in their social evaluations

Previous research has shown that 6-month-olds evaluate others on the basis of their social behaviors--they are attracted to prosocial individuals, and avoid antisocial individuals (Hamlin, Wynn & Bloom, 2007). The current studies investigate these capacities prior to 6 months of age. Results from two experiments indicate that even 3-month-old infants evaluate others based on their social behavior towards third parties, and that negative social information is developmentally privileged.     

Counting on working memory in arithmetic problem solving

Mental calculation is an important everyday skill involving access to well-learned procedures, problem solving, and working memory. Although there is an active literature on acquiring concepts and procedures for mental arithmetic, relatively little is known about the role of working memory in this task. This paper reports two experiments in which dual-task methodology is used to study the role of components of working memory in mental addition. In Experiment 1, mental addition of auditorily presented two-digit numbers was significantly disrupted by concurrent random letter generation and, to a lesser extent, by concurrent articulatory suppression, but was unimpaired by concurrent hand movement or by presentation of irrelevant pictures. Although the number of errors increased with two of the dual tasks, the incorrect responses tended to be quite close to the correct answer. In Experiment 2, the numbers for addition were presented visually. Here again, random generation produced the largest disruption of mental arithmetic performance, while a smaller amount of disruption was observed for articulatory suppression, hand movement, and unattended auditorily presented two-digit numbers. The overall levels of performance were better and the absolute size of the disruptive effects shown with visual presentation was very small compared with those found for auditory presentation. This pattern of results is consistent with a role for a central executive component of working memory in performing the calculations required for mental addition and in producing approximately correct answers. Visuospatial resources in working memory may also be involved in approximations. The data support the view that the subvocal rehearsal component of working memory provides a means of maintaining accuracy in mental arithmetic, and this matches a similar conclusion derived from previous work on counting. The general implications for the role of working memory in arithmetic problem solving will be discussed.     

Relationships among critical thinking skills, academic achievement, and misconceptions about psychology.

Two groups of 60 students each were selected from introductory college psychology classes. One consisted of high academic achievers, the other of average achievers. They were given the McCutcheon Test of Misconceptions, a 65-item, multiple-choice test designed to measure common misconceptions about psychology. Subsequently, they were also given the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Both groups made many errors on the McCutcheon test, but high academic achievers made significantly fewer errors on both the McCutcheon test and the Watson-Glaser than average achievers. A stepwise multiple regression consisting of Watson-Glaser subscales 1 (the ability to draw valid inferences) and 4 (ability to weigh and interpret evidence) and GPA successfully predicted McCutcheon test scores (R = .43). This suggests that even beginning students with high grades and good critical thinking skills are likely to harbor many misconceptions about psychology.     

Limits to Infants' Knowledge of Objects: The Case of MagicalAppearance

Young infants have an impressive knowledge of material objects. They appreciate that distinct objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, are internally cohesive units that maintain their boundaries, and exist continuously in space and time. We report a surprising limit to this body of understanding: Although 8-month-olds responded to the "magical" disappearance of an object as an unexpected event, they did not so respond to a magical appearance. These results suggest that infants' understanding of objects differs from adult cognition in important respects. We discuss four possible ways in which this finding can be reconciled with evidence that infants appreciate the spatiotemporal continuity of objects.